The old woman’s face was turning dark, as though she had been poisoned. Black blood dripped out of her, and even more telling, a black magical symbol had appeared above the top of her head.
The magical symbol flickered rapidly, and anyone who looked at it closely would see that it was suppressing a projected image that looked exactly like the old woman!
It was none other than her nascent divinity, as projected by her Daoseed!!
Apparently, the magical symbol was sealing her Daoseed inside of her broken body, which was currently being eaten away by the poison. If she died, the Daoseed would not be able to free itself, and would eventually be wiped away. As such, the old woman would lose her chance to be resurrected.
Bai Xiaochun and everyone else present was completely shocked. And yet, things weren’t over yet. Even as the old woman tried to flee, someone else appeared who was attempting to flee, face covered by a mask of terror.
It was none other than Reverend Devourer!
He was coughing up blood like mad, and his aura was weak beyond compare. He seemed terrified, and although he was moving at top speed, a black magical symbol floated above his head that looked similar to the one connected to the old woman. The main difference was that this symbol apparently contained the power of some magical law that was corroding Reverend Devourer’s body!
Further behind him was a burning red light that was already starting to speed out of the area of vanishing mist.
As soon as Bai Xiaochun saw that red light, he sensed something familiar; it was obviously an evil and explosive entity that was actually attempting to flee into the distance.
Last to appear was Celestial Virūpākṣa, who was missing an arm, and whose face was as pale as a sheet. However, he seemed to be defiant to the point of madness as he chased after the red light.
“Get it!” he shouted. “It’s almost dead!!”
As soon as Celestial Virūpākṣa began to give chase, Celestial Deadfall, Daoist Heavenspan and Prince Ur-Demon gritted their teeth and dashed to block the path of the red light. Gu Tianjun, Sima Yunhua, and Celestial Aged Spirit also split up in an attempt to block its other paths of retreat.
Bai Xiaochun joined them. However, even as they moved into position, the blood-colored light stopped moving, and a piercing shriek echoed out from within it!
Now that the light had stopped moving, something became visible, a freakish creature that seemed to be part human and part lizard!
It had the limbs and torso of a person, but was covered with blood-colored scales. Its facial features became clear, revealing it to be male. However, its eyes had double pupils, and a long, forked tongue snaked in and out of its mouth.
The windstorm caused by the thing’s shriek contained power similar to the late Celestial Realm, and as it swept out, the weaker celestials like Deadfall had no choice but to back up. As for Bai Xiaochun, he immediately swung the Greatsword of the North out to protect himself.
Only Gu Tianjun and Celestial Virūpākṣa were strong enough to stand up to it, and in fact, continued onward, unleashing trump card attacks onto the clearly weakened sovereign clone.
Eyes filled with madness, the clone began to fight back, causing booms to ring out everywhere. Bai Xiaochun backed up a few paces, not willing to engage him. However, that did little good, as the clone suddenly turned and charged in his direction.
Its dual pupils were filled with hatred, and as soon as Bai Xiaochun realized that, his heart began to pound.
"He really does want revenge on me!” However, Bai Xiaochun also knew that retreat was not an option. Bracing himself, he raised the Greatsword of the North over his head and slashed it down toward the sovereign clone!
Shrieking, the clone fell back, and was once again surrounded by the other celestials. Now was not the time to be taking sides; everyone went all out in this effort to cut down the sovereign clone.
“Don’t let it get away!” Celestial Virūpākṣa shouted urgently. “Its powers of regeneration are incredible. Don’t give it the time to heal!”
All of the other celestials attacked with full urgency, holding nothing back. Their combined battering continued to weaken the sovereign clone, slowly wearing it down.
After all, the scene which the newly arrived celestials had just witnessed was shocking to the extreme. The dismal fate of the old woman, the sight of Reverend Devourer’s body melting, and Celestial Virūpākṣa’s missing limb all went to show how shockingly powerful this clone was!
Furthermore, if the thing escaped and they lost this opportunity, then considering its powers of regeneration and ability to absorb life force, then by the time they found it again, it would either be fully recovered, or close to it.
If that happened, then none of them would be able to accomplish their mission. And if the Vile-Emperor and Saint-Emperor ended up having to come to finish the job themselves, then the rewards that had been offered would likely be withheld or limited.
A look of despair appeared in the eyes of the sovereign clone. Knowing that it couldn’t escape, and seeing itself being weakened by the moment, it threw its head back and roared.
As that happened, it began to grow larger, inflating until it was like a huge balloon made of skin. It was a shocking sight that caused everyone to inch back nervously.
Even as they did, the body of the sovereign clone suddenly exploded, causing a huge boom to ring out in all directions.
Celestial Deadfall, Prince Ur-Demon, Celestial Virūpākṣa and Daoist Heavenspan all coughed up mouthfuls of blood. Gu Tianjun, Sima Yunhua, Chen Su, Celestial Aged Spirit and even Bai Xiaochun all did the same. Everyone was sent tumbling backward.
“This thing is so powerful!” Bai Xiaochun gasped, keeping a firm grip on the Greatsword of the North as twinges of pain swept through him. Looking over in shock, he saw Daoist Heavenspan some distance off, coughing up blood as he fell back.
At that point, his eyes glittered.
“Everyone is fighting over this sovereign’s fleshly body. Maybe I can use this chance to kill Daoist Heavenspan.” Immediately, killing intent began to rise up within him.
After the clone self-detonated, another shocking development occurred. A roughly one-meter-long lizard appeared in the spot where the detonation had occurred. It was clearly on its last legs, and had only one bit of energy left, which it used to try to escape.
Unexpectedly, the direction it picked was where Daoist Heavenspan was located. As soon as the lizard got close to him, his eyes flickered with black light, and he rapidly performed a double-handed incantation gesture.
“Ten Gate Synthesis!” Even as everyone was still being shoved backward by the force of the detonation, Daoist Heavenspan summoned a vast assortment of magical symbols that grouped together into a huge magical gate. Rumbling sounds filled the air as that gate shot toward the lizard, radiating the power of sealing!
The lizard wasn’t intelligent, and was acting on instinct alone. As such, it headbutted the huge magical gate, which immediately began to bend under the force of the impact!
The gate shattered, transforming back into countless magical symbols that wrapped around the now unconscious and possibly dead lizard, and then began to drag it toward Daoist Heavenspan.
“Daoist Heavenspan! How dare you!” That was the enraged reaction of both Gu Tianjun, Sima Yunhua, Celestial Aged Spirit and Chen Su. However, they had been pushed too far away by the force of the blow, and had no time to do anything. As for Celestial Virūpākṣa and his fellows, they all rushed to defend Daoist Heavenspan.
As far as the Vile-Emperor Dynasty cultivators were concerned, as a new celestial, there was no way Daoist Heavenspan would dare to try to keep the corpse for himself. And Celestial Virūpākṣa was dead set on getting the reward they had been offered.
If Gu Tianjun and his fellow celestials managed to get the corpse, it would be a big headache.
Everything was happening too quickly. As people began to take action, Bai Xiaochun took a deep breath, and his heart began to pound. The truth was that he had been plotting this entire time, and slowly edging closer to Daoist Heavenspan!
“The perfect opportunity!” After only the slightest moment of hesitation, he used the Mountain Shaking Bash, the Undying Hex, and all of his fleshly body power to achieve speed even greater than the sovereign clone had. He even rotated his cultivation base to add more power to his motion. Rumbling sounds echoed out as he suddenly appeared right next to Daoist Heavenspan, toward whom he viciously slashed his Greatsword of the North!
“I’m here for your life, Daoist Heavenspan!!” he shouted loudly.