Chapter 774: Overwhelming Victory at Taixu

Though the Demon Child was injured, he ignored his injuries and sent Li Qianjun flying with his swords. A hole appeared in Li Qianjun's chest, one that extended all the way out his back. The wounds he had just sustained were at least ten times worse than those he had experienced before. He spat out large mouthfuls of fresh blood as he landed, struggling just to clamber back up.

"Taiqing Pagoda!" Li Qianjun summoned his relic, which flew toward him. Without any hesitation, he allowed it to encase his body as he attempted to flee.

"You won't get away!" Ye Sanshui roared.

"Ye Sanshui, stall him! I won't let him flee this time!"

"Got it!"

Ye Sanshui struck down the Taiqing burial pagoda with a fist.

"Bastard, do you intend to kill your own father?!" Li Qianjun shouted.

"You're the bastard—and you're not my father! Die!"

A deluge of swords shot into the Taiqing burial pagoda as Ye Sanshui pummeled it with his fists. The Taiqing burial pagoda attempted to absorb the attacks with its suction, but to no avail. The Demon Child's lotus swords chipped and cracked its exterior.

Li Qianjun was done for now. He was wounded to begin with, and had expended a great deal of energy in order to control and manipulate the Taiqing burial pagoda. Meanwhile, the Demon Child was attacking him furiously. The more he fought, the more he attuned to the Boundless Immortal relic that made up his body, and the stronger he became.

"No! Save me, Your Majesty!" Li Qianjun cried out.

He didn't know how much longer he could last. The Taiqing burial pagoda was starting to crack, and his circumstances were growing more and more dangerous. Unfortunately, Lou Yujing himself was in trouble; he would hardly be able to save Li Qianjun.

Ye Sanshui had fought for an extended period of time, and was weakened from the injuries he had sustained to date. Even so, he was an ancestral zombie and could easily replenish his reserves. He retrieved half a zombie king's corpse and devoured it to return to tip-top shape once again.

The fighting continued intensely. More cracks appeared over the Taiqing burial pagoda, as if it were close to breaking apart.

Once that happened, how was Li Qianjun to take on Ye Sanshui and the Demon Child? Li Qianjun took a deep breath and steered the pagoda straight toward the Demon Child.

"Die!" the Demon Child roared, unleashing another deluge of swords.

The Taiqing burial pagoda began to collapse as Li Qianjun manipulated it to its limits. Once he had closed in on the Demon Child, he shouted, "Explode!"

"Run! He's going to detonate the Taiqing burial pagoda!" Ye Sanshui cursed.

The Demon Child charged forward and was engulfed by the explosion.

Ye Sanshui, on the other hand, had managed to escape it in the nick of time. His eyes twitched. "Li Qianjun dared to detonate the pagoda while he was still inside it? Is he intending to commit suicide?"

After the explosion, the Demon Child's injuries only worsened. Streaked with blood, he fell to the ground. Li Qianjun was nowhere to be seen—no, there were bits of flesh scattered all about.

"Did Li Qianjun really kill himself?" Ye Sanshui exclaimed.

"Did you die just like that, you bastard? I didn't get to kill you!" the Demon Child shouted.

The Demon Child roared in frustration at having failed to take revenge himself. He was in no state to fight; he was barely keeping himself conscious.

Just then, a flash of red light appeared in the air. A void portal appeared. Within the portal, Li Qianjun was being chased by a group of red-furred monsters.

"No!" Ye Sanshui exclaimed. "Li Qianjun must have given up on his physical body and escaped into the red moon illusory realm at the last moment."

"How could there be so many red-furred monsters?!" Li Qianjun shrieked. He had been chased out of the realm.

He looked to be in a particularly bad state. He turned to flee, thinking that Ye Sanshui and the Demon Child had both been incapacitated by the explosion. He didn't realize that Ye Sanshui was largely unharmed and had even flashed behind him. He caused Li Qianjun's red moon to explode with a punch.

"Who's there?!" Li Qianjun cried out.

He whirled around. With his red moon destroyed, Li Qianjun's yin body crumpled and fell to the ground.

"No!" Li Qianjun shrieked in despair.

His soul was only at the level of a True Yin cultivator, and could barely withstand any damage. Ye Sanshui's sneak attack was a crippling wound.

"Demon Child, I'll leave Li Qianjun to you," Ye Sanshui called out.

Not far away, seeing that Li Qianjun had come back to 'life', the Demon Child was excited beyond belief. Despite his wounds, he ran over to Li Qianjun's prone form. "You won't be able to get away this time, Li Qianjun!"

"Bastard—no, my son, I'm your father. You can't kill me!" Li Qianjun shouted.

The Demon Child easily ignored Li Qianjun's begging. With his fiercest anger and hatred, he sent a deluge of swords straight toward Li Qianjun.

"Die!"

"No!" Li Qianjun panicked.

The swords tore Li Qianjun's soul apart as it dissipated. He had finally died.

"Congratulations, Demon Child. You've finally avenged your mother," Ye Sanshui said.

As the Demon Child watched Li Qianjun's soul dissipate, he suddenly began to cry. He turned toward the direction of his mother's grave and bawled, "Mother, did you see that? I killed the demon who tormented us. I've avenged you! Mother, I miss you!"

𝘧𝓇ℯ𝑒𝓌𝑒𝑏𝓃𝘰𝘷𝘦𝘭.𝒸ℴ𝓂

The Demon Child slumped to the ground and fainted.

"Demon Child!" Ye Sanshui rushed over to check on him.

By then, Ye Dafu and the others had finished off Li Qianjun's subordinates.

"Third Uncle, how's the Demon Child?" Ye Dafu asked in worry.

"He's badly wounded and just experienced a particularly abrupt shift in emotion. That's why he fell unconscious, but he'll recover quickly," Ye Sanshui analyzed.

"Thank goodness."

"What happened to your opponents?"

"We easily took down Li Qianjun's subordinates. Your fight took too long. We were all getting anxious just watching you," Ye Dafu replied.

Ye Sanshui sighed. Did his nephew not know how to be diplomatic at all?

"In that case, take the Demon Child somewhere safe to recuperate," Ye Sanshui commanded.

"Understood!" Ye Dafu replied.

The Golden Immortals left with the Demon Child in tow.

Meanwhile, Ye Sanshui turned to the other fight in the distance, where the Divine Emperor was taking on Lou Yujing's ancestral zombie avatar. In terms of strength, the Divine Emperor was slightly inferior to Lou Yujing, though she had far more experience when it came to fighting.

As the fighting continued, however, Lou Yujing's strength was clearly depleting faster than his opponent's. He lost his advantage and gradually began to be pushed back.

"Damn it," Lou Yujing cursed.

He reached out for a jade bottle and was just about to consume its contents when the Divine Emperor, who had anticipated his actions, knocked it aside with a fist.

The jade bottle exploded in a cloud of black smoke. Zombies stood in their midst.

"Don't you think I know how quickly energy drains from these zombies? Have you forgotten that Ye Sanshui is an ancestral zombie himself? I've been waiting for this. Now, Lou Yujing, die!" the Divine Emperor roared.

"All zombies, fly into my mouth!" Lou Yujing commanded.

The zombies flew toward Lou Yujing, only to have a golden wave of sound send them flying. Ye Sanshui shot toward the zombies.

"Ye Sanshui, you bastard, return my subordinates to me!" Lou Yujing roared.

Ye Sanshui ignored Lou Yujing and finished off the zombies.

Lou Yujing's circumstances were going from bad to worse. His strength was quickly being depleted, and the Divine Emperor's combat experience augmented her advantages.

Lou Yujing was sent flying time after time.

"Lou Yujing, you're done for now!" the Divine Emperor declared.

The Divine Emperor sent him flying with another fist.

Lou Yujing attempted to flee, but the Divine Emperor was faster than he was. She instantly shot toward him. My speed is unmatched by anyone at my level of cultivation. Die!"

Lou Yujing reeled from the impact of the Divine Emperor's blows. His injuries were rapidly worsening, and he wasn't going to be able to hold out for long.

"No. I can't lose!" Lou Yujing shouted in despair.

His other two bodies wouldn't be able to reach him in time.

"It's not up to you!" the Divine Emperor declared.

She sent Lou Yujing flying with another punch. He smashed into the ground and vomited out blood.

The Divine Emperor flashed toward him. "Give up. You've lost!"

Lou Yujing's eyes suddenly flashed. "Just you wait, Divine Emperor. I'll pay you back for this. None of you will be able to escape then."

"Be careful!" Ye Sanshui shouted. "He's going to self-destruct!"

The Divine Emperor blanched and summoned her bell to her.

Meanwhile, Lou Yujing's body erupted in an explosion of flames. The Divine Emperor's bell surrounded his avatar and absorbed the bulk of the energy as a pillar of red light rose into the air. Lou Yujing's soul fragment was trying to escape.

"I won't let you flee!" the Divine Emperor shouted.

She flashed into the bell and gritted her teeth against the barrage of energy in the enclosed space. Before Lou Yujing's soul fragment could escape, she caught it and arrested it in place.

"No!" Lou Yujing cried out.

The pillar of red light faded away. Lou Yujing's soul fragment, in the end, failed to escape. It dissipated as it was struck by the shockwaves that resulted from the explosion. Even in her shadow form, the Divine Emperor had sustained significant damage from the explosion as well.

Ye Sanshui fretted anxiously outside. He saw a huge wave of energy ripple out of the Divine Emperor's bell, which had almost distorted in shape from the explosion it withstood.

Only after quite some time did the Divine Emperor emerge from her bell.

She spat out a mouthful of blood as she coughed.

Ye Sanshui's eyes widened. "Is Lou Yujing dead?"

The Divine Emperor wiped at the blood by the corner of her mouth. Somewhat weakly, she nodded. "He's dead."

"Good! Where should we go now?"

"I'll return to Shenfeng's capital. You head to Hongyue's capital. Hurry!"

"Understood!" Ye Sanshui replied.

The cultivators split up and headed off in two different directions.