Immediately, demon qi rushed into the air, sweeping away the sky full of snow.
An impressive-looking man stepped out of the deep, dark demon cavern, and the ground shook. His hideous face was twisted and overcome with rage. He never expected someone to come right after he returned to the Demon domain, costing him so many subordinates.
“Who are you? Identify yourselves!”
The snowy wind rushed into his face, and he widened his eyes, emitting a furious, thunderous roar. It pierced the snowstorm and reached into the sky, blasting a great hole in the thick clouds and revealing the dark spirit turtle condensed from the power of Ruin’s End.
“And who might you be?” Li Qingshan also stopped joking around. The Demon King’s bearing was even slightly greater than the Thousand Tendril King’s, and he could tell with a single glance that he was skilled in close combat. Defeating him would probably be very difficult if he fought alone, let alone killing him.
“You don’t even know me, yet you’ve come seeking your death. You’ve come to eliminate demons, haven’t you? I am the Martial Chief King. Stop hiding around. Get down here and die!”
The Martial Chief King bellowed, and his body began to change violently. All of his muscles swelled and twisted, wriggling about like snakes. The demon qi around him surged, growing stronger with each wave.
Li Qingshan’s frown deepened. He never thought he would run into such a powerful opponent with just his second demon cavern, but he was eager to face him in battle.
The Martial Chief King finished his complete demonification. He did not grow much in size, but he had become extremely sturdy, which reminded Li Qingshan of the body-builders from his past life, except his body was even more “built” than them, which seemed rather disgusting. However, he did not dare to underestimate him at all.
“Do we fight?” Even until now, Gong Yuan had no idea why Li Qingshan was trying to purge these demons. Li Qingshan said he wanted to play the hero, which obviously made her snort in contempt.
“Of course.” Flames seemed to leap about in Li Qingshan’s scarlet eyes as he gazed at the Martial Chief King below.
“Defeating him won’t be easy. Even if we win, he’ll escape into the Demon domain.” Gong Yuan analysed calmly.
“We’ve basically won half the battle already by forcing him into running. Leave the rest to me. Let’s go!”
“Mace!”
Demon qi surged out from beneath the Martial Chief King’s feet, sending him into the sky. From five kilometers away, he threw a punch.
The demon qi rushed and roared as it condensed into a huge, black mace. It was covered in vicious spines, the size of a small mountain. It flew through the air with enough force to crush everything in its path, making the snow and clouds disperse wherever it reached and allowing sunbeams to pour through. This added a glorious aura to the demonic attack.
Li Qingshan was eager to have a go. He loved fighting opponents like this the most, so he could see just whose fist was harder and whose bones were tougher. Tiger’s Fang on his waist thrummed as well. He was almost tempted to abandon Gong Yuan and fight alone.
“If you wanted to fight alone, why’d you come and find me?” Gong Yuan said coldly.
Li Qingshan focused his mind and steadied the tiger demon. Xiao An was still waiting for him. Now was not the time for him to have a hearty battle. He had to win!
“Then it’ll be up to you, your majesty!”
“Ice Palace!”
Gong Yuan raised her crystal sceptre, and the power of Ruin’s End flowed out. The ice condensed into a magnificent ice palace, like a shrunken version of the Crystal palace. It gave off thick, icy mist as it stood in the sky, beyond the reach of the world like a palace from heaven.
Boom!
The ice palace shook violently, and pieces of ice were sent flying. The huge mace left a deep dent in the main gates of the ice palace. Cracks crawled across the surrounding walls, and there was absolutely no chance for them to be repaired.
The Martial Chief King stepped out with his left foot and crossed five kilometers, arriving before the ice palace.
“Axe!”
He kicked with his right foot in the process. The demon qi surged and condensed into a huge axe, large enough to take down a city, and the axe split apart the main entrance of the ice palace!
“Nice!” The Martial Chief King’s valiance and force influenced Li Qingshan, which made him praise aloud. He thought, If I use my full strength, I can also destroy the crystal palace, but definitely not as easily as that. Every single move and technique from him possesses so much power. Sure enough, the Demon domain has a large number of powerful members seeing how they’re bold enough to attack the nine provinces.
“Whose side are you on exactly?” Gong Yuan shot a glance at him.
“Obviously yours, but turns out your ice palace is all just for show!” Li Qingshan said.
“It’s too early to think he can get through the ice palace!” Gong Yuan said confidently, “Seal the gates!”
There were no palaces in the world with only a single set of gates. With Gong Yuan’s order, the ice gates all slammed shut.
“Hmph, how pitiable! Mace! Axe! Blade! Spear!”
The Martial Chief King advanced steadily. Every single part of his body surged with demon qi, turning into terrifying weapons that rampaged about like they were unstoppable. He destroyed the ice gates and barged into the ice palace, paving a path straight towards the black spirit turtle.
“Come at me!” “Let’s retreat!” Li Qingshan was about to receive him when Gong Yuan grabbed him by the shoulder and retreated backwards, leaving the ice palace. The Martial Chief King had just made it to the central hall of the ice palace, where the spirit turtle originally resided.
“Lock the palace!” Gong Yuan smiled coldly. She closed her right hand, and the ice palace rapidly shrank. Cold ice crushed down on the Martial Chief King from all directions. In the blink of an eye, the ice palace had been reduced to the size of a room, firmly imprisoning the Martial Chief King inside and immobilising him!
Gong Yuan could not help but glance at Li Qingshan. “I’m caught between two ruffians!”
“You better not underestimate ruffians!” Li Qingshan shook his head and pointed with a finger.
The Martial Chief King’s muscles that were tough like keratin began to twist and tremble, which seemed particularly horrifying and disgusting. However, tremendous demon qi was constantly being gathered and compressed.
Gong Yuan’s face changed. The Martial Chief King bellowed out, “Shatter!”
Demon qi erupted violently and turned into over a hundred types of weapons, ripping through the restraints of ice and reducing it to powder. However, the Martial Chief King had vanished.
“Spirit Turtle’s Profound Shell!” Li Qingshan’s eyes narrowed. Hexagonal pieces of the Spirit Turtle’s Profound Shell gathered, forming a solid sphere around the black spirit turtle.
Boom! The moment the sphere was completed, a large part of it above cracked. That was from a punch from the Martial Chief King. The muscles on his face had tensed up to the point where his eyes were almost gone. They shone with a brutal light.
In the chaotic Demon domain, schemes and betrayal were present everywhere. Different techniques and abilities constantly emerged in an endless stream. With a demon heart as a seed, probably even the person who first created the demon heart had no idea what kind of fruit it would bear.
Under these circumstances, the Martial Chief King cast aside all of the strange and wondrous abilities, pushing his body to the limit. He only maintained the simplest and most direct usage of demon qi, having killed countless enemies in the process as he became a Demon King. He was basically synonymous to violence.
“I want to go for a great battle with him so much!” Li Qingshan’s tone was like a sex fiend running into a naked beauty. It was not just his hands that were itching to have a go. Basically his entire body was itching.
That made Gong Yuan frown. She had actually developed a hint of good will towards this bastard and actually thought he was a decent partner for cultivation. Her brain must have been damaged from the cold.
“You cowardly turtle, holing up in your shell! You better watch as I smash your shell!” The Martial Chief King’s muscles swelled and twisted even more. Gong Yuan’s ice palace trap seemed to be completely ineffective against him. It had not even wasted away his strength. His bearing became even more violent as he shuddered all over.
Boom! Boom! Boom! Boom!
The snow-filled sky was swept clean, now beaming with sunlight. However, the Martial Chief King was nowhere to be seen. All that remained were huge weapons that rapidly vanished with a flash, interlocking together like a monster’s head assembled from various weapons furiously biting and ripping away at something. Whenever it clamped down, a thunderous rumble rang out.
Li Qingshan and Gong Yuan were in this colossal beast’s mouth. Even with how cool and sedated Gong Yuan was, she could not help but frown. She was powering the Heart of the Abyss with everything that she had, so the Spirit Turtle’s Profound Shell became especially tough due to the power of Ruin’s End’s support. Despite that, it was already covered in cracks which continued to spread. Under the Martial Chief King’s furious attacks, she actually felt like she was unable to fight back. They had not merely lost the momentum. They could not even split their focus to launch a counterattack, or the Spirit Turtle’s Profound Shell would immediately collapse.
Li Qingshan understood extremely well that the Spirit Turtle’s Profound Shell would have collapsed at least ten times over already if it were not for Gong Yuan’s presence. It had been quite some time since he used the Spirit Turtle’s Profound Shell in battle too. It was not because the Spirit Turtle Transformation was not powerful enough, but because the Ox Demon Transformation and the Tiger Demon Transformation had already reached the fifth layer. He was much stronger on the offence than the defence.
Their current strategy of defending was not a bad idea either. If the Martial Chief King had been slightly weaker, then they would have been invincible through the endless power of Ruin’s End from the Heart of the Abyss. If the Spirit Turtle Transformation could reach the fifth layer, then he could achieve absolute defence.
However, the Martial Chief King’s destructive power far exceeded his expectations. Actually, in terms of cultivation realm alone, he was basically the same as Gong Yuan, but his battle prowess was a bit higher, and he was not suppressed by the power of Ruin’s End like the fire devourers. If she fought against him alone, she might have even been in danger of dying.
This was also the most troublesome kind of opponent to Li Qingshan. His abilities covered all bases with absolutely no flaws. He could basically overwhelm all abilities. The Thousand Tendrils King could make Ye Duanhai helpless against him, but all the Thousand Tendrils King could do was suffer before Li QIngshan. Most importantly, attacks that targeted the soul had little effect on him. However, the Martial Chief King directly crushed his opponents through raw force.
However, he did not feel fear as a result. Instead, his killing intent bubbled, and the tiger demon roared! He shut his eyes and pacified the tiger demon’s viciousness, silently waiting for that moment to appear.
At this moment, the weapons of demon qi suddenly vanished, exposing the crack-ridden Spirit Turtle’s Profound Shell and the Martial Chief King standing right on top. He raised his thick right leg high into the air and condensed a huge spiky club out of demon qi. It stood like a lone mountain in the sky, pointing straight at the heavens.
The mountain inverted, and the spiky club smashed down, together with a roar from the Martial Chief King. “Shatter!”
Boom!
The Spirit Turtle’s Profound Shell shattered violently, dispersing as pieces. The spiky club continued along its path, slamming against the spirit turtle’s back viciously and producing a series of ripples. It was basically unable to maintain its shape anymore.
“Go!” “Alright!”
Gong Yuan and Li Qingshan completed their short and simple conversation, and the deep, cold power of Ruin’s End suddenly surged. The black spirit turtle turned into a huge wave that tried to swallow the Martial Chief King.
With a flash of blood-red light, blade aura shot towards the skies!
Li Qingshan stood on the crest of the wave with Tiger’s Fang drawn. He swung the blade valiantly and produced a tiger’s roar, shaking the world!
He unleashed the most powerful offence the moment he gave up on defence. The Martial Chief King was powerful, but after launching a full-strength attack, it was unavoidable for him to seize up for a moment.
Gong Yuan fell down alone, gazing at the spiky club coldly as it swept past her face. She powered the Heart of the Abyss with her full strength, and the power of Ruin’s End that had gathered for all this time seemed to spring alive, swallowing the Martial Chief King.
The Martial Chief King shivered, and his muscly body became covered in a layer of pitch-black. The power of Ruin’s End infiltrated every single opening in his body, seeping into him through his eyes, ears, mouth, nose, and even his pores. It gave off a bone-chilling coldness. Even his blood was frozen.
The blade aura paused and erupted with blood-red light!
