C1799 The Feather Break!!
Boom!
The Demon Phoenix's massive wings unfurled within the spherical sword light, expanding slowly.
Countless streams of blood-red light and purple-gold lightning seemed poised to rupture the cosmos itself, causing the immense orb woven from sword light to shatter and burst apart continuously.
Puff! Puff! Puff! Crack! Crack! Crack!
The cacophony of the sword light detonating and crystals shattering echoed through the secluded star river, drawing the gaze of all the mightiest beings in the Dim Starfield.
To the Demon Gods and the Beast Kings at the Peak of Ninth Level, it appeared as though a spectacular fireworks display was unfolding at the far end of the starry expanse.
"Yu Yuan!"
"Optimus Sword!"
Yu Zhu, sent by the Yin Meridians to aid the Demon Phoenix in battle, alternated her gaze between the nearby Origin Blood Continent and the distant battlefield.
A look of concern crept into her expression, and she grew increasingly restless.
"Girl."
Old Ape arrived with a toothy smile, settling beside her. He gestured toward the towering purple palace and the Demon Phoenix's silhouette, larger even than the Origin Blood Continent, and bellowed, "You're better off just watching this fight from the sidelines."
Yu Zhu, with her dark, gaunt, and plain appearance, stood in her human form, clad in a bloodstained robe, leaning against a slab of iron-gray rock. She furrowed her brow and challenged, "Desolate Lord, are you trying to stop me?"
"You might see it that way."
Old Ape, wearing a nonchalant look, spoke with a casual air, "Getting involved would be futile. In fact, I suspect you'd only get in the way. Besides..."
He scrutinized Yu Zhu's face and physique, a peculiar feeling stirring within him.
Few had ever laid eyes on the Supreme Demon Phoenix, particularly its earliest incarnation. Old Ape struggled to recall anyone still living who had seen it.
Time had eroded his memory so much that even he had nearly forgotten what the Demon Phoenix looked like when it first assumed human form.
But recently, as he and Yu Zhu spent time in the Dim Starfield, he had seen her human guise more often. Her slender, dark form and decidedly plain face gradually jogged his memory.
The Demon Phoenix, in its initial transformation into a human, hadn't bothered with refinement, and in that form, she bore a striking resemblance to the Yu Zhu before him.
She was tall and slender, with dark skin and an unattractive face, bearing a striking resemblance to Yu Zhu at that moment. Initially, the Demon Phoenix was indifferent to her looks, but after transforming into human form, she faced ridicule from the Dragon Gods of the Nagas and peak experts from other realms for her appearance. Consequently, she changed into her current form, and those who had once scorned her were nearly wiped out by her wrath.
"Strange," Old Ape mumbled unclearly, shaking his head. He addressed Yu Zhu, "I'm doing this for your own good. Regardless of your thoughts, if you intend to join the battle, I will intervene to stop you." Upon hearing this, Yu Zhu settled down, fully aware that aside from the Supreme Demon Phoenix, the Old Ape was the most formidable among the alien beasts and demons converging on the Dim Starfield. Knowing she was no match for Old Ape and that he had made his position clear, she decided it was best to keep observing.
With a majestic flourish, the Supreme Demon Phoenix spread its wings again, the figure upon the grand throne rising with an air of defiance. "Your power is insufficient; you cannot penetrate my purple-golden divine feathers. In the past, the bloodline laws of the five Dragon Gods were beyond my reach because I failed to acquire the dragon corpse."
"You've seen it before—the thirty-six ancient Totem Pillars, with several representing the missing bloodline imprints of the Dragon Clan."
"That changed when I seized her from Taishi's grasp." She gestured toward the horizon, where a sinuous, purple-golden young dragon, resembling a mountain range, let out a thunderous roar in response to her.
"I captured her and within her dragon heart, I discovered novel Bloodline Crystal Chains. They originated from the Old Titan Spinosaurus. Though she was not yet mature, and the Crystal Chains hadn't undergone their ultimate mutation, the bloodline imprints within still provided me with considerable insight."
"As a result, I've deciphered some of the bloodline laws once wielded by the Dragon Gods." Her massive purple-golden wings collided, emitting a resounding clang and a shower of sparks, as if to remind Yu Yuan of her ability to manifest the "Supreme Golden Body" and realize the ultimate arcane secrets of the Golden Dragon through her feathers—all thanks to the young spinosaurus nurtured by Taishi.
Yu Yuan's face was set in a grim expression as he gasped for breath.
He had anticipated that the Supreme Demon Phoenix of Hao Ran would be a formidable adversary. He had mentally braced himself for a battle of extreme peril.
Yet, he realized he had still underestimated the Demon Phoenix's combat prowess.
The Sky Opening Array was the most powerful strike he could muster. Thanks to the blood energy from the Yang God, the sword he wielded now was just as potent as it had been in the past.
Back then, in the depths of the Gray Domain, he had used this sword to obliterate the soul of the Origin Realm God.
With the same sword, he had shattered the Empyrean Array of the Profound Sky Sect, aided by the Spiritual Swords of the Sword Sect, leaving all the peak experts of Hao Ran in awe.
But the same Sky Opening Array, when unleashed upon the Demon Phoenix, was thwarted by its purple-golden divine feathers.
And this was merely a clone of the Demon Phoenix!
"Nie Qingtian, even the Great Sword Immortals of the Sword Sect cannot compare to... that one. Perhaps, you should try the Artifact that he wields." The Demon Phoenix's enigmatic eyes rested on the Dragon Slash Platform at his feet, her lips curving into a faint smile. "If there's anyone in human history who truly deserves to be called the first, it is he."
Yu Yuan felt a tremor in his spirit.
The Dragon Slash Platform, his former self, the Divine King!
He hadn't expected that the Demon Phoenix, renowned across the Outer Star River, would hold his previous incarnation in such high regard, even suggesting that he should consider using the Dragon Slash Platform in combat.
"I've forgotten many things and many people, but him... he remains vivid in my memory. Often, I feel as though he's still alive, always beside me, just out of sight. He harbors hatred and resentment towards me, which is why he hides, refusing to face me," the Demon Phoenix said, her voice laden with a mix of wistfulness and bitterness.
Lost in the depths of her memories, her voice faded to a murmur. After a moment of silence, she seemed to recall something and burst out furiously, "He even dared to call me ugly, accused me of feigning elegance! I could tolerate such comments from others, but coming from him, it's unbearable!"
Boom!
The starry expanse, tens of thousands of miles wide, crumbled under her wrathful Demonic Power, as if the heavens themselves were collapsing. Amidst the tumult akin to a churning purple sea, lifeless stars burst into oblivion.
The dense web of spatial fissures could not bear the brunt of her formidable Demonic Power, splitting open violently.
Her uncontainable Demonic Power seeped through these ruptures, dissipating into the barren voids beyond, a necessary release to prevent this realm from perishing.
When the Demon Phoenix raged, galaxies perished!
The stars, harboring secret passages of the Realm, teetered on the brink of destruction, buffeted by a mighty dragon's breath.
A spinosaurus, distant in the Gray Domain, sensed the violent tremors of the Space-time Gate. Fearing a severed connection to the Dim Starfield, it reached out to assist.
Thus, within the vast star river, only this single star remained.
Beyond it, the galaxy, riddled with spiderweb-like spatial fractures, was devoid of any other stars, worlds, or colossal meteorites.
Many warriors from foreign tribes, who had sought refuge deep within the caves of stars, evading the slaughter of beasts and the scrutiny of greater demons, were obliterated by the Demon Phoenix's rage in an instant.
Her explosive anger not only shattered the star but also claimed the lives of tens of thousands of survivors within.
Yu Yuan, his face turning ashen, did as she desired. He wielded the divine weapon from his past life and, harnessing the power and laws hidden within the Dragon Slash Platform, launched another assault.
Swoosh! Swoosh!
The elongated Dragon Slash Platform, taking the place of the Optimus Sword, traced dazzling arcs of golden brilliance.
Each streak of gold was imbued with the indomitable essence of the Golden Dragon's bloodline, a force capable of piercing through all barriers and ancient defenses, breaking free from the world's constraints. This fierce energy transformed into a radiant, crystalline glow, infusing the core of every golden arc.
In that moment, he gained a profound new insight into the Golden Dragon's Bloodline Crystal Chain!
Through the Yang Meridian!
His body, submerged within the Yang Meridian and glowing like a red crystal, drew upon its vast blood energy. Simultaneously, he absorbed the arcane bloodline mysteries of the Golden Dragon, the Golden Asura, the Silver Scale Clan, and all their kin.
His Yang God was able to sense the brilliance of a myriad of knowledge, and his physical form shared in the profound experience.
In his hands, the Dragon Slash Platform could still summon the dense blood energy from the Origin Blood Continent, allowing him to perfectly manifest the penetrative power of the Golden Dragon God that had once cut through everything.
Clang! Clang! Clang!
Golden beams of light burst forth above the Supreme Demon Phoenix's Purple-Golden Feathers, creating orbs of light that seemed capable of shattering all life.
The Purple-Golden Feathers, which had withstood the Sky Opening Array, began to show dense cracks under the edge of the Dragon Slash Platform, like an eggshell under the strike of a hammer.
"Hmm?"
Yu Yuan, glimpsing a ray of hope, gripped the elongated Dragon Slash Platform, and with a thought, a circle of seven-colored ripples emanated outward.
He deftly moved through the void, dodging the other wing of the Demon Phoenix.
Each spatial rift became his sanctuary, a place to dodge and gather strength for his next assault.
He weaved through different dimensions, emerging from the rifts to strike with the Dragon Slash Platform, his divine weapon, wielding the golden sharpness that could pierce through heaven and earth.
Boom!
A Purple-Golden Feather of the Demon Phoenix burst into a shower of blood.
"Success!"
Yu Yuan's spirits lifted.
"The Ultimate Golden Body," also derived from the Golden Dragon God, was employed using the same bloodline laws and golden divine radiance to pierce through, effectively turning the tables on his foe.
The transformation of a Purple-Golden Divine Feather into a shower of blood indicated that the Demon Phoenix had not yet mastered the ultimate secrets of the bloodline obtained from the young Spinosaurus, which had not reached its full maturity and thus had not displayed its most complete form. Consequently, the final aspect of the golden sharpness had not yet been revealed.
The Demon Phoenix was not without vulnerabilities!
