At the top of the pagoda, countless paper cutouts parted in the distance, and the inner demon immediately rose to its feet.
A pair of specks of netherfire appeared in its dark eye sockets, and it slowly raised its hand.
The paper cutouts parted layer upon layer like Moses parting the Red Sea, and a humanoid figure rushed directly toward the inner demon. In the instant that the figure appeared, rainbow light suddenly lit up from the inner demon’s palm, and a rainbow spear was sent flying toward the oncoming figure.
Countless paper cutouts were torn apart before falling onto the ground like snow, and the approaching figure was also destroyed in an instant.
It’s not him!
The inner demon immediately shifted its gaze away from the humanoid figure, and right at this moment, countless paper cutouts split apart all around it as a series of ghostly figures rushed out.
Freddy, Jason, Leatherface, Kwon Kyung-ho, the Spatial Spirit, the Porter Spirit… The entirety of the Dusk Legionnaire had been deployed! Ghostly shadows sprang from a human’s worst nightmare toward the inner demon from all directions, swinging their weapons with all their might.
Freddy was cackling at the top of his lungs, and there wasn’t even a single inch of unblemished skin on his burned face. All of the twisted blood and flesh beneath his skin was revealed, and he was staring intently at the inner demon with his bloodshot eyes as he swept his metal claws ferociously through the air.
A clear clang rang out, but the inner demon didn’t even budge a single millimeter. Attacks from Abyssal Prefects had no effect on it whatsoever. In fact, it wasn’t even paying attention to these assailants as it was looking beyond them, seeing if Qin Ye had also emerged alongside them.
A sharp blade flashed through the air as Otakemaru unleashed a blade projection that was over 100 meters in length. All of the paper cutouts in the blade projection’s path were instantly sliced into shreds, yet this powerful attack wasn’t even able to leave the slightest of marks on the inner demon’s body.
At the same time, all of the attacks struck the inner demon one after another, and shockwaves erupted over several kilometers while shredded paper rained down from above. Time seemed to have fallen completely still in this instant.
“You realized that you’re no match for me, so you’re resorting to impeding the resurrection of Chiyou, is that right?” the inner demon scoffed, and in the next instant, all of the surrounding members of the Dusk Legionnaire disintegrated into Yin energy.
The inner demon then raised its hand and seemed to hesitate momentarily before unleashing a burst of rainbow Yin energy, which transformed into a lethal spear that pierced directly toward Qin Ye.
In the next instant, an earth-shattering boom rang out, and all of the paper around it was instantly set alight.
They hadn’t been ignited by netherfire. Instead, it was due to the fact that the spear was traveling at above the speed of sound, and the friction with the air was so extreme that it was able to set the paper alight.
A trail of fire was left in its wake, and Qin Ye was instantly sent flying several kilometers backward as if a shooting star had just crashed into him.
The paper cutouts in the wake of the spear fell away layer upon layer, only to rapidly reform again. Qin Ye gritted his teeth tightly with his arms crossed in front of his chest as a shield. The wrist on his right arm was so broken that it was completely unrecognizable, and he couldn’t help but throw up a mouthful of blood.
The inner demon was correct. It stood at the apex of the world in terms of power, so defeating it was impossible, but it was certainly possible to stop Chiyou’s resurrection!
However, he couldn’t do that through brute force.
Just you wait…
Qin Ye bit down viciously onto his own lower lip to stop himself from groaning in pain, and even as he was retreating, his eyes were firmly focused on the inner demon.
He had already set his anchor.
This certainly wasn’t an extravagant or spectacular tactic, but it was the method that he thought had the best chance of succeeding.
Come! Attack me!
The inner demon stood on the spot in silence for a while, then turned back around.
It’s not coming?
Qin Ye’s eyelids twitched as his heart immediately sank. Had he failed, after all?
However, right at this moment, the inner demon suddenly turned around again right in front of Qin Ye’s despairing eyes. Immediately thereafter, it crouched down, and the muscles on its legs bulged as all of the Yin energy and power within its body began to swell rapidly.
All of a sudden, it stepped forward, and a burst of shockwaves that were visible even to the naked eye swept violently over the ground in all directions. The thick piles of paper that had accumulated on the ground were instantly flung upward, giving the inner demon the appearance of a deity of death that had descended on a snowy night.
Taking advantage of the instant before the paper cutouts managed to completely recover, it was able to lock onto Qin Ye!
It’s coming!
Unbeknownst to the inner demon, it was rushing right into the trap that Qin Ye had set for it!
It’s taken the bait! This is it!
The blood pond that Chiyou was in was naturally very important, but if it could capture Qin Ye, it would be able to ensure that it could bail out and escape! This was the perfect hostage, and there was no reason not to capture him!
The inner demon instantly vanished, and the howls and wails of the countless ghosts rang out across the entire space.
Right in front of Qin Ye’s eyes, a black shadow was rapidly expanding, and an indescribable sense of pressure was descending upon him.
This was the inner demon in full flight!
It was traveling so fast that words failed to describe its speed. It was like a ray of light, and it was virtually as fast as instantaneous teleportation!
Qin Ye’s heartbeat began to drastically accelerate. As expected, the inner demon had been holding back during their prior battle. All smart cultivators knew the importance of keeping trump cards up their sleeves, but with the allure of taking Qin Ye as hostage being presented to it in this current situation, the inner demon was finally willing to display its full power.
The inner demon’s raucous cackling rang out across the top of the entire pagoda as its hands swelled drastically in size in the air. It was also right at this moment, that the origin rune of emotions and desires behind Qin Ye began to revolve rapidly, ensuring that he maintained an extreme state of calm.
His body was instinctively producing adrenalin with all its might, as one would expect in the face of an attack from a being above the Yama-King level. However, the origin rune of emotions and desires prevented Qin Ye from doing anything rash.
He swept a sleeve through the air, instantly releasing a vast Heavenly Dragnet. At the same time, he rushed forward with all his might, charging directly toward the inner demon’s attack rather than taking evasive measures.
He couldn’t afford even the slightest misstep here.
He had already walked onto the tightrope, and he either made it to the other side or fell into the abyss on either side of the tightrope.
The inner demon faltered slightly upon seeing this, following which the bone spikes on its back instantly elongated before intertwining with one another to form a pair of giant wings that completely enveloped itself.
The Heavenly Dragnet scraped over the bone wings, sending sparks flying in all directions, but were repelled and returned to Qin Ye’s sleeve. At the same time, the inner demon’s palm was still reaching out toward Qin Ye, but it had slowed down a little.
It did want to capture Qin Ye, but it definitely didn’t want to capture a corpse.
The circumstances were different now.
During the prior battle, it would’ve definitely killed Qin Ye had the opportunity presented itself as it still had enough time back then. If it could kill an enemy Yama-King, particularly Hell’s King Yanluo, then the morale of the enemy army would drop significantly.
However, Qin Ye was there for the taking now, and that was why it had chosen to leave the blood pond. In contrast with the prospect of having to face Hell together with a resurrected Chiyou, it much preferred the idea of capturing a hostage that would ensure that it would be able to escape.
A living King Yanluo was the best hostage possible.
A cold smile appeared on Qin Ye’s face, and his heart was fluttering like the wings of a hummingbird. The sound of his own heartbeat was ringing out in his eardrums as loud as thunder, but he was able to remain completely calm and collected due to the effect of the origin rune of emotions and desires.
His energy, essence, and spirit had all been primed to a peak.
He had been waiting for this moment this entire time.
He had been waiting for the inner demon to make this choice. Seeing as the inner demon had come out and abandoned Chiyou, he was certain that it definitely wouldn’t kill him.
Just as he predicted, the power of this attack was severely lacking. The inner demon had no choice but to hold back in order to ensure that Qin Ye could survive. Taking advantage of this opportunity, Qin Ye immediately pulled out Fate and injected his Yin energy into it, upon which it transformed into a massive white umbrella.
The umbrella shielded Qin Ye from the attack, and not only was the inner demon not able to capture Qin Ye, it wasn’t even able to break through Fate!
The inner demon faltered slightly upon seeing this.
Something wasn’t quite right…
The tempo of the battle was off! Qin Ye was acting very strangely considering the situation!
Could he be plotting something? But what could it be? Even with all four of Hell’s Yama-Kings together, they might still not be able to defeat me… In that case, he could only be targeting… Chiyou!
As soon as that thought occurred to the inner demon, it immediately abandoned Qin Ye and rushed back toward the pond of blood.
The inner demon had caught on to what was happening extremely quickly, but it was still too late! Qin Ye was virtually completely drenched in blood, but he paid no heed to that as he injected all of his energy into Fate, which transformed into a spear, then thrust it toward the rapidly retreating inner demon with all his might.
“Piss off!” the inner demon roared. It could clearly sense that something irreversible was about to happen, and it had no time to waste on Qin Ye. All of the bone spikes on its back detached themselves from its body, then transformed into hundreds of skeletal crows that converged toward Qin Ye in a frenzy.
Right at this moment, a silver spear emerged from the side, and all of the surrounding Yin energy and paper cutouts quickly scattered to either direction. In the blink of an eye, Zhao Yun was revealed!
Yin energy surged violently as Zhao Yun’s enormous power caused the entire surrounding space to shimmer and warp.
“Stop him!” Qin Ye roared with all his might.
Zhao Yun immediately sprang into action upon hearing this, thrusting his silver spear forward like a dragon springing out of the sea.
Why is he here?!
It was clear that Zhao Yun had already been waiting here for some time, and he had accumulated a significant amount of power for this spear strike. How had he gotten here so quickly?!
At this point, the inner demon knew that it had been led in a wrong direction, but it didn’t have time to think about how things had played out like this.
The sense of foreboding in its heart was quickly becoming more and more pronounced by the second, and it let loose a thunderous roar as its body instantly transformed. However, right as it completed its transformation, a burst of dazzling light suddenly illuminated the entire sky.
It was an attack unleashed by Zhao Yun’s sword, and there was no way to evade it. The entire space was virtually sliced apart by the attack, and the inner demon’s frustration had mounted to a peak.
This was an opponent that was on par with it. Under normal circumstances, it would take at least a day for it to defeat Zhao Yun, but it didn’t have anywhere near that much time in this situation!
All it had done was stray away from the pond of blood for an instant! How had things escalated so quickly?!
In the face of Zhao Yun’s attack, the inner demon’s body instantly disintegrated into countless vengeful spirits, all of which rushed directly toward the blood pond.
Everyone across the entirety of Shanxi Province could see a gigantic sword mark, which had appeared in the sky above Fenglingdu.
Zhao Yun’s sword strike had split the heavens!
