378: It's either him or me, you choose!

Only now did Xu Fu dare to fly closer cautiously. With lingering fear, he looked toward the direction where Xiao Jingtian had disappeared, then glanced at Lu Jiuyuan, whose expression was calm but whose eyes were deep. He swallowed and asked tentatively:

"Lu... Lad Lu, you just let him run away like that? You didn't keep him here? This is letting a tiger return to the mountain!"

"That old bastard didn't play by the rules; he launched a sneak attack on this Old Man directly. Otherwise, I wouldn't have been beaten so badly."

"Someone is hiding in the shadows! Not within my perception!" Lu Jiuyuan said softly: "You be careful. The one hiding, if it wanted to kill you, it would be too easy!"

"Is it Laugh Three Times?"

"It is Laugh Three Times, it can only be Laugh Three Times!" Lu Jiuyuan nodded: "Only someone who created the Four Absolutes of Chaos and the Myriad Paths of Sylvan Darkness back in the savage era three thousand years ago would possess such strength."

"For three thousand years, his two sons have never escaped the mold he created, always bound within the Cultivation Technique he devised. Whether in wisdom or strength, he is truly a terrifying existence!"

"You are not his match either?"

"I am likely not his match. If he were to join forces with the Great Demon God Xiao Jingtian, I would undoubtedly die!" Lu Jiuyuan looked at Xu Fu: "And you would undoubtedly die too!"

At this moment, a hundred miles away, a crimson beam of light like an out-of-control meteorite slammed violently into a desolate valley.

"Boom!"

The ground was smashed into a massive crater, with soil and rocks spraying everywhere.

Xiao Jingtian knelt on one knee at the bottom of the pit, breathing heavily, the violent crimson light around his body flickering uncertainly.

The dark red patterns on his body had also dimmed significantly, no longer wriggling like living things as they had before.

In the east, the morning sun had already leaped above the horizon, and ten thousand rays of golden brilliance spilled across the earth.

That warm light shone on Xiao Jingtian, yet it made him feel an unprecedented weakness and... disgust!

The power of the Four Absolutes of Chaos was receding like the tide. As the moonlight dissipated and day arrived, he felt as if his very bones and sinews had been drained.

His body, originally filled with destructive power, now became hollow and sluggish, and even his breathing carried a heavy sense of exhaustion.

His internal energy had plummeted, not even reaching sixty percent!

This sense of weakness made him furious, and even more, it made him feel a bone-deep humiliation!

He, the Great Demon God Xiao Jingtian, had roamed the world for three thousand years; when had he ever been in such a sorry state?

Forced into a desperate situation by an unknown Lu Jiuyuan, he had been forced to flee in panic!

"Lu Jiuyuan... Xu Fu... World Society...!"

He growled, his voice hoarse and filled with endless killing intent.

The flames of destruction in his scarlet pupils had not extinguished; instead, they burned even more crazily due to his defeat and weakness.

"Old Thing... is it you! It must be you!"

Xiao Jingtian suddenly raised his head and let out a hoarse roar at the empty valley, "Who asked you to meddle in my business! Who asked you to save me!!"

He didn't need it! He, Xiao Jingtian, roamed the world; why would he need that old immortal who abandoned his wife and children to save him!

Ahead, on an inconspicuous bluestone, the next moment, an Old Man wearing simple hemp clothing, with a kind face and a plump build, appeared silently.

He just stood there quietly, without any oppressive Aura, yet he seemed to have merged into the entire valley, the rising morning sun, and the heaven and earth itself.

It was none other than the Twelfth Panic, the four-thousand-year immortal! Laugh Three Times!

Seeing this wretched Old Man, Xiao Jingtian's pupils contracted sharply. The crimson light around his body, which was already flickering, exploded violently, then quickly withered away due to the decline in his power.

He stared fixedly at Laugh Three Times, his teeth clattering, and squeezed a voice filled with hatred from the depths of his throat: "Old... Thing! It really is you!"

Laugh Three Times looked at his son, who was in a sorry state at the bottom of the pit but still full of ferocity like an injured Vicious Beast, a flash of indescribable complexity crossing his eyes.

He sighed softly: "Son, stop now. You cannot beat that Lu Jiuyuan! Do not go further down this dead end!"

"Stop?" Xiao Jingtian seemed to have heard the most ridiculous joke in the world. He stood up abruptly from the bottom of the pit, his scarlet pupils locking onto the calm and composed figure on the bluestone:

"Old Thing! What right do you have to tell me to stop? Just because you hid in the shadows, disrupted the battle like a rat, and saved my life as if it were charity?"

"Arrogant World is dead! Died at the hands of that Lu Jiuyuan! You clearly had the ability, why didn't you save it? Now you come here to act hypocritically toward me? Put away that disgusting face of yours!"

Facing his son's monstrous hatred and questioning, Laugh Three Times' expression remained peaceful, but the regret and sorrow in his deep eyes grew a little thicker.

"The death of Arrogant World was due to its own Karma and Karmic Obstruction, pushing the calamity forward, ignorant of the heavenly count, unaware of heavenly secrets, and ultimately suffering the backlash..."

"Bullshit!" Xiao Jingtian interrupted rudely: "What Karma and Karmic Obstruction! They are all excuses for your cowardice! You possess power that surpasses all living beings, yet you only know how to shrink back like a turtle, watching your sons die and struggle! What kind of father are you?"

The more he spoke, the more agitated he became. The dim crimson light around his body flashed violently again, and he punched toward Laugh Three Times from a distance!

However, facing this angry blow, Laugh Three Times only lightly raised his hand.

That fist force, capable of splitting mountains and shattering rocks, when it approached within three feet of Laugh Three Times, was like snow melting into the warm sun, silently dissolving and disintegrating, turning into the purest Origin Qi, and dissipating into nothingness.

Even the bluestone beneath him did not vibrate once. Lifting the heavy as if it were light, dissolving the invisible.

"Look... this is your power... you clearly possess such power... yet you do nothing! You created the Four Absolutes of Chaos and the Myriad Paths of Sylvan Darkness, yet you view them as failures. You gave birth to the two of us, yet you view us as enemies! Old Thing, you are the most ridiculous and pathetic one!"

Laugh Three Times slowly lowered his hand, looking at his son who was acting like a mad demon, and finally stopped just sighing.

"Power is not meant to be used recklessly. Jingtian, both you and Arrogant World are too obsessed with power itself, while neglecting the cultivation of Heart-Nature."

"The Four Absolutes of Chaos granted you the power of destruction, but it also amplified the violence in your heart; the Myriad Paths of Sylvan Darkness granted Arrogant World the ability to control all methods, but it also nourished its negative emotions. This was not my wish."

"I created them hoping you could use them to explore the ultimate principles of heaven and earth, to transcend yourselves, rather than being enslaved by them and falling into the Demonic Path. Unfortunately..."

"Unfortunately, we disappointed you, right?" Xiao Jingtian interrupted with a grimace: "Put away your preaching! Old Thing, let me tell you, I will not stop! Lu Jiuyuan must die! Xu Fu must die! World Society must be destroyed! I said it, and no one can stop me!"

He stared fixedly at Laugh Three Times, saying word by word: "Old Thing, if you block me, then kill me! If you don't kill me, then watch me be killed by him! Either he dies, or I die! You choose!"

After speaking, he no longer looked at Laugh Three Times' complex gaze and turned to leave. There was not the slightest hesitation.