Chapter 615: Twilight's Glowing Trees and Silver Blossoms

The sounds of battle erupted, and numerous demon gods roared in rage, charging towards Chixi.

After a bloody battle, corpses piled up like mountains, and even Chixi couldn't help but feel exhausted. He practiced the Leakless Battle God Skill from the Chiming era, a technique that allowed him to draw vital energy from others, constantly maintaining his peak state. With three heads and six arms, his close-combat offense reached a perfect realm.

As long as his enemies were wounded, their vital energy would continuously drain away, flowing into his body. This ebb and flow meant that the longer the battle lasted, the more advantageous it became for him.

This divine skill was arguably one of the most outstanding techniques of the Chiming era. Many practiced it then, including a significant number of gods and demons, which is why gods and demons of the Chiming era often appeared with three heads and six arms.

The Leakless Battle God Skill had two drawbacks: first, it placed a heavy burden on the physical body, leading to exhaustion despite the increasing vigor of vital energy.

The second drawback was its reliance on divine powers.

As it was primarily a close-combat divine skill, his mastery of divine powers was not exceptionally high.

The executioner from the Chiming era sat atop a towering pile of corpses. As night fell, numerous fires glowed around him—flames left behind by divine powers—sending plumes of black smoke into the twilight sky.

Gucheng was in ruins.

Paper boats emerged from the darkness, their underworld envoys collecting the souls of the deceased. Chixi watched these sudden appearances blankly, without questioning them.

As an executioner from the Chiming Celestial Heavens, he commanded immense authority and was long accustomed to such phenomena.

He sat on the mountain of corpses, looking into the distance. There, a three-faced demon god was approaching. The demon god adjusted his state as he walked, clearly a formidable opponent.

King Furoh!

Chixi rested one foot on the head of a corpse beneath him, while his other leg hung relaxed. He, too, was steadying his breath, calming his mind, and diligently suppressing his rage, waiting for the moment it could erupt.

His opponent was a venerated king of the demon race. Chixi had once slain another venerated king of the demon race using the God-Slaying Profound Blade. He knew well the power and terror of such opponents, realizing he had to perfect his state of mind to avoid giving his enemy any opportunity.

Anger and the desire for revenge gave him strength but could also make him lose his rationality.

Only by suppressing his rage and then suddenly unleashing it at the crucial moment of the life-or-death battle could he deliver a fatal blow to his enemy. Only then would he feel truly unburdened, pouring out his fury. The success of his revenge would bring immense joy to his Dao heart!

In the distance, King Furoh continued to advance. At a glance, he did not resemble a demon god at all, but rather a gentle, handsome middle-aged man well-versed in scholarly pursuits.

As he walked, his arms moved rapidly, unleashing divine powers. One technique after another manifested, yet they converged without dispersing, their immense power contained rather than released.

The frequency of his steps was not fast, but his speed was incredibly swift, creating the illusion that he was rushing down a tall mountain.

It was an aura, an invincible aura!

This aura wasn't dependent on the frequency of his steps; despite his slow pace, he exuded an unstoppable momentum!

His divine powers accumulated at an alarming rate, putting increasing pressure on Chixi, so much so that he could no longer sit still!

Suddenly, space layered and unfolded behind him, making Gucheng recede further and further away. Not only that, but the demon corpses near the mountain of bodies also gradually moved into the distance.

King Furoh's divine powers were already preparing for the impending fierce battle, moving away the demon corpses to prevent Chixi from drawing vital energy from them.

If he didn't act now, King Furoh would build an unstoppable, invincible momentum!

Chixi soared into the air, his six hands grasping six gleaming golden longblades. The longblades danced, unleashing a torrent of battle techniques and divine powers!

The battle techniques and divine powers were like a surging flood composed of waves, each great wave piling upon the last, continuously accumulating. The blade-light waves rose higher and higher!

His steps lengthened, and his speed grew faster and faster. Each time he stepped, he was in mid-air, a hundred *zhang* above the ground, yet on the ground beneath, a depression suddenly appeared, resembling a dried-up, foot-shaped lake!

The earth trembled as one foot-shaped dried lake after another appeared in succession. Even mountains suddenly sank under his tread, as he approached the steadily advancing King Furoh with terrifying speed!

The footprint lakes rapidly appeared before King Furoh, leaving less than two hundred *zhang* between them.

The two terrifying beings finally collided!

At that moment, far away in Licheng, Qin Mu ascended the city tower in the twilight, preparing to rest, when he saw a bright light emanating from the west.

The west was the territory of the demon race.

The young man stood on the city tower, gazing into the distance. The bright light erupted from the twilight, incredibly dazzling despite the unknown distance.

The light resembled a thick, sturdy tree, its colossal trunk suddenly shooting up from the ground. A swirling torrent of light surged into the sky; even from Licheng, one could see the pillar of light growing upwards.

Then, an extraordinarily bright branch burst forth from this bare trunk of light, taking the form of dazzling lightning.

Qin Mu looked intently, trying to discern the activity with his Nine Heavens Eye Opening Technique, but his vision was utterly unable to make out the detailed situation there.

From such a distance, let alone the figures of gods and demons, even a ten-thousand-*zhang* tall mountain would be invisible!

One could only imagine how fierce and intense the battle was!

"Could it be King Furoh clashing with Chixi?" he wondered to himself.

Almost everyone in Licheng was startled, flying into the air or ascending to high places to witness this rare spectacle.

The light tree developed its first branch, then light erupted from the trunk, with a second luminous branch extending outwards, followed by a third, a fourth...

More and more branches extended from the light tree, growing denser. Within a few breaths, Qin Mu and almost all the divine arts practitioners and gods and demons in Licheng saw a colossal tree of light rising in the dark western night sky, its crown dense and majestically swaying.

Just then, the light tree suddenly dimmed and vanished, and the west returned to darkness.

"Is the battle over?"

Qin Mu's heart pounded. He murmured, "King Furoh and Chixi, who won?"

"We don't know," a voice said from behind him.

Qin Mu quickly turned around to see True God Pang Yu, Venerable God Sang Ye, and other deities from Great Emperor Heaven, who had arrived behind him unnoticed. These gods, appearing and disappearing unpredictably, had likely come to the highest point of the city tower to observe the strange phenomenon in the western night sky.

True God Pang Yu shook his head and said, "Though I've fought King Furoh several times, almost all ended in my defeat. Few in this world can withstand him. Judging from my experience of losing in battles like that, King Furoh unleashed all his techniques in that recent clash, but the outcome is still hard to say. Even if he won, it would have been a pyrrhic victory."

Qin Mu felt an unbearable itch in his heart. "I really want to go there and see..."

True God Pang Yu became wary and said, "Cult Master Qin, the Imperial Preceptor and the Celestial Master are not here. It would be best if you didn't cause trouble."

Qin Mu replied solemnly, "True God, I've been in Great Emperor Heaven for over half a year. Have you ever seen me cause trouble? Don't slander me."

True God Pang Yu smiled broadly and nodded repeatedly. "I understand everything Cult Master Qin says. My words were inappropriate, please forgive me."

Venerable God Sang Ye leaned close to his ear and whispered, "City Lord, have you forgotten how he shattered our sun in Great Emperor Heaven?"

"Quiet," Pang Yu whispered.

Pang Yu lowered his voice. "He might not know his place, but shouldn't you? He's a disciple of the Celestial Master, someone neither you nor I can afford to provoke! Besides, he had the Imperial Preceptor forge two new suns for us, which are much more beautiful than the old ones."

Venerable God Sang Ye quickly shut his mouth.

Qin Mu watched the deepening darkness in the west, clenched his fists, and said excitedly in a low voice, "King Furoh and Chixi are both severely wounded; now is a great opportunity to claim their heads! I really want to go and claim King Furoh's and Chixi's heads..."

Pang Yu felt a chill in his heart. He shot a glance at Venerable God Sang Ye and whispered, "Keep a close eye on him; don't let him cause trouble."

Sang Ye nodded repeatedly.

Meanwhile, outside Gucheng, King Furoh landed, turned, and instantly vanished into the darkness, leaving no trace.

Chixi, too, landed unsteadily. He tried to suppress the stifled blood in his chest, but couldn't. Suddenly, his whole body ruptured, gushing corrupted blood from his three heads and three mouths without pause.

His body shriveled rapidly in a short time, and the six blades in his hands shattered with a clatter.

He and King Furoh were indeed both severely wounded. They had not exchanged a single word from beginning to end, only fighting in silence. In just a brief clash, they had grievously injured each other, both on the verge of exhaustion!

King Furoh turned and left because he had sustained multiple injuries and feared Chixi might seize the opportunity to drain his vital energy. Retreating was, therefore, the best way to kill Chixi.

He only needed to send an uninjured demon god to easily take Chixi's life.

As a wise figure among the demon race, he saw the situation clearly, more clearly than anyone else.

Chixi also understood why King Furoh had retreated and knew that this place was not safe to linger. He feared that demon gods would soon come for his life.

However, his vital energy was depleted, and he likely wouldn't get far before being overtaken by demon gods, which would probably be his death.

"Am I going to die here?"

Chixi knelt, his three heads bowed, his heart filled with a deathly silence. "I haven't been to the ancestral land yet, nor have I returned to my reclusive clansmen to tell them about it. I am not reconciled..."

In the distance, in Gucheng, a wisp of black mist drifted phantom-like among the piles of corpses, occasionally transforming into a small tree, then into a stubborn rock.

Small banners also fluttered around the black mist, collecting demonic energy and the residual souls discarded by the underworld envoys of Youdu.

The black mist drifted and changed in various forms, sometimes settling into the flames ignited by divine powers and becoming a ball of fire.

After a while, the black mist hesitantly approached Chixi, who was kneeling there. It clearly wanted to check if Chixi was dead and perhaps loot some valuables, but it also seemed apprehensive.

"You are human," Chixi suddenly said.

The demonic mist startled, instantly transforming into a patch of grass.

Chixi continued, "There's no need to change forms endlessly before me; I can see through you. If you can save me, I will take you as my disciple, teach you the Leakless Battle God Skill—the supreme art of the Chiming era—and grant you immense benefits."

The patch of grass swayed and vanished, revealing a young man with two deer legs before Chixi. Bending his deer legs, he bowed deeply and declared loudly, "Bangongcuo pays his respects to Master! Master, rest assured, I've mingled among the demon race for several months. When it comes to escaping, no one in this world dares to claim they are better than me!"