98: The Demon Lord arrives in person

The voice was not loud, yet it seemed to contain the ultimate truths of heaven and earth; every word that fell struck everyone's heart like a heavy drum mallet.

The sky was swallowed by endless shadows, and the incomplete phantom of the blood-colored demon moon radiated an eerie light, illuminating the entire Tianfeng Academy as if it were a ghost realm.

Under this pure and terrifying pressure that transcended the Earth Fiend Realm, the light barrier of the Zhou Tian Star Sword Formation emitted a jarring, ear-splitting groan; the pale blue light flickered violently, and cracks spread and deepened at a speed visible to the naked eye, as if it would completely collapse the next moment!

Inside the academy, whether they were ordinary Disciples or Elders, everyone felt a tremor originating from the depths of their Soul; those with weaker cultivation collapsed directly to the ground, and even breathing became difficult.

Experts like Yun Canghai and Liu Qingfeng also turned deathly pale, and only by exerting their full strength to circulate their Cultivation Technique could they barely stand under this pressure, but attempting to resist was like a mayfly shaking a tree!

Moon-Erosion Demon Venerable! It was not a Clone of his will, but a wisp of his core will from his true body, which had used some secret technique to cross the endless Void Realm and truly descend here!

Ye Chen hovered outside the mountain gate, just one step away from the crumbling sword formation barrier.

He bore the brunt of it, enduring the most terrifying pressure!

He felt as if he had been thrown into a bottomless black hole, surrounded by icy silence and endless darkness, and even his thoughts felt as if they were about to be frozen and crushed!

The Protective Aura within his body circulated frantically, the chaos primordial fetus shone brilliantly, and the ancient sword phantasm trembled ceaselessly, allowing him to barely withstand this pressure that was enough to cause even a Cultivator at the Peak of the Earth Fiend Realm to suffer a mental breakdown.

But he knew that this was merely the aura the opponent was emitting casually!

"Hand over the guixu sword, and offer your Soul blood..."

The Moon-Erosion Demon Venerable's voice sounded again, carrying an unquestionable indifference, as if stating an established fact.

The blood-colored demon moon turned slightly, and a dark red beam, condensed to the extreme and seemingly composed of pure destruction rules, slowly gathered and locked onto Ye Chen!

This beam was not grand, yet it made all the hairs on Ye Chen's body stand on end, and he felt an unprecedented crisis of death!

He did not doubt for a moment that if this strike were to land, even with his chaos primordial fetus, he would have absolutely no chance of survival!

"The Moon-Erosion Demon Venerable... has personally taken action..." Yun Canghai looked at the demon moon, a trace of despair flashing in his eyes.

Such an existence had already transcended the scope of the Earth Fiend Realm and was definitely not something they could contend with!

"Ye Chen! Come in quickly!" Liu Qingfeng shouted anxiously, attempting to forcibly open the sword formation barrier to bring Ye Chen in.

However, the Moon-Erosion Demon Venerable's pressure was like a physical substance, suppressing the barrier tightly, and it was impossible to open even a crack!

Nowhere to advance or retreat! A desperate situation!

Ye Chen gripped the guixu sword tightly, his fingernails digging deep into his palms; blood flowed down the hilt but was instantly absorbed by the sword body.

He raised his head and looked at the eerie blood moon; there was no fear in his eyes, only a kind of madness and determination born from being pushed to the brink!

"You want my sword, my life?" His voice was hoarse, but carried a resolute will, "Then come and take it yourself!"

He no longer hesitated, and no longer held back!

Deep within his Soul, the ancient sword phantasm erupted with unprecedented light, and a supreme Sword Intent, originating from the true body of the Sword Venerable of Ten Thousand Worlds and transcending the heavens, awakened with a roar like a slumbering Dragon!

"Hum——!!!"

The guixu sword emitted a passionate sword hum that pierced through heaven and earth!

On the sword body, the dark blue ice-ruin light was instantly replaced by a more ancient, purer Primal Light of Chaos, which seemed capable of severing Karma and resetting order!

Ye Chen's aura underwent a heaven-shaking, earth-shattering change at this moment!

It was no longer the Earth Fiend Realm Third Layer, but carried a supreme majesty that overlooked the ages and held the power over life and death!

In his eyes, colors of Chaos swirled, as if countless worlds were being born and destroyed!

"Hmm?" The blood-colored demon moon in the sky paused slightly, and the Moon-Erosion Demon Venerable's voice, which had always been indifferent, finally carried a trace of clear fluctuation, "This is... Primal Sword Law?! You... exactly are you?!"

He sensed it! He sensed the awakened power Origin within Ye Chen, which was incompatible with this world and belonged to a higher level!

"Who am I?" Ye Chen (or rather, the Sword Venerable's will that had temporarily taken control of his body) curled the corner of his mouth into a cold arc, carrying a trace of mockery, "An... ancient existence whose slumber was disturbed by you demons."

He did not say any more and poured the awakened Sword Venerable power into the guixu sword without reservation!

This time, it was not "Three Origins Ruin Return," but rather, he invoked the guixu sword itself, the power of the Origin that stemmed from the core fragments of the "Ruin Realm"!

"Silent for eternity, today... I shall use the blood of you demons to sacrifice to my guixu... and reveal its edge once more!"

He gripped the sword with both hands and slowly slashed out a sword strike towards the blood-colored demon moon, towards the descending will of the Moon-Erosion Demon Venerable.

This strike was very slow. So slow that it seemed as if time itself had stagnated.

There was no earth-shattering sword qi, no vortex that swallowed everything.

There was only a subtle gray thread, seemingly composed of the purest "nothingness," which spread from the tip of the guixu sword and extended silently toward the sky.

Wherever this gray thread passed, space did not distort or shatter, but directly... disappeared!

It was not destroyed, but its concept of "existence" was fundamentally "erased" by this thread! Leaving behind an eternal, absolute trajectory of "nothingness"!

The destructive beam condensed by the Moon-Erosion Demon Venerable, in front of this gray thread, was like encountering the nemesis of all nemeses; it collapsed and disintegrated on its own before it was even fully unleashed, without even causing a ripple!

The phantom of the blood-colored demon moon trembled violently the moment the gray thread approached! The eerie blood light upon it flickered and dimmed frantically, as if it had encountered its natural predator!

"The Origin of the Ruin? Impossible! This world is already incomplete, the Ruin Realm has collapsed, how can you invoke its power?!" The Moon-Erosion Demon Venerable's voice carried shock and disbelief for the first time!

He could feel that the power contained within that gray thread was not simple destruction, but "termination," a "return to absolute nothingness"! It was one of the ultimate powers stemming from the essence of the world, something that even an existence like him feared!

"Hum——!"

The gray thread gently touched the edge of the blood-colored demon moon.

There was no explosion, no impact.

That demon moon, condensed from the Moon-Erosion Demon Venerable's will and endless demonic power, was like a pencil drawing being erased by an eraser; it began to dissipate and annihilate silently from the edges, turning into the most primal nothingness!

"No——!!!"

The Moon-Erosion Demon Venerable let out a roar of anger and terror! This wisp of his core will was actually collapsing rapidly under this eerie power of the Ruin Origin!

"Ye Chen! This Venerable has remembered you! When my true body breaks the seal, I will surely trample this world flat and imprison your Divine Soul in the Nine Netherworlds forever!!!"

Amidst the spiteful roar, the blood-colored demon moon completely dissipated, the endless shadows covering the sky retreated, and sunlight spilled down once again.

That suffocating, terrifying pressure vanished without a trace in an instant.

It was as if everything that had just happened was merely a hallucination.

But the slowly healing, absolute trajectory of "nothingness" in the sky, the Zhou Tian Star Sword Formation below that was almost completely shattered and its light dimmed to the extreme, and the countless Disciples and Elders in the academy who were still in shock and pale-faced, all proved that the brief and terrifying confrontation just now was real and true.

"Pfft——!"

Ye Chen suddenly spat out a large mouthful of blood; the terrifying Sword Venerable majesty around his body receded like a tide, his face instantly turned the color of gold paper, his aura withered to the extreme, like a candle in the wind, and he fell directly from the air.

Forcibly invoking the Sword Venerable Origin that had not fully recovered and the Origin power of the guixu sword was too great a burden for him! It had almost drained all his strength and, even worse, damaged his foundation!

"Ye Chen!"

Yun Canghai and Liu Qingfeng rushed up at the first moment, caught the falling Ye Chen, and immediately channeled pure spiritual power into his body to protect his heart meridian.

"I... am fine..." Ye Chen opened his eyes with difficulty, his voice weak, "Just... excessive consumption... the Moon-Erosion Demon Venerable's will... has temporarily retreated... but... he will absolutely not... let this go..."

Before he could finish his words, he spat out another mouthful of blood and completely lost consciousness.

Yun Canghai and Liu Qingfeng looked at the unconscious and weak Ye Chen in their arms, then looked at the "nothingness" sword mark in the sky that was slowly healing but still emitting a heart-palpitating aura, their faces filled with shock, lingering fear, and endless worry.

They knew that Ye Chen had saved the academy once again, repelling the arrogant Moon-Erosion Demon Venerable at an unimaginable cost.

But they also understood that after this incident, the situation between Ye Chen and the Dark Hall, and the Moon-Erosion Demon Venerable, had already become one where only death would end it.

Next time, what comes will likely not just be a will, but... the Moon-Erosion Demon Venerable's true body!

And when that time comes, who else can be relied upon to turn the tide?

Yun Canghai took a deep breath, suppressed the turmoil in his heart, and said in a deep voice, "Immediately take Ye Chen to the Secret Realm to heal! At all costs, he must be restored! At the same time, activate the academy's highest alert and recall all Disciples and Elders currently outside! Liuyun City... is about to change!"

He raised his head and looked into the distance, his gaze seemingly piercing through the Void Realm, seeing the even more turbulent undercurrents hidden in the darkness.

The storm had not ended; it had only temporarily subsided.

And a greater disaster was brewing.