Above the Qi Sea, white qi filled the sky, surging and churning in violent tides.
Qi Cutoff Demon Immortal gazed down from his lofty position, looking upon Qi Sea Old Ancestor with overwhelming demonic might. The phantom of Xi Di loomed clearly above his head, keeping him firmly in an unassailable position.
"Qi Sea junior, might this old man borrow some Gu from you?" Qi Cutoff Demon Immortal spoke once more.
Fang Yuan's expression was grave and contemplative.
Their earlier exchange had already revealed quite a few of Qi Cutoff Demon Immortal's tricks and true capabilities.
Setting aside the various killer moves Qi Cutoff Demon Immortal possessed, his trump card was clearly the Heaven and Earth Secret Realm Xi Di. Relying on this secret realm, he could suppress every Qi Path Gu Immortal under heaven.
Against other paths, Qi Cutoff Demon Immortal would not hold such a tremendous advantage. But as it happened, Qi Sea Old Ancestor specialized exclusively in the Qi Path, which meant the restriction hit him especially hard.
From this, one could also catch a glimpse of Qi Cutoff Demon Immortal's temperament.
Though his methods were domineering, he was far from brainless. He understood the need to leverage his greatest strengths. That was why, after his rebirth, he had not lingered to fight all three factions but had wisely retreated. On the way, he had further refined and completed Xi Di, bolstering his combat strength. Now he had come before Qi Sea Old Ancestor once again, demanding to forcibly borrow Immortal Gu.
If he acquired an Eighth Transformation Qi Path Immortal Gu, his power would undoubtedly surge, allowing him to truly establish himself at the apex of combat strength in the current world.
With only the means afforded by his Qi Sea Old Ancestor identity, Fang Yuan was indeed no match for Qi Cutoff Demon Immortal. But he was not panicking.
Fang Yuan had always preferred to scheme thoroughly before acting.
He had long since received intelligence about Qi Cutoff Demon Immortal's threat and had already improved the Qi Sea Grand Formation. As long as he retreated behind the Grand Formation, he could hold out for another stretch of time.
If Qi Cutoff Demon Immortal charged into the formation, Fang Yuan could directly detonate it, creating an excellent opportunity for retreat.
Incidentally, this self-destruction method was something Fang Yuan had obtained from Fang Di Zhang. Back then, Fang Di Zhang had deliberately plotted against Fang Yuan to seize the Bean God Palace, intending to sacrifice Suan Bu Jin—a Wisdom Path Gu Immortal—and detonate the Immortal Gu House he had set up inside the palace, breaking through the bottleneck in one stroke to refine the Bean God Palace.
Fang Yuan had seen through the scheme, captured Fang Di Zhang, and extracted the method of self-destructing an Immortal Gu House through soul searching. He had then refined it further and incorporated it into the Qi Sea Grand Formation.
Once triggered, the detonation would be terrifying in power. Even if it could not threaten Qi Cutoff Demon Immortal's life, it would certainly be enough to stall and disrupt him for a period of time.
On this point, Fang Yuan was fully confident.
However...
If Fang Yuan retreated by detonating the Grand Formation, the value of his Qi Sea Old Ancestor identity would be greatly diminished.
To preserve this identity, Fang Yuan had deliberately restrained his Qi Path methods even during the Destiny War. The Qi Sea Boundless killer move had been used only once.
If Fang Yuan retreated, Qi Sea Old Ancestor would effectively have been defeated by Qi Cutoff Demon Immortal. His reputation would suffer enormously afterward, and his influence in the Eastern Sea would be drastically undermined.
Qi Cutoff Demon Immortal furrowed his brow slightly. He had called out twice now, and Qi Sea Old Ancestor had not responded either time—pushing his limited patience to its limit.
He let out a cold snort and was about to strike again when suddenly a blood-colored rainbow light pierced through the sky, shooting straight toward his face.
Qi Cutoff Demon Immortal dodged swiftly. Then he saw the Demon Slayer Board appear on the horizon.
"Heavenly Court—you again!" Qi Cutoff Demon Immortal sneered. "I didn't come looking for trouble with you, yet here you are, provoking me of your own accord. After your crushing defeat in the Destiny War, what gives you the audacity to act this way?"
"The Heavenly Court upholds the Righteous Path of humanity. We act not on audacity, but on conviction!" A response echoed from the Demon Slayer Board.
But the voice was not that of Gu Yue Fang Zheng—it was a woman's voice.
Fang Yuan heard this and felt his heart stir. "Qin Dingling has come in person? So the external aid my fortune would manifest—it was meant to be her!"
Qi Cutoff Demon Immortal extended his finger and flicked repeatedly at the incoming Demon Slayer Board.
The great qi surged and transformed, rapidly coalescing into spheres. In the blink of an eye, hundreds of pure white qi spheres shot toward the Demon Slayer Board like comets chasing the moon, triggering wave after wave of explosions.
The Demon Slayer Board's charge ground to a halt, its frame rattling violently from the blasts.
Qi Cutoff Demon Immortal was about to speak when his expression suddenly shifted. He swiftly pulled back, darting away in a flash of lightning.
It turned out that the blood-colored rainbow light the Demon Slayer Board had fired earlier had circled back for a second attack.
Qi Cutoff Demon Immortal dodged the blood light, but he had not expected golden radiance to suddenly pierce through from within it.
The golden light rapidly condensed above his head, taking the shape of a colossal golden scissors.
Snip. Snip.
The golden scissors made repeated cutting motions above Qi Cutoff Demon Immortal's head, seemingly having missed their target.
But Qi Cutoff Demon Immortal's face changed dramatically.
"This is a Fortune Path technique!"
He hastily activated his investigative killer move, and his heart ached with dread. "No—those golden scissors are cutting down my qi fortune!"
Qi Cutoff Demon Immortal placed great importance on maintaining his qi fortune. His earlier successful rebirth, followed by the dismantling of the Chaos Flow Sea Region and the repair of Xi Di, had already consumed a great deal of it. This attack from the golden scissors now heaped misery upon injury.
"Qi Sea. Heavenly Court. This debt—this old man remembers it well. Should the opportunity arise in the future, I will settle accounts with you thoroughly." Qi Cutoff Demon Immortal's voice shook heaven and earth.
After hurling those words, he immediately plunged into the sky-piercing torrent of pure white qi and swiftly withdrew from the battlefield, vanishing without a trace.
"He's retreated again?" Inside the Demon Slayer Board, Gu Yue Fang Zheng stared blankly, somewhat dazed.