Chapter 452: Dilemma

The Peacock Monarch stood in the vast Black River, looking at the True Martial Domain in the distance.

"The True Martial King's power is much greater than before, and he's also more troublesome to deal with," the Peacock Monarch mused.

The True Martial Domain before him was like a giant turtle shell, resisting the Black River Formation and significantly weakening his divine power, 'Heaven Devourer'. Without breaking through the True Martial Domain, it would be difficult to kill those fiendgods.

"Black River Guards, deploy the Black River Formation with all your might and assault the True Martial King's domain," the Peacock Monarch commanded. "Entanglement, you and I will deal with the True Martial King."

"Understood," the Entanglement Saint replied from a distance, remaining hidden sixty to seventy miles away, clearly wary of the Thousand Wood King's 'Demonic Cone'.

"Activate!"

The eighteen Black River Guards simultaneously unleashed another application of the Black River Formation. Black chains, one after another, formed within the Black River. In the blink of an eye, hundreds of them surrounded the True Martial Domain.

"Most of the power of the eight-hundred-mile Black River has been channeled to these chains. We will crush this True Martial Domain!" Fierce killing intent gleamed in the eyes of the eighteen Black River Guards.

"This is bad!" Meng Chuan exclaimed as he watched black chains wrap around the True Martial Domain, layer upon layer, tightening frantically. The fiendgods present all changed expression.

True Martial King, Meng Chuan, and Transcendent-Nether King remained within the domain, while Flame King, Thousand Wood King, Anhai King, and the other fiendgods, including the protector, had already retreated into the Star-Forging Furnace. The furnace walls became semi-transparent, allowing the Marquis fiendgods protected inside to clearly see what was happening outside.

"Trying to break my domain?" True Martial King scoffed. His black-and-white Yin-Yang Plate rotated, continuously deflecting the binding and crushing force of the chains. The True Martial Domain was gradually compressed, shrinking from ninety feet to eighty feet, but then quickly rebounded to eighty-five feet, then ninety feet. It constantly waxed and waned, alternating back and forth. The True Martial Domain sometimes shrank with the pressure and sometimes expanded with a rebound, using this to better dissipate the force.

*Boom!*

A long spear had already torn through the Black River and was now hurtling through the air—it was the Peacock Monarch's fearsome strike. Evidently, taking advantage of the True Martial King being distracted by the chains' compression, he intended a close-quarters assault.

True Martial King deployed a palm technique. His True Martial Seven Absolutes included palm, finger, claw, and fist techniques, among others. While fist techniques were most dominant for offense, palm techniques excelled in defense. At this moment, with one palm strike, he traversed several miles, his palm glowing with a hazy gray light, tearing through the Black River waters to directly block the fearsome spear.

*Boom!* The long spear carried world-shattering power, crushing everything in its path. True Martial King's palm technique, seemingly extremely soft and yielding, actually integrated Yin and Yang, deflecting endless impact force. True Martial King himself was sent flying back several miles, and his True Martial Domain naturally retreated with him. Yet, he had deflected all the impact force, sustaining no injuries himself.

*Boom, boom, boom, boom, boom, boom!* The Peacock Monarch was utterly ferocious. His long spear extended several miles in length, launching repeated furious assaults. While his technique seemed much cruder than True Martial King's, it was simply—brutal! Terrifying power surged through the spear, striking repeatedly. Each blow was far more powerful than the True Martial King's own strength. With every clash, True Martial King was sent flying backward, constantly retreating. Simultaneously defending against the Black River Formation chains' compression and the Peacock Monarch's furious attacks, he found it extremely difficult.

"Now!" The Entanglement Saint had been watching covertly, seizing the opportunity. The white serpent, formed from countless threads of the Nine-Life Cocoon, suddenly burst from the Black River and plunged into the True Martial Domain. The black chains naturally parted, allowing the white serpent to slip through. This sneak attack was as fast as lightning and targeted the True Martial King at the moment he had just barely withstood the Peacock Monarch's seventh strike.

*Clang, clang, clang!*

A series of blood blades formed a rotating sphere several yards in diameter, blocking the white serpent's terrifying strike. It was Meng Chuan, who with a single thought, had deployed his blood blades to assist.

"Dongning King Meng Chuan?" The Entanglement Saint was furious.

"Junior Brother Meng, thank you," True Martial King recovered his composure, transmitting his voice. Even without Meng Chuan's help, he could have forced out another palm strike to block it, but his injuries would have worsened.

"I can only offer a minor obstruction," Meng Chuan replied, feeling extremely strained. The white serpent, formed by the Entanglement Saint's full power through the Tribulation-level secret treasure 'Nine-Life Cocoon,' had undoubtedly reached the peak of the Creation realm. However, the True Martial Domain was too powerful; even the Black River Formation couldn't completely breach it. Under the True Martial Domain's intense suppression, distortion, and erosion, this white serpent retained only about fifty percent of its power. The Blood Blade Disc, specialized in defense and self-preservation, had barely managed to block the attack, but it was still extremely difficult. With each collision, the blood blades vibrated as if on the verge of shattering. The eighteen blood blades constantly moved like fish, yet formed a formation, creating a miniature world of their own, striving to resist the impact.

"Even with the True Martial Domain weakening the attack, I'm struggling so much to defend," Meng Chuan thought to himself. "My realm is still too low." Because his realm was low, he could only activate the shallow layers of the Blood Blade Disc's complex runic formations.

The demon side was also vexed. Although the Peacock Monarch was fiercely aggressive, pushing the opponent back, True Martial King was able to completely withstand it. The Black River Formation also couldn't penetrate the True Martial Domain.

"Does anyone have a way to deal with these fiendgods?" the Peacock Monarch asked with a frown via voice transmission.

"The True Martial King is currently operating his domain at full power; even the Black River Formation cannot break through it. My Black Dragon avatar cannot even enter," Poison Dragon Ancestor transmitted. "There's no method at all."

The Entanglement Saint transmitted: "He's operating his True Martial Domain at full power; even an ordinary demon saint would probably be crushed to dust upon entering. My Nine-Life Cocoon threads, forming a white serpent, were suppressed to only half their power when they entered. And then Meng Chuan blocked them."

The Peacock frowned.

"Then there's only one way," the Peacock Monarch transmitted. "Black River Guards, please seal off the heavens and earth so they cannot absorb even a shred of external World Energy."

"Understood," the eighteen Black River Guards all responded. The Black River Formation possessed numerous techniques, but with the fiendgods hidden within the True Martial Domain, their available methods were limited. As the surging river water heavily enveloped the True Martial Domain, countless runes appeared on the bodies of the eighteen Black River Guards.

"What's happening?" True Martial King, Meng Chuan, and Transcendent-Nether King's expressions shifted slightly. As fiendgods, their bodies naturally absorbed World Energy, much like mortals breathing. But now, after the World Energy within the True Martial Domain was absorbed into their bodies, they couldn't absorb even a trace of external World Energy.

"World Energy has been cut off?" True Martial King's expression changed slightly.

"True Martial King, I admire your strength." The Peacock Monarch held his spear, calmly gazing at the True Martial Domain. "As long as you resist, you will continuously consume your true essence. Intense consumption with no World Energy to replenish it. Let's see how long you can last."

The demon side used the Black River Formation's chains to compress the True Martial Domain and now cut off World Energy, simply wearing them down. Meng Chuan, True Martial King, and the others all felt the gravity of the situation.

"Does anyone have a solution?" True Martial King asked.

"Everyone hide inside the Star-Forging Furnace. Relying on it will buy us more time," Flame King said with a frown from within the Star-Forging Furnace. But Northwood King, beside him, countered, "You operating the Tribulation-level secret treasure 'Star-Forging Furnace' also consumes a significant amount."

"Transcendent-Nether King can enter the Dark Shadow World and escape this formation," Protector Wang Shan mused.

"It's useless," True Martial King countered. "Transcendent-Nether King can indeed escape, but our true essence consumption as fiendgods is immense. Even if we brought more elixirs, we wouldn't last long. If we brought a small Grotto-Heaven, the World Energy within it would only last for about a month. And I doubt the demon race would allow Transcendent-Nether King to travel freely between the human world and the world gap."

"The biggest problem is..." Meng Chuan looked outside and said solemnly, "Even if we can hold out and keep resisting here, if we can't get out, we'll just have to watch the demon race map out connection points and send fifth-level demon monarchs into our human world."

True Martial King nodded. "Exactly. If we're trapped here, our mission will have failed."