Chapter 33: Beast Core — It Exploded with a Bang
The Void Beast let out a sigh, its tone heavy. “They’re really courting death. They want to use your ‘death’ to provoke the Demon King. Don’t they know how terrifying the consequences are when the Demon King gets angry?”
At that moment, Zui Lixuan’s beastly cousin, Qin Yuexuan, just happened to answer the question. He smiled at Zui Li Qingshi and said, “Uncle, please rest assured. The Demon King has feelings for my cousin. Once he sees her relics, he will surely lose his composure. My father has a powerful Dream-Weaving Beast. We’ll take advantage of that moment to drag him into a dream and trap him there. When the time comes, the Demon King will be at our mercy.”
Zui Li Qing Shi nodded distractedly and said wearily, “Nearly half of our Beast-Taming Clan has rushed to the battlefield. I have also done everything I could to obtain what Lord Heize wanted, even using a heaven-defying secret technique. Everything our clan should have done, we’ve done…”
Nan Xun felt her heart pounding and hurriedly asked the Void Beast, “Little Eight, nothing will happen to Xue Ming, right? He won’t really believe I’m dead and fall into their trap, will he?”
The Void Beast gave repeated assurances. “Absolutely not. Do you really think you’re that important? No matter how much that lunatic likes you, he wouldn’t go and die for you.”
Nan Xun finally relaxed. “With you saying that, I’m relieved.” After a brief pause, she added, “There’s still one point of malice left to eliminate. Xue Ming can’t have anything happen to him at this time.”
The Void Beast replied indifferently, “Did I ask you to explain?”
Nan Xun said no, then lay back on the bed to recuperate.
She hadn’t rested long when a piercing scream suddenly rang out in her mind, jolting her awake.
Nan Xun sprang up with a carp flip, rubbing her forehead. “Little Eight, did you see a ghost or something? Why are you screaming so shrilly?”
The Void Beast burst into loud sobs. “Ahhh! It’s a thousand times scarier than seeing a ghost! Wuwuwu, do you know what just happened? Damn it, the Demon King’s malice value suddenly shot back up to 100! Not 99 — 100!”
Nan Xun: “…Little Eight, don’t joke around. That joke isn’t funny at all.”
The Void Beast continued crying. “I’m not joking.”
Nan Xun staggered to the window. Night had already fallen; the sky was starless, overcast and gloomy.
Gazing at the night sky, Nan Xun said expressionlessly, “After going in circles for over a decade, it all ends in nothing. Little Eight, my heart hurts.”
The Void Beast sniffled. “My heart hurts even more. If the Demon King’s malice value dropped to zero, I could earn so much merit just from this one world. We were so close to success, but now it’s all gone, wuwuwu…”
Nan Xun had no mood to comfort it. Suddenly, as if she thought of something, her expression changed sharply. She shouted, “Little Eight, quick! Let me see what’s happening on the battlefield!”
On the blood-soaked battlefield, the Azure Dragon and the Teng Snake stood together, facing the four-clawed Crimson Blood Teng Snake on the opposing side.
Nan Xun recognized one of the Teng Snakes — it was the one named Heize.
Heize held a bloodstained garment in his hand, a cruel smile hanging at the corner of his lips. “Xue Ming, long time no see. How have you been?” He paused slightly, then curled his lips upward. “…My younger brother.”
Xue Ming’s gaze was fixed tightly on the bloodied garment, cold and bone-chilling. “I don’t believe a single word you just said.”
Heize laughed loudly, his face full of mockery. “But you already believe it, don’t you? The barrier outside the sleeping palace has been broken. The one who captured your precious sweetheart was me.”
With that, he flung the bloodstained garment in front of Xue Ming, then spread his palm to reveal the bloodied bracelet. “This bracelet was made from the hardest scale on your body and sealed with your forbidden spell. Unless it’s her herself, no one could ever remove it from her wrist. Oh right — the blood contract you branded onto her primordial spirit. You can’t sense it anymore, can you?
“Xue Ming, stop deceiving yourself. That human woman you’ve been protecting so carefully is already… dead.”
“No, impossible! Xunxun wouldn’t die, she can’t die! I promised her that once this was over, we’d travel the mountains and rivers together. I haven’t fulfilled her wish yet — she can’t die, she mustn’t die…” Xue Ming clutched the bloodstained garment and muttered to himself, his expression utterly deranged.
Heize nodded slightly toward the Azure Dragon. The two of them subtly gestured backward.
The people behind them began retreating silently.
With the Demon King’s mind in turmoil, this was the perfect moment to activate the Ancient Blood Fiend Resentful Spirit Formation.
From the moment the battlefield had been decided, the Azure Dragon and Heize had demanded a secret, ferocious formation from the Beast-Taming Clan and set up the Ancient Blood Fiend Resentful Spirit Formation at the center of the battlefield. This formation used blood as a sacrifice to summon resentful spirits from the world, borrowing their multiplied power to annihilate all living beings within the array.
There was no way to break this formation. Only after the last living creature inside was devoured would the array dissipate on its own.
As long as everyone withdrew beyond the formation’s range and then had the Qin family patriarch release the Dream-Weaving Beast to lure the Demon King into the array, once the formation was activated, no matter how powerful the Demon King was, he would never be able to walk out of the Ancient Blood Fiend Resentful Spirit Formation alive!
However, before the formation could be activated, the Demon King suddenly threw back his head and laughed wildly. He clutched the bloodstained garment of the human woman tightly, his eyes crimson and bleeding, his laughter more heartrending than sobs.
“Since Xunxun is dead, what are you all still alive for? What’s the point of this world still existing? Might as well destroy it! Destroy everything, hahahaha…”
The man in black robes, handsome as a demon god, laughed madly. The blood-fiend aura around him surged violently. A small area of emperor-rank cultivators nearby were already bleeding from their noses and mouths, collapsing to their knees.
Heize’s eyes widened as he shouted in terror, “Xue Ming, what are you doing—!”
Xue Ming turned his head to look at him. His blood-red eyes were sinister and icy. He slightly bared his teeth but did not answer. His gaze shifted to the Azure Dragon, his voice cold as ice. “Azure Dragon, I bear you no grudge, yet you have schemed against me time and again, even joining forces with Heize to deal with me. Aside from Heize, I hate you just as much. Today, in the name of the four-clawed Crimson Blood Teng Snake, I curse your Dragon Clan… you will inevitably march toward extinction!”
The Azure Dragon’s eyes flew wide open as he roared, “Xue Ming, how dare you!”
Heize shouted at the Azure Dragon, “Don’t argue with him — leave now and activate the Ancient Blood Fiend Resentful Spirit Formation!”
The Demon King curled his lips slightly into a bloodthirsty smile. “Too late. None of you are getting away. Come and be buried with Xunxun and me!”
Seeing this, Nan Xun’s eyes widened in shock. “Little Eight, Little Eight! What is Xue Ming trying to do?!”
The Void Beast was stunned as well. “I think… he’s about to self-detonate his beast core. Holy crap! An ancient ferocious beast with tens of thousands of years of cultivation — if that beast core explodes, the entire—”
Before Little Eight could finish, the image cut off. The ground suddenly shook violently.
The pitch-black night sky was illuminated by blinding blood-red light. In that instant, the heavens were as bright as day.
Not long after, a thunderous boom echoed from afar, shaking people’s eardrums with pain.
Nan Xun’s legs gave out and she collapsed onto the ground, staring blankly at the sky that had been bright as daylight, then watching as the blood-red light gradually faded and darkness returned once more.
