Bloodreed and Goldenhowl couldn’t be more surprised to see their prized techniques easily countered by Forefather Celestial.
It suddenly dawned on them that the demon they were facing was the unequivocal best cultivator of their race, and an advanced realm demon god.
Goldenhowl roared, his eyes bloodshot. “Why are you so merciless to us, Forefather Celestial?! Why didn’t you use this power against the human race earlier? Why weren’t you as aggressive as you are now? Are you only capable of fighting your own kind?”
Bloodreed scoffed. “The celestial demons have gone against the natural order and killed your fellow demons. That’s going to come back to bite you!”
Celestial remained unfazed no matter what the two forefathers cursed, seemingly deaf to their words. He responded indifferently, “I’ll allow you the chance to run your mouths before you die. You won’t be able to talk later.”
Goldenhowl gritted his teeth. “I won’t go down without a fight!”
He shook his arms as he spoke. His bones crackled and body expanded, filling his clothes to the brim. Sinews and muscles bulged from his skin. He transformed at a speed visible to the naked eye, becoming a giant as large as a mountain. His body radiated power like it was cast in metal.
With a roar, he manifested a golden broadsword with a twist of his wrist.
Golden light exploded as he raised the sword. “Let’s find out who’s stronger today, Celestial!”
He leapt toward the demonic forefather with a powerful stomp. His momentum was as if an advancing mountain.
Bam!
He slashed at Celestial.
He was at least a hundred times bigger than the celestial demon. The stroke seemed like it would tear open even the earth beneath Celestial’s feet.
Bloodreed narrowed his eyes until they were almost fully close, contemplating something.
Clang!
The blade was a hundred times bigger than Celestial’s finger, yet the forefather easily caught the blade and stopped the mighty attack without much difficulty.
Enraged, Goldenhowl hacked and slashed again, every one of which was fiercer and more impressive than its predecessor.
The barrage of slashes rained on Celestial, attempting to break through his domain. However, the strokes found no purchase on the tenacious barrier and failed to break it.
Bloodreed’s eyelids twitched.
“What are you waiting for, Bloodreed?” Goldenhowl called out angrily. “Attack him together!”
Bloodreed made a sound of assent. A faint mist emerged around him, obscuring his form after a few breaths of time.
An instant later, the mist expanded and scattered away, with Bloodreed vanishing into thin air.
Celestial had been keeping an eye on Bloodreed. He thought the blood demon would sneak up on him, but to his surprise, Bloodreed suddenly vanished.
“How can this be?” Celestial looked around. There really was no trace of the blood demon in his domain!
All that was left was a thread of faint mist. He could sense a hint of blood energy, but it seemed that Bloodreed had exhausted his life force to turn himself into mist, penetrating the celestial domain and fleeing.
The disintegration would greatly damage both body and soul.
“An absolute mad man!” cursed Celestial.
It frustrated him that Bloodreed had run away. Meanwhile, Goldenhowl was still fighting him like a fool with a death wish. Celestial scoffed derisively. His body enlarged as well, reaching Goldenhowl’s size in an instant and continuing to grow until he was five times bigger.
Celestial snorted mockingly. “You’ve always fancied yourself so clever, Goldenhowl, yet you’re nothing but a stepping stone for Bloodreed even before death. Was it worth it?”
When he slammed his palm into Goldenhowl, the latter felt like he’d been hit by the combined power in all the heavens. He had to tap into his full strength in order to counter the unstoppable force.
No matter how hard he tried, however, his knees continued to bend beneath the pressure, until finally, they gave out and hit the ground with a bam.
But that wasn’t the end. The giant palm continued to crush down.
Goldenhowl howled to raise his morale so that he might rejuvenate himself, but that wasn’t going to bridge the power difference between them.
Eventually, Goldenhowl’s prideful head sank.
Celestial seized Goldenhowl and crushed him into a ball before popping the latter into his mouth.
Crunch, crunch. The victorious forefather munched on the golden demon, fully claiming Goldenhowl’s lifetime of cultivation achievements for his own.
Celestial lifted his head and howled, scanning the area with narrowed eyes, trying to spot where Bloodreed had run off to in the darkness of the night.
Unfortunately, Bloodreed had cunningly left traces of blood mist in all directions. Even Celestial had trouble locating him.
The other five celestial forefathers caught up one after another.
“All done?” asked Forefather Celestial.
“All done,” said the third forefather. “Has Bloodreed escaped, Forefather?”
Celestial scoffed. “He’s cunning and determined. He escaped by disintegrating himself. But he won’t be able to run forever!”
“That’s right. We’ll go after him. His escape has left his body and soul crippled. He’s not going to put up much of a fight. We should be able to catch up with him!”
The other five forefathers split up to search for Bloodreed.
