Chapter 578 The Death of Huang Quan
In the previous two battles, the Great Demon Xuanwu's attacks, if they landed, could obliterate my soul. And now, with even greater power, I've done the same.
Because the elemental nature of fire has shifted to the elemental nature of earth, the elemental advantage between us has been completely reversed. Last time, the Great Demon of Calamity didn't infuse his killing intent into the Great Demon Xuanwu, which is why he only managed to severely injure it; but now, I've not only infused my magic with full killing intent, but also with the true spiritual power that can restrain all immortal bodies.
The Great Demon Xuanwu has been completely erased from the afterlife, and even Naraku's Gospel would likely never be able to summon it back.
This also means that the chance to completely repair Mazao's soul through the flesh and blood of the Great Demon Xuanwu will also be lost forever.
Of course, I wasn't completely unprepared for this. Although it was a method I just came up with on the spur of the moment, it's much better than having no ideas at all. In short, after that attack, I've obtained the vital flesh and blood of the Great Demon Xuanwu. While I could go into detail about the process here, right now I just want to focus on defeating Huang Quan.
Witnessing the astonishing scene of the Great Demon Xuanwu being instantly killed, Huang Quan, amidst the still-fading light and explosion, did not hesitate to retreat and flee.
There's no way he can escape.
Even he himself said that the Great Demon of Calamity possesses the power of "attraction," and those identified as prey cannot easily escape. In Eclipse form, coupled with the continuous power output from the Slag Straight Sword, I am now essentially a "powered version" of the Great Demon of Calamity, with a scale and density of power surpassing even that of the Underworld. This vast area has been completely incorporated into my gravity field, and the Underworld, like light entering the event horizon of a black hole, has been utterly sucked in and trapped.
In astronomy, the stars we see are actually images of the past. Even sunlight takes several minutes to reach Earth. If the sun were to suddenly go out, it would take an equal amount of time for its effects to manifest on Earth. In other words, where light cannot reach, causality cannot reach. This is also true for black holes; anything that enters the event horizon of a black hole has no causal relationship with the outside world.
The inescapable gravity is, in fact, the inescapable fate.
Gravity and destiny are like two sides of the same coin; therefore, the power of gravity is also the power of fate. Huang Quan's destiny has been completely captured and locked by my gravity circle; he can no longer escape.
I infused the black flames with the power of true spirit, and the flames transformed into a giant spear that shot towards the heart of the Yellow Springs.
We can see that Huang Quan is already trying to commit suicide, but he's too slow. To be precise, it's not a matter of fast or slow. With his fate completely predetermined, Huang Quan has already lost; what's happening now is simply "playing" the process of his defeat. It's like turning to the last page of a storybook first, seeing the protagonist's death; all the previous pages were merely telling the reader why the protagonist died.
The overwhelming gravity even affected time itself; his suicidal actions were visibly slowed down, as if he could never reach the reality of death. As a god among men, he naturally possessed the power to influence time, and was now desperately trying to reverse it. However, his power was still no match for my gravity. The black flame spear arrived first. He could only desperately convert all his magical power into defensive strength.
The black flames clashed violently with the yellow-black magic.
Another explosion occurred. The light and heat, one wave after another, once again intensely coated the land. A thick, boiling cloud of dust obscured the sky and earth, plunging everything into darkness, while an incessant roar filled the air. The fluctuations of Huang Quan's magical power vanished into this deafening darkness.
The battle is over.
I exited eclipse mode and landed on the ground.
After briefly checking my current state, I summoned a ball of flame to test the feel of using my power normally. Sure enough, the side effects of Eclipse Form were present, and quite noticeable. Fortunately, probably because the time spent in Eclipse Form was very short, and I only unleashed two attacks, the side effects weren't too severe. It was merely a noticeable sense of discomfort and unfamiliarity when using my power normally.
It's similar to switching from a familiar phone system to a completely different one. Unconsciously ingrained habits like swiping to go back suddenly become useless. Afterward, the body naturally adapts to the other system, and then suddenly being asked to switch back to the original phone system makes it difficult to switch back to the old operating habits in a short time.
This level of side effects isn't a major problem and will subside quickly. However, if the eclipse phase lasts too long, the consequences will be different.
In terms of pure combat power, the Eclipse Form is not stronger than the Corona Form; the only difference is the direction of their power. As a precaution, unless there's a situation where it absolutely must be reactivated, it's best to seal it away.
Back to the current situation. Although Huang Quan has completely lost the strength to continue fighting, and doesn't even have the energy to escape or commit suicide, I can sense that he's still barely clinging to his last breath. I must go over and deliver the final blow.
Soon, I used my senses to locate Huang Quan and moved there. There, I saw that Huang Quan was now nothing but a gruesome remains. Half of his tattered upper body lay supine on the pitted ground like non-combustible garbage, almost unrecognizable as human.
"Zhuang Cheng..."
Huang Quan managed to utter a sound, his weak voice filled with resentment, "It...it really ended like this..."
It seems I don't even need to intervene; he'll die on his own if I leave him alone. But I have no pity for an enemy, no "he's already like this" attitude. Sending them to their deaths, truly reducing them to ashes, is the only true respect for a powerful foe. I raised my hand, intending to burn him alive.
However, recalling the conversation during the battle, I still have a lingering question.
Although Huang Quan has cooperated with Meng Zhang, the lord of Peach Blossom Village, and has even deduced the second and third paths to save the world, judging from his previous tone, Huang Quan seems to still accept the human extermination plan as the default path. At least regardless of his true thoughts, his position seems to be moving in that direction, and the ordinary monks of the Gospel Monastery are completely unaware of what is happening in Peach Blossom Village.
Perhaps because the other two paths did not align with the interests of the Gospel House, Huang Quan's new plan was not approved by Yama, the head of the Gospel House. Upon closer examination, a reasonable explanation can be found: while the other two paths offered more advantages than the human extermination plan, they were highly dependent on the personal will of Meng Zhang, the head of Peach Blossom Village.
If, in the later stages of the plan, Master Meng Zhang of Peach Blossom Village suddenly abandons his duties or uses his position to do something else, the Gospel House may have already lost the golden opportunity to switch back to the human slaughter plan and could easily fall into a passive state.
If that's the case, why is Huang Quan still standing by the side of Meng Zhang, the master of Taoyuan Township, in the modern world, providing him with support? Could it be that Huang Quan is not standing on the side of the Gospel Institute, but merely helping Meng Zhang, the master of Taoyuan Township, from his own personal perspective?
So, what would Huang Quan's personal motives be? He himself doesn't care about the inhumane nature of the human extermination plan, and secretly doing such things wouldn't prevent the organization from splitting apart... If he doesn't care whether the organization will split apart due to the inhumane nature of the human extermination plan, why would he try to explore ways to save the world other than the human extermination plan?
The monks of the Gospel Institute once said that Yomi ordered his subordinates to explore other paths to salvation after his student Asaha betrayed him...
Suddenly, the image of that room in Yomi Gospelin flashed into my mind. That room that originally belonged to Asaha, that Yomi forbade anyone to enter, yet seemed to be regularly cleaned.
"The reason you're secretly collaborating with Taoyuan Village Master... is because you hope Mazao will return?" I asked, almost as if possessed.
Huang Quan was stunned for a moment, then said, "What... are you talking about?"
"Why don't you go see her yourself?" I asked. "You should already know that Ma is in the world of the living, and you can even pinpoint her exact location. You can go to see her anytime you want, right?"
Perhaps my guess is wrong. After all, this is just something I came up with on the spur of the moment, lacking evidence and containing some flaws that don't hold up to scrutiny. Someone like Huang Quan, who lacks humanity and initially only treated Ma Zao as a special research subject, probably doesn't possess that kind of empathy. His current silence is mostly a silent questioning of what nonsense I'm spouting.
A few seconds later, he managed to squeeze out a disdainful laugh.
“What a joke… Why should I take the initiative to go to a rebellious disciple like Asaho?” he retorted.
After saying that, as if he had used up his last bit of strength, he could no longer sustain his life.
The black flames that had been suppressed within his body erupted from his internal organs, engulfing and consuming him completely, reducing him to ashes.
(End of this chapter)
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