Chapter 974: Identity of the Devilish Lord

"You're a fool, Sha Xin! Let me ask you this: what have you and I been waiting all these countless years for?" E Kuai asked.

Sha Xin gave no reply as she glowered intently at E Kuai with a look of righteous fury on her face.

"The two of us have been trapped in the Scalptia Spatial Domain for so many years, and our two cities have been in conflict with each other for just as long. Why did you come to me to propose a collaboration? Is it not for the same objective as mine? Why lie to yourself by bringing up those events from the distant past that no one even cares about?" E Kuai sneered.

"Don't compare me with you!" Sha Xin spat in a disdainful manner.

"Right now, the Devilish Lord's remains are right in front of us. If you and I split it evenly, then both of us will be sure to make massive strides in our cultivation, and leaving the Scalptia Spatial Domain will become a simple task! Once we reach the Devil Realm or the Immortal Realm, we'll be free to go wherever we please!" E Kuai yelled in a rousing voice.

Han Li took another glance at the crystal coffin floating above the center of the lake of blood upon hearing this.

At this point, he was all but certain that the set of remains in the coffin were the holy remains that they were referring to, but he couldn't help but wonder who this "Devilish Lord" was.

With that in mind, he couldn't help but think of Daoist Xie again. It seemed that Daoist Xie had many inexplicable connections to the Scalptia Spatial Domain, so was it possible that this Devilish Lord was none other than Daoist Xie's former owner?

"Are you here, Daoist Xie?"

Han Li called out to Daoist Xie through their spiritual connection, but received no response.

Right at this moment, Sha Xin's voice rang out again.

"You think I approached you for a collaboration because I share the same objective as you? If that's the case, then you couldn't be more wrong! I can tell you now that I've already found a way to revive our master!" Sha Xin scoffed.

"You must be dreaming! All that remains of the Devilish Lord is this body of his, and there's no way it can be resurrected! Otherwise, why do you think these Great Ruins have remained stagnant for all these years? It would be great if the Devilish Lord was still alive. That way, I wouldn't have been trapped here for so long! I advise you not to strive in futility toward something that's completely out of reach," E Kuai sneered.

"Ungrateful scum! It was all because of your betrayal that the Devilish Monarch was able to intervene in that crucial juncture of our master's ascension to become a Dao Ancestor! Otherwise, our master would've definitely been successful!" Sha Xin yelled in a furious voice.

"You don't know anything," E Kuai harrumphed coldly. "Even if the Devilish Monarch hadn't intervened, he wouldn't have succeeded anyway."

"Who are you to say something like that? If it wasn't for our master, you'd already be long dead by now, yet here you are, referring to him as Devilish Lord instead of master," Sha Xin scoffed in a furious voice.

"He only took me under his wing because he saw my aptitude and wanted to nurture me into a henchman. Both of us were merely pawns at his disposal, yet for some reason, you seem to enjoy that role. All those years ago, I chose the path of bodily refinement, while you chose the path of puppetry, and it all seems like fate now. You are destined to serve as the Devilish Lord's puppet for your entire life, even after he's been dead for so many years," E Kuai harrumphed coldly.

"Regardless of what you say, I'm not letting you get your hands on our master's remains just for your own selfish objectives. Once I resurrect him, I'll leave it to him to punish you as he sees fit," Sha Xin said as she suppressed her own fury.

E Kuai took a glance at Shi Chuankong, then sneered, "How are you going to open the coffin when you don't even have access to the bloodline of the devilish imperial family? I have a prince on my hands here. If you're willing to work with me, then both of us will be able to benefit. Otherwise, neither of us is getting anything!"

Before Sha Xin had a chance to reply, a tall figure in a veiled bamboo hat emerged from behind her, then declared, "The bloodline of our imperial family may be rare, but Chuankong isn't the only one who possesses it. In fact, my bloodline is a little purer than his."

The figure removed the veiled hat as they spoke, revealing a set of striking features that was headlined by a head of silver hair and a pair of purple pupils.

It was none other than Shi Zhanfeng!

E Kuai's expression darkened significantly upon seeing this, and he spat through gritted teeth, "I've done everything in my power to make you see the light, but you're still stubbornly clinging onto your little fantasy, so I suppose I have no choice but to beat some sense into you!"

He stomped a foot down onto the ground as he spoke, and the entire underground space shuddered violently, while the surface of the lake of blood rippled and quivered.

E Kuai immediately vanished from the spot, then reappeared behind Shi Zhanfeng an instant later before reaching out to make a grab for his head.

Shi Zhanfeng was able to react to the act, but it was still too fast for him to evade.

Right as the tips of E Kuai's fingers were about to pierce into his skull, a white bone spear suddenly shot forth from the side, striking E Kuai's wrist with a loud clang.

Out of the corner of his eye, Shi Zhanfeng could see that Kun Yu was holding onto the spear with both hands, attempting to shield him from E Kuai's attack.

The spear was bent over so far that it was almost doubled over, but it was only able to force E Kuai's hand slightly off its original trajectory. As a result, his swiping fingers failed to strike Shi Zhanfeng's head, but they still left several gashes in his face.

Taking advantage of this opportunity, Shi Zhanfeng ducked down slightly before pouncing forward while drawing a white bone sword, and the star acupoints on the sword were glowing radiantly as he thrust it directly at E Kuai's lower abdomen.

Right at this moment, the bone spear was snapped into two under E Kuai's hand, and at the same time, he raised a leg to block Shi Zhanfeng's sword with his kneecap.

Dense clusters of profound acupoints lit up over his leg, releasing a layer of starlight that protected his leg from the tip of the bone sword, following which he gave a cold harrumph before abruptly kicking out with his leg.

A ball of white light instantly erupted from the tip of his foot, hurtling directly toward Shi Zhanfeng's face.

Shi Zhanfeng immediately sprang back in retreat, opening up close to a thousand feet of distance between himself and E Kuai in the blink of an eye.

However, E Kuai's speed was far superior to his, and before he even had a chance to steady himself, E Kuai had caught up to him once again.

It was clear that E Kuai was desperate to eliminate Shi Zhanfeng, the muscles on his right arm bulged as layers of white starlight surged forth, culminating in a burst of explosive power that erupted out of his fist.

In the face of E Kuai's almighty punch, Shi Zhanfeng was struck by a sense of asphyxiation, and he felt as if even the space around him had become slightly warped, making it very difficult for him to move.

Han Li was rather astonished as he witnessed this from afar. E Kuai had sustained extremely severe injuries not long ago, yet it seemed like he had made a full recovery.

Even in his current form, with 475 profound acupoints opened, Han Li had no confidence in withstanding this attack in Shi Zhanfeng's place.

All of a sudden, a string of resounding booms rang out, and twelve radiant metal balls abruptly appeared around E Kuai.

Immediately thereafter, the twelve metal balls transformed into twelve armored puppets, each of which was holding a white bone chain with a curved blade on the end.

The twelve bone chains were sent hurtling toward E Kuai from all directions, criss-crossing over one another like a cobweb.

E Kuai immediately redirected his own fist upward upon seeing this, and a vast expanse of white starlight erupted out of his fist before splitting up into countless bursts of light that crashed toward the net formed by the white bone chains.

Right at this moment, all of the star acupoints on the net of bone chains abruptly transformed into a series of miniature vortexes that released tremendous suction force.

All of the starlight that had erupted out of E Kuai's fist was sucked into the star acupoints, thereby completely nullifying his attack.

𝙛𝒓𝓮𝒆𝔀𝒆𝙗𝓷𝒐𝙫𝒆𝙡.𝒄𝓸𝓶

Before he had a chance to do anything else, the net of bone chains had already fully descended upon him.

Immediately thereafter, the twelve armored puppets moved in a synchronized fashion to instantly adopt a certain formation, and a burst of silver lightning instantly flashed over the net of bone chains, forming a ball of silver lightning that trapped E Kuai inside.

It was only then that Han Li noticed that the woman referred to as Xiao Zi by Sha Xin was currently seated on the ground with her legs crossed, and there was a black stone array plate in front of her, upon which were placed twelve white stones.

Controlling twelve puppets at once and arranging them into a set formation in such a uniform and synchronized fashion was a very difficult task, so it came as quite a surprise to Han Li that it was Xiao Zi who had accomplished this feat, as opposed to Sha Xin.

Kun Yu was standing not far away as her guardian, having pulled out another bone spear to replace his snapped one.

Right at this moment, E Kuai's disdainful voice rang out from within the ball of silver lightning.

"You think such a crude array will be enough to trap me?"

Immediately thereafter, the profound acupoints on his body began to glow radiantly as he threw a punch at the ball of lightning and net of bone chains around him.

However, the starlight that erupted out of his fist was once again devoured by the star acupoints on all of the bone chains, and at the same time, bursts of silver lightning converged to strike E Kuai from all directions, raising large flurries of sparks upon contact.

The array of bone chains remained unscathed, but some tiny, barely visible cracks had appeared on the bodies of the twelve puppets, and Xiao Zi also shuddered violently, and it was clear that keeping E Kuai contained was a very demanding task.

"The array naturally won't be able to trap you forever, but all I need is for it to buy me some time," Sha Xin said in an expressionless manner, then beckoned toward Shi Zhanfeng, and the two of them sprang up into the air, quickly reaching the center of the lake.