Chapter 280

Chapter 280: The Tide Turns Again and Again

When the Great Devil realized Shen Sang Ruo had really rebuilt the artifact in such a short time, his widened eyes already held the reflection of the Fire Phoenix Plume Arrow racing toward him.

Shen Sang Ruo poured all her Spiritual Power into that one shot, and it pierced straight through the Devil Qi that had been able to block the Glazed Flame.

The tide flipped in an instant. The Great Devil tried to gather the Devil Qi around him to stop it, but with only Golden Core strength he could not block the arrow.

He had schemed for ten thousand years, and now he was about to be ruined by a mere Nascent Soul Early Stage Cultivator? The Fire Phoenix Plume Arrow was only a few meters from him, heat rolling over his face as its pressure crushed the breath from his chest.

The air was thick with the smell of scorching.

If that arrow hit, he would not live, and he would never rise again.

The Great Devil roared in his heart: “No! No!” A cruel light flashed through his eyes, and he refused to let such shame take place.

As the ancient leader who once drove Devil Cultivators to shake the whole Cultivation World, he would not rely on only simple tricks. A strange glow lit his gaze as Divine Soul Power surged from him without end, pooling into a terrifying force.

It showed how perfectly he commanded his Divine Soul Power.

On any other day, he would never waste it like this. But now, to keep his life, he had no choice.

Shen Sang Ruo watched him without relaxing for a moment. Devil Cultivators were sly, and he was the Great Devil; until his last breath, she would not be at ease. She and the Snake Maiden sharpened their focus and guarded carefully.

Yet the instant her eyes met the Great Devil’s, her whole body locked up as if pinned in place, and she could not move at all.

The Great Devil shrieked with madness: “Today I will seize the Divine Soul Power! Want to kill me? Keep dreaming. Be Devoured obediently!”

Divine Soul Power surged with a huge wave, twisting space itself and halting the Fire Phoenix Plume Arrow just before it struck. The space trembled again and again.

[This is bad,] she thought, [but I have no way to struggle free.]

The Great Devil’s Divine Soul Power was too fierce and tyrannical to guard against. She had not expected he still had such a method after being sealed for so many years.

Fixed in place, Shen Sang Ruo felt a powerful force yank at her spirit, like invisible hands trying to pull her soul from her body. She understood at once what he wanted to do.

The Snake Maiden called out, voice tight with worry as she tried to rush over, but Shen Sang Ruo stopped her and snapped: “He is dragging at my soul. Do not come closer!”

If the Snake Maiden drew near, her soul might be torn out too.

The Snake Maiden halted, even more anxious, and asked, “Then what will you do?”

The Great Devil was skilled in soul arts. If Shen Sang Ruo faced him as a soul, she would not be his match. Even if she fought with all she had, she could not oppose a Great Devil burning his own soul.

Her soul was being pulled from her body bit by bit.

Seeing this, Shen Sang Ruo pressed down the panic in her chest and forced her mind to stay calm. She used her Divine Sense to open her Cosmos Pouch and drew out that cluster of Divine Soul Power.

[Since I cannot break free, then I will accept this fight. With this Divine Soul Power, I might be able to wrestle with him.]

[Who wins or loses is not certain yet.]

“Watch my body,” she told the Snake Maiden, then her body lost all strength and fell.

Her soul was yanked into a new space.

It was like a sea of consciousness, a place where souls could exist.

The Great Devil’s soul stood across from her. Without chains, he stared at her with greedy eyes, itching to strike. Not giving Shen Sang Ruo any time to react, he spread his hands, and several lashes of Divine Soul Power unfurled from behind him and whipped toward her: if they struck, they would slowly Devour her soul.

“I truly underestimated you,” the Great Devil said, voice like poison, “to force me, the head of Devil Cultivators, into Soul-Burning!”

Ten thousand years ago, a Nascent Soul Cultivator would have been beneath his notice. A finger would have crushed one. In this space built by Soul-Burning, souls could Devour each other, and only when one side was Devoured could anyone leave. This kind of Soul Method cost dearly, and he had not wanted the trouble. Shen Sang Ruo had forced him.

“Since you insist on ruining my plans,” he snarled, “then vanish from this world.”

Once a soul was Devoured, there would be no reincarnation.

Shen Sang Ruo’s heart jumped. [So he is the same Great Devil who threw the Cultivation World into chaos ten thousand years ago?] That put him on the level of Immortal Lord Chang Li and Daoist Wu Wei, which made this even more difficult.

She urged her own Divine Soul Power and flashed aside, dodging his strike. The cluster of Divine Soul Power she had brought floated at her hand. Without hesitating, she absorbed it completely.

Watching her, the Great Devil’s lips curled with mockery. “Your soul was strong to begin with. Do you think adding that will let you challenge me?” He gathered force for another blow and sneered, “You will make fine food for my recovery.”

After absorbing it, Shen Sang Ruo’s soul grew several times stronger. She looked straight at him, her face unreadable, and said, “All right. Come try to turn me into your food. You fell to Cultivators once before. This time, you will fall to me.”

That jab struck his sore spot. “What do you know?!”

His strange anger did not escape her notice. He spat, “Do you know what price they paid to seal me together? You think they got the better of me? Laughable! I am still alive. I did not lose. They lost.”

Her eyes flickered. It seemed those who sealed him had all died by his hand.

“And soon, you will be just like them!” he roared.

An even fiercer attack slammed toward her. It was like a black hole, sucking her and all the Divine Soul Power around her as if to Devour everything.

The pull nearly knocked her off balance, but she steadied herself with her own Divine Soul Power. Luckily, after absorbing that cluster, she now had a way to answer him.

She lifted her hand and copied the Great Devil’s motion, hurling out the same kind of force to cancel his blow. She tugged at the corner of her mouth and taunted, “So this is all you are.”

“You say you did not lose? You were sealed underground for ten thousand years like a dead dog on a leash. It took you ten thousand years to get your breath back, and now you are forced into Soul-Burning by me, a Nascent Soul Early Stage Cultivator. Maybe back then you were beaten until only a single wisp of soul was left. Well, at least there was one wisp. I guess you did not lose.”

She raised a brow and let the mockery bite deep.