Chapter 174: The Fourth Seal

Heifei recalled the legends concerning battles between ancient demonic beasts: they would fight continuously for months on end until one side collapsed from sheer exhaustion, thus deciding the victor. Naturally, by that time, the topography of the entire region would have long since been altered by the aftermath of their combat.

"Still, if that's the case, who knows when I'll reach the East China Sea? I might end up delaying Boss Ling's affairs. It seems I need to continue elevating my strength and become even stronger in order to devour this demonic beast!"

At its peak condition, the King of the Forest battered the demon behind Heifei to the ground in just a few rapid blows. The demon used both hands to barely prop up the King of the Forest's body, but could not withstand its frantic, hammering fists.

Seeing their chieftain gain the upper hand, the minion long-haired apes on the cliff now rushed out of their caves to cheer it on. Crowded along the various slopes, they bared their teeth, shrieked strangely, and leaped about in jubilation.

Ling Xiaolei grew even more nervous, ready at any moment to charge into the battlefield and rescue Heifei should he fall into danger.

Amidst a billowing cloud of dust, Heifei supported the demon's body. Because the demon had suffered severe trauma, his own body felt a concurrent wave of pain while his magical energy drained away in vast quantities, fresh blood spilling from the corners of his mouth.

The demon's arms could not even break free from the control of the King of the Forest, let alone turn over and sit up. At this moment, Heifei and the King of the Forest were trading injury for injury, their fists alternately smashing into one another.

"I really need to try the fourth seal..."

The fourth seal was something Heifei had never touched before. With each seal unlocked, the burden on his body increased, and the sudden surge in dark power was accompanied by numerous uncontrollable factors, greatly heightening the danger of a berserk frenzy.

Under normal circumstances, he would never dare to attempt it. But now, the Devastated Forest was extremely remote and rarely visited by humans, lying very far away from the surrounding towns and villages, while his sole companion, Ling Xiaolei, was in a safe place. Therefore, he intended to risk everything and give it a try.

His staff was already tightly gripped in his hand. Black radiance revolved and flashed around the staff, and the flame-shaped seal on the palm of his right hand lit up, emitting a familiar, searing, stinging pain.

"The fourth seal..."

Heifei sank into his consciousness. The very instant the seal was unlocked, he suddenly caught sight of a pair of eyes belonging to someone else, gazing at him from the void. Although it was merely a fleeting glimpse, it gave Heifei a start.

In a momentary trance, he found himself standing in a desolate realm. Beneath his feet lay a pitch-black, tranquil expanse of water, unruffled by a single wave. Before him stood another naked man, identical in appearance to himself, with a pale and expressionless face.

Heifei was familiar with this place, and seemed to have seen this person before.

"Who are you?" he asked.

"I am you."

The person opposite him replied in a calm voice.

Heifei clearly saw that behind that person's back hung a massive, flame-shaped mark, four-tenths of which had already gradually cooled into ashes.

He had a strange premonition; he did not know what would happen once the flame mark was completely extinguished.

At that precise moment, a searing, full-body pain suddenly dragged Heifei back from the world of his mind, returning him to the battlefield confronting the King of the Forest.

Smoke and dust filled the surroundings, and the rising wind whipped fallen leaves wildly against his face. The unbearable agony throughout his entire body gave him the sensation that his bones and sinews were snapping inch by inch, hurting so intensely that he was unable to move.

"Is this... the power of the fourth seal?"

He attempted to twitch his fingers, but to no avail. His body was stiff, and every single muscle was taut with abundant strength, veins bulging and hard as rock, gleaming with a dark crimson light.

"Could it be... that the dark power erupting this time is simply too strong, and my body can no longer bear it?"

A lingering fear gripped him. Gritting his teeth, he felt black winds stirred up by the dark power spill forth from his body in successive waves.

He slowly squatted down, bracing himself with his staff against the ground. Seeing a few drops of blood fall onto the back of his hand, he realized his mouth was entirely filled with the taste of blood, while the viscera within his body were wracked with violent, twisting pain. He could clearly feel the dark blood surging frantically inside him, driving him toward madness.

Ling Xiaolei stood on the distant cliff, watching as the King of the Forest continued to blindly pummel the demon collapsed on the ground.

She was hesitating over whether to intervene when she saw a terrifying black wind suddenly rise. The dark power soared straight into the clouds, forming a revolving tornado that condensed into a vortex overhead, obscuring the brilliance of the stars and moon in the night sky.

This bizarre aura was unlike any pressure she had ever felt before; she knew that Heifei had unlocked a new seal once more. The surrounding long-haired apes were likewise too terrified to move. Animal instinct made them sense the danger, and they immediately turned tail and fled back into their caves.

Catalyzed by the fourth seal's incomparably formidable power, the demon form behind Heifei underwent a transformation as well. The demon's translucent body filled completely with the aura of darkness, causing it to gradually solidify. Flame-like black mist rose and steamed upward along its spine, and its eyes flashed with a scarlet glare.

When the demon rose from the ground once again and lashed out with a punch at the King of the Forest, it actually sent the beast flying with a single blow. The sheer might of that punch caused the creature to crash directly into the cliff fifty meters away behind it. The massive impact collapsed the cliff face, sending fissures spreading and tumbling rocks crashing down.

The safe zone where Ling Xiaolei stood also shook as the rocks beneath her feet collapsed. Losing her footing, she frantically grabbed nearby vines and wild grass, leaping hurriedly onto an adjacent, uncollapsed boulder.

The demon's power continued to surge dramatically, incessantly drawing in the dark energy from the surrounding air. Heifei's body suffered excruciating pain from the overload; veins protruded on his arms, his skin ruptured, fresh blood dripped from his mouth and nose, and his vision gradually turned entirely crimson.

Perhaps his human body was ultimately incapable of bearing this burden. His legs trembled, his body lost sensation, and his consciousness grew increasingly hazy.

The final image before his eyes froze at the moment the King of the Forest struggled to its feet from the precipice. Then, his eyelids drooped heavily, his consciousness vanished completely, and within his heart remained only the slaughter dictated by raw instinct...

The demon let out another wild roar and charged toward the King of the Forest, covering the distance in a few strides that shook the earth. Its demonic claws then seized the King of the Forest by the head, slamming it brutally against the cliff.

With a deafening crash, the mountain cracked violently, and the beast's head and shoulders were driven entirely into the rock face, dripping with blood.

Seeing this sight, the juvenile long-haired apes scattered and fled recklessly. Having lost its reason, the demon once again yanked out the head of the King of the Forest, dragged its massive carcass, and smashed it into the neighboring cliffs, crushing all the minion demonic beasts on that side of the mountain to their deaths.

Blood stained the cliffs entirely, sparing not a single one. Soon, the rubble-strewn slopes were a scene of utter carnage, littered with corpses and flowing with rivers of blood.

Even the young long-haired apes passing by at the foot of the mountain in desperate flight were smashed into pulp by a casual wave of the demon's palm or by giant boulders plunging from the mountain above.