Chapter 204

Chapter 204: The Final Moments

“Burp…” Li Hui, drunk, exhaled a heavy smell of wine and fell into a deep sleep.

After what felt like a long time, he felt a warm sensation all over and suddenly heard a noise. At first, it was distant, but it quickly grew closer, exploding uncomfortably in his ears.

“Junior Brother, wake up!” Qian Qiu Yue called out.

Suddenly, the Heavenly and Earthly Arrays within him stirred, driving away all the alcohol and drunkenness.

Li Hui opened his eyes, no longer exhibiting any signs of inebriation. He quickly scanned the surroundings and found the bug nest had been destroyed, leaving only a three-zhang area beneath him.

“Ha ha ha, not bad; you haven’t lost your vigilance,” Hongmo Zheng turned and smiled, manipulating the surrounding magical items for defense with theFormation Disk in his hand.

Even with only a small area left to stand on, eighteen magical items protected them, and the array map hung overhead. No matter how frantically the Blood Surge raged, it could not harm the three of them in a short time.

“Uh! How long did I sleep?” Li Hui stretched his muscles. Avoiding drunkenness was easy; all he needed was to channel the Heavenly and Earthly Arrays to draw the alcohol out. But he had been so weary that he needed a good drunk to feel rejuvenated, and indeed he woke up feeling fierce and full of energy, ready to battle.

“Four hours have passed,” Qian Qiu Yue replied, then looked at Hongmo Zheng and asked, “How long can you hold on?”

“I’ll hold on as long as I can. You two remember what I said about attacking the island three times, right?”

Hongmo Zheng continued, “The first attack will bring down all the magical walls in the cave and will release the corpses and Blood Thorns’ seeds. At this moment, the Blood Thorns are likely growing wildly with spiritual energy, preparing to detonate across the entire island. The second attack will come in two days; half of the Corpse Island will smash into Wan Nest Island. So, there isn’t much time left for Hongmo Jiu and Hongmo Chu. If they can’t push us out, they’ll have to come in; all the people Hongmo Xi brought in will need to come in too.”

“Two days?” Qian Qiu Yue was shocked. “Can you really last two days?”

“Cough, cough, cough…” Hongmo Zheng almost choked, feeling a mix of laughter and despair. “You really overestimate me! I can barely last two hours! They have masters from the All-Manifestation Realm, incredible talismans to amplify their power, and can draw forth a sea of blood from the cave, showcasing supreme magical powers to form a Blood Surge. I’m just a little demon cultivator who has just entered the Bosa realm—how could I have such great abilities?”

“Old Zheng, stop playing coy; just say what you mean.”

“Hey! They’ll attack in two days; they’ll need to come in at least a day early, right? I can hold on for two hours before I rest. You two need to find a way to last one hour, and then I can hold on for another two hours. That’s my strategy.”

Li Hui shook his head, “We don’t know how to control magical items.”

“You don’t, but your Senior Sister definitely does. It’s not direct control; it’s through the Formation Disk. Also, your nine heads can resonate, and with the Yin-Yang inverted, you should last half an hour without issues.”

“Hmph, don’t even think about it. Lasting that long means those nine heads will be destroyed. I’ve relied on them for my life multiple times, and I planned to find a beautiful place for their burial!”

Hongmo Zheng scolded, “Idiot! Those heads don’t even have remnant souls; it’s the talismans at work—you’re saving yourself!”

“Yaha! Demonic scoundrel, don’t push me to enlighten you right now,” Li Hui unleashed the Seventh-Rank Lotus Platform, shocking Hongmo Zheng into wide-eyed surprise, and after some coughing, he finally managed to speak, “You little brat, it turns out you didn’t say that just for show; you really want to guide me into Buddhism.”

“Stop with the useless talk; I have a Buddhist protector, which is roughly equivalent to a low-grade magical item. It can continuously emit Buddhist light—can it suppress the Blood Surge?”

“It can!” Hongmo Zheng nodded confidently. “Buddhist power is precisely the nemesis of Blood Surge. Seeing how pure your Buddhist cultivation is, if you use all your strength, you should be able to hold for a while. If you have a Buddhist protector, you can last even longer; with Qian Qiu Yue supporting you, it should be barely enough.”

Although Li Hui’s cultivation level was low, his techniques were varied, and combined with his Buddhist powers, they could often have incredible effects.

The three of them agreed on a plan to support and replace each other, enduring through the first five hours. When it was Qian Qiu Yue’s turn again, the ground beneath her had shrunk from three zhang to two zhang, and three of the eighteen magical items had broken, increasing the pressure significantly.

Hongmo Zheng said to Qian Qiu Yue, “Just make sure to leave me with nine magical items.”

“Let’s see how it goes; the Blood Surge is thickening; I hope this ends soon.”

“Boom, boom, boom…” Deep purple vitality surged, and every time it approached a magical item, it splashed glaring red light, and tiny black spots appeared on the surface of the magical items.

Some magical items could shake off the black spots, while others became like ink, with more and more black spots accumulating until the array map tainted the demonic energy, causing some of the black spots to fade.

The blood energy was still exceptionally dangerous, and the Blood Surge was even worse; the color changed from light red to dark purple, becoming increasingly terrifying. Even dragon scale gold would be corroded beyond recognition; anything that went through any erosion would ensure even his own mother wouldn’t recognize it.

In truth, Hongmo Jiu and Hongmo Chu were particularly frustrated. Upon confirming Dugu Yi, Hongmo Xi, and Hongmo Zheng were within the Purple Fortress, they felt it was a rare opportunity and couldn’t let the opponents escape.

What to do? They planned to flood with the sea of blood, which could sever the connection between the Slave Seal and the Slave Cultivator, while also generating Blood Surge to attack their foes.

It sounded good, but reality was far from their imagination. They had underestimated Dugu Yi and Hongmo Xi. Even if Hongmo Xi were to fall by chance, Hongmo Zheng was definitely qualified to replace him.

As they waited to no avail, the strain to keep King Xiaoshan going required an immense amount of energy, and today, they were truly reaching their limits!

A white-haired man in a great cloak suddenly spoke up, “One last push; lock in the general location and send all the Blood Surge over.”

From the ancient cart opposite them, a cold laugh echoed, “Easier said than done! To accomplish this, we need to expend at least five hundred watts of Blood Jade Miao Jade. Is Ge Yuntao not incurring massive costs to waste a plethora of second and third demonic transformation talismans?”

“Ha ha ha, you Hongmo Chu are wealthy; why care about a little Blood Jade Miao Jade?”

“How can I not care? Let’s talk about how much Miao Jade my Blood Bull battle cart consumes to maintain. And there are a few big mouths in my pocket who would eat me out of house and home. I can only force Ge Yuntao to spend a bit more on talismans; there is no shortage in the bottle.”

The white-haired man pondered for a moment before responding irritably, “Fine, I will provide the Blood Jade Miao Jade, but once we find those guys, I’ll get priority in choosing three items.”

Hongmo Chu quickly agreed, “Alright, no problem; our needs do not overlap.”

Neither of them considered the possibility of the prey escaping their grasp; for them, the only concern was how much they had to invest.

A quarter of an hour later, Qian Qiu Yue abruptly fell back, seeing the distant deep purple Blood Surge increasing to the point it made her scalp tingle!

“Not good; let’s strike at once.” Hongmo Zheng stood up, still not fully recovered; it was quite difficult for him to act at this moment.

Li Hui waved his hand, sending hundreds of Cleansing Blood Talismans flying out, slightly diminishing the Blood Surge that surged toward them. It was now the moment of life and death, and they had to fight with all they had.