Chapter 2245: Defeating Completely from Start to Finish

“Stop!”“Protect the Emperor!”

The palace guards were all greatly alarmed. Even their leader, Li Guanshi, couldn't intervene in time, let alone the other guards. Fortunately, a figure suddenly appeared before Zhao Ruizhi, striking out with a palm to slightly deflect Zu An's attack. The figure, having retreated dozens of feet with Zhao Ruizhi before finally stabilizing, then gasped, spitting out a mouthful of blood. “Regicide! Zu An is attempting regicide!”

Hearing these shouts, Li Guanshi and the other guards immediately drew their weapons and encircled Zu An. Wang Bolin and Zhang Zijiang exchanged a glance, gritting their teeth. “Charge! Protect the Empress!” They knew this was the moment of decision. The current situation meant they could only follow the Regent King to the very end. If they stood by and the Regent King lost, they would undoubtedly be purged by the Emperor's faction later. Soon, the Imperial Forest Army clashed with Li Guanshi's Palace Guards.

Piao Duandiao and Jiao Sigun gritted their teeth. “Brothers, let's give it our all!” Their ties to Zu An and the Empress were stronger, so they naturally sided with them.

Meanwhile, the Embroidered Uniform Envoys quietly asked Xiao Jianren, “What should we do now?” By all accounts, the Embroidered Uniform Envoys only took orders from the Grand Commander and the Emperor. Their question alone revealed their inner wavering. Xiao Jianren said in a deep voice, “Aid the Empress and the Regent King!”

“Yes!” The Embroidered Uniform Envoys seemed to exhale in relief, then charged towards Li Guanshi's guards. The scales of victory clearly began to tip.

Zu An looked at Zhao Ruizhi and Bi Qi. “Which one of you is the Doomsday Wraith, and which is the Plague Demon Lord?”

Both their expressions changed instantly. In their minds, they cursed every relative of Venerable Myriad Feet. This fellow had apparently revealed everything.

“What are you saying? I don't understand a word. Don't you dare slander His Majesty and me,” Bi Qi scoffed.

Zu An observed them with amusement. “My initial intelligence suggested you two were quite cunning. I was actually concerned that if you hid, I'd be at a disadvantage, unable to find you quickly. I never imagined you'd openly disguise yourselves as such prominent figures. I can't decide if that makes you unlucky or just plain stupid.”

Zhao Ruizhi and Bi Qi's faces instantly clouded over.

Rage points from the Doomsday Wraith: 745,745,745…Rage points from the Plague Demon Lord: 745,745,745…

How could they not be furious? They had been immensely proud of their disguise, holding a significant advantage that would have allowed them to incite internal conflict among humans, using humanity's own strength to wear down Zu An. Yet, in a fit of recklessness today, they made such a critical error and were exposed. Who could have predicted that Bi Linglong, whom they had believed so easy to control, would suddenly be backed by two peak Grandmasters, ruining their plans?

Initially, they had held back, fearing their aura would be detected by Zu An. But the two women's cultivation levels proved higher than expected, making it impossible to subdue them within a few moves. Moreover, the soundproofing barrier they had casually erected was more than sufficient to prevent Bi Linglong from escaping. Yet, two 'tigresses' appeared, smashing through the barrier and attracting numerous experts from the imperial palace—which then dragged on until Zu An arrived.

Seeing the rage points in his system, Zu An mused that when good fortune arrived, there was no stopping it. He had no desire for the palace guards to needlessly slaughter each other. With a flicker of his body, he simultaneously attacked both figures.

The two had initially sneered to themselves, thinking, *Does this fellow truly believe he's invincible? How dare he directly attack both of them at once?* Just as they prepared to teach him a lesson, their expressions abruptly changed. Each of them felt as though they were facing the full might of Zu An's attack. The opponent's hands were fair and clean, yet they were more terrifying than a colossal mountain. No, a mere mountain could not describe such power. It felt as if the entire world was bearing down on them both.

The Doomsday Wraith and the Plague Demon Lord dared not hold back further. If they remained in their human hosts, they feared being flattened into pulp. Moments later, their backs ripped open, and two streaks of light—one black, one white—slipped out, manifesting in mid-air.

The white fiend, like a phantom, exuded an aura of resentment and chaos. It was clearly the Doomsday Wraith. While the Doomsday Wraith possessed a hint of disturbing beauty, the Plague Demon Lord's appearance was utterly grotesque. It resembled a black mountain of flesh, enveloped in dense black miasma. Its clothing, faintly visible, was utterly tattered, more pathetic than a street beggar's rags. Each strip of tattered cloth fluttered like a thin thread in the wind. However, upon closer inspection, these were not threads at all. They were countless rats, each biting the tail of the one in front, forming what appeared to be shredded rags from afar. No one dared mistake them for ordinary rats; their eyes glowed red, and their teeth were exceptionally sharp. Moreover, the black miasma surrounding him was, in fact, composed of countless blood-sucking mosquitoes and green bottle flies, while cockroaches perpetually scurried across his body.

Upon witnessing this sight, the women present began to retch in disgust. It was truly horrifying. At this moment, the guards from both factions, previously locked in fierce combat, ceased their fighting. They saw Bi Qi and the Emperor already collapsed on the ground, their backs split open. Their flesh and internal organs had vanished, leaving only empty husks. They now fully understood that the Empress's words had been true; these two were indeed demons.

Bi Linglong's eyes reddened as she gazed at her father's remains. Although she had long known of his demise, seeing his tragic end, she couldn't help but shed tears. Liu Ning, observing Bi Qi's horrific state, indeed felt it was well-deserved. She initially wanted to laugh aloud, her great vengeance finally satisfied, but out of consideration for Bi Linglong, she managed to suppress the corners of her mouth. However, her gaze soon fell upon Zhao Ruizhi's corpse. Although they privately referred to him as the 'foolish emperor,' he was, after all, her sister's only son. Seeing him meet such an end, she wondered how heartbroken her sister would be, if she knew in the afterlife. At this thought, she could no longer feel any joy.

“Hmph, I had intended for you to slowly accept death, but since you've brought it upon yourselves, then let me grant you the terror of it now,” the Plague Demon Lord declared, his voice filled with fury. He extended countless spectral hands, activating the arrays he had meticulously placed throughout the capital over time. He intended to sacrifice the flesh and blood of every living being in the capital, in exchange for immense power to annihilate the formidable individual before him.

However, after he chanted for a time, there was no reaction from afar. He froze in bewilderment. “What's happening?” He attempted to activate his grand formation again, but swiftly discovered he had lost all connection to it.

“Are you looking for these?” Zu An asked, sweeping his sleeve. Several black flags fell out, each adorned with bizarre, faintly glowing black runes. However, they were all suppressed by his spiritual pressure, completely unable to stir.

“How is this possible?!” The Plague Demon Lord cried out, a mixture of shock and fury.

Rage points from the Plague Demon Lord: 666,666,666…

“The reason for my slight delay was precisely to deal with these pathetic trinkets of yours,” Zu An explained. He had learned about this array from Venerable Myriad Feet and, to be safe, had gone to various locations to dismantle all of them. His mastery of formations was already profound, and with his resonance with the will of heaven and earth, locating them had not been difficult.

“What if those arrays are gone? I still have other methods!” The Plague Demon Lord declared, shaking his body. Countless cockroaches, rats, mosquitoes, and flies scattered outwards like a storm. These creatures, upon contact with any living being, could spread plague. “Then let the people of the entire imperial palace serve as the origin, spreading this plague throughout the capital, and then across the entire world.” While this would severely deplete his essence, there was no turning back now. “Zu An's cultivation might be high, but no matter how formidable, it would be useless against a plague.”

“Heh heh, with so many plague seeds, how many can you stop, even with your heaven-defying cultivation?” the Doomsday Wraith cackled. As long as a single one slipped through, the plague would successfully spread.

“Oh?” Zu An produced a Soul-Summoning Banner, wreathed in chilling ghostly energy, and gave it a gentle shake towards the swarm of rats and cockroaches. The plague seeds trembled, then plummeted from the sky, unable to disperse. What awaited them was the True White Lotus Flame, which incinerated them completely into ashes, leaving not a single trace.

Utter annihilation!

The Doomsday Wraith stood aghast.The Plague Demon Lord was utterly stunned.