I have to say, even with only twenty to thirty percent of his cultivation restored, the Demon Emperor's power was not far behind that of a human Great Emperor.
An ordinary peak ninth-level Sovereign Realm cultivator would be lucky to escape with their life against the Blood Sunflower Demon Emperor in his current state, let alone fight him head-on.
As the massive palm print bore down on him, Jiang Chen showed not a shred of fear. Instead, he accelerated his descent, transforming into a streak of light that dove straight toward the ground.
He plunged in and vanished into the earth without a trace.
"Useless!" The Blood Sunflower Demon Emperor's voice was cold as he raised the Blood Sunflower Demon Blade with his other hand and slashed at the ground repeatedly, as though plowing a field.
Crash! Crash!
The solid stone ground crumbled like tofu under the Blood Sunflower Demon Blade's slashes, deep furrows appearing one after another.
"Hmm? Escaped that deep?" The Blood Sunflower Demon Emperor was somewhat surprised. At this point, he had to admit that this young man was indeed resourceful.
Although the Blood Sunflower Demon Emperor had only unleashed a few moves, each one had been his signature technique—the very arts that had made him famous.
They were incomparable to his peak condition, but against a half-step Sovereign Realm youth, the Blood Sunflower Demon Emperor had assumed victory was a foregone conclusion from the start.
But reality was cruel. He had unleashed so many devastating techniques, yet he still couldn't bring down this young man. Even though the youth had used power-boosting talismans, in the Blood Sunflower Demon Emperor's eyes, the whole thing was still inconceivable.
After all, he was an ancient Demon Emperor. From antiquity to the present, according to the Master of Cuihua Pavilion, current human cultivators were far weaker compared to those of ancient times.
The truly powerful human cultivators had left behind almost no legacy in the human territories.
The information from the Master of Cuihua Pavilion had given the Blood Sunflower Demon Emperor great confidence. In ancient times, the Blood Sunflower Demon Emperor had been merely an ordinary war general among the demon race—not even a commander, let alone someone of the Demon Ancestor level.
He had originally worried about whether he should reveal himself even after restoring his peak power from ancient times. But the Master of Cuihua Pavilion had told him that it had been many years since anyone had heard of a Heavenly Position expert in the human territories.
In fact, it was now widely believed in the human territories that no Heavenly Position experts existed there anymore. The powerful Heavenly Position experts had all, due to the laws of the world, either shattered the void and departed to other planes or ventured to other mysterious places.
These words had undoubtedly set the Blood Sunflower Demon Emperor's mind at ease. They had also bred contempt for the current generation of human cultivators.
Yet the very first young man he encountered after seeing daylight again turned out to be so troublesome, so difficult to deal with. He had used almost every formidable technique at his disposal and still couldn't bring him down.
The Blood Sunflower Demon Emperor was beginning to regret ever listening to the Master of Cuihua Pavilion.
But now, the Blood Sunflower Demon Emperor had also been thoroughly provoked into a frenzy by Jiang Chen.
The Blood Sunflower Demon Blade slashed down wildly, its terrifying blade energy practically turning this entire section of ground upside down.
Yet no matter how fearsome his blade energy was, he could never dig Jiang Chen out.
"Brat, whether you flee to the heavens or burrow into the earth, I will drag you out and devour you alive!"
The Blood Sunflower Demon Emperor, seething with rage, transformed into a mass of blood-colored clouds and dove straight underground. Clearly, the Blood Sunflower Demon Emperor hated Jiang Chen to the bone—even if he had to tear apart heaven and earth, he would find him.
At that moment, relying on the speed of the Ice Fire Demon Lotus, Jiang Chen had already penetrated deep into the bowels of the earth.
Jiang Chen knew that with the Blood Sunflower Demon Emperor's level of divine sense, he could certainly track his aura, so there was no point in trying to hide.
As for the Ice Fire Demon Lotus, Jiang Chen couldn't be bothered to deploy it.
At this level of combat, unless he upgraded the Ice Fire Demon Lotus to the Emperor realm as well, there was virtually no hope of using the current Ice Fire Demon Lotus against this Demon Emperor.
After all, his current realm came from the Emperor Descent Armor Talisman and the Emperor Descent True Barrier Talisman—the Ice Fire Demon Lotus had not advanced along with him.
Jiang Chen calculated silently, then suddenly activated the Danxiao Formation Disc in his hand.
The Danxiao Formation Disc could simulate ten great formations. With no time to deliberate, Jiang Chen immediately activated a Great Formless Formation.
He had no delusions about trapping the Blood Sunflower Demon Emperor with the formation. His goal was simply to restrain the Blood Sunflower Demon Emperor for an instant—enough to launch one attack against him.
Whether or not he could ultimately kill the Blood Sunflower Demon Emperor, Jiang Chen had to try.
"Brother Dragon, don't reveal yourself yet. When I call on you, we attack together. Win or lose, everything rides on this!"
Jiang Chen knew that even a Blood Sunflower Demon Emperor operating at only twenty to thirty percent of his power was not someone he could defeat right now.
Whether it was the Emperor Descent True Barrier Talisman or the Emperor Descent Armor Talisman, the power boost came from talismans—it was not genuine cultivation at the Emperor realm. His equipment in every regard fell short, meaning his combat strength truly could not compare to a genuine Emperor realm powerhouse.
This also meant that in this battle, his opportunities were exceedingly few.
It was precisely because opportunities were scarce and the odds so slim that Jiang Chen hoped to exploit the underground terrain to find one chance to attack!
The Blood Sunflower Demon Emperor bore down with murderous ferocity.
The Blood Sunflower Demon Emperor was not particularly skilled at underground combat, but his immense power gave him courage, his eagerness to hunt down Jiang Chen drove him forward, and his underlying confidence pushed him to charge in recklessly.
Jiang Chen saw the mass of blood-colored clouds approaching fast and activated the formation disc.