Outside the Eight Gates Golden Lock Array, the group watched from a distance.
Bai Ke smacked her lips. "Are we sure we don’t need to go back to the mountain and get a few Elders?"
She was used to Daluo Palace’s tradition of ganging up on enemies. Seeing Gu Zhao form an array all by himself and struggle to take down his opponent, her first thought was to go back to the palace and call for reinforcements.
The Silk Embroideress licked her lips. "The young master just said it wasn’t necessary."
Zhuo Qingyan’s wise eyes shone with a brilliant light, but the thunderous light and Demonic Qi within the array blocked her view, making it impossible to see clearly.
So, she turned to Ye Ruyan. "Brother Gu, how is he faring inside the array?"
Among the group, Ye Ruyan and Miaoyun Princess had the highest Dao Practice. While they couldn’t interfere in a Magical Combat of this level, they could clearly see the situation inside the array.
Ye Ruyan smiled. "Don’t worry, sister. That guy has played all his trump cards, but the Sect Leader is still overwhelming him."
Although she was much older than Zhuo Qingyan, Ye Ruyan still had to call her "sister" due to Zhuo Qingyan’s implicit status as the Daluo Palace Master’s Wife.
Miaoyun Princess nodded as well. "The Sect Leader is acting cautiously. That Toad Spirit has tried to ambush him several times, but the Sect Leader blocked every attempt."
Bi Yingying’s Dao Practice was higher than Zhuo Qingyan’s but weaker than Ye Ruyan’s and Miaoyun Princess’s, so she could only get a rough idea. "Is that person injured?"
Ye Ruyan nodded. "The Sect Leader stabbed him with his spear."
Miaoyun Princess added, "But his Magical Power is profound, so the injury isn’t serious."
Inside the Eight Gates Golden Lock Array, Mo He Divine Monarch no longer dared to take risks. Gu Zhao’s Shrinking Inches technique was even more silent and traceless than the Celestial Fox Race’s Moonlight Evasion.
But now that Gu Zhao was prepared, neither his Intention Pearl nor his Toad Skill could shake the array any longer.
The two fought fiercely for over an hour. Endless thunderbolts resonated from outside the array, penetrating Mo He Divine Monarch’s Protective Demon Qi and making it impossible for him to expel the Thunder Power from his body.
Gu Zhao’s Long Spear sent the Intention Pearl flying as he formed the Community Thunder Seal with his left hand.
The endless sea of thunder CRACKLED, a faint yellow light gleaming within it. The internal and external forces resonated, stirring the thunderbolts inside Mo He Divine Monarch and once again thwarting his attempt to circulate his power and extinguish the lightning within him.
Mo He Divine Monarch grunted, raising his Soul Banner to once again block the surrounding sea of thunder. His gaze toward Gu Zhao grew increasingly furious and alarmed.
Although Gu Zhao had wounded him with the spear just now, the injury wasn’t actually that severe. A bolt of thunder had broken into his body, but he had immediately enveloped it with his Demon Power, preventing it from damaging his Dantian and meridians.
’In his mind, he only needed to circulate his power slightly to completely wear away this bit of Thunder Power.’
But to his surprise, not only did his own Demon Power fail, but even the Demonic Qi he obtained from the Demon Ancestor couldn’t grind away the thunderbolt in a short time.
And because this wisp of Thunder Power wasn’t eliminated immediately, things became troublesome.
The Eight Gates Golden Lock Array Gu Zhao had set up was a Thunder Array. The Eight Directions Cloud Thunder Spell he cast corresponded to the eight spatial directions, and the Shenxiao Five Thunders Technique aligned with the Five Directions, Five Qi, Five Elements, and five viscera.
This residual Thunder Power inside Mo He Divine Monarch was of the same origin as the thunderbolts outside. It actually bypassed his attempts to isolate it, resonated with the external thunder, and was strengthened!
Thus, this once rootless and sourceless wisp of Thunder Power became rooted and sourced. It grew stronger under the resonance, and no matter how many times Mo He Divine Monarch tried to seal and wear it away with all his might, he couldn’t get rid of it.
Not only that, but the Thunder Power grew even stronger, breaking through his blockades several times and rampaging through his body.
Mo He Divine Monarch had to fend off the endless sea of thunder and Gu Zhao’s attacks externally, while internally trying to wear down this troublesome Thunder Power. Since his own Dao Practice and Magical Power were a notch below Gu Zhao’s, he was instantly put at an absolute disadvantage.
Moreover, this disadvantage was continuous. His internal injuries grew steadily worse, as if he were slowly bleeding out.
At this moment, Gu Zhao formed the Community Thunder Seal. Community Thunder belonged to the earth element and was also known as Demon Thunder. It was profound and heavy, the ultimate counter to demons and evil beings.
A yellow light flashed through the endless sea of thunder. The thunderbolts inside Mo He Divine Monarch once again broke through his seals, shattered his meridians, and slammed into his Dantian.
"PUH!" Mo He Divine Monarch spat out a mouthful of black blood.
Even though he had now been demonized, he still couldn’t wear down the thunderbolts in his body or break through the Eight Gates Golden Lock Array.
Instead, Gu Zhao changed his Seal Technique, and the Thunderwood Sword suddenly slashed through the void, severing Mo He Divine Monarch’s connection to the Soul Banner.
Gu Zhao beckoned with his hand, calling the Soul Banner to him.
"Get back here!"
Mo He Divine Monarch’s Demonic Qi swept out, but Gu Zhao’s Long Spear blocked the way, and the banner was ultimately seized by him.
The rest was simple. Gu Zhao had a wealth of experience when it came to grinding an expert from an Otherworld to death.
Until the moment of his death, Mo He Divine Monarch never got another chance to escape the Eight Gates Golden Lock Array.
Of course, he left behind some final words.
"The Demon Ancestor will soon emerge! He will personally come to annihilate Daluo Palace! The Immortals of the Taoist Realm will never send their True Spirits down to the mortal world!"
...
The Demon Power drifted away and the Demonic Qi dissipated. Mo He Divine Monarch’s corpse had been demonized, and Gu Zhao blasted it into dust with a single Five Directions Barbaric Thunder.
The Soul Banner and Intention Pearl were tainted by Demonic Qi, but their cores had not yet been refined, so there was still hope of restoring them.
Gu Zhao felt streams of Evil Qi pouring into his Five Thunders Order, then condensing into Thunder Seeds one by one.
"One, two, three, four..."
Adding the ones condensed from the Evil Qi provided by the old Daoists before, plus those accumulated recently, a total of eight Thunder Seeds now orbited the Five Thunders Order in his Sea of Consciousness, like planets orbiting the sun.
’Looks like it’s time to get to work again.’
"Brother Gu!"
"Sect Leader!"
"Young Master!"
Seeing Gu Zhao put away the eight Array Flags and the enemy nowhere in sight, everyone knew he had finished off his opponent. They all flew to his side.
Gu Zhao held the Soul Banner in his left hand and the Intention Pearl in his right. He had placed seals on both to suppress the Demonic Qi within.
"Is that bad guy dead?" Bai Ke asked.
Gu Zhao nodded. "He’s dead."
Bai Ke cheered and wrapped her arms around Gu Zhao’s. "That’s great! The way that creep was looking at me gave me the shivers. I’ve come of age this year, so how about I sleep with you!"
Gu Zhao stumbled, nearly pulled over by her.
The other women giggled, while only the Silk Embroideress’s eyes flickered.
’Speaking of which, she had come of age too...’
"Huh, there’s a pearl over here," Chen Zhi said suddenly.
Hearing this, the group looked back and saw a pearl, made of neither gold nor jade, revealed in a pile of black ash stirred up by the wind.
It turned out that Gu Zhao’s thunderbolts hadn’t destroyed it.
"A Magical Treasure?" Bi Yingying asked curiously.
"It is a Magical Treasure, but not the kind you’re thinking of," Gu Zhao said, shaking his head. "I just used Dragon Thunder, which only affects a Demon Body and doesn’t harm ordinary objects."
Ye Ruyan nodded. "If it were an offensive or protective Magical Treasure, he would have used it long ago."
Gu Zhao beckoned with his hand, pulling the pearl over to him. He discovered a line running down its middle.
Circulating his Magical Power, Gu Zhao twisted the pearl along the line, and it split into two halves.
The next moment, a pile of miscellaneous items scattered across the ground.
"It’s a Storage Magical Treasure!"
Everyone came to a sudden realization, their gazes then focusing on two cages in the middle of the scattered objects.
Inside each of the two cages was a pure white fox. They were still breathing but had fallen unconscious.