204: Chapter 204 Bloodlust of the Netherworld

The newly stabilized defensive line was crumbling in an instant.

The protective divine light of several weaker Cultivators shattered upon impact, and amidst their screams, blood mists bloomed tragically in the vast sky—that bulwark built of flesh and blood was once again on the verge of collapse!

"We must not let him activate the Soul Banner again! If the banner is not destroyed, the Soul tide will be endless!"

Jian Tanghuang let out a clear shout, her voice strained with fatigue, yet her gaze was searingly bright, like a peerless divine sword finally unsheathed, instantly illuminating the only path to survival in the battle!

She forced herself to muster a breath of her Origin True Qi, the golden-red flowing light burning around her body surging violently, almost condensing into tangible flames!

Behind her, the magnificent and majestic True Phoenix phantom let out a cry to the sky, its clear, resonant shriek shaking the nine heavens, and its vast Divine Might sweeping away like a tidal wave, forcing the surrounding surging fierce Souls to retreat several zhang!

She ignored the stinging pain in every inch of her Meridians and her nearly exhausted Spiritual Sea, merging with her sword and transforming into a brilliant sword rainbow that slashed through the eternal night—intending to pierce through this boundless Soul tide, strike directly at the demon's true form, and completely annihilate the "Ten Thousand Soul-Devouring Immortal Banner," the source of all evil!

"Roar——!"

Chu Zhanxiao's roar seemed as if it would shatter the firmament!

Silver-gold Qi and blood erupted from his body like a volcanic explosion, scorching and intense.

Under the infusion of immense energy, his dragon-shaped battle armor shone brilliantly, every dragon scale flowing with resplendent radiance, as if a True Dragon had descended into the world!

He clenched his fists tightly, the whistling of his fist wind condensing into two blinding small suns, the intense light and flames scorching the air until it twisted and blurred!

With every punch thrown, it carried the terrifying power to collapse mountains and split rocks, to destroy cities and open the heavens, blasting the ancient battle Souls lunging at him until their Soul bodies shook violently and retreated repeatedly!

His eyes were blood-red, staring fixedly into the depths of the Soul tide, exhausting all his strength to tear open a bloody path—all just so the sword rainbow beside him could pierce through the darkness without obstruction!

However, the dark Soul tide was as thick as ink that could not be diluted, with dense crowds of Soul shadows coming one after another, seemingly endless.

Those battle Souls that had condensed ancient Evil Qi were even more fearless of death, entangling them like maggots on a bone.

Sharp claws tore through the air, emitting a screeching sound like scraping bones; eerie green ghost fires scorched Souls and eroded bones, bringing piercing pain.

Chu Zhanxiao and Jian Tanghuang fought back-to-back, bathed in blood.

Sharp Sword Intent and domineering fist radiance wove together into a defensive line in this desperate situation, yet they still struggled to advance even an inch within the surging Soul tide.

The hope of breaking through was like the sand in an hourglass, flowing away bit by bit along with their rapidly depleting stamina and Divine Soul.

—Just at this critical moment.

Xuanyuan Zhanxian, who had been standing quietly at the edge of the battlefield, finally moved.

The faint, almost imperceptible golden light around his body suddenly flared!

Raising his eyes, his gaze was like a sharp sword piercing through the fog, falling straight onto the Ten Thousand Soul-Devouring Immortal Banner in the demon's hand, which was wreathed in ominous fluctuations.

On the banner's surface, ten thousand Souls twisted and struggled, emitting silent wails, while pitch-black Evil Qi coiled and squirmed like living snakes, constantly eroding and contaminating the Heaven and Earth Spiritual Qi.

At this moment, the illusions of the sun, moon, and stars floating in his eyes quietly receded, turning into a state of extreme calm and depth, as if containing the primordial truths of the universe.

The aura around his body was ethereal and majestic, as if he had become the Incarnation of the Laws of heaven and earth!

"Refining weapons of slaughter using the Souls of living beings violates the harmony of heaven and goes against Reincarnation."

Xuanyuan Zhanxian's voice was not loud, but it was like the morning bell and evening drum, clearly penetrating the roars and rumbles of the battlefield, falling into everyone's ears: "This banner should not exist in the world."

Before the words had even faded, he slowly raised his hand.

In his palm, a black and white Taiji Diagram slowly rose.

As it rotated, the Yin and Yang Qi coiled like two agile swimming dragons, drawing upon the most fundamental Yin and Yang power between heaven and earth!

The winds and clouds changed suddenly, and the sky, previously obscured by Evil Qi, cracked open a sliver, allowing clear celestial light to descend, reflecting and shining with the clear radiance of the Taiji Diagram!

He flicked his fingertips lightly.

A beam of clear light, as lucid as glazed glass and as pure as fresh snow, shot from his hand.

It was faster than time, yet so gentle that it carried not a shred of Killing Intent.

It landed gently on the surface of the Ten Thousand Soul-Devouring Immortal Banner—

The moment the clear light touched the banner's surface, it was like a drop of water falling into boiling oil, instantly splashing out thousands of bright, silvery rays!

A miracle occurred at this moment.

The Soul shadows that had originally been twisting and struggling within the banner gradually calmed down.

The violence and resentment in their eyes receded like a tide, revealing the original, most authentic spiritual light from the depths of their Souls!

"This, this is... the power of Taiji Yin and Yang?!"

The demon's pupils constricted sharply, and he exclaimed in shock.

His hand gripping the banner pole trembled violently, and for the first time, horror appeared on his face!

He could clearly feel—the Souls he had enslaved for ten thousand years within the banner were Awakening at a terrifying speed and were crazily counterattacking against the banner's Restriction!

A grey-haired, elderly Soul shadow was the first to break free, bowing deeply in the direction of Xuanyuan Zhanxian.

Immediately after, it transformed into dots of gentle starlight and dissipated between heaven and earth.

Following that, a battle Soul clad in tattered armor roared at the sky, eyes burning with a raging fire of vengeance, and with its final remnant of consciousness, it slammed into the evil curse seal at the core of the Soul Banner!

One Soul awakens, ten thousand Souls follow!

More and more Soul shadows awakened from Chaos, like a breached flood, surging toward the banner's Restriction.

Grief, indignation, unwillingness, and the yearning for freedom and liberation... all converged into a force that shook heaven and earth, crazily impacting the Foundation of the Ten Thousand Soul-Devouring Immortal Banner!

"No!! My Ten Thousand Soul-Devouring Immortal Banner!!"

The demon appeared as if insane, crazily driving his spiritual power in an attempt to suppress it, but discovered in despair that everything was in vain!

On the banner's surface, cracks spread like a spiderweb, pitch-black Evil Qi gushed out and dissipated, and the aura of the Soul Banner rapidly declined!

How could Jian Tanghuang and Chu Zhanxiao let such a fleeting opportunity pass?

Jian Tanghuang formed a sword gesture with her fingers, her golden-red Sword Intent sublimating to the extreme, transforming into a brilliant stream of light that tore through the sky, penetrating the layers of weakening Soul tide, and striking directly at the demon's throat!

Chu Zhanxiao let out a sky-shaking roar, pushing his silver-gold Qi and blood to its Peak, his Qi and blood taking the form of a vivid, roaring giant dragon, which slammed fiercely into the tottering Ten Thousand Soul-Devouring Immortal Banner!

Xuanyuan Zhanxian stood still, his posture as straight as a pine, the Taiji Diagram in his palm rotating slowly, clear spiritual light falling like spring rain, nourishing the thousands of Awakening Souls, and continuously purifying the Evil Qi dissipating from the Soul Banner.

He looked toward the Soul shadows that had regained their freedom, his gaze calm and compassionate: "Go. Enter Reincarnation, and seek a new life."

"Rumble——!!!"

Amidst the earth-shaking roar, the Ten Thousand Soul-Devouring Immortal Banner was completely shattered under the backlash of countless Souls and Chu Zhanxiao's domineering fist radiance!

The pitch-black banner body exploded into sky-filling black smoke, and the remnant Souls that had not yet awakened gently dissolved under the illumination of the Taiji clear light, returning to nothingness.

The demon, having lost the support of the Soul Banner, stumbled backward, his aura instantly withering.

Jian Tanghuang's Sword Intent, condensed to the extreme, took advantage of the opening to pierce accurately through his shoulder!

A shrill scream resounded across the battlefield, soaked with pain and unwillingness.

The surging Soul tide lost its source and rapidly dissipated under the continuous cleansing of the Taiji clear light.

The battlefield, long shrouded in darkness, finally saw clarity once again.

The smoke of war dissipated, and sunlight broke through the clouds, falling gently, casting a layer of sacred and warm golden halo upon the three figures standing side by side.

"You, you... actually destroyed my Ten Thousand Soul-Devouring Immortal Banner..."

The demon clutched his blood-drenched shoulder, his eyes filled with fear and despair.

He stumbled backward, finally understanding—what he was facing was never just three brilliant young Cultivators, but the inviolable Law of Reincarnation of this world, the eternal yearning of all living beings for freedom and liberation, and the iron rule of the Heavenly Dao that evil shall not triumph over righteousness!

Xuanyuan Zhanxian gazed at him quietly, beneath the calm in his eyes was a sense of indifference: "Things that harm heaven and reason should never exist in the world. What you were defeated by was never just power."

—However!

The demon's venomous roar still echoed over the scorched earth, but a strange change had arrived suddenly like a divine punishment!

The Ten Thousand Soul-Devouring Immortal Banner, which should have been reduced to powder in the loud explosion, had fragments that had not been completely annihilated!

The largest piece, no bigger than a palm, pitch-black like ten-thousand-year black iron, was greedily devouring the residual Evil Qi and Soul Power on the battlefield—

On the surface of the fragment, a tiny, minute dark-red blood light, like an evil eye that had slept for ten thousand eons, suddenly opened!

"Hum——!!!"

A humming sound, muffled to the extreme, seemed like a sigh from the very bottom of the Nine Underworlds!

A wave of fierce Evil Qi, far more ancient, pure, and violent than the Soul Banner in its prime, erupted brazenly!

Heaven and earth suddenly lost their color!

The light that had just descended was ruthlessly extinguished, and a scarlet color as thick as blood plasma swallowed the firmament!

The sun and moon lost their light, and the air was filled with a nauseating, fishy sweetness and the scent of death and decay!

An invisible pressure was like an ancient divine mountain collapsing down!

Even Chu Zhanxiao's sky-piercing Qi and blood, and Jian Tanghuang's indestructible Sword Heart, felt their chests tighten and ache at this moment, their Divine Souls feeling as if they were frozen by ten-thousand-year black ice, and the circulation of their spiritual power almost came to a standstill!

That pitch-black fragment floated up eerily.

The dark-red blood light on it squirmed like a living thing, transforming into hideous blood vessels, crawling over the fragment in the blink of an eye, and dyeing it into a demonic and blinding blood-red!

At the center of the fragment, a point of extreme darkness began to rotate crazily, turning into a miniature abyss vortex—as if connecting to some place of extinction beyond cognition that buried all gods, emitting a terrifying suction force that devoured all Souls!

"This is... the Soul Banner core? No, this aura..."

Xuanyuan Zhanxian, who had always been calm and composed, had his handsome face tainted with heavy solemnity for the first time.

His sword-like brows were tightly locked, and a trace of deep warning flashed in his eyes as he looked at the blood-red fragment.