355: Unlock the Demonic Clone

Silence enveloped the surroundings.

No one spoke.

Only heavy breathing echoed.

Zhou Hong and the others stared blankly at the blood splattered everywhere.

They remained stunned for a long time.

Only at this moment did they clearly realize that what Xiao Shi had said earlier—"Do you want to die?"—

was not merely an irrational outburst spoken in anger.

He genuinely meant it!

This made everyone look at Xiao Shi with a strong sense of shock, accompanied by a peculiar feeling.

Especially the Martial Demons from the Great Wu Dynasty.

The peculiarity in their eyes was most intense.

Their strangeness primarily stemmed from Xiao Shi daring to defy the Great Wu Crown Prince!

One must know that, in the current Great Wu Dynasty, no one dared to defy the Great Wu Crown Prince.

The Great Wu Crown Prince appeared gentle on the surface,

but in reality, his temperament was perverse and tyrannical.

Under his rule, he absolutely would not tolerate anyone in the Great Wu Dynasty daring to defy his will.

Therefore, in the current Great Wu Dynasty, it was virtually impossible to find anyone who dared to defy the Great Wu Crown Prince.

If not for the undeniable taboo existing within Xiao Shi, everyone would even think that Xiao Shi was not a person of the Great Wu Dynasty at all!

Zhou Hong's expression was complex regarding this.

Although Xiao Shi's killing of Chu Tong this time did not trigger the taboo within him, his actions were destined to make it difficult for him to gain a foothold in the Great Wu Dynasty afterward.

He might even end up in opposition to the Great Wu Dynasty.

At that time, their positions would become hostile.

The other Martial Demons of the Great Wu Dynasty also realized this.

Their moods also became complicated.

Although they did not know Xiao Shi's true identity,

they did not want to see Xiao Shi become an enemy of the Great Wu Dynasty.

Xiao Shi, however, did not think so much.

For these people, defying the Great Wu Crown Prince seemed to be a matter with severe consequences, but he did not take it too seriously.

After all, it was not the first time he had defied him.

Moreover, the Great Wu Crown Prince was not such a lofty, unassailable figure in his heart.

Xiao Shi did not take him too seriously.

Nor did he think of catering to him or serving him.

Now, after dealing with Chu Tong, Xiao Shi then focused his attention on the exclusive items.

Although their current checkpoint was already the final one, the subsequent Sacred Land was the key to whether they could control this special area.

Therefore, these exclusive items

were also very important. Meanwhile,

within the imperial palace of the Great Wu Dynasty,

the moment Chu Tong died,

the Great Wu Crown Prince's expression suddenly changed.

A mouthful of fresh blood spurted from his mouth.

His expression was shocked and furious, veins bulging on his face, his eyes filled with brutality and rage.

Pavilion Master of Martial Pavilion, Cheng Riyou, who was beside him, was startled by the Great Wu Crown Prince's sudden condition.

He stepped forward worriedly and asked,

"Your Highness, what's wrong?"

The Great Wu Crown Prince's eyes were gloomy.

"Chu Tong is dead!"

Although he could not see the situation within the special area, before everyone went to the special area, he had condensed a wisp of the Great Wu Dynasty's fate onto Chu Tong.

Now, with Chu Tong's death,

this wisp of fate also dissipated, and he suffered a certain degree of backlash as a result.

"Dead!?"

Cheng Riyou was shocked.

He subconsciously felt that Chu Tong must have died at the hands of those Martial Demons from the Three Great Domains.

And he clearly knew that this time, the Great Wu Crown Prince had invested heavily in Chu Tong to ensure he could successfully refine this special area.

He never expected that Chu Tong would still die!

"It seems those three fellows spared no expense to seize this special area…"

Cheng Riyou said in a deep voice,

believing that the three demigods from the Three Great Domains must have invested more in these Martial Demons.

This was why Chu Tong was killed.

Otherwise, with the Great Wu Crown Prince's investment in Chu Tong, an ordinary Martial Demon would certainly not be his opponent.

Moreover, there were also a group of people from the Great Wu Dynasty who would assist him.

"No."

"Chu Tong was not killed by the Martial Demons of the Three Great Domains; he died at the hands of a Martial Demon from our Great Wu Dynasty."

The Great Wu Crown Prince's rage burned, and he said through gritted teeth.

If Chu Tong had died at the hands of a Martial Demon from the Three Great Domains, he wouldn't have been so angry.

But Chu Tong died at the hands of one of his own, which made it somewhat difficult for him to accept.

"Died at the hands of one of his own? This… how is this possible!"

Cheng Riyou was greatly shocked by this.

Before entering this special area, the Great Wu Crown Prince had clearly left a taboo on these people.

Even if some of these Martial Demons had malicious intentions towards Chu Tong, they would be unable to act against him.

With the power of such a taboo, once triggered, these Martial Demons would instantly die.

It was simply impossible for anyone to kill Chu Tong.

This made Cheng Riyou feel somewhat incredible.

At the same time, he also did not believe that these Martial Demons could break the taboo on them.

Even if the taboo left by the Great Wu Crown Prince did not reach the level of a demigod, it was definitely not something these Martial Demons could break.

The Great Wu Crown Prince clenched his fists, his surging rage causing bloodshot veins to appear in his eyes, like a furious lion king.

This caused the entire imperial palace to tremble.

The wisp of fate he had condensed onto Chu Tong allowed him to see the scene before Chu Tong's death.

He thus witnessed Chu Tong begging for mercy before his death.

Although the one who killed Chu Tong was a humanoid Saint covered in black scales, Chu Tong, before his death, was begging for mercy from the person standing behind the humanoid Saint.

This made the Great Wu Crown Prince realize that

the one who truly eliminated Chu Tong was this person completely covered by a black cloak.

Although the Great Wu Crown Prince could not see this person's figure or appearance and did not know who he was,

he clearly felt the taboo he had left on this person, thus confirming that this person must be from the Great Wu Dynasty!

According to his speculation,

the other party most likely used some method he was unaware of to mobilize this black-scaled humanoid Saint, allowing this black-scaled humanoid Saint to act and kill Chu Tong, thus not triggering the taboo on him.

"Another one!!"

"Another bastard dares to defy my orders!!"

The Great Wu Crown Prince was furious.

Since he took power, apart from a few initial defiance, after years of development, it had been a very long time since anyone dared to defy him.

He never expected that now, besides Xiang Zizhen, there was another person who dared to defy him.

However, since this person was currently still in the special area,

the Great Wu Crown Prince could not settle the score.

But he thought of Xiang Zizhen… "It seems I didn't take action against the one named Xiang before, which made these ants start to think they could ignore me and defy me!"

The Great Wu Crown Prince's expression was fierce.

Previously, he had been constrained by his reputation and found it difficult to act against Xiang Zizhen.

However, the current situation made him attribute all of this to Xiang Zizhen.

"Tell Chen Yuan that I will give him at most seven more days. If he cannot confirm Xiang Zizhen's stance within seven days, then kill Xiang Zizhen!!"

The Great Wu Crown Prince roared.

Originally, he had given Chen Yuan a month.

But now he couldn't wait any longer.

If the previous decline in the Great Wu Dynasty's fate was truly due to Xiang Zizhen, then for such a disloyal person to the Great Wu Dynasty, even if he was a Saint, the Great Wu Crown Prince would not tolerate him!

"…As you command!"

Cheng Riyou responded. Xiao Shi looked at the many exclusive items before him.

The exclusive items from the Star Era were mainly various suppression-type items.

The exclusive items from the Nether Moon Era, relatively speaking, had more complex functions.

There were exclusive items that could enhance oneself, and also exclusive items that could weaken targets.

Their functions were diverse.

What surprised Xiao Shi the most was that, among the many exclusive items from the Nether Moon Era, he discovered a non-exclusive item similar to the Crimson Refining Corpse, which could also be taken away from this place.

It was a Demonic Body Clone!

Although this Demonic Body Clone was not one of the Demonic Body Clones on the Ten Evils Ranking, its value was still immense.

In addition, Xiao Shi pondered that besides this Demonic Body Clone that could be taken away, he could also take away the Saint Realm Demonic Body Clone that originally belonged to this checkpoint!

After all, with the current fear this Demonic Body Clone had of him, it would obey all his commands.

Thus,

in terms of Demonic Body Clones alone, Xiao Shi would successfully obtain two.

However, he also knew that

once a Demonic Body Clone left this checkpoint, its strength would significantly decrease.

This was mainly due to the era.

After all, it was not the Nether Moon Era now; Demonic Body Clones in this era could only exert their physical strength and could not display the power they should have in the Nether Moon Era.

This was also the main reason why the Demonic Body Clone Xiao Shi first acquired in the Nether Moon Era, which was ranked third on the Ten Evils Ranking, could only display far less power than the Demonic Body Clone here this time.

Once they left their original era, their overall strength would be greatly reduced.

Of course,

if Xiao Shi's Demonic Body Clone could appear in this checkpoint, its strength would also far surpass the Demonic Body Clone here.

However, the current Demonic Body Clone was still under seal.

Among the many exclusive items from the Star Era, there was also a non-exclusive item.

This was a star-shaped formation seal.

Its primary function was suppression.

However, to take this item away, one must have a certain degree of control over star-related power, a very demanding condition.

Xiao Shi did not meet the conditions to take it away.

However, Xiao Shi thought that as long as he could complete the refinement of this special area, this item would still be his then.

As for the current exclusive items,

Zhou Hong and the others did not demand them.

By now,

they no longer had much need for these exclusive items.

Previously, they needed these exclusive items mainly to pass through these checkpoints smoothly. Now that they had passed all checkpoints, they naturally no longer needed these exclusive items.

After all, for them,

they had no intention of competing for this special area.

Martial Demons like Zhou Hong from the Great Wu Dynasty were labeled as assistants by the Great Wu Crown Prince from the beginning, and were deprived of the opportunity to compete for this special area from the start.

As for the remaining three Martial Demons from the Three Great Domains, after experiencing the dangers here, they also realized that this special area was not something they could covet.

If they still had a glimmer of hope before,

after experiencing the dangers of these four checkpoints,

they no longer had any thoughts of competing for this special area.

Now, they only wanted to return alive.

Moreover, even if they wanted these exclusive items, they would be too embarrassed to ask Xiao Shi for them at this time.

Everyone knew very well that

they were able to reach this point alive entirely thanks to Xiao Shi.

Without Xiao Shi, they would never have been able to pass this checkpoint.

From all aspects, these items should belong to Xiao Shi.

Just like that,

after Xiao Shi acquired all the exclusive items here,

they and their respective guards walked out of this checkpoint.

After traveling for a while,

a massive dark green altar appeared ahead.

The entire altar was several hundred meters high. As everyone ascended the steps of the altar and reached its top, a green pool appeared before them.

In front of the pool stood a tall stone tablet.

The stone tablet was blank, with seemingly nothing on it.

But when everyone focused their gaze on the stone tablet, information about the pool simultaneously emerged in their minds.

The function of this pool was to release seals.

This made everyone clearly realize that

they would next need to use this pool to unseal their respective Demonic Body Clones.

However, the method of unsealing was somewhat special.

It required sacrifice to unseal.

"So the purpose of these guards is here…"

Xiao Shi suddenly understood.

From the beginning,

he had realized that the role of these guards was not simply to transport the Demonic Body Clones; there must be other functions.

Now it seemed that after these guards transported the Demonic Body Clones here, they would need to sacrifice themselves to unseal the Demonic Body Clones.

At the same time, in terms of sacrifice, a sufficient number was clearly needed.

If the number of guards performing the sacrifice was insufficient,

then it would still be difficult to unseal the Demonic Body Clones.

Upon understanding this,

someone immediately began to try.

They ordered their guards to jump directly into the green pool ahead.

These guards would not refuse the commands given to them, even if it meant their demise; they would go without hesitation.

Plop!

When these guards jumped into the green pool,

their bodies immediately dissolved in the pool water.

They transformed into a wisp of green light, merging into the boxes that sealed their respective Demonic Body Clones.

Click!

With a soft sound,

the chains wrapped around the boxes suddenly broke.

At the same time, one layer of the seal on the boxes also dissipated.

This made everyone's eyes light up.

They immediately ordered all their guards to jump into the green pool ahead.

What they had been worried about all along was that they would be unable to unseal their Demonic Body Clones when they finally left this place.

If they couldn't take their Demonic Body Clones out,

their cultivation would permanently drop to the first stage of the Martial Demon Realm, and they would be among the weakest type of Martial Demons.

Now that they had found a way to unseal the Demonic Body Clones, everyone no longer hesitated and began to unseal them.