Chapter 405: The Ancient and Modern Recorder (16)

The Demon Qilin could not understand. He had treated Mu Ziqiang well and regarded him as a friend. Why would Mu Ziqiang choose to betray him?

The Demon Qilin was far too powerful. Even with the dagger sealing every spiritual meridian in his body, he was still beyond the reach of most human martial artists.

Several human warriors who hoped to capture him and claim great merit were simply smashed to death by his overwhelming physical strength.

Mu Ziqiang sensed the danger too late. A demonic claw seized him at once, leaving him no power to resist.

Looking into those pupils laced with black lines that formed terrifying runes, Mu Ziqiang forced down his fear and spoke.

"You fool… I am human. From beginning to end, I have always been human!"

The Demon Qilin roared in fury.

"You are human? Look at the monstrous form you wear now. Will they accept you? Within the sacred clan, I gave you boundless honor and endless wealth, things the human race could never offer you. Yet you still chose to betray me!"

Mu Ziqiang struggled and gave a bitter laugh.

"The blood of sinners flows through my veins… disloyal, unfilial, without benevolence or righteousness. All I can do is wash away the unjust blood that stains the generations before me."

At that moment, a streak of purple sword light tore through the endless void and transformed into a colossal dragon spanning ten thousand li, ready to swallow the Demon Qilin whole.

The Demon Qilin flung Mu Ziqiang aside. The terrifying purple sword dragon engulfed him at once. Heaven and earth darkened; the sun and moon lost their light.

A young man in purple robes stood within a crack in the void, holding a divine sword whose radiant edge carried the power to tear space itself.

"Borrow the methods of Heaven and Earth, cycle the Five Elements, summon the Heavenly Gang and Earthly Fiends, bind the ground and purge evil."

From the other five directions, powerful figures radiating different auras arrived in turn. They laid down an inescapable net, transforming it into Five Element chains that bound the hands, feet, and head of the figure within the mist.

"You are not enough to kill me!"

Before anyone could feel relief, a terrifying force erupted. The faces of the five figures changed drastically.

Through the mist, the Demon Qilin could be seen with both feet rooted in the earth. His hands reversed their grip on two of the chains while his teeth clamped down on the chain binding his head.

He exerted sudden force.

That strength nearly dragged the three figures controlling the array eyes of the Five Elements Heavenly Gang Formation straight toward him.

Shock filled every eye. No one had expected the Demon Qilin, whose spiritual meridians were sealed, to remain this powerful.

The young man in purple remained expressionless.

"Nine Nether Profound Fiend, hear my command. Turn the sword into a prison and extinguish all souls."

The Heavenly Gang Five Elements Formation had been nothing more than a delaying tactic.

The moment the words fell, the Demon Qilin let out a furious roar and forcibly shattered the formation. Three of the experts turned into blood mist on the spot. The remaining two spat blood violently, their survival uncertain.

He transformed into a pitch-black torrent that no one could clearly see and charged straight at the purple-robed youth.

Mu Ziqiang steadied his mind. He was still alive. He did not know why the Demon Qilin had not killed him.

He looked up.

In that instant, heaven and earth seemed to freeze. The tip of the purple-robed youth's finger touched the Demon Qilin's forehead.

The Demon Qilin's sharp claw stopped a mere millimeter from the youth's chest.

"I win."

Profound Fiend energy struck directly at the soul.

The Demon Qilin's body remained motionless. The light in his eyes slowly drained away. His soul was erased completely.

The strongest prodigy of the demonic race had fallen.

Watching the Demon Qilin die before his eyes, Mu Ziqiang felt no joy. Instead, an emptiness filled his heart.

"Thank you for your aid, righteous one."

The purple-robed youth cupped his hands toward Mu Ziqiang.

He knew that without the man before him enduring humiliation and carrying the heavy burden, they would never have been able to eliminate the Demon Qilin. Once the Demon Qilin fully matured, the entire human race would have stood on the brink of disaster.

Mu Ziqiang did not answer. He lowered his head and looked at his own ugly body. He was no longer human.

"Righteous one, if you have any request, we will do our utmost to fulfill it."

The purple-robed youth showed no disdain for Mu Ziqiang's appearance.

Mu Ziqiang removed the mask.

"There is no need…"

He declined the youth's kindness.

Stroking the mask, he murmured, "Following someone like me has been a burden for you."

Disloyal, without benevolence, unfilial, and without righteousness.

Mu Ziqiang sat cross-legged.

The purple-robed youth let out a soft sigh. As demonic energy surged wildly, Mu Ziqiang chose to scatter his cultivation and embrace death.

Watching the mask extended toward him, the purple-robed youth took it casually and saw the arm fall limp.

The purple-robed youth's name was Zhou Chong. He was a successor of the human Sacred Mountains. He vaguely understood why his wine-loving senior uncle often said that humans were contradictory creatures.

"Senior Brother Zhou, that is a dead man's mask. Keeping it is far too inauspicious."

Nearby, a young man in black robes spoke with an arrogant expression, a trace of disdain in his eyes as he looked at the mask in Zhou Chong's hand.

Zhou Chong replied mildly, "This is not inauspicious."

The black-robed youth paid it no further mind.

They were all elites of the human race, the foremost prodigies from the highest powers. The mask was at best a divine-grade artifact.

Zhou Chong put the mask away.

Their successful encirclement of the Demon Qilin had resolved a future crisis of human extinction and bought the race a period of respite.

When the demonic race learned that the Demon Qilin had been killed through a human scheme, they flew into a rage. Demonic Saints personally took action and launched an unprecedented demonic tide.

The human Sacred Mountains responded in kind.

The war lasted a full century. Without absolute overwhelming power on either side, neither could force a decisive victory, and the conflict settled once more into deadlock.

A hundred years later, the war between humans and demons subsided.

The demonic race had suffered heavy losses, and so had the human Sacred Mountains.

Zhou Chong, having slain the Demon Qilin and later killed numerous powerful demons during the century-long war, earned a brilliant reputation. He became the new leader of the Sacred Mountains, guiding the direction of the human race across the continent.

Zhou Chong ran his fingers over the bronze mask in his hand. It was the very mask Mu Ziqiang had given him before dying.

Though it was only a minor divine-grade artifact, Zhou Chong still wore it. In truth, the mask was far from ordinary and was by no means a simple divine-grade item.

He nourished it with the power of the Sacred Mountains, yet the mask remained completely unmoved. This astonished him. The power of the Sacred Mountains gathered the destiny of the entire human race. Even an ordinary mortal weapon would become a powerful quasi-sacred artifact under its blessing.

Zhou Chong felt deep regret.

Over these years, the strange mask had played an indispensable role in allowing him to surpass many older-generation geniuses and become the strongest beneath the Saints.