The fire elements attached to his internal organs erupted at this moment, causing Rulmo immense agony.
This was flame imbued with Imperial Will.
Furthermore, with a [Barren Curse] within him, he had already diverted most of his spiritual energy to counteract its encroachment, leaving him with no spare capacity to deal with the flames Zhang Xiaohu had injected.
"I'll kill you first!!"
Enduring the pain, Rulmo summoned a black ocean and sent it surging towards Zhang Xiaohu.
Within this dark sea, what seemed like grotesque specters crawled out, evoking the sensation of falling into the Yellow Springs.
The overwhelming resentment choked Zhang Xiaohu.
However, he stood firm, his righteousness unwavering.
He pointed to Rulmo's head, announcing, "I'm going to ambush you."
"What kind of childish trickery is this?"
Rulmo scoffed, disbelieving. He intensified his output, intending to drown Zhang Xiaohu in this sea of resentment.
Since this brat could materialize his body, he feared close-range attacks would be dodged. Thus, he decided to test the waters with a magical assault.
Zhang Xiaohu, however, looked pale, feeling countless wronged souls burrowing into his body, roaring at him.
His gaze grew colder with each passing moment, "How many humans have you... killed?"
Seeing Zhang Xiaohu on the verge of breaking, Rulmo sneered, "I've been to countless worlds. The number of humans who died by my hand is too many to count, but it's around a billion... That's a rough estimate."
He had lived for nearly a hundred thousand years, always following his Supreme's footsteps in conquest. Killing a billion humans wasn't an exaggeration.
Yet, these words enraged Zhang Xiaohu.
This dog, he really didn't believe I'd ambush him, did he?
Zhang Xiaohu let out a soft shout, "Fall!"
Instantly, a tiny golden bead descended from the sky.
It was no larger than a ping-pong ball; without close inspection, no one would notice it.
Before this, the [Floating-Sinking Bead] had been hovering above Zhang Xiaohu, following his movements.
Now, under Zhang Xiaohu's control, an immense pressure slammed down upon Rulmo.
"Boom!!!"
Rulmo's eyes widened. He had no time to react because he was casting a spell, and he had just dismissed Zhang Xiaohu's warning as a ruse.
He narrowly dodged his head, but his shoulder was struck, and a sense of collapse washed over it.
The bones in his shoulder cracked at that very instant.
Rulmo grew panicked. With his original strength, even being hit like this wouldn't have caused such severe damage.
He clearly and directly perceived his own strength declining!
His strength had weakened to the point where he could be directly injured by them, which meant...
As he was engaged with Zhang Xiaohu, figures began to approach him, surrounding him.
"Wrathful Thunder Vajra!"
"Heavenly Phenomenon, Earthly Form!"
"Sword Separating the Celestial Abyss!"
"..."
Various spells erupted from them, all crashing down on Rulmo, who was encircled.
Wang Teng, tending to the severely wounded Li Qingyun from the side, let out a sigh of relief as he watched Rulmo being ganged up on.
"Brother, don't give up! Wake up, we're about to win!"
Li Qingyun whispered weakly, "Stop shaking me, or I'll really be done for..."
Wang Teng chuckled sheepishly and withdrew his hand.
Currently, the [Chaos Divine Lotus] hovered above Li Qingyun's head. The little lotus, holding a lotus leaf, waved it, and crystalline dewdrops fell from the leaf, slowly entering Li Qingyun's body, cleansing him of the evil, cold resentment.
"Holy cow, he's going berserk, he's gonna die!"
Suddenly, dense black flames erupted from Rulmo's body. His once childlike physique rapidly grew larger.
His aura also surged.
At this juncture, Rulmo knew he might not survive. Despite immense unwillingness, he could only accept his fate.
He decided to unleash his power while he was still above the eighth realm.
He activated [Demon Body Sacrificing to Heaven], a suicidal ability almost every member of the Sky-Slayer race possessed.
He had expected them to be fearful, but upon seeing him use this ability, they instead displayed smiles of victory.
"Group up! Group up! Stall for time, stall for time!"
"Bring out all your signature moves for defense!"
"We've already won! Even with his burst, he's only at the mid-eighth realm. I refuse to believe we can't block him!"
"..."
Rulmo was filled with despair as he looked at the immortal artifacts with their spirit companions appearing before his eyes.
Among them, the [Soul Severing Blade] that attacked the soul and the [Chaos Bell] that reflected attacks made him want to vomit.
And then there was the [Sky Devouring Bottle] that could absorb most spells. Not only could it swallow them, but it could also regurgitate them as counter-attacks!
If he were at his peak strength, these immortal artifacts would merely be a minor inconvenience. But...
Meanwhile, outside.
Seeing that the Ice Sword Mercenary Group and others had been inside for so long without emerging, Bai Hong felt an ominous premonition.
He grew anxious, wanting to fend off his current opponent and then go into the barrier to rescue them.
"Hehehe! Dean Bai, are you worried about others? Take care of yourself!"
Bai Hong exposed an opening and was struck by a palm, suffering a hidden disadvantage.
His opponent was also a peak eighth-realm Sky-Slayer named Hasa.
Hasa grinned, "It's too late. Rulmo is even stronger than me. With his power, Wang Teng and the others are surely dead!"
Bai Hong said coldly, "They aren't fools who go to their deaths!"
"Why deceive yourself? For this opportunity, we've kept Rulmo, our trump card, hidden until now!"
However, at that very moment, the barrier created by the [Pillar of Heaven] vanished.
Hasa let out a maniacal laugh, "Haha! It's over. I'm quite surprised they held on for so long..."
Bai Hong raised an eyebrow, his expression odd. "Do you know about the 'no damage, just smoke' principle?"
"What does that mean?"
The flames of victory flickered in Bai Hong's eyes, "It means I can feel their presence, and not a single one is missing!"
Hasa froze in place, and everyone else paused, watching the dissipating black smoke.
A massive ice phoenix flew back from the battlefield and landed at their feet, steadying them.
All of them had sustained injuries of varying degrees. The most severe was Li Qingyun, who had been stabbed at close range and still looked listless.
Wang Teng was bare-chested, his armor completely shattered, and he was covered in blood.
Zhang Xiaohu's complexion was somewhat pale, with wisps of cold energy emanating from him. Having been directly scoured by the sea of resentment earlier, his condition didn't seem particularly good either.
However, apart from that, the others had merely expended too much energy and had no particularly serious wounds.
As for Rulmo, his corpse was impaled on Meng Zibin's spear tip...