Although the Empress had received reinforcement, her expression remained solemn. "The enemy is immensely powerful. Form the Immortal Maiden Seizing Heaven Sword Array!"
No sooner had her voice fallen than a vast, monstrous demonic energy surged into the sky. At that moment, the Vajra Living Buddha—who had been jointly suppressed by the disciples of the Immortal Maiden Pavilion—furious and raging, let out a terrifying roar that echoed through the air!
"It is always the same! Fifty thousand years ago, a pack of playthings rebelled and murdered their master; without my protection, not a single one of them would have survived!"
The next instant, a hundred-foot golden Buddha rose from the ground, but the golden light upon it flashed and vanished, instantly transforming into towering demonic flames. The enraged Vajra Living Buddha unleashed his true form, intending to slaughter every last disciple of the Immortal Maiden Pavilion!
Yet how could the Immortal Maiden Pavilion, having stood unshaken in the Taixuan Realm for fifty thousand years, possess an undeserved reputation? The moment the Immortal Maiden Seizing Heaven Sword Array was deployed, it suppressed the Vajra Demonic Buddha's true form!
Seeing this, the Empress let out a sharp cry, and divine phoenix flames erupted across her body. Having already activated her bloodline, the scorching temperature practically warped the void around her!
With a spread of her arms, she appeared like a divine bird descending to the mortal realm, soaring into the sky to become the core of the Immortal Maiden Seizing Heaven Sword Array. Empowered by the phoenix flames, the already immensely formidable sword array instantly grew even more formidable, carrying the momentum to burn the heavens and boil the seas!
Relying on the power of the Devil's Den, the Vajra Living Buddha had previously been able to gain the upper hand against the Empress at the Heavenly Tribulation Stage. Now, however, reinforced by the five hundred disciples of the Immortal Maiden Pavilion and the sword array, he was beginning to show signs of defeat. His demonic Buddha true form resembled a lonely boat in a violent storm—precarious and on the verge of collapse at any moment!
Knowing that the tide had turned and that the development of the Immortal Maiden Pavilion over the past fifty thousand years far exceeded his imagination, the Vajra Living Buddha realized that no matter how furious and unwilling he felt, his only option was to retreat first and figure out another way to obtain the phoenix bloodline within the Empress.
Yet no matter how wondrous the divine abilities he unleashed, he could not shatter the massive sword array commanded by the Empress. Instead, the overwhelming might of the array shattered his true form, and countless cracks spread across his half-human, half-corpse body!
The Empress looked on and laughed coldly. "You are nothing more than a maggot. Yield your resistance and accept your death, and this Empress might grant you a swift end!"
"Absurd!" Another roar from the Vajra Living Buddha echoed through the air. Having lived on as a half-man, half-ghost monstrosity for fifty thousand years, how could he possibly be willing to accept his death?
Unable to breach this lethal sword array, the Vajra Living Buddha was left with only one final choice—yet it was one he dared not make lightly, for he did not know whether the ultimate outcome would be worse than death itself.
"Demon Lord, save me!!!"
With life and death hanging in the balance, the Vajra Living Buddha no longer had any room for choice. Only by doing this could he seek a final glimmer of survival; otherwise, certain death awaited him!
Luosa, who was intently condensing his physical body within the Blood Sea, was startled. It seemed someone had just called out to him for help. But what kind of nonsense was a "Demon Lord"? Lord of the Devil's Den? Hehe, it actually had a nice ring to it.
Luosa was quite pleased with the title of Demon Lord. With a ripple of his divine sense, he saw the heaven-destroying sword array commanded by the Empress, and instantly feeling displeased, he unleashed the power of the Devil's Den.
The Empress had no idea who the "Demon Lord" spoken of by the Vajra Living Buddha was, but someone regarded as a lifeline by a ruthless character like him naturally could not be a nobody.
Just as she was remaining on high alert, a massive force instantly tore the sword array apart, and the five hundred disciples forming the array suffered an immediate backlash, falling to the ground with withered auras.
The Empress, acting as the core of the array, suffered even more severe injuries, crashing to the ground while bleeding from every pore. Her aura was so withered she could not even stand, and she could only watch helplessly as the terrifying-faced Vajra Living Buddha charged toward her!
At that very moment, a wave of demonic energy swept through, snatching away the Vajra Living Buddha just as he was about to succeed, thereby sparing the Empress and the five hundred disciples from disaster.
Seeing this, the Empress relaxed slightly and hurriedly swallowed a medicinal pill to heal her injuries. Although the Vajra Living Buddha had vanished, countless unknown dangers still lurked within this Devil's Den. Ever since she attained the Heavenly Tribulation stage, she had always looked down upon the forbidden zones of the mortal world, but now she realized how shallow her own understanding truly was.
...
At the edge of the Blood Sea, a streak of demonic energy slashed across the void, and the Vajra Living Buddha slammed into the ground with a loud thud. The moment he stood up, he let out a roar of bitter reluctance, smashing a fist into the ground to kick up a cloud of dust. He had been mere moments away from obtaining the phoenix bloodline—how could he possibly be reconciled to this?
Yet he quickly collected himself and immediately knelt toward the Blood Sea. "This subordinate Vajra Living Buddha expresses my gratitude to the Demon Lord for the rescue!"
Luosa's divine sense controlled the Blood Sea to manifest a human figure. His external avatar was still undergoing the refining process, so this was the only way he could converse with the Vajra Living Buddha.
The blood-man possessed no facial features, yet a clear voice rang out from him. "Since you have entered the Devil's Den, you are my subjects. However, I am quite curious: how did you come to know of my existence?"
The Vajra Living Buddha remained kneeling on the ground, knowing that the Demon Lord was an existence he could never afford to provoke. "I relied on the power of the Devil's Den to prolong my life. Ten thousand years ago, when I sensed the power of the Devil's Den paying homage to the Burial Earth, I knew that the Lord of the Devil's Den had been born."
As his voice trailed off, the Vajra Living Buddha froze for a moment. The Demon Lord had been born in the Burial Earth—why was he now within the Blood Sea? But he quickly set the thought aside; the Demon Lord was omnipresent within the Devil's Den.
Luosa acknowledged this with a hum, fell silent for a moment, and then asked, "Since you were saved by me, your life is now in my hands. Are you willing to submit?"
Without the slightest hesitation, the Vajra Living Buddha replied, "To become a subordinate under the Demon Lord is this humble one's supreme honor. It is only that my current appearance is too unsightly to behold, and my strength is not even a ten-thousandth of my peak. I beg my master to seize the phoenix bloodline for me so that I may be reborn through nirvana and better serve my master. I beseech my master to grant this request!"
Seeing the Vajra Living Buddha's half-human, half-ghost appearance, Luosa agreed, finding it truly revolting. "These outsiders will not leave alive. Let us first see what abilities the cultivators outside possess, and I will leave the phoenix bloodline for you."
Overjoyed upon hearing this, the Vajra Living Buddha immediately kowtowed ten loud times to Luosa, then added, "Master, I have spent tens of thousands of years in the Devil's Den and have made the acquaintance of quite a few formidable figures. We might as well subdue them together!"
"Very well. Summon them here; it is time for me to meet the subjects of the Devil's Den." With a cold snort, Luosa sank back into the Blood Sea to continue refining his avatar. At the very least, he refused to keep using the form of a blood-man to confront those cultivators inside the Devil's Den head-on.
Seeing that Luosa had given his instructions and vanished, the Vajra Living Buddha did not dare to delay in the slightest. He immediately soared into the sky and disappeared into the distance, completely unaware that catastrophe was about to befall the old monsters lurking within the Devil's Den.
Meanwhile, the Empress had finally recovered most of her injuries. She stood up, looked toward the five hundred disciples, and asked, "How are your injuries?"
"Reporting to the Empress! The disciples have recovered!"
These female disciples had not suffered injuries as severe as hers, and thus they recovered faster than the Empress. Seeing the Empress wave a large hand, they all summoned their flying swords and soared into the sky. The massive procession was magnificent in scale as it rapidly fled toward the exit of the Devil's Den.
Yet while entering the Devil's Den had been smooth sailing, leaving was not going to be so easy—especially since Luosa had already decided to wipe out every last cultivator from the Immortal Maiden Pavilion and the Leg Hair Brotherhood, leaving not a single chance of escape.
Luosa had already used demonic energy to drive fierce beasts and demonic monsters to encircle the two groups, steadily closing the net to annihilate them completely!