Chapter 1436: The Desperate Pu Guizong

Outside the South Sea Domain.

Towering waves crashed against dense walls of text, emitting deafening roars. Shattered brushstrokes scattered across the sky like ink rain, but froze into ice before reaching the ground.

An aged figure streaked across the sky like a kite with a broken string, and crashed heavily onto a scarred turtle shell!

Thud—!!

Fragments splattered. Po Guizong violently spat out a mouthful of fresh blood, his face ashen.

“Is this... the power of annihilation?”

Po Guizong gazed at his hands, already corroded by strange runes, and gave a bitter laugh. “If I were thirty years younger, perhaps I could have held out against it a bit longer... What a pity...”

A grotesque, colossal shadow from the deep sea slowly emerged from the mist and frost covering the ground. A terrifying aura of annihilation swept forth, its enormous, sun-like lantern eyes fixated on Po Guizong on the turtle shell...

Although Po Guizong was the Po family ancestor, this was his first encounter with Annihilation itself. Only now did he truly realize how much more powerful an Annihilation of the same tier was compared to a human Demigod.

During the Great Cataclysm hundreds of years ago, were the Nine Human Sovereigns really fighting monsters like this??

Po Guizong's gaze pierced through the shattered turtle shell, looking into the South Sea Domain.

The South Sea Domain had now completely fallen, with Calamities of the Forbidden Sea rampant everywhere. Only a very small number of Po family members and high-tier combatants were still desperately holding on...

Po Guizong knew that the South Sea Domain was finished.

The best possible outcome was for these high-tier combatants to catch the last domain train in time, break through the siege, and leave the South Sea Domain, preserving more combat power for humanity.

However, given the current number of Calamities within the South Sea Domain, this possibility was quite slim.

How many Eighth Tiers did the Forbidden Sea have?

Ten? Fifteen?

Twenty??

Po Guizong had lost count. He only knew that perhaps all the Eighth Tiers in the human domains combined wouldn't equal the number in the Forbidden Sea... And no matter what fate awaited those high-tier combatants, he, Po Guizong, would not escape the South Sea Domain today.

He was too old. Without the support of 'literary energy' from the Ancient Library of Calligraphy, he couldn't even maintain basic vital signs. And with the Calamity of Abominations eyeing him hungrily, there was no way it would let him live.

“Is there any point in going to such great lengths to attack the human domains?”

Po Guizong spoke in a deep voice, looking at the slowly approaching Calamity of Abominations. “The Crimson Star is about to return. I know you want to escape the Ash Realm... But if you kill me, this domain will also be gradually devoured by the Ash Realm. How long can you truly endure?”

Under Po Guizong's questioning, the Calamity of Abominations showed no intention of responding. It wouldn't speak human language even if it wanted to. It simply watched the nearing-limit Po Guizong with its massive, lantern-like eyes, its colossal body inching closer...

A burning sensation spread from his hands. Po Guizong looked down, to see strange runes covering them, continuously spreading across his skin.

Po Guizong could feel himself gradually losing control of his hands. Even the rune-covered palms had begun to grotesquely writhe. Each palm began to split from the center, regrowing new black fingers, palm lines, and even nails. His two hands were fissioning into “four hands,” like an octopus!

Po Guizong's expression was utterly grim. Without a moment's hesitation, he declared:

“If a viper first stings the hand, a brave man severs the wrist!”

Swoosh—!!

Two shadowy ink lines slashed through the void, and Po Guizong's “four hands” were neatly severed at the roots. Just as scarlet blood was about to spurt out, two large characters appeared from the wounds, sealing them:

Stop Bleeding.

Although Po Guizong could create rules using 'characters', the four hands he had just severed were clearly beyond his control.

The four pieces of flesh that had detached from his body were fissioning at an alarming rate. Four became eight, eight became sixteen... Their numbers grew, and their size diminished, but what happened next truly horrified Po Guizong!

The sixteen small, rune-covered hands simultaneously pointed at Po Guizong. Sixteen tiny characters for “Break” appeared from the void!

Bang bang bang—!!

Sixteen attacks, piercing the void, erupted simultaneously. Even though Po Guizong reacted quickly and dodged most of them, he was still struck twice, his thigh and shoulder instantly gushing blood...

These pieces of flesh that had fissioned from his body could actually use his own power?!

Before Po Guizong could fully recover, an even more dreadful sight met his eyes.

He saw that new rune outlines were slowly appearing on the areas where he had been struck by those two attacks...

“What kind of disgusting ability is this?!” Po Guizong's scalp tingled with dread.

He could sever his hands, and he could sever his thigh and shoulder... But what if the Calamity of Abominations attacked his head or chest next?

In the presence of the Calamity of Abominations, any physical matter it touched was like it was infected by a rune virus, beginning to fission and corrupt like a grotesque organism. Even a Ninth Tier Demigod was not immune.

Boom—!!

Just as Po Guizong was trying to resist the rune's corrosion, a storm of thoughts exploded from the void, and his mind went blank in an instant!

It was this brief lapse that allowed the Calamity of Abominations to bind Po Guizong's body tightly with its thick, black organs, which resembled both whiskers and tentacles. Compared to the Annihilation's massive body, Po Guizong was like an ant clutched in a giant's hand, unable to break free even an inch.

One Calamity of Abominations alone had nearly driven Po Guizong to despair. With the Calamity of Thoughts, hidden in the shadows, suddenly making its move, the outcome was sealed without a doubt...

Under the combined siege of the two Annihilation Calamities, an unprecedented despair surged within Po Guizong's heart.

He struggled to separate a sliver of clear thought from the Calamity of Thoughts' control, and looked down at his body, which was now almost entirely covered in runes, giving a bitter laugh:

“I, Po Guizong, actually lived to see the day I single-handedly held back two Annihilation Calamities... It was truly worth it.”

A chaotic and immense storm of thoughts descended before Po Guizong, who was tightly bound. At this close range, Po Guizong could clearly see its hollow eyes, meeting his gaze at the far end of his thoughts...

It was observing him.

As if observing a rare experimental subject.

For some reason, feeling the gaze of the Calamity of Thoughts, a sense of ominous foreboding arose in Po Guizong's heart, which had long since accepted death...

“To give one's life for the nation's plight, to see death as a homecoming... Calamity of Thoughts, defeating humanity won't be that easy!”

A look of grim determination flashed in Po Guizong's aged eyes. The next second, his body visibly swelled. The 'literary energy' accumulated within him ignited in an instant, like a fuse, about to ignite and unleash the full power of a Ninth Tier Demigod!!