Chen Ping’s aura abruptly reversed, no longer the crisp sword intent but a world-scorching demonic flame. Black demonic energy, laced with eerie crimson light, instantly transformed him into a fire-bathed demon god.
His once-pale face flushed with an uncanny red, his pupils consumed by crimson demonic flames, and a manic, bone-chilling grin curled his lips.
“What… what is this aura?”
Granny Ghostclaw’s pupils contracted sharply. The overwhelming demonic pressure forced her back half a step, the glow of her soul beads dimming noticeably.
Duke Drowned Souls’ grip on his chain trembled violently, his underworld flames seeming as frail as candlelight before the demonic blaze.
“Jie jie jie… puny underworld scum, daring to act arrogantly before me?”
Chen Ping’s voice was no longer cold but a demonic roar mixed with the wails of countless resentful souls, shaking the air across the ruins with a buzzing hum.
He slowly raised his hand, a pitch-black orb burning with crimson flames forming in his palm, its mere presence warping the surrounding space with ripples.
“Courting death!”
Duke Drowned Souls roared, his chained sickle, wrapped in underworld flames ten times stronger than before, slashing toward Chen Ping in a desperate bid to reclaim dominance under this eerie demonic might.
But Chen Ping didn’t even bother to swing his sword, merely pointing a finger.
“Pfft!”
The demonic orb in his palm swelled instantly, forming a crimson-black beam of flame. The moment it collided with the sickle, the underworld flames melted like snow under the sun.
Duke Drowned Souls felt an unstoppable force surge through the chain. With a “crack,” his arm shattered, and he was flung backward like he’d been struck by lightning, crashing through half a mountain. Black blood spewed from his mouth, his eyes filled with disbelief and terror.
“Your turn, old hag.”
Chen Ping licked his lips, his figure appearing before Granny Ghostclaw like a phantom.
Furious and terrified, Granny Ghostclaw thrust her blood-red soul spear, formed from ten merged soul beads, toward him. But Chen Ping caught it barehanded!
“Argh!”
The spear’s countless vengeful soul energies gnawed at his hand but couldn’t even scratch his skin. Instead, the demonic flames in his palm scorched them, eliciting piercing screams as the blood-red spear melted visibly.
Granny Ghostclaw’s soul nearly fled her body in panic. She tried to escape, but Chen Ping’s other hand clamped around her throat.
“No! Let me go! I’m…”
“Shut up.”
Chen Ping’s eyes blazed with killing intent as he squeezed.
“Bang!”
Granny Ghostclaw’s head exploded like a watermelon, dark green brain matter mixed with black blood spraying outward. The remaining soul beads, uncontrolled, burst into a cloud of blood mist in the air.
Her body slumped lifelessly, all vitality extinguished, her unblinking eyes frozen in abject terror.
Dealing with Granny Ghostclaw took mere moments. Chen Ping turned to Duke Drowned Souls, who was crawling from the rubble, his grin growing fiercer. “Didn’t you say you’d let me die comfortably?”
Duke Drowned Souls, stripped of all ferocity, trembled like a leaf, unable to respond.
He frantically summoned his strongest underworld shield, a pitch-black energy dome encasing him completely, and turned to flee into an underworld rift.
“Trying to run?”
Chen Ping snorted coldly, waving his hand. The Dragon-Slaying Sword flew into his grip. Infused with demonic flames, the blade was now etched with crimson-black patterns, radiating a heart-stopping aura of malice.
With a flick of his wrist, a ribbon of demonic flame sword energy tore through the air.
“Pfft!”
The supposedly indestructible underworld shield ripped like paper. The sword energy’s momentum unabated, it cleaved Duke Drowned Souls from shoulder to hip.
His halved body hadn’t even hit the ground before the pursuing demonic flames reduced it to ash. Only a faint wisp of his soul lingered, letting out a final wail in the flames before vanishing completely.
