Zhi Xuan stamped his foot, and instantly, the hall floor—composed of millions of broken blades—ceased its vibration. A suffocating silence broke through the roaring demonic storm, as if the laws of nature were holding their breath in the presence of a higher authority.

  He lunged forward, not as prey being drawn in, but as a predator striking. His blackened left hand reached into the purple-black pillar of light. The moment his fingers touched the dense demonic aura, the silver patterns on his skin blazed with a temperature capable of melting spiritual diamonds.

  "A Demon is but a lowly thing in the eyes of a Devil," Zhi Xuan hissed. He swept his hand back, drawing a breath and forming a colossal hand that mimicked his movement. "Heavenly Demon Calamity Banner, receive this!"

  Zhi Xuan unleashed a strike that was more than a physical collision; it was a clash between two laws of existence. The giant hand, formed from twilight-gray essence, solidified, manifesting the horror of the Slaughter Seal he had cultivated. The air at the bottom of the abyss shrieked, torn by the mental pressure Zhi Xuan released.

  "Shatter the Limits: Nine Heavens Suppressor!"

  DUAAAMMM—!

  The Hall of the Grave of Rusted Swords shook so violently that the walls made of millions of broken swords began to collapse like a metal avalanche. Zhi Xuan’s giant hand gripped the purple-black pillar of light with a force capable of crushing the foundations of the earth. The purple-black light of the Banner struggled, sparking demonic lightning that tried to burn Zhi Xuan’s left arm, but his gray essence devoured every spark like a bottomless pit.

  Li Chen, who had been thrown into a corner of the hall, watched with wide eyes. He saw Zhi Xuan standing tall in the center of the deadliest energy vortex in the Ancient Demon Land, his robes fluttering wildly, yet his figure remained unshakable.

  "He... he is suppressing that Calamity with his bare hands!" Li Chen whispered, his voice drowned by the thunder.

  From within the Heavenly Demon Calamity Banner, the screams of Master Taixuan—now merged with the dark red silk—turned into a hoarse, demonic roar. Taixuan’s face appeared faintly on the surface of the silk, his expression filled with eternal suffering. The Banner began to manifest its true form; a giant six-winged shadow made of dense black mist emerged behind the pole, wielding a scythe forged from the hatred of thousands of lives.

  "Arrogant cultivator! You are but dust beneath my feet!" The voice no longer belonged to Taixuan, but to the primordial consciousness dwelling within the Banner.

  Zhi Xuan sneered coldly, his Heavenly Eye glowing with a golden light that pierced through the Heavenly Demon’s black mist. "Dust that will bury you back into nothingness."

  Zhi Xuan clasped his hands in front of his chest, triggering the Heavenly Samsara Wheel to spin at a critical point. From behind his back, his giant Divine Soul reappeared, but this time it wore gray armor adorned with silver symbols of death. The Divine Soul’s dark wings spread wide, swallowing the purple radiance of the Banner.

  Zhi Xuan’s Divine Soul moved its massive arms in perfect synchronization with every breath of his original body. The atmosphere at the bottom of the hall seemed to freeze; the pressure from the Calamity Banner, which had once sucked life away, was now pushed back by the spiritual gravity radiating from the majestic form behind Zhi Xuan.

  "Samsara knows no calamity; it knows only the end!" Zhi Xuan’s voice thundered, resonating with his Divine Soul, which sounded like a death knell from ancient times.

  The Divine Soul’s hand reached forward, clutching the six-winged giant shadow of the Banner. The collision between the two titanic entities created shockwaves that toppled the black metal pillars surrounding them. The red liquid dripping from the pillars instantly evaporated into a thick blood-mist, cloaking the battlefield in a horrific crimson hue.

  The Heavenly Demon shadow roared, swinging its scythe of hatred with a force capable of cleaving the soul. Yet, Zhi Xuan did not dodge. He took a single step forward, letting the scythe strike the gray essence shield protecting his frame.

  "Is this all the power of something you call a Calamity?" Zhi Xuan hissed, disdain radiating from the corner of his lips.

  He raised his blackened left hand high. The Slaughter Seal floating in the air suddenly shrank and solidified into a tiny point of silver light, possessing an irrational density of mass. Zhi Xuan slammed that point of light directly toward the heart of the purple-black pillar where the Banner was planted.

  "You are merely a fragment of an artifact from the past," Zhi Xuan hissed with a sharp roar. "Perish!"

  The impact of the silver light point exploded at the heart of the purple-black pillar, creating a boom that could tear eardrums and shake the mental foundation of anyone within a thousand-mile radius. The purple-black light dimmed for a moment, suffocated by the density of Zhi Xuan’s silver essence. However, instead of shattering, the Heavenly Demon Calamity Banner let out a shrill laugh from thousands of invisible mouths.

  "Eternal Demonic Karma: Soul Entrapper!"

  Instantly, the dark red silk on the banner elongated like a dragon's tongue, coiling around Zhi Xuan’s left arm with a speed that surpassed sensory perception. The moment the cloth touched his divine body, Zhi Xuan felt an extraordinary, piercing chill—not the cold of ice, but the cold of a void trying to snuff out his blood flow.

  "Cough!" Zhi Xuan coughed violently, silver blood spraying from his mouth. The backlash was massive; the Banner did not retaliate with physical strength, but by reversing the weight of thousands of years of sin directly into Zhi Xuan’s meridians. His blackened divine body began to emit black smoke, and the silver patterns on his skin flickered unstably.

  "Brother Gu!" Li Chen screamed. He saw Zhi Xuan dragged a step forward, his body leaning toward the light pillar hungry for a sacrifice.

  The Banner seemed to gain extra power from Zhi Xuan’s silver blood. The six-winged Heavenly Demon shadow doubled in size, its sharp shadow-hands clawing at Zhi Xuan’s Divine Soul, tearing the gray armor and creating deep spiritual wounds.

  Zhi Xuan felt his soul being forcibly pulled from his body through his coiled left arm. The Heavenly Samsara Wheel in his mind creaked loudly, trying to grind the incoming demonic karma, but the energy density from the Banner was too extreme. This was an object that had collected hatred for millennia; one person, no matter how strong their mind, found it difficult to swallow all that hatred alone.

  "Gu Fengyan! Use my essence as an anchor!" Li Chen shot forward, no longer caring for his own life. He threw his jade fan into the air, triggering a forbidden technique from his blue faction. "Secret Art of the Heavenly Ocean: Destiny-Sustaining Current!"

  A pillar of sea-blue light exploded from Li Chen’s body, hitting Zhi Xuan’s back and providing a flow of pure Yang energy to support Zhi Xuan’s cracking meridians. Li Chen vomited blood, his face turning as white as paper as his mental essence was drained in an instant to hold back the Banner’s pull.

  The narrative has been taken without permission. Report any sightings.

  "Brother Li... you..." Zhi Xuan hissed, his teeth clenched against the burning pain.

  "Don't talk! Strike it now or we both become ornaments on that cloth!" Li Chen roared with the last of his strength.

  With the support of Li Chen’s energy, Zhi Xuan managed to stabilize his Samsara Wheel for a moment. He forced his right eye wide open, emitting the purest beam of the Heavenly Eye. His left arm, wrapped in silk, began to glow with silver fire that burned the cloth, even as his own skin blistered.

  "You want to eat my soul?" Zhi Xuan roared, his voice now containing a rare hint of madness. "Then swallow this will of Samsara until you explode!"

  Zhi Xuan did not pull his arm back; instead, he pushed it deeper toward the black wooden pole of the Banner. The Divine Soul behind him roared in unison, its giant hands embracing the purple-black light pillar in a death grip.

  BUMMM! BUMMM! BUMMM!

  A series of spiritual explosions occurred at the base of the hall, creating a storm of metal dust and demonic aura that swallowed Zhi Xuan and Li Chen. Despite being besieged by the power of two extraordinary mid-stage Soul Transformation experts, the Heavenly Demon Calamity Banner only swayed violently. Its black wooden pole began to crack, but the dark red silk continued to regenerate by sucking the Yin aura from the entire Grave of Rusted Swords.

  Zhi Xuan was thrown back after the final explosion, his body slamming into a black metal pillar with a heavy thud. He fell, supporting himself with one hand; his black-and-white robe was now tattered, and his left arm shook violently with burns that emitted a silver glow. Beside him, Li Chen lay unconscious, his essence nearly extinguished.

  Zhi Xuan stared ahead, where the purple-black light pillar still stood tall, though dimmer now. The Banner had not been destroyed. It looked even more terrifying; its silk cloth was now adorned with patterns of Zhi Xuan’s silver blood that it had absorbed earlier.

  "This thing... cannot be destroyed by raw force," Zhi Xuan whispered, wiping blood from his chin. His cold eyes watched the Banner, which began to emit a louder heartbeat, shaking the entire dimension of the Ancient Demon Land.

  This battle had just entered its deadliest stage. Zhi Xuan realized he was not just fighting an artifact, but attempting to subdue the evil will of a long-buried age. To do so, he had to apply a weight that would force the Heavenly Demon Calamity Banner into submission.

  "Heavenly Trifold Reincarnation Cauldron!"

  Zhi Xuan’s right hand shot up, and from the void above his head, a vortex of twilight-gray energy solidified, forming a colossal bronze cauldron adorned with ancient carvings carrying the weight of Xuan-Huang energy. The cauldron did not emit a blinding light, but an aura so heavy it seemed capable of swallowing all existence.

  The vortex of Xuan-Huang energy emitted by the Heavenly Trifold Reincarnation Cauldron created an immense gravitational pressure, forcing the black metal pillars around the hall to bend and shatter into fragments. The cauldron descended with an oppressive majesty, every inch of its movement making the demonic aura of the Calamity Banner shriek in fear.

  "Suppress!" Zhi Xuan roared, the veins in his neck bulging as he exerted his entire mental will to control the giant cauldron.

  The cauldron slammed into the purple-black light pillar from above, attempting to imprison the Calamity Banner within its eternal belly. The impact produced a heavy "DONG—" sound, a noise capable of toppling mountains. The space around them cracked like struck glass, creating heavy vibration fissures that threatened to collapse the surrounding abyss.

  However, the Heavenly Demon Calamity Banner did not remain idle. Feeling threatened by the cauldron’s authority, its dark red silk suddenly expanded, covering the hall's ceiling and forming a womb of dense darkness. From within the cloth, millions of demonic needles made of contaminated Sword Intent rained down on Zhi Xuan without mercy.

  TRATATATATA!

  Zhi Xuan was forced to pull one hand back to form a protective mudra, but the density of the needles surpassed his defense. Dozens of demonic needles pierced his essence shield, stabbing into his shoulders and legs. Each needle that entered carried a corrosive poison that immediately tried to rot his acupoints.

  "Ugh!" Zhi Xuan knelt, one leg smashing through the sword-floor. His face, once as calm as a lake, was now filled with a painful pallor.

  Silver blood flowed more heavily from his wounds, drenching the red floor of the Sword Grave. The Banner seized the momentum. Its black wooden pole elongated like a demonic god's spear, darting straight toward Zhi Xuan’s chest. This strike carried the full weight of the thousands of years of karma within the Ancient Demon Land.

  "Brat, you are always making trouble," a feminine, smooth voice spoke from his Sea of Consciousness, gravelly as if someone had just awakened from a long slumber. "Barely reached Soul Transformation, and already inviting the wrath of a demonic artifact."

  Ruo Xianxue exhaled softly from her meditation, her dual Sun and Moon pupils staring coldly at the demonic god spear aimed at Zhi Xuan from within the Sea of Consciousness, her nine tails fluttering behind her as she sat upon a branch of the Demon Tree of Life.

  "Great Saint," Zhi Xuan hissed, not expecting Ruo Xianxue to have finished her meditation. "That... is the Heavenly Demon Calamity Banner."

  "The Heavenly Demon Calamity Banner?" Ruo Xianxue snorted, a sound that resembled the rustle of silk yet contained a vibration capable of calming the storm in Zhi Xuan’s Sea of Consciousness. "Merely a piece of rotten wood wrapped in ancient funeral cloth. You glorify this object too much with the blood of the Ancient Heavens, Zhi Xuan."

  "To a Sacred Ancient Devil," Ruo Xianxue continued, breathing out softly with a faint smile. "A Demon is nothing more than a slave beneath my feet. Let me handle this."

  The Darkness Fox immediately faded from Zhi Xuan’s Sea of Consciousness, reappearing outside, standing before Zhi Xuan with the majesty of a Sacred Devil. Ruo Xianxue, in her spiritual body form, simply raised her finger, and immediately her dual Sun and Moon pupils glowed, causing the demonic spear to crumble before her before it could touch Zhi Xuan.

  The presence of Ruo Xianxue at the bottom of the Grave of Rusted Swords instantly altered the natural laws of the area. The rotting cold of the Calamity Banner froze—not by ice, but by the pressure of an existence far more primordial and superior. Her graceful figure, with nine tails waving slowly behind her, created an absolute contrast to the disgusting darkness of the hall.

  Ruo Xianxue turned slightly, glancing at Zhi Xuan, who was still kneeling, his body covered in wounds. "You are too stubborn, Zhi Xuan. Using the Samsara Wheel to swallow hatred of this magnitude without proper preparation will only turn your soul into a heap of historical trash."

  Zhi Xuan gritted his teeth, trying to stabilize his ragged breath. "I... just didn't want to waste time."

  Ruo Xianxue snorted softly and turned back toward the Heavenly Demon Calamity Banner. The Banner seemed to sense a lethal threat; its dark red silk vibrated violently, emitting the roars of thousands of demons that now sounded more like whimpers of fear than challenges. The six-winged Heavenly Demon shadow tried to attack, but every time it drew near the radius of Ruo Xianxue’s Sun and Moon radiance, parts of its mist-body vanished into light-ash.

  "Noisy little thing," Ruo Xianxue said flatly. She stepped forward, her bare feet not touching the rusted sword-floor, but walking upon ripples of dark light that appeared beneath her.

  Ruo Xianxue raised her right hand, and the cracked Ancient Devil Monument appeared in her palm. "Today, I shall harvest this delicious demonic blood. Zhi Xuan, you have truly prepared a delectable meal for when I finished my meditation. I won't thank you, though."

  Immediately, from the Ancient Devil Monument—now shrunk from its original size—red threads emerged and crawled toward the Heavenly Demon Calamity Banner. The red threads released from the Ancient Devil Monument crept through the air like veins of darkness hungry for prey.

  The Heavenly Demon Calamity Banner, which had appeared so invincible before the Soul Transformation cultivators, now writhed wildly. Its dark red silk wrapped around its own black wooden pole, trying to create a defense, but before the authority of a Sacred Devil, every layer of its protection melted like snow doused in boiling oil.

  "GRIYAAAAAA—!"

  The roar emerging from the Banner was now purely a shriek of horror. Ruo Xianxue’s red threads pierced the purple-black pillar of light without resistance, seeping into the cracks of the black wooden pole and beginning to siphon back every drop of essence the artifact had gathered over thousands of years.

  Zhi Xuan, still sitting behind Ruo Xianxue, felt the spiritual gravitational pressure that had been choking him shift. He witnessed an impossible sight: the Banner that had nearly devoured his soul was now being squeezed dry by the Ancient Devil Monument.

  The dense demonic essence was forcibly channeled through the red threads into the monument in Ruo Xianxue’s hand, making the artifact glow with a majestic blood-red light.

  "Eat in peace, my vessel," Ruo Xianxue murmured softly, her slender fingers stroking the surface of the monument as if calming a hungry pet.

  Every time the red threads pulsed, the hue of the Calamity Banner’s silk faded further, turning from a fierce dark red into a brittle, dull gray. The six-winged Heavenly Demon shadow that had once loomed large shrank drastically, whimpering as its wings were broken one by one by Ruo Xianxue’s mental will.

  Ruo Xianxue flicked one of her tails, creating a gust of black wind that swept away the remaining demonic mist in the hall. She stared at the black wooden pole of the Calamity Banner, which began to crack deeper—not because of physical impact, but because its soul, the core of the ancient demonic consciousness within, was being flayed alive by the Ancient Devil Monument.