Following Ning Beichen, they saw a sky-covering black mist surge out, and then a giant Demon Soul King, occupying more than half of the castle, appeared before Ning Beichen.
The Demon Soul King emanated a dense aura of malevolence, which had already condensed into form, as if it were a thick garment draped over its body.
Even though Ning Beichen's soul and body were now one, he still felt immense pressure when facing the Demon Soul King.
However, Ning Beichen refused to yield an inch. Gripping his bronze ancient sword, he pointed it at the Demon Soul King and declared sternly,
"Release my master, or I will obliterate you!"
Ning Beichen threatened him fiercely.
"You court death! A mere human dares to threaten me."
The Demon Soul King naturally did not take Ning Beichen seriously. Seeing him point a finger at Ning Beichen, a beam of light shot towards him.
"I am human, but at least I'm better than your imbecilic self!"
Ning Beichen snorted coldly and smashed the beam of light with a single punch.
"You have some skill. Let's see how long you can last!"
The Demon Soul King roared, and countless fierce souls surged towards Ning Beichen, surrounding him completely.
Ning Beichen looked at these fierce souls without panic. With a wave of his bronze ancient sword, he unleashed a technique called "A Sword Shakes Heaven and Earth."
Immediately, the fierce souls let out mournful cries as they were annihilated by the sword light.
Soon, the fierce souls were swept away. Ning Beichen stood his ground, his bronze ancient sword suspended in the air, and said disdainfully to the Demon Soul King,
"Demon Soul King, if this is all you've got, then you're doomed today!"
"Now, I'll give you a chance. Hand over my master, and I'll let you live."
The Demon Soul King seemed to finally take Ning Beichen seriously. However, as a Demon Soul King, he possessed more than just this skill. With a wave of his hand,
Numerous weapons flew up from the ground and hovered in the air.
Then, the sky filled with weapons, all flying towards Ning Beichen.
Ning Beichen immediately brandished his bronze ancient sword to defend himself.
A clangorous symphony ensued as Ning Beichen wielded his bronze ancient sword, like a leak-proof umbrella, blocking or deflecting all the incoming weapons.
However, Ning Beichen would not simply endure attacks. Finding an opening, he unleashed "A Sword Shatters Thunder," sending a mighty torrent of sword energy charging towards the Demon Soul King.
Where the sword energy passed, it was like thunder. The Demon Soul King immediately attempted to summon weapons to block it, but under the power of the sword light, all the obstructing weapons were shattered into dust.
Yet, it wasn't entirely in vain, as it at least depleted some of the sword light's power.
By the time the sword light reached the Demon Soul King, its power had diminished by a third. The Demon Soul King then shattered Ning Beichen's sword light with a single punch.
This round ended in a draw between Ning Beichen and the Demon Soul King.
Ning Beichen was unfazed, as fighting the Demon Soul King was already an act of challenging a superior opponent for him.
On the other hand, the Demon Soul King's heart was stirred by colossal waves.
This human was too strong, not on the same level as the ones he had dealt with before.
However, the Demon Soul King was unwilling to surrender so quickly. With another wave of his hand, weapons flew up into the sky again. This time, they did not scatter but gathered together. The weapons then broke apart, turning into countless fragments in the air.
Under the Demon Soul King's control, these fragments coalesced, forming an immensely colossal longsword.
"Die, human!"
The Demon Soul King, wielding this enormous longsword, slashed down at Ning Beichen.
Ning Beichen then saw a vast shadow descending upon him from above.
The giant sword roared, as if it were about to cleave this realm apart, extinguishing all existence in this space.
Ning Beichen's expression turned serious. He knew that this sword strike from the Demon Soul King could not be dodged, nor could it be avoided.
This had already touched upon the domain of rules. It was a "rule sword strike." Even if Ning Beichen possessed the ability to create clones, he would not be able to evade it.
Rules were the domain that Heavenly Venerates dealt with. This was why ordinary people, no matter how powerful, like Chen Xingyun, were utterly defenseless against Heavenly Venerates – it was the power of rules.
Within the rules, all were like ants.
No matter how formidable, powerful, or heaven-defying you were, in the face of the power of rules, you were merely a moth trying to shake a mighty tree.
Instinctively, Ning Beichen's Zhou Tian Road's sea of suffering churned. A faint, ethereal power flowed into Ning Beichen, instantly easing his body and significantly reducing the pressure of the rules.
"Every Path Vanishes Without a Trace!"
The bronze ancient sword slowly floated in the air. With Ning Beichen's fierce shout, dense ice crystals appeared all around. These ice crystals swirled around the Demon Soul King's giant sword, forming patches of snow-white crystalline flowers.
Any surrounding demon souls that came into contact with these ice crystals would be frozen into solid crystals, even spirit bodies.
The Demon Soul King's giant sword turned snow-white, and large amounts of ice crystals made crackling sounds like popping beans.
However, the giant sword still moved towards Ning Beichen; even the ice crystals could not stop it.
With a thought from Ning Beichen, the surrounding ice crystals gathered together, forming an ice shield like a mountain.
But the Demon Soul King's giant sword pushed the ice shield forward, still advancing towards Ning Beichen.
Although its speed was reduced, it still couldn't block the Demon Soul King's giant sword.
At this moment, a second ice crystal shield formed in front of Ning Beichen.
But it too was unable to stop the attack.
Then, a third ice crystal shield appeared. These ice crystal shields were progressively smaller, and there were almost no ice crystals left in the surroundings.
When the fifth ice crystal shield appeared, it was only palm-sized, and the crystal color had changed from snow-white to deep blue.
However, it finally managed to block the Demon Soul King's giant sword.
At this point, the giant sword was less than ten meters away from Ning Beichen.
While ten meters might seem like a long distance, to Ning Beichen, ten meters was no different from one centimeter.
"Human, surrender. You are no match for me."
Compared to Ning Beichen, the Demon Soul King still had the energy to speak. Ning Beichen, on the other hand, was too breathless to utter a word.
"Delusional!"
"The word 'surrender' does not exist in my dictionary!"
Although Ning Beichen could not speak, he was defiant in his heart.
However, no matter how defiant Ning Beichen was, his cultivation was inferior to the Demon Soul King's. This was an irrefutable fact. No matter how skilled you were, in the face of absolute power, you were merely trash.
"Ah!!!"
Ning Beichen let out a furious roar, and the bronze ancient sword appeared from the void.
However, as the bronze ancient sword manifested, the ice crystal shields vanished.
This was because the ice crystals were formed from the bronze ancient sword. Now that the bronze ancient sword had reappeared, the ice crystals naturally disappeared.