252: The Demon Ancestor took the bait and devoured the trap.

Facing the pitch-black demonic cloud that swept over, engulfing the heavens and devouring the earth with boundless demonic might, Shen Yuanmo's already pale face showed an even more intense 'terror'.

He seemed to have been completely scared out of his wits, desperately squeezing the already dried-up and depleted magical power in his Dantian.

Buzz!

A shield woven from five-colored spiritual light struggled to emerge on Shen Yuanmo's body, its light flickering uncertainly, as if it would completely extinguish in the next instant.

The runes flowing on the shield were also incomplete and their brilliance extremely dim, clearly a hastily deployed defensive measure that looked as if a gust of wind could shatter it.

Shen Yuanmo adopted a posture of full resistance, but his body trembled violently due to the exhaustion of his magical power, swaying precariously in the violent spatial turbulence, seemingly about to fall from the sky at any moment.

"Hahahaha! Junior, within this Seat's Myriad Devils Devouring Heaven Domain, you still wish to struggle?"

Ancestor Xuan Ming's sharp, piercing maniacal laughter simultaneously echoed from the demonic clouds in all directions. Every syllable transformed into an invisible demonic sound, attempting to bore into Shen Yuanmo's Sea of Consciousness and corrupt his Divine Soul.

His demonic cloud had already completely enveloped Shen Yuanmo, along with the 'Spiritual Qi Singularity' behind him that emitted an alluring aura, completely cutting off all external detection.

This was Ancestor Xuan Ming's absolute home ground!

"No matter how cunning you are, how Heaven-Defying your methods, within this Seat's Domain, you are destined to become mere nourishment!"

Ancestor Xuan Ming's voice was filled with uncontrollable ecstasy and boundless smugness.

In his eyes, the situation was decided!

This junior, who had repeatedly made him feel alarmed and even vaguely uneasy, was ultimately too shallow in his Dao cultivation and had fallen into his grasp.

And that unexpectedly discovered, unimaginably vast Spiritual Qi mass was an supreme Opportunity bestowed upon him by the heavens!

Double happiness! What immense Luck was this!

"Ji Changkong, that fool, was too cautious and hesitant; he deserved to gain nothing!"

Ancestor Xuan Ming sneered inwardly, the flames of greed having completely burned away his last shred of reason. Visions of the future even began to appear in his mind.

"Once this Old Ancestor devours this junior, seizes that mysterious Heart of Chaos, and completely refines this mass of Spiritual Qi, my cultivation will surely break through the Bottleneck and touch upon the legendary Half-step Void Return!"

"By then, even that old immortal Cang Xuan, this Old Ancestor might not be unable to contend with him! In this Endless Sea, who would dare to oppose me!"

"Come! Everything about you shall become the stepping stone for this Seat to reach the pinnacle!"

Ancestor Xuan Ming's Divine Thought stirred, and within his Domain, the situation dramatically changed, demonic might like a prison!

Whoosh—!

The boundless demonic clouds violently churned, and countless grotesque ghost faces formed from pure Devilish Qi appeared and moved through the clouds. They opened their pitch-black mouths, emitting silent roars that could directly shock the Divine Soul.

Immediately after, thousands upon thousands of Devil Heads, in various forms, emerged from the depths of the demonic clouds.

These were all soul slaves that Ancestor Xuan Ming had refined alive from the souls of Cultivators over thousands of years; they were the core of his Myriad Devils Domain!

"Roar!"

"Kill!"

Countless Devil Heads roared and shrieked, forming a black torrent of death that surged from all directions, madly pouncing towards Shen Yuanmo, who was trapped in the center and teetering on the brink!

They wanted to tear apart his shield!

Devour his flesh and blood!

Swallow his Divine Soul!

At the same time, an even more powerful and overbearing suction force emanated from the very core of the demonic cloud, forming a bottomless black vortex.

The target of that vortex was directly pointed at the 'singularity' behind Shen Yuanmo, which emitted vast Spiritual Qi!

Ancestor Xuan Ming intended to kill two birds with one stone!

On one hand, he would command the myriad soul slaves to wear down the junior's last resistance, and on the other, he would seize the time to refine that masterless, Heaven-Defying spiritual essence and make it his own!

Crack!

Almost the instant the torrent of Devil Heads made contact, the already fragile Five Elements shield on Shen Yuanmo's body let out a crisp, unbearable cracking sound.

It instantly shattered into countless specks of light, vanishing without a trace.

"Heheheh... it's over!"

Ancestor Xuan Ming, seeing this, let out an unrestrained maniacal laugh.

However, just as he thought Shen Yuanmo would be devoured by the myriad devils.

Buzz—!

The Chaos-colored divine armor on Shen Yuanmo's body, which had long been dim and covered in cracks, actually burst forth with an intensely brilliant light once again!

Profound images of the birth and death of stars in the Universe flowed across the armor, and a deep, heavy, ancient aura, as if coexisting with Heaven and Earth and the Great Dao, erupted.

It actually managed to forcefully push the myriad Devil Heads that had rushed forward back three feet, preventing them from advancing an inch!

"Hmm? Still has strength left?"

Ancestor Xuan Ming's laughter abruptly stopped, and a trace of surprise flashed in his eerie green pupils.

This junior's Dao Artifact battle armor was actually so tough?

With its master's magical power exhausted, could the Dao Artifact itself withstand the assault of myriad devils?

However, that was all it was.

He could clearly perceive that the armor's light was diminishing at a visible rate, evidently making a final desperate struggle.

"Hmph, a dying struggle! Let's see how long you can last!"

Ancestor Xuan Ming snorted coldly, then simply ignored Shen Yuanmo and concentrated all his attention on refining that 'Spiritual Qi Singularity'!

As long as he recovered his magical power, this junior, along with his Dao Artifact, would eventually be his!

The vast Demonic Technique fully operated, and the suction force of the black vortex increased by more than ten times, like a giant whale drawing water, frantically pulling, devouring, and refining the 'Spiritual Qi' that was within reach.

Strands of extremely pure 'Spiritual Qi' were extracted from the singularity and, following the trajectory of the Demonic Technique, surged into Ancestor Xuan Ming's Meridians, ultimately flowing into his soul transformation dao fruit, which was covered in demonic patterns and connected to his Origin.

An unprecedented sense of comfort spread throughout his limbs and bones, causing every pore on his body to open up.

Ancestor Xuan Ming was so comfortable he almost groaned aloud.

It's done!

This energy was even purer and a hundred times vaster than he had imagined!

Give him ten more breaths of time, no, five breaths!

He could completely refine this mass of Spiritual Qi and replenish all his losses!

However, just as he extended more Divine Thought into it, preparing to accelerate the refining process and swallow this Heaven-sent Opportunity in one gulp.

His old face, distorted by ecstasy, suddenly froze.

No!

This feeling was wrong!

The moment Ancestor Xuan Ming refined that energy, he finally detected a sense of incongruity!

The essence of that energy was not any kind of Heaven and Earth Spiritual Qi he was familiar with at all!

There was not the slightest vitality or warmth, not a hint of the warmth of Dao affinity!

What there was, was only an extreme purity, an extreme coldness of... destruction and cutting!

That was no Spiritual Qi Singularity at all!

It was a spatial bomb, composed of billions of spatial blades compressed to the extreme, countless times smaller than dust, forcibly kneaded together at a strange Law node, a complete and utter spatial bomb disguised as Spiritual Qi!

"This... what is this thing?!"

Ancestor Xuan Ming's Divine Soul, at this moment, let out a shriek of extreme horror and heart-wrenching agony!

A chill a thousand times more terrifying than death itself instantly exploded from the depths of his Dao Fruit, submerging all his ecstasy and greed!

He wanted to stop!

He wanted to immediately expel this fatal energy that had already entered his body, from his Meridians, from his Dao Fruit, and out of his body!

But it was too late.

The Myriad Devils Devouring Heaven Cultivation Technique he cultivated, its core was devouring and refining. Once fully activated, it was like a floodgate opening, overbearing and unparalleled, devouring everything, yet extremely difficult to reverse!

At this moment, this supreme Demonic Technique, which he had been proud of and had dominated for thousands of years, had become the most fatal death warrant!

It became the strongest shackles, firmly locking that 'spatial bomb', which was already on the verge of detonation, in the core of his Domain, on his soul transformation dao fruit that was connected to his Origin!

This was truly playing with fire!

And at this very moment, the figure in green, besieged by myriad devils and struggling to hold on with his Dao armor, slowly raised his head.

On his 'pale' face, where was there any trace of weakness or despair?

Instead, there was a mocking expression, utterly cold, as if looking at a dead man.

"Only now do you discover it?"

Shen Yuanmo's voice leisurely echoed in Ancestor Xuan Ming's Domain.

"Unfortunately, it's too late."

The moment his words fell.

Shen Yuanmo joined his sword fingers and flicked lightly towards the churning demonic clouds, towards the frantically devouring black vortex.

"Explode."

Boom—!!!

A supreme roar, not from the outside world, not transmitted by air, but exploding within Ancestor Xuan Ming's Divine Soul Sea of Consciousness, within the Origin of his Domain, and within his soul transformation dao fruit, shook the entire annihilation space storm!

"Ah—!!!"

Ancestor Xuan Ming let out an extremely shrill, inhuman scream!

His 'Myriad Devils Domain', touted as impervious to all techniques and capable of devouring the heavens and the earth, was like a star ignited from within. Dazzling gray lights frantically burst forth from the very core of the demonic cloud!

That light was pure spatial blades! It was the ultimate power of destruction!

The sky-obscuring demonic clouds were torn open by this internal destructive force, creating massive gaps as if decaying wood!

Within the Domain, the tens of thousands of roaring and shrieking grotesque Devil Heads, the instant they touched the gray light, didn't even have time to let out a scream before they were instantly vaporized like ice and snow in sunlight, annihilated into nothingness!

Ancestor Xuan Ming's indestructible demonic body, rumored to be immune to all tribulations, also burst forth with tens of thousands of gray lights!

Puff! Puff! Puff! Puff!

Horrifying wounds, deep enough to expose bone, frantically blossomed on his chest, limbs, and head. Not a single drop of blood flowed from the wounds; only pure, gray spatial power, annihilating all matter, raged wildly!

"Bastard! Bastard! You schemed against me!!!"

Ancestor Xuan Ming let out an utterly miserable wail, his voice filled with incomprehensible madness and unwillingness!

Demonic Technique backlash!

Dao Fruit injured!

Origin severely wounded!

He, this Deity Transformation Stage Mighty One who had dominated the Endless Sea for thousands of years and was hailed as the foremost figure of the Demonic Path.

At this moment, he was severely wounded, schemed against by a junior at the Half-step Nascent Soul stage!