In the nick of time, Perfected One Subduing-Spirits made the most correct response.
His pupils violently shrank, but he didn't attempt to dodge Hong Ju's full-powered strike. Instead, he channeled all four of his divine abilities, gathering them into a single breath upon the spiritual sword in his hand.
"Sever!"
The sword light roared. Among Great Perfected Ones at the late stage of Foundation Establishment, there were already very few who could block it. However, Hong Ju's stature at Foundation Establishment Perfection crushed everything in its path.
Instantly, a pillar of light crashed down from the sky, illuminating everything inner and outer heaven, dyeing the sea of clouds a crimson red. Simultaneously, it effortlessly shattered Perfected One Subduing-Spirits's sword light, striking him squarely in the face without the slightest deviation. Like swatting down a flying bird, it violently smashed him into the ground.
However, seeing this, Hong Ju let out a light exclamation of surprise.
"...He's not dead."
On the ground, dense cracks spread out like a spiderweb. At the very center was a blood-stained crater, and a person was crawling out of it.
It was precisely Perfected One Subduing-Spirits.
After crawling out of the deep crater, he didn't hesitate for a moment. In the blink of an eye, he fled deep into Gantang Channel, not even daring to cast a second glance at Hong Ju.
But Hong Ju didn't give chase either.
Not only did he not give chase, he even stopped the Master of Heaven-Mending Peak, who was itching to make a move. He muttered inwardly,
'This isn't right... how did he suddenly drop to the late stage of Foundation Establishment?'
His judgment could absolutely not be wrong. Just a split second before they clashed, the opponent still possessed the stature of Foundation Establishment Perfection. Yet, when he unleashed his full-powered strike, the opponent's stature plummeted. It was almost as if he was deliberately seeking death... God damn it, he wasn't here to run a scam, was he?
Hong Ju's eye twitched slightly.
It couldn't be helped; the Sword Pavilion had a history of this! They specialized in sending unimportant disciples to run scams, and when something happened, they would exaggerate the situation and use it as an excuse for extortion...
'No matter what, I cannot fall for this trick!'
At this moment, Hong Ju's thoughts were incredibly clear. After all, when it came down to it, he wasn't here to kill people. Reclaiming the Grotto-Heaven fragment of Gantang Channel was his true objective.
However, on the other side, Perfected One Subduing-Spirits wasn't nearly as calm.
'Shameless fiend!'
The sword light sped along. Perfected One Subduing-Spirits's eyes were bloodshot. At this moment, he had completely lost his reason. The rejoicing of having narrowly escaped death and sheer terror filled his eyes.
The heavens bore witness to his pitiful state. If he hadn't fully pushed the Life-Bound Divine Ability of his [Sword Edge Gold] Dao Foundation just now, using every ounce of his strength to sever all futures where he was beaten to death by Hong Ju, he probably would have been reduced to meat paste by now... It couldn't be helped; the gap between Foundation Establishment Perfection and the late stage of Foundation Establishment was simply that massive.
'This fiend has gone too far!'
In a flash of lightning, Perfected One Subduing-Spirits had already fled back to the Li clan's grounds. As a result, he bumped right into Perfected One Xiaohai, who was rushing over on a streak of light.
The other party looked bewildered, seeming as if he hadn't yet grasped the situation.
However, Perfected One Subduing-Spirits didn't hesitate for a moment. He raised his hand and unleashed a sword strike. The sword light roared and vanished in the blink of an eye, instantly decapitating Perfected One Xiaohai.
"Fellow Daoist, your destiny has arrived!"
Perfected One Subduing-Spirits wore an icy expression and said faintly, "I will borrow the qi and blood of your corpse to block the fiend for me. When I become a Perfected Lord in the future, I will take you in as a disciple."
Rumble!
Before his voice even faded, Perfected One Subduing-Spirits guided his sword incantation. He instantly hurled the recently deceased Perfected One Xiaohai behind him, intending to directly detonate the corpse.
However, a bizarre scene unfolded.
After Perfected One Xiaohai's corpse was detonated, not a single trace of qi and blood surged forth. Instead, a puff of green smoke drifted up, leaving Perfected One Subduing-Spirits stunned on the spot.
"What's going on?"
But the threat of a cultivator at Foundation Establishment Perfection was right beside him. Even if he had ten thousand questions in his heart, he couldn't afford to care about them now. He could only continue running for his life.
Precisely because of this, he completely failed to notice the eerie nature of that puff of green smoke. By the time he snapped back to reality, he was startled to feel a gust of sinister wind blowing over him. His Foundation Establishment dharma body, which should have been impervious to heat and cold, now suddenly radiated a chill. Blown by the sinister wind, he actually began to shiver slightly.
But while fleeing for his life, how could he dare overthink things?
Therefore, Perfected One Subduing-Spirits could only forcefully endure the discomfort and continue his rapid escape. He kept running until he reached the heartlands of Jiangnan, and only then did he finally breathe a sigh of relief.
Only then did he begin to examine himself.
'What's going on?'
'Could it be a soul attack from the Demon Sect?'
He first formed a Heart-Clearing Incantation, then drew his spiritual sword to guard his glabella and sea of consciousness. He used various methods for purifying the divine sense on himself one by one.
Actually, this series of countermeasures was already extremely appropriate.
Unfortunately, Perfected One Subduing-Spirits had already been struck by Chong Guang's [Heaven of Sovereign]. Inner demons were running rampant, his emotions were difficult to control, and killing Perfected One Xiaohai had resulted in him falling for a hidden trap.
To make matters worse, to flee for his life, he hadn't dealt with it immediately.
As a result, even though he appeared fine on the surface now, he was actually terminally ill. Both his soul and his sea of consciousness were shrouded in a layer of dark light.
"This person has entered my trap!"
In the distance, Chong Guang looked coldly at Perfected One Subduing-Spirits. Boundless black qi gathered in his hand, ultimately transforming into a ferocious ghost mask, which he easily held in his grasp.
Looking closely, that ghost mask was exactly the visage of Perfected One Subduing-Spirits. Right now, it was roaring in Chong Guang's hand. A dark light spread outward from the ghost mask, plunging into the clouds. Then, like a fishing line, it dropped from the sky, landing squarely on Perfected One Subduing-Spirits's glabella and hooking into his sea of consciousness.
[Overturn Mount Sumeru]!
The fifth inner demon divine ability possessed the wondrous power to annihilate the true self and destroy the Dao Heart. The drawback was that it could only be deployed after the inner demon had eroded the target to a certain extent.
However, once deployed, it meant victory was locked in!
'With this divine ability hooking into his life, it can be said that this person's life is entirely in my hands. Unless a Perfected Lord intervenes, no one can save him.'
Chong Guang felt satisfied inwardly and smiled coldly.
'I'll let you live for a few more days; it's not time to use you yet... Now that my inner demon has reached major accomplishment, there's no time to lose. I must go and summon Perfected Lord Chengtian Zhengde!'
With a slight shift in Chong Guang's thoughts, Perfected One Subduing-Spirits—whose mind had long been freely entered and exited by the inner demon—immediately generated the corresponding thought. Without hesitation, he pulled out a flying message, ignited it with spiritual power, and sent it toward Extreme Heaven Cliff. The content was simple: a plea for reinforcements from Perfected Lord Chengtian Zhengde.
In the distance, watching the flying message tear through the sky, Chong Guang took a deep breath, his eyes full of absolute resolve. 'Having reached this point, I have no way back.'
'If I don't succeed, I will die trying!'
He had also conducted an investigation into Perfected Lord Chengtian Zhengde.
Especially after Lu Yang personally stated that Perfected Lord Chengtian Zhengde was plagued by an inner demon, he had thoroughly reviewed the other party's entire life history.
For no other reason than to find the source of the inner demon.
And after his review, Chong Guang had drawn a conclusion: 'If Perfected Lord Chengtian Zhengde is truly plagued by an inner demon, then the source must inevitably be Nether Whisper of the Shaman Ghost Dao.'
The final Sect Master of the Shaman Ghost Dao, born in a minor sect, yet a heaven's favored child who sought the Golden Core in a single lifetime, rising suddenly to prominence and nearly causing Perfected Lord Chengtian Zhengde's efforts to fall short. No matter how you looked at it, he had a much higher hope of attaining the Golden Core than Perfected Lord Chengtian Zhengde. Yet, in the end, it was Perfected Lord Chengtian Zhengde whose skills proved superior.
'However, this wasn't because of his own abilities.'
'It was because of his background. At the very least, to ensure Perfected Lord Chengtian Zhengde could smoothly seek the Golden Core, the Sword Pavilion at the time definitely expended a massive amount of effort.'
Up to this point, there was actually nothing wrong.
After all, as a disciple of the Sword Pavilion, acting shamelessly right out in the open was a basic requirement. So what if he relied on his background? In the end, he was the one who had the last laugh.
However, what happened next wasn't right.
'After that, Perfected Lord Chengtian Zhengde unleashed a sword strike, annihilating the Shaman Ghost Dao... but he didn't completely kill Nether Whisper. He only sealed and suppressed him.'
'On the surface, it was because he had just broken through and didn't want to incur heaven's punishment for destroying earth veins... But he was already a Golden Core Perfected Lord. What's a mere heaven's punishment?'
'Furthermore, according to the Sword Pavilion's rules, a heaven's pride like Nether Whisper should have been killed immediately, sent to reincarnate, and then guided into the Sword Pavilion as a disciple... Yet, Perfected Lord Chengtian Zhengde didn't do this. Why? What was he afraid of? Was he worried that Patriarch Nether Whisper would continue to compete with him for his position in the future?'
Thinking of this, Chong Guang couldn't help but shake his head.
'He didn't dare kill Nether Whisper, didn't dare guide him into the Sword Pavilion, and didn't even dare let him walk the path of cultivation again after reincarnating. That is why he acted the way he did.'
This was the basis of his judgment.
After all, for a Sword Pavilion Perfected Lord to proactively violate the Sword Pavilion's rules to such an extent, there was no other logical explanation besides an inner demon.
In other words:
'If I want to trigger his inner demon and cause it to turn on him, the best method is undoubtedly to make him recall the terror Nether Whisper instilled in him back then!'