Chapter 271: Hunting Down Wang Xunzhen

The five-colored halo from Xuan Zhenzi's sneak attack struck with immense force, slamming into Wang Xunzhen's demonic face without the slightest warning.

The demonic body was massive and unwieldy; caught off guard, he had no way to deflect the blow. The thousand-zhang-tall, blood-colored giant swayed violently, staggering back several steps uncontrollably. The void shuddered and cracked, churning the sky of blood mist into chaos.

The opening was fleeting, but Nine Nether's eyes were icy, devoid of the slightest hesitation.

He was a master of cutting the grass and digging up the roots. How could he let such a once-in-a-millennium opening slip? His hand seals shifted in an instant. The Ember Moon Swords suspended across the sky howled out in unison, layering into an encirclement that firmly locked onto the demon's vulnerable neck. Countless blades spun at high speed, instantly coalescing into a berserk golden sword-cyclone. Carrying a domineering might capable of tearing tendons and crushing bone, it frantically sawed into the flesh of the demon's neck.

Piercing, grating screeches rang out endlessly as thick, blackish-red demonic blood sprayed in all directions, dyeing the vast sky.

Wang Xunzhen had roamed unchecked across the heavens and earth for tens of thousands of years; when had he ever suffered such a grievous wound? A wretched, brutal scream echoed across the blood-colored world, brimming with monstrous fury and excruciating pain.

As the sword light's strangulation grew increasingly fierce, the bones of the demon's neck on the verge of being completely severed, the spiritual light of the thousand-zhang demon body abruptly shrank.

The incomparably massive blood-colored frame rapidly collapsed and turned ethereal. From a thousand zhang down to a hundred, it relentlessly compressed, ultimately turning into a blood-colored silhouette the height of a man. Before his injuries could even stabilize, Wang Xunzhen abandoned all thought of combat. Transforming into a blinding streak of blood-light, he turned tail and fled desperately toward the Heavenly Abyss Sacred Tree.

"Trying to run? Did you ask me first?"

Nine Nether's voice was freezing cold, devoid of the slightest ripple, leaving only slaughter in the depths of his eyes.

With a thought, all the Ember Moon Swords immediately returned to orbit his body. He tore through the air in fierce pursuit, doggedly tailing the fleeing blood-colored light ahead. After landing his strike, Xuan Zhenzi had quickly retreated into the Five Elements Heaven and Earth Ring; now, he manipulated the Spirit Treasure's power to follow closely behind, constantly drawing upon ambient spiritual qi to blast out a barrage of minor attacks along the way.

Though these attacks were not enough to heavily injure a Deity Transformation demonic cultivator, they accurately and relentlessly disrupted the opponent's escape arts, stalling his flight speed and methodically sealing off his chances of slipping away.

"Hurry and chase him!" Xuan Zhenzi's urgent voice transmission exploded by Nine Nether's ear, his tone uncharacteristically frantic. "No matter what happens, you absolutely cannot let him escape."

Nine Nether turned a deaf ear. His mind was focused to the extreme, his gaze locked dead onto the fleeing figure ahead as the Sword Intent around his body climbed higher and higher.

As the distance rapidly closed, he no longer held back. He pushed his single-handed sword incantation to its absolute limit, and his natal Ember Moon Sword shot from his palm.

Resplendent golden light tore through the sky of blood mist, illuminating the dim crimson heavens. The blade expanded infinitely in flight, transforming into a thousand-zhang sword rainbow. Its edge chilled to the bone, carrying an indomitable, piercing killing momentum. Like bone-gnawing maggots, it pursued relentlessly, locking dead onto Wang Xunzhen's back.

Sensing the fatal killing intent from behind, Wang Xunzhen was terrified. His figure dodged and twisted through the void to the extreme, violently changing directions left and right, yet he remained utterly unable to shake off the golden sword shadow that followed him like his own reflection.

Deeply aware that his body would be pierced through if he kept fleeing, he abruptly gritted his teeth, his figure slamming to a dead halt in the void.

With a backhand motion, he forced out a drop of origin essence blood, his fingertips rapidly forming bizarre demonic seals. The essence blood rapidly expanded in midair, transforming in the blink of an eye into a dense, churning blood-colored quagmire. Layer upon layer of baleful aura wove into an absolute defense across his front, firmly protecting him in the center.

The thousand-zhang sword rainbow violently plunged into the depths of the blood pool!

The terrifying piercing inertia shattered more than half the barriers of the blood quagmire. The tip of the sword was already a hair's breadth away from the space between Wang Xunzhen's brows. The berserk impact jolted his qi and blood, causing his body to tremble fiercely as his protective spells bordered on collapse.

At this critical juncture, Wang Xunzhen forced out two more drops of precious essence blood from between his brows, merging them entirely into the blood pool.

The entire blood pool doubled in size instantly. The blood color became as thick as ink as its defensive power surged, stubbornly entwining and confining the golden longsword to constantly wear down the blade's Sword Intent.

Nine Nether's expression remained unchanged, his face completely impassive. Completely ignoring the depletion of his magic power, he ceaselessly and frantically poured his internal spiritual qi and Primordial Spirit power into the flying sword.

At the same time, the remaining dozens of Ember Moon Swords flew from their sheaths in unison, locking down the four directions. In an instant, they transformed into four true avatars of Sword Intent—a phoenix, a flood dragon, a kunpeng, and a qilin. They crushed inward from all sides, firmly enveloping the entire blood-colored quagmire as an endless stream of heavy attacks rained down upon the blood pool's barriers.

Under the pincer attack from all sides, Wang Xunzhen instantly felt monstrous pressure, the qi across his entire body falling into utter disarray.

He gritted his teeth and summoned an ancient Seven-Layer Blood Fiend Pagoda, raising a hand to support it. The bottom four layers of the pagoda lit up with a glaring red light one after another, strands of eerie, soft illumination merging into his body. His collapsing aura rapidly stabilized and climbed, and the blood pool on the verge of shattering once again solidified and thickened. The might of its bloody baleful aura skyrocketed several times over.

With a booming explosion, the blood-colored quagmire confining the sky abruptly detonated!

Waves of blood surged and exploded across the sky. The golden sword lights trapping him within were forcefully knocked back and scattered.

Capitalizing on this fleeting gap, Wang Xunzhen didn't dare stay a second longer. He once again transformed into a streak of extreme-speed blood-light and fled. At the same time, the seven-layer pagoda in his hand fully absorbed the surrounding baleful aura, all seven of its layers shining a brilliant crimson.

With a flash of his figure, he directly escaped into the core of the pagoda.

Boosted by the pagoda's secret arts, his flight speed instantly surged several times over, far exceeding the pursuit speed of the Ember Moon Swords. It looked as though he was about to completely shake off the hunt and vanish into the distance.

Right at this moment, the void in the pagoda's path ahead abruptly burst with brilliant golden light!

A dense, heavy golden giant net manifested out of thin air, sealing off the entire sector of the sky without leaving the slightest gap for escape.

"Trying to run? Not a chance."

Xuan Zhenzi's mocking voice quietly rang out. While the two were entangled in combat earlier, he had long since sneaked ahead to lay down a restrictive net, waiting specifically for the other party to flee right into the trap.

Wang Xunzhen's flight stalled. He was instantly locked tight by the golden net, his figure coming to an abrupt halt in midair, completely unable to move.

An absolutely perfect opportunity!

Nine Nether's gaze chilled. Recalling all the Ember Moon Swords to his side, a cluster of dazzling purple-gold flames suddenly flared up in his palm.

This fire was forged by him through fusing and refining the spirit fire within the Purple Gold Furnace together with a trace of origin from the Nine Yang True Fire. It was the pinnacle of yang and unyielding power, specifically countering all dark, evil, and baleful demons in the world. Ordinary Deity Transformation Cultivators might not fear it, but against an Upper Realm demonic body rooted in baleful aura like Wang Xunzhen, it was a natural nemesis.

With a wave of his hand, he attached the purple-gold flames entirely onto the dozens of Ember Moon Swords.

Sword qi ran rampant across ten thousand li of the open sky, and purple-gold sparks filled the heavens and earth. All the flying swords instantly merged into one, condensing into a purple-gold fire dragon hundreds of li long. Its roar shook the heavens and echoed in all directions. Carrying the supreme might to incinerate evil demons and shatter the world, it crossed half the void and fiercely dove down for the kill!

This strike exhausted more than half of his magic power and drained a massive amount of origin qi. It was the absolute peak killing blow Nine Nether could unleash at this moment.

The sky-filling purple-gold radiance was dazzling and blinding, its oppressive presence reaching the absolute summit.

Trapped within the golden net, Wang Xunzhen stared at the terrifying fire dragon crushing down on him. For the first time, genuine fear surfaced on that normally vicious, arrogant demonic face.

He knew perfectly well that under this strike, his form and spirit would very likely be utterly annihilated. In this desperate situation, throwing all caution to the wind, he threw his head back and shrieked hoarsely at the void:

"How long are you going to stay hidden! If you still don't make a move, once this seat is completely wiped out, you will never be able to break free for all eternity!"