Chaos erupted from within, and the horde of demons was sown by the Planted Evils in Dao-Heart.
Master Tu's blood‐sacrifice ritual was severed; Great Wilderness sorcery backfired, grievously wounding his divine consciousness, and his mortal body was ravenously gnawed by frenzied Golden Core demons, leaving him unable to maintain control over the ritual.
At the same time, within the Evil God's nightmare:
The instant Master Tu's blood‐sacrifice ritual was broken, Patriarch Xiao's primordial spirit suddenly began to contort, as if it had lost some summoned power and could no longer maintain its existence inside the nightmare.
Patriarch Xiao roared in anger, but it was of no use.
Soon, as the black qi shattered and a vortex formed, Patriarch Xiao's primordial spirit was torn away by a blood‐red force and expelled from the Evil God's nightmare.
Indeed, because the hall fell into chaos—Master Tu injured and the blood‐sacrifice ritual broken—this disturbance shook the blood‐sacrifice altar in reality.
Consequently, the entire nightmare of the Evil God quivered.
This sudden turn of events startled Immortal Situ.
He did not know precisely what had happened, but his years of experience and mastery amid the perils of the Divine Dao allowed him, at this critical moment, to detect a faint glimmer of opportunity.
A single thought rekindled hope in his previously despairing heart.
"No—there is still a chance!"
"The Evil God can still be killed!"
Immortal Situ's mind raced:
Trapped within the Evil God's nightmare, he had no knowledge of the outside. He could only guess that cultivators from Qianxue and other factions, in their assault on the great blood‐ritual formation, had disrupted its operation, constantly pressuring Master Tu, thereby causing him to make a mistake during the ritual.
Because the ritual was broken, Patriarch Xiao's corrupted primordial spirit was pulled out of the nightmare.
Given their present situation—stranded in the nightmare, isolated—only this explanation made sense.
And if that was so, they still had a chance.
"Patriarch Xiao is a fifth‐rank Dongxu‐realm primordial spirit. Apart from him, the Evil God's forces have no other divine consciousnesses at the fifth rank."
"As divine‐consciousness cultivators, our only fear is the 'contamination' of the rules..."
"But now, we no longer need to fear it, because..."
Immortal Situ looked around, grief in his heart. "We have most likely... already been contaminated."
"Since we are already contaminated, there is no deeper contamination left to fear."
Immortal Situ then turned back, summoning his courage to stare directly at the Evil God of the Great Wilderness.
In his mortal body, he faced the Evil God head‐on.
The Evil God's appearance gradually came into focus before him.
It was a newly born, half‐human, half‐sheep infant, its body coated in membranes and oozing black fluid; its skin was wrinkled, and it looked frail.
Yet its heart pulsed with a terrifying power.
With each beat, an evil force surged through its entire body.
Immortal Situ suppressed his fear, silently reciting the Heart Secret of the Mysterious Mechanism Valley, forcing himself to regard this Evil God with absolute calm.
When he regarded it as "the Evil God," Immortal Situ's heart felt boundless coldness and an instinct to submit—he could not summon a trace of "resistance."
But when he regarded it as "an infant," Immortal Situ instantly felt a flash of insight.
This was a prematurely born infant.
Moreover, because he had previously struck it with the Seven‐Star Sword and wounded its divine fetus, it was also akin to a cesarean birth.
Cesarean, premature—inevitably deficient from birth.
And this Evil God's wrinkled skin and thick fetal fluid confirmed Immortal Situ's suspicion.
In other words, there was still a chance!
At this very moment, this Evil God of the Great Wilderness was at its most "vulnerable" state.
And they, having nothing left to lose, had no further reservations.
With that thought, Immortal Situ immediately cried out:
"Everyone, there is no retreat—give it everything you have!"
With those words, he burned his remaining divine consciousness, summoning from the Six‐Yang Great Red Gold Lamp a flame of Six‐Yang Great Red Gold, the blazing fire roaring toward the Evil God.
This was truly an act of slaying a deity.
Though panic welled in his heart, his gaze remained cold and resolute, without a hint of hesitation.
Meanwhile, the Patriarch of the Great Luo Sect—expression bitter—also summoned the Great Luo Sword, slashing at the Evil God.
The Patriarch of the Talisman Sect attempted to subdue the Evil God's true form with a Seal‐Suppressing Talisman.
The Patriarch of the Mini Talisman Sect used incantations.
The Patriarch of the Kunzhou Sect raised her Thunderwood Sword, aiming directly at the head of the juvenile Evil God.
But when these four Dongxu‐level patriarchs, their eyes fixed on the Evil God's true fetal form, truly harbored murderous intent, a bone‐deep terror suddenly descended on them. Their primordial spirits choked, and their attacks were forcibly halted.
In an instant, all four patriarchs' pupils contracted sharply.
They dared not strike…
Dared not... kill the Evil God?!
This realization filled each of the four with terror; it was simply inconceivable.
Their mission had been to slay the Evil God.
That had been known from the start.
But to experience it in person—to stand face‐to‐face with the act of killing an Evil God—was an entirely different matter.
They were not orthodox divine‐consciousness cultivators; they had not undergone rigorous Daoheart tempering since childhood. They simply could not summon the courage to point their blades at an Evil Dao deity.
They wanted to kill, but their inner fear would not let them.
"Is this... a god?"
The four looked at the newly born, deformed, hideous true form of the Evil God, and in that moment felt an icy chill to their bones.
Immortal Situ noticed the situation and sighed inwardly.
He should have known: the Evil God was not something so simple to "kill."
He should have realized long ago that an evil god is not something you can simply "kill."
Among all the cultivators present, he alone—the Grand Elder of Xuanji Valley—was truly able to somewhat overcome the fear within and harbor "murderous intent" toward the evil god.
But in the current situation, there was no time to think so much.
Sitü Zhenren summoned all his strength, igniting the Six-Yang Red-Gold Fire, using the power of a supreme treasure fueled by a Feather-Transformation Realm spirit, to burn the evil god's true embryo. Even if he couldn't annihilate it completely, severely wounding it would be a victory.
The evil god seemed to have some degree of fear toward Sitü Zhenren's Six-Yang Red-Gold Fire.
Perhaps it was because this fire was supremely pure yang and unyieldingly fierce.
Or perhaps because Sitü Zhenren's spirit was at the Feather-Transformation Realm.
The evil god did not just wait to be destroyed; it opened its mouth and expelled a cloud of black mist to counter Sitü Zhenren's fire. The two forces stalemated for a time.
Sitü Zhenren's eyelid twitched involuntarily.
His Six-Yang Red-Gold Fire was forged from his utmost spirit power and a divine treasure—it was extremely powerful.
Yet this evil god's true embryo was only third rank, newly born, innately deficient, completely in a "neonate" state, with no awakened divine powers, and yet its casually expelled black mist blocked his spirit-forged fire.
A strange dread arose in Sitü Zhenren's heart.
If this true evil embryo were allowed to grow, he had no idea what kind of existence in this world could slay such a terrifying evil god.
"It must be killed!"
Summoning his last breath, Sitü Zhenren ignited the Six-Yang Red-Gold Lamp, even burning his soul, desperate to incinerate this great calamity at its cradle.
Meanwhile, the four elders of the Great Luo Sect, aware they dared not harbor murderous intent toward the evil god, felt ashamed and turned their attention to the three fetal demons and other spawn demons hatched from the eggs of demons and monsters, creating conditions for Sitü Zhenren.
Using their fifth-rank spirit power advantage, whether by spirit sword light, spells, or talismans, they swept through masses of enemies.
Previously, they might have feared their spirit would be "corrupted."
But now, with the evil god resurrected, most of them had likely already been "corrupted." With life and death no longer a concern, they unleashed their full fury and slaughtered without restraint.
Though their hearts had not been tempered, and they dared not kill the evil god, they showed no mercy toward other fetal and spawn demons.
The Great Luo Sect elder fought up close against the rotting fetal demon, wielding the Great Luo Unity Sword, each sweep severing several of the demon's tentacles.
Blood corruption stained him, corroding his spirit, but he paid no heed.
This might be the last great battle of his life.
The other Void Cavern elders also began killing the fetal demons.
The Lingfu Sect elder suppressed the demonic energy with exorcism talismans; the Little Ling Sect elder attacked with all manners of spells; the elder from Kunzhou wielded his Thunderwood Sword, sweeping with wind and thunder, eradicating any evil spirits it touched.
The remaining Feather-Transformation Realm spirit cultivators, led by Wenren Wan, formed a formation to help resist the tidal wave of demons.
In an instant, the tide began to turn.
Countless demons perished under the killing blows of the Void Cavern Realm spirit cultivators.
The Great Wilderness evil god's originally innately deficient true embryo was slowly being consumed in the fierce battle with Sitü Zhenren, who burned his soul to the limit. The embryo's foundation was gradually being "dragged down."
All things in the world are at their most vulnerable when first born.
The evil god was no exception.
If this continued and its root were harmed, even if it truly resurrected, its vitality would be greatly damaged.
The evil god's true embryo grew furious.
These "mangy curs," these sacrificial dogs, had truly angered it.
Its rage also triggered the true embryo's metamorphosis, awakening its most important and core "divine power."
Suddenly, the evil god's true embryo expelled a large mouthful of black mist.
Sitü Zhenren, exhausted and nearly out of spiritual power, had no choice but to temporarily retreat. Just as he prepared to reignite the Six-Yang Red-Gold Lamp to suppress the evil embryo again, he noticed ancient, mottled, and obscure markings beginning to glow on the embryo's body.
His expression changed drastically.
Before he could react, the embryo slowly spoke in a sharp, hoarse voice, yet one imbued with an inexplicable divine aura:
"In the presence of the divine… all beings are equal."
As these words were spoken, it was as if the law within the nightmare realm profoundly changed.
An irresistible law seemed to descend upon Sitü Zhenren, and his expression twisted wildly.
He could feel that the spirit realm he had painstakingly cultivated his entire life was…
slowly falling!
From thirty-nine marks to thirty-eight, thirty-seven… thirty…
Then breaking down through the great realm in reverse, falling to twenty-nine, twenty-eight…
Eventually falling all the way to twenty-five marks.
Mid-Golden Core stage, twenty-five marks of spirit power!
He, the Grand Elder of Xuanji Valley, a Feather-Transformation Realm Zhenren, in the blink of an eye, saw his spirit power drop from the pinnacle thirty-nine marks of Feather-Transformation down to Golden Core!
Not only Sitü Zhenren, but the other four Void Cavern elders and Feather-Transformation Zhenren, all inside the evil god's domain, experienced their spirit power ranks sliding down, ultimately landing between mid to late Golden Core stages.
An indescribable horror surged in everyone's hearts.
Even Sitü Zhenren found it hard to believe.
"This is… the authority of a True God?!"
"The law of divine authority?!"
"Is this... the law of divine authority?!"
Before the gods, the difference in realms is erased. "All beings are equal," placing all divine minds within the domain of divine authority at the same realm.
For a moment, Situ Zhenren's heart turned to ashes.
"This… is what a god really is…"
He knew, this time, it was truly all over.
No matter how hard he tried, fighting to the utmost, he could only reach this situation.
Yet the power of the evil true god in the divine mind world fundamentally transcended his understanding.
From beginning to end, the rules were entirely controlled by the evil god.
They simply had no chance to fight back.
Sure enough, in an instant, the situation collapsed.
At the same realm, the divine minds of cultivators were no match for the corrupted demonic spirits and the more powerful fetal demons that possessed the power of contamination.
The Daluo Sect Patriarch and the Xiaoling Sect Patriarch, who had fallen to the "Golden Core" realm, were successively corrupted by the rotting fetal demons, their bodies decayed.
The Lingfu Sect Patriarch was terrified by the human-faced spider demon, and her body was gnawed by other demons.
The Dongxu Patriarch wielding the Thunderwood Sword was kissed on the neck by a rosy fetal demon, gradually losing his willpower and resistance.
The "defense line" of the Dongxu realm collapsed.
The remaining feathered-transcendence realm divine mind cultivators could no longer hold their ground.
The old crone who summoned the Six Ding and Six Jia finally had her last few Ding and Jia warriors overwhelmed by the demon army and was swallowed by demons herself.
Without the peachwood sword, the Taoist was no match for the demons; both his arms were brutally torn off by the demons.
The white-robed female Zhenren's divine mind was exhausted and could no longer wield the Three Purity Bells, only able to shield Wenren Wan behind her.
Wenren Wan, grateful for her protection all along, said: "You chant the incantation and go quickly."
The white-robed female Zhenren's face was pale, and she forced a bitter smile: "I can't leave."
With the evil god reborn and the Qi of the Seven Stars stirring, they had long since been unable to rely on the power of the Xuantian Big Dipper Seven-Star Formation to forcibly pull themselves out of the nightmare.
Wenren Wan's heart ached.
Then, in the next moment, a pale, deformed human face suddenly appeared before her. The face shouted at her with a piercing, horrifying roar.
Wenren Wan felt dizzy. When she opened her eyes again, the white-robed female Zhenren had already fallen into the mouth of the human-faced spider demon.
Her primordial spirit was wrapped in spider silk, unable to move. Her limbs, like ice and jade, were gnawed bloody by the human face growing on the spider.
Wenren Wan's heart was like being cut by a knife.
From then on, there was no one left by her side.
The only one remaining was Situ Zhenren.
Situ Zhenren's face was full of helplessness and bitter resentment, but even at the end, he still held on to a sliver of hope. He summoned the last of his divine mind power, ignited the Six Yang Red-Gold Lamp, turning it into blazing flames, and charged toward the evil god's true fetal form to destroy it.
This was the last thing he could do.
But now his divine mind was only at the Golden Core level, far from a match for the evil god's true fetal form.
The evil fetus, as usual, casually spat out a cloud of black mist, completely extinguishing Situ Zhenren's Six Yang Red-Gold Flame.
Not only that, within the black mist, the evil god's power was heavy. It didn't just snuff out the Six Yang flame; it also corroded the entire Red-Gold Lamp.
The Six Yang Red-Gold Lamp shattered.
Situ Zhenren spat out a mouthful of life-blood. Bitterly smiling yet somewhat regretful, he thought that if the sect's most treasured artifact, the Qiankun Qingguang Lamp, were still intact, it might have been able to suppress this evil god and buy him some chance of victory. Today's outcome might have been different.
But unfortunately… that Qiankun Qingguang Lamp had been used by himself to save that person's life.
Perhaps, this too, was the cause and effect of fate.
To save one person, another must die.
Since he had forcibly extended that person's fate by the hands of Heaven, naturally, he had to pay with his own life.
The Way of Heaven, indeed, was the most merciless...
Situ Zhenren's heart grew dark and heavy.
(End of this Chapter)