Chapter 70: Chapter 70: Heartache So Deep It Takes My Breath Away
The Holy Bullet hit Andros squarely, even a demon god could not ignore the power of Holy Water. Its body instantly reacted as if splashed with acid, the flesh corroding and emitting a large amount of white smoke.
After Sun Yan performed divination, it was as if he were inspired by the divine. With General Sun’s possession, fear and weakness would never arise in his heart.
Seizing the moment when Andros angrily roared, Sun Yan maneuvered around to Andros’s back, raising the Ghost Torturing Stick to strike down fiercely upon him.
The two official decrees on the Ghost Torturing Stick’s surface faintly lit up at the moment of impact. When the stickhead struck Andros’s body, the entire stick turned into a branding iron, burning into Andros’s flesh, so much so that more than half of it embedded within, fiercely stabbing into the demon god’s body.
Sizzling! Sizzling! Sizzling!
The entire Ghost Torturing Stick grew increasingly hot, glowing bright red.
Perhaps sensing the powerful demonic aura, even the official decrees of ’Thunder Gate Firecarriage Marshal Zhu’ and ’Fengdu Ghost Torturing Marshal Meng’, two of the Thirty-Six Celestial Generals of the Thunder Department, turned bright and dazzling.
Seeing this scene, Sun Yan couldn’t help but sigh inwardly at the missed opportunity.
Despite the formidable power of the Magical Artifact, its potency depends on the master wielding it.
This is the same for the Ghost Torturing Stick; as a Daoist Magical Artifact, it’s commonly used in Daoist rituals, like altar-opening ceremonies or banishing ghostly spirits and evil entities.
The Ruyi Golden Cudgel in the Great Saint’s hands can conquer the heavens, while in the East Sea Dragon King’s possession, it serves merely as a symbol of maritime suppression.
Generals Zeng and Sun each have their own Magical Artifacts; Green-Faced General Sun’s artifact is a trident, Red-Faced General Zeng’s is a Fire Talisman, and Blue-Faced General Zeng’s is a Tiger Token.
Once one obtains their Magical Artifact, their exorcism abilities can become even more powerful.
If Sun Yan were holding General Sun’s trident instead of the Ghost Torturing Stick at this moment, the strike might have sent Andros straight back to Hell.
Bang!
Having been repeatedly severely injured, neither Holy Water nor the Ghost Torturing Stick was easy for Andros to endure.
It suddenly spread its black feathered wings from its back and flew away instantly, under the watchful eyes of everyone. Andros’s blood-red mouth let out a piercing cry.
The entire hall trembled tremendously at that moment, and those corpse-like bodies hanging mid-air by hooks seemed to come to life, twisting violently and struggling to break free from the hooks, consecutively falling into the pool of dark green water below.
Sun Yan frowned slightly, seeing this bizarre occurrence, an inexplicable sense of foreboding crept into his heart.
But unfortunately, he couldn’t fly. After Andros cunningly hid mid-air, Sun Yan lost the means to launch an attack on it.
"Kuna neara hey, ba babula heho!"
Andros uttered unintelligible demon language, eyes venomously scanning Sosia and Sun Yan. As a member of the Seventy-Two Pillar Demon Gods, it could distinctly feel a powerful force within them not belonging to humans.
Before swallowing the human heart it had meticulously prepared for resurrection, Andros could not fully unleash its power. After consecutive injuries, it decided to abandon continuing entangling with these two troublesome beings.
What mattered most now was reclaiming the woman named Kevin to complete its final step of resurrection.
When Andros chanted the Demon Spell, the dark green pool surged wildly, bubbling as if boiling.
Skeletal arms sequentially rose from beneath the water surface, clutching beating hearts, each heart grotesquely bearing a distorted human face.
Seeing this familiar scene, Sun Yan turned in astonishment to where Betty and Nira were hiding.
This scene matched the imagery in the painting Nira created using Betty’s body!
"Hearts," Nira said calmly, locking eyes with Sun Yan.
In this environment, Sun Yan couldn’t hear a word she was saying, but luckily, by interpreting lip shapes, he immediately grasped her meaning and quickly glanced at Andros’s chest.
With the Celestial Eye, Sun Yan noticed a scar remaining in the center of Andros’s chest, seemingly from severe injury, though now it had already healed.
Coincidentally, the strike Geralt had casually delivered minutes ago had inadvertently pierced right beside the scar.
An audacious idea flashed in Sun Yan’s mind; he looked at Sosia, who still frantically fired at Andros, oblivious to his gaze.
Moreover, unable to converse during divination, Sun Yan had to abandon any plans for collaboration; everything had to rely on himself.
Numerous twisted and grotesque monsters crawled out of the water, their bodies resembling bloated rotten flesh, their faces devoid of visible features.
The monsters swayed their corpulent bodies, hastening to surround Sun Yan and Sosia, blocking their retreat.
At that moment, Andros spread its wings, swiftly pursuing Geralt, who was supporting Kevin.
With its massive maw full of fangs open wide, it intended to completely destroy Geralt, the human obstructing its resurrection, then proceed unimpeded with the final step.
Without the Demon Exorcism Shotgun in hand and having lost its Silver Cross Sword, facing the approaching demon god caused not a hint of fear in Geralt as he shielded his girlfriend.
His hands reached behind his waist, now holding a beautifully crafted Bible and a refined Silver Cross.
Seeing Andros coming closer, Geralt could even smell the foul odor emanating from its mouth. He widened his eyes and roared: "Let this mind be in you which was also in Christ Jesus, that you may be blameless, sincere and innocent children of God in this crooked and perverse generation, among whom you shine as lights in the world!"
The silver cross in his hand immediately emitted a blazing white light, and with a mighty swing, Geralt struck Andros hard in the face.
Andros let out a miserable cry and fell directly to the ground. Geralt quickly tore out pages from the Bible and covered the Demon God with them, each page glowing white and pinning Andros to the ground, unable to move.
At this moment his performance was like a miracle, a mere mortal was gaining the upper hand against the Hell Demon God.
Andros frantically flapped its wings, shedding the pages of the Bible and thus lessening its burden. Geralt continued to chant the True Words while tearing pages from the Bible to suppress Andros.
But after all, he was just a mortal, unable to frequently use the Bible Truth, which borrowed God’s power. Blood kept spurting from Geralt’s nostrils, quickly dyeing half of his face red.
Yet even so, he still showed no signs of stopping, even though continuing might exhaust his life.
Andros struggled and let out a roar, a mocking taunt showing in its eyes: "(Demon Language) Mortal, your power will eventually run out, while Andros’ power is forever endless!"
At this moment, a figure suddenly rushed in and stepped directly on Andros’ back, it was Sun Yan!
Sosia, holding a shotgun, covered him from behind, stopping monsters that wanted to interfere.
Sun Yan looked at the silver cross embedded in Andros’ chest, pulled it out, and then precisely stabbed it into the center of its chest.
The originally healed scar burst open again at this moment, emitting dazzling white light.
"(Demon Language) No!" Andros felt a hint of crisis, hurriedly turned back to look.
Sun Yan pulled the Ghost Torturing Stick embedded in its body from behind, without hesitation, thrust it into the gaping scar of Andros.
At this moment, the Ghost Torturing Stick was so red that it was impossible to watch with the naked eye. Sun Yan instinctively turned away, merely looking once made his eyes ache intensely.
"Jackson!"
Sosia turned around as if she had seen an extremely terrifying scene, disregarding the rule that meant to remain silent during divination.
She raced to push Sun Yan aside.
Boom!
In an instant, countless cracks burst open on Andros’ body, each one spreading red light outward.
In the blink of an eye, its body exploded violently, flesh and blood from head to toe turned into ashes with the explosion, and the whole hall was filled with black dust, like snowflakes.
Silence, utter silence.
The explosion from Andros caused severe ringing in Sun Yan’s ears, rendering him momentarily deaf, unable to hear any sound.
Everyone looked in disbelief at Andros’s remaining shattered skeleton on the ground.
Having lost the power of the Demon God, those decaying monsters also disintegrated and melted away in place.
The dark green pool water slowly receded back into the gap opened by the Hexagram Array, the eerie blue earth fire extinguished until the gap closed, sealing the passageway leading to unknown places.
The priest, kneeling on the ground, watched everything unfold in disbelief. Demon God Andros... had actually been killed.
Nira calmly stroked Betty’s head, comforting her: "Don’t be afraid, you’ll soon be able to go home."
"Where, where has it gone, how did it disappear?"
When hearing returned, the first thing Sun Yan did was frantically search near Andros’s skeleton for the Ghost Torturing Stick he had embedded earlier.
But the outcome wasn’t ideal; he couldn’t see any trace of the Ghost Torturing Stick, which made Sun Yan continuously scratch his head in frustration.
This was his most effective means against evil spirits; losing it would be a huge hassle.
"Could it have gone with Andros and been exploded away?"
Sun Yan turned in circles but still couldn’t find it, his heart sank while covering his chest, afraid of his great loss.
But the good news was that Sun Yan successfully completed the quest, earning rewards for this adventure.
"Is this what you’re looking for?"
Sosia walked over and handed a piece of half burnt wooden stick to Sun Yan.
Seeing that familiar shape, the broken body, Sun Yan fell silent.
The Ghost Torturing Stick had turned into such a state, would it still be useful?
The pain, too painful, heartache to the point of being unable to breathe.