Chapter 572: The Rotten and Sinful Man, The Sudden Rise of Karmic Fire

The Human and Demon races suffered grievous wounds. Li Huiran appeared amid the crisis.

It was another grueling battle. The longer Chi Xiao fought, the more pressure he felt. He was confident he could easily defeat two of these Divinity Transformation Stage experts, but now he was facing five.

He glanced into the distance. Yun Mengshang had only just broken through to the Divinity Transformation Stage. If he could kill one of them first, his situation would improve dramatically. Since he was going to kill someone, Yun Mengshang was the natural choice.

Killing her would mean he no longer had to be wary of her Frost Dream Realm, and it would also throw Yun Misha and Yun Miqiu into disarray. It was killing several birds with one stone.

Chi Xiao forced Xuehou back with one move and repelled Xi Hongkai with another strike. Transforming into a Demon Shadow, he shot across hundreds of yards to force back Yun Misha. The opportunity was here. He poured Demonic Qi into his Demon Claw and lunged for Yun Mengshang’s heart.

As Xuehou and Xi Hongkai attacked again, Chi Xiao decided to endure their blows with his demonic body.

Even as their horn and claw attacks landed on his body, he was determined to take Yun Mengshang’s life.

A light flashed in Yun Mengshang’s azure eyes. For a split second, Chi Xiao was dazed. As his claw met her fingers, they were both, astoundingly, sent flying backward.

Chi Xiao’s eyes filled with disbelief. ‘With my Realm, how could I have been knocked back?’

‘But in that moment, I felt my spiritual soul and Demonic Qi beginning to freeze,’ he thought. ‘This is bad! How does Yun Mengshang know a high-level Divine Technique like this?’

As he was sent flying back, Xuehou and Xi Hongkai charged him again. Regardless of his injuries, all he could do now was fight with every ounce of his strength.

Yun Misha and Yun Miqiu rushed to Yun Mengshang’s side. They breathed a sigh of relief when they saw she wasn’t seriously hurt.

As time passed, the first member of the Demon Race went berserk as his Demonic Qi spiraled out of control. He roared incessantly, “Kill! Kill! Kill! Kill…”

His power, originally at the Nascent Soul Stage, instantly surged to the peak of the Nascent Soul Stage. The many members of the Demon Race fighting him were caught off guard, and two were wounded.

Then, more members of the Demon Race went berserk—dozens, hundreds, then thousands. For a time, the Demon Race gained the upper hand, relying on their maddened kin.

Casualties began to appear among the Demon Race and the Human Race.

This pitched battle was even more arduous than the war against the Demon Soldiers. The caliber of these members of the Demon Race was too high, and they could also go berserk. Once they did, their strength would skyrocket across several major levels, making it impossible for the allied demons to defend. They had too little experience fighting this Demon Race; the Demon Race of the Northern Territory had always been held at bay by the Fox Demon Race. Even if these allied demons had faced Sword Cultivators with such a numerical disparity, they would not have struggled so intensely.

The number of berserk Demon Race members grew into the tens of thousands. Chi Xiao knew that for one of his race to go berserk on the battlefield was a death sentence, but he couldn’t worry about that now. He himself was on the very edge of it.

Over half of the twelve high-ranking Demon Generals had already gone berserk. By this point in the battle, the allied Demon Race had learned a few things. The berserk demons didn’t distinguish between friend and foe; you just had to keep your distance. They would either devour their own kind to regain their sanity, or they would collapse and self-destruct.

Chi Xiao’s entire Owl Division was in a hopeless situation.

Chi Xiao had known from the beginning that he’d been abandoned. As he watched his last Divinity Transformation Stage Demon General go berserk with a furious roar, a tragic smile touched his lips. ‘Chi Huang’s suspicions were correct,’ he thought. He had truly reawakened, recovering memories that didn’t belong to the Demon Race. He, the esteemed Sect Leader of the Earth Profound Sect, had personally devoured his own disciples, his Dao Companions, and his followers, advancing step by step only to ultimately lose himself to the Spirit Devouring Technique.

‘Ever since I reawakened, I never cultivated the Spirit Devouring Technique again. I didn’t want to lose myself a second time, and yet… I am lost. As the Sect Leader of the human Earth Profound Sect, I lost everything. As a member of the Demon Race, I don’t know where to turn.’

This predicament was of his own choosing. Though he was undergoing punishment from the Demon Lord, he was still Chi Huang’s equal. He had no obligation to obey Chi Huang’s orders, yet he had chosen to accept them.

Survival is instinct, and as a member of the Demon Race, his fear of death was even stronger. His last Demon General had self-destructed from going berserk. Chi Xiao laughed, a miserable sound. ‘Perhaps death truly is the only release!’

With a single move, he threw off the five pestering Demon Cultivators and landed on the ground. His thoughts turned to the female cultivators he had used to vent his demonic lust. He’d told them to get far away from here beforehand. The grand formation of Rising Demon Pass wouldn’t attack them. ‘They obeyed, right?’

‘Ever since I regained a sliver of my sanity, I’ve never been able to find peace!’

Facing the allied army of the Human and Demon races that filled the sky, Chi Xiao laughed, a desolate, wretched sound.

HAHAHAHAHA!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Tears streamed from his vertical eye. None of the humans or the allied demons had ever seen a member of the enemy Demon Race cry—not even the Fox Demon Race, who had fought them for so long.

Chi Xiao’s laughter grew colder, more desolate. He refused to become a mindless, berserk monster. And so, he activated the Cultivation Technique engraved in his very marrow: the Earth Mother Heart Scripture!

‘The Power of Earth… it still feels so familiar,’ he thought. ‘I am a rotten, sinful man. I’m sorry, my disciples… I’m sorry, my wife, my Dao Companions… Most of all, I’m sorry to my sect…’

‘Even in death, Qu Shun cannot atone for this… ‘

Gathering the Power of Earth, Chi Xiao struck his own forehead, shattering his spiritual soul, ensuring he would never be reincarnated for all eternity…

However, at the very instant of his death, an endless torrent of Karmic Fire erupted around him. In that last moment, he smiled.

Only beings of the Human Race could be burned by Karmic Fire. In his final moment, the Celestial Dao had acknowledged him as human!

The scene left every member of the Human and Demon races utterly shaken. The tears, the Karmic Fire, the suicide—it was the first time any of them had witnessed a member of the Demon Race willingly take their own life. Self-destruction from going berserk was obviously not the same thing.

Some of the demons, who knew little about the other Demon Race, hesitated. ‘Can they also be acknowledged as living beings by the Celestial Dao?’ they wondered.

Yun Mengshang stepped forward. “The Spirit Devouring Technique is anathema to the Celestial Dao,” she declared. “It can only be cultivated by absorbing otherworldly fiends and devouring spiritual essence. Once someone begins cultivating it, no matter who they were before, they will become a cruel, bloodthirsty member of the Demon Race. Any reawakening is merely temporary. Throughout history, no one has ever escaped the grasp of the Spirit Devouring Technique—not even its creator. Do not be troubled by doubts or hesitation. Only by exterminating the Demon Race will the Floating Shadow Realm ever know peace!”