Between heaven and earth, demonic shadows loomed!
The Star-Sea Nascent Soul cultivators were surrounded by violent demonic shadows and Royal demons radiating auras that made the heart shiver. They were attacked from every direction. But Wang He, holding the Sword of Universal Justice, held the Royal demons at bay by his strength alone.
Staring at the figure radiating the Heavenly Heart Asura Sword-Intent, those high-and-mighty Royal demons were truly shaken. Was this the combat intensity a human Nascent Soul cultivator should have?
"Is he really a human?"
"Even the hidden god-races are only like this, right?"
"This world has been wrong from the start... the world-level has nearly fallen below Grade 5, yet it keeps producing existences that should only appear in Grade 7 or 8 worlds."
"This human cultivator... even a Grade 7 world would struggle to birth such a person."
"Have you seen this human's power characteristics when invading other worlds? Is there a countermeasure?"
"Never seen it. It seems no type of power—be it physical, soul, consciousness, or even mysterious-side power—can break through his sword-aura defense."
"Even more unbelievable is his attack power! He forcibly cleaved through a Gold-Eater Demon's defense!"
Despite being of the demonic Royal Bloodline, they couldn't last more than a few exchanges against Wang He's blade! To have the qualification for a Royal bloodline meant they were powerful bloodlines born after devouring the power-origins of various worlds and being nurtured by the demonic nest for ten million years. They represented the peak of power for various worlds.
In other words, this human cultivator was standing at the peak of the Nascent Soul realm for multiple worlds. His development of power had already surpassed the vast majority of civilizations!
"What do we do? How do we kill him?"
The demons stood in the distance, coldly watching as their frenzied brethren charged and died. There was no pity in their eyes; these were but lowly things that could be mass-produced by devouring.
"Their formation is being weakened. Once more human cultivators fall, the array power added to him will inevitably drop. He will be exhausted. That is when we strike together!"
"We will unleash our life-bound divine abilities simultaneously. If the instantaneous power exceeds his limit, we can destroy his true spirit."
"It's the only way. Let's prepare. It's been a long time since a prey required us to coordinate like this. When we win, his power origin will be divided among us. It might even allow us to break our bloodline shackles and reach the next level!"
"The plan is sound. The energy pressure in his body is lower than when he started. The more alien energy he devours, the more will he needs to suppress it. His openings and weaknesses will only increase!" a Royal demon with a perception bloodline spoke. Its pupils radiated a ghostly white light, and a thread of time-power flowed within them, as if it could see through any fog.
The other Royal demons did not question it; they didn't even care about its arrogant tone. This White-Eyed Demon was truly strong, and it had never failed a prediction! Because of it, they had hunted down many powerful existences who had once swept through the realms. They never retreated simply because they met a strong enemy—because devouring the power origin of such an enemy would allow their bloodlines to evolve. They sometimes retreated, but only to wait for the hunt!
However, the White-Eyed Demon's next sentence left them stunned.
"But by then, our greatest enemy might not be the human with the sword."
What? A single sentence sent waves through the group. Was there someone more terrifying than that human in this battlefield? Was it...
In an instant, all the demons looked at the speck of crimson submerged within the demonic flood. As their vision narrowed, they saw bizarre, blood-red insects frantically devouring demon corpses!
This wasn't the scariest part. If they were hungry or tired, they would even devour a few of their own subordinates to supplement themselves. But the speed of these insects' consumption was horrific!
"What kind of devouring speed is this?"
Staring at those bizarre insects—just a few could devour a massive demon entirely in a short time! And there was a massive swarm of them!
"And why do no attacks work on them?"
It wasn't that they did nothing; occasionally, a demon would break through a Blood-Yu's defense and cleave it into pieces. But in the blink of an eye, those separated parts would regroup into complete insects and continue devouring—and they would gain a new immunity to the previous attack!
They had noticed these insects before the war started. The Blood-Yu's aura was not weak, but they hadn't cared much. They had seen many insect races; the Demon Realm even had its own powerful insect bloodlines, though they weren't the mainstream. After all, what insect plague could surpass the demonic plague?
Demons could crush insects in both individual strength and numbers. Normally, an insect race wasn't fit to carry a demon's shoes. For example, Qi Ping's Golden Marrow Bees currently had a minimal role, serving only as auxiliaries. An insect race might be a disaster for a few individuals, but it couldn't stand against the massive demon army. Demon bloodline-will could easily crush an insect's consciousness or even enslave it if any bug dared to devour a demon corpse.
But what was happening here?
Watching the Blood-Yu grow in power and number with every kill, the Royal demons felt a chill on their backs. Looking at the demonic army falling wave after wave, it was the first time they felt like they were the prey. It was exactly like how those they devoured felt when they saw the demons!
"What kind of bugs are these? How can they be this scary?"
"If I'm not mistaken, those are the Forbidden Blood-Yu... but wasn't the method to nurture them erased years ago? How could they appear in the Star-Sea World?"
"The Blood-Yu?"
"Yes. And it looks like they were nurtured using our race's corpses as the catalyst."
"What do we do?"
"Strike now. Once they grow, forget about us—the entire world and everything demonic will become their food!"
"Are they really that scary? What about the human with the sword?"
"Don't worry about him! The danger of the Blood-Yu is a hundred times higher! This world is full of madmen—they actually dared to bring the Blood-Yu back? Did they simplify the nurture method to hide the horror?" The White-Eyed Demon lost its composure for the first time.
The Forbidden Blood-Yu—even the demonic nest only dared to destroy them, never attempting to devour or assimilate them. Once nurtured, they existed only to destroy the world and might even threaten the entire universe!
The other Royal demons were shaken to their core. This was the first time the White-Eyed Demon had displayed such uncontrollable emotion.
"Kill!"
At the White-Eyed Demon's command, the other Royal demons charged toward Sister Nan! Dozens of terrifying existences at the peak of bloodline power unleashed their strongest divine abilities and methods toward Sister Nan and the Blood-Yu! In an instant, horrific spells rained down like the end of the world!
At the same time, Sister Nan and the Blood-Yu sensed the danger. Every Blood-Yu instantly teleported to Sister Nan, forming a massive sphere around her. A mysterious, blood-red aura radiated from her; once the insects received it, they became even more frenzied! Their aura became many times more dangerous!
But this didn't make the demons retreat; it made them more excited! This proved they were right—the human woman was the weakness of these insects!
Inside the sphere of Blood-Yu, a flicker of light suddenly appeared in her blood-filled eyes—the kind of light that usually only appeared when she saw Qi Ping. This flicker also contained an unspeakable sense of relief.
She had miscalculated. The horror of the Blood-Yu far exceeded the records of that ancient scroll. Even with her Tailing Insect King Body, and even with the restrictions Qi Ping had painstakingly placed in her mind, she could not stop the Blood-Yu from breaking control and backlashing!
Only at that moment did she understand that the nurturing method was correct, but several key descriptions of the Blood-Yu had been falsified! One was that they were absolutely impossible to control! From the day they were born, it was either the insects died or the world was destroyed!
Furthermore, there was a final step in the nurturing process that wasn't written: the Reverse Slave-Marking. Once this step was completed, the Blood-Yu would be fully formed—reaching their complete form and erasing their last weakness. Had the Providential Power not boosted her body, the reversal might have happened already. But even now, it was only a matter of time.
In this struggle for control, she was enduring unimaginable torture. Most importantly, she was afraid—truly afraid that this horror would lose control and become the source of the Star-Sea World's destruction!
Thus, after seeing Qi Ping slay the Supreme Demon Lord, she let go of her convictions and prepared to drag the Blood-Yu into mutual destruction! At the very least, she would heavily damage both the insects and the demons, giving the others a chance.
She was grateful that Wang He had appeared, as he was the only human cultivator who truly threatened the Blood-Yu. And she was most grateful that the moment was so perfect!
She unleashed all the power of her Tailing body, perfectly coordinating with this chance! Fighting for control with a taboo insect like the Blood-Yu was too painful; every agony she had ever felt didn't amount to a fraction of this. Had it not been for that single figure in her heart, she would have fallen long ago.
She would never allow herself to become the source of disaster for Qi Ping!
"Come!"
As the Royal demons brought down their world-destroying attacks, she controlled the Blood-Yu to meet them in the most direct way! The ultimate clash of hard against hard!
Simultaneously, the Blood-Yu sensed the crisis and went berserk. Horrific blood-red phantoms rose from them! The moment the phantoms appeared, red threads linked every insect together, and a massive maw enveloped Sister Nan entirely from every angle!
The Blood-Yu chose to swallow her! Under the threat of death, they would use the most violent method to break the slave mark and utilize the Royal demons' bloodline power to reconstruct their bodies!
The struggle and calculation happened in an instant! The attacks of the peak Royal demons landed! They collided in a heartbeat!
But the expected explosion didn't happen. Instead, there was a deathly silence. Those horrific maws actually swallowed every spell and every single Royal demon!
Then, everything vanished—including Sister Nan and the Blood-Yu!
Silence. The battlefield was still active, yet an eerie silence and a heavy atmosphere descended. A bizarre heartbeat echoed—as if something horrific was about to break its shell.
"Thump! Thump! Thump!..."
After the third beat, a bizarre singularity appeared and expanded rapidly! Then, a horrific explosion occurred! The entire Nascent Soul battlefield shook as if the earth were splitting! It felt as if the entire world was about to explode! The shockwave overturned countless demons and human cultivators.
Then, fragmented corpses appeared from nowhere and exploded! A horrific scene manifested.
The Royal demons... were all dead! Including the White-Eyed Demon!
Heaven and earth fell silent.
Amidst the demon remains that had lost all life, a beautiful figure emerged... Beside her, the fragmented remains of red insects began to crawl... recover... and regenerate!
But the light in her eyes faded rapidly. An aura far surpassing the previous insect energy began to rise!
At this moment... a true taboo insect was about to be born! A trembling, horrific aura filled the world!
At the same instant, a red-and-white sword-light descended from the heavens...
The Heavenly Heart... Asura!