Chapter 974: The Identity of the Demon Lord?

"Sha Xin, you are the one who has been stubbornly deluded! Let me ask you this: after all these endless years of waiting, what exactly are we waiting for?" E Kui countered, holding his hand horizontally.

Sha Xin did not speak, her eyes fixed on E Kui, her brow solemn.

"You and I have been trapped in the Scale Void Realm for so many years. Your Puppet City and my Xuan City have been entangled in恩怨 for just as long. Now you come to me of your own accord, proposing that we join forces to enter this ancient ruin. Isn't your purpose the same as mine? Why bring up old grievances and deceive yourself?" E Kui sneered, continuing.

"Don't lump me together with you!" Sha Xin said, word by word.

"Sha Xin, for the sake of the past, I'll give you one more piece of advice. The Demon Lord's corpse is right before us. If you and I split it evenly, our respective paths to the Great Dao will be promising. Then leaving this cage of the Scale Void Realm will be a breeze. Once we reach the Demon Domain or the Immortal Realm, we'll have the freedom of birds flying high in the sky." E Kui laughed loudly.

"Demon Lord..."

Han Li's gaze involuntarily turned again toward the crystal coffin floating on the surface of the blood-colored lake.

At this moment, he was almost certain that the demon corpse in the crystal coffin was what they called the 'Sacred Remains.' But why did E Kui refer to it as 'Demon Lord'?

With this thought, he couldn't help but think of the Crab Immortal, who seemed to have an unclear relationship with the Scale Void Realm.

Or perhaps this 'Demon Lord' was the former master of the Crab Immortal?

"Fellow Daoist Crab, are you here?" Han Li tried to communicate via divine sense, but there was no response.

Just then, Sha Xin's voice rang out.

"Do you think I sought your alliance this time for the same base purpose as yours? You're sorely mistaken. To tell you the truth, I've found a way to revive our master." Sha Xin scoffed.

"Heh, revive? It seems you're still lost in a dream... Back then, the Demon Lord failed in his Dao integration and perished, leaving only this corpse. There's no possibility of revival. Otherwise, would this great ruin have lain dormant for so many years? I wish the Demon Lord hadn't died, so I wouldn't have been trapped here all these years! I advise you not to be stubborn and engage in futile acts." A flicker of mockery flashed across E Kui's face.

"You ungrateful wretch! If not for your betrayal, when our master was at the critical moment of Dao integration, you brought in the Demon Sovereign to interfere. Our master would surely have succeeded in integrating the Dao and advanced to the Dao Ancestor realm." Sha Xin cursed angrily.

"Hmph... You know nothing. Even without the Demon Sovereign's interference back then, he wouldn't have succeeded." E Kui snorted coldly.

"Our master was exceptionally brilliant. How could you possibly know his methods and abilities? Without our master's nurturing back then, you would have long turned to dust in some filthy place. And now you dare to call him 'Demon Lord' without even addressing him as 'master'?" Sha Xin rebuked.

"Enough! He taught me the cultivation method back then only because he saw my talent and wanted to train a thug for himself. I'm not like you, content to be a pawn manipulated at will. But back then, I chose Xuan cultivation and you chose Puppet Dao—it was fated. You were destined to be the Demon Lord's puppet for life, unable to break free even after his death for so many years." E Kui roared, interrupting Sha Xin's rebuke.

"No matter what you say, you won't get our master's corpse to satisfy your selfish desires this time. Once I revive him, he will personally settle the score of your betrayal back then." Sha Xin suppressed her anger, her expression gradually calming.

Hearing this, E Kui glanced at Shi Chuankong lying at his feet and smiled:

"You don't have the royal bloodline of the demon clan, so you probably can't even open that crystal coffin, right? I have a genuine prince here. If you're willing to cooperate with me, we can both benefit. Otherwise, we'll just have to stare at this treasure mountain and neither of us can enter."

"City Lord E, you're mistaken. Our Sacred Clan's bloodline is rare, but not only the Thirteenth Prince possesses it. Mine is actually even purer." Before Sha Xin could answer, a tall figure in a hooded cloak suddenly emerged from behind her, laughing loudly.

As he spoke, he removed his hood, revealing long white hair. His features were ordinary but carried a unique temperament, and his rare deep purple pupils glimmered with light.

Han Li's gaze swept over, his brow slightly furrowing as he recognized the man as the First Prince, Shi Zhanfeng.

Seeing this, E Kui's expression finally changed, a grimace appearing on his face as he gritted his teeth:

"I've advised you earnestly and done my utmost. Since you're still not giving up, we'll have to fight to the bitter end."

With that, he stomped his feet, causing the entire underground space to tremble violently and the blood lake to ripple greatly.

E Kui's figure turned into a wisp of smoke and vanished, only to reappear behind Shi Zhanfeng in the next instant. He suddenly reached out a hand, his five fingers like hooks, grabbing at Shi Zhanfeng's head.

Shi Zhanfeng's eyes flickered as he sensed the danger, but his body reacted a step too slow. He wanted to dodge but couldn't.

Just as his fingertips were about to pierce his skull, a white bone spear suddenly thrust from the side, striking E Kui's wrist with a 'zheng' sound.

Shi Chuankong caught a glimpse from the corner of his eye: Kun Yu, eyes wide with fury, was holding a white bone spear shimmering with starlight, thrusting from the side.

The spear's shaft bent like a crescent moon, but it only pushed E Kui's hand aside by an inch, barely avoiding Shi Zhanfeng's head. The resulting gust of wind, however, left several striking blood marks on his handsome face.

Seizing the opening, Shi Zhanfeng crouched low, kicked off the ground, and surged forward, drawing a white three-edged bone sword from his hand. Its star apertures blazed brightly as he thrust it straight at E Kui's abdomen.

E Kui withdrew his wrist, deflecting the bone spear while suddenly raising his knee, directly blocking the three-edged bone sword with his kneecap.

Dense apertures on his leg lit up, and a hazy white light covered it like armor, blocking the sword's tip. Despite the frantic flashing of its star apertures, it couldn't penetrate even a fraction.

"Looking for death!" E Kui snorted, kicking out sharply.

A ball of solid white light exploded from his toe, heading straight for Shi Zhanfeng's face.

Seeing the danger, the latter didn't retreat but instead thrust his sword forward, using the rebound force to suddenly leap back, creating a gap of nearly a hundred zhang.

However, fast as he retreated, he was no match for E Kui, who caught up before he could steady himself.

E Kui was clearly eager to eliminate Shi Zhanfeng. In the instant of closing in, he twisted his waist, causing his entire spine to undulate like a dragon emerging from the sea, emitting thunderous sounds.

The muscles on his right arm bulged, layers of white starlight burst forth, and an explosive force surged from his fist.

Before the fist arrived, Shi Zhanfeng's expression changed drastically. He felt his breathing become difficult, the surrounding void seemed to distort, making his movements extremely difficult.

Watching this, Han Li was horrified. E Kui had suffered such severe injuries not long ago, yet in such a short time, he had recovered to this extent?

Even he, in his current state, was not confident he could withstand this blow.

Just then, a sudden change occurred!

With a series of explosions, twelve metal spheres around E Kui simultaneously emitted dazzling light.

Then, twelve star-spangled bone-armored puppets emerged from them, each holding a white bone chain with a curved blade at the tip, and they all threw them out at once.

The twelve white bone chains turned into streaks of white rainbow, crisscrossing through the air, descending like a spider web.

Seeing this, E Kui changed the direction of his fist, swinging it upward.

A patch of white starlight exploded from his fist, as if opening a brilliant starry sky. Dazzling streams of light surged upward, colliding with the net woven from bone chains.

At that moment, all the star apertures on the bone chain net suddenly flashed, no longer spewing stellar force but turning into small whirlpools, emitting a powerful devouring force.

The starlight radiance from E Kui's punch was absorbed like flowing water, completely losing its power.

"This is..." Before he could finish his surprise, the bone chain net had completely descended.

"Formation!"

A sharp cry rang out. The twelve bone-armored puppets simultaneously formed hand seals, their footwork changing in unison, instantly completing the formation.

A flash of silver lightning passed over the bone chain net, forming a silver thunderball that trapped E Kui inside.

Hearing this, Han Li frowned and looked over. He saw the black-veiled woman called 'Xiao Zi' by Sha Xin sitting cross-legged on the ground, with a black stone formation plate before her, on which lay twelve white chess pieces.

Controlling twelve puppets simultaneously to cast spells and set up a formation was no simple task, yet the one doing it was not Sha Xin but her!

Kun Yu, holding the bone spear, stood nearby, guarding her.

As Han Li marveled, he heard E Kui sneer: "Do you think this crude formation can trap me, E Kui?"

With that, the apertures on his body blazed brightly, and he raised his fist to smash against the bone chains and lightning net enveloping him.

A thunderous roar!

As the starlight on his fist just began to bloom, the devouring force on the bone chains reappeared, absorbing most of the power he released.

At the same time, a surge of silver lightning erupted from the net, striking E Kui and sending sparks flying.

After the lightning passed, the bone chain formation remained intact, but on the twelve puppets, fine cracks barely visible to the naked eye appeared simultaneously.

And 'Xiao Zi,' controlling the formation, trembled violently, clearly under great pressure.

"This formation naturally cannot trap you forever, but trapping you for a while is enough." Sha Xin glanced at Xiao Zi and said expressionlessly.

With that, she exchanged a glance with Shi Zhanfeng, and the two leaped from the shore one after another, reaching the center of the blood lake in a few bounds.