Oblivion

At the foot of Yitian Peak. Old Devil Mou had successfully fled here while the fierce battle atop the peak still raged on. His physical body had been battered to pieces. Fortunately, his divine sense was no inferior to that of a great cultivator, and after exhausting every life-saving measure at his disposal, he had sacrificed his fire lotus seed to block the fatal strike. Otherwise, his Nascent Soul would surely have been torn to shreds, ending his life on the spot. Even so, his current state was dire. Only a battered Nascent Soul remained, and the fire lotus seed he had spent untold hardships condensing was now utterly depleted. Given his cultivation, he felt little pressure from the Spirit-Suppressing Domain under normal circumstances; earlier, the effect had barely been noticeable. But now, gravely wounded as he was, even this slight suppression could not be ignored. If it caused his realm to drop, his fate would be even more miserable. Old Devil Mou had not hesitated to burn his origin essence just to slip away undetected. "Madame Li! Four Sacred Palaces!" He shot a venomous glare back toward the mountain summit. Teaming up with the Demon Lord this time had truly cost him dearly—he had lost everything and suffered yet another severe blow to his origin essence. He did not dare call out to the Demon Lord for help. Were he to fall into the Demon Lord's hands, he had no doubt the Demon Lord would gladly accept his Nascent Soul as a gift, or perhaps even refine it into a demonic puppet. Old Devil Mou knew full well that after this battle, his only option was to go into hiding. His fire lotus seed was shattered and he had suffered wounds this severe; it would be a blessing from the heavens if he could heal them without dropping a realm, and who knew how long it would take before he could make a comeback. "That kid from the guild..." Thinking back to how it had all begun—with the Nine Nether Demonic Fire—Old Devil Mou ground his teeth in secret. *Whoosh!* Old Devil Mou flew low along the ground, cutting across a patch of fossilized grass. Suddenly, a jolt of dread struck his heart, followed by a clap of thunder detonating above his head. A bolt from the blue. An aura of destruction descended upon him. "Someone is here!" Old Devil Mou was terrified. His vision was flooded with brilliant silver and dazzling lightning. He had thought he had fooled everyone and made a clean escape, never expecting his movements had already been exposed. Despair gripped Old Devil Mou's heart. Due to the restrictions of the ancient restriction within the Spirit-Suppressing Domain, the assailant had to be at least at the peak of the mid Nascent Soul stage! The leaders of the Business Alliance, the Four Sacred Palaces, and both the righteous and demonic paths had all shown themselves at the ancient demon's seal, but that did not mean those were the only human masters present. Someone else had been lurking nearby and caught wind of his tracks. In his current condition, he had no power whatsoever to fight back against such an opponent. Worse yet, this foe had no sense of martial honor, trailing him all the way here to ambush him! *Crack!* The heavenly thunder struck true, bearing straight down on Old Devil Mou's battered Nascent Soul; his movements were completely within his enemy's grasp. Even so, Old Devil Mou refused to give up, fighting desperately to survive. Once more burning his core essence, he teleported away for dear life. *Boom!* The lightning pierced straight through the afterimage of the battered Nascent Soul, slamming violently into the ground. A massive crater was instantly blasted into the fossilized grass. Shattered rocks flew in all directions as the destructive might of heavenly thunder raged. Countless arcs of electricity and sparks danced across the fossilized grass, devastating the entire patch and reducing it to powder in an instant. Old Devil Mou's battered Nascent Soul reappeared beyond the fossilized grass, unharmed by the heavenly thunder. He felt a flash of surprise: the power of this thunder strike was not as terrifying as he had imagined. Before Old Devil Mou could make sense of the thought flashing through his mind— The moment his battered Nascent Soul materialized in the new location, he felt a fierce gust of wind hurtling toward him, and a speck of blue light expanded rapidly in his vision. At that moment, Bai stayed close to Qin Sang, his gray qi shielding a small area around them so neither was restricted by the Spirit-Suppressing Domain. Bai had long prepared the Star Conch. Accurately pinpointing the spot where Old Devil Mou would teleport, he launched it without hesitation, giving the devil not a single moment to catch his breath. Both were inevitably a bit tense; had their judgment been off or the ambush failed, they were prepared to flee at a moment's notice. *Swish!* The Star Conch spun, carrying razor-sharp force pushed to its limit. Old Devil Mou's battered Nascent Soul had yet to muster new strength. In his haste, he could only raise his frail, tiny hands and scramble to condense a thin barrier of cold flame, but before it could even solidify, the Star Conch pierced right through it. *Thwack!* The power of the Star Conch erupted. Unable to dodge and powerless to resist, Old Devil Mou saw his battered Nascent Soul torn once more, his aura withering drastically. Seeing this, Qin Sang was overjoyed—his assessment had been spot-on! *Whoosh!* The light suddenly dimmed as banners fluttered, rolling demonic flames surging forth to blot out the sky. That the Star Conch failed to slay Old Devil Mou outright had been well within Qin Sang's expectations. To leave nothing to chance, Qin Sang had unhesitatingly swallowed a drop of Three Lights Jade Liquid the moment he cast the Thunder Command Art, filling his body with an extraordinary surge of true essence. As long as he could eliminate Old Devil Mou, any price was worth paying. The banner array was his true killing move! Nine demonic banners soared together, and the Nine Nether Demonic Fire gushed violently forward, lunging right in front of the battered Nascent Soul in a flash. At the same time, Qin Sang's escape light flashed as he rode his sword into the fray. Seeing these familiar demonic flames, Old Devil Mou was momentarily stunned. Then, upon registering the realm of his assailant, he was struck by a daze, wondering if his eyes were deceiving him. "It's you!" Old Devil Mou realized the truth at once. This person was merely in the Core Formation stage and capable of commanding demonic flames. His true identity was glaringly obvious: he was the very brat from the Qiongyu Guild whom Old Devil Mou had been desperately hunting! At the exit of the Outer Hall, Mou had preferred to slaughter a thousand innocents rather than let a single suspect slip away. The fire curse seed had led a pursuit spanning thousands of li. Yet time and again, the boy had relied on unknown means to escape by the skin of his teeth, which in turn had brought endless misfortune down upon Mou's own head. And now, at his weakest moment, this same youth had appeared to take his life! Old Devil Mou could not fathom how a mere Core Formation cultivator could move so freely within the Spirit-Suppressing Domain, appearing before him as though descending from the heavens. Yet none of that mattered anymore. *Crash!* A torrent of demonic flames surged forth, crashing through the cold flame. The Nine Nether Demonic Fire blazed with fury. Having just depleted his vitality to teleport, and with new wounds piled atop old, Old Devil Mou was already enfeebled to the extreme. Buffeted by the aura of the demonic fire, his mind drifted into a daze—he was not even given the time to self-detonate. Demonic flames engulfed the battered Nascent Soul; the ebony sword morphed into a sword wheel; Bai also channeled his corpse qi to assist; and the restrictions of the Spirit-Suppressing Domain exerted their oppressive might. The battered Nascent Soul was like a flickering candle in the wind. Seeing that Old Devil Mou's battered Nascent Soul was shattered and entirely bereft of resistance, Qin Sang's heart stirred. He formed a seal with one hand, attempting to capture Old Devil Mou's soul. "Insolent cur, you dare attempt to search this old man's soul?!" The battered Nascent Soul glared coldly at Qin Sang. There was no resentment or anger in his eyes—only a trace of unwillingness. Throughout his life, Old Devil Mou had acted without restraint or scruples, fully anticipating that a day like this might come. He had simply never imagined he would perish at the hands of such an adversary. The battered Nascent Soul closed its eyes. The lone wisp of cold flame that remained began to show signs of instability. Sensing an aura of desolation and decay seeping from within the battered Nascent Soul as the devil's soul extinguished into oblivion, Qin Sang could not help but sigh inwardly. These old monsters always had contingency measures; the higher a cultivator's realm, the harder it was for soul searching to succeed. "Huh?" Qin Sang drove the demonic flames to incinerate the battered Nascent Soul and made to step back, wary of any dying tricks Old Devil Mou might have up his sleeve. Just then, he noticed an unusual pinpoint of light within the cold flames, bearing an uncanny resemblance to a lotus seed. "What is this?" Qin Sang's heart jumped. Confirming that it was not some mutually destructive trap, he immediately commanded the demonic fire to shape into a giant hand and reached out toward it. *Poof!* The Dongming Cold Flame recoiled, revealing the lotus seed, which was promptly seized by the demonic fire and brought before Qin Sang. "It isn't a storage magical treasure." Sweeping it with his divine sense, Qin Sang showed a look of disappointment. "Be careful! Someone's coming!" Suddenly, Bai's voice rang in his ear, causing Qin Sang's eyelids to twitch.