The Mantis Stalks the Cicada

Gu Qingfeng was stunned by the Blood Demon's words. What was going on?

Wait, he hadn't even attacked me yet, right? The system's notification hadn't come through either.

"System, did you do something?" Gu Qingfeng silently asked.

The system's cold voice replied, "No."

This made Gu Qingfeng even more puzzled. So, what was wrong with the Blood Demon?

Thus, two equally confused souls turned their bewildered gazes outward, toward the palace.

Inside the palace, it was still the same scene: two demons and one human—Gu Qingfeng, the Blood Demon, and Demon Pu.

However, at this moment, Demon Pu was standing beside the Blood Demon's body, placing a pale hand on the Blood Demon's head.

That hand acted like a suction pipe, voraciously draining the power from the Blood Demon's body.

"Demon Pu! What are you doing?!" the Blood Demon's soul roared furiously.

Demon Pu tilted his head slightly, calmly looking at Gu Qingfeng—or rather, at the Blood Demon's soul within Gu Qingfeng—and said indifferently, "As you can see, Lord Blood Demon, I am devouring you."

His calm tone carried an air of absolute confidence, and there was no trace of the previous respect he had shown the Blood Demon.

At this moment, Demon Pu seemed like a completely different person, with no resemblance to his former self.

"You dare betray me!" the Blood Demon let out a thunderous roar, his soul surging out of Gu Qingfeng's body and rushing toward his own, clearly trying to regain control.

Gu Qingfeng watched this exaggerated scene, feeling a bit dizzy.

Well done, Demon Pu! A spy within a spy within a spy!

Wait, no! It seems like I didn't get beaten up after all??

Damn it! Gu Qingfeng suddenly realized.

You two really know how to play games. Is it really that hard for me to take a hit?

The Blood Demon's soul charged toward his body, but just as he was about to reach it, a golden light suddenly flashed from the Blood Demon's body, forming a faint golden barrier.

Boom!

The Blood Demon's soul was violently repelled by the golden barrier.

Seeing the golden barrier, his expression changed drastically: "The Thirty-Six Heavenly Stars Spirit Seizing Array!"

"Oh?" Demon Pu let out a soft chuckle. "You still have some discernment."

The Blood Demon no longer had time to retort, as he could see the power within his body flowing relentlessly into Demon Pu, whose aura was growing increasingly terrifying.

If he didn't regain control of his body soon, it would all be over.

He frantically scanned the surroundings with his soul force, trying to locate the array's core to destroy it. However, no matter where he looked, he couldn't find it.

At that moment, Demon Pu's calm voice sounded: "Stop looking. The array's core is inside your body."

The Blood Demon was shocked: "My body? Impossible!"

He couldn't believe it. As a peak Dragon Transformation realm expert, even if he hadn't fully recovered his strength, there was no way Demon Pu could have set up an array inside his body.

But when his soul force swept through his own body, he froze.

Thirty faint golden array cores were neatly arranged within his body.

At that moment, the Blood Demon suddenly understood. Demon Pu had been planning this for a long time—this array had been set up two hundred years ago.

Demon Pu smiled faintly: "Figured it out? Over the past two hundred years, every Blood Divine Son you acquired was personally brought to you by me. With my strength, I couldn't tamper with your body directly, but tampering with the Blood Divine Sons was much easier.

This array took me two hundred years to complete. I originally planned to wait until you had gathered all thirty-six Blood Divine Sons, and my array had reached the full Thirty-Six Heavenly Stars, before making my move. But who would have thought that heaven would send a Gu Qingfeng to help me? When you attempted to possess him, it was the moment your control over your body was at its weakest, giving me the perfect opportunity."

The Blood Demon's expression grew increasingly grim: "Demon Pu, I treated you well. Why would you do this?"

"Why?" Demon Pu's lips curled into a mocking smile, and a hint of madness appeared in his eyes. "Naturally, to become a god!"

"Do you think I submitted to you back then because of your charm?

You wanted my strength, but little did you know, I also wanted yours!"

Gu Qingfeng, the bystander, felt a shiver run down his spine after hearing this. What kind of twisted relationship was this? Two grown men, eyeing each other like that... gross.

"I knew that relying on my own strength to become a god was nearly impossible, so I set my sights on you centuries ago, my dear Blood Demon."

The Blood Demon felt a chilling coldness. He never imagined that his most trusted subordinate had been hiding such deep schemes for hundreds of years!

He forced himself to stay calm: "Demon Pu, our power sources are incompatible. If you forcibly devour me, your foundation will become unstable, and you will never become a god."

"Keh keh keh..." Demon Pu suddenly burst into a cold laugh. "Lord Blood Demon, you don't honestly think my true form is just a dandelion, do you?"

The Blood Demon's heart skipped a beat, and a terrible suspicion arose: "What do you mean?"

"Let me tell you the truth. My true form is the Blood-Sucking Dandelion!"

The Blood Demon's face instantly paled: "The legendary Blood-Sucking Dandelion, a rare species that feeds on blood?!"

"Exactly. So you don't need to worry about power incompatibility, because you, the Blood Demon, are my perfect nourishment." Demon Pu's smile grew even brighter.

At that moment, Gu Qingfeng's voice suddenly chimed in: "Wait, a Blood-Sucking Dandelion... isn't that still just a dandelion?"

Uh...

Demon Pu's smile froze.

"Shut up, Gu Qingfeng! I'll deal with you later!" Demon Pu roared.

Demon Pu had endured for centuries and was finally enjoying the thrill of his moment, only for Gu Qingfeng to ruin it with his nonsense. What did it matter if it was still a dandelion? Was that the point? Couldn't he see who was in control here?

It was like someone boasting about how they killed without blinking, only for someone else to ask if their eyes were dry.

"You treacherous scoundrel! I never expected you to hide your schemes so deeply! You've been plotting against me for two hundred years!" the Blood Demon shouted in despair. "Damn it! If it weren't for the Demon Suppression Bureau scattering my soul two hundred years ago, you would never have succeeded!"

"Keh keh keh..." Demon Pu laughed coldly again. "Lord Blood Demon, do you know why you were surrounded by the Demon Suppression Bureau and the righteous alliance two hundred years ago?"

Hearing this, the Blood Demon's expression changed drastically: "Was it you? Did you leak my location back then? Was it you?!"

"Indeed, it was me," Demon Pu replied with a faint smile. "And let me remind you, don't try any sneaky tricks."

The Blood Demon's gaze turned icy. He hadn't expected Demon Pu to notice his covert actions. He had been stalling with his words to prepare for this strike, but now there was no point in hiding it.

"Die, traitor!"

In the next moment, a highly concentrated soul spike materialized behind Demon Pu and shot straight toward his sea of consciousness.