Sect Leader Xuan's back was completely ruptured. Bits and pieces of the mountains on his back fell into the ocean of blood and caused powerful waves. His flesh was literally visible. Huge chunks of his shell were falling apart or were barely stuck to his body. It was absolute agony. After all, this wasn't his physical body but a representation of his actual Soul Embryo.
On the other hand, Demon God Da Mo's back was broken in several parts. As he was distracted by the pain, he felt the injury caused by Matriarch Huang. Since Sect Leader Xuan was behind him, the demon couldn't grab him immediately. As such, he tried to seize the large bird of fire before she could fly away. However, Matriarch Huang didn't try to fly away. Although she knew that buying some time for Cao Yun was good, she had also realized that they simply couldn't. In fact, if she tried to fly away to stall for time, they would simply lose faster. Ironically, trying to finish this fight as soon as possible was a better strategy to make it last longer. They had to pour all their strength into this battle, or Demon God Da Mo would just crush them much faster, especially if one of them died first.
Matriarch Huang flew directly toward Demon God Da Mo's face. Her claws attacked his eyes while her fiery tails coiled around his neck, sizzling his skin and his flesh. Before she could use her beak to gouge out his eyes, Demon God Da Mo grabbed her by the neck once more. This time, he used even more strength as he was in pain. Not only was he feeling the pain of this fight, but he could also feel the Black Death Prison spread within his body. Even at this point, Demon God Da Mo wasn't afraid of dying in this fight. However, he was afraid of damaging or even losing this body. If that happened, he might not have enough time to rebuild it, and he would die before he could become an Immortal Demon.
Demon God Da Mo was frustrated because two insects might ruin his chances of becoming an immortal and then even surpassing the status of a god. This was unacceptable, and he wouldn't accept it. From the blood ocean, pillars of bones began to emerge everywhere. Under Demon God Da Mo's feet, thousands upon thousands of white skulls slowly rose like a small island. Millions of drops of blood rose in the air, forming as many swords, all directed toward Demon God Da Mo and his enemies. Clearly, he was finally going all-out.
The air itself almost turned into blood as fumes escaped the blood ocean. Matriarch Huang and Sect Leader Xuan could feel a terrifying killing intent. Everything in their soul was screaming at them to submit. They could clearly feel their own imminent death. However, they had already fully accepted it, so they pushed forward. Following Matriarch Huang's example, Sect Leader Xuan wrapped his black tail around Demon God Da Mo's body. Even without its head, the snake was still grabbing onto the massive body of Demon God Da Mo. Using his tail, Sect Leader Xuan threw himself against the red asura once more. Da Mo's spine cracked again, but he endured.
Swords flew directly toward Demon God Da Mo's back. Sect Leader Xuan could see them as his own back was against the demon. Using all of his Dao of Space, he tried to hold them back, but it was hopeless. He barely bought enough time to hide his head and limbs inside his shell. Unfortunately, it didn't help much. Indeed, the swords were so many that the first ones weakened his shell until enough swords were finally able to break through. Sect Leader Xuan was stabbed all over his body, but he pushed forward, still trying to attack Demon God Da Mo.
At the very last moment, Sect Leader Xuan used his mastery of space to suddenly move out of the way. He was hoping that the swords would strike Demon God Da Mo. As a matter of fact, they did. But they didn't leave a single wound on his body. Those swords were made of his own blood, and they simply merged back into his body.
On the other hand, Demon God Da Mo grabbed Matriarch Huang's head and lifted her head up for the swords to come flying at her. Matriarch Huang manifested all of her heat as her flames exploded. The screech of a powerful True Fiery Fenghuang erupted. Demon God Da Mo himself was blinded by her bright light, but it didn't affect the swords much. Many of them were vaporized by the heat. Unfortunately, there were just too many swords, and some were able to injure Matriarch Huang. Thankfully, they lost a lot of momentum, and their trajectory was altered. In the end, Matriarch Huang's body, and her head in particular was stabbed many times. Just like Sect Leader Xuan, she was about to die, there was no doubt about it.
While the fight had lasted a very long time, it had barely been a few breaths in the physical world. Demon God Da Mo's soul was completely trapped within his own body, so he could barely perceive anything outside. However, he could still feel the chains of Death Energy used by Cao Yun. The young man was now draining Death Energy all around, even from the corpses of Emperor Weide, Sect Leader Xuan, and Matriarch Huang. Cao Yun was actually using the Supplicant Tyrants to feed him with Death Energy. As such, Sun Liao and his men were finishing off the last Supplicant Tyrants to give more fuel to their newly appointed Sect Leader Cao.
Cao Yun's mastery of 'Soul Chains' wasn't perfect yet. So he was using quantity to make up for quality. His chains of Death Energy could destroy a weaker cultivator's soul, but they couldn't obliterate Demon God Da Mo's Demon Soul. Thankfully, Cao Yun had never expected them to achieve such a feat. Instead, Cao Yun was trying to slowly make Demon God Da Mo's own Turbid Demons destroy him from within, or at the very least weaken him as much as possible.
Cao Yun couldn't perceive everything within Demon God Da Mo's sea of consciousness, but he was aware of the sorry state of the two elders. It was obvious that they couldn't last very long. As such, he would have to go forward with his plans. Mo Tian was still waiting for his moment, and Cao Yun was furious. The old bastard didn't care about Sect Leader Xuan, who had given him so much. In fact, Mo Tian was probably enjoying the agony of his old master. As it turned out, Cao Yun was absolutely right. And Mo Tian was delighted by the sight of Sect Leader Xuan destroying himself just to wound his enemy, with no hope of victory. If the old fool had been braver, he could have amassed so much more power. Mo Tian resolved never to be this conceited. Even if he had to betray everyone and everything, even himself, Mo Tian would gain more power. Only power mattered, and weakness only afforded death and suffering.
Finally, Cao Yun sensed something from the 'Soul Chains' he was using. Sect Leader Xuan and Matriarch Huang were both ready. Their souls were dying, and their bodies were already dead. They had no hope of ever surviving this fight or even reincarnating afterward. In fact, Cao Yun might have enough strength to extract them from this fight and allow their souls to slowly dissipate naturally. According to the beliefs of the Hongchen Kingdom, their Soul Embryos could dissolve just like regular souls and join their ancestors in the Heavenly Court, where they would await their next incarnation. However, if their Soul Embryos were destroyed, they would just cease to exist altogether.
Honestly, Cao Yun wasn't sure about this belief. He had no way of actually knowing if reincarnation was even possible or if the Heavenly Court was a thing. However, he knew enough about souls to know that keeping Sect Leader Xuan and Matriarch Huang within Demon God Da Mo's sea of consciousness would obliterate them with absolutely no hope of recovering them at all. Nothing would remain of them.
What truly plagued Cao Yun was that what the elders were asking of him, according to his own plans, would mean that Cao Yun himself had to obliterate them, not Demon God Da Mo. Unfortunately, the young man had already steeled his resolve. He suddenly sent a powerful surge of Death Energy within the 'Soul Chains'. Matriarch Huang and Sect Leader Xuan were in agony when this wave hit them. It felt incredibly cold. In a mere instant, their consciousness faded away. There was no pain, but they were in an ocean of sadness and numbness. All their senses were gone, they couldn't see, hear, or smell. They couldn't perceive anything at all, not even darkness. All their senses were numb. The only thing they could feel was the Death Energy all around and within them. They could feel the anguish of the dead, their fear, their resentment, their woe. Slowly, the two elders lost themselves in this eerily peaceful torrent of death.
Sect Leader Xuan tried to hold on to consciousness, but he failed. As much as he tried to stay aware of his own existence, it slipped away from him even faster. Nothing remained of the former Sect Leader of the Wubei Sect. The same fate struck Matriarch Huang.
Outside Demon God Da Mo's sea of consciousness, Cao Yun felt the two Soul Embryos die. The young man could actually sense their last moments. All his life, he would remember that he had not only felt that, but also caused it. He had killed the two elders himself before Demon God Da Mo could. If he had been stronger, Cao Yun would have been able to face Demon God Da Mo alone and win. Because he was too weak, he had to suffer for it, and others had to suffer with him, for him, and because of him. The rest of the cultivators around were too busy to even pay attention to Cao Yun's face, or they would have seen his pain. Only he was aware of what had just happened. Later, he would make sure to do justice to the memories of those two heroes. But Cao Yun had to win first, mankind had to endure today if they wanted to praise their heroes tomorrow.
Cao Yun felt a strange sensation from his 'Soul Chains'. It was fleeting, but he could swear that he had felt Sect Leader Xuan's presence around him for an instant.
Within Demon God Da Mo's sea of consciousness, the consequences were very different. Demon God Da Mo was happy as he felt his two enemies die rapidly. His hands finally snapped Matriarch Huang's neck, and Sect Leader Xuan's body fell into the blood ocean. Mere instants after their deaths, the two bodies of the Fenghuang and the Xuanwu literally started to rot. The rot spread rapidly and even began to affect Demon God Da Mo. Their entire Soul Embryos had turned into Death Energy. Demon God Da Mo reacted and tried to throw Matriarch Huang's body into the distance. As he did so, her tails resisted, but he tore them apart as they were still coiled around his neck, burned into his skin.
His hands were still covered in rot that was spreading. Immediately, he grabbed the tails that were rotting too and quickly got rid of them. However, he saw that Matriarch Huang's body was turning the blood ocean black, and the rot was spreading further and further. With no hesitation, Demon God Da Mo did the same to Sect Leader Xuan's body and wasted some time tearing apart the rotting snake around his own body. Demon God Da Mo tried to swipe away the rot on his body and on his hands, but he was just spreading it on his skin. Thus, he used the blood ocean, but it failed.
Demon God Da Mo was now standing on a small island made of white skulls. So he put his hands in the blood nearby. Not only did the rot enter the blood ocean, but it didn't even leave his hands. As he was trying to clean himself, Demon God Da Mo saw blackness and rot spread on the white skulls below his feet. This Death Energy wasn't acting alone, it had merged with the Black Death Prison poison in him. Such a poison could actually damage his Demon Soul. It wouldn't just be painful, there would be real damage, everlasting damage. Demon God Da Mo couldn't accept that.
As he finally started to panic, Demon God Da Mo circulated his Reborn Demon cultivation. His True Fire burned more brightly than ever. Flames of gold and crimson spread all over his body to burn off the corroding rot. Finally, it started to have some effect, but the rot kept on spreading in the blood ocean.
Mo Tian was flabbergasted. That young man whom he had known as a mere child had actually wounded a Reborn Demon and even spread fear and death within his heart. If only he could rip Cao Yun's secret from his body, Mo Tian's ambitions could finally be fulfilled. Unfortunately, he wasn't sure how he could perform such a feat. Even if he somehow took over Demon God Da Mo's body again, he would be trapped in it, and his soul would slowly be devoured by the Black Death Prison poison. After all, if this was a poison Demon God Da Mo had a hard time dealing with, Mo Tian would have absolutely no chance. Besides, Mo Tian couldn't wait for Demon God Da Mo to get rid of the poison, as the asura would then eradicate Mo Tian later, as soon as he discovered his existence.
Mo Tian had no choice but to keep his word. Demon God Da Mo's Demon Soul had to be annihilated. But Mo Tian was already thinking of his next move. Sadly for him, he wasn't sure what that move was yet.
Anyway, Mo Tian was looking for the perfect opportunity, and he finally saw it. While Demon God Da Mo was trying to clean himself of the disgusting rot, Mo Tian saw a gap he could exploit. As such, he stopped hesitating. Just as he was about to attack, a terrifying idea crept its way into his mind. Yes, he had found a way!
This wasn't the end for Mo Tian. The former chief elder would never accept living trapped within the confines of the Palace of Supreme Wisdom with the friend he had betrayed. He wouldn't rot away and await death like his former friend. And he wouldn't foolishly sacrifice his life for others like Sect Leader Xuan. His plan was dangerous, but it might actually work.
After a short hesitation, Mo Tian took action.