The might of the World-Destroying Treasure Light, the sheer degree of its power, truly exceeded Jiang Chen's estimates. The treasure light instantly swallowed Patriarch Chiri whole, blasting him into shredded fragments. His flesh, blood, and divine consciousness were utterly annihilated by the treasure light—reduced to ash and scattered to nothing.
After the treasure light consumed Patriarch Chiri, Jiang Chen withdrew the Treasure Mirror of All Beings in his hand. The next moment, his entire body went limp with exhaustion, and he nearly collapsed where he stood.
Consecutively channeling the Water-Fire True Dragon Rope, the Grand Crystal Lamp, and the Treasure Mirror of All Beings had drained Jiang Chen completely, leaving his spiritual consciousness on the verge of collapse.
His spiritual consciousness was formidable to begin with. Though he was currently at the third level of the Divine Dao, in terms of spiritual consciousness alone he was in no way inferior to mid-stage Divine Dao cultivators. He could match even sixth-level Divine Dao cultivators step for step, and perhaps even surpass them.
Even so, the sustained high-intensity consumption of spiritual consciousness left Jiang Chen unbearably fatigued, with the hollow feeling of being thoroughly emptied out.
He knew full well that this was a sign of excessive spiritual consciousness drain.
He quickly produced several pills and swallowed them. Only then did a faint trace of vitality return. But at this point, he clearly could not afford any further expenditure.
The Four Great Divine Beast True Spirits all knew that Jiang Chen had expended an enormous amount in this battle. To be honest, in the fight against Patriarch Chiri, they had managed to control their domain and barely restrain him. But at the final moment, Patriarch Chiri had still broken free. This was absolutely not because their control was insufficient—it was because they had all held back, unwilling to cast aside the prospect of survival, unwilling to fight Patriarch Chiri with the resolve to perish together.
In truth, this couldn't really be blamed on them. After all, under those circumstances, it was only natural that they didn't want to die alongside Patriarch Chiri.
Yet seeing Jiang Chen like this, they couldn't help but feel a measure of guilt.
After all, Jiang Chen had treated them with absolute sincerity and generosity. Any good thing, any precious opportunity—he had never shortchanged them.
He had even given them treasures like the Grand Luo Cloud Essence Fruit, items born of divine fortune, to consume and benefit from.
In theory, they should have contributed far more. But in this battle, it was precisely because they had held back that Jiang Chen had been forced to fight to the point of collapse.
In a sense, they bore a share of the responsibility.
"Chen Shao, can you still hold on?" the Vermilion Bird Divine Bird asked, tinged with shame.
Jiang Chen waved his hand and sighed. "It was my miscalculation. I didn't anticipate Patriarch Chiri being this difficult to deal with. His strength is probably not much less than Patriarch Jinxiao's."
The patriarch of the Gold Demon lineage possessed truly terrifying power. When Jiang Chen had previously dealt with the Gold Demon lineage, he had been unwilling to face Patriarch Jinxiao head-on.
He had originally believed that with the Fire Demon lineage's patriarch, his array of preparations should have been enough to bring him down. He hadn't expected the process to be this harrowing.
It had to be said—the combat power of the Demon Race could never be underestimated, only overestimated.
Little Xuan Dragon felt a wave of shame within his heart. He stepped forward and said, "Chen Shao, this time we dragged you down. We've failed your trust and care."
Don't be fooled by Little Xuan Dragon's usual arrogance—at his core, he was deeply sentimental.
Seeing Jiang Chen in this state, the guilt in Little Xuan Dragon's heart was heavier than anyone else's.
The Taisui White Tiger was still young, with a mind that didn't quite keep up. Many things only registered with him after the fact, and he had a certain endearing obliviousness. But seeing how solemn everyone's expressions were, he too realized that perhaps in this battle, they had somewhat fallen short of the reputation of Divine Beast True Spirits—and short of Jiang Chen's previous generosity toward them.
As for the Black Tortoise Divine Beast, though he had performed well in this battle, deep down he knew that their contributions in this fight truly did not measure up to what Jiang Chen had invested in them.