"Damn it! Mount Shu disciples are just as treacherous as back then!"
Narrowly avoiding Zhongli and Alice's combined strike, the two great fiends glared hatefully at their opponents.
But Zhongli and Alice had no intention of wasting words with them.
Time was not on their side.
Zhongli's invocation burned through his essence too quickly, and Venti's formation wouldn't last much longer.
At this point, their only option was to end things swiftly.
With that thought, both of them pressed forward again.
"How dare you treat me as prey! Damn you!"
The Golden Eagle erupted in fury. In his hand appeared a golden-feathered fan, which he swung with brutal force.
A storm of razor-sharp gales howled forth, gouging deep, bottomless ravines into the earth.
Crimson Serpent had no time to indulge her private feud with the roc.
Their opponents were both late-stage Spirit Transformation cultivators. If she kept fighting her so-called ally, they'd both end up as prey.
Her hands cupped together, and a blood-colored orb floated up before her.
Behind her, boundless bloody miasma condensed into a colossal serpent that towered to the heavens, its maw wide enough to swallow the sky.
Zhongli's expression darkened. He stepped up to intercept the storm blades, tacitly accepting the Golden Eagle as his opponent.
But the moment their attacks clashed, his heart sank.
The pressure was unlike anything he had faced before—greater even than when he once fought countless demon gods alone.
Indeed, a late-stage Spirit Transformation great demon could not be compared to mere gods.
His three-pronged halberd danced like a storm, fending off every strike, but it left him no room to advance.
And all the while, the blood serpent lunged for him.
The suffocating miasma chilled Zhongli's bones.
He didn't need to think to know—if he was bitten, the outcome would be disastrous.
But before the serpent's fangs could close, a ring of violet flame cut through the air like a divine wheel, severing its head.
"The Radiance of Union?!"
Crimson Serpent frowned, eyes flickering with unease, as if recalling some terrible memory.
"Fall!"
Alice pressed her fingers together like a sword, directing the flaming wheel at Crimson Serpent.
The wheel's momentum did not falter. Wherever it passed, the ground cracked apart, and the very air reeked of scorched ash.
"Bloodfiend Seal!"
Crimson Serpent did not dodge. Her hands formed a complex mudra, thrusting forward.
A massive rune, strange and ominous, blossomed before her and collided with the flaming wheel.
The clash shook the heavens. Venti's formation cracked, three mid-grade spirit stones shattering at once.
Venti's heart nearly leapt out of his chest.
If this kept up, the formation wouldn't hold.
The Bloodfiend Seal proved too strong. Even after dissolving the Radiance, it still pressed down toward Alice.
Zhongli's eyes widened. He hastily formed a seal, his divine eye opening just a sliver. A ray of light shot forth, piercing the Bloodfiend Seal into nothingness.
"Be careful—this one's even stronger!"
He barely had time to warn Alice before lunging at the Golden Eagle again.
Alice, shaken by the sheer power of that technique, dared not hold back. Burning her essence, she unleashed a torrent of Radiant Light.
Yet every strike was parried by Crimson Serpent's bizarre arts, leaving her locked in a bitter struggle.
Zhongli grew uneasy. Crimson Serpent was proving even more formidable than the roc.
If Alice faltered, they were finished.
But no one was more desperate than the Golden Eagle himself.
From the moment the Bloodfiend Seal appeared, he realized just how dire his situation was.
That technique belonged to the Ghostfiend Sect of the Nine Nether Secret Realm , notorious for its cruelty—its victims rotted alive, dissolving into pools of blood.
The art had long been lost when the Nine Nether Secret Realm was destroyed. How had Crimson Serpent unearthed it?
He suspected she'd planned to use it to kill him.
But the sudden appearance of these Mount Shu disciples had disrupted her scheme.
And judging by how Alice struggled, Crimson Serpent clearly outclassed her. If she subdued Alice, she'd turn and crush him next.
That would be the end.
The roc's eyes flickered. He growled:
"Mount Shu disciple! You and I share no true enmity. But Crimson Serpent is my sworn enemy of a thousand years!"
"If you're willing to join hands with me against her, I'll let you live once it's done."
Zhongli didn't believe a word.
Crimson Serpent was strong, yes. But they still had trump cards. Venti was merely waiting for the perfect opening.
The real problem was the roc itself.
Up close, Zhongli realized with frustration—the Golden Eagle wasn't his match in raw power, but his speed was unmatched.
Zhongli could barely land a blow. Many of his arts couldn't even be cast.
This was perhaps the most troublesome foe he had faced since birth, even more so than in the war of the gods.
He tightened his grip on his halberd and pressed harder.
"Stubborn fool!"
The roc snarled. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw Alice's Radiant Light closing in on Crimson Serpent.
A chance!
He endured a strike from Zhongli's weapon, blood spraying, and swung his fan.
A hurricane roared forth, disrupting Crimson Serpent's defense just as Alice's light cleaved down.
Crimson Serpent screamed, one arm severed.
"Damn you, Golden Eagle!!"
She turned on him with a roar.
Zhongli and Alice froze in disbelief.
Two demons against two humans—why were the demons attacking each other instead?
Weren't the Mount Shu disciples the greater threat?
It made no sense.
But they didn't have the luxury to ponder. If Crimson Serpent was focused on the roc, then they would strike while she ignored them.
Venti itched to intervene, but Zhongli's voice rang in his mind:
"Don't come out! The situation is unclear. Stay hidden!"
Grinding his teeth, Venti suppressed his impulse, condensing the power of the Wine God's Art ever tighter.
"Damn you, Golden Eagle! Then you can die first!"
Crimson Serpent spat venom, another Bloodfiend Seal forming.
The roc paled, tearing it apart with spectral talons—just in time for Zhongli's halberd to pierce his chest.
"Now!"
Seizing the moment, Zhongli unleashed a swarm of flying swords, each glowing with golden light.
"Crush mountains, shatter the earth!"
The river of swords crashed down like a celestial flood.
At first, the roc withstood it. But when Alice's Radiant Light ignited his demonic power, his defenses crumbled.
In the blink of an eye, his body was riddled with blades.
His pupils dimmed. With a final cry of rage, he plummeted to the ground, shrouded in dust.
"Done!"
Hidden, Venti clenched his fist in triumph.
Strange though the infighting had been, a dead foe was still a victory.
But he did not move. Something about all this was wrong. Great demons did not act so foolishly.
Zhongli, gasping for breath, ignored his wounds and turned to Crimson Serpent.
"Your turn…"
Crimson Serpent met his gaze calmly. Then, to their surprise, she laughed.
"Utter fools. Your greatest mistake was ignoring that dead bird's words. If you had joined forces to kill me first, perhaps you might have lived."
Zhongli's brow furrowed. Used again.
But glancing at Alice, still standing strong, he reassured himself—the advantage was theirs.
"Two shaky late-stage Spirit Transformation brats think they can take me down?"
Behind her, the blood orb appeared again—then shattered, flooding her body with endless energy.
Her severed arm regrew. Her essence returned in full.
Zhongli's heart lurched.
Crimson Serpent smiled, brimming with satisfaction.
"Curious why I helped you kill him?"
She didn't wait for an answer.
"The cultivation world truly has declined, if ignorant children like you can reach this stage."
"No matter. Before you die, I'll let you see the truth."
"I stand a single step from the realm of a Demon King."
"Three hundred years ago, I obtained the Bloodfiend Grand Art of the Ghostfiend Sect. In secret, I slaughtered tens of millions of lesser demons, condensing the Bloodfiend Orb."
"All I lacked was the essence of a peak great demon to break through."
"Now, with the roc's death, my path is clear. Soon I shall ascend as the new king of the Nine Nether Secret Realm!"
Zhongli's grip tightened.
"So that's why you hounded him relentlessly."
"Not entirely brainless," she sneered. "But you saved me the trouble of bleeding for it."
"Oh—and you even delivered yourselves. What fortune!"
"With your deaths, I'll take the roc's essence, become Demon King, and then learn from you how to leave the Nine Nether Secret Realm. The cultivation world, weakened as it is…"
"Will welcome its new overlord!"
Her laughter shook with madness.
Zhongli broke into a cold sweat. These fiends were far more insidious than he had imagined.
Out of the corner of his eye, he saw Venti, still gathering power. He had to buy him time.
"You're alone. You dare look down on us both?"
"Even if you win, you'll never learn how to leave this place!"
Crimson Serpent sneered.
"You two are barely holding together, your essence already depleted. You think you can stop me?"
"And as for leaving the Nine Nether Secret Realm… such childish naivety. Do you not know of the Soulsearching Art?"
Her eyes gleamed. "Ah, I forgot—your pitiful cultivation world has long declined. Then perhaps Mo Yixi's seal has already weakened as well?"
"Rest assured—when I search your souls, I'll make sure every friend and kin you hold dear accompanies you to the grave."
"Bastard!!"
Alice roared.
She could endure any threat against herself—but not against Klee.
Radiant Light surged forth with all her might. Zhongli too cast aside all hesitation, unleashing his divine eye.
"Hmph. Overestimating yourselves."
Crimson Serpent raised her hands.
A river of blood blotted out the heavens, crashing down and sweeping Zhongli and Alice into its current.
They fought desperately, but their strength was drowned, their essence eroded.
And in that instant, they realized the truth.
Crimson Serpent had never once used her full power.
Though all three stood at the late stage of Spirit Transformation, her strength utterly eclipsed theirs.
They could not last long.
Zhongli gritted his teeth, resisting as the blood seeped into his body.
When it seemed they would be swallowed whole, his roar thundered across the battlefield:
"Venti!"
"The wine flows strong, the drunkard's spirit surges—come, O God, and drink with me through eternity! Kill!!"
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