Probing

After Chen Xu destroyed the massive blood-red face in the sky, the dao rhyme of the Hell Archduke did not dissipate. Instead, it grew thicker, clashing and repelling Chen Xu's own necrotic dao rhyme.

Crack!

Suddenly, a loud, crisp sound of shattering echoed through the entire world.

The sky was torn open, and two massive claws reached in from outside. They pulled with immense force, steadily widening the rift in the world.

The sound of the world membrane breaking rang out repeatedly as the rift grew larger. Surging demonic aura poured relentlessly into this world through the opening.

Under the influence of this aura, the surviving voodoo banshees and succubi became increasingly frenzied. Their sizes ballooned, and they gained immense physical strength, turning back to assault the gargoyles.

Demons that were originally only a tenth the size of a gargoyle instantly swelled to half their size. Under the combined assault of several demons, the gargoyles actually fell into a disadvantage, being pinned to the ground and unable to move.

The eyes of the frenzied demons glowed with red light, and blood flowed continuously from their orifices. Their teeth and claws grew long and sharp as they tore at the gargoyles, scraping away large amounts of stone fragments.

However, Chen Xu had no time to worry about the gargoyle legion. His attention was entirely focused on the rift in the sky.

Under the brute force of the Hell Archduke, Mogli the Tormentor, the rift had expanded to five times its original size. From within the world, one could now see the scenery of the Cosmic Sea with the naked eye.

What came into view was Mogli's blood-red, giant body. A single eyeball was the size of a moon, and the fangs protruding from his mouth were comparable to towering mountain peaks.

His torso was covered in taut, swollen muscles. Behind him, a small tail curled, and atop his head was a pair of horns similar to a ram's. Chen Xu could clearly sense that a vast number of souls were bound to those horns.

Hellfire burned fiercely, constantly torturing those poor souls. Their wails reached Mogli's ears in a non-stop, twenty-four-hour cycle—this was Mogli's own personal symphony.

From Mogli's appearance, Chen Xu identified his race: a Demon Lord, the most traditional and ancient race in Hell.

In the early days of Hell's birth, only one type of demon was hatched from the primal blood soup: the lesser demons.

Lesser demons had low combat power. Even though they were born with the ability to use fireballs, any Transcendent-tier person could easily take one down in a one-on-one fight.

After the lesser demons came the greater demons. Legend had it that for every ten thousand lesser demons, one greater demon would be born.

A greater demon's appearance was very similar to Mogli's, except they lacked a tail and their upper bodies were not bare, but covered in black leather armor.

Beyond the greater demons were the Demon Lords. Their immense power meant they no longer needed the protection of armor. Hellfire resided within their hearts, and their entire bodies radiated the power of corruption and flesh.

"A Demon Lord, huh."

Chen Xu's expression grew solemn. He hadn't expected to encounter such a troublesome enemy as soon as he arrived on the Astral Battlefield.

If Mogli's race hadn't been a Demon Lord, Chen Xu wouldn't have been this cautious. What was more troublesome than a Hell Archduke was a veteran Hell Archduke.

For creatures like demons, the powerful were not necessarily ancient, but the ancient were definitely powerful.

Time did not leave demons with weakened bodies or souls; instead, it provided the blood and souls of countless living beings to nourish them.

As a member of an ancient hellish race, Mogli had certainly held the title of Hell Archduke for a very long time.

Chen Xu didn't dare to be arrogant. He opened the spatial gate to the Undead Divine Court and summoned the Undead Throne.

Although it was still just a base, the enhancement from the world power was very real.

The moment his feet touched the base, a mysterious, vast, and extremely high-status power flooded into Chen Xu's body.

With his previous experience and the fact that he was now at the eternal-tier rather than the mythic-tier, the world power did not interfere with his thoughts. Under Chen Xu's mental strength, the surging world power became as docile as a loyal old dog.

Bolstered by the world power, Chen Xu seized the moment Mogli was passing through the rift to release [Flower of Death] and [God-Slaying Poison].

In the next instant, blossoms of the Flower of Death began to grow on Mogli's limbs, slowly extending toward his heart.

Deep within Mogli's soul, eerie skulls also appeared, circling and tearing at his spirit.

"Agh!"

Mogli let out a roar, followed by a series of frenzied growls.

"Damned necrotic, disgusting curses! You damp, shadowy things should be thrown into the hellfire to burn for a hundred million years!"

Hellfire began to burn violently from Mogli's heart, instantly enveloping his entire demonic body.

Snap! Crackle!

The intense heat burned holes into the surrounding space. The already unstable world space moved even closer to collapse.

The hellfire nurtured within a Hell Archduke's body was simply too terrifying for an ordinary world to endure.

With the support of the hellfire, the Flower of Death and the eerie skulls in Mogli's soul stopped spreading, but they did not disappear.

Mogli had his hellfire, but Chen Xu's world power—sourced from the Land of the Undead—was no pushover either. The Flower of Death and the eerie skulls continued to drain Mogli's vitality and soul.

The pain was small, but it could not be ignored.

Enduring the pain, Mogli forced his entire body into the world. Then, he raised his right hand, and a massive, ash-black sickle suddenly manifested in his grip.

His fingers tightened around it, and hellfire crawled up Mogli's arm and onto the sickle.

Mogli swung the sickle violently, dragging a massive wave of hellfire as he slashed toward Chen Xu.

Chen Xu deployed a spirit shield where he stood and left multiple runes on it and the ground to form a defensive array. Linked by the world power, the runes combined to exert even greater strength.

At the same time, Chen Xu teleported out of Mogli's reach, taking the Undead Throne base with him.

He had left the shield only to test Mogli's attack damage; Chen Xu wasn't reckless enough to go head-to-head with a Hell Archduke.

One had to remember that besides corruption, Hell also possessed the unique dao rhyme of flesh.

The spirit shield Chen Xu left behind only caused Mogli's giant sickle to pause for a fraction of a second. Then, under the dual enhancement of hellfire and brute force, the shield shattered completely.

The remaining energy from the sickle's swing was released onto the earth. A violent boom echoed, kicking up a massive cloud of dust.

Mogli stomped down, creating a powerful shockwave that blew the dust away, revealing a massive, bottomless chasm.

The moment he landed, Mogli swung twice more. Crescent-shaped slashes wreathed in roaring hellfire reached Chen Xu in an instant.

With a thought, Chen Xu raised another spirit shield. However, this time it wasn't a three-hundred-and-sixty-degree circular shield, but a triangular one designed to deflect force at an angle.

After leaving more runes on the shield and the ground, Chen Xu immediately teleported to his next position.

The slashes struck the triangular shield, their force being diverted and dispersed. The shield did not break immediately.

Mogli gave a light chuckle. He turned his head to look at the teleported Chen Xu and, without looking back, threw another slash toward the triangular shield before flying toward Chen Xu.

The shield couldn't withstand the second slash and shattered instantly, adding another chasm to the ground.

One fled while the other pursued. Chen Xu placed shields, and Mogli slashed and chased. They went back and forth for over three hundred rounds.

Perhaps because it was his first time fighting a necrotic archduke, Mogli was in no hurry to get serious. Instead, he played along with Chen Xu, engaging in a game of cat and mouse.

In the blink of an eye, five days had passed. This was the first time Chen Xu had fought for such a long period.

Finally, the battle reached its end. It wasn't because the two eternal-tier powerhouses had run out of energy and decided to settle it, but because this poor world was overburdened and teetering on the brink of collapse under their devastation.

Furthermore, Chen Xu had finally found the opportunity he was waiting for.

Facing the multiple slashes flying through the air, Chen Xu did not dodge this time. Instead, he crushed them with his mental strength, then raised both hands, palms toward the sky.

On the ground, the lingering runes instantly lit up. Tens of millions of runes were triggered by Chen Xu's mental strength, forming a massive array.

The power of the world gathered within it, pinning Mogli down firmly.

"Damned necrotic, playing your schemes! Is this all the strength you have?"

Mogli struggled constantly, and hellfire flared up again, scorching the world power in the air.

"No, this is the power of cooperation,"

Chen Xu replied calmly.

"Cooperation?"

Just as Mogli was confused, a beam of holy light descended from the heavens, completely shattering the already tattered world membrane.

The aura coming from the holy light made Mogli's scalp tingle.

"Alifa!"