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Chapter 257: Chapter 254 Pursuit
The Champsosaurus King originated from a fierce beast known as the Dragon Crocodile, and even though it had gradually transformed from an amphibious crawler into a monster with an upright stature through continuous demonization, its most powerful feature had always been its bite force, capable of pulverizing anything.
Even the Immortal Golden Body of a saint would be torn to shreds under its terrifying bite force.
In such circumstances, when its sense of danger climbed to the extreme, yet there was no escape, it chose to unleash its most powerful attack. As Gu Jinlai approached like a streak of light, the Champsosaurus King opened its gaping maw to swallow and crush him whole—a natural response.
Unfortunately...
The attack from Gu Jinlai was not as simple as a conventional attack.
As the Champsosaurus King leaped high into the air, its mouth widely gaping in a "V" shape about to clamp down and crush Gu Jinlai, he suddenly radiated an unmatched, intense brilliance.
In the pitch-black night sky, it was as if a Fierce Sun had been ignited; the blinding whiteness and dazzling splendor in that instant robbed all creatures of their sight.
What followed was a wave of impact and scorching heat that swept over the Champsosaurus King, decimating it as if it were a clay sculpture struck by a tsunami, reducing it instantly to powder, and in the next second, incinerated to ash by tens of millions, even billions of degrees of temperature.
The spreading bright light further impacted the nearby Great Demons.
Even some Upper-level Demons, who had formed an Undying Demon Body, were torn apart and reduced to ash under this terrifying attack.
The dreadful shockwave continued to the ground, where it caused the earth to rapidly cave and melt, and due to the surrounding pressure, formed violent airwaves and flames, further spreading outward.
Under the spreading brightness and heat, even Upper-level Demons hundreds of meters away could be seen engulfed in roaring flames.
"Roar!"
The intense pain made these Upper-level Demons scream tragically to the heavens.
The flames contained terrifying heat, spreading at an incredibly fast rate across their bodies, igniting them wholly. In less than a second, their robust frames that could withstand attacks from Divinity Transformation Cultivator flying swords were burned to charcoal, then shattered, collapsed, and scattered by the expanding shockwaves, turning into black dust and drifting further away.
Vanishing into thin air.
Within hundreds of meters, from the Champsosaurus King of the Demon Demon King rank and Upper-level Demons with Undying Demon Bodies to the ordinary Lower Demons, all that fell within the most core area of this intense light had no chance of resistance and were incinerated to ash, vanishing into thin air.
Even for Great Demons over a kilometer away, their bodies were ablaze with flames, most of their bodies burned and turned to charcoal.
And those Middle-level Demons that had not formed an Undying Demon Body, or whose bodies were not particularly defensive, even from a kilometer away, couldn’t escape and were roasted by the intense heat.
Further afield, smaller-sized Great Demons were swept up by the subsequent shockwaves into the Void, flung hundreds, even thousands of meters into the air, before plummeting down violently, smashed to a pulp.
Due to the attraction of the Heavenly Monarch True Spirit for Great Demons, all the demons came in waves towards Gu Jinlai’s vicinity, resulting in an effect far beyond his expectation.
...
Meanwhile, in Yuntian City ten miles away.
As Gu Jinlai was about to act, the highly sensitive Divinity Transformation Cultivators and Refining God Immortals quickly perceived something amiss.
Thinking back to Gu Jinlai’s instructions, these individuals immediately shouted orders, "Everyone, close your eyes, do not look to the north!"
It was just before they could take a breath after his command that resplendent light flashed at the edge of their vision.
Despite the new Chengying Sword in Gu Jinlai’s hand being slightly inferior to the original, the radiance and brilliance ten miles away still made it seem as if a sun appeared before everyone’s eyes!
A sun that shone from the darkness of night.
Just as Gu Jinlai had said.
He would use his life to ignite a torch, to pierce through the night.
To become the only light between heaven and earth.
To blind the eyes of his enemies.
To illuminate the path forward for everyone.
...
For a long time.
Not until the surrounding light seemed to have dimmed a bit did Cheng Wanli, Zhang Yukan, Si Tianyan, Gu Chaoyang, Gu Chifeng, and others finally reopen their eyes.
Although many of them had already witnessed such a scene outside Dragon Roar City, seeing that terrifying fireball at the edge of the sky, and the red light and flames that seemed to burn the sky itself, everyone still couldn’t help but widen their eyes, full of horror and shock.
Such a peak of Heavenly Beings...
A strike that even peak Heavenly Beings found difficult to measure, nearly suffocated everyone present.
"Magnificent! Magnificent!"
Suddenly, Si Tianyan’s voice rose.
Overwhelmed with thoughts, he couldn’t help but shout, "The Heavenly Master Civilization will again be magnificent under the hands of the Venerable Daoist!"
"The Great Sun! The true Great Sun!"
Zhang Yukan couldn’t help but kneel down, looking at the brilliant flames at the edge of his vision with fervor and excitement, "The Venerable Daoist, he is the true Great Sun True God that my Great Sun Heavenly Sect seeks! The Master of the Great Sun!"
"With such tremendous power in the hands of Lingxiao City, how can we not sweep away the demons and unify Tian Nan!?"
Cheng Wanli murmured as well.
Further away, Star King Jiang Chongshan glanced at the scarlet inferno burning across the sky, then turned his gaze towards the direction of the artillery positions.
Emotions surged in his eyes.
After a while, he whispered two words, "Hope..."
In Star State, Lingxiao City, and on Gu Jinlai himself, he saw the hope of humanity driving out the demons, of overcoming the demons.
At this moment, he seemed to hear a low chorus nearby.
"God of Light!"
"Master of Light!"
"Master of the Great Sun!"
The chanting began with the apprentices of the Heavenly Master among the gunners.
Since these apprentices operated heavy artillery and were far superior in status to ordinary soldiers, their shouts quickly spread.
"Master of the Great Sun!"
"Eternal Victory!"
"Master of the Great Sun, Eternal Victory!"
Soon, similar shouts rang out simultaneously over the entire Yuntian City, and as time passed, the chanting grew more uniform.
"Master of the Great Sun, Eternal Victory!"
How shocking was the roar of a hundred thousand soldiers as they shouted in unison?
It defied description, even a mountain collapse or tsunami paled in comparison.
Even if the volume was increased by a hundredfold, it could not compete with this resonating tidal wave of sound.
For a time, the morale of the defending soldiers on Yuntian City soared to an unparalleled high.
Just then, Gu Chaoyang, located in the combat command center, sensed something and suddenly said, "Retreat! Those demons... they’re retreating!"
"Retreat?"
Si Tianyan was slightly stunned.
Accustomed to dealing with demons, he quickly realized something, "It’s fear! The human elite suffer devastating losses and fear defeat, and so do the demons! Especially now that the Champsosaurus King is dead, and that group of two to three hundred Middle-level Demons has been nearly wiped out by the artillery and the strike from Venerable Daoist Gu, leaving the Demons leaderless... They are fleeing!"
Gu Chaoyang, who had similar suspicions previously, now confirmed them through the Life Radar, struggled briefly, then issued his command without hesitation, "We must chase the defeated enemy to the end! This time, we must thoroughly cripple the Tianhe Demons and never allow them to rise again! Acting as deputy commander, my order is for the artillery to fire at full strength! Demon God Guards, reserves, deploy and pursue the demons!"
While Gu Chaoyang’s prestige was not as great as Gu Jinlai’s,
it was indeed Gu Jinlai who had transferred the authority of acting commander to him when he had left for the battlefield.
Furthermore, with the demons headless and the remaining forty thousand starting to disintegrate, neither Gu Chifeng nor Cheng Wanli were willing to let go of this precious opportunity.
Suddenly, the Demon God Guards and the special operations elite squads were simultaneously set into motion, breaking through their defensive zones and charging at full speed towards the demons already twenty miles away.
...
Amidst the dust and flames,
Gu Jinlai looked up, the golden light gradually fading from his body.
As the light receded, the wounds all over his body healed rapidly, and soon, he was back at his peak perfect state.
Now, with a faint afterglow radiating from his body, he walked naked across the ground filled with flames, glaze, and even magma.
At the same time, he sensed the presence of Upper-level Demons around him.
Whenever he detected any that still had a breath, he moved forward to deliver a finishing blow.
The only regret for him was that slaying demons was not like defeating the many masters of Dragon Sparrow Manor.
When half of the Dragon Sparrow Manor was obliterated, those who remained still had clothes he could use to change into, and occasionally, he might come across a Spirit Sword or two – not perfectly suited for him, but still usable.
But with these demons...
Aside from their flesh, scale armor, and the Essence Blood within them, there wasn’t much of value.
Not even a piece of clothing.
So that instead of being fearsome, he appeared somewhat comical amidst the dust and flames.
Fortunately, this comical situation didn’t last long; soon there were the roars of demons and the rattle of machine guns from afar.
The Demon God Guards had arrived.
Gu Jinlai briefly sensed his surroundings and soon picked up on Gu Xiliu’s presence.
After a quick message, Gu Xiliu and the prepared Gu Chifeng left the group.
When Gu Jinlai reappeared and met with the Demon God Guards, he was already donned in a suit of War Armor and held a heavy sword in his hand.
This was the very first set of Spirit Armor and War Sword he had forged.
Only simple functions like altering weight and size at will.
Of course, now the weight of that War Sword felt light to him and didn’t quite suit his hand anymore.
"Patriarch, the demons have retreated, and we are now in full pursuit," Gu Chifeng quickly reported.
"They’ve retreated?"
Gu Jinlai was a bit surprised, but then he felt it made sense.
Demons, too, were intelligent beings with their own civilization, so naturally, they understood what fear was and how to assess the situation.
"Chase them! Don’t let these demons escape, lest they become a future threat. Don’t waste the Essence Blood of the demons; the Spiritual Artifacts we’ve crafted for storing Demon Blood Essence will come in handy now," Gu Jinlai instructed while glancing at the direction where the Champsosaurus King had been.
The blow he delivered using the transmission characteristic had, according to Zi Yang’s assessment, essentially reached the level of an Earthly True Immortal.
It was merely a matter of power output.
In such a case, the Champsosaurus King inevitably didn’t leave even a corpse behind.
To Gu Jinlai, who was about to advance to the strength of an Upper-level Demon, this was somewhat disappointing.
