Ch. 203 - Demon Puppet

The Mad Blood Demon’s face twisted with rage. The blood-colored river above his head surged, its hue growing even more sinister.

As the river churned, boundless spiritforce gathered around him.

The river and spiritforce twisted together, stirring up the surrounding storm clouds until the entire space began to collapse.

The Mad Blood Demon let out a furious roar and charged directly at Paimon.

“Futile resistance,” Paimon said coldly. Demonic energy condensed around his fist. With one punch, he tore through the sky like a raging river severing the sun. The strike drove the Mad Blood Demon deep into the ground.

Meanwhile, more and more grotesque faces poured out from above, turning Hunyuan Ancient City into a sea of blood, a living hell.

Ordinary martial artists couldn’t survive anymore. The only ones still standing were beings at the level of the One Leaf Ancient God and the Five Ancestors of Stone Tablet.

The stench of blood filled the air. In the heart of the city, the arena remained eerily silent.

The Mad Blood Demon emerged from the ground, his face pale, blood at the corner of his lips, and faint traces of demonic aura swirling around him.

His True Fate had been injured, and the demonic energy in his mind could no longer be suppressed.

With a furious roar, his vision turned pitch black as the demonic aura consumed him, dragging him into the most despair-filled memories of his life.

……

Mortal had taken the Heaven's Will. The Mad Blood Demon swore he would remember that sword strike for the rest of his life.

It shattered all his pride, cast him from the heavens.

He watched that man shine across the ages as he carried the Heaven's Will, and in that moment, the Mad Blood Demon was utterly crushed.

The memory shifted.

He was back home. His family’s corpses lay in pools of blood. That moment too was filled with despair.

“If living hurts this much, why not end it? Death is the only release.”

A voice in his mind kept tempting him.

Slowly, the Mad Blood Demon raised his right hand, reaching toward his heart.

Demonic energy gathered around him. The blood-colored river above flickered as bloodlight and demonic aura intertwined.

His expression flickered. Then, with a furious roar, he forcefully expelled the demonic aura.

Though disheveled, his eyes now shone with clarity.

“If this world hadn’t suppressed my cultivation, you wouldn’t have escaped my Domain of Despair,” Paimon said coldly.

Just as the Mad Blood Demon was about to speak, he felt a sting in his back. He turned with a frown to see several people stabbing him from behind with weapons.

These were the ones who had earlier gouged out their hearts under demonic influence.

Now, like puppets, they attacked without consciousness.

The Mad Blood Demon, an Arcane Immortal realm powerhouse, was unfazed. Their attacks did nothing.

He waved a hand. Infinite spiritforce gathered and vaporized them instantly, ashes in the wind.

But more and more came. Growing impatient, he summoned the raging blood river above.

A sea of blood surged and drowned them all.

“Pfft!”

Suddenly, another blade pierced his body.

The Mad Blood Demon turned, only to see the little girl standing before him.

“Qi’er…” his voice trembled.

But she had no awareness. She simply stabbed him again and again with the blade in her hand.

“It’s Grandpa’s fault… I couldn’t protect you…” the Mad Blood Demon said, his body shaking, eyes misty.

As the blood river swelled, the little girl’s figure slowly vanished within it.

He lifted his head, eyes calm as he looked at Paimon, yet in that calm, madness lurked.

“You must be in so much pain,” Paimon said flatly.

He had remained expressionless from the start. “Let me end that pain for you.”

As he finished speaking, the demonic aura in the sky surged once more.

But this time, the Mad Blood Demon didn’t fight back. Instead, the blood river roared and struck at the barrier surrounding the city.

BOOM!

A deafening explosion shook the heavens.

The barrier rippled. Pale blue light flickered, but it remained intact.

His expression darkened. He struck it again.

Still no change.

“It’s useless. Stop wasting your strength,” Paimon said, shaking his head. Demonic energy swirled in his hand as he lunged at the old man.

“If I die, you’re coming with me!” the Mad Blood Demon bellowed. The blood river surged toward Xu Zimo.

Seeing this, Paimon let out a cold snort. He raised his other hand, and two streams of demonic energy came at the Mad Blood Demon from different directions.

……

BOOM!

An explosion of energy tore through the sky.

It was like a mushroom cloud rising overhead. The space around them shattered completely.

As the dust settled, the Mad Blood Demon lay dying on the ground.

The blood river, his True Fate, had shattered into countless fragments. His body was mangled beyond recognition.

Worst of all, his soul had been fractured. Cracks spread across it like shattered glass.

……

Light footsteps echoed in his ears.

Xu Zimo slowly walked up to the dying Mad Blood Demon.

“You’ll get what’s coming to you,” the old man said weakly.

“Life is like a book full of ups and downs. Until the last page, you never know how the story ends,” Xu Zimo replied calmly.

As he spoke, boundless demonic aura surged and consumed the Mad Blood Demon.

Within the darkness, grotesque faces shrieked and howled.

When the demonic fog finally faded, the Mad Blood Demon stood back up, like a puppet.

“Master, I’ve etched a demonic mark into his True Fate,” Paimon said respectfully. “He’s no different from a puppet now. But due to the severe damage to his soul and True Fate, his strength is limited to the Empyrean Meridian Realm.”

Xu Zimo nodded.

He looked around, the entire city was now shrouded in demonic mist.

The fog smothered everything, swallowing the entire city in darkness.

Everyone here had been branded with the demonic mark, turned into puppets.

……

With Paimon by his side, Xu Zimo stepped over broken walls and shattered ruins until he reached the Five Ancestors of Stone Tablet.

The five men stood frozen in place, their eyes hollow.

Xu Zimo opened their storage rings and searched them thoroughly.

He frowned.

There was nothing he wanted inside.

“Looks like they were afraid of retaliation from the Imperial Lineages and didn’t dare carry it with them,” he muttered.

“What about the Ye Clan?” he asked.

“They’re trapped inside their estate. I didn’t touch them,” Paimon replied quickly.

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