Despite the fearsome sight, I refused to give up. Xiao Huo Long caught Mystic Demonic Divine with a fiery dragon breath from behind, forcing him to turn around and cleave apart the flames. Then I darted forward, using Flowing River Clear Sword to cut him apart while evading his retaliation with his Hades. He slashed and cut through the courtyard, reducing the area to rubble, but I managed to evade his strikes while landing a few freezing ones that did little more than leaving patches of ice across his massive body.
"Irritating brat," he snarled and swatted me aside. I managed to parry the blow and was sent skidding away, but somehow, I remained standing. Exhaling, I looked up just in time to see Mystic Demonic Divine divide himself into two. "Mystic Demonic Illusion!"
The two Mystic Demonic Divines assaulted my position, and to my amazement, I realized that both were physical forms, the destruction they were wreaking real and unavoidable. The guy wasn't just using an illusion technique, he literally cloned himself.
Fortunately, if he wanted to play the game of numbers, he was matched against the wrong opponent. While he continued to assail my position, his clone was caught by my Titan Golem and flung aside by a devastating punch. Before he could get up, my Emperor Crab crushed his dissipating form with his Crab Hammer attack, turning him into nothing but fading miasma.
However, that left the second – and presumably real – Mystic Demonic Divine. Xiao Huo managed to stab him in the back with her nine tails, but he cleaved through the flaming tails with his Hades, forcing her to retreat. At the same instance, he spun around and struck me with his spear, hurling me aside despite my best attempts to parry with my crossed swords.
I had the wind knocked out of me, but somehow I managed to flip myself and land on my feet in front of a tower. Then I dove to the side when his massive figure crashed into my position, and with a single sweep of Hades, he demolished the tower behind me, sending hapless dwarves tumbling down their fortification.
Ignoring the poor dwarves who were buried by the debris, he turned to focus on me. Fortunately, my Phantom Stumps, Ghost Pumpkins, Twig Turtles and Mud Fishes hurried over to throw the debris away, along with my Colossal Crabs and King Crabs, rescuing the buried dwarves. Not registering them as a threat, Mystic Demonic Divine kept his eyes on me as I righted myself and reformed my stance.
"Did you think you won simply because you destroyed my heart?" He asked, amused.
"Normally, yeah. But it seems like common sense doesn't apply to you." I rubbed my forehead and sighed wearily, being careful not to accidentally cut myself with my sword. Mystic Demonic Divine chuckled.
"This is my eighth level of Mystic Demonic Combat. It grants me an immortal body. My Mystic Demonic Combat is invincible! There is no way you can defeat me!"
"We'll see about that," I muttered, still keeping my distance. If what he said was true, then I couldn't just recklessly charge in and attack him. It would leave me vulnerable to a counter. The guy could clearly take what seemed like fatal hits and keep going. A chill ran down my spine, but I suppressed the despair welling up in my chest.
"Go ahead and try me then!" Mystic Demonic Divine beckoned me over, but I simply raised an eyebrow. Did he really think I would fall for such cheap provocation? I wasn't some hotheaded cultivation story protagonist who charged in and attacked just because someone mocked or insulted me.
Instead, I continued to keep my distance and watch my opponent warily. From what I could hear, the were-beasts were slowly making their way to our side, having routed the enemy's rearguard and were killing a route toward the dwarven fortress. I had informed the dwarves not to fire upon our allies, so they were aware of the were-beast reinforcements.
As long as Lionel Jonson could reach me, perhaps we could combine forces to defeat Mystic Demonic Divine. I didn't buy into his claims that he was immortal or invincible. The more experienced and wiser Lionel might know the trick to Mystic Demonic Divine's skills and abilities.
Unfortunately, Mystic Demonic Divine wasn't stupid either. He could roughly figure out my plans and he was also aware that his Mystic Demon Sect was on the verge of being annihilated. He could hear the shrieks and screams from his men as they were being slaughtered by the vengeful were-beasts outside, the latter vowing to exact revenge for their brethren who were captured and horrifically experimented on by the sadistic demonic cultivators. I wasn't sure if he knew about Lionel or that there was another Earth ranked cultivator among the were-beasts, but he clearly wasn't taking any chances.
And such, he sprang forward once more, determined to cut me down.
"Well, if you're not coming to me, then I'll go to you!"
With a raucous laugh, he swung his spear and tried to cleave me in half, but I darted to the side and avoided the blow that left a massive furrow in the ground. I countered with an attack on his flank, but he brought a gauntleted arm to parry my first strike. My second sword stabbed into his collarbone as he shifted his head to avoid it, and despite Azure Frost piercing through the bone and into his throat, he seemed all right.
"I told you that I'm immortal!"
With a laugh, he hammered me with his spear, only for my Emperor Crab to intervene and catch Hades with his pincer. Mystic Demonic Divine's mirth turned into annoyance as he tried to yank his spirit weapon away, but he was unable to avoid Xiao Huo's nine tails that stabbed him from behind. While he snarled in pain and fury, Xiao Huo Long swooped from above and raked his chest with blazing Dragon Claws, almost ripping his body into shreds.
Mystic Demonic Divine bellowed and unleashed another blast of corrosive miasma that forced all three Earth ranked spirit beasts away. He staggered, hideous wounds visible on his crumbling body, but his vitality remained as potent as ever. Despite the colossal amount of damage that he had taken, he didn't appear to be on death's door.
"Good heavens, just what do we need to do to kill him?" I muttered, shaking my head.
"I'll admit, I didn't think I would be pushed to this extent by a young brat like you," Mystic Demonic Divine growled as he turned his glowing eyes toward me. "I was saving the secret of my eighth level of Mystic Demonic Combat for a much worthier opponent…Lie Yang of the Blazing Sun Sect. I was going to deal with him using this tactic, but you actually forced my hand."
"Lie Yang? One of the two other Supreme Evils?" I murmured, having heard of the name before. Unlike most other demonic cultivators, Lie Yang was known more for his valor and honor, and he wasn't a cruel mass murderer unlike the other two. His sect had committed atrocities, especially when working in conjunction with the Moon Shadow Sect, but Lie Yang never massacred the orthodox cultivators when he didn't need to.
Apparently, he had been an orthodox cultivator in the past, but there were rumors that he had been seduced by a beautiful demonic cultivator, and he had defected to join her. He was an equally imposing figure in the cultivation world, known for his fiery skills and absolute strength. He was supposed to be the equal of Mystic Demonic Divine, and they were known to be fierce rivals.
"That's right. Lie Yang is the only one I view as my true rival! All other cultivators are trash in my eyes!" Mystic Demonic Divine chortled. He then leered at me. "But I didn't think the younger generation could produce such prodigies like you! Perhaps you might be able to surpass me in twenty years…no, a decade. It's a pity, but I'll have to root you out before you can blossom fully."
Speaking of roots, he found himself whacked by Da Shu. My Elder Tree Revenant had joined the fray as well, his thick branches slamming down on Mystic Demonic Divine before he was hammered by wood. Mystic Demonic Divine retaliated with a fierce thrust of his Hades, only for the blade to be deflected by a thick shell. Da Hai whirled around and pummeled him with a smack, and then he washed the demonic cultivator away with hydro torrents.
The leader of the Mystic Demon Sect emerged from the flood, drenched but otherwise unscathed. He snarled, only for a freezing beam to hit him and encased him in ice. Xiao Ke had come ashore too, the Shell Loch Lord conjuring a blizzard and turning everything around Mystic Demonic Divine into ice.
However, Mystic Demonic Divine wasn't known as the top demonic cultivator for nothing. He managed to break free of the glacial storm with several swings of his Hades, panting as he trudged forward. Most of his body was still frozen, trapped in ice, but he didn't seem too badly hurt.
Fortunately, his movements had slowed to a crawl and his qi circulation was clogged. He winced, exerting more of his miasma to destroy the ice that was hindering him, but it appeared that he was expending more energy than he had anticipated.
Da Hai brought his paws down on Mystic Demonic Divine, who shifted his head a bit so that the attack crunched into his shoulders. He scoffed and struck Da Hai with his Hades, but the lance failed to pierce through the Mega Blast Tortoise's thick shell. He then whirled around, kicking Da Hai away while simultaneously parrying Xiao Huo's tails. Eight of them stabbed into his body, throwing up more blood, but he parried the one that was headed right toward his…head.
With a roar, he swatted Xiao Huo away, but the nine tailed Fire Fox succeeded in landing on all fours nimbly, even generating nine fireballs that bombarded him. Mystic Demonic Divine laughed as he allowed the fiery projectiles to crash into his body, and despite the ferocious detonations that incinerated everything in his proximity, he remained standing. In fact, he reveled in the heat, using it to cauterize his bleeding wounds.
Did he feel no pain?
I noticed that the highest fireball didn't connect, though, Mystic Demonic Divine having shifted his head slightly to allow it to sail past him. I narrowed my eyes and suddenly, everything clicked.
"I already told you, I'm immortal!" Mystic Demonic Divine yelled as he swiped his Hades at Xiao Huo Long, who caught the spear with his dragon claws. He managed to twirl his spirit weapon about and knocked aside my Emperor Crab's pincer before taking a solid blow from Da Shu.
A blast of miasma knocked aside the three of them before Xiao Ke froze Mystic Demonic Divine. He flexed his muscles, making use of his demonic qi to shatter the ice, but it was clear that he was running out of spiritual energy. He frowned and shook his head, realizing that no matter how immortal he was, if he ran out of qi, he would lose that immortality too.
But he wasn't going to turn this into a race between who would expend all of their qi first. He turned to glare at me, but I had already sheathed Azure Dragon. Instead, I continued to hold Azure Frost in my right hand while drawing my bow.
"Oh?" Mystic Demonic Divine scoffed. "You're switching to ranged attacks now that your sword techniques don't work against me? It's useless! No matter what you use, you can't kill me!"
I ignored him, instead allowing Da Hai to blast him with another hydro torrent. Though he cleaved the highly pressurized jets of water apart with Hades, he was still drenched – and Xiao Ke capitalized on that by freezing him once more. With a roar, he shattered the ice with another flex of his demonic qi.
However, even he required several seconds to break the ice apart, especially with his dwindling amount of qi. And a few seconds were all I needed.
Releasing Azure Frost in my right hand, I aimed right for his head. Even though the leader of the Mystic Demon Sect had claimed that he was immortal and had endured lethal damage that would have killed any other Earth ranked cultivator several times over, I had noticed him avoiding direct hits to his head.
There could only be one reason. His head was his weak point.
Mystic Demonic Divine had just barely emerged from the ice when my Azure Frost hit him full on in the head, exploding into a freezing nova that mushroomed upward. I was momentarily blinded by the azure flash of light that filled the entire courtyard, the lenses of my glasses automatically darkening to protect my eyes. When the filter lifted, allowing me full visibility, I saw that Mystic Demonic Divine was down.
No, to be more accurate, his massive body was still there, but it was slowly crumbling away, turning into wisps of dissipating demonic qi. Instead, his real body had been blasted out of his head by my most powerful arrow and lay several meters away. An infant-sized body with an unusually huge head and grotesque proportions, he convulsed as ice continued to spread across his mishappen body.
"That's the real form of Mystic Demonic Divine?" I asked.
"Yeah," Xiao Huo replied, having turned into her human form now that the battle appeared to be over. She dropped to my side in a kneel, as if awaiting orders, but her eyes were fixed on what appeared to be our most formidable foe yet. "Unbelievable…it appears that this Mystic Demonic Divine has reached the early stages of the Nascent Infant (also known as Nascent Soul) Realm."
"The…what now?" I asked incredulously, though I was sure I had vaguely read it somewhere in the hundreds of cultivation stories flying all over the Internet.
"The Nascent Soul Realm," Xiao Huo repeated. "It's a stage where the cultivator is able to shrink his body to the size of an infant, thus allowing him to obtain an immortal body."
"Immortal…no wonder." I gulped as I studied his infant-sized true body, half-expecting him to get up despite suffering such a grievous injury.
This wasn't over yet…