25: Don't push people too far, the Heavenly Demon Forbidden Zone

The Heavenly Demon Ancestor appeared at the Dharma Courtyard of the Great Western Heaven Dynasty, intending to seize the golden cicada exuviae left behind by the Heavenly Human Martial Saints who had perished throughout the generations.

The Martial Saints of the Dharma Courtyard cultivated the Heavenly Human Path, which had its unique aspects. The Martial Saint bodies left by Heavenly Humans at the end of their lives retained their complete Heavenly Human qi, blood, and essence, becoming golden cicada exuviae. These exuviae became a crucial foundation for the Dharma Courtyard's standing on the Xuanwu Continent.

At that time, after sending Yu Qingwei, who had traveled with you for many years, back to Divine Sword Manor, and spending some time with your family, you desired to observe the Dharma Courtyard's profound techniques. You disguised yourself as a young novice monk and infiltrated the Martial Monk Courtyard.

Who would have thought that the Heavenly Demon Ancestor, that old schemer, had also infiltrated the Dharma Courtyard?

Initially, you didn't realize he was the Heavenly Demon Ancestor, only occasionally noticing some inconsistencies. You even thought he was a spy, like yourself, who had infiltrated the Dharma Courtyard to steal martial arts or gather internal intelligence.

The Heavenly Demon Ancestor's disguise was extremely perfect. If he hadn't gone all out from the start, directly blasting a hole in the Golden Body Pagoda, the sacred ground of the Dharma Courtyard, you wouldn't have even imagined that one of the young novice monks who joined at the same time as you was also a Martial Saint.

When the Heavenly Demon Ancestor was battling the Dharma Courtyard, you were still secretly learning the Seventy-Two Peerless Techniques of the Dharma Courtyard in the Scripture Storage Pavilion!

Who knew that a sweeping monk would suddenly shed his monk's robes, transform into a golden body, and shoot up from the ground, almost blinding you?

It must be said that the Dharma Courtyard was truly a place where hidden dragons and crouching tigers resided.

In the blink of an eye, five Martial Saints appeared and jointly attacked the Heavenly Demon Ancestor.

This showed that those sects with thousands of years of heritage were probably very deep and mysterious.

Within the Golden Body Pagoda, there were eighteen golden cicada exuviae of past Martial Saints.

The Heavenly Demon Ancestor, holding one in each hand, let out bursts of strange laughter, calmly moving amidst the combined attacks of the five Martial Saints.

Perhaps he was too arrogant, as the old abbot of the Dharma Courtyard suddenly intervened. The Amitabha Realm manifested, and a hundred-zhang tall Buddha emerged from the realm, striking out with a palm, intending to suppress the evil demon.

This person was also a powerful expert who had reached the pinnacle of the Heavenly Human Path.

The Heavenly Demon Ancestor was caught off guard and severely wounded, but it was too late.

He refined two golden cicada exuviae into blood pills. After consuming one, the Heavenly Demon Ancestor broke through his limits and retreated calmly.

Only the demon spawn who failed to escape were left behind, suffering the Dharma Courtyard's retaliation, leaving the ground in utter chaos.

The Dharma Courtyard was not benevolent; except for the main culprit, all the demon spawn were killed beyond any doubt.

You quietly followed the Heavenly Demon Ancestor and discovered that he hadn't recovered from his injuries, but had merely forcefully refined the cicada exuviae blood pill to temporarily exert his power. Seeing his weakened Xuanwu, you didn't hesitate and unleashed a full-powered sword strike, piercing his heart.

The same formula, the same sword technique. Last time it was his head, this time it was his heart. The Heavenly Demon Ancestor was endlessly enraged.

He hated you to the core.

He suppressed his injuries and activated the blood pill, intending to fight you to the death, but you had already retreated a thousand li away.

However, you didn't leave this time. You decided to make a big gamble and wear him down to death!

You saw through his facade; the blood pill could only suppress his injuries, not heal the Heavenly Demon Ancestor.

You had to stop him, no matter what schemes or tricks he had, just stop him.

He couldn't be allowed to grow stronger.

He hadn't died, and you were already feeling uncomfortable. How could you let him continue to grow stronger?

Anyone else could advance, but not the Heavenly Demon Ancestor!

You decided to keep a close eye on him, and as soon as he showed any weakness, you would strike him with a sword.

Anyway, you had already changed your appearance, so no one would be able to trace your identity.

Three days later, you struck again with a sword, withdrawing immediately without lingering.

The Heavenly Demon Ancestor pursued you for an entire day this time but couldn't catch you.

Seven days later, you struck him with another sword!

The Heavenly Demon Ancestor lost his mind and chased you madly for three days, but couldn't catch you; you kept him on a leash.

A month later, you had gone in and out seven times against the Heavenly Demon Ancestor, leaving him physically and mentally exhausted.

At the same time, all of the Heavenly Demon Ancestor's enemies learned of this news and gathered, as if by prior agreement.

The most eager was the Dharma Courtyard, with eight Martial Saints dispatched, allowing the world to witness the true foundation of this Buddhist sacred land.

This caused those who dared to covet the Dharma Courtyard to cease their ambitions.

Seeing the unfavorable situation, the Heavenly Demon Ancestor quickly fled back to the Heavenly Saint Dynasty.

And you, like a persistent plaster, clung to the Heavenly Demon Ancestor, never allowing him to rest, constantly draining his energy.

When the enemy advanced, you retreated; when the enemy paused, you harassed; when the enemy was tired, you attacked; when the enemy retreated, you pursued. You hounded the Heavenly Demon Ancestor as if you two had an endless blood feud, never resting until one of you died.

Unfortunately, he could never catch your tail...

Facts proved that driving someone insane came with a price.

In desperation, anything was unpredictable!

The Heavenly Demon Ancestor went completely mad.

He completely sacrificed the Heavenly Saint Dynasty.

Perhaps the Heavenly Demon Ancestor hadn't intended to perform the sacrifice so quickly; he wasn't fully prepared, otherwise he wouldn't have tried to seize the golden cicada exuviae from the Dharma Courtyard.

But at this moment, the Heavenly Demon Ancestor was clearly cornered. Numerous Martial Saints were converging on him, and you were constantly harassing him.

The Heavenly Demon Ancestor sacrificed all living beings along his path, regardless of gender or age; he offered all life as a blood sacrifice to himself.

Including the six Martial Saints of the Heavenly Demon Cult and a total of fourteen Martial Saints from the Heavenly Saint Dynasty, all were blood-sacrificed by him. The Heavenly Demon Ancestor had, at some unknown point, controlled all the Heavenly Human Martial Saints of the Heavenly Saint Dynasty, perhaps he had controlled these Martial Saints from the very beginning.

Even fellow Martial Saints felt a tremor of fear towards the Heavenly Demon Ancestor; he was a true ancient demon. The Heavenly Saint Dynasty was like his private garden, allowing him to wantonly play with and harvest its inhabitants.

The Heavenly Demon Ancestor's own Heavenly Human qi and blood had now accumulated to an immeasurable degree.

He was still sacrificing, and the Martial Saints moved to stop him, but it had no effect. The qi and blood from the blood sacrifice were too immense; even over ten Martial Saints working together couldn't budge him an inch.

Seeing that the situation was not looking good, you silently shielded everyone in front of you, retreating behind them, thinking of slipping away.

Things had gotten serious!

The Heavenly Demon Ancestor sacrificed an entire nation and sixteen Saints, intending to break through to the Heavenly Human Unity realm in one fell swoop and forge a new path in martial arts!

But! To sacrifice the people of a nation, billions of living beings, to break through the so-called new path, was unacceptable to anyone with reason!

This was not the Martial Path!

Nor was it a Martial Artist!

And it had none of the true meaning of martial arts!

The Heavenly Demon Ancestor had committed a great taboo of the world; no one could tolerate him, yet now no one had the strength to stop him!

The Heavenly Demon fell into a frenzy: "Jie jie jie jie jie! This Ancestor is right! From now on, this world will be mine, this Ancestor's, the world of my Demonic Dao! Jie jie jie jie — Ga?!"

The Martial Saints were on high alert, but the Heavenly Demon Ancestor exploded.

He transformed into a sky full of blood mist!

Sacrificing a nation and sixteen Saints, that immense qi and blood indeed far surpassed the Heavenly Human realm. However, with vast blood qi but no actual control over it, he was like an overinflated balloon, ready to burst with a single prick.

The Heavenly Demon Ancestor was dead!

Yet, he allowed the world to see a power even greater than that of a Martial Saint!

This left a profound impact on all the Martial Saints.

The Heavenly Demon Ancestor was dead!

But he left behind a forbidden zone that even Martial Saints could not easily enter!

The resentment and blood qi from sacrificing a nation and sixteen Saints, after the Heavenly Demon Ancestor's death and the subsequent mutation of his domain, transformed into a blood-colored forbidden zone covering an entire Xuanwu, spanning over nine thousand li.

The blood qi materialized into Blood Demons, devoid of reason and filled with killing intent. In the core area, there were even several Martial Saint-level Blood Demons.

Even more mysteriously, the core seemed to possess power that exceeded the limits of a Martial Saint.

Even a Martial Saint, delving deep within, faced the danger of perishing.

Many Martial Saints remained on the periphery, intending to study the Blood Demon Forbidden Zone and advance further.

You quietly left; it was too terrifying!

You really shouldn't push people too far!

Even a cornered dog bites, let alone a human. You almost became the Heavenly Demon Ancestor's primary target...