Eternal Life Begins with Learning

Chapter 450: Chapter 415: Utterly Spent, a Moth to a Flame

The True Demon’s killing intent surged, but Chu Mu paid it no mind. With a wave of his hand, the supposedly unbreakable Power of Imprisonment, under his influence over this Demon Realm, became as fragile as paper and instantly shattered.

He reached out his right hand. With a light touch of his jade-like fingertips, the membrane of light—an extension of the Power of the Demon Realm controlled by the True Demon to imprison him again—shattered with a boom.

Immediately after, Chu Mu leaped into the air and hovered in the sky. He closed his eyes, gathering the Power of the Demon Realm he had obtained through his slaughter. Then, he pointed a finger. The demonic shadow that had coalesced from the Power of the Demon Realm behind the True Demon’s body rippled like a reflection in water before abruptly dissipating.

Only then did he turn his gaze to the True Demon below the high platform. Their eyes met. The True Demon’s cold, sharp gaze locked onto Chu Mu, his killing intent now completely undisguised.

"You think you can escape just because he showed up?"

The True Demon’s voice was frigid and dripping with mockery. "I dared to let you reach Core Formation. I dared to let you begin the Refinement of the Heart of the Demon Realm. Did you really think I wasn’t prepared?"

"Demon Puppet Legion, hear my command!"

At the True Demon’s low shout, the scarlet in the eyes of the Demon Puppets—who had been carrying out their timeless mission throughout the city—suddenly shifted. In the blink of an eye, the red glow transformed into faint, flickering wisps of Demon Flame.

BOOM!

Every Demon Puppet in the city fell to one knee. A hoarse, low cry echoed throughout the Demon Realm.

"The Celestial Demon Legion swears to follow the Demon Lord to the death!"

"Celestial Demon Legion, with your Demon Lord, slay the enemy!"

The True Demon bellowed.

BOOM!

In response to the command, another roar erupted. The emotionless, Demon Flame-lit eyes of every Demon Puppet in the city fixed upon Chu Mu and the man in the Dragon Robe.

"Kill!"

With a unified cry, the chilling glint of weapons stirred up a monstrous killing intent. The crimson clouds churning in the sky were torn to shreds by this overwhelming force.

At this sight, Chu Mu’s pupils constricted, his expression turning utterly grave.

’The Demon Puppets were created by the original Demon Lord of this Demon Realm, but he fell long ago. As the first to begin the Refinement of the Heart of the Demon Realm, I know for a fact that the method to control the Demon Puppets isn’t stored within it.’

’In other words, this True Demon mastered the method to control the Demon Puppets before he even entered the Secret Realm...’

’And these Demon Puppets are, for all intents and purposes, the same as any other Puppets.’

’A single Demon Puppet isn’t frightening. What’s frightening is an entire city full of them!’

’When I surveyed the Demon Realm earlier, I did a rough count of the Demon Puppets in the city.’

’This Demon City has, at the very least, ten thousand surviving Demon Puppets!’

’And based on my observations, the number of Tier Three Demon Puppets is likely far greater than ten.’

’Even I knew to form a Puppet Array with just a few Puppets. With a Demon Puppet Legion of this scale, it’s obvious they must have a corresponding battle formation.’

’Without a master, the Demon Puppets fight as individuals, completely disorganized.’

’But with a master, ten thousand Tier Two and Tier Three Demon Puppets fighting in formation... Forget about my Core Formation Realm Cultivation; even a Nascent Soul Great Power would likely have to turn tail and flee!’

These thoughts flashed through his mind in a mere instant, and the gravity on Chu Mu’s face grew impossibly heavy.

"Activate!"

With a low cry, countless dilapidated Array Prohibitions throughout the Demon City began to flow with power. They all flashed as if under his control, but in the next instant, most of the flickering Array Prohibitions dimmed once more.

"Converge!"

Veins bulged on Chu Mu’s forehead, his face twisting into a snarl. He let out a deafening roar. In a flash, an uncountable number of broken arrays—for attack, defense, Charm, and illusion—roared to life, converging on the True Demon!

At this sight, the man in the Dragon Robe was visibly astonished. His gaze toward Chu Mu now held a strange new light.

A moment later, the Dragon Robe man’s Divine Thought stirred, and a message was transmitted into Chu Mu’s ear.

The True Demon, who had been arrogant and unrestrained just moments before, saw this grand display and his expression instantly darkened.

Clearly, this turn of events was not something he had anticipated.

’After all, the Array Prohibitions in the city are all arrays from the Demon Realm. Though the principles are similar, their Array Prohibition Inscriptions belong to an entirely different Demon Pattern System.’

’Without systematic teachings, an ordinary person could spend a lifetime and never grasp the mysteries of Demon Arrays. Just getting started would be an impossible dream!’

’Let alone comprehending these Demon Realm Array Prohibitions so thoroughly and mastering them all in such a short amount of time...’

’Such comprehension... It’s inhuman!’

’If I don’t kill this boy, he will become a calamitous threat!’

The True Demon stared intently at the airborne Chu Mu, the killing intent in his eyes now impossible to suppress!

But now, events had already deviated from his plan.

Even though Chu Mu had only managed to activate a small portion of the Demon City’s dilapidated arrays, given the city’s importance in its prime, the threat they posed was still by no means small.

Countless broken Array Prohibitions surged, transforming into a sky full of brilliant light that blotted out the heavens as it converged on the True Demon.

"Hmph, parlor tricks!"

The True Demon snorted.

With another low shout, Chu Mu’s suspicions were seemingly confirmed.

At the True Demon’s command, the Demon Puppet Legion gathered and formed ranks. Each Demon Puppet was pulled by an invisible force as layers of bizarre Demon Patterns materialized around them. Under the flow of these Demon Patterns, their soaring killing intent abruptly evolved.

"Defend!"

The Demon Puppets roared as their weapons transformed, creating one ancient shield wall after another. From all sides, they intercepted the converging offensive power of the city’s Array Prohibitions.

The True Demon, protected within the Demon Puppet Legion, leaped into the air with his arms held high. Accompanied by another wave of distortion, his body completely lost its human form.

Four pairs of horns sprouted from his head, jet-black Scale Armor emerged on his body, and a thick tail grew from his back. His mouth transformed into a monstrous maw, revealing three tightly packed rows of sharp teeth.

The True Demon’s body had transformed once again!

At the same time, the hundred-zhang-tall phantom of the Demon Soul, condensed from the Power of Heaven and Earth, reappeared behind the True Demon. Now, as the True Demon’s Demon Body changed, the Demon Soul phantom transformed along with it.

Sinister Demon Flame coiled around it. Like a monster crawling out of the abyssal depths of Hell, it manifested behind the True Demon’s body, both ominous and terrifying!

"None of you will escape!"

His eyes, like great copper bells, swept over Chu Mu and the man in the Dragon Robe. The True Demon’s voice boomed like a great bell, reverberating throughout the Demon Realm.

Chu Mu didn’t hesitate for another second. He turned and transformed into a streak of blade light, fleeing for his life!

Given the demon’s cunning and his many trump cards, Chu Mu held out no hope for the Dragon Robe man’s mere incarnation.

As for the message from the Dragon Robe man asking him to help kill the True Demon and eliminate the threat for good, he cast it completely from his mind.

Flee!

’Better you than me!’

He glanced back at the Dragon Robe incarnation, who was already being overwhelmed by the aggressive True Demon. Then, he slapped his own chest, activating an Escape Skill he had improved from the Blood Escape Technique. The speed of his Tunneling Light leaped to a new level, and in the blink of an eye, he vanished into the crimson sky.

And right then, surging behind Chu Mu like a tide, was the Demon Puppet Legion!

The True Demon was fighting the man in the Dragon Robe, yet he had dispatched this entire Demon Puppet Legion to deal with Chu Mu, a mere Golden Core Cultivator...

"Kill!"

With a heaven-shaking roar, the killing intent of the Demon Puppet Legion surged. A hundred-zhang-tall, ancient halberd condensed from their power. As it churned the clouds in the sky, an indescribable tremor of fear shot through Chu Mu’s heart.

"Activate! Activate! Activate!"

Chu Mu drew upon all the Power of the Demon Realm he could command. He burned his own blood essence without hesitation, activating every Array Prohibition in the Demon City that lay along his path!

A sky full of brilliant light erupted, like the celestial river pouring down or a monstrous tsunami. It finally collided with the hundred-zhang-tall ancient halberd. A world-shaking BOOM annihilated the clouds and scattered the crimson light. In an instant, all buildings within a radius of several hundred zhang were razed to the ground.

The surging shockwave of Power did not dissipate, continuing to spread endlessly in all directions.

Spilling blood across the sky, Chu Mu was like a battered punching bag, falling from the heavens in a spray of gore.

But before he hit the ground, he spat out another mouthful of blood essence. The crimson Tunneling Light reappeared, and he shot heedlessly back into the sky.

Behind him, the hundred-zhang halberd—a weapon that could make a Nascent Soul Great Power tremble—had only been slightly fractured in that cataclysmic collision.

The Demon Puppets roared, the tip of their weapon still aimed squarely at the fleeing Chu Mu. The ancient halberd, like a maggot burrowing into bone, struck at Chu Mu once more.

"Activate, damn it!"

Chu Mu, a mangled mess of flesh and blood twisted beyond human recognition, let out a nearly frenzied roar.

From his Storage Ring, hundreds of Puppets of various tiers and an untold number of Spiritual and Magical Artifacts were all flung out to self-destruct. At the same time, all the nearby dilapidated Array Prohibitions that he could control with the Power of the Demon Realm surged into operation.

He deployed every last means at his disposal. A sky full of resplendent, multi-colored light filled with boundless, explosive torrents of Spiritual Qi and Demonic Qi formed a barrier before the descending ancient halberd.

BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!

More world-shaking roars. The sheer scale of the spectacle was so immense that it even eclipsed the Nascent Soul-level battle between the True Demon and the man in the Dragon Robe.

Amid the sky-shattering explosions, every obstacle for hundreds, even thousands, of zhang around was obliterated. A storm of light and dust instantly swept across more than half of the Demon City!

This time, the ancient halberd finally seemed to buckle under the strain. Before Chu Mu’s eyes, which were nearly dimming as his life force ran out, it shattered section by section and abruptly dissipated.

"Kill!"

Bathed in blood, the Demon Puppets roared again, their killing intent surging to the heavens once more.

Chu Mu was like a withered leaf in the wind. The unrecognizable, mangled pulp of his body once again fell from the sky.

His Essence, Qi, and Spirit had all but withered away. Only in his Sea of Consciousness did the glimmer of his Divine Soul Blade remain bright and dazzling.

He staggered to his feet amidst the dust and looked up at the ancient halberd re-forming in the sky.

Beneath his mangled flesh, his twisted expression—a mix of the struggle between life and death, despair, and unwillingness—finally softened into acceptance and slowly regained its calm.

’It’s only death... that’s all!’

’I was reborn once. Over a hundred years on the Immortal Path... it’s been enough.’

"To temper a mortal heart is to birth fearlessness..."

His soft murmur drifted on the wind. Though his life force was all but extinguished, his eyes grew brighter and brighter until they were nearly dazzling, reflecting the appearance of a crimson blade light.

The blade was aimed... at the descending hundred-zhang halberd, a weapon whose military might was nearly enough to destroy the world.

That brilliant streak of blade light was like a moth to a flame—fearless, yet utterly insignificant...

In the unseen flow of fate, Chu Mu seemed to sense something, but it was already too late...

He silently watched the hundred-zhang halberd descend, waiting... for death to claim him...

...

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