King Xieluo's eyes were bulging ferociously as he watched Yan Qianli approach him at top speed. He struggled violently, attempting to free himself from the seven pillars of light.
The ground quaked and rumbled. And the pillars of light swayed about continuously, as though they would dissipate at any moment.
But then, Yan Qianli arrived and raised his two crimson spears high in the air, his sinister bloodlust inundating his surroundings.
"Stab!" A blood-red spear punctured King Xieluo's lower abdomen without any resistance, penetrating through King Xieluo's body in an instant.
And that wasn't all. After the first spear stabbed right in, the second spear followed suit - the target being King Xieluo's heart.
"Stab!" Another spear skewered his body.
"Ouch!" King Xieluo finally let out a excruciating howl. His dark green irises were bulging in unbearable pain.
"Rumble rumble …"
The quaking of the ground intensified as cracks of varying degrees appeared on the seven pillars of light, which quickly proliferated.
Everyone focused their vision on the struggling King Xieluo.
At his lower abdomen and heart where the two crimson spears punctured straight through his body, circles of blood-red light rippled outwards from his wounds.
And in the blink of an eye, it enveloped two enormous areas. It was a truly awe-inspiring sight.
The Mountain Breaking Army and Yan Yunqi watched the flailing King Xieluo and the rippling crimson light, their expressions as tense as ever.
As long as King Xieluo dies, they would win this battle.
With the Northern Barbarian Army completely surrounded, and more importantly, with the Four Appearances Ancient Formation destroyed by Fang Zhengzhi, what else could they leverage on?
As everyone pondered over this prospect, the seven pillars of light shattered abruptly, reducing into specks of light which dissipated into the air. And King Xieluo was bleeding a river, with crimson blood pouring from his numerous rounds. He looked as though he could not hang on to life for much longer.
"Is he dying?"
"It was his lower abdomen and his heart. He can't possibly survive that, right?"
"That's right, he should be dead!" The Mountain Breaking Army and Yan Yunqi speculated.
"Old Lin, are you alright?" Yan Qianli now focused his attention on King Liqin standing not far away. He seemed extremely concerned.
"I … I still have my final breaths …" King Liqin stammered breathlessly. His body was sprawled on the ground, and he looked as though he had a lot more wrinkles on his face than before.
"You just can't seem to die, can you?" Upon hearing this, Yan Qianli heaved a sigh of relief, but the light cloaking his body did not retract back into his body just yet.
The Demon King was still right in front of him.
Although the Demon King's body looked lifeless, countless years of combat experience taught him not to lower his guard.
"Remember what you promised me." King Liqin was evidently not in the same position as Yan Qianli. His body was so weak that he did not have a single ounce of strength left. The seven-colored light on his body was long gone.
"What promises?" Yan Qianli was puzzled.
"Cough cough … Old Yan, are you still ignoring your debts?"
"What debts have I ever owed you?"
"You …"
"Watch out!" Just as Yan Qianli and King Liqin were bickering, a voice interjected them from above the palace walls.
"What?!" Yan Qianli instinctively turned back to glance at the palace walls, and quickly realized that the source of that voice was Fang Zhengzhi.
Fang Zhengzhi?
Watch out? That brat …
That's not right!
All of a sudden, Yan Qianli sensed that someone was not right. He prepared to step back, but felt a presence behind him already.
"Old Lin!" Yan Qianli's body jerked. He had heard Fang Zhengzhi's warning call, and even if he could not dodge the sneak attack, he was still not in imminent danger of death.
But if King Liqin …
It was all over. He wanted to stop the attack, but it was too late. An immense force collided against his back.
It was King Liqin who slammed against him, and caused his body to trigger a resistance reaction, gushing with crimson light - but only for an instant.
Yan Qianli quickly reacted to the situation but it was already too late.
The immense collision sent him and King Liqin flying in the air like two sandbags joined together, slamming straight into the palace walls.
"Boom!" With a deafening collision, Yan Qianli and King Liqin's bodies blasted a gigantic hole in the palace wall.
"Grandfather!" Ping Yang's voice reverberated through the night sky. She certainly watched everything unfold extremely clearly from her vantage point above the walls.
The supposedly dead King Xieluo moved again.
But this time, it wasn't his hoofs or his antlers. It was the giant swinging tail on his rear.
His long tail swept towards Yan Qianli. It was too quick.
Being on the palace walls, she had no way of stopping King Xieluo, but she saw the expression on King Liqin's face after he took the blow for Yan Qianli, as well as the crimson blood gushing out from his mouth afterwards. It was a river of blood.
Without any second thoughts, Ping Yang rushed down and charged towards King Xieluo. She brandished her Blazing Qilin Spear which radiated with a blinding red glow. A speck of golden light faded in and out of view on the tip of the spear, carrying an unrivalled, overwhelming power.
"Ping Yang, don't go there!" Yan Xiu wanted to stop Ping Yang, but it was already too late. He could only yell at her from afar.
"Your Highness!" Shan Yu wanted to restrain her too, but Ping Yang did not hear anything that they said. In her heart, she had only one goal - to kill King Xieluo and avenge her grandfather.
Crimson flames surged around her, cloaking her body.
"Boom boom!"
The ground shuddered violently and King Xieluo's eyes opened wide again. But now, his originally dark green eyes have turned completely golden - like the resplendent golden light of the sun.
His black scales dropped down like raindrops after being enveloped by the crimson light. As the scales fell to the ground, they produced waves of rumbles.
Fang Zhengzhi's fist was clenched extremely tightly.
He never once thought that this battle against the Demon King had any connections with him, and in fact, he was never willing to be swept into this mess. Yet now, he was right in the centre of the action.
However, despite that, he felt that he did all that he could. First, he led the Southern Region Army into the Imperial Palace, then seized the Near-Life Gate and resolved the conflict within the Imperial Palace, and finally used the Near-Life Gate to dispel the Four Appearances Ancient Formation and opened the palace gates.
Is that not enough?
For someone merely in the Supernatural State, is this still not enough?
Furthermore, he even alerted the others about imminent danger. Even when King Xieluo was gunning for his head, he didn't flee and instead remained to warn the rest.
How dare anyone say that he did not do enough?
Demon King!
Fang Zhengzhi can't even deal with that old duff, so how could he possibly defeat the Demon King?
And most importantly, there was still Yan Qianli and King Liqin in front of him, and either of them were indisputably stronger than Fang Zhengzhi himself. Why would he need to fight?
Fang Zhengzhi did not believe that he was fated to defy the heavens; he wanted to avoid death and destruction. But ironically, he almost lost his life during the battle against Canyang.
Even now … this battle contained an overwhelming sinister threat lurking in the shadows.
To help or not to help?
It was supposed to be an easy decision to make, but now after Ping Yang charged out and he noticed King Xieluo's tail sweeping towards her, he was left with a single choice once again.
"Dumbass, let that girl go!" Fang Zhengzhi rushed out just as King Xieluo's immense tail wrapped around Ping Yang. And he even deliberately strengthened his tone and volume.
He was certainly no match for King Xieluo, but confronting his opponent was definitely a better option than watching Ping Yang get slaughtered from the sidelines.
"Hm?" King Xieluo shot a menacing glare straight at Fang Zhengzhi. His golden eyes flickered coldly as he cracked a sneer at the edges of his lips. "You're too late. I initially planned to kill you alone, but now I'll massacre everyone. Not only will this little princess die, everyone in the Flame Capital City will be wiped out!"
"What?!"
"No, quickly save Her Highness!"
"How dare you, Demon King! Don't even think about harming Her Highness!"
Upon hearing King Xieluo's provocations, the entire Mountain Breaking Army and Yan Yunqi were enraged, but what could they possibly do to stop this formidable opponent?
"No!" Fang Zhengzhi was shocked to hear what King Xieluo announced, but Ping Yang was already right in front of King Xieluo.
He could see a steely determination in her eyes – a very stupid sense of determination. Even so, he could empathize with her intentions. He's just like her – rushing out to battle while knowing very clearly that he was no match for King Xieluo.
But such stupidity … definitely comes with a price.
"Boom!"
King Xieluo's tail still managed to wrap itself around Ping Yang's body, causing the inferno cloaking Ping Yang to dissolve like snow. A mouthful of blood spewed out from Ping Yang's mouth as her Red Flame Flower Armor disintegrated.
Following that … Ping Yang's body collapsed to the floor abruptly.
Very evidently, King Xieluo had no intentions of displacing Ping Yang. He intentionally left Ping Yang at his feet because he knew that Fang Zhengzhi would definitely be lured over to him.
"Thud!"
Ping Yang's body hit the ground with a painful thud. Her face was as pale as ever, and blood continued spewing from her mouth, staining her soft pink lips in a gory red.
However, her eyes were not shut, and neither were they in a daze.
Her eyes were wide open, as clear as water. She grasped her Blazing Qilin Spear in her hand extremely tightly. This was a genuine undying persistence stemming from her heart.
No one knew what was going through Ping Yang's head.
King Xieluo clearly had no intentions of killing Ping Yang immediately as he wanted to use her as a hostage for bargaining. In such a situation, Ping Yang should be shutting her eyes.
Or at least, not draw any attention from her captor.
But she did not do so. Not only did she keep her eyes wide open, she quickly struggled to get up. The feat looked painfully effortful for her frail little body, as her slender legs and wrists shivered incessantly.
"Ping Yang, run!" Fang Zhengzhi didn't know why Ping Yang stood up. He assumed that Ping Yang would have grown a little smarter in the past year.
Could it be that she didn't know how to play dead?
Alright, if that feat was way beyond her ability then forget it.
But she should at least know how to run, right?
Fang Zhengzhi stopped pondering about the reason Ping Yang stood up. He felt that he had to delay King Xieluo somehow in order for Ping Yang to escape.
"Cough cough …" Ping Yang let out a few sickly coughs, yet her pale face still wore an unbelievably determined expression. "No, I'm not running. I'm strong!"
Fang Zhengzhi was astounded. This was not the first time he heard Ping Yang say something like this, but what weight does her audacious claim have, especially for someone who has yet to achieve the Heavenly Reflection State?
Strong … strong my ass!
"Run!" Fang Zhengzhi didn't have time to continue this meaningless dispute with Ping Yang because he had already arrived in front of King Xieluo, and King Xieluo's tail was already above his head.
"Die!" King Xieluo was very confident about this strike.
Closer, closer.
Watching as his tail was inches away from striking Fang Zhengzhi's head, King Xieluo sneered. Was he finally going to kill this scoundrel?
A strike!
Perhaps it wouldn't be able to kill a sage, but it was more than sufficient to dispatch a human in the Supernatural State.
King Xieluo waited for Fang Zhengzhi's skull to split open and blood to spew out profusely, but that sight never unfolded. He felt a little strange. His whip had already struck Fang Zhengzhi's body.
Eh?
That's not right! This doesn't feel right!
"An illusion!" King Xieluo's eyes were bulging viciously. He too could easily create an illusion in the air, but he didn't think Fang Zhengzhi could do it too. Furthermore, creating an illusion capable of deceiving his eyes not only required speed, but also confidence in avoiding his attack.
Is that brat really only in the Supernatural State?
A doubt flashed through King Xieluo's mind, but he didn't mull over it any further. He could already sense Fang Zhengzhi's presence.
As a grand Demon King, he didn't simply rely on his vision to detect his opponents. Sensing the surrounding aura was his true method of combat. Hence, even after Fang Zhengzhi avoided his attack, he could still locate Fang Zhengzhi very quickly.
"Up there!" King Xieluo looked up and launched his tail in that direction again, locking onto the concentration of aura above him.
But just as he shot his gaze up, his eyes bulged wide open.
Above him, six different colored characters were shining radiantly, each carrying a resplendent glow. Threads of light penetrated the centre of the characters, weaving the six characters together into a pattern resembling a six-pointed constellation.