Chapter 297: Chapter 295: Jiang Chen, Dead?
「Outside Celestial Relief City.」
On a vast, open plain, pillar after pillar of blood-red light shot toward the sky, tracing the outline of an immense, blood-red cage in the void.
This was the true power of the Nine Demons Sky Demon Array.
It used blood, corpses, and lost souls as its foundation. Once activated, the Array would form its own spatial pocket.
The more corpses and blood it had, the stronger the Array became.
And the more stable its pocket dimension grew!
Jiang Chen stood at the center of the formation. The very moment the Nine Demons Sky Demon Array activated, he was trapped within the Array.
A hazy, blood-colored fog swirled around him, incomparably thick.
If not for his Ten Thousand Laws Golden Pupil, Jiang Chen wouldn’t even be able to see a meter in front of his face. All that met his eyes was a chilling, blood-red color.
「Outside the array.」
When Dugu Xue saw Jiang Chen trapped within the Array, his face filled with ecstatic glee. He burst out laughing, "Finally, we’ve trapped this Evil Star! HAHAHA! Jiang Chen, oh, Jiang Chen, you were so high and mighty just a moment ago, weren’t you? If you’ve got the guts, then break out of the Nine Demons Sky Demon Array!"
He thought back to the frustration of being completely suppressed by Jiang Chen, powerless to even fight back.
Now, seeing Jiang Chen trapped inside the Nine Demons Sky Demon Array, Dugu Xue felt an indescribable joy well up inside him!
The Ghost Emperor spoke with a confident expression, "My Nine Sins Hall’s Nine Demons Sky Demon Array is a Celestial Tier Array. If my cultivation reached the Union Palace Realm and I used a million living beings as a sacrifice to fuel its foundation... then I could even kill a Union Palace Realm master, let alone Jiang Chen."
It was as if his words already painted the scene of Jiang Chen being ground to dust by the Array!
Hearing this, the expressions of the surrounding crowd changed slightly. Their gazes toward the experts of the Nine Sins Hall now held a hint of fear.
A million living beings as the foundation for an array!
The sheer sin of such a slaughter was unthinkable!
Dugu Xue’s face lit up with delight. He quickly said, "Ghost Emperor, stop wasting time with idle talk and kill this bastard! I won’t be able to rest easy until he’s dead!"
"No problem!"
The Ghost Emperor grinned.
He crossed his hands over his chest and formed a Seal Technique, which pulsed with a terrifying, bloody aura.
As this Seal Technique merged into the Nine Demons Sky Demon Array,
the entire Array flared with blood-red light, and a series of unsettling crackles echoed from the ground.
"What is that?"
A sharp glint flashed in Jiang Chen’s eyes as he was searching for a weak point to break out of the Array. His expression changed drastically. He saw that on the ground, all the dead bodies, severed limbs, and pools of blood were squirming violently.
Mutilated corpses staggered to their feet, lurching and limping toward Jiang Chen.
Monstrosities pieced together from body parts—some with two or three heads, others with five or six arms—let out ferocious roars and charged at him.
There were also humanoid monsters and beast-like Demons coalesced from blood...
A heaven-blotting tide of Corpse Ghosts.
All of them surged toward Jiang Chen.
"Demons and ghouls, be devoured!" Jiang Chen roared, diving down as a boundless Thunder Realm enveloped his body.
SIZZLE—
Under the impact of the terrifying lightning, the Corpse Ghosts were annihilated one by one, turning into black smoke.
"Damn it, your Corpse Ghosts can’t handle him at all!" Dugu Xue said angrily.
The Ghost Emperor’s face was grim and extremely sullen. "Damn it. His lightning is the perfect counter to my Corpse Ghosts."
"Then what should we do?"
Dugu Xue clenched his fists. He hadn’t expected the situation, where victory seemed to be in his grasp, to take such a sudden turn.
"Hmph. Without reaching the Union Palace Realm, it’s impossible to draw upon the Power of Heaven and Earth for long. He must be using some kind of Secret Technique to maintain that Thunder Realm. The consumption for such a technique must be enormous. I guarantee he can’t last much longer!"
The Ghost Emperor’s expression was grim, revealing a vicious glint. "We just have to keep increasing the number of Corpse Ghosts and drain his Thunder Realm!"
"Then increase them already!" Dugu Xue urged.
"Do you think it’s that easy? To increase the number of Corpse Ghosts, we have to increase the number of corpses and lost souls..." said the Ghost Emperor.
"...What are you saying?"
Dugu Xue’s expression changed drastically. He glanced back at the experts of the Seven Great Dynasties, a vicious look in his eyes. He said in a low voice, "I know what to do!"
"Everyone, listen up! Kill anyone from the Saint Martial Dynasty and throw them into the Nine Demons Sky Demon Array!"
At Dugu Xue’s command,
the experts from the other dynasties, excluding the Saint Martial Dynasty, all attacked at once.
The people of the Saint Martial Dynasty roared and bellowed, their faces filled with fury. "Dugu Xue! Ghost Emperor! You two bastards! We’re your allies..."
"Allies? You think you’re worthy?"
"Kill them!"
Under the combined assault of the six great dynasties’ experts, the several thousand people from the Saint Martial Sword Sect were all cut down. Their cold corpses were thrown into the Nine Demons Sky Demon Array.
More and more Corpse Ghosts charged toward Jiang Chen.
Jiang Chen felt immense pressure. Maintaining the Thunder Realm was consuming a massive amount of his Divine Thought Power. Now, with the addition of the Saint Martial Sword Sect experts’ corpses, the number of Corpse Ghosts surged again. To conserve his Divine Thought, Jiang Chen had no choice but to shrink the radius of his Thunder Realm from a hundred zhang to fifty.
This scene brought expressions of wild joy to the faces of the Ghost Emperor and Dugu Xue. The Ghost Emperor said, "He’s about to break! Keep increasing the number of Corpse Ghosts!"
"Right now, the weakest are the Celestial Sword Sect of the Celestial Universe Dynasty. Brothers, to kill Jiang Chen, we have no choice but to sacrifice the Celestial Sword Sect!" Dugu Xue said grimly.
The experts from the remaining five great dynasties all felt a chill.
A large part of the reason they had attacked the Saint Martial Sword Sect experts before was that Jiang Chen also came from the Saint Martial Sword Sect.
But now...
to suddenly attack the experts of the Celestial Universe Dynasty... they were their original allies!
An expert from the Daqian Dynasty said in a low voice, "Brother Dugu, the Celestial Universe Dynasty is our ally, after all. Isn’t this too vicious?"
"Who do you think you are to speak to me?"
Dugu Xue said with an indifferent expression.
"You..."
The Daqian Dynasty expert’s face changed. He said angrily, "If that’s how it’s going to be, then the Daqian Dynasty is done serving you!"
"Daring to incite dissent at such a critical moment. You deserve to die!" Dugu Xue snorted coldly and struck out with his palm, killing the expert on the spot.
Everyone drew in a sharp, cold breath, and the gazes they directed at Dugu Xue and the Ghost Emperor now held a new trace of fear.
Dugu Xue said coldly, "Listen to me, all of you. Anyone who dares to defy my orders again will share his fate!"
Immediately...
led by Dugu Xue, the crowd began to encircle and annihilate the experts from the Daqian Dynasty and the Celestial Universe Dynasty. Nearly ten thousand people were slaughtered and thrown into the Nine Demons Sky Demon Array.
These ten thousand corpses transformed, some into Corpse Ghosts, others into Blood Demons.
They attacked in endless waves, one after another, as if they would never stop.
Jiang Chen’s Thunder Realm had already shrunk to a ten-zhang radius.
The Ghost Emperor and Dugu Xue showed their ruthlessness once again. Except for the experts from their own Yinluo Sect and Nine Sins Hall, everyone else was mercilessly slaughtered. After all, the other groups lacked top-tier masters like the Ghost Emperor and Dugu Xue, and they stood no chance against the combined forces of the Nine Sins Hall and Yinluo Sect. Twenty thousand experts were turned into Corpse Ghosts.
RUMBLE—
The endless stream of Corpse Ghosts continuously slammed against Jiang Chen’s Thunder Realm.
Jiang Chen’s expression became incredibly grim. He had already consumed seventy percent of his Divine Thought Power, and his head was starting to feel dizzy. ’I can’t maintain the Thunder Realm any longer. If my Divine Thought runs out completely, I’ll fall into a coma. Then, it will truly be a dead end.’
HISS...
The last glimmer of lightning vanished.
Jiang Chen had no choice but to dispel his Thunder Realm.
Seeing the Thunder Realm disappear, the tens of thousands of Corpse Ghosts revealed bloodthirsty glints in their eyes and charged directly at Jiang Chen like a surging tide.
They submerged him in the vast horde of Corpse Ghosts.
The Ghost Emperor’s face was ecstatic. "HAHAHA! It’s done! Nine Demons Sky Demon Array, kill him for me!"
BOOM—
A pillar of light that shot straight into the clouds erupted, and the entire Nine Demons Sky Demon Array trembled violently. The endless Corpse Ghosts transformed into the most malevolent and dark power, like an invincible Ghost King, and completely devoured Jiang Chen.
He vanished without a trace.
「In the distance.」
Having already retreated back to Celestial Relief City, Xu Canghai and the others saw this and their faces filled with utter despair...
"Jiang Chen... is dead?"
