86: A shocking fishing, the devil's fury

Demon Suppression Abyss.

A forbidden land forgotten by the world.

The sky was a solidified lead-gray, Devilish Clouds like ink, pressing down heavily overhead.

The mountains and rocks here were eerily dark brown, with no grass growing.

Whimpering winds poured in from the abyss's crack, scraping against Divine Souls, bone-chillingly cold.

Lin Gou stood at the edge of this dead silence.

His simple Qingyun Sect Disciple robe flapped in the wind, completely out of place among the richly dressed bigwigs behind him.

He looked frail, like a withered branch that could snap at any moment.

Zhao Linger stood behind him, silent.

Her gentle, watery eyes were now streaked with blood.

Her small hand clutched a brocade pouch tightly, her knuckles turning a sickly pale from the excessive force.

It contained her most precious Nine Revolutions Soul Restoration Pill.

“Senior Brother…”

Her voice was very soft, with a tremor, almost scattered by the wind.

Lin Gou didn't turn back.

He merely raised a hand and waved it gently backward, a free and easy motion, without a trace of reluctance.

As if he wasn't going to his death, but merely out for a stroll.

Only he knew how excited he was at this moment.

【Target: The Devil Head's main Clone deep within the Demon Suppression Abyss.】

【Estimated Death Rating: S-rank starting; with proper operation, it's expected to reach SS-rank Heroic Death!】

【Reward Prediction: Massive Cultivation Initiation, high-tier Cultivation Technique, special Physique, Righteous Path Prestige Value...】

How was this a Dragon's Den Tiger's Lair?

This was clearly an unmined, glittering treasure trove!

“Lin Gou.”

A cold voice interrupted his inner revelry.

Li Hanyue walked over, her hand on her sword hilt, and stood beside him.

She didn't look at him, her gaze fixed on the churning Devilish Clouds ahead, her cold profile taut.

“I've pinpointed the altar's location.”

Her voice was devoid of any emotion.

“You just need to buy us an incense stick's worth of time.”

“After an incense stick's time, regardless of success or failure, I will activate the backup plan and forcibly detonate Tianjian Sect's 'Demon Breaking Sword Array' to create an opportunity for you to escape.”

Lin Gou glanced at her in surprise.

Backup plan?

This wasn't in the script.

Forcibly detonating the Sword Array would likely cause Tianjian Sect to suffer heavy Origin Qi damage.

【Ding! Detected strong support from Li Hanyue (cold outside, warm inside version), Gou Dao Points +100.】

Lin Gou chuckled inwardly.

This Sword Maniac, though she didn't say it, her body was very honest.

“No need.”

He uttered two words faintly.

“Proceed as planned.”

“You…”

Li Hanyue finally turned her head, a hint of anger flashing in her sharp Phoenix eyes.

But Lin Gou had already stepped forward.

With one step, his figure vanished like a ghost into the impenetrable darkness, leaving only a rapidly disappearing azure afterimage.

“Wait for me to return.”

A light sentence, carried by the wind, reached everyone's ears.

Li Hanyue stood rooted, her hand gripping the sword hilt, tightening involuntarily.

Zhao Linger's tears finally fell silently…deep within the Demon Suppression Abyss.

The Devilish Qi was almost substantial, like wriggling black viscous liquid, emitting a “sizzling” corrosive sound.

The air was filled with the stench of rust mixed with rotting flesh.

Lin Gou stopped before a massive rift valley.

This was the “stage” he had chosen.

He unhesitatingly took out a Jade Bottle.

Inside the bottle was a drop of [Ancient Heavenly Devil Essence Blood], a System reward.

A top-tier provocation tool, a great weapon.

Lin Gou uncorked the bottle.

A terrifying aura, a hundred times purer and more domineering than the surrounding Devilish Qi, shot skyward!

That aura carried a supreme pressure originating from the depths of its Bloodline.

As if a king had arrived, only to find his territory occupied by ants.

Lin Gou immediately circulated his spiritual power, simulating the aura as if the core of a Seal had been stripped away.

This disguise was very clever.

It was equivalent to shouting at a sleeping Devil Head: “Your home has been stolen! Your source of power is about to be taken!”

Having done all this, Lin Gou turned and ran, without a moment's delay.

Almost the instant he turned.

“Roar—!!!”

An indescribable roar, filled with endless fury, exploded from the deepest part of the rift valley!

The entire Demon Suppression Abyss trembled violently.

Boom!

A thick black Devil Shadow, like a mountain, tore through the earth and surged out!

The Devil Shadow was a thousand zhang tall, formed by pure darkness and resentment.

Countless twisted, suffering human faces floated and roared within it.

At the core of the storm, an enormous crimson single eye suddenly opened!

There was no reason in its eye, only the purest destruction and rage!

It was the Devil Head's main Clone guarding the altar!

Its gaze instantly locked onto the source of that “provocative” aura.

It saw.

A tiny Human Cultivator, like an ant, fleeing in panic.

And the essence blood aura that enraged it was on that ant!

“Die!!!”

A Divine Thought filled with endless killing intent exploded in Lin Gou's mind.

The Devil Shadow transformed into a black torrent that spanned heaven and earth, crushing towards Lin Gou with overwhelming force!

Wherever it passed, space shattered, and all things turned to ash!

Lin Gou only felt a suffocating pressure lock onto him.

Like an ant, targeted by the entire sky.

Run!

He exerted all his strength, slapping Movement Talismans and Gale Talismans onto his legs as if they were free.

He transformed into a stream of light, frantically darting through the rugged terrain.

He was fast, but the black torrent was even faster!

The distance between them rapidly closed.

“Boom!”

A pitch-black Devil Light grazed Lin Gou's body and slammed into a hundred-zhang mountain peak in front of him.

There was no explosion.

That mountain peak vanished silently, in an instant.

It wasn't reduced to dust, but completely erased from this world.

Lin Gou's eyelids twitched violently.

This power was even more terrifying than expected!

If he were hit head-on by this thing, even the System's recycling bin probably wouldn't find his data.

He dared not hold back anymore.

【Ding! Consumed Gou Dao Points 500, temporarily activated 'Space Jump' permission!】

Lin Gou's figure distorted, instantly vanishing.

The next second, he appeared several miles away.

Before he could catch his breath.

That terrifying black torrent, as if ignoring spatial distance, reappeared behind him, moving faster, its fury even greater!

It was completely enraged!

It didn't understand why an ant could escape its attack.

This was impossible!

“Boom! Boom! Boom!”

Streaks of destructive Devil Light, like Death's scythes, fell frantically behind him.

The earth was plowed into bottomless ravines.

The entire Demon Suppression Abyss became its playground for venting anger.

Lin Gou was the only clown being frantically chased.

He was in an extremely sorry state.

His azure robe had long been corroded to tatters by the Devilish Qi.

His face was “pale as paper,” his breathing “rapid and chaotic,” and his eyes were filled with “terror and shock.”

This acting, even the Oscars owed him a statuette.

But internally, he was calmly calculating.

【Time, half an incense stick has passed.】

【Li Hanyue and the others are about to make their move.】

【This idiot's attack pattern is becoming singular; anger is diminishing its intelligence.】

【Good opportunity!】

A glint flashed in Lin Gou's eyes.

He deliberately exposed a flaw, and when he landed after a space jump, his body “stumbled,” slowing down by half a beat.

It was this half-beat!

The Devil Head Clone's crimson single eye burst forth with a light of ecstasy.

It opened its huge mouth, and a black light beam, even more concentrated and terrifying than all previous attacks, instantly shot out!

This strike sealed off all escape routes.

Unavoidable!

In front of the Alliance Hall's Water Mirror Art, everyone witnessed this desperate scene.

Qingyun Sect Leader's face was ashen.

Zhao Linger's vision went black, and she almost fainted.

It's over!

However, just as the destructive light beam was about to engulf Lin Gou.

Lin Gou stopped.

He turned around, facing the world-destroying attack.

On his face, there was no fear, no despair.

Only a mad, bloodthirsty smile.

【Ding! Detected a certain death situation! Death method: Being directly killed by the Ancient Heavenly Devil Clone's 'Annihilation Devil Light'!】

【Death Rating: S-rank!】

【Calculating rewards…】

Boom—!!!

The black light beam instantly completely engulfed Lin Gou's tiny figure.

There were no screams, no struggles.

He, along with that space, was completely erased, as if he had never existed.

The Devil Head Clone let out a hearty roar.

The annoying ant was finally dead!

However, its roar lasted less than a breath before it abruptly stopped.

Because, on another mountaintop several miles away.

That incredibly familiar figure, which it had personally erased, had… appeared again!

He was still disheveled, his face looking even “weaker” than before.

“…”

The world seemed to fall silent for an instant.

In the Devil Head Clone's single eye, for the first time, an emotion called “bewilderment” appeared.

Its thought process, composed of pure energy, entered a brief state of shutdown.

What's going on?

Why?

Why was he still alive?!

Immediately after, bewilderment was replaced by ten times, a hundred times the rage!

This was a provocation!

The ultimate humiliation to its status as an Ancient Devil God Clone!

“Roar—!!!”

This roar carried an unprecedented madness.

It no longer held back; all the Devilish Qi in the entire Demon Suppression Abyss began to frantically converge towards it!

Meanwhile, on the distant mountaintop.

Lin Gou felt his Cultivation surge, and a Divine Soul secret technique, “Great Dream of a Thousand Autumns,” appeared in his mind, the curve of his lips growing more pleased.

“S-rank reward, obtained.”

“Now, it's time to aim for SS-rank.”

He felt a vibration from the communication Jade Slip in his embrace.

Li Hanyue and the others had made their move.

The timing was perfect.

Just then, the completely berserk Devil Head Clone sensed something.

Its massive body suddenly stiffened.

The connection to its source of power was being rapidly weakened by an incomparably sharp force!

The altar! Something was happening at the altar!

“You… seek… death!!!”

The intermittent, malevolent Divine Thought sounded again.

The Devil Head Clone's crimson single eye stared fixedly at Lin Gou.

It finally understood.

Lure the tiger away from its mountain!

All of this was this ant's conspiracy!

Towering rage burned away its last shred of reason.

It gave up on reinforcing the altar.

It now had only one thought.

At all costs, completely erase this ant who had played it, from the Law level!

Its massive body began to collapse inward, condensing.

All surrounding light, sound, and Laws were frantically devoured by it.

A terrifying aura, one that even made Lin Gou's heart palpitate, began to spread.

Forbidden Art!

A gray light beam, impossible to perceive visually, only detectable by Divine Soul, composed purely of the “annihilation” Law, instantly locked onto Lin Gou.

Ignoring space, ignoring distance, ignoring all defenses.

【Warning! Detected 'True Spirit Annihilation' level attack! Law lock has been completed!】

【Temporary anchor point unable to react in time! Short-distance revival has been sealed off!】

【Host will suffer an irreversible obliterating attack in three seconds!】

The System's alarm, for the first time, took on a sense of urgency.

Lin Gou's pupils suddenly contracted.

But the expression on his face grew even more excited and fanatical.

This was what he wanted!

This was the most magnificent stage that could challenge a [Heroic Death]!