176: Chapter 175 Self-Destruction

The two were trading blows above Chaoju City.

The golden flames of the cauldron of all things mother qi intertwined with blue beams of light; sword light collided with the Great Demon Lord's giant claws, while the lightning of the Purple Cloud Divine Thunder Curse annihilated the deep blue orbs of light shooting from the Great Demon Lord's body.

Each collision exploded into a shockwave, shattering the surrounding buildings constructed from seashells and bones.

The ground trembled, the seawater boiled, and the entire Chaoju City was teetering on the brink of collapse.

Countless sea demons poured out of their nests; some fled outside the city, some burrowed deeper into the seabed, while others, in their panic, slammed headfirst into walls.

They screamed and wailed, trampling over each other, resulting in countless casualties.

Those once majestic shrimp soldiers and crab generals were now worse than ants.

An Early Golden Core Stage sea snake tried to squeeze through a gap in the Void Water Curtain, but halfway through, it was swept by a shockwave, its entire body exploding into a mist of blood.

A group of Foundation Establishment Stage Clam Demons huddled together, shivering, not even daring to run.

Yun Ming saw the fleeing sea demons, but he could not attend to them.

His opponent was too large, too powerful; he had no spare energy to care about anything else.

The Great Demon Lord saw them too.

Its expression changed.

Those sea demons, those sea demons fleeing in all directions, were its nourishment.

They were the sacrifices it had prepared for a thousand years.

How could they run? How dare they run?

It abruptly raised a front claw and pressed it vaguely in the direction of the Void Water Curtain.

The entire city defense array lit up, and that layer of translucent film suddenly became solid, thickening several times over.

Several sea demons that had just rushed to the edge of the film slammed into it, were bounced back, fell to the ground, and vomited blood.

They scrambled up, rushed again, slammed into it again, and were bounced back again. The film remained unmoved.

"No one is allowed to leave." The Great Demon Lord's voice descended from above, low and cold, pressing down so heavily that the sea demons found it difficult even to breathe.

They slumped on the ground; some cried, some begged for mercy, and some were so frightened they were stunned, staring with wide eyes, motionless.

The Great Demon Lord did not look at them.

Its gaze returned to Yun Ming, its golden vertical pupils filled with rage.

Yun Ming hovered in mid-air, covered in wounds, his robes torn with several holes, blood trickling from the corner of his mouth.

He looked at the Great Demon Lord, then at the sea demons trapped in the city, and suddenly asked, "Do you not care about whether they live or die?"

The Great Demon Lord let out a low laugh.

The laughter sounded as if it were squeezed from the depths of its throat, hoarse and grating.

"Care? Of course I care."

"They are the sacrifices I have prepared for a thousand years, the fuel for my Breakthrough. Each one is important, and not a single one can be missing. That is why I cannot let them run away. As for whether they live or die—"

Its eyes narrowed slightly. "Of course they must die. Only when they are dead can they become my nourishment. How can one offer sacrifices while they are alive?"

Yun Ming fell silent.

He knew this Great Demon Lord was no good, but hearing it say such things with his own ears still made him feel disgusted.

Those sea demons were its kin, the subjects in the city it had built with its own hands.

In its eyes, they were nothing but nourishment.

He suddenly thought of that Clam Demon.

That thin, sickly Clam Demon who had knelt on the ground begging the shrimp soldiers not to punish her.

She had escaped; he didn't know where she had fled to.

Perhaps she was still in the city, or perhaps she had already been killed by the shockwaves of the battle.

The Great Demon Lord's Aura was climbing.

Not slowly, but surging.

Its body began to swell, growing another circle larger than before.

Deep blue light seeped from the gaps between its scales; the light grew brighter and more intense, illuminating the entire Chaoju City as bright as day.

Its eyes also changed from golden yellow to deep blue; the vertical pupils disappeared, replaced by a cold light.

Its breath climbed all the way from the Late Nascent Soul Stage to the Peak of the Nascent Soul Great Perfection, only a thin sheet of paper away from Soul Transformation.

Its size grew larger and larger, so large that Yun Ming's Law of Heaven and Earth looked like a small child standing before an adult in comparison.

Yun Ming's expression changed.

He felt the gap.

That kind of gap could not be compensated for by Magic Treasures, could not be bridged by Spells, and could not even be made up for by Law of Heaven and Earth.

It was the crushing weight of Realms, a difference in quality.

He was at the Golden Core Middle Stage, while the opponent was at the Nascent Soul Great Perfection; between them lay the Late Golden Core Stage, Golden Core Perfection, Early Nascent Soul Stage, Middle Nascent Soul Stage, and Late Nascent Soul Stage.

Five steps, each one a chasm.

That he had managed to hold on until now was already a miracle.

But he could not hold on much longer.

His Spiritual Qi was more than half depleted, and his five Golden Cores were rotating sluggishly.

The moonlight flowing frost robe had several more tears, the surface of the xuanming heaven-covering umbrella was covered in cracks, and the Golden Crow flames on the cauldron of all things mother qi were no longer as intense as they had been at the beginning.

His Magic Treasures were being consumed, his Spiritual Qi was being consumed, and his body was also being consumed.

He did not know how much longer he could hold on.

The Great Demon Lord did not give him a chance to catch his breath.

It raised a front claw and swiped down at Yun Ming.

This time it was not a test, not a casual strike, but full strength.

That claw carried the power to destroy the heavens and earth, carried all the resentment it had accumulated over a thousand years, and carried all its longing to break through to Soul Transformation, pressing down toward Yun Ming.

Yun Ming wanted to dodge, but that power was too great, so great that even space itself was solidified.

His body could not move, as if he were nailed to the spot.

He could only watch as that claw grew closer and larger.

The Great Demon Lord watched the figure it had locked down, a glimmer of satisfaction flashing in its golden vertical pupils.

This person was strong, much stronger than it had anticipated.

To be able to fight it like this at the Golden Core Middle Stage—if he were allowed to break through to the Nascent Soul, it feared it would not be his match.

But that would not happen. He would have no more opportunities to break through.

Today, he would become its nourishment.

Just like those sea demons.

Yun Ming knew he had lost.

Golden Core Middle Stage versus Nascent Soul Great Perfection; it was a gap of more than a full major Realm.

That he had held on until now meant he had exhausted all his trump cards. Law of Heaven and Earth, the cauldron of all things mother qi, the zhoutian yuan-magnetic realm-suppressing tower, the Purple Cloud Divine Thunder Curse—he had used everything he could, fought with everything he had.

But the Great Demon Lord was still there, not even having lost a few scales, while he was depleted of Spiritual Qi and covered in wounds.

But he did not panic.

He had a bold idea, an idea he had thought about for a long time but never had the chance to test.

He wanted to know: if he self-detonated his Golden Core, would he still have a Golden Core after his Rebirth? Or would he have to cultivate from the beginning? He had died several times, and each time his body was shattered by external forces, and his Golden Core shattered along with it.

After shattering and then Rebirth, the Golden Core remained, and his cultivation base remained as well.

But that was from being shattered, not from self-detonation.

Would self-detonating a Golden Core be different from having it shattered by someone else? He did not know.

He wanted to try.

In any case, he could not die, and his Lifespan was endless, so he might as well conduct more experiments.

This time was the perfect opportunity.

He took a deep breath, and the five Golden Cores in his Dantian began to vibrate violently.

As if they sensed their master's intent, they simultaneously erupted with blinding light.

Gold, cyan, crimson, black, white—five-colored light intertwined, spinning crazily in his Dantian.

The Great Demon Lord suddenly felt that something was wrong.

It had lived for thousands of years and had seen countless Cultivators struggle before death, but never had it felt so uneasy.

The Aura emanating from that young man was not right; it was not the Aura that should belong to the Golden Core Middle Stage, nor even the Aura that should belong to the Golden Core Stage.

It guessed that Yun Ming might be trying to self-detonate, but no Golden Core had ever been able to self-detonate in front of it.

It moved.

The Spiritual Qi on its body surged out like a tsunami, the deep blue light covering the sky and earth, crushing toward Yun Ming.

That power was enough to raze an island to the ground, enough to leave a Golden Core Cultivator without even a speck of dust remaining.

It wanted to completely annihilate him before Yun Ming could complete his self-detonation.

The torrent of Spiritual Qi slammed into Yun Ming, emitting a deafening roar.