Hell Emperor.

Chapter 576 Xiang Liu
The Cave of Ten Thousand Snakes.

"Damn it... How could Xuanwu be so powerful?"

The once-mighty Serpent Envoy is now in a sorry state. Under the powerful and heavy attack of Xuanwu, his famous Taoist techniques are broken one by one, and he is in a deep disadvantage, unable to even launch an effective counterattack.

"Capture without mercy!"

The deep, resonant sound of Xuanwu, like a great bell, emanated from the top of the snake-shaped envoy's head, revealing the majesty of the divine beast.

The earth trembled continuously, and the violent immortal energy spread along the ground, leaving a raised mark on the ground. The immortal energy rushed straight towards the serpentine envoy and then completely erupted beneath his feet.

"not good……"

The serpentine figure sensed something was wrong, but it was too late. The ground suddenly cracked open, and a sharp spike shot out.

The earth spike pierced the serpentine envoy's chest, its momentum undiminished. Amidst the serpentine envoy's vomiting blood and screams of pain, it pierced through his body, extending all the way until it sent him thousands of feet into the air.

From afar, the earth spike, which was a thousand feet in size, transformed into a majestic mountain. The mountain peak disappeared into the clouds and mist, and at the very top of the mountain was the place where the snake-shaped object was pierced.

Having captured the serpentine envoy in one fell swoop, Xuanwu couldn't help but breathe a sigh of relief. What reassured him even more was the familiar aura emanating from afar.

Looking up, a figure holding a precious umbrella, exuding wealth and majesty, emerged from the clouds. Further away, a celestial being held the Seven Star Divine Sword, while a fairy gently played an ancient zither; their auras, revealed in a single moment, were enough to shake the entire continent.

Seeing the powerful reinforcements arriving from afar, Xuanwu had no more worries: "The Heavenly King Duowen, the Demon-Subduing Heavenly Venerable, and the Falling Star Fairy of the Xuan Nu Sect. The most powerful forces in the entire continent are now gathered here. Even if the Demon God were to return, he wouldn't be able to cause any trouble. The Serpent Envoy's conspiracy has finally been thwarted!"

With the arrival of many powerful immortal masters, the fairy named Luo Xing, with a face as cold as frost, glanced at Xuanwu, her eyes revealing a hint of disgust:

"Xuanwu, you have allowed your offspring to commit all sorts of evil deeds, and now they have even gone so far as to resurrect a demon god, which is a defiance of the Heavenly Dao. You have already crossed the bottom line of the Heavenly Dao. What should your punishment be?"

Sensing the chilling killing intent that could kill him, Xuanwu knew this person was difficult to deal with, and said in a deep voice: "This matter is due to my negligence in supervision, which led my offspring astray. I hope Fairy Luoxing will forgive me."

Beside him, the Demon-Slaying Celestial Venerable spoke calmly: "Since things have come to this, it is best to eliminate the threat as soon as possible. Xuanwu promptly informed us after discovering the anomaly, and fortunately, no major disaster occurred. This can be considered a great achievement. Let's forget about the punishment."

Fairy Falling Star had no intention of letting the matter rest easily: "The disaster has already been caused. In order to resurrect the Demon God, countless immortal sects have suffered terribly. Just because he reported it in time, does that mean he can be exempted from punishment? Don't be biased towards Xuanwu just because you have a past relationship with him. This matter will not be left like this. He must give an explanation to all living beings on the continent!"

Xuanwu looked regretful; he could naturally sense the coldness that Fairy Luoxing was directed at him.

Among immortals, there is never a monolithic alliance. Even those who serve in the same Heavenly Court have their own agendas and must consider their own faction no matter what they do.

The Falling Star Fairy belongs to the Mysterious Maiden Sect and is not on the same path as the Demon-Slaying Heavenly Venerable. Although they both reside in the Northern Continent, there is a saying that two tigers cannot share one mountain. As long as the power of the other faction is weakened, the power of one faction will increase.

At this moment, although three renowned immortal masters from across the continent had arrived, Xuanwu still had a question mark in his mind about how much strength they could actually exert under the mutual checks and balances.

Seeing this, the kind-hearted Xuanwu simply said, "I will accept whatever punishment comes after this is over. As the guardian beast of the continent, I failed to protect the creatures of this place and instead allowed my descendants to continue to do evil. I cannot escape my blame. But the most important thing now is to destroy the evil ritual set up by the serpent envoy."

Following Xuanwu's direction, everyone's gaze fell upon the snake-shaped envoy, who had been pierced by the peak and was unable to move.

Amazingly, despite suffering such severe injuries, with a large gash in his chest and almost no blood left, the serpentine warrior did not die. Instead, he struggled and persevered, demonstrating his remarkable resilience.

"This person is a beast-form envoy from the West who instigated the descendants of Xuanwu to resurrect the demon god. He clearly has ill intentions and is the mastermind behind this matter. Therefore, kill him on the spot to uphold the justice of Heaven!" the Demon-Slaying Heavenly Venerable decided.

"Wait a minute, this is just your opinion. We need to find out exactly how much fault Xuanwu has in this matter. We should take this person back and interrogate him thoroughly. Perhaps we can get some other useful information out of him. We must not harm his life."

Fairy Falling Star didn't think that way. Did she want to pin all the blame on the Serpent Envoy and absolve Xuanwu of all responsibility? No way!

Xuanwu was sweating profusely, unsure how long the argument would last before a conclusion was reached on how to deal with the snake-like creature.

Vaisravana remained calm, his body adorned with dazzling treasures, and he paid no heed to the argument between the two.

"Hahaha……"

As the crowd argued, a boastful laugh suddenly came from afar, filled with contempt and disdain.

The Falling Star Fairy glanced at the source of the strange laugh, and saw that it was the snake-shaped envoy who was unable to move in the distance. She looked displeased and asked, "What are you laughing at? What's so funny?"

"I laugh at you for being so oblivious to your impending doom!"

The serpentine voice was sinister, carrying a chilling undertone, and the content of his words elicited various reactions from the crowd.

Below, a deep, furious roar rose into the sky. The sound was so ferocious that it contained ancient hatred. Anyone who heard it felt boundless pain in their ears, and blood would seep out.

"That aura..."

Sensing that ancient and powerful aura, the immortals' expressions changed slightly. The appearance of this aura also told them something: the demon god who had once established a great reputation had now been resurrected right under their noses.

"Foolish people, even when disaster is imminent, are still fighting amongst themselves. Immortals like you will only end up as..."

Before the Serpent Envoy could finish speaking, the Seven Star Sword of the Demon-Slaying Heavenly Venerable swept across, its light like a startled swan across the sky, slaying him instantly. This time, even Fairy Falling Star understood that things were beyond her control and refrained from further action. Instead, she turned her solemn gaze to the end of Serpent Valley, where, along with that aura came the mournful cry of Xuanwu.

A cold wind howled, and a chilling aura filled the air. From inside the coffin made of golden nanmu wood, a reddish-brown figure darted out.

Upon landing, the figure began to expand rapidly. In just a few breaths, its size surged to a level comparable to that of the Black Tortoise. Even the earth could not bear its weight, and cracks continued to spread.

The red and black stripes made its skin appear murky and dark. Its body was intertwined and, upon closer inspection, it had nine snake heads. Each head was slightly different in detail, but they all had one thing in common: every head exuded a ferocious light that seemed ready to devour its prey.

The first to suffer was Xuanwu, which was closest to it.

The two figures clashed, but in an instant, the outcome was clear.

Under the tearing and biting of the nine snake heads, Xuanwu's body was torn apart by blood and flesh. Its exposed limbs could not stop its bites, and in just the blink of an eye, a large amount of flesh and blood was lost.

Xuanwu's desperate struggles not only failed to achieve their goal, but also plunged it into an inescapable predicament. Xuanwu's counter-bite tore through the monster's skin, but it was splattered with the foul blood inside.

With a piercing hiss, the thick skin of the Black Tortoise was instantly corroded away by the filthy blood, revealing the stark white bones beneath. Even its incredibly thick shell, which had withstood countless attacks, was not spared, rapidly dissolving under the corrosive blood and eventually being completely overturned.

"stop!"

Upon seeing this, the Demon-Subduing Celestial was immediately enraged. He swept his Seven Star Sword across the area, bringing with it a magnificent sword light like a crescent moon, intending to kill it on the spot.

Facing the sword light of the Demon-Slaying Celestial, the monster showed no fear whatsoever, as if what was approaching was not some sword intent that could shatter ten thousand demons, but just an ordinary attack.

With a slight exertion of its energy, the red and black scales all over its body stood up. The sword light struck them, but only left a tiny, insignificant mark, not even a superficial wound.

The Demon-Subduing Celestial Venerable looked grave and was about to intervene to save Xuanwu, but he was a step too late.

A mournful cry that resounded through the heavens was heard. The snake's head and the turtle's head were completely bitten off and fell to the ground. The aura of Xuanwu dissipated little by little. A generation of sacred beasts had fallen. Among the remains of the sacred beast, only the ferocious figure stood there. It raised its nine heads and let out a roar that shook the heavens and the earth, announcing its return to the whole world.

"Is that the Demon God Xiang Liu? Hundreds of years ago, it clearly didn't have this strength, so how did it reach the peak of the seventh level now?"

Sensing the ferocious aura emanating from Xiang Liu, even Fairy Luo Xing finally lost her initial composure.

When she first heard about the conspiracy of the Ten Thousand Serpent Cave, she didn't take it to heart at all, and was too lazy to deal with it, simply letting the others in the sect handle it.

The name of the demon god might fool a newly enlightened immortal, but don't think you can fool her who has lived for thousands of years. She has seen Xiang Liu hundreds of years ago, but he was still beheaded in the end.
Now that Xiang Liu has been resurrected after going through countless hardships, it's hard to say that he has even one-tenth of his original strength. Logically speaking, he shouldn't be able to cause any trouble at all. She could easily deal with him. On the contrary, she must get the credit for defeating the demon god, as that is a great achievement that even the Heavenly Court recognizes.

Even though she sensed something amiss with the ritual below after arriving here, she wasn't in a hurry. She was just waiting for Xiang Liu to be resurrected so she could kill him with swift and decisive action, thus adding to her own achievements.

Unexpectedly, when Xiangliu was truly resurrected, Fairy Luoxing realized that something was wrong. How could Xiangliu's strength be stronger than before, and by such a large margin? It was a world of difference. Could it be that it hadn't perished at all during this period, but instead had been hiding away and cultivating day and night? But even if it had been cultivating day and night, its progress in cultivation shouldn't have been this fast!
Not only Fairy Falling Star, but the other immortal masters also had the same idea. No one thought that the achievement of slaying the demon god was too great. However, the course of events was completely beyond their expectations.

What exactly is it that has caused such a dramatic change in Xiang Liu, giving him his current strength?
Before anyone could think further, Xiang Liu had already turned his gaze to them.

Xiang Liu took a deep breath, and from the huge snake mouth spewed out thick, foul blood. The foul blood exuded a rotten aura that devoured everything. Just a drop was enough to corrupt towering mountains and pollute the entire ocean!

"careful!"

Seeing that the situation was dire, and that even Xuanwu had fallen into Xiangliu's hands, the Heavenly King Duowen realized that if they continued to fight separately, it wouldn't just be these few people who would suffer; all living beings on the entire continent would be plunged into a deep calamity due to Xiangliu's unstoppable power.

A precious umbrella soared into the sky, expanding continuously before the crowd. Its outer surface radiated a magnificent golden light, and it began to rotate at a steady pace, blocking the approaching filthy blood.

This precious umbrella is the natal magic weapon of the Heavenly King Vaishravana. It has been refined by him for an unknown period of time. Even immortals who are a realm higher than him would find it difficult to break through this precious umbrella, which shows its formidable defensive power.

This time, however, the precious umbrella completely lost its power. A series of ear-piercing corrosive sounds emanated from the umbrella of Vaishravana, whose precious umbrella, which he had painstakingly refined for a thousand years and was capable of blocking all attacks, was now rapidly decaying from the surface.

At first, there were just a few pale holes, but more and more holes appeared, eventually merging together until the entire umbrella surface suffered irreparable damage.

"how come……"

Vaisravana's expression changed slightly. The damage to the parasol brought him not only the heartache of the broken artifact, but more importantly, a deep sense of self-reproach for being unable to stop Xiangliu.

The strength of the Heavenly King Duowen is on par with the other immortal masters, standing at the pinnacle of the entire continent. Looking across the world, it is probably impossible to find anyone stronger. Even he could not stop the awakened demon god, so who else could save everything?
"Things are getting a bit tricky..."

The Demon-Subduing Celestial Venerable's expression changed slightly; Xiang Liu's current strength had far exceeded everyone's expectations.
"With Xiang Liu's current strength, no one but a saint can defeat him. If we fight him one by one, he will only defeat us one by one. Only by working together can we have a chance of winning. We cannot retreat. Once we are defeated, no one in the entire continent will be able to resist him, and there will inevitably be widespread suffering."

"Right on my mind."

Fairy Luoxing also understood the seriousness of the matter. Now was not the time for internal strife. With Xiangliu's overwhelming demonic power, a catastrophe was bound to be triggered, and no one would be able to escape it: "I have already sent a message to the people in the Xuan Nu Sect. The rest of the sect will come to support us soon."

The Demon-Subduing Celestial Venerable nodded slightly. He also issued an order, commanding all his subordinates to rush to this place and, no matter the cost, to kill the Demon God Xiang Liu here, so that it would not be allowed to harm other creatures on the continent.

Xiangliu had no idea what the people above it were planning. Since returning from the endless dark winter, its eyes had been completely filled with killing intent. It wanted to vent the pain it had suffered over the years and would not stop until it had devoured all the living beings on the entire continent!
(End of this chapter)