Chapter 263: Chapter 262: No Escape
It had been a hopeless situation. General Mo never thought he could survive the attack from Demon General Jie, but a miracle had indeed occurred—a young man in ice armor had appeared out of nowhere and blocked the fatal blow.
Resisting a blow like that was utterly impossible unless one used a special Secret Technique or had reached the Dao Entry Realm.
’Are those reinforcements from another city?’
Muttering to himself, General Mo gasped for breath as he climbed to his feet. He looked up at the ice-armored figure beneath the dark clouds. The young man stood between him and Jie like an indomitable Frost Battle God, utterly unbreakable.
When a level-two alert sounded, every city in the province would respond. And after the hard lesson learned from Tianshan City, reinforcements were bound to be exceptionally fast.
He just couldn’t figure out which powerhouse this was.
He could clearly sense that the other person was young, yet his aura was immensely powerful. It radiated a kind of haughty pressure, as if he were a member of the Dragon Race, long vanished in the river of history.
’How can I have no memory of a powerhouse with these traits?’
General Mo racked his brain, his brow furrowing slightly, but he couldn’t place the person before him. It was strange.
As one of the dozen or so Grandmasters in Gao Yuan City, he knew plenty of other Grandmasters and had even met a few. But he had no memory of anyone this young possessing such an imposing aura...
"Why do you carry the aura of Emperor Chen?!"
Suddenly, a furious, thunderous roar echoed from the sky. The goat-headed Demon General Jie’s eyes went wide, staring intently at Jiang Qiu as if he had just witnessed the sun’s brilliance being stolen by a mere speck of dust.
Of course he recognized Jiang Qiu. In fact, every member of the Kunlun Demon Clan at or above the Peeping Dao Realm knew of Jiang Qiu. This was all the doing of the Ancient Demon Emperor Chen; Jiang Qiu’s appearance and unique aura were recorded in their bloodline inheritance. Barring any special circumstances, any Demon Race member at or above the Peeping Dao Realm would be able to identify Jiang Qiu instantly upon meeting him.
Even if they had never laid eyes on him before!
But that was precisely why he found it so strange. Jiang Qiu was just some kid from the Human Race with unusually strong fortune. How could he possibly compare to their own unparalleled Emperor Chen?
Yet now, he could truly feel a sliver of pressure from Jiang Qiu that shared the same origin as Emperor Chen’s. Facing Jiang Qiu felt like standing before the Emperor himself; even his heart began to pound faster.
"You don’t need to know that much."
As his low words faded, Jiang Qiu raised the Chuyuan spear. A draconic shadow of Flame coalesced around it. Beneath the oppressive, dark sky, intermittently lit by flashes of Thunder, his eyes hung like twin moons, radiating a pressure that felt as old as time itself.
An extremely cold Ice Prison expanded outward. Frost coated the buildings for a kilometer in every direction, and even the dust in the air began to fall. The frigid air billowed out, enveloping and locking onto Jie.
SWOOSH—
In an instant, everything went still. The tip of the Chuyuan spear carved a crescent arc through the air as the Dragon Roar Spear Intent surged forth, an overwhelming force capable of toppling mountains and overturning seas rushing toward Jie.
’Damn it, didn’t he just break through to the Peeping Dao Realm?’
Cursing under his breath, Jie commanded a vortex of Nether Dark Spirit Charm, struggling to unravel Jiang Qiu’s Spear Intent. His bloodline boiled like water, seized by the innate fear of a mouse facing a tiger.
Emperor Chen had immediately notified every member of the Kunlun Demon Clan the moment Jiang Qiu broke through to the Peeping Dao Realm. Details about the True Dragon, the Enlightenment Fruit, and other matters had also been widely disseminated. This intelligence had reportedly been brought back by Demon Marshal Cangyuan.
There was no doubt that in his current state, Jiang Qiu had few rivals within the same realm. But Jie had never imagined that "the same realm" meant the *entire* Peeping Dao Realm!
And not just the Initial Tier of the Peeping Dao Realm!
’It took this much effort just to handle a single wave of his Spear Intent. If he unleashes even greater power, I’ll surely die here. I have to escape!’
At this thought, Jie acted decisively. He transmitted all the intelligence he had gathered on Jiang Qiu to Emperor Chen through his bloodline. Then, he clasped his hands together and muttered a spell. The Nether Dark Spirit Charm instantly spiraled out, seeming to swallow his body.
’Running away just like that?’
Jiang Qiu raised an eyebrow. He hadn’t expected his opponent to flee so decisively. Of all the enemies he had ever faced, this was the only one who truly knew when to advance and when to retreat.
But that wasn’t going to happen.
[Twin Celestial Realm]!
Suddenly, the world seemed to turn upside down. Flame and extreme cold intertwined, twisting and compressing the space around Demon General Jie, suffusing it with an incomprehensible sense of inversion.
"Huh?"
Demon General Jie froze for a second. Before he could react, he realized his escape Secret Technique had failed. Or rather, it hadn’t failed, but its destination had become impossible to determine!
He had lost control of his destination; he could no longer return to a safe area, and even gauging the distance was difficult.
In this situation, he would most likely be cast into the void. Without an external force to retrieve him, he would enter a state of "eternal" death, unresponsive to any Law, with only his soul left to linger in place... forever.
"PFFT—"
Spitting out a mouthful of black blood, Demon General Jie’s aura plummeted. He had suffered a backlash from his own Secret Technique. He glared at Jiang Qiu, shouting in a mixture of shock and fury, "What is going on?! Aren’t you in the Peeping Dao Realm? How can you possibly wield a Realm!"
At that moment, the Demon General truly felt the same powerlessness he experienced when facing Emperor Chen. It was the humbling feeling of being unable to see through an opponent, even if one’s own cultivation Realm was higher.
Back when Chen had first been reborn, he had returned to Kunlun Mountain under Cangyuan’s escort. He then gathered all the Demon Race representatives, every one of them at the level of Ancestral Great Demon or above.
At the time, none of them had truly accepted him in their hearts. They only followed his commands because he had inherited the Red Flame Spider Mother’s power to control their bloodlines.
But that gathering at Kunlun Mountain formally established Emperor Chen’s status. On a whim, he broke through to the Peeping Dao Realm, and the pressure from his Dragon Race bloodline was like Taishan Mountain itself—impossible to defy.
Furthermore, he proclaimed that any who had reached a bottleneck in their Realm and could not comprehend the path of the Dao could seek him out at Kunlun Mountain. He would then teach them ancient Secret Techniques and guide them on their way.
This proclamation sent shockwaves through the Demon Race, especially among the Great Demons who had been stuck in the Ancestral Return Realm for years.
Even those who had already stepped into the Peeping Dao Realm later sought an audience with Emperor Chen at Kunlun Mountain, and a few months later, they actually broke through to the Dao Entry Realm!
And his own cultivation Realm wasn’t even the strongest in the entire Kunlun Demon Clan, yet he possessed such an astonishing presence.
It was safe to say that within the Kunlun Demon Clan, no one could be considered Emperor Chen’s equal. He was always the one imparting wisdom on the Dao; there was no room for mutual discussion. Such was the suppressive authority of one who stood at the apex, utterly unfathomable.
Now, Jiang Qiu exuded that same feeling. It wasn’t just his Dragon Race bloodline; he had also cultivated strange and ancient Secret Techniques, and the Spear Intent he had comprehended was despotically powerful.
’If this guy is allowed to mature, he might one day be considered an equal to Emperor Chen!’
As he came to this conclusion, Jie froze, a look of utter disbelief in his eyes. What answered his realization was the brilliant flash of light from Jiang Qiu’s spear as he unleashed Furious Dragon Ascending to Heaven.
The shadow of death loomed...
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