359: The Death of Li Lao Mo

Li Sangji controlled the flying carpet, transforming into a desperate streak of light, hugging the ground, frantically weaving through the shattered earth and burning ruins.

He dared not ascend to high altitudes, as that would attract more insect beasts' attention.

His Puppet body was cold and stiff, yet he poured every ounce of extracted magical power into the flying carpet beneath his feet.

The Beautiful Woman huddled tightly behind him, clutching the Infant/Baby, her face ashen, with only the faint breathing of the child in her arms providing her sole support.

"We're about to leave the city! As long as we escape, we'll be safe!!!" The Puppet's voice was low and strange, both comforting his wife and child and spurring himself on.

He manipulated the Puppet, continuously unleashing Yin Evil Fist shadows, crushing the sporadic low-level insect beasts that lunged at them into dust.

With each punch, the already dwindling magical power in the demon infant diminished further, and deep scratches from the insect beasts' claws covered its silver-black shell.

Finally, they burst out of the city walls from the east, but many insect beasts still pursued them from behind.

The spirituality of the Soul Transformation demon infant attracted them.

Li Sangji dared not stop, driving the flying carpet at full speed.

A hundred miles of desperate flight seemed to have exhausted centuries of his Luck.

Just as the eastern horizon seemed to widen slightly, and a spark of hope had just ignited—

Buzz!!!

A dense, Soul-freezing sound of wings beating, like the whisper of death, rapidly approached from behind!

Li Sangji abruptly turned his head, and in the Puppet's cold eye sockets, a sight that terrified him to his core was reflected.

A swift black storm was tearing through the air and sweeping towards them!

It was a death hunting squad composed of hundreds of ferocious insect beasts at the Peak of the Nascent Soul Realm!

They had clearly locked onto him, their escaped prey, and their speed far surpassed that of the flying carpet!

"Damn it!!!" Li Sangji roared inwardly, despair coiling around him like a cold viper.

He frantically squeezed the Puppet's core, and the demon infant's magical power continuously poured out, raising the flying carpet's speed to its limit, even emitting a piercing shriek on the verge of disintegration.

However, that black cloud of death was still visibly closing the distance!

Three hundred zhang... two hundred zhang... one hundred zhang!

The insect beasts' sharp proboscises glowed with a Soul-devouring light, and their greedy intent almost pierced through space!

The Beautiful Woman also felt the overwhelming pressure; she turned back in horror, only to see a terrifying black shadow that blotted out the sky, and countless points of bloodthirsty ghostly light!

"Husband...!" Her voice was choked with sobs and bone-deep fear.

Li Sangji's Puppet body suddenly trembled.

He stopped the flying carpet.

Time, as if, solidified at this moment.

He slowly turned, and with the cold, stiff Puppet arm, with an almost gentle force, he lightly brushed the Beautiful Woman's tear-stained cheek, then very gently touched the delicate face of the sleeping Infant/Baby in the swaddling clothes.

"Madam..." His voice, coming from the Puppet, was unusually calm, even carrying a hint of a relieved hoarseness, "Go east... keep going... don't look back... live... take our child... live! You know how to use this flying carpet!"

Before he finished speaking, he suddenly slipped an inconspicuous grey storage ring from the Puppet's finger—it contained his life's savings, all his hidden treasures, Spirit Stones, Cultivation Technique Jade Slips, and even the core control talisman for using the Puppet!

He roughly shoved it into the Beautiful Woman's trembling hand.

"Go!!!"

A thunderous roar, carrying an undeniable resolve!

Li Sangji controlled the Puppet, slamming a palm onto the tail of the flying carpet!

A gentle thrust erupted, sending the flying carpet, carrying the sobbing Beautiful Woman and the bewildered Infant/Baby, like an arrow from a bowstring, streaking towards the last glimmer of hope in the east!

And he, this broken silver-black Puppet, like a reef cast into a raging sea, rose fearlessly into the sky, facing that black storm of death that blotted out the heavens!

"Come on!!! You beasts!!! Your grandfather is here!!!"

Li Sangji's Divine Thought roared, shaking the four fields!

The fierce Evil Qi of the Soul Transformation old demon burst forth without reservation!

Like the most delicious bait, it firmly attracted the attention of all pursuers!

"Roar—!"

Hundreds of Peak Nascent Soul Realm insect beasts let out earth-shattering roars, instantly abandoning the distant flying carpet, and like a shark swarm smelling blood, frantically pounced on this Puppet emitting a delicious Soul aura!

"Yin Evil Slaughtering Heaven! Myriad Souls Devouring Heart!!!"

Li Sangji roared, and the Puppet's body erupted with its final, most brilliant dark demonic light!

He no longer held back, no longer calculated, completely igniting the demon infant's Origin integrated into the Puppet, along with all the power of this Divine Rank Puppet!

One after another, Yin Evil spells, even more condensed and violent than before, rained down like meteor showers, violently smashing into the insect swarm!

Boom! Rumble! Crack!

The sound of insect beast carapaces shattering, Puppet limbs breaking, and energy annihilating explosions mixed together!

Several insect beasts charging at the front were directly blown apart, but more insect beasts fearlessly swarmed forward!

Sharp segmented limbs, like the scythes of death, frantically hacked at the Puppet's body! Sparks flew, and metal fragments scattered!

One insect beast's sharp claw pierced the Puppet's chest!

Another severed the Puppet's left arm!

Death was closing in on him step by step!!

"Not enough... not fast enough!!" He stared fixedly at the east, the speck of light from the flying carpet already a nearly invisible dot.

More insect beasts swarmed over, completely engulfing him!

The Puppet's right leg was forcibly torn off!

Its head was simultaneously pierced by several sharp claws!

His vision instantly became Shattered Realm!

Power was rapidly draining, and consciousness began to blur.

The coldness of death, for the first time, so truly embraced this old demon who had spent his life creating death.

'Heh... it really... hurts like hell...' A thought flashed through his mind.

At the boundary of his sinking consciousness, countless fragmented scenes flashed by like a rapidly turning lantern:

Amidst the flickering lights, the timid courtesan holding a pipa raised her clear, watery eyes and looked at him. That one glance inexplicably made his heart, a man accustomed to slaughter, skip a beat.

When his subordinates tremblingly reported the pulse examination results, he crushed his favorite jade cup, experiencing for the first time what it meant to be "at a loss," followed by a joy that drowned out reason.

In a humble room, he clumsily held the wrinkled little life, watching it grin at him with its toothless mouth, and an unprecedented, almost poignant warmth broke through the ice wall in his heart.

He disguised himself as an ordinary old Cultivator, listening to his wife's chatter about everyday life, and found it a hundred times more enjoyable than killing and plundering.

The wanted poster displayed on the Ya Yue City (Cliff Moon City) wall, depicting his ferocious face, was filled with heinous crimes below.

At that time, he scoffed at it, even taking pride in it.

His wife's final "Husband..." filled with endless fear and despair, and the tiny, future-representing silhouette in the swaddling clothes... "So... I, Li Sangji... a murderer and arsonist... utterly evil... in the end..." The shattered Puppet remains were torn apart by countless insect beasts, the demon infant's Origin exposed to the air, frantically absorbed by greedy proboscises, bringing boundless pain of his Soul being torn apart inch by inch.

Yet, in this extreme pain, his consciousness erupted with its last flicker of clarity, carrying an almost absurd realization and the deepest attachment: "...it was all for... protecting this bit of... warmth... ah..."

"Son... Dad's bones... are hard enough, right...?"

His final Divine Thought, as faint as a candle in the wind, carrying an indescribable, fatherly pride and tenderness, completely dissipated amidst the greedy snarls and gnawing sounds of the insect beasts. He was no longer even able to self-detonate his demon infant.

Penglai Small World.

Nie Qianji appeared in the Prodigy courtyard early in the morning.

Today was the day the Penglai Immortal Pond opened, and he personally came to guide Xiao Zhuo and the other two.