Black Crocodile let out a furious roar as he swung the massive spiked mace in his hands, its size suddenly swelling tenfold in a single swing.
Countless afterimages of the mace layered over one another before coalescing into a violent gale of black demonic wind that swept up an entire acre of void within its embrace.
Thunderous booms erupted without pause, and tattered corpses of demonkin tumbled from the black tempest one after another.
These dual-horned demons, though not weak in cultivation, were clearly no match for Black Crocodile. The moment they engaged, several fell in an instant.
Yet despite this, these high-ranking demonkin showed no trace of fear or intention to retreat or flee.
Black Crocodile's power far exceeded these demons', but he had clearly fought too many consecutive battles beforehand. The Magical Power remaining in his body was already running dangerously low, and after exerting his demonic arts at full force, he began to feel strained in a short while.
Though the spiked mace in his hands remained ferocious and unstoppable, a faint sheen of sweat had begun to appear on his ugly features.
When a third of the surrounding demonkin had been cut down, Black Crocodile's mace finally began to slow. He could no longer fully block the attacks coming from every direction, and the black light spheres started striking his body one after another.
Those black spheres possessed some unknown destructive power — the moment they touched the demonic armor on Black Crocodile's body, it dissolved on contact, allowing them to pierce straight through with virtually no resistance.
In an instant, sounds of explosions rang out ceaselessly from the burly black-armored man, and several bursts of black light detonated across his frame in rapid succession.
A furious roar!
Black Crocodile's body swayed amid the deafening blasts, but he steadfastly shielded Ancestor Bao with his own frame, showing no intention of yielding ground.
With the extraordinarily powerful physique of the Evil Dragon Clan, ordinary flying swords and artifacts should have been unable to harm him — yet under the relentless bombardment of the black spheres, his flesh was torn open, and fresh blood sprayed in every direction.
Ancestor Bao's expression grew even darker upon seeing this. Oddly, however, she remained standing behind Black Crocodile with her hands tucked into her sleeves, making no move to assist whatsoever.
After an unknown stretch of time, when the last dual-horned demon was finally crushed by a single swing of Black Crocodile's mace, the giant seemed to have utterly exhausted the last drop of Magical Power in his body. He flung the spiked mace aside with both hands and then, blood-soaked from head to toe, toppled backward and plummeted straight down.
Ancestor Bao let out a soft sigh before flicking her sleeve.
With a soft "poof," a wash of rosy radiance unfurled and steadied the giant's body in midair.
A few silver runes flickered through the radiance and vanished, and Black Crocodile's form abruptly shrank, transforming into a miniature crocodile barely an inch long.
Entirely black in color, riddled with wounds, and utterly unconscious.
The rosy radiance swept back in a flash.
Ancestor Bao collected the miniature crocodile into her sleeve, then raised her exquisite face and spoke in a flat tone: "You two have been watching the show from nearby for quite some time now. Isn't it about time you got your hands dirty?"
"Hmph, I knew your wretched senses couldn't be fooled. For this day, all five hundred of my demon soldiers died to the last man. But you no longer have a single helper at your side — the price is more than sufficient."
The words had barely faded when ripples appeared in the void above. An elderly woman and a burly, imposing man materialized simultaneously.
The old woman wore crimson robes, and the gaze she fixed on Ancestor Bao was filled with a look of venomous hatred — those words had just come from her mouth.
The pair were none other than the two great Demon Ancestors of the Demon Realm — Tianqi and Heyan.
These two possessed unfathomably deep cultivation and were masters of coordinated combat techniques. They were infamous throughout the Demon Realm for their cruelty and ruthlessness, their reputations rivalling even those of the Three Primordial Ancestors.
Even other ordinary Saint Ancestors gave them a wide berth.
Yet today, for reasons unknown, Ancestor Bao had been tracked down by the pair, who had dispatched waves of subordinates to besiege her again and again.
Because Ancestor Bao was wary of the two Demon Ancestors watching from the shadows and was unwilling to act rashly — lest she expose a flaw — she had allowed Black Crocodile to fight the earlier enemies alone.
The result: after several brutal engagements, Black Crocodile's Magical Power had been completely depleted, leaving Ancestor Bao standing alone.
Only then had the two Demon Ancestors revealed themselves.
"Ancestor Bao, it has been many years. Your grace and beauty have not diminished in the slightest." The burly man, Tianqi, let his gaze linger on Ancestor Bao, a gleam flickering in his eyes as he spoke with an air of wistful admiration.
"Ancestor Tianqi has changed quite markedly — you no longer have that old fiery temperament. I should congratulate you; your cultivation has clearly advanced another level." Ancestor Bao appraised Tianqi with a hint of surprise in her reply, pointedly ignoring the old woman entirely.
The old woman, Heyan, flew into a rage at this. She stabbed her cane downward, and a thunderous boom ripped through the void below as she snarled: "Ancestor Bao, enough with the theatrics. Your cultivation is far from recovered — how could you possibly stand against the two of us working together? If you know what's good for you, get on your knees and kowtow. If I'm in a generous mood, I might leave your corpse intact."
"It seems Ancestor Heyan hasn't forgotten what happened back then, and has come specifically to settle the score. Tianqi — do you share her intentions?" Ancestor Bao's expression remained unchanged. She brushed the dark hair from her shoulder with a delicate hand and countered with a question of her own.