Nine-Star Mystic Saints stood extremely close to the Emperor Realm. They could sense the heavenly mandate lurking in the void, and their power far outstripped that of any Mystic Saint below Nine Stars. For that reason, they were also known as Nine-Star Great Saints.
The Evil Consort’s claim that she could slay a Nine-Star Great Saint was something of an exaggeration. But deploying the Dead City against the Peacock Heavenly Lord—a Five-Star Mystic Saint who specialized in poison and hidden weapons—was child’s play for her.
The Peacock Heavenly Lord stared at the black crystalline cube in the Evil Consort’s hand, his eyes flickering with both wariness and greed.
“Dead City Core…”
He still couldn’t fathom why the Evil Consort had suddenly turned against the Demon Domain. But he could clearly feel her unyielding killing intent toward him.
If that was the case, then battle it was.
Facing an opponent who controlled the Dead City, the Peacock Heavenly Lord didn’t dare hold back. He immediately summoned his Natal Holy Plume, which hovered silently in his grasp.
The Peacock Plume was a hidden weapon ideal for ambushes, but it held its own in direct confrontations as well.
Infusing it with toxic mystic power turned the verdant feathers brilliantly radiant, their aura a thousand—no, ten thousand—times stronger than what Kong Ying had unleashed earlier.
A green gleam flashed in the Peacock Heavenly Lord’s eyes. He whipped his head toward Yan Zhen on the altar and flung the Peacock Plume at him.
In that instant, Yan Zhen felt as if the god of death itself had locked onto him.
The Peacock Plume vanished into space, poised to strike him down in moments.
“—Kong Xuan!”
A cold shout echoed through the entire venue. Space abruptly froze. The Peacock Plume that should have pierced Yan Zhen was blocked by a massive white bone, halting a full zhang away from him.
Even so, the Law Poison made him feel like vomiting. Part of the Extreme Flame in his body was suppressed, while the rest surged in agitation, expelling the toxins permeating the air around him.
This was the might of a Mystic Saint? Absurdly overwhelming!
Looking closer, Yan Zhen saw the Peacock Plume and the Peacock Heavenly Lord both imprisoned in a cage of white bones. The Evil Consort, clutching the Dead City Core, appeared before him. Terrifying Death Mystic Force erupted from her, suppressing the invisible, odorless Law Poison.
The Evil Consort’s Death Mystic Force actually countered the Peacock Heavenly Lord’s toxic mystic power quite well. At its refined pinnacle, poison became “alive,” autonomously eroding the enemy’s dantian and meridians, clinging stubbornly to its target like a primal virus.
Death Mystic Force specialized in slaying the living. The corpse puppets and yin objects it controlled were largely immune to toxins. Even without the Dead City’s power, activating her Evil God Bloodline allowed the Evil Consort to suppress the Peacock Heavenly Lord in his normal state.
“Yan’er, are you all right?”
Feeling the Evil Consort’s concern, Yan Zhen smiled and replied, “I’m fine, Evil Consort Master. Focus on the Peacock Heavenly Lord—no need to worry about me.”
Had she not intervened just now, his trump card (Seventh Tier) would have activated on its own.
“Hide for now. This Palace will deal with that one shortly.”
As they spoke, the Peacock Heavenly Lord shattered the spatial cage, reclaimed his Peacock Plume, and slammed a palm toward them.
“Great Peacock Screen Hand!”
A massive verdant palm hurtled in, its five fingers splayed like a peacock’s tail. At its center gleamed a supremely and toxic curse seal, radiating a hypnotic light. A single glance induced dizziness and a mad urge to rush into the palm, embracing death itself.
Fortunately, Yan Zhen’s divine soul was steadfast, guarded by the Evil Spirit Dragon Breath Flame. He snapped out of the brief daze and broke into a cold sweat.
In a normal fight, that momentary lapse would have killed him several times over. The techniques of Mystic Saints were truly unfathomable.
Wherever the palm passed, space was corroded into a riddled, horrifying mess by the toxins.
“Petty trick!”
The Evil Consort snorted coldly. The black crystalline cube in her hand trembled slightly. Two rows of razor-sharp bone spikes erupted from nowhere—one above, one below—like the jaws of a ferocious beast clamping down.
The bone spikes’ surfaces eroded and dissolved from the speed, but the giant palm swiftly collapsed.
The Peacock Heavenly Lord had no intention of prolonging the fight. He tore open space and fled.
Though he had talked tough earlier, the Evil Consort wielding the Dead City Core did possess the power to kill him.
“Think you can run? Did you ask This Palace first!?”
The Evil Consort activated the Dead City Core once more. A violent spatial quake exploded within her field of vision, forcibly shaking the Peacock Heavenly Lord back out.
The mighty Five-Star Mystic Saint—one of the Eight Divisions Heavenly Lords—now looked somewhat disheveled.
Yet neither the Evil Consort nor Yan Zhen let their guard down. The Peacock Heavenly Lord’s trump card hadn’t appeared yet, such as his demonic blood form.
Seeing escape was impossible, the Peacock Heavenly Lord turned back, glaring darkly at the Evil Consort.
“Evil Consort, do you really want to fight to the death? Even with the Dead City in your grasp, killing This Lord will cost you dearly! When the Jialan Holy Land capitalizes on that, the Evil God Clan will face annihilation! We’ll be like the mantis and the clam, only to benefit the Jialan Fairy!”
With Yan Zhen at her side, the Evil Consort had no fear of the Jialan Fairy!
“This Palace needs no lessons from you on how to conduct her affairs! It was your greed—you seized the chance to covet the treasures of my Evil God Clan, never considering if you were worthy!”
“Fine, since the Evil Consort insists, This Lord will drag you down with me even in death!”
“Go ahead and unleash your Peacock Wisdom King Curse. This Palace wants to see what makes it so impressive!”
Infuriated, the Peacock Heavenly Lord ignited the roiling demonic blood within him. Demonic marks spread from his brow across his entire body. By the time they covered him, he had transformed into a monster with a bird’s head and human body, a pair of azure wings on his back, and brilliant tail feathers trailing from his rear.
After the transformation, the Peacock Heavenly Lord’s aura soared, stepping into Six-Star Mystic Saint territory.
“Azure Lamp Cave Heaven!”
With those words, a spatial portal opened above his head. Misty azure light poured down, making his feathers gleam even more brilliantly.
That was his hypnotic poison.
Seeing this, the Evil Consort cradled the black crystalline cube in one hand while slicing open her own White Bone Grotto-Heaven with the other.
The two Mystic Saints’ cave heavens clashed violently.
Space shattered where the cave heavens collided. The battlefields of Half-Saints and Supremes were affected too, forcing them all to halt and gaze in horror at the central clash.
Amid those two seas of mystic power—one azure, one black—the peacock behemoth and skeletal giant loomed with cave heavens overhead, locked in ferocious combat. Each strike shook the heavens and earth, jolting the soul.
At the battlefield’s heart, space fractured endlessly, only to mend again just as ceaselessly.
It was clear the Peacock Heavenly Lord was thoroughly suppressed by the Evil Consort, his momentum waning with every exchange.
The Dead City Core not only restrained him but amplified her power. Until its vast stored reserves were exhausted, she wielded strength approaching that of a Nine-Star Great Saint!
“Aren’t you going to use your signature curse, Kong Xuan?”
Even knowing it was a taunt, the Peacock Heavenly Lord couldn’t hold back. He formed hand seals, and behind him materialized a standard dharma body in feminine form, seated on a lotus throne with orchid-finger mudras, its back adorned with a fanned tail.
Forty-nine seals later, as his hands paused, the Wisdom King dharma body’s mudras shifted, and it opened its mouth.
“Die for This Lord—Peacock Wisdom King Curse!”
