The Heavenly Demon Stone Carvings represent the inheritance of Tianmo, one of the three great demonic origins.
In terms of profundity and potential, this technique is by no means inferior to the Thirty-Three Layers of Heaven, which, before its perfection, ranked second on the Taiyi Merit List.
A hundred thousand years ago, when the Blackheart Demon Lord cultivated in the Kunlun Realm, he once studied the original Heavenly Demon Stone Carvings. Later, after the Kunlun Realm was sealed by the divine power of Saint Monk Xumi, he could only contemplate rubbings and copies.
It is true that once one steps into the divine realm, the importance of cultivation techniques diminishes compared with the period before attaining godhood.
Yet that is only relative.
At critical junctures of breakthrough, or when one’s own cultivation becomes confused, studying the techniques of ancient sages can save enormous amounts of time and prevent wrong turns.
Moreover, the thirty-six Heavenly Demon Stone Carvings secretly contain thirty-six supreme Heavenly Venerable arts of Tianmo.
Even if one cannot grasp the essence of those Heavenly Venerable arts, deriving merely a few extended divine abilities from them would elevate the Blackheart Demon Lord’s combat strength far beyond its current level.
After all, only the divine abilities from the Heavenly Demon Stone Carvings are perfectly suited to him.
The Blackheart Demon Lord’s natural talent is actually extremely high, and his mental fortitude is exceptionally strong. Even Bian Zhuang, the foremost war god of the Heavenly Palace, failed to shatter his heart realm. Otherwise he would not have become one of the rare deities of his era capable of surviving a Yuanhui tribulation.
In short, the Heavenly Demon Stone Carvings are more important to him than even a Buddha Emperor relic or profound meanings.
Seeing that Zhang Ruochen remained unmoved for a long while, the Blackheart Demon Lord gave a cold laugh. “Do you really believe that, with your mere few thousand years of cultivation, the two of you can stand against a great deity? Killing you would not be difficult for this seat. Make your decision quickly. Do not test my patience.”
The Mo Ling puppet cackled.
Any ordinary god at the Butian realm, when facing a great deity, could only immediately burn lifespan and unleash a forbidden escape technique.
That was precisely Bai Qing’er’s thought at this moment.
Yet she also knew that these were the ruins of a Heavenly Venerable palace. Escape was fundamentally impossible. Fleeing deeper into the ruins would only trigger the methods left by the Heavenly Venerable and cause them to die even faster.
The reason the Blackheart Demon Lord had waited until they arrived here before striking was precisely because he understood this. He wished to leave them no chance of escape while also avoiding alerting the other deities in the Heavenly Goddess Tower.
Bai Qing’er said, “Demon Lord, you overestimate yourself! Do you truly believe my master left me without one or two life-preserving measures?”
“The Star-Sea Angler carries quite a reputation.”
The Blackheart Demon Lord showed not a trace of fear on his face. Instead he smiled and said, “It is a pity the old man is not in Xinghuan Heaven.”
Whoosh!
Demonic light flashed. A six-sided war hammer appeared in his hand.
The hammer head was larger than a millstone, instantly causing the Blackheart Demon Lord’s battle aura to surge skyward.
Both Bai Qing’er and Zhang Ruochen felt pressure multiply. They had no doubt that a single blow from this war hammer would be enough to scatter even a true god’s soul and cause instant death, however tenacious their divine life force.
The Blackheart Demon Lord said, “This seat simply does not believe the Star-Sea Angler would leave life-saving trump cards for a disciple who has already become a god. Once one attains godhood, one should stand alone. Keeping life-saving measures, what difference is there from a nursing infant? Little girl, you are far too green to play mind games with me!”
Bai Qing’er’s expression did not change. She smiled brightly and said, “Is that so? Is the Demon Lord truly so certain?”
A flicker of hesitation passed through the Blackheart Demon Lord’s eyes.
Zhang Ruochen said, “If you want the Heavenly Demon Stone Carvings, come and take them yourself. Does a great deity such as you lack long arms?”
The hesitation vanished from the Blackheart Demon Lord’s eyes. His expression darkened. Soul-seizing power radiated from his pupils.
The dark ruins turned blood-red.
“Boundless Buddhist Dharma!”
Zhang Ruochen remained unaffected by the soul-seizing demonic eyes. Buddhist light burst from his body, neutralising this vicious move.
Bai Qing’er recovered. The blood-red world before her receded and became dazzling golden, yet her face had grown much paler.
Had it not been for the Buddha Emperor relic, had Zhang Ruochen’s mental will not been sufficiently strong, once their divine souls were seized, even for an instant, both she and Zhang Ruochen would have perished.
It was not that Bai Qing’er’s mental will was insufficient.
Without the Buddha Emperor relic, Zhang Ruochen would not have fared much better.
The greatest reason was still the chasm between an early-stage median god and a great deity, a gap between earth and heaven.
That moment had been perilous in the extreme. Both Zhang Ruochen and Bai Qing’er felt their hearts pounding. They raised their mental state to its peak, not daring to relax in the slightest.
In their field of vision, everything else vanished. Only the Blackheart Demon Lord and the Mo Ling remained.
Zhang Ruochen said, “Give it up. You cannot kill us.”
“Cannot kill you?” The Blackheart Demon Lord laughed.
Zhang Ruochen continued, “If you cannot slay us both in an instant, once divine battle erupts it will inevitably trigger all the divine markings and arrays throughout the Heavenly Venerable Palace ruins. Then everyone here will die.”
“Fighting here does indeed conceal the battle from others and prevents our escape. But it also ties your own hands.”
“That is why you first sent the Mo Ling puppet. Because you fear triggering the various methods left behind by Xinghuan Heavenly Venerable.”
“We are merely prey to you, posing no threat whatsoever. We could not even tear a corner of your robe. Yet the methods of a Heavenly Venerable could easily put you to death.”
The Blackheart Demon Lord’s expression flickered between dark and light.
Bai Qing’er said, “After the Mo Ling attacked, you realised Zhang Ruochen was protected by a Buddha Emperor relic and knew you had underestimated your opponents. That is why you revealed your true body, adopting the bearing of a great deity, hoping to overwhelm us with great-deity prestige. Unfortunately, once again you misjudged your opponents.”
“First-rate figures indeed. Yuanhui-level geniuses are extraordinary.”
Suddenly the Blackheart Demon Lord threw his head back and roared with laughter.
Bai Qing’er asked in puzzlement, “What are you laughing at?”
“This seat is laughing at myself for being too selfish. I only thought of myself and forgot about you two,” the Blackheart Demon Lord replied.
Both Zhang Ruochen and Bai Qing’er looked baffled.
The Blackheart Demon Lord said, “I only considered that once divine battle erupts and triggers the Heavenly Venerable’s methods, I might bring catastrophe upon myself. But I forgot that not only do I fear death, you two Yuanhui-level geniuses with boundless futures are equally unwilling to die. As long as you fear death, once battle begins you too will be forced to hold back.”
Before the words fully left his mouth, a palace-sized demonic hand appeared above each of their heads and slammed downward.
“Black Heaven Demonic Hand!” Bai Qing’er cried out in alarm.
This was a Taizhen-level divine ability!
One of the Blackheart Demon Lord’s signature arts, incomparably domineering, far beyond anything a Butian-level divine ability could match.
Neither of them had sensed when he executed the technique, nor had they detected any divine qi fluctuations. The two demonic hands seemed to condense from thin air, mysterious and sinister to the extreme.
It was pure suppression by realm.
Zhang Ruochen felt only that space was collapsing inward. Invisible walls seemed to rise on all four sides, pressing toward him at the centre, as though his body were about to be crushed into a grain of sand.
This was the spatial illusion formed after being locked onto by a great deity’s divine ability.
Zhang Ruochen knew full well that with his current cultivation he could not possibly withstand a full-power Black Heaven Demonic Hand. He immediately closed his eyes, clenched his teeth, shattered the invisible walls with his body, and threw himself onto Bai Qing’er.
The two flew several dozen zhang away and crashed into a pile of rubble.
Boom!
Boom!
The two demonic hands slammed into the ground, creating deep craters. The earth shook violently.
Heavenly Venerable divine markings emerged one after another all around. Chaotic and tyrannical energies coursed through the ruins.
Astonishment appeared in the Blackheart Demon Lord’s huge eyes.
Unbelievable!
Zhang Ruochen had actually broken free of his lock-on and escaped.
Could this brat, who had cultivated for less than two thousand years, possess mental will stronger than his own, who had cultivated for over a hundred thousand years?
The astonishment lasted only an instant. The Blackheart Demon Lord waved a hand. The Mo Ling turned into a streak of illusory light and shot toward the rubble.
Bang!
A radiant golden staff swung out, sending the Mo Ling flying. It crashed into an area covered with Heavenly Venerable divine markings. A purple bolt of lightning pierced its body, and it let out a shrill scream.
Moments later, the Mo Ling, whose battle power rivalled the peak of median godhood and whose body was as tough as a supreme sacred artefact, turned to ashes.
The Blackheart Demon Lord felt as though his heart were bleeding. His eyes turned crimson. He roared, “Today this seat will not only kill you both, I will extract your flesh, blood, and divine souls to refine into divine pills!”
Swish! The Blackheart Demon Lord crossed space and appeared before Jade Dragon Immortal.
A black demonic hand slapped downward, driving Jade Dragon Immortal deep into the earth. In the same motion he seized the Wujin War Heaven Pillar.
Demonic flames surged from his hand, instantly refining the pillar. He held it as he scanned the surroundings. Yet where were the shadows of Zhang Ruochen and Bai Qing’er?
“Escape from a great deity? In your dreams!”
“Soul-Hooking Chains!”
“Soul-Seizing Demon!”
“Soul-Chasing Seal!”
The Blackheart Demon Lord stood motionless. Strands of demonic qi drifted from his body, condensing into countless chains that writhed like endless dragons and serpents, rushing into the dark ruins.
Moments later, Zhang Ruochen and Bai Qing’er, who had fled deeper into the Heavenly Venerable Palace ruins, were ensnared by the soul-hooking demonic chains and dragged back.
The Blackheart Demon Lord had chosen to act here precisely because he was extremely shrewd. Only here could he guarantee Zhang Ruochen and Bai Qing’er could not escape. Anywhere else, they would long since have plunged into dimensionless space and burned lifespan to flee.
One hand wielding the six-sided war hammer, the other the Wujin War Heaven Pillar, divine markings beneath his feet pinning Jade Dragon Immortal firmly underground, the Blackheart Demon Lord looked at them darkly.
He said, “This seat long ago collected a wisp of your divine qi and mental power. No matter how far you flee, I can haul you back. I underestimated you earlier, but have you not also underestimated this seat?”
Bai Qing’er said, “It seems we have no other choice. Zhang Ruochen, have Jade Dragon Immortal detonate her divine source.”
The Blackheart Demon Lord glanced down at Jade Dragon Immortal suppressed beneath the earth. His expression changed dramatically and he retreated swiftly.
In truth, Zhang Ruochen controlled Jade Dragon Immortal through methods from the Volume of Nether Soldiers, but he had no way to order her to detonate her divine source.
“Detonating the divine source is the final resort. We have not yet reached that point,” Zhang Ruochen called out.
Bai Qing’er asked, “Is there another way?”
Zhang Ruochen looked toward the thousand-zhang-high stone wall. A trace of a smile appeared in his eyes.
Whoosh!
A flaming white-bone spear pierced the darkness and struck the demonic chains.
The chains shattered into mist. Zhang Ruochen and Bai Qing’er broke free and landed back on the ground.
The flaming white-bone spear circled once and fell into the hand of Hai Shang Ming Gong, who stood atop the stone wall.
Mi Lian Shan’s booming laughter rang out from beyond the ruins of the Heavenly Venerable Palace. “Last time we met, Blackheart Demon Lord, you were merely a superior god. You couldn’t take two moves before you fled faster than anyone. This time, don’t run. This old man is going to enjoy himself thoroughly!”
