Chapter 239: Chapter 232: Devouring Heaven and Earth!
"Your soul has been overused, and you can’t use the Sword Gourd Talisman today."
"Otherwise, it will harm your Divine Soul Realm, and not even soul elixirs can restore it."
In the Ancestral Aperture, the Taiyang Daoist, who was calmly rubbing a chess piece, spoke blandly. Beside him, the soul of Qi Xiu’s original body frowned and rubbed the center of his forehead.
There was an extremely fine trace there.
It was the result of using ten Sword Gourd Talismans at once, causing excessive wear on the soul.
Soul elixirs could heal wounds but could not replenish soul energy.
"If you find it too troublesome to handle, use the Dual Heart Mirror to call back Tai Yin, and I’ll go out to help you kill those Demons."
Noticing Qi Xiu’s serious gaze, the Taiyang Daoist spoke softly.
The four Great Demons, which Qi Xiu’s main body found troublesome, seemed to be beneath the Taiyang Daoist’s notice.
"Has your "Great Solar Sole Self True Scripture" made another breakthrough?"
Surprised, Qi Xiu glanced at the Taiyang Daoist and asked curiously.
"Aren’t you aware of the combat strength when spirit and flesh are unified? In fact, if you were to go all out without regard for anything else, are these four Great Demons really a match for you?"
Glancing at Qi Xiu, the Taiyang Daoist’s chess piece was rubbed until it was as smooth and translucent as glass.
"You just think too much and consider too far ahead. You’re not incapable of defeating these four Great Demons. You always want to capture them unharmed. Main Body, you’re too greedy."
With a single remark, the Taiyang Daoist pinpointed Qi Xiu’s thoughts and smiled lightly.
He lived in the Ancestral Aperture year-round, accompanying Qi Xiu’s original soul.
He understood Qi Xiu’s many thoughts better than Tai Yin did.
With Qi Xiu’s current level of Cultivation and abilities, although the four Great Demons were pure-blooded members of the Gu Clan, if he were truly determined and willing to pay a price, he could certainly slay them all.
Yet after decades of Cultivation, Qi Xiu’s cautious and steady style had been deeply ingrained in his very bones and never changed.
He always wanted to take the bigger picture into account, thinking through all the possible escape routes and changes that might occur.
This led to him being hesitant in combat, always striving to take down opponents without harm, to ensure he had the energy to cope with unexpected situations.
"This trip down the mountain is unlike usual. The battle is still in its early stages. If I get injured now and reveal my trump cards, it will be hard to maneuver and control the later stages."
Shaking his head, Qi Xiu did not follow the Taiyang Daoist’s suggestion to use the Dual Heart Mirror to call back Tai Yin or to directly kill the four Great Demons.
"There are ways, just a bit more troublesome."
「Outside.」
Having heavily injured the four Great Demons with the Sword Gourd Talisman and escaped the grasp of the Elephant Demon, Qi Xiu activated his Escape Light, leading Bai Qingfeng as they continued to flee forward.
"Don’t even think about escaping!"
Just as Qi Xiu’s Escape Light flared to life, the Lion Demon—covered in gaping wounds, its head split in two with countless fleshly tendrils writhing and knitting back together—roared ferociously.
It suddenly opened its mouth wide, and an ancient Divine Marvel Power burst out in an instant.
"[Swallowing Heaven and Earth]"
In a flash, as the Lion Demon’s blood-red maw gaped open, the surroundings suddenly darkened, as if the very heavens and earth were being swallowed into its belly.
"Cosmic Bi Divine Marvel!"
Qi Xiu’s expression changed slightly. He hadn’t expected the Lion Demon to hide such a profound secret, possessing a Cosmic Bi Divine Marvel. As the crisis struck, just as Qi Xiu was about to activate his Thunder Magic to escape the Divine Marvel’s encompassing range, he heard a thunderous BOOM.
Suddenly, darkness enveloped everything, as the Lion Demon had closed its massive mouth tightly.
Then came a GULP.
All around, everything turned upside down.
It was as if they were rapidly falling somewhere.
"HAHAHA! Finally caught these two humans! Second Brother, you did a damn fine job!"
The Elephant Demon, dragging its ghastly injured body, covered its nose and grinned widely.
But when it saw the Ape Demon approaching, it suddenly lunged forward.
Its yellow tusks pierced right through the Ape Demon. The impaled creature wailed in agony, desperately beating against the tusks.
"If I ever see you flee before a battle again, I’ll cook you alive!"
With a ferocious expression, the Elephant Demon showed no concern for their sworn brotherhood, tearing off the Ape Demon’s arms with its bare hands. Muscles and bones shredded, and dark Demon Blood flowed down its tusks.
The Elephant Demon then tossed the arms into its mouth and slowly chewed before, with a flick of its head, throwing the Ape Demon aside.
"Eldest Brother, don’t be angry. I’ve got these two humans in my stomach now, so let’s take them back. Once we reach our territory, we can properly deal with them."
Patting his robust belly, the Lion Demon looked smug.
His Divine Marvel, Swallowing Heaven and Earth, was a bloodline Divine Marvel of the Green-Faced Lion Demon clan, which only those with the purest bloodline could hope to awaken and control.
Once invoked, it could directly detain all targets within range and swallow them into the belly.
Coupled with the Green-Faced Lion Demon’s terrifyingly powerful digestive ability, even a huge mountain could be completely dissolved.
The most glorious battle record of their ancestors was swallowing one hundred thousand Human Cultivators in one gulp, an event even recorded in the ancient histories of the conflict between the Human Race and Demons.
"That’s right, let’s set off for home."
Spitting out a few bones, the Elephant Demon licked the blood from the corner of its mouth and nodded in agreement.
"Then let’s just... OUCH!"
Just as the Lion Demon was smugly preparing to ride the demonic miasma away, a sudden intense pain in its belly twisted its expression into one of ferocity. Clutching its stomach, it felt a trace of unease.
"It hurts, it hurts so much! My stomach, it hurts so much!"
In the next instant, the intense pain escalated sharply, to the point where the Lion Demon could no longer sustain the demonic miasma and fell straight from its Cloud Head.
"Second Brother!"
"Second Brother!"
Seeing that something was wrong with the Lion Demon, the Elephant Demon and the other two Demons hurriedly followed.
CRASH!
The massive body slammed into the ground with a deafening thud. The earth was smashed open, creating a huge pit, fracturing and breaking apart, with wood and stone flying in all directions. Thick, billowing dust rose up like a yellow fog.
Curled up on the ground, the Lion Demon thrashed and howled in agony, endlessly vomiting blood.
"What... what’s happening?!"
Having never seen the Lion Demon in such a state, the Elephant Demon’s small eyes darted around frantically.
"That’s not right. Even if other Demons of the Gu Clan were swallowed by my Second Brother, they couldn’t withstand the filthy Blood Sha and corrosive gastric acid in his stomach—acid that can dissolve even refined iron and Daoist gold. The toughness of his stomach sac surpasses even Magic Artifacts. What exactly are those two human wretches doing in his stomach?"
「Inside the Lion Demon’s belly.」
The walls of the pitch-black stomach oozed with sticky gastric acid, DRONING ominously.
One could see incomplete skeletons and severed limbs floating in the yellow-green gastric acid, along with some rocks that had not yet been digested.
The foul stench pervaded the air, making it hard to breathe.
The enormous, twisted intestines writhed, emitting sinister and terrifying sounds.
The entire stomach cavity was like a bottomless abyss, instilling endless fear and despair.
Hovering on his Escape Light above the bubbling, caustic gastric acid—potent enough to corrode and digest Magic Artifacts—Qi Xiu surveyed his surroundings with focused eyes.
Indeed, I underestimated these Gu Clan Demons...
The Lion Demon’s stomach sac was not only tough and filled with frighteningly corrosive gastric acid, but the unbearable stench also carried a potent toxic Sha.
If one stayed too long, even holding one’s breath, the toxic Sha would gradually seep into the body.
And the most terrifying aspect of this stomach sac was that it formed a completely sealed environment, isolating it even from the outside world’s nature’s spiritual energy.
Here, Qi Xiu couldn’t even draw upon external lightning. He could only manifest Thunder Magic from his own true essence, and its power was less than five percent of his normal Thunder Magic.
"COUGH, COUGH, COUGH..."
Bai Qingfeng suddenly began coughing violently. Large patches of his skin were visibly corroded, cycling between healing and rotting under the influence of his Tao Blood.
His true essence was severely depleted, his soul weary, and his condition exceedingly poor.
The various hostile factors within the Lion Demon’s stomach were too much for him to withstand, leading to such a rapid deterioration in a short time.
"Brother Qi, it’s my fault for dragging you down. My apologies," Bai Qingfeng said, covering his mouth and nose, his expression filled with guilt.
As far as he was concerned, if it weren’t for saving him, Qi Xiu would not have ended up in such a precarious situation.
"Don’t say that. This place may seem perilous, but it’s not necessarily a deathtrap. Heh, this ignorant fool of a Lion Demon. He’s clearly never read *Journey to the West*. Swallowing everything without a thought—it serves him right if his guts rupture."
Glancing at Bai Qingfeng’s increasingly pale and sallow face, Qi Xiu moved to the stomach wall. Staring at the fleshy barrier continuously oozing sticky gastric acid, he flicked a finger, igniting a wisp of purple fire upon it.
FWOOSH—
The fire flared, charring a large patch of the fleshy wall black, which then immediately began to regenerate.
It was at this exact moment that the Lion Demon outside had first felt the pang of pain.
Watching the internally healing flesh wall, Qi Xiu slowly extended his left hand and placed it on the scorched area. In his eyes, a surge of colorful brilliance swirled, as a fearsomely powerful energy suddenly burst forth!
Star Absorption Skill!
BOOM!
For a moment, the entire stomach sac shook. The thick, foul-smelling gastric acid suddenly roiled and boiled. The surrounding fleshy walls contracted tightly, becoming like an iron fortress. The filthy Blood Sha also thickened abruptly, combining with the surging gastric fluid, intending to rapidly melt Qi Xiu and Bai Qingfeng.
"Swallowing is easy, but spitting it back out is much harder."
With a faint smile, Qi Xiu waved his right hand, and the eighteen Golden Cry Jade Beads tied to his wrist flew out.
The next second, eighteen divine mirrors, gleaming with the golden light of a great sun, materialized in mid-air. They were dazzling and spectacular, as if a huge golden sun had risen in this foul, decaying place.
The edges of the divine mirrors were finely etched with intertwining patterns, seemingly ancient runes inscribed with a mysterious glow.
Each mirror’s surface was as clear and bright as a polished looking-glass, reflecting endless golden light that crisscrossed and shimmered in the air.
It was none other than the Ten Directions Fierce Sun Demon Subduing Array, manifested from the Golden Cry Jade Beads!
Qi Xiu controlled the Formation, firmly shielding himself and Bai Qingfeng within it.
The surging Fierce Sun Subduing Demon Divine Flames blazed furiously, causing the encroaching filthy Blood Sha and corrosive gastric fluid to SIZZLE and evaporate, unable to get an inch closer.
Meanwhile, Qi Xiu fully activated the Star Absorption Skill. Its terrifying suction force, like a black hole, frantically drained the Lion Demon’s blood and flesh essence, transferring it into his own body.
"Save me, save me, Eldest Brother..."
A bizarre concavity appeared on the Lion Demon’s cheeks. It felt as if a bottomless hole had opened in its belly, its blood and flesh essence draining away wildly. It desperately grabbed the Elephant Demon, begging for help.
"Damn these human wretches!"
Knowing that his Second Brother’s tragic state was undoubtedly the humans’ doing, the Elephant Demon’s eyes filled with hatred and a grim resolve:
"Second Brother, swallow us too! This time, I’d like to see where those two human wretches can possibly escape!"