Just as the Iron Blood Battle Banner swept up the residents of Xuan Frost City and fled, Zhan Wuhen struck without hesitation.
No one even saw him move—his figure suddenly appeared before Huang Wuji, and a fist infused with the might of heaven and earth drove straight forward, its force tearing through the air.
Huang Wuji's eyes flashed wildly. His outstretched arms snapped together with a sharp crack, clamping down on Zhan Wuhen's incoming fist.
Demonic Yuan churned and Emperor Yuan surged. In the sky above, a black and a red radiance clashed head-on, like two planets colliding, producing earth-shattering sounds. Centered on where the two stood, the void shattered inch by inch like a mirror.
Huang Wuji's face was twisted in a grimace, as though he was straining with everything he had to withstand Zhan Wuhen's onslaught, yet he burst into laughter: "My thanks!"
Zhan Wuhen's expression remained unchanged. Despite knowing full well what the consequences of throwing this punch would be, he had no choice but to throw it!
He tried to pull his fist back, but Huang Wuji had it clamped in a death grip, giving him not the slightest chance.
Yet Zhan Wuhen remained unruffled. As he channeled his Emperor Yuan, waves of fist force rolled out one after another, like three crests of ocean waves, each more savage than the last. Huang Wuji circulated his Profound Art to deflect the force, his Demonic Yuan howling without cease. But having to restrain Zhan Wuhen already placed him in a passive position—this was the Star Boundary, after all. How could he hope to match Zhan Wuhen under these conditions?
Moments later, blood trickled from the corners of his mouth, yet he laughed on with defiant madness, utterly unmoved.
In a flash, billowing demonic energy shot in from the distance like a flood dragon, surging into the shattered void around them. The demonic energy was like ink, staining the sky black. In an instant, an ink-black spot appeared between heaven and earth.
The spot was no different from the one that had appeared on the Western Domain battlefield—it was unmistakably a passage connecting the two realms.
Zhan Wuhen's eyes widened in sudden realization. Only now did he understand the Demon Saints' true plan!
The battlefield in the Western Domain had been nothing more than a diversion. What the Demon Saints truly sought was to permanently establish a connection between the Star Boundary and the Demon Domain.
Yet something didn't add up. The reason Can Ye had been able to open that inter-realm passage before was due to special circumstances—he could serve as a bridge connecting the two worlds.
But how had Huang Wuji managed it? He was a Demon Saint of the Demon Race, with no connection to the Star Boundary whatsoever. Their battle had certainly destabilized the void and thinned the barrier between worlds, but not to the point of being shattered outright. So how could he use himself to build such a bridge?
Was there some powerful force on the Demon Domain's side providing support? Otherwise, how could this be accomplished?
And where had the demonic energy that shot in from the distance originated?
Given the situation between himself and Huang Wuji, the other nine Demon Saints were surely doing the same.
A single inter-realm passage in the Western Domain had required the full might of the Star Boundary's forces just to have a chance at blocking it. If ten such passages appeared within the Star Boundary, who could possibly stop the Demon Race's invasion?
There was no time to think. Zhan Wuhen knew only that if he didn't finish Huang Wuji quickly, the Star Boundary was doomed. Fury surging through his heart, he pushed his cultivation to one hundred and twenty percent.
In an instant, blood flowed ceaselessly from Huang Wuji's mouth, yet his smile only grew more frenzied.
The newly formed ink spot was small—only a dozen zhang across—but from its other end came the unmistakable aura of another world.
Zhan Wuhen had been to the Demon Domain himself, and he recognized the scent at once.
The two realms were already connected!
In the next instant, Zhan Wuhen—always as calm as a still well—changed expression. He looked up to see unimaginable demonic energy pouring from the ink spot, an endless, ceaseless torrent…
The demonic energy that had shot in from the distance before had been vast enough, yet it had only opened a passage some ten zhang across. But the demonic energy now surging through the newly formed passage was a hundred, even a thousand times more powerful.
The demonic energy acted like nourishment—with every pulse that flowed through, the passage expanded further.
In barely a dozen breaths, the passage that had been only ten zhang across surged to a hundred zhang—and it was still growing, with no sign of stopping.
Looking out, the sky seemed blanketed by a thick, oppressive darkness, saturated with ink-like black. In this region consumed by darkness, the laws of two great worlds converged and fused, transforming a vast expanse of heaven and earth into demonic land.
Zhan Wuhen roared: "Break!"
The muscles on his arm coiled and bulged as his laws of power surged. His restrained fist drove forward with explosive force, striking Huang Wuji square in the chest.
A faint crack of shattering bone rang out. Even as the Demon Domain's foremost Demon Saint, Huang Wuji could gain nothing in a situation where he could only defend and never attack.
Zhan Wuhen's punch had dealt him no light injury.
Yet Huang Wuji refused to let go, Demonic Yuan surging wildly as he wrapped it around Zhan Wuhen, his posture screaming that he would drag them both to hell together, laughing savagely: "The Iron Blood Great Emperor truly lives up to his reputation—I've learned that firsthand!"
An earth-shattering wave of oppressive might descended from above—so powerful that even Zhan Wuhen's face drained of color. He stared at Huang Wuji with alarm, only to see him with blood filling his mouth, grinning: "Here it comes!"