Chapter 2246: The Whip of Divine Punishment

"That's a Soul-Summoning Banner!"

"It seems to be a magic artifact of a War Priest!"

The Plague Demon Lord and the Doomsday Revenant were extremely frustrated, never expecting this human to use a demonic artifact against them.

In truth, the Soul-Summoning Banner wasn't very effective against beings like them. However, the Plague Demon Lord's countless cockroaches, rats, mosquitoes, and flies, though overwhelming in number and impossible to guard against, had one fatal weakness: their spirits were too weak to withstand a single shake of the banner.

Zu An was also fortunate that he hadn't destroyed this weapon earlier. He had initially considered it too evil but, after much hesitation, decided to repair it instead of destroying it. Now, it seemed that weapons, magic artifacts, or cultivation methods were neither good nor evil; the key lay in the wielder and their purpose.

The Plague Demon Lord felt a pang of regret but still sneered, "You think a mere Soul-Summoning Banner can deal with my plague seeds? Those were just manifestations of a rule; once their souls return, I can still create an endless supply of them."He figured that as long as the Doomsday Revenant kept Zu An occupied for a moment, he could find an opening to spread the plague seeds.

With that, he opened his mouth wide and inhaled, attempting to draw back the scattered souls of the plague seeds from the void. However, he sucked for a long time without any response."I'll suck!""I'll suck again?"After three more attempts, he had only gulped down empty air, not a single hair. The Plague Demon Lord was utterly bewildered. What was happening?

"Soul retrieval? That seems to be my specialty." Zu An raised his hand, and in it, a transparent orb seemed to materialize. Inside, countless phantom images of plague seeds crashed around, wailing. As the Emperor of the Underworld, all souls belonged to him after death. While some distant ones might slip away, how could these souls escape when they died right before him?

The Plague Demon Lord's pupils constricted. He felt that the plague seeds had completely lost all connection to him, and their power was now entirely in the opponent's hands. He snorted, "Playing tricks!"Then he said to the Doomsday Revenant on the other side, "Let's stop holding back. Let's unleash our ultimate techniques together and show this guy what we can do!"As he spoke, his entire body roiled with demonic energy, and his aura intensified several times over.

"It seems the Demon Lord still has some tricks I don't know about," the Doomsday Revenant chuckled, equally invigorated. His whole being also glowed brightly.The two communicated secretly, discussing their attack strategy: "Let's attack together!"

After a loud shout, the Doomsday Revenant, swift as lightning, turned and fled. The opponent was truly terrifying, effortlessly neutralizing the Plague Demon Lord's prized technique. No wonder so many demons had fallen before him; their deaths were indeed justified. He knew his own ability lay in manipulating and inciting human hearts; his power was maximized only when he stirred up trouble from the shadows. Direct confrontation was simply not his strength. If he stayed and fought to the death, he would most likely perish. How could he, the mighty Doomsday Revenant, die on a frontal battlefield? That would be the greatest insult!

He could only rely on the Plague Demon Lord to stall that formidable enemy for a bit. Given the exaggerated aura he had just displayed, he surely had many trump cards. The only thing the Revenant could do was to control the palace guards to assist him, which seemed a fair exchange.

Thinking this, he instinctively glanced back, and his eyes nearly popped out of his head. Far from attacking as agreed, the Plague Demon Lord was also fleeing, and at a speed even greater than his own. In an instant, he was already at the horizon. Clearly, his earlier surging aura had been nothing but a bluff, intended to trick the Revenant into helping him delay the formidable foe.

The Doomsday Revenant cursed inwardly. The only consolation was that the other demon wasn't foolish enough to flee in the same direction. The palace guards were now swarming towards Zu An like a tide, meaning Zu An would likely only be able to pursue one of them. Since things had come to this, it was a matter of who had better luck! Both demons prayed inwardly for that 'demon' to chase the other.Wait, who exactly was the demon here?!

At that moment, a throng of palace guards, including both the Emperor's personal guard and the Empress's faction, attacked Zu An. Even the Imperial Guards and Embroidered Uniform Guards assailed him. Everyone's eyes glowed red, except for a select few who managed to maintain their clarity. This was clearly the Doomsday Revenant's ability; only those above a certain power level could avoid being controlled.

This ability was rather repulsive, forcing countless innocent people to their deaths. If one retaliated, many lives would be harmed; if one didn't, being assailed by a massive number of guards was a tremendous headache.

Zu An flew directly into the sky, temporarily avoiding the controlled guards. He then looked towards the two demons flying in different directions. He chose not to pursue either of them. Instead, he spread his arms, closed his eyes, and seemed to be communicating with something.

Almost instantly, dark clouds abruptly gathered before the Plague Demon Lord and the Doomsday Revenant, followed by countless bolts of lightning appearing out of nowhere. Both demons' expressions drastically changed. Lightning naturally had a demon-purging effect, making it the nemesis of evil creatures. They hastily changed direction, attempting to evade the lightning. But the lightning immediately transformed into a sea of thunder, leaving no escape.

In an instant, they were completely engulfed by the sea of thunder. The two demons unleashed their most potent techniques and brought forth various life-saving artifacts, barely managing to break out of the thunder sea. However, their forms had visibly shrunk and were flickering erratically, clearly indicating severe injuries.

Yet, before they could even catch their breath, a bright bolt of lightning, spanning the entire sky, lashed out at them like a divine whip. They seemed to be locked in by the will of heaven and earth, utterly unable to evade this terrifying and immense whip of divine punishment. With a crack, they were instantly struck, their souls shattering.

"This bastard can control the whole world; how are we supposed to fight?!""Our deaths are not in vain!"These were the Plague Demon Lord and the Doomsday Revenant's final thoughts.

With the death of the Doomsday Revenant, the red glow faded from the eyes of the palace guards who had been driven mad by his mind control. They one by one regained their clarity, their gazes at Zu An filled with terror. Although they had just been controlled by the Revenant's power, their memories of the event remained. The opponent hadn't even needed to act directly, simply summoning lightning to destroy the demons. Especially that final whip of lightning, stretching across the entire world, sent shivers down their very souls.

Not only them, but even the top masters present were utterly astonished. The higher one's cultivation, the more one could appreciate how incredible this was. While some cultivators possessed lightning spells, they were always small-scale manifestations of lightning, vastly different from a legendary heavenly tribulation-like sea of thunder. Was this truly something a human could control?

Yun Jianyue recalled how she and Zu An had once used a certain magic cage to harness heavenly lightning against Zhao Hao. She never imagined that Zu An could now control such powerful lightning himself. She remembered seeing him at the Demon Sect headquarters, where he clearly hadn't possessed such abilities then. "Oh, your progress is so fast; how am I supposed to catch up?" she sighed.

She suddenly noticed the other women's eyes sparkling with adoration, filled with stars. Her heart grew even heavier. So handsome and so powerful, no wonder he attracted so many admirers. "Hong Lei, oh, Hong Lei, where are you? I'm afraid I can't hold them off by myself."

Meanwhile, the remaining few among the Eight Dukes, having finished dealing with the Jiang family's affairs, felt the battle fluctuations from the palace and hesitated. If Zu An truly came into conflict with the Emperor, whose side would they take? Theoretically, they should, of course, support the Emperor; as the last pillars of the empire, they were bound to protect the royal family. However, the incident with the Meng family last time, and everything that had transpired outside the Jiang residence this time, made it clear to them that Zu An had already grown to a realm they could not hope to match. To oppose him would likely be nothing more than a suicidal act.

Fortunately, demonic auras appeared later, prompting them to rush over to help. There, they witnessed Zu An effortlessly control heavenly lightning to eliminate two powerful demons. They exchanged glances, seeing both shock and admiration in each other's eyes.

Zu An descended from the sky. Someone, it was unclear who, initiated a shout:"Regent Zu An is invincible!""Long live the Regent!"Seeing everyone kneeling in homage, the remaining four Dukes no longer felt any mental burden and joined them in bowing. As cultivators, they naturally admired strength above all else, and Zu An had already become so powerful that even heaven and earth resonated with him.

The deafening shouts echoed throughout the entire palace, audible even across the capital. All the major families looked towards the palace, each urgently convening family meetings to discuss how to proceed.

Inside the Jiang residence, Jiang Boyang's injuries had stabilized significantly after being treated by the divine physician Ji Dengtu from the academy. Almost everyone was gathered on a high point of the residence, gazing in the direction of the palace. The scene of Zu An summoning that terrifying whip of lightning from the sky to suppress and kill the two demons had left everyone unsettled for a long time. After a considerable pause, Jiang Boyang finally let out a soft breath and remarked, "It seems the heavens are about to change."