CHAPTER 688: 567 ABOVE AND BELOW, I ALONE AM HONORED

Deng Yin still felt a bit intimidated when he saw Shi Feiyang.

He didn’t know why, but it felt as if Shi Feiyang was his nemesis, capable of killing him whenever they met...

He had only ever felt this way in the presence of his senior brother, Master Changmei.

He said to Shi Feiyang, "I don’t want to be your enemy. Today, I am merely fulfilling my vow to eliminate all members of the Emei Sect! This matter is an internal affair of our sect and has nothing to do with you."

Everyone was astonished to see the formidable Blood Demon showing weakness.

Their eyes turned to Shi Feiyang, all wondering: what skill does he possess to make the Blood Demon dread him so much? Could he be even more formidable than the Jile Perfected, Li Jingxu?

Shi Feiyang said cheerfully, "Ayin, I won’t interfere with your grievances against the Emei Sect, but the Heavenly Demon Immortal Slaying Sword isn’t meant for you. Hand over the sword, and then you can continue eliminating the Emei Sect, making sure to wipe them out completely. I won’t intervene."

Deng Yin gripped the handle of the Heavenly Demon Immortal Slaying Sword tightly; demonic fog swirled around the blade, dripping with fresh blood.

A powerful thought from Chi You emanated from within the sword: "Why fear him? You are the invincible Blood Demon, and I am the invincible Divine Sword. Together as one Sword Demon, what is there to fear? Let’s slaughter all the bald-headed monks and Taoists in the world, and rule over it!"

Deng Yin struggled internally. He had previously exaggerated his desires to deceive Chi You, suppressing all his righteous thoughts, leaving only a few remaining to restrain him.

Chi You helped him shatter these last bits of righteousness, infusing large amounts of soul essence and blood that he had absorbed over the years into Deng Yin’s body: "You call yourself a Blood Demon with such pusillanimity? You are unworthy of practicing the Demon Path! What we cultivate is lawlessness and doing as we please! We desire a sky that can no longer cover our eyes, a land that can no longer bury our hearts. We want all beings to comply with our will, and to see all the gods and immortals of the Heavenly Realm vanish like smoke!"

Deng Yin, filled with Chi You’s will, felt empowered with strength and fighting spirit. Not even Shi Feiyang, nor all the heavenly gods descending from the Heavenly Realm could stop him!

He felt he could split the sky, shatter the earth, and slice up the entire heavens...

The Blood Demon, with blood-red eyes emitting beams of Demon Light about a yard long, his body surrounded by surging blood energy enveloping him and the Demon Sword.

Above his head, blood clouds gathered, forming a sea of blood thousands of miles in diameter, with a range of five thousand miles around covered in blood fog!

Not just near Jiuhua Mountain, even places as far as Fujian, Liangguang, both Lakes, Henan, and Shandong were engulfed in blood fog, painting the mountains and rivers blood-red.

Even the Capital far away saw massive blood fog in the southern sky, blood-red filling the sky, terrifying both immortals and mortals, with people running outside to look in that direction.

Many cultivators around Jiuhua Mountain also felt terrified and no longer dared to fight separately; all gathered around the Jile Perfected...

Many directly asked, "Perfected Master, can this Blood Demon still be eliminated?"

Li Jingxu was also helpless...

His mana was strong and his divine skills vast, and all demonic methods were basically ineffective against him; he also had the ability to protect himself and could leave with his two loved ones at any moment.

But he could do nothing against the Blood Demon; Deng Yin, as depicted in the original text, was indestructible. Even he had to provide support, allowing Xie Shan to activate the Heart Lamp to eradicate him.

At this moment, not only was Deng Yin’s personal mana far higher than originally depicted, but he also wielded the Heavenly Demon Immortal Slaying Sword; Li Jingxu could only avoid its sharp edge.

Once chaos ensued, he realistically couldn’t save that many people.

He sighed and pointed upward to Shi Feiyang, "We can only hope that fellow Shi has a way to contain that Blood Demon."

No sooner had he finished speaking than his expression suddenly changed. He hurriedly sent a message to Shi Feiyang, "Several members of the Demon Cult are lurking from afar, itching to make a move, and Xuanyuan Dharma King has also arrived. I’ll stop them; you quickly figure out a way to deal with Deng Yin..."

As he spoke, he felt unsure and weak because even he, with Shi Feiyang away and wielding the Heavenly Mirror and the Nine Suspicions Tripod, was now unable to subdue Deng Yin. Although these treasures had infinite uses, they were not made for direct confrontation. If Deng Yin used the Blood Shadow Avatar to move and fight, these treasures, unprepared and brought directly to the battlefield, could not contain the current Deng Yin.

Just as he was about to take action, Shi Feiyang sent him a message: "Fellow Daoist, no need to worry; those people are thousands of miles away, and they likely won’t dare come close. Should they dare, it would be better; let Deng Yin strike them down with his sword first, and then I’ll take action to clean up the situation."

Deng Yin was now reckless and unrecognizable, and although Shi Feiyang could still speak to him relying on his strength and status, if any demon humans approached, whether it was the Xuanyuan Dharma King or the Fire Spirit God, Deng Yin would not care and would slash them with his sword, seizing their spiritual energy for a satisfying feast.

Indeed, Li Jingxu did not move, and the group merely watched from where they were.

Shi Feiyang calmly asked Deng Yin, "Ayin, the you now, and the you from before, are both you. The only difference is the you from before was human nature, and the you now is beastly nature. I want you to conquer this beastly nature with your human nature, not rely on external powers. Reflect upon your own heart, are your current thoughts truly your own, or are they influenced by Chi You?"

Hearing this, Deng Yin was stunned, but almost immediately, the consciousness of Chi You inundated his mind, "Ignore him! He is the first obstacle in your path to dominating the Three Realms! Kill him! Then, nothing can stop us!"

Deng Yin directed his sword towards Shi Feiyang, "I’m going to kill you!"

Shi Feiyang felt the sharp Sword Qi pierce through the air towards him, a flash of purple and blue Divine Light in his eyes shattered the Sword Qi.

He started chanting a spell, the same Demon Curse that he had taught to Deng Yin in the North Sea, only he recited it backwards.

When recited normally, the spell is a Demon Curse that prompts one to abandon all humanity, all morals, righteousness, propriety, wisdom, trust, filial piety... abandoning them all to unleash the most primal beastly desires, transforming them into a powerful Divine Demon will, fearless of heaven and earth, devoid of worries and hesitations, totally free, driven only by whims of vengeance and desires, to kill and obliterate at will!

But recited backwards, it became the Emperor’s Demon Refining Spell, picking up each attribute of human nature—trust, wisdom, propriety, righteousness, all manners of virtues—and quickly re-establishing them, swiftly restraining the primal beastly nature.

The former is like devolving from human to beast, while the latter is like evolving from a beast to human...

Deng Yin had previously followed this Demon Curse, rapidly devolving from human to beast, becoming demonized. He had taken the curse seriously, ingraining each phrase, each word deep into his heart like myriad brands seared into his brain.

Now, as Shi Feiyang recited it backwards, those same phrases burst forth from his mind, appearing in his heart.

The same spell, just with a different sequence altered the encapsulated meaning and released energy.

Suddenly, Deng Yin felt immense pain...

From beast back to human, enforcing propriety, accumulating virtues, admonishing kinship and righteousness... too many restraints. He felt a loss of many things... as if shackles bound his limbs, his neck, his soul, denying him the freedom to roam and slaughter at will, forcing him to swallow grievances facing setbacks, demanding many sacrifices without reward...

He felt deeply distressed, feeling he was no longer himself.

The power of the Emperor’s Demon Refining Spell was immense, restraining Deng Yin while also repelling Chi You.

Chi You hastily kept instilling strong will and energy into Deng Yin, "All these are the hypocrisies of the self-righteous! All tools used by humans to enslave others! All shackles! All refuse! Break them all, smash them all! Be yourself again! If you accept these things from him, you’ve been domesticated from a wolf to a dog! Deng Yin, oh Deng Yin! Do you want to be a wolf that roams the forests, peerless and unmatched, or a dog wagging its tail, begging for a bone from them?"

"Ah!" Deng Yin roared in agony, clutching his head. He felt his soul splitting, blood flowing from his eyes, ears, nose, and mouth.

Ultimately, he refused to become a dog. He still wanted to be the Demon God who could kill at will!

He let out an earth-shattering roar, grabbed the Heavenly Demon Immortal Slaying Sword and with a slight flick, a thousand-foot-long blood-colored sword rainbow slashed towards Shi Feiyang.

Above Shi Feiyang’s head appeared a small figure in green clothes, holding a Jade Lotus, raising a hand to conjure a Nine Grades Green Lotus that supported the blood-colored sword rainbow.

That sword was indeed formidable; the Jade Lotus being an object left by the Stone God Palace Master to Master Changmei, specifically to counter the Blood Demon, and having been nurtured by Shi Feiyang with True Water for many years, the power was extraordinary.

Yet, it still lost two green petals which floated down, quickly dispersing into two streams of green Light Energy.

Shi Feiyang sighed, "Ayin, oh Ayin, you’ve finally turned your sword against me. Do you remember the vows you once made?"

Deng Yin, with blazing red hair fluttering amidst the bloody storm, stood proud, "So what? Now I fear neither heavenly tribulations nor Shenxiao Divine Thunder!"

He swung the Blood Sword, declaring loudly, "Above and below heaven, only I am revered! Those who follow me prosper, those against me perish! From now on, I am the master of the Three Realms, all must obey only my orders! I command you to live, you live; I command you to die, you die! Starting today, every one of you will skin yourselves to practice, cultivating the Blood God Technique. When your practice succeeds, I will lead you to conquer the Heavenly Realm! Finally, ascending to challenge the Heavenly God himself, whom views us as ants. You strive for a thousand years, accumulating merit through lifetimes, still not achieving ascension. This time, I’ll lead you to Taixu Immortal Mansion, and strike him down with a single sword..."

Everyone was stunned by his words, never expecting him to be so audacious. Not satisfied with ruling this world alone, he aspired to dominate all the celestial realms.