231: Chapter 231, Seventh Floor

[The path leading up from the sixth layer was blocked by the Earth Evil Devil King.]

[The gate had been destroyed, and the Evil Qi Restriction left behind by the Earth Evil Devil King still clung to it.]

[Black mist slithered between the cracks in the stone like vipers.]

[Chu Sheng stood before the pile of rubble and pressed his hand against it; the Restriction rebounded, sending a tingling numbness through his fingertips.]

[It was not impossible to force it open, but it would take too much time, and the situation above was unknown.]

[He did not know if the Earth Evil Devil King was waiting at the entrance to ambush him.]

[There was no retreat; the Reverse Demon Tower could only be entered, not exited—this was the rule set by Greed, which had not changed even thousands of years after his death.]

["What should we do?" Yu Rumeng leaned against a pillar, arms crossed, her expression unreadable.]

[She had already refined seventy percent of the Inheritance of Wrath, and her Late Stage Palace Building cultivation flowed slowly through her body.]

[But she did not lower her guard; this place was fraught with danger.]

[Chu Sheng did not answer; he was looking at another wall.]

[The Restriction on the sixth layer was incomplete because the lingering Devouring power of Gluttony had eroded the Foundation of the Formation here.]

[He had noticed it when he stepped into the sixth layer; the spiritual light on several parts of the wall was much dimmer than elsewhere.]

[Some had even completely extinguished, revealing the black, cracked original stone of the tower body underneath.]

[Back then, Gluttony had gnawed through the upper three layers, and the Restrictions of the middle three layers were affected as well.]

[This was something Greed had not anticipated when forging the tower; his treasure vault had been gnawed open from the outside by another Devil King.]

[Chu Sheng walked up to a wall.]

[The treasures on the wall had lost their spirituality, piled together in a dull, grey heap like dead seashells.]

[The Old Grandfather spoke from within the ring: "You want to break the wall? This wall is connected to the Restriction of the entire tower; if you break one spot, the whole layer might collapse."]

[Chu Sheng said, "I know."]

[He did not stop, summoning the zhu xian sword from his Dantian—not one, but two.]

[Dark red patterns flowed across the pitch-black sword bodies, and Sword Qi surged like a tide, condensing at the tips into a black thread of light as thin as a hair.]

[This was the Origin Sword Qi of the zhu xian sword. A single blade was a top grade Heaven Rank item; used together, they touched the threshold of a Magic Treasure.]

[Yu Rumeng saw the two swords and her eyebrows twitched.]

[She had seen many ancient Magic Treasures in the ruins of the Wanmo Hall, but none could compare to these two swords.]

[She glanced at Chu Sheng's focused face and suddenly remembered that, until now, she still did not know his name.]

[Chu Sheng crossed the two swords, and the Sword Qi converged at the intersection of the tips into an extremely bright point of light, flickering uncertainly like a star about to explode.]

[He aimed the point of light at the deepest crack on the wall and pushed with both hands.]

[The point of light silently sank into the wall, like a drop of water falling into a desert.]

[There was a moment of silence, and then the entire wall began to crack.]

[The treasures that had lost their spirituality fell from the wall, crashed to the ground, and shattered into powder.]

["Break," Chu Sheng said.]

[Boom.]

[A hole blasted open in the wall; it was not torn, but melted.]

[The sight beyond the hole made Chu Sheng pause.]

[It was not a staircase, nor a corridor, but a Void Realm.]

[A black, churning Void Realm, like the surface of the sea before a storm.]

[Two monstrous waves of Devilish Qi collided, bit, and devoured each other in this Void Realm.]

[One was Greed, golden, carrying endless possessiveness, wanting to grasp everything in its palm.]

[One was Gluttony, black, carrying endless hunger, wanting to swallow everything into its belly.]

[The seventh layer of the Reverse Demon Tower had no floor, no walls, no ceiling—only the battlefield of these two Devilish Qi.]

[Looking at this Void Realm, Chu Sheng suddenly understood.]

[It was not that Gluttony had gnawed through the upper three layers; it was that the powers of Gluttony and Greed had been fighting a war here that had lasted for thousands of years.]

[The obsession of Greed after death had turned into golden Devilish Qi, guarding his treasure vault.]

[The lingering Devouring power of Gluttony had turned into black Devilish Qi, greedily wanting to swallow everything.]

[The two forces were evenly matched; neither could do anything to the other, and so they had been entangled for thousands of years.]

[Yu Rumeng walked to the hole and looked down; the ground was hundreds of zhang below, where she could vaguely see a few broken stone pillars and the scattered remains of treasures.]

[She frowned. "How do we get across?"]

[Chu Sheng pointed deep into the Void Realm, where a faint light flickered in the gap between the golden and black Devilish Qi.]

[He said, "The entrance to the eighth layer. We fly across."]

[Yu Rumeng looked at the light flickering in the gap between the Devilish Qi, then looked at the abyss hundreds of zhang beneath her feet, and said nothing.]

[Chu Sheng summoned the two zhu xian swords back to his side, letting them hover beside him as their Sword Qi opened up a small, safe space, pushing back the surrounding Devilish Qi.]

[He said to Yu Rumeng, "Come in."]

[Yu Rumeng glanced at him and, without hesitation, stepped into the range covered by the Sword Qi.]

[Their Devilish Qi merged in this narrow space, and the resonance of the Heavenly Demon Body caused the manic Devilish Qi to instinctively retreat a little.]

[Chu Sheng activated the two swords, and the sword Formation carried the two of them slowly up into the Void Realm.]

[The golden and black Devilish Qi churned outside the sword Formation like two beasts locked in a cage, madly slamming against the Sword Qi barrier.]

[With every impact, Chu Sheng's spiritual power shook violently, but he gritted his teeth and held on, not slowing down.]

[The Old Grandfather said from within the ring, "When this seat was at your Realm, I wouldn't dare to play like this."]

[Chu Sheng said, "That's because you're a coward."]

[The Old Grandfather stopped speaking.]

[The sword Formation traveled through the Void Realm for a long time, and the light representing the entrance to the eighth layer grew closer and closer.]

[Just as Chu Sheng was preparing to accelerate and sprint, a shrill scream suddenly came from not far ahead—it was the voice of the Earth Evil Devil King.]

[Chu Sheng slowed down abruptly, and the sword Formation stopped in the Void Realm.]

[He saw that about a hundred zhang ahead, a mass of golden Devilish Qi was churning madly, like a giant palm gripping something.]

[Inside that palm, the Earth Evil Devil King was struggling.]

[His body had been mostly eroded by the Devilish Qi; his left arm was gone, his right leg was missing from the knee down, and there was a huge hole in his chest where his wriggling internal organs could be seen.]

[His eyes were wide open, his pupils filled with fear.]

["No... no... I am of the Wanmo Hall... Earth Evil... You cannot... You cannot—"]

[The golden Devilish Qi tightened abruptly.]

[The Earth Evil Devil King's voice came to an abrupt end.]

[His body exploded in the palm of the golden Devilish Qi like a crushed grape.]

[Flesh, bones, Devil Core, Storage Pouch, and Magic Treasure all turned into pure spiritual power, absorbed completely by the golden Devilish Qi.]

[A Peak Palace Building Earth Evil Devil King, who had run rampant in the Devil Realm for hundreds of years.]

[Was crushed by the obsession of a Devil King who had been dead for thousands of years on the seventh layer of the Reverse Demon Tower, leaving not even bone fragments behind.]

[Yu Rumeng's expression changed.]

[She had seen many big scenes, but seeing a Peak Palace Building Devil King die in such a manner still made a cold sweat break out on her back.]

[Chu Sheng did not speak; he only activated the sword Formation and accelerated toward the entrance of the eighth layer.]

[The golden Devilish Qi swallowed the Earth Evil Devil King, churned for a few breaths, and then slowly dispersed.]

[It did not chase Chu Sheng—not because it could not catch him, but because it did not want to.]

[The obsession of Greed only attacked those who wanted to "take away" his treasures.]

[And in its eyes, Chu Sheng and Yu Rumeng were just two passing ants, not worth wasting energy on.]

[Chu Sheng looked back at the still-churning Void Realm.]

[The Earth Evil Devil King was dead, not even leaving a complete corpse.]

[He felt no sympathy, no emotion, just a sense of absurdity.]

[A Peak Palace Building Devil King who had spent his whole life stealing from others was finally crushed by another obsession of "stealing"—it could be considered a fitting death.]

[He turned his head and looked into the depths of the seventh layer; it was pitch black, and nothing could be seen clearly except for a faint glimmer of light.]

[Chu Sheng's hand rested on the hilt of his sword; without looking back, he said to Yu Rumeng, "Follow me closely."]

[He stepped into the darkness.]

[Behind him, Yu Rumeng did not hesitate and followed.]