Chapter 563 VS The Great Demon of Disaster 1
I soared into the sky, my body seemingly transforming into a real sun, its "sunlight" illuminating an area spanning tens of kilometers centered on me. The afterlife, forever shrouded in darkness, seemed to have finally ushered in daylight.
Along with the flames, an endless sea of fire spread into the distance. This wasn't an attack; I simply transformed the area I was in into my own domain. The sea of fire would turn everything, including the air and soil, into fuel, nourishing my body and soul. In this process, since I couldn't possibly include the Great Demon of Calamity on my whitelist, it would naturally also be affected.
Ordinary people, even demon hunters, or even demigods at the peak of their cultivation, would all be reduced to ashes in this destructive sea of fire. However, when this sea of fire is placed on the Great Demon of Calamity, it's at most like soaking it in scalding bathwater. Apart from discomfort and pain, it probably won't feel any negative effects.
As if provoked, the Great Demon of Calamity let out a roar like that of an ancient monster, and then charged towards me at a speed of more than a thousand times the speed of sound, traversing the sea of fire.
I don't know if the other person feels the same way I do, but I have a strong urge to compete with this being who is like another version of myself. This is partly because the other person hurt Mazao and chased after Xiaowan in the past, and I also want to avenge my two companions.
So even when I saw the other party charging towards me with great fanfare, I had no intention of avoiding their attack. Instead, I pushed my speed to its maximum and rammed into them head-on.
Over there stood a black flame demon god fifty or sixty meters tall, while over here was a humanoid figure of light, only about 1.7 meters tall—the contrast in size was stark, as were the contrasts in color. At first glance, it seemed as if the forces of light were clashing with the forces of darkness, reminiscent of classic fantasy tales. But what was the reality?
If it is a "solar eclipse", then I am the "solar corona".
In astronomical terms, the "corona" is the outermost layer of the Sun's atmosphere and the source of the solar wind. It is a part that the Sun's gravity cannot completely confine, and it has an extremely high temperature of millions of degrees Celsius. Under normal circumstances, it cannot be observed with the naked eye, but it becomes clearly visible during a total solar eclipse.
The source of power in the third form is the ultra-high-density flame that erupts from the slag straight sword, a power that I myself cannot fully control. This light and heat, which spreads unstablely beyond my own framework, is my "Corona." The third form can also be named "Corona Form."
In fact, this is also a form of "erroneous evolution." Although it is a combat method that I have to rely on now, and it can be said to be very powerful, in the end, becoming stronger by relying on a temporary form is itself a heretical path, proving that I am still a novice lagging behind those veteran Great Impermanences like Huang Quan and Ming Zhuo.
The ten-kilometer distance vanished in the blink of an eye, and my body collided head-on with the Great Demon of Calamity. I felt as if I had transformed into a bullet, about to pierce through its torso.
However, the actual result of the collision was completely different.
I felt like I was riding a motorcycle at full speed and crashing into a concrete utility pole, and I was thrown off by the huge reaction force.
The opponent's body was astonishingly sturdy. Despite having a body formed from flames just like mine, its defensive capabilities were unbelievably high.
Speaking of fire, it's something that has nothing to do with "solidity." I'm sure many people have done something as pointless and foolish as "quickly waving their palm across the flame of a lighter," making fire practically nonexistent. Although the Great Demon of Calamity should possess the ability to "transform fire into a physical entity with collision volume," fire is ultimately a force with low defensive capabilities. But the result was quite the opposite. I was practically smashed to my head, my whole body "broken," and for a moment I almost couldn't tell which way was which.
The other party did not appear to be unharmed either.
Shaped like the sun, I cause an earth-shattering explosion whenever I collide with anything. The same was true when I struck the Great Demon of Calamity. In the shockwave of the explosion, powerful enough to sweep away and destroy an area of hundreds of kilometers, the Great Demon of Calamity was blasted away.
I could see a gaping hole blasted into its soul. If that impact had landed on Huang Quan, it would have at least severely injured him, if not killed him. But on the Great Demon of Calamity, it seemed to be just a superficial wound. There was obvious bleeding and bruising, but it wasn't enough to affect his performance in the subsequent battle.
Even the gap itself is regenerating at an alarming rate, and it will be fully restored in less than two seconds.
Putting aside its recovery ability, where does it get such high defense?
This cannot be explained simply by "high density".
After just one impact, I could tell that, in terms of density alone, my "corona form" and its "eclipse form" were evenly matched. How could I have been wrecked while it only suffered minor damage?
Could it be because the "eclipse" that makes up its body is an inward force, while the "corona" that makes up my body is an outward force?
I recovered from my injuries in the blink of an eye, while simultaneously trying to manipulate its flames to hinder its regeneration process.
This is something I've wanted to try before. Since the other party uses the power of fire, and is even equivalent to another version of myself, then its fire is naturally my fire. For a time, I even suspected that the other party's existence might be the "firefly" that lured me to the "apocalyptic era." Although that was later proven false, I still want to try manipulating it again.
My mind was like a computer data cable, trying to connect to a computer outside of myself. Soon, my plug found the other's socket and went in.
Being able to enter means that the direction is correct, and the opponent's power can be regarded as my power.
But then, I was stunned.
It was completely different from what I had imagined. Since I am a "computer," then the other person, being another version of myself, should also be a "computer." Even if there are huge differences in "configuration" (evolutionary path), the most basic principle framework should be similar.
To put it another way, I was actually mentally prepared for a huge difference between us. After all, the other party was the doomsday demon summoned by Naraku's Gospel, while I would still consider myself, roughly speaking, a human. Magic power, which is based on the mind, would definitely be significantly different.
Moreover, even the Gospel of Naraku might not be able to replicate the nature of my "manifestation." That is a dream that Yama Ryougi has pursued for countless years without ever being able to glimpse, and it is also a legendary realm closely related to "self-proving one's true spirit." I don't think it's something that can be easily simulated.
I had thought all of this through, but the differences that arose from the other party were completely unexpected.
First of all, the Great Demon of Calamity does not use the power of fire at all.
I knew all along that its power was a product of a flawed evolution that deviated from the essence of fire. But even a flawed evolution of fire is still a product that branched off from the main branch of "fire," so how could it be something completely different in essence?
The same seeds can produce different results under different cultivation conditions. The ancient saying, "Oranges grown south of the Huai River are oranges, while those grown north of it are trifoliate oranges," illustrates this point. However, both oranges and trifoliate oranges share the same botanical essence. It's impossible for an orange planted in the south to be an orange and planted in the north to become an orange cat.
The difference between the power of the Great Demon of Calamity and my flames is so great.
If it weren't for the fact that I could connect normally from here... no, even if I could connect normally from here, I would have started to doubt again whether "the Great Demon of Calamity" was actually another version of myself.
Before I could even react with surprise, the connection with the other party abruptly broke. It was as if the "data cable" connected to their "port" had been promptly discovered and roughly ripped off. This wasn't surprising, though. In terms of control over the flames, I was on equal footing with the Great Demon of Calamity. Since I could attempt to interfere, it could naturally refuse my intervention. There was no reason why only I could unilaterally exert influence.
The Great Demon of Calamity launched another massive attack. It charged towards me at high speed, manipulating black flames with its arms, sweeping towards me like an overwhelming curtain. I reflexively tried to dodge, but felt myself being locked onto by a powerful force.
Like the solar eclipse, the black flames possessed a profound gravity. This gravity wasn't just physical; it was a gravity of destiny. It seemed to be saying, "I am destined to be burned to ashes by these black flames," possessing an attribute of "inevitable kill."
For some inexplicable reason, I was reminded of the concept of "tidal locking" in astronomy.
It is said that under the influence of the gravity of a star or planet, a satellite orbiting that star or planet can easily become so that only one side of it is forced to face the celestial body that captured it. This is because the gravitational forces acting on the near and far sides of the satellite are not the same. The reason why humans cannot observe the far side of the moon, and why Mercury always presents only one side to the sun, is due to this effect of tidal locking.
Although the Great Impermanence can simulate the power of fate locking, the power of fate locking wielded by the Great Demon of Calamity is inexplicably exceptionally strong, enough to rival mine after receiving the blessing of the Little Bowl.
In my normal state, I would have no chance of avoiding this attack and would have had to take the hit. Fortunately, Little Bowl's blessing was still active, giving me a significant boost not only to my hit rate but also to my evasion rate, enough to offset the Great Demon of Calamity's lock-on. In that critical moment, I immediately focused my mind and flew at full speed to evade, narrowly escaping the range of the black flames.
The Fate-Locking Power of the Great Demon of Calamity is very strange. I understand that a large part of this power should come from the gravity of the "Eclipse," but the gravity of the "Eclipse" should only be a byproduct of the skill. It's like when I manipulate flames, the convection of hot and cold air creates a gale around me, but that doesn't mean I have the ability to directly control the gale.
Of course, I can command the wind using the power of words, but that's still a layer beyond that. The Great Impermanence, who can directly manipulate the wind, can probably also expand upon the concept of "wind" to develop more abstract abilities, something I can't do. And the Great Demon of Calamity shouldn't possess the power to directly manipulate gravity, much less the power to lock the fate of others.
Considering its previous inexplicable restraint on the Great Demon Xuanwu, its current powerful defense, and the fact that it doesn't seem to be using fire power, a possibility that seems absurd at first glance but actually makes some sense slowly emerged in my mind.
The Great Demon of Calamity swung its enormous, monstrous claws, slashing down at me. But this time, I did not clash with it again.
To verify my hypothesis, I retreated as quickly as possible and fled, eventually arriving near a mountain range.
(End of this chapter)
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com