Chapter 2378 - 2379: How About I Spare Your Life?

An Zichen realized she had somehow inexplicably hacked her way right into the Demon Race army, and was a little stunned herself, hastily pulling back.

Countless Demon Soldiers, seeing this powerful cultivator who had driven Wu Zhiqi into a ragged retreat actually turning back, felt as if pardoned from death; none of them dared to block her.

Just like that, An Zichen's one countercharge actually succeeded.

She forced Wu Zhiqi back, and the remaining dozen or so Golden Core Cultivators thus managed to escape Wu Zhiqi's deadly grasp in safety.

Wu Zhiqi fled back to his own formation. Thinking of his wretched appearance just now, all witnessed by tens of thousands of Demon Soldiers, he couldn't help but feel both furious and ashamed.

He bellowed, "Press the attack! Kill them to the last!"

Wu Zhiqi might be timid, but when it came to calculating, he was a master.

As long as he didn't personally strike down the descendants of the True Martial King, and let them die in the chaos of battle instead, then not even the True Martial King could rightfully lay blame on him.

When the time came and they insisted on an investigation, he could casually send two Demon Soldiers up to take the fall.

Xue Mingtai rushed to An Zichen's side, anxiously examining her from head to toe. Seeing that she was safe and sound, he finally relaxed, but couldn't help scolding her twice.

"You've got some nerve. That Wu Zhiqi is a Demon General—cultivators of your level and mine together couldn't even take a single one of his moves."

An Zichen giggled, her nine White Bone Longswords whirling in tight circles before him.

"Exactly. The two of us are just foxes abusing the tiger's might. That guy's terrified of my father; he runs faster than a rabbit."

At that, the two of them both laughed.

Boom!

Right at that moment, there was a sound like heaven collapsing and earth cracking.

The Demon Soldiers who had been frightened back by An Zichen surged forward again like a flood bursting through a dike, charging straight toward the main gate of Helen Palace.

Wu Zhiqi's earlier charge had already shattered all the human cultivators' defenses.

This time, as the Demon Soldiers came sweeping back, everyone felt utterly at a loss.

Xue Mingtai's Exquisite Pagoda was completely damaged; it was struggling even to ward off the invasion of Demonic Qi.

Helpless, he ordered the dozen Golden Core Cultivators to stay behind and cover the retreat.

The rest fought as they withdrew, falling back into the Imperial Palace.

There were air-raid shelters in the rear garden of the palace; in the worst case, everyone could hide inside them.

The Dragon Island warships on the Baltic Sea would then unleash indiscriminate bombardment across all of Helen Palace.

This was the final desperate gambit.

If even that couldn't take down Wu Zhiqi, the situation would spiral completely out of control.

Of the three hundred-plus cultivators, more than a hundred were already dead or wounded. The survivors fought as they retreated, pulling back into Helen Palace.

The Demon Race surged in like the tide, directly flooding into the outer courtyard of the palace.

Under the assault of the viscous Demonic Qi, many guards and palace maids were demonized, their faces becoming hideously twisted and their behavior utterly deranged.

Wu Zhiqi rode his Unicorn at the rear of the column, neither fast nor slow, completely at his ease.

Just then, the thunder that had been rumbling incessantly suddenly stopped.

Ten thousand fathoms of Golden Light poured down from the void above the palace.

That golden radiance fell upon the bodies of the Demon Soldiers, and those who could not be slain even by blades and spears suddenly burst into flame.

In an instant, hundreds and thousands of Demon Soldiers were engulfed in bright yellow fire, tumbling to the ground, writhing and howling.

Wu Zhiqi was instantly startled, his eyes widening in shock and confusion.

"This flame actually contains rich, pure Life Force. What on earth is this…"

Wu Zhiqi watched those soldiers consumed by the fire: though they struggled and screamed in agony, the expressions on their faces were instead ones of serene, joyful relief.

Living in the Demon Realm, Wu Zhiqi wallowed day after day in greed, hatred, delusion and extreme malice.

He had never seen such peaceful, joyous smiles on human faces. For a moment, he was completely dazed.

"Smiles like that… how long has it been since I last saw them? I think I once saw them on the face of a newborn child."

A tremendous terror suddenly rose in Wu Zhiqi's heart, accompanied by the deep-seated frenzy and savagery in his bones.

"Who are you?"

Wu Zhiqi shouted at the young man standing proudly in the void.

"So you're the one who passed the Heavenly Tribulation and forged a Body of the Sun God? Nothing much to boast about!"

High above the clouds, Yang Fei stood with his hands clasped behind his back, looking at Wu Zhiqi as he spoke coolly.

"Hand over the Crystal Skull in your possession, and I can spare your life."

Yang Fei had finally forged the Body of the Sun God amid the heavenly thunder.

This Primordial Spirit Body was three inches taller than his original body, even more perfectly aligned with the golden ratio, and his features and face were even more handsome.

Only, that lazy air about him and the wicked smirk at the corner of his lips had not disappeared; they were, in fact, even more pronounced.

In Yang Fei's eyes, Wu Zhiqi was an extremely powerful opponent.

His Demon General body, like Yang Fei's Solar Deity, was no longer mere flesh and blood—a near undying and indestructible existence.

The difference was that Yang Fei's Solar Deity was condensed from nature's spiritual energy.

Wu Zhiqi's Demon General body, however, was formed from the Demonic Qi of the Demon Realm.

But if it came down to a true fight to the death, then Yang Fei's Phoenix Mysterious Fire was precisely the nemesis of all evil qi and Demonic Qi.

Hearing Yang Fei mention the Crystal Skull, Wu Zhiqi jerked in shock, blurting out involuntarily,

"How do you know I have a Crystal Skull?"

Yang Fei hadn't been certain that Wu Zhiqi possessed a Crystal Skull, but when he heard this, his heart settled completely.

He snorted coldly.

"Hand over the Crystal Skull, and you may live. Otherwise, there is only death ahead of you."

Wu Zhiqi stared at Yang Fei in stunned fear before suddenly coming to a realization.

"All these years, I've been searching for the Crystal Skulls too. So you're saying the other Crystal Skulls are in your hands?"

When Wu Zhiqi reached the end of his sentence and saw that Yang Fei did not refute him, he couldn't help bursting into excited laughter.

"So it's true—the ancient Divine Artifact, the Crystal Skull that was lost, is here in this Earth Space. My years of painstaking scheming to invade Earth Space have not been in vain."

As he spoke, he shouted loudly, and the Unicorn's four hooves erupted in black demonic flames as it flew straight up toward the void.

Wu Zhiqi stretched a hand toward Yang Fei from afar, his eyes locked tightly on Yang Fei's face.

"Give me your Crystal Skulls, and I will allow you to surrender. I'll grant you a position above ten thousand, beneath but one, to become a great figure in my Demon Realm."

Yang Fei couldn't help laughing loudly, his face full of mockery.

"How many talents like you does the Demon Realm have?"

Wu Zhiqi was taken aback.

Demon Generals of his caliber—there were untold thousands upon thousands of them in the Demon Realm.

This 'one above ten thousand, beneath but one' would only apply in Wu Zhiqi's own little Demon Domain.

Yang Fei looked lazily at Wu Zhiqi.

"How about this: you offer up the Crystal Skull in your hand to me, and I'll spare your life. How does that sound?"

Wu Zhiqi flew into a rage on the spot. "You're courting death!"

His body shot up from the Unicorn's back, black wings sprouting from his ribs like a Bat's. With his Thick-Backed Cleaver, he hacked down at Yang Fei in a single, overhead strike.

With that One Blade, the entire void split open with black fissures, like thunder crashing and lightning cleaving—an unstoppable power.