Chapter 587: At the End of the Road

The Wind Rises Across Kyushu

Boom!

The giant ape landed awkwardly, its massive body kicking up a cloud of dust.

A scene that surprised everyone unfolded: as it landed, the solidified protective demonic energy around its body showed a violent tremor!

It was widely known that previously, neither the power of the formations nor the attacks from the cultivators could shake its protective demonic energy in the slightest. Yet now, simply falling from mid-air caused such a violent tremor, which was clearly unusual.

It was nearing its limit!

This thought popped into the minds of all cultivators who witnessed the scene.

"Kill!" As a furious roar rang out, even more fierce and dense attacks than before covered the area where the giant ape had fallen.

Its already unstable protective demonic energy trembled even more violently.

The giant ape struggled to its feet, roaring furiously. Sound waves swept over, immediately causing several nearby cultivators to feel their eardrums ache and blood to flow from their ears. Yet, they didn't retreat a single step, frantically channeling their spiritual power to attack the giant ape.

The giant ape leaped up from its spot again. However, under the suppression of the anti-flight formation, the higher it rose from the ground, the greater the pressure it endured. An overlord-level demonic beast like it could normally leap hundreds of feet without any issue, but this time, it could only barely leap less than ten feet before losing momentum. Under the pressure of the anti-flight formation, it quickly fell back towards the ground.

It clearly sensed something was wrong and stopped making futile efforts. Instead, it charged rapidly in one direction, its posture clearly indicating an attempt to break through by force.

"Don't let it escape!" the fox demon roared.

Immediately, over a dozen cultivators dashed out, blocking the giant ape's escape path. At the forefront were several burly body cultivators wielding large spiritual shields.

Spells and spiritual artifacts bombarded it fiercely, but still couldn't stop the giant ape's breakthrough. As it drew near, the body cultivators roared, raising their shields, their bodies surging with energy, and forcefully braced themselves against it.

The giant ape swept its hand, and the body cultivator at the very front grunted, directly swept away. He vomited blood continuously while in mid-air and was unconscious upon landing.

Then came the second body cultivator, the third...

Wherever the giant ape passed, it was like autumn winds sweeping away fallen leaves; no cultivator could directly withstand its might.

Just as the giant ape was about to break through, a fierce burst of fire suddenly erupted, followed by a deafening roar of explosions. The flames surged, engulfing the giant ape.

The few remaining explosive formations unleashed their final brilliant light.

The next moment, the giant ape's massive figure tore through the flames and charged out. However, before it could take a few steps, another grand formation was activated. A transparent, bowl-shaped light barrier instantly enveloped it. The giant ape crashed head-first into the light barrier; the barrier rippled but did not break. Instead, it bounced the giant ape back several steps.

A confinement formation!

This was originally intended to save the lives of the Fox Immortal Valley cultivators, but unexpectedly played an unanticipated role at this moment.

The giant ape roared, its massive hand forming a fist and pounding the confinement barrier. With just two or three simple punches, the light barrier shattered with a bang.

But this delay of a few breaths allowed the surviving cultivators of Fox Immortal Valley to complete their encirclement.

As the light barrier shattered, attacks from all directions arrived as expected, and multicolored lights submerged the giant ape.

Painful roars emanated from the center of the spiritual energy maelstrom, vaguely accompanied by the sound of something shattering.

A full five breaths later, the giant ape finally broke out of the dense barrage.

But its appearance at this moment sent a thrill through all the Fox Immortal Valley cultivators.

The protective demonic energy that had previously enveloped it, solid as a fortress, was now completely gone. Its red fur was heavily damaged, and numerous wounds also appeared on its body, bleeding profusely!

"Good!" The fox demon, who had been closely observing this scene, revealed a look of joy. "Master, do you see this? So many years of perseverance and waiting have finally yielded results. Today, Xian'er can finally avenge you."

With the giant ape's protective demonic energy shattered, the previously invincible overlord-level demonic beast now looked thoroughly disheveled. Seeing victory within reach, the Fox Immortal Valley cultivators attacked with even greater ferocity.

The giant ape roared and bellowed, raising its arms to block in front of itself, but still couldn't block the continuous barrage of spells and spiritual artifacts. Its wounds accumulated.

If it were an ordinary demonic beast, without protective demonic energy, it would likely have been reduced to dust under such a dense barrage. But an overlord-level demonic beast was, after all, an overlord-level demonic beast; its physical body was incredibly powerful. Although it had many wounds, they were all superficial.

It no longer had the majestic aura it possessed when it first arrived. It also sensed the peril of its situation. It, which should have been virtually invincible on this Cloud River battlefield, was now abruptly smelling the scent of death.

This caused its mind to become somewhat flustered.

It instinctively tried to break through in one direction, but after only a few steps, it was driven back by the furious attacks of the cultivators in that area. It tried another direction, but the result was the same.

Although the Fox Immortal Valley cultivators had suffered heavy casualties, around fifty of them still remained. Facing an overlord-level demonic beast whose demonic energy was exhausted, they naturally held an overwhelming advantage!

If nothing unexpected happened, it wouldn't take long before the rampaging giant ape would be besieged to death by the cultivators!

Killing an overlord-level demonic beast was something no one would have dared to imagine before. But at this moment, such a victory was within reach. In this situation, even without the fox demon's command, the cultivators in the valley spared no effort.

However, at this very moment, the rampaging giant ape suddenly roared, and as it opened its mouth, a dazzling earthy yellow light suddenly erupted from it.

That light formed a straight line and shot straight forward. Wherever it passed, all spells and spiritual artifacts paled in comparison, crushing everything in its path.

The body cultivator who bore the brunt of the attack froze in place. It wasn't until the earthy yellow light disappeared from his sight that he numbly lowered his gaze to his chest.

What he saw made his pupils suddenly contract.

A bowl-sized hole had appeared in his chest at some unknown point, piercing through his entire body. He only felt his vision go dark and collapsed directly onto the ground.

As if a chain reaction had begun, with the fall of the first body cultivator, seven or eight cultivators behind him, located in that same direction, all fell to the ground. Each had a bowl-sized hole in their body, their life force flickering.

Most people didn't know what had happened.

Lu Ye, who stood suspended in the air, constantly observing the battlefield's movements, saw it clearly. That earthy yellow light was precisely the color of a demonic core. The rampaging giant ape had actually directly unleashed its demonic core.

He had heard that demonic beasts could unleash their demonic cores in desperate situations, but not every demonic beast possessed such an ability. After all, the demonic core was the crystallization of a demonic beast's entire power. Once it left the body, it would at best suffer severe vital energy depletion, and at worst, instant death. So even if some demonic beasts had this ability, they wouldn't dare to use it unless absolutely necessary.

The rampaging giant ape unleashing its demonic core at this moment was clearly a desperate gamble, forced into a corner.

The result was the death of seven or eight cultivators in the direction of the demonic core's attack!

This scene sent shivers down his spine.

Fighting an overlord-level demonic beast truly required absolute caution. Even when clearly at its last gasp, it still possessed such terrifying methods.

He could only be thankful that his role in Fox Immortal Valley was that of a formation master and he didn't need to participate in this direct combat. Otherwise, he might very well have been among the fallen cultivators.

This was not something that could be avoided by simply being careful enough. The cultivators who survived weren't necessarily stronger, but luckier.

The encirclement had originally been airtight, and no matter which direction the rampaging giant ape tried to break through, it would be driven back by the cultivators. But with the demonic core's strike, a gap had appeared in the encirclement.

Almost at the instant the earthy yellow light dissipated, the rampaging giant ape immediately broke through to the front, recovering its demonic core mid-flight, and fled directly into the distance.

The surviving cultivators were clearly stunned by that previous strike and for a moment, failed to stop it.

"What are you standing there for?" the fox demon yelled. Her face, which should have been radiantly beautiful, now appeared twisted and ferocious, and extremely vicious words burst from her mouth: "If it escapes today, all of you will die!"

At her words, the cultivators' expressions changed dramatically.

Zhou Yuntian, covered in blood, shouted, raising his arm, "Chase!"

Immediately, he soared into the air and charged in the direction the giant ape had fled. The surviving cultivators followed closely behind.

The giant ape's demonic energy had first been depleted by the attacks, and then it had been forced to unleash its demonic core in a strike. At this moment, it was severely weakened. Therefore, even after escaping the range of the anti-flight formation, its escape speed was not fast. In just a moment, the cultivators caught up to the giant ape.

The battle resumed, but this time, the cultivators held a decisive advantage.

The fox demon also followed; such an act of vengeance, naturally, held more meaning when done personally.

Xie Yunhan called out to Lu Ye and also flew in that direction.

Lu Ye lagged a little behind. Taking advantage of the fact that no one was paying attention to him, he raised his hand and tapped on his battlefield mark, sending out a message.

By the time Lu Ye arrived at the battlefield, the situation was already clear.

Although the rampaging giant ape was struggling fiercely, its demonic energy was exhausted, and the strike from its demonic core had severely weakened its vital energy. It was now covered in wounds, and its power was less than half of its peak.

Although the number of Fox Immortal Valley cultivators had sharply decreased by half, there were still nearly forty of them remaining. With the giant ape unable to fly, how could it be an opponent?

As time passed, the giant ape's momentum grew weaker and weaker, and its wounds accumulated. The blood flowing from its body stained the ground beneath its feet red.

Until a certain moment, it could no longer hold on. Its massive figure crashed to the ground.

It wasn't dead, but it no longer had the strength to fight.

The surviving cultivators surrounded it. There were no cheers or excitement, only a profound sense of awe. The losses from this battle today were truly tragic.

The fox demon parted the crowd and walked forward with an alluring gait. The hatred in her eyes was almost palpable.

"My Lady, be careful!" Zhou Yuntian uttered in a low voice, and, along with several other cultivators, followed closely beside the fox demon.

The fox demon soared into the air and stopped a few dozen feet above the giant ape. Gazing down, her expression was cold, but her eyes gleamed with satisfaction: "You have met your end today!"