Baoshu's face remained utterly expressionless, but her hand immediately shot out toward the jade disc, clawing through the air.
A thunderous roar shook heaven and earth!
Within the white sun overhead, a flash of light burst forth as a colossal hand exceeding a hundred zhang in size emerged. Its five fingers splayed wide, white true flames surging fiercely across its surface, plunging straight down toward the jade disc below.
From within the jade disc, Blood Light's furious roar rang out once more. The black-and-white Taiji diagram shuddered and detached from the disc, swelling to more than twice its size as it hurtled upward to meet the giant hand, while the disc itself emitted a low hum and the surrounding void began to twist and blur, on the verge of another spatial teleportation.
The instant the black-and-white Taiji and the white-flame-wreathed giant hand made contact, the protective radiance of the Taiji flickered wildly. With a mournful cry, the five fingers of the great hand clamped shut, and the Taiji shattered apart.
Rolling white flames instantly reduced the remnants of the black-and-white Taiji to nothing, then swept downward and somehow enveloped the jade disc below within them as well.
Though the three Blood Light incarnations inside the jade disc cried out in desperation—pleading for mercy, cursing, all manner of voices ringing out at once—the disc, wreathed in raging white fire, turned from pristine white to a scorching crimson in the span of a single breath.
When the great hand's five fingers clamped firmly down upon it, five white fire dragons surged from the fingertips, spiraling around the jade disc in a dizzying dance, and the treasure began to dissolve and melt away layer by layer.
"No!"
A roar of shock and fury erupted from within the jade disc. Then, with a wild flash of spiritual light, a small tower several inches tall flew out from the disc. After a single waver, it expanded into a hundred-zhang-tall phantom of seven-colored light, forcibly separating the five fire dragons from the disc.
Though the five fire dragons thrashed their heads and tails, spewing white flames without cease, they seemed utterly helpless against the towering seven-colored phantom.
More than that, a halo of seven-colored light whirled rapidly across the phantom's surface, actually drawing a considerable amount of white flame into itself, causing it to swell even larger.
But at that very moment, the giant sun in the sky, driven by Baoshu's spell, came crashing down like a mountain.
Though the seven-colored tower phantom was wondrous beyond measure, in the hands of only three Blood Light incarnations it could not unleash even a fraction of its full power. Under the overwhelming weight of the colossal sun, it held for barely a few seconds before cracking apart inch by inch.
The seven-colored motes of light flickered and coalesced, reverting to a small tower several inches tall, its glow dimmed, hovering motionless in place.
And as the great white sun plummeted, the massive disc below had no time to react before it too was swallowed in a flash by the blazing sun.
Amid the blinding white radiance, the jade disc dissolved once more—but in the final instant before it was utterly consumed, three streaks of blood-red light shot out from within. Yet the moment they were engulfed by the rolling white flames, they let out piercing screams and were reduced to three wisps of black gas that the white fire devoured whole.
These three streaks of blood-red light were Blood Light's three incarnations!
Each of these incarnations possessed power no weaker than that of a late-stage Body Integration cultivator, yet before Baoshu, they crumbled like paper.
For one thing, they were mere incarnations while Baoshu was her true self. For another, the Phantom Sun divine ability possessed a unique restraining effect against most demonic arts.
Otherwise, even though Baoshu had once shaken the entire Demon World, in her current state of greatly diminished cultivation, she could never have dispatched Blood Light's three incarnations—protected by a supreme treasure—so easily.
Almost at the same moment that Blood Light's incarnations perished, inside a towering demon structure near Tianyuan City, another Blood-robed Youth sat upright in a stone chair at the center, listening with a grave expression as several Body Integration-stage Demon Lords reported on the results of the demon army's recent campaign to sweep through human territories.
The demon forces in this region had already cleared out every major stronghold except Tianyuan City, and had even mopped up seven or eight out of ten of the smaller sects and family clans hidden in remote locations. They were now beginning to plan the complete encirclement and sealing of Tianyuan City.
The Blood-robed Youth listened intently, nodding from time to time in approval—when suddenly his expression changed drastically and he shot to his feet, letting out a low roar of shock and fury.
"Impossible! How could the three of them have met with disaster even working together?!"
The other Demon Lords, seeing the Blood-robed Youth's twisted, wrathful expression, were startled as well and exchanged uneasy glances.
"Lord Blood Light, what has happened to put you in such a rage?" A high-ranking elder demon hesitated briefly before cautiously asking.
"Nothing of concern. Three of my personal guards, each branded with my divine sense, ran into some trouble and botched an important task I entrusted them with. No matter—I will send others to handle it." The Blood-robed Youth's thoughts raced, and the fury on his face faded with startling speed, returning to its usual calm.
Hearing this, the other Demon Lords still harbored some doubts, but none dared press further. One of them cleared his throat lightly, and the report resumed where it had left off.
The Blood-robed Youth's expression remained perfectly tranquil for the rest of the audience, as though the outburst moments ago had been nothing more than a fleeting loss of composure.
……
Deep beneath a sinister blood-red lake in the Ancient Demon World, without the slightest warning, a roar of supreme fury suddenly erupted.
The piercing, ear-splitting shriek sent the surrounding lake water shuddering violently. But after the time it took to drink a cup of tea, the roar cut off abruptly, and no sound came again.
……
In the Spirit World, the instant the colossal sun came crashing down, the crystalline barrier of light conjured by Yuansha's black ancient mirror cracked and shattered, no longer able to hold.