But Poison-Wing had been raised by Su Xue ever since he was an egg. Under her influence, his personality lacked the typical cruelty of a demon and possessed a hint more humanity.
Even though he was already a demon king, he felt no sense of belonging to the foul crowd of demons in the Southern Region.
'Should I slip away?'
Poison-Wing's eyes darted around.
The Toad Saint was currently inside the jar, and the strongest one, Thousand-Tangle, was fighting for her life. This was the perfect time to make a run for it.
As long as he could flee back to Poison Flame Mountain, he could take Poison Pheasant Fairy and Su Xue away from the Southern Region. They could fly far away to the Eastern Region's Shanhe Pass.
To hell with the Great Demon Assembly, and to hell with the Toad Saint. I'm done serving them.
Poison-Wing's plan was sound. He pretended to fend off the attacks from a few small skeletons while slowly inching toward the exit.
However.
Just as he was about to reach the door.
Hum—
The gu jar in the center of the hall suddenly vibrated violently.
A surge of death qi, several times more intense than before, erupted from the gap under the lid like a volcanic eruption.
Immediately after, the lid opened slightly.
Countless pale-gray earthworm gu insects flew out from the jar, falling indiscriminately into the mouths of every great demon present.
"What is this? Mgh!"
A tiger demon in the middle of a fight didn't even have time to react before a gu insect burrowed into its mouth.
In the next second, its body began to swell rapidly. Its flesh rotted, and large patches of corpse spots appeared on its skin.
"Roar!!"
The tiger demon let out a roar of immense pain, but its aura surged continuously, reaching the first transformation of eerification on the spot!
But it didn't stop there. Its eyes turned a ghostly pale gray as it completely lost its sanity, turning into a corpse beast that knew only slaughter.
The same scene played out in every corner of the Black Bone Hall.
Every demon who inhaled the gu insects began to rot and mutate, their strength skyrocketing. Even Thousand-Tangle was no exception.
She had already consumed the corpse god gu before. Now, the corpse god gu inside her went berserk, causing the death qi in her body to explode completely.
"Ahhh—"
Thousand-Tangle threw her head back and shrieked. Her body fully decomposed, and her vines turned into strips of rotting meat. Her aura shattered its bottleneck, reaching the peak of the second transformation of eerification!
"Power... This is the power bestowed by the Exalted Saint..."
Thousand-Tangle's voice became raspy and piercing. She laughed maniacally while brandishing her vine whips.
And the unluckiest of them all was Poison-Wing.
Just as he was about to step over the threshold, a large mass of gu insects plastered itself across his face.
"Holy crap, don't—"
Before Poison-Wing could finish a curse, he was force-fed.
"Ugh, ah!!"
Poison-Wing clutched his throat and fell to his knees in agony.
The golden light of the auspicious god within him was struck once again. Under the wash of the massive amounts of death qi and gu insects, the golden light could only barely protect his heart. It could no longer stop the mutation of his body or the loss of his mind.
Poison-Wing's eyes instantly turned crimson. His earlier thought of escaping was replaced by an insatiable desire for slaughter.
He joined the fray as well.
In an instant, the tide of battle turned.
With two demon kings at the peak of the second transformation of eerification, several great demons at the first transformation of eerification, and countless corpse-transformed demon soldiers who didn't fear death...
Jian Huaishuang's side was immediately plunged into a bitter struggle.
Wu Hai was sent flying by a whip from the frenzied Thousand-Tangle, the bones in half of his body shattered.
Jian Huaishuang's paper person legion also began to wither in large numbers under the poison fire and corpse qi from Poison-Wing.
Strong as Piao was, she could not hold off so many enemies at once. While trying to protect the flower demons and human-livestock behind her, she also began to take wounds.
The situation was critical.
While the world outside was in a heated battle...
Chen Zhou was currently strolling leisurely inside the Toad Saint's belly—or rather, inside the space within that gu jar.
This was a world of gray mist.
The surroundings were walls of writhing flesh, covered in human faces that wailed piteously.
Countless winged corpse insects flew through the air. Seeing Chen Zhou, an outsider, they immediately lunged at him like sharks scenting blood.
"Tsk tsk. As expected of a demon of the Southern Region."
Chen Zhou casually expanded his ghost domain. Within the white bones, he blocked out the lunging corpse insects.
"Refining gu inside your own stomach, are you?"
Chen Zhou's intuition had been correct.
These gu insects were indeed formed from seventh-rank death qi.
He didn't know where this old toad had obtained such a pure origin of death qi, but it was actually trying to cultivate the path of death with a demon's body. It wanted to use this gu jar to refine itself into some kind of higher-order existence.
"Unfortunately, you met me."
Chen Zhou sneered at the gu insects that were constantly crashing against his ghost domain.
If it were anyone else, they would likely be assimilated by the death qi the moment they entered this stomach, becoming just another face on the flesh walls.
But he was different.
He held the divine authority of Faith Conferment and had the Guardian Auspicious God Destiny.
More importantly, he was an evil spirit—the ancestor of those who played with death qi.
As Evil God Points burned in large quantities, Chen Zhou forcibly boosted himself to the level of the third transformation of eerification.
Though these gu insects were fierce, they could do nothing to Chen Zhou for the moment.
Chen Zhou could leave this possessed Bone Ghost Servant at any time. After all, his true body was in the City of the Wrongfully Dead; this was just an ordinary skeleton.
But he didn't want to leave.
Since he was already here, returning empty-handed wasn't his style.
He wanted to see if he could lock this old toad down and tie it to the altar.
If he successfully sacrificed a seventh-rank great demon, the rewards would surely be incredible.
Chen Zhou began to wreak havoc inside the Toad Saint's stomach.
He pressed both hands against the flesh walls, injecting terrifying death qi in reverse.
The writhing flesh walls began to rapidly calcify, turning into pale bones.
Chen Zhou was like a virus, causing frantic destruction within the Toad Saint.
After several exchanges, more than half of the gu insects were destroyed, and a large portion of the flesh walls had been assimilated.
Outside, the gu jar began to shake violently due to Chen Zhou's destruction, as if suffering from severe indigestion.
Right at that moment.
Squeak—
A sharp rat's cry pierced through the clamor of the battlefield, echoing through the Black Bone Hall.
"Lord Rat is here!"
The Plague Rat gave a strange cry as it flashed into the hall.
Immediately after, countless medicinal herbs and vines erupted from the ground. It was Su Xue.
They had finally arrived.
"What... what is going on here?"
Lord Rat looked at the monsters filling the hall and the jar spewing insects, his scalp tingling.
"Where is the Lord? Why don't I see the Lord?"
"The Lord was swallowed by the Toad Saint!" the flower demon Rongrong cried out.
"What?!"
Hearing this, Lord Rat's fur stood on end.
"Does that old toad want to die? He dares to eat my Lord?"
"Go to hell! Great Plague Heaven!!"
Lord Rat's eyes instantly turned blood-red, even more frenzied than Wu Hai.
Meanwhile, Su Xue immediately saw the rampaging Poison-Wing.
"Poison-Wing!"
Seeing Poison-Wing's monstrous appearance, Su Xue frowned slightly.
She could sense that Poison-Wing had lost his mind.
Even though Poison-Wing was attacking frantically, his movements slowed noticeably the moment he saw Su Xue. A glimmer of struggle flashed in his eyes.
"Universal Spring."
Su Xue formed hand seals, overdrawing her origin.
Countless pure white orchid petals danced in the air, forming a soft ribbon of light that enveloped everyone in Chen Zhou's camp, as well as Poison-Wing.
Rate on N.U.
