My mom is waiting for treatment, and you're summoning me to be a hero?

Under Ren'ai's control, Lin Mo's fingers involuntarily tightened their grip on the hilt of the black sword.

His emotions were gently stirred by Ren'ai's gaze, and his thirst for power was magnified many times over, overriding all hesitation and vigilance.

At the same time, he drew his black sword, the eerie blue light on its blade drawing a chilling arc in the dissipating dessert shop.

The moment the tips of the two black swords touched, Lin Mo's consciousness was violently dragged into the depths of the blunt sword's interior by an immense and irresistible suction force.

This is an extremely vast and dark realm, stretching as far as the eye can see.

The ground was solidified darkness, as was the sky above. The air was filled with the smell of rust and the chilling aura unique to souls.

Countless souls crowded every corner of this space, densely packed, stretching from the ground to the horizon and into the darkness beyond.

They are completely different from the active souls within Linmo's Black Sword.

There were no ghostly scouts patrolling in formation, no demigod dragons soaring and dancing, no order or organization, just a silent, crowded mass, like old goods forgotten in a warehouse, gathering dust for thousands of years.

Each soul's light had dimmed to the point of being almost transparent, its face blurred, its body hunched over.

Even the most basic senses have been worn away by time.

"Is this the Demon King's Black Sword Space?"

Lin Mo murmured.

As soon as he finished speaking, a huge passage opened up in the darkness above.

The passageway was filled with a deep blue glow of soul laws.

The life force emanating from the other side of the passage drew the souls here to fly over instinctively.

Lin Mo naturally understood that the passage led to his Black Sword Space.

The aura that attracts souls is the legacy gem left behind by the Soul Demon King.

With each breath-like expansion and contraction of the passage, countless souls willingly flew through.

Like a waterfall flowing backwards, it surged into the brighter, dark blue realm at the end of the passage.

"Who is it!"

A roar exploded from the deepest part of the ocean of souls.

The sound was hoarse and violent, like the scraping of metal scraped from the depths of a throat that had been rusted for too long.

"Is he Gao Yang's lackey?"

A huge black shadow emerged from the distant horde of souls.

With each step he took, the dark ground beneath his feet trembled violently, and the surrounding souls were shaken so badly by his footsteps that they tumbled to either side like a receding tide.

His figure was extremely tall and strong, his whole body was wrapped in a layer of dark red killing law light flame that did not dissipate, and fine blood-red arcs of electricity were constantly emanating from the edge of the light flame.

The electric arcs struck the weaker souls around him, burning them into wisps of smoke, which were then absorbed by the soul passage above Lin Mo's head.

A benevolent phantom silently appeared beside Lin Mo.

He glanced at the souls who were heading towards Lin Mo's Black Sword space and raised an eyebrow.

"Hmm~ This is going much more smoothly than I expected."

Lin Mo frowned: "What do you mean?"

Ren'ai smiled and pointed at the demon king's soul: "Originally, you were supposed to defeat him and then throw the souls back here one by one, but unexpectedly, they were willing to go to your side on their own initiative."

Lin Mo's face darkened: "Why didn't you say something so important before?"

You should know that the demon king's soul was a powerful being who could fight Gao Yang.

Ren'ai smiled gently: "So, I'm here to help you, aren't I?"

His tone became much more relaxed as he spoke.

"Now, the soul within this sword is actively transferring to your black sword. With each transfer, its power weakens. It seems I don't need to intervene, and you don't need to defeat it head-on. Just hold it off, and once the transfer is complete, it will dissipate on its own."

Lin Mo took a deep breath to calm himself down: "Next time, say important things earlier."

He then walked alone towards the huge black shadow.

The strongest demon king in history versus the strongest demon king of today.

The dark figure launched the first attack—no weapon, no skill name, just a punch.

The dark red killing law, along with the remaining remnants of the law within the blunt sword space, pressed a visible dent into the space itself where the fist passed. The spatial structure at the edge of the dent twisted violently, emitting a piercing cracking sound.

Lin Mo didn't take the hit head-on; instead, he dodged to the side and slashed horizontally with his black sword.

The shadowy figure's fist continued its relentless momentum, striking the dark void behind Lin Mo and causing the entire space's souls to surge violently.

But Lin Mo could clearly sense that the other party was getting weaker.

Each time the soul passage above his head contracted, the dark red flames on the black figure dimmed a little.

With each expansion, tens of thousands of souls surged into the passage, and the shadowy figure's fist force weakened accordingly.

Lin Mo doesn't need to defeat him, he just needs to stall him.

……

Meanwhile, inside the dessert shop.

Yin Xue sat at the small round table covered with a red and white checkered tablecloth, crossed his legs, and held a cup of hot cocoa that had been brewed sometime earlier. He slowly took a sip.

Mianmian had already scooped out most of the chiffon cake on the table, and Gao Tiantian was taking small bites of the remaining part with a fork.

Gao Tiantian ate very seriously, cutting only a small piece with each fork, holding it in her mouth for a while before slowly swallowing it.

The Judge and the God of War stood to the side, seemingly wanting to say something but holding back.

The judge looked at Yin Xue: "This... isn't appropriate."

Yin Xue put down his coffee cup and shrugged: "What's inappropriate about it? Ren'ai doesn't have any murderous intent, and we can't beat them anyway. Now we can only wait for Lin Mo to come out, so we might as well eat something good."

Mianmian poked her head out of the cake and nodded vigorously.

The judge's lips twitched. What he said was true, but it just felt... a bit inappropriate.

At this moment, the benevolent phantom sat opposite them, its body having dissipated to the point where only the part above its chest remained.

But his expression remained gentle and calm, and the fine smile lines at the corners of his eyes appeared particularly soft in the pale golden halo.

"You seem to be in no hurry."

Yin Xue gestured with her chin toward Lin Mo.

"We killed so many of your people before, you don't mind, do you?"

Ren'ai shook his head.

"Those sweet spirits were originally ordinary people killed by Gao Yang, and they were taken into Lin Mo's black sword. Perhaps one day they can regain their senses. For them, this is not a bad thing."

He paused, looked down at the cake on the table that Gao Tiantian was eating bite by bite, and a slight smile appeared on his lips.

"Besides, all I want to do right now is look at Tian Tian more."

Gao Tiantian raised her head, a small piece of caramel stuck to the corner of her mouth.

As she watched Ren'ai's face grow paler and paler, she suddenly put down her fork, reached for the half-eaten cake on the table, tiptoed over to Ren'ai, and held the cake to his lips.

"You should eat some too. It's sweet. Eating it will make you feel better."

Ren'ai lowered her head, looking at the chiffon cake she had baked herself, at the pitted marks on the edge of the cake caused by Mianmian's digging, and at Gao Tiantian's translucent little hand holding the fork.

He tried to reach out and take it, but his fingers had faded so much that only a faint outline remained.

He didn't take it; instead, he lowered his head and touched the edge of the cake with his lips.

"Mmm, it's delicious."