The Source Qi within the bodies of the seven Dao Source Realm masters surged uncontrollably and gushed out from their bodies like broken dams, the speed of outflow causing great changes to their expressions.
Qin Zhao Yang roared out in a stern voice. “Fret not! This is what will happen before the completion of the formation! Everyone, please make sure to work together!”
After hearing his words, everyone quickly calmed themselves down and continued to form their hand seals.
Source Qi visible to the naked eye surged out like tidal waves, before gradually gathering and merging together. After a short while, an embryonic form of a fierce gigantic creature started to condense.
The creature possessed the head of a dragon, a tortoiseshell, and the tail of a snake, and appeared incomparably mighty and powerful. This was the Divine Spirit, Black Tortoise!
An all-powerful pressure suddenly burst forth, causing shock and astonishment to form in the hearts of the seven people who formed the Spirit Array.
At this instant, the Divine Spirit Black Tortoise condensed from the Source Qi of the seven people appeared remarkably alive, turning its head about and wagging its tail, just like an actual living creature would do. Nevertheless, regardless of its size or strength, it was substantially inferior to the real Black Tortoise, though it was still a gigantic creature.
Among the seven people, Duan Yuan Shan took the position of the dragon head, the middle-aged man took the position of the snake tail, while the other four took the positions of the limbs. As for Yang Kai, he took the centremost position, with Qin Yu by his side.
This arrangement was naturally due to Qin Zhao Yang’s deliberate actions.
If one was to look from afar, one would notice that the seven Dao Source Realm masters appeared to be concealing their bodies within a semi-corporeal Black Tortoise Divine Spirit.
As the formation of the Seven Points Black Tortoise Spirit Array reached its completion, the Source Qi surging out from everyone’s body finally slowed down.
Delighted looks appeared on the seven people’s faces, though they did not make any reckless moves. On the contrary, all of them closed their eyes and quietly sensed the miraculous properties of this extraordinary Spirit Array.
Demon Qi came surging from all directions, enveloping the seven people and quickly submerging the translucent figure of the Black Tortoise. Countless demonic creatures came attacking from all directions, using the concealment of the Demon Qi to launch attacks that came in like tidal waves hitting a shore.
In an instant, the Black Tortoise’s figure could no longer be seen.
Feelings of worry and anxiety surfaced within countless pairs of eyes on top of the city walls, in fear that those seven Dao Source Realm masters would lose their lives just like that.
All of a sudden, a low roar rang out from the area the Demon Qi had surrounded. This roar sounded like a dragon or a beast, resounding across the heavens and earth.
As the roar rang out, a might that seemed to be able to destroy the heavens and shatter the earth suddenly erupted from that location.
In an instant, all of the Demon Qi present in that area was purged, while all of the demonic creatures were sent flying back, before exploding into clouds of blood mist in the air.
The figure of the Divine Spirit appeared once again, while the eight people present within it were completely unharmed.
Duan Yuan Shan chuckled heartily. “With the aid of this miraculous array, what can’t we achieve? Let’s go!”
After experiencing how profound this Seven Points Black Tortoise Spirit Array was, he had gained a large boost in confidence.
As he said those words, he took the lead and rushed forward. The other people followed blindly behind him, maintaining the revolution of the Spirit Array and their relative positions to one another.
As they headed along, any demonic creature that came forth to obstruct them would incite the Divine Spirit projection to wave its humongous palm. With a single palm sweeping out, not a single demonic creature could stand in its way, all of them being sent flying and turning into piles of mush.
The mine wasn’t too far away from Maplewood City, with the distance being about two thousand kilometres. However, if these seven Dao Source Realm masters were to attempt to fly over by themselves, only a few of them might be able to arrive at the mine unscathed.
However, at this moment, by relying on the might of the Spirit Array to combine their Source Qi into one and transform it into a Divine Spirit projection, their journey was basically them bashing through dry weeds and smashing through rotten logs, with nothing that could even obstruct them at all.
The exceedingly corrosive Demoni Qi could not even affect them at all, as it was obstructed by the Divine Spirit projection.
“This Spirit Array is excellent,” As everyone advanced without any pressure at all, Hua Qing Si, who was positioned at the left foreleg of the Black Tortoise projection, suddenly smiled and commented. Directing her beautiful eyes to the left side, she said: “Old Sir Qin, do you have any plans on selling this to the public? If you’re willing, this mistress can…”
“You don’t need to say anymore, Lady Hua. This Qin’s ancestor spent his blood, sweat and tears, and the latter half of his life to complete this Spirit Array. This Qin will not sell it to the public,” Before Hua Qing Si could finish her sentence, Qin Zhao Yang had already interrupted with a gloomy look appearing on his face.
“Don’t be so firm, Old Sir Qin. There is nothing in this world that does not have a price. After this matter, this mistress will find the time to have a private chat with you,” Hua Qing Si smiled as she replied. Clearly, she did not plan to give up easily. As she said those words, her eyes sparkled with a seductive glint. Despite being old and withered, Qin Zhao Yang could not stop his heart from pounding loudly, his blood from surging, and his throat from drying up before a gaze from her peach-like eyes,
[Enchantress!] He quietly cursed as he hastily defended his mental state. Taking a deep breath, he suppressed the surging Qi within his chest.
“This King is also very interested in this Spirit Array, Count me in, too.” The man with the surname of Fu suddenly opened his mouth and spoke with a tone that did not allow one to refute.
“This Sir, your words are unreasonable,” Hua Qing Si immediately felt displeased as she spat out. “This mistress is the one that raised this matter with Old Sir Qin. If you, sir, are interested, shouldn’t you allow this mistress and old sir Qin to finish our discussions before talking about it?
“So, a first-come-first-serve basis also applies in this?” The middle-aged man shot an emotionless look at Hua Qing Si and sneered. “Do you think this is like buying buns from the market?”
Hua Qing Si narrowed her beautiful eyes slightly, though she still continued to wear a faint and beautiful smile on her face as she replied, “This sir, isn’t this an obvious attempt by you to bully a weak girl like this mistress?”
A frown appeared on the middle-aged man’s face as he snorted coldly. “So?”
After exchanging words to and fro, sparks have already emerged between the two of them.
Duan Yuan Shan shouted out from the front, “Sir, madam, as of now, the most important thing to do is to repair that broken seal. We can discuss other matters after that task is accomplished. Can the two of you give me face and put this aside for the time being?”
Hua Qing Si smiled, but no longer said anything.
On the contrary, the middle-aged man continued to speak out in a cold and haughty manner. “Who are you to step in when this King is doing something? Do you believe that this king will leave this Spirit Array right now and make you all unable to return?”
As his words rang out, not only the face of Duan Yuan Shan, but even Qin Zhao Yang, Zhuang Pan and Du Li Shen turned ashen in response.
The Seven Points Black Tortoise Spirit Array required seven people to cooperate in order to display it. If the middle-aged man really left them here, with his powerful Third-Order Dao Source Realm cultivation, it might be possible for him to fight his way out of the encirclement. However, that would not be the case for the other people present.
At the very least, the few First-Order Dao Source Realm masters did not have the confidence to defend themselves against the corrosion of the Demon Qi for long, and they would eventually turn into one of the demonic creatures.
Although there was Qin Yu present with the possibility of her filling in the void, with her Second-Order Origin Return cultivation realm, how would she be able to assist the others to execute the Spirit Array? If that really happened, it would only take a few breaths before Qin Yu would be sucked dry of all of her energy within her body.
It could be said that if that middle-aged man left right now, at least half of the people present here would die.
“There’s no need to do that, sir.” Zhuang Pan was frightened to the point where his face turned pale. He did not come here of his own will, but was volunteered by Duan Yuan Shan. As his strength was inferior to that of Drunkard, Duan Yuan Shan needed the latter to take charge of Maplewood City, leaving him with no other choice but to follow along. After seeing how haughty and arrogant that middle-aged man was being, he was terrified to the bones, causing him to throw swear word after swear word towards Duan Yuan Shan in his heart, blaming Duan Yuan Shan for not recognizing the middle-aged man for who he really was – an idiot person that did not even have a single shred of morality at all.
“That’s right. Please don’t be so hasty, sir.” Du Li Shen also attempted to mediate the situation. “We can discuss this.”
As he said those words, he shot a fierce glare at Qin Zhao Yang, hinting at him to think of a way to defuse this situation.
Yang Kai continued to remain silent as he looked at Duan Yuan Shan with a somewhat astonished look.
The middle-aged man had flown over from the City Lord’s Mansion earlier, leading Yang Kai to assume that the man had some kind of relationship with Duan Yuan Shan, and that they were well-acquainted with each other. However, with what was happening now, it clearly wasn’t the case.
That middle-aged man didn’t give a damn about Duan Yuan Shan at all.
It could be said that he didn’t give a damn about anyone at all, as the behaviour he was showing indicated that he believed he was superior to everyone, and that he was the sole ruler in Heaven and Earth.
[Did this guy have a powerful background?] Yang Kai continued to mull it over. Only cultivators with extraordinary backgrounds would develop such a haughty and arrogant attitude.
“Discuss? This king never discusses with anyone,” The middle-aged man sneered at Qin Zhao Yan. “Old fellow, are you going to sell this Seven Points Black Tortoise Spirit Array or not? Hurry up and give an answer!”
His actions, which seemed to indicate that he would immediately leave if not given a satisfactory answer, made the others feel intense hatred towards him, but at the same time, they were incomparably anxious, as they turned towards Qin Zhao Yang to shoot pleading looks at him.
“Sir, what’s your opinion on this?” Unable to believe the development of this matter, Qin Zhao Yang wore an expression of bitterness and grief on his face.
On the other side, Duan Yuan Shan had reached the limit of his anger as he clenched his fists tightly.
It wasn’t because the man had not treated him, the City Lord, as someone of any importance at all. Instead, it was because he had added insult to injury at such a critical junction. If he had known that the middle-aged man had such rapacious designs, he would have never agreed to let him become a member of this Spirit Array.
If not for the dire situation, Duan Yuan Shan would have immediately flipped him off.
“This King’s patience is wearing thin. Let me ask you one last time. Are you selling it, or not?” The middle-aged man tossed out an ultimatum, leaving Qin Zhao Yang absolutely no room for respite.
“Old Qin…” Du Li Shen grew flustered as he stared anxiously at Qin Zhao Yang.
“Brother Qin, the present situation is of higher importance.” Zhuang Pan said in an attempt to persuade him. After saying that, he added, “It’s alright if it’s just us. However, without the protection of the Spirit Array, your Yu’er will…”
He gave an impression of being worried for Qin Yu, as though he was extremely concerned for her well-being.
A look of fury and indignation surfaced on Qin Zhao Yang’s face as, after all, he had taken the initiative to hand over his Qin Family’s heirloom Spirit Array, had personally participated in its formation, and had even brought his precious granddaughter Qin Yu into a dangerous place, all in the hopes of helping Maplewood City fend off the dangerous situation it was currently in. However, never in his wildest dreams did he expect his surge of hot-bloodedness would be drenched and doused in ice water in such a place.
How could he be willing to hand this Spirit Array over?
“Okay. I’ll sell this Seven Points Black Tortoise Spirit Array to you, brother Fu.” After remaining silent for a while, Qin Zhao Yang replied through clenched teeth, knowing that he was powerless to change the situation.
“Haha. A wise man will submit to the circumstances!” The middle-aged man chuckled heartily, “You’re not bad, old fellow.”
“I can sell the Spirit Array, but may I know what price you are going to offer for it?” Qin Zhao Yang asked as he clenched his teeth in anger.
Seemingly prepared for him to ask, the middle-aged man with the surname of Fu raised his finger. “One million!”
“You might as well just steal it?” Qin Zhao Yang roared in fury.
Everyone else also revealed inconceivable looks as they stared at the middle-aged man.
Although a million Source Crystals wasn’t a small amount, it was too low of a price for the Seven Points Black Tortoise Array. During the auction fair, a single Dao Source Fruit could fetch over a million Source Crystals, much less an extraordinary Spirit Array like this.
If such a Spirit Array was brought out to be auctioned, there would absolutely be many great sects fighting to get their hands on it, much less being able to fetch a few million Source Crystals. Therefore, Qin Zhao Yang was utterly incapable of accepting this price.
“A million, no more, no less!” Ignoring Qin Zhao Yang’s fury, the middle-aged man snorted coldly. “If you continue nagging, this offer will be gone.”
“Tsk tsk, this sir from the Flying Saint Palace is overbearing indeed. You’ve really opened this mistress’s eyes.” An alluring giggle suddenly rang out from Hua Qing Si.
“Flying Saint Palace?” Zhuang Pan exclaimed in astonishment, while Du Li Shen’s expression immediately changed.
Even Duan Yuan Shan had a shocked look plastered on his face. On one hand, it was due to him suddenly discovering the origin of this middle-aged man with the surname of Fu. On the other hand, it was naturally due to Hua Qing Si’s knowledge of such information. Although everyone had already guessed that the middle-aged man had an extraordinary background, no one knew exactly what it was. This was only revealed through Hua Qing Si’s information, and no one could tell how she managed to obtain that information!
After hearing those words, great waves of vigilance surged within Yang Kai’s heart as he sneakily shot a look at the middle-aged man, quietly feeling that this fellow’s intentions weren’t good at all.
Despite being forced to kill the Flying Saint Palace’s Young Master, who had been possessed by the Wood Spirit, it was still undeniable that he had killed the latter.
After that, he had seized Ning Yuan Cheng’s ship and refined it for his own use.
With this in mind, it was definitely not a coincidence that the middle-aged man had appeared in Maplewood City. He might very well be in pursuit of the culprit behind Ning Yuan Cheng’s death. Therefore, there was no way he didn’t notice that ship at the Spirit Pill Plaza a few days ago.
In fact, he might have already known that Yang Kai was the killer!
Yang Kai’s face turned slightly gloomy as he considered all of this.
After his origin was revealed by Hua Qing Si, the middle-aged man narrowed his eyes slightly, before focusing on the beautiful woman. “Your eyesight’s impressive, woman. Where do you hail from?”
Raising her hand to arrange her loose strands of hair back behind her ear, Hua Qing Si gave a faint smile and replied, “This mistress is just a lowly loose cultivator. What’s there to talk about where I hail from?”
“Hmph!”
Naturally, the middle-aged man did not believe Hua Qing Si’s nonsensical reply. As shock and doubt surfaced quietly in his heart, a faint sliver of dread finally flashed across his eyes.
A person who could see where he came from was obviously not an ordinary person. However, with his haughtiness and arrogance, he still did not treat Hua Qing Si as much at all.
“Have you made up your mind?” The middle-aged man turned back to Qin Zhao Yang.
Qin Zhao Yang sighed and replied, “Can the offer be raised?”
After all that had just happened, Qin Zhao Yong was already on the chopping board. Furthermore, he still had Qin Yu to consider. In the end, he had to weigh his options; since he had no other choice, he made an attempt to see if he could obtain more Source Crystals.
“What do you think?” The middle-aged man did not answer Qin Zhao Yang’s question.
Qin Zhao Yang’s expression sunk, causing him to appear as though he had aged for quite a bit, “Let’s agree to the price Sir has given.”
“Very good!” Extremely satisfied with the outcome, the middle-aged man extended his hand towards Qin Zhao Yang. “Hand the thing to this king, and this king will not renege from this king’s words.”
“Hold up!”
All of a sudden, a voice interrupted this trade.
Everyone turned towards the source of that voice, only to discover that it was impressively Yang Kai, who stood at the middle of the formation. Ever since Hua Qing Si and the middle-aged man started their conversation, until the man successfully forced Qin Zhao Yang to sell the Seven Points Black Tortoise Array, Yang Kai did not speak a single word at all, causing everyone to forget his existence. However, they never expected him to suddenly speak up at such a critical moment, causing blank looks to appear on everyone’s faces, being at a loss for what he wished to do.
A flash of splendour surfaced within Hua Qing Si’s beautiful eyes, as she started to size Yang Kai up with interest, a faint smile curling up at the corner of her mouth.
Compared to her, the middle-aged man narrowed his eyes, while a sliver of murderous intent obvious to anyone who saw it flashed across his eyes, as he said in a cold voice, “What do you want, brat?”
“Don’t be impatient, sir,” Yang Kai chuckled. “I’m not going to snatch your business away. However, after your stunt, I suddenly realized that the unity between us people is somewhat weak. If anyone just wants to casually leave, he or she can use such a threat to coerce the other people. This doesn’t seem too good, right?”
Duan Yuan Shan quickly added, “It’s this Duan’s failure to make adequate considerations.”
Originally, he had treated the sudden requests from the two Third-Order Dao Source Realm Masters taking the initiative to join this mission as a good thing. How would he ever expect that such a situation would occur? Compared to the middle-aged man, Hua Qing Si looked more reliable for the time being. However, if Hua Qing Si was just like the middle-aged man , it would be better for everyone to just rush back to the city than to get their consciousness wiped out and turned into demons.
“This isn’t City Lord Duan’s fault. It’s just that there aren’t many Dao Source Realms in Maplewood City in the first place. Having external aid is something that I’d naturally desire.” Yang Kai replied in a calm tone.
Hearing Yang Kai’s words, Duan Yuan Shan gave a long sigh, one that was filled with helplessness.
“For the sake of preventing such matters from occurring again, I feel that we should have a proper discussion about it. For example, we can’t have someone else pulling something like this again, right?” Yang Kai asked while looking at his surroundings.
“That’s right, that’s right. We indeed need to discuss it.” Du Li Shen promptly nodded his head in support.
The other people were still indifferent about the matter, as everyone knew one another and had family businesses in Maplewood City, which meant that they wouldn’t act too despicably and not give regard to the general situation at all. However, the rest were also not familiar with Hua Qing Si. What if she pulled the same stunt as the middle-aged man? If that really happened, this team would definitely break apart. With even returning back to the city becoming a problem for them, how would they have any room to think about repairing the seal?
Furthermore, with how despicable the middle-aged man was, what if he still pulled out after obtaining the Seven Points Black Tortoise Array? What could everyone else do then?
As such apprehensions started to surge within their minds, frowns appeared on a few people’s faces, as worry filled their hearts.
“What’s the matter? You won’t believe this king?” Seeing their reactions, the middle-aged man couldn’t help but reveal a gloomy expression on his face!
Huang Qin Shi pursed her lips and laughed, “Do you think you’re a trustworthy person, sir?”
The middle-aged male snorted coldly. “So, what are you trying to say, madam?”
He did not believe that Hua Qing Si, a Third-Order Dao Source Realm cultivator, would act just on her hotbloodedness to help these people repair the seal. She definitely had underlying reasons behind her actions.
“Aiya. This mistress isn’t harbouring any ill intentions at all. It’s just that one can’t act alone at this moment, that’s all.” Hua Qin Si giggled after giving her reply.
After being singled out by Hua Qing Si, a look of fury appeared on the middle-aged man’s face. Nevertheless, he did not dare to take action, leaving him no choice but to forcefully restrain himself.
“Everyone, there’s no need to argue. This Duan feels that there’s a reason behind little brother Yang’s words. How about this, why not make sure that they would not pull any requests like earlier and not leave their positions before we repair the seal and return to the city?” Duan Yuan Shan quickly interjected.
“You lot can rest assured. As long as this king obtains the complete array formation method, this king will naturally aid you all to repair the seal.” The middle-aged man said in a cold voice.
“Words have no value…” Zhuang Pan said weakly.
“Then what do you want? Are you trying to make this king swear upon my heart demon?” The middle-aged man’s gaze suddenly turned cold as he looked right at Zhuang Pan.
Zhuang Pan turned pale in fright and promptly gave a weak laugh, “It’s just a joke, sir.”
“Why not?” On the contrary, Yang Kai gave a faint smile, “If sir really wishes to work together with us as a team, it shouldn’t be a big problem for you sir to swear upon your heart demon. Unless… you have a guilty conscience, sir.”
“Impudence!” The middle-aged man roared in fury as he sent a scorchingly angry glare at Yang Kai, the flames of anger within his eyes seemingly wanting to set Yang Kai aflame.
However, Yang Kai remained unmoved and continued to stare right back at him.
Since he had guessed that the man had already treated him as Ning Yuan Chen’s killer, the man would definitely have a grudge against him. Therefore, Yang Kai wasn’t afraid of having some enmity with the man.
“What this little brother said is not wrong,” Surprisingly, Hua Qing Si was extremely supportive of Yang Kai. “It’s rare for this mistress to follow along in my moment of hotbloodedness and travel with people, so I really don’t want my mood to get spoiled by some people. Since everyone agrees on this, let’s all swear upon our heart demons.”
“Who would agree to it?” The middle-aged man asked out in shock.
“Everyone has agreed to it. It seems like you, sir, are the only one with a different opinion.” Yang Kai grinned as he looked at him, before suddenly revealing a look of shock. “Could it be that you, sir, are really planning to leave after obtaining the formation method? Sir, you can’t be that untrustworthy and harbour evil intentions at heart!”
“Lies! This King never said those words,” The middle-aged man had reached the limits of his anger.
“Then that means that you’ve agreed.” Yang Kai concluded. No longer caring about the latter, he looked around and said, “Since no one has any objections, let’s start.”
After saying those words, he started to swear upon his heart demon.
Exchanging glances with one another, the other people proceeded to do the same.
In fact, even Hua Qing Si did not act out of place and started to swear upon her heart demon.
After that… everyone turned to look at the middle-aged man.
At this moment an angry glow burst forth from the middle-aged man’s eyes. Staring fiercely at Yang Kai, he seemed to want to cleave Yang Kai to death as he growled between his clenched teeth. “Good, very good! This king will remember you.”
Yang Kai giggled in response. “I really apologize for making you, sir, remember me.”
“You’re courting death!” The middle-aged man replied with his hatred evident in his voice.
“Sir, is there any use in threatening me?” Yang Kai made an innocent face, “I didn’t do anything at all.”
“This sir, it’s your turn now.” Hua Qing Si interjected, grinning as she looked at the middle-aged man. “Unless you don’t wish to obtain the complete formation method, you have to swear upon your heart demon. If not, this mistress will have to properly thank you, sir, as this mistress is prepared to offer a better price for the trade.”
“Very good, all of you!” Suppressing the flames of anger in his heart, the middle-aged man had no choice but to clench his teeth and start his oath.
Although swearing upon one’s heart demon appeared to be a useless verbal promise, it was actually not completely useless, as no cultivator dared to recklessly disregard it. If one was to really face an oath backlash during a critical moment, it would be an exceedingly troublesome matter to deal with.
However, there are also quite a few secret techniques that could allow one to evade the backlash of a heart demon’s oath, so it could not be fully trusted most of the time.
These secret techniques required one to have an extremely powerful cultivation realm in order to execute them. Furthermore, they required extremely long preparation times. Therefore, despite the strength of the middle-aged man, he should not be able to dispel the heart demon’s oath for a while.
After swearing an oath on his heart demon, the middle-aged man extended his hand coldly towards Qin Zhao Yang.
“Where are the Source Crystals?” Qin Zhao Yang asked with a gloomy expression on his face.
The middle-aged man sneered. “It’s just a mere million Source Crystals. Are you afraid that this king can’t pay up?”
As he said those words, he immediately retrieved a Space Ring from his robes. After making some slight arrangements, he tossed it to Qin Zhao Yang.
Catching it, Qin Zhao Yang examined it in detail. After making sure that the amount was correct, he retrieved an empty jade slip, sent his Divine Sense into it and transferred the complete formation method for the Seven Points Black Tortoise Spirit Array.
After that, he tossed that jade slip to the middle-aged man.
The man suppressed the emotions surging out from his heart as he caught the jade slip. After checking its contents, a look of delight instantly appeared on his face, before he put it carefully with a hearty chuckle.
Clearly, he was extremely satisfied with the results of this trade, to the point that he seemed to have forgotten about the earlier unhappiness.
“Everyone, we should increase our speed. Otherwise, we will get surrounded,” All of a sudden, Yang Kai’s solemn voice gave everyone a wake-up call.
Sweeping their Divine Sense outwards, everyone discovered that it had only taken that short period of time when they were occupied with their conflict to be surrounded by a horde of countless demonic creatures like a tightly-knitted ball.
“Just a bunch of pitiful weaklings!” With a roar, Duan Yuan Shan suddenly formed seals with his hands.
As everyone was connected to the Spirit Array, Duan Yuan Shan’s movements made the others have no choice but to closely follow suit and take action.
The gigantic Divine Spirit projection suddenly opened its large mouth, before dense water elements from the surroundings converged in a berserk fashion. In the blink of an eye, a gigantic ball of water appeared before the dragon head.
As Duan Yuan Shan’s muffled roar rang out, it was as if someone took control of the Divine Spirit as it opened its mouth wide and spit.
The gigantic ball of water transformed into a beam of white light that travelled straight forward. Smashing everything in its path like rotten wood, its might couldn’t be obstructed, as countless demonic creatures were killed in an instant, disintegrating into nothingness.
A safe passage spanning over a thousand metres appeared before them.
Without saying a word, Duan Yuan Shan took the lead and rushed forwards, everyone following suit behind him.
The City Lord’s heart seemed to be filled with fury towards that middle-aged man. However, in their current situation, they couldn’t have a falling out with that man, so the only thing he could do was to let all of his anger out on those demonic creatures.
As the situation changed, the demonic creatures that had surrounded the group seemed to also become affected, lunging at them with total disregard for their lives as they continued to unleash various kinds of attacks at the Spirit Array.
If one was to observe from afar, they would see dense numbers of demonic creatures around the gigantic body of the Black Tortoise projection.
Nevertheless, this was still unable to stop the group’s advance.
After approximately half an hour, the group finally arrived at the original location of the mine.
Although everything within a thousand kilometres of here was filled with jet-black Demon Qi, there was a certain location where the Demon Qi was much denser. There was a black pillar of energy shooting straight up into the sky, connecting Heaven and Earth; it was a soul-stirring sight for anyone who laid eyes on it. Like an open tap, unimaginably pure Demon Qi gushed out from it continuously, spreading out in all directions.
There was no need to warn anyone in the group; when they saw that jet-black energy pillar that shot up towards the sky, all of them naturally knew that it was the origin, and should also be where the seal was located.
Taking the lead, Duan Yuan Shan rapidly flew towards it.
However, as they approached the location, everyone felt the rate at which Source Qi was flowing out of their bodies started to gradually increase. After a moment of shock, everyone proceeded to retrieve restorative Spirit Pills, consuming them to maintain the circulation of their bodies’ energies.
All of a sudden, Duan Yuan Shan’s advance came to a halt, frowning as he looked before him.
Less than ten feet away, several dozen powerful auras were standing quietly, as though they had been waiting for the group for a very long time.
Right at the instant when the group stopped in their tracks, these figures let off simultaneous roars, before rushing forwards in a storm-like manner.
The resulting berserk energies reached the Dao Source Realm level, with the only thing lacking being the mobilization of Principles.
“They’re Jiang Family members!” Yang Kai roared fiercely after narrowing his eyes to look before him.
“Die, you bastards!” Duan Yuan Shan changed his hand seals. In response, the Divine Spirit Black Tortoise projection raised its foreleg and swept out fiercely towards the front.
BANG…
The slap sent two figures flying, exploding into blood mist in midair, their bodies disintegrating into nothingness. Nevertheless, the other enemies managed to nimbly evade the attack.
The group of Jiang Family Origin King realm members had their strength increased by the Demon Qi. Nevertheless, despite reaching a level of strength that rivalled Dao Source Realms, how could they match up to the group which was already displaying their Spirit Array?
With the activation of the Seven Points Black Tortoise Spirit Array, the Source Qi from the seven Dao Source Realm masters were combined into one, and among them, two were Third-Order Dao Source Realm masters.
The palm strike from the Black Tortoise projection was equivalent to a simultaneous strike from seven people!
“It’s that brat, Jiang Lin!” Positioned on the left side of the Spirit Array, Du Li Shen’s gaze landed on a demon rushing forward, with jet-black eyes and a body covered in Demon Crests. Instantly, he recognised that demon, and it was shockingly the Jiang Family’s patriarch: Jiang Lin!
Clearly, Jiang Lin had already fully lost consciousness, as the miserable death of his family’s elders did not incite any fear in him. On the contrary, it stimulated his bloodlust, causing the Demon Qi around his body to surge as he unleashed various highly powerful Secret Techniques to strike the Spirit Array.
His frenzied state of madness frightened Du Li Shen, causing Du Li Shen’s speed of forming hand seals to subconsciously slow down.
Any slight mistake by anyone within the Spirit Array would affect the entire Array. Due to him slowing down, it had risked causing disruptions for the others.
This instantly incited the anger of the middle-aged man, who shot a fierce glare at Du Li Shen and roared, “Do you wish to die, old man! If you feel that you’ve lived too long, this king doesn’t mind fulfilling your wish!”
“It’s a mistake, it’s a mistake!” Sorrow and dejection filled Du Li Shen’s heart as he hastily gave a reply. Giving a shaky smile, he promptly suppressed the shock in his heart and proceeded to adjust his position and state of mind.
There were several dozen Origin King Realm masters that were turned into demons, each with the ability to fight against Dao Source Realm masters. Anywhere else, this would have been quite a powerful lineup. However, they might as well have been children when facing off against the Seven Points Black Tortoise Spirit Array.
With its gigantic frame, the Divine Spirit projection was invincible, sweeping everything before it. The reason behind the lack of technique in its actions was merely due to everyone commanding it to constantly wave its forelegs, smashing every demon that rushed over into mush and blood mists.
From the start to the end, the fight lasted a mere several dozen breaths, with the Jiang Family higher-ups being completely wiped out, leaving Jiang Lin as the only one left alive.
Unexpectedly, he did not initiate any attacks. Instead, he hid his body within the swirling Demon Qi, all while continuing to send roars out, commanding the endless demonic creatures in his surroundings in an attempt to obstruct the group’s progress.
Nevertheless, how could these demonic creatures of varying strength serve any purpose other than becoming cannon fodder?
Rivers of blood formed alongside piles of corpses.
After a full hour, the group finally arrived at the origin of the Demon Qi.
The ground had been smashed apart, and a pile of rubble stood where the mine entrance was, a result from the massive explosion of Demon Qi. This forced the group to dig a hole, all while fighting against demonic creatures, before finally jumping into the mineshaft.
Having previously seen the location of the seal, Yang Kai was naturally familiar with the directions. Through his lead, the group travelled through the twisting tunnel, spending yet another half an hour before reaching the location of the seal.
After cleaning the place up, they finally located the wall where the seal was located.
“Did we find it?” Duan Yuan Shan asked in delight.
“This should be it.” Upon seeing the wall covered with Demon Crests, Qin Yu, who had been protected in the centre of the group throughout the journey, nodded in response, eyes sparkling.
She had managed to catch a faint glimpse of the patterns from Jiang Chu He’s Knowledge Sea. Being an extremely ancient seal, she only had a smattering of understanding of it.
Fortunately, the damage to the seal was only limited to a corner, so repairing it was barely within her capabilities.
“Hurry up and take action!” The middle-aged man urged impatiently.
With a smile, Hua Qing Si said, “What are you afraid of, sir?”
Shooting her a look, the middle-aged man snorted. “It isn’t that this king is afraid, but these other trash are lacking in strength. If we get delayed here for too long, even though this king and you can endure, do you think they can?”
“What sir said makes a lot of sense.” Hua Qin Si giggled.
Upon hearing those words, displeased looks appeared on everyone’s faces!
For better or for worse, everyone here was a Dao Source Realm master. Although they couldn’t rule Maplewood City and the area ten thousand kilometres around it with absolute power, they were first-rate figures at the very least. Yet, at this moment, they had actually been treated like trash by the middle-aged man.
Feelings of unhappiness surfaced in everyone’s hearts, yet they felt too embarrassed to reveal it openly, so they were forced to silently curse the middle-aged man in their hearts.
“I need you all to temporarily disperse the Demon Qi here. If not, I will be unable to repair the seal!” Qin Yu suddenly spoke out.
The broken part of the seal was the source of the Demon Qi. It could be said that the Demon Qi coming out from there was incredibly pure, something that Qin Yu, with her Second-Order Origin Returning Realm cultivation, was utterly incapable of dealing with!
“Use the might of the Divine Spirit to suppress it!” Qin Zhao Yang roared out.
Flashes of understanding appeared in everyone’s minds as they proceeded to take action.
As they formed more and more hand seals, the group started to move. After a short while, the gigantic Divine Spirit projection pressed itself right on top of the seal.
The rate at which Demon Qi surged out instantly slowed down, as though it had encountered an obstruction, before finally being unable to flow out at all.
Nevertheless, exceedingly ugly expressions appeared on everyone’s faces.
That was due to their consumption of Source Qi. After using the strength of the Seven Points Black Tortoise Spirit Array to suppress the broken part of the seal, everyone discovered that Source Qi started to gush out from their bodies like a torrent from a broken dam, pouring out at a frenzied rate.
The speed of energy consumption was simply akin to unleashing Secret Techniques without any regard for their life, something that probably no one could handle.
The faces of the First-Order Dao Source Realm cultivators turned pale.
“Little Yu’er, approximately how long do you need to repair the seal?” Du Li Shen asked with a bitter expression on his face.
Continuing to focus on the seal, various kinds of precious materials used to repair seals appeared in Qin Yu’s hands. “It’ll take at least half an hour!”
“Half an hour…” The look on Du Li Shen’s face grew even more bitter.
“Our success or failure rests on this! Everyone, please do not drop your guard!” Duan Yuan Shan roared out loudly in an attempt to boost the group’s morale.
Hearing his words, everyone had no choice but to clench their teeth and summon their strength, all while constantly shoving various kinds of restorative Spirit Pills into their mouths.
“A bunch of trash!” Seeing this, a look of ridicule and disdain surfaced on the face of the middle-aged man, while showing the relaxed state he was in.
Being a powerful Third-Order Dao Source Realm master, the quantity and quality of the Source Qi was several dozen times greater than that of Du Li Shen and the other First-Order Dao Source Realm masters, therefore he naturally did not need to worry too much about the increase in Source Qi consumption.
“Sir, have you done a detailed analysis into this Seven Points Black Tortoise Array?” All of a sudden, Hua Qing Si asked a question out of nowhere while sporting a somewhat mocking smile on her pretty face.
“I’ve naturally analysed it. So, what about it?” The middle-aged man shot a displeased look at Hua Qing Si.
He looked down upon everyone else here, even the Maplewood City City Lord, Duan Yuan Shan. The only exception was Hua Qing Si; he somewhat dreaded her as, after all, her cultivation realm was not much different from his own.
Her sudden question subconsciously caused him to raise his guard.
“Looks like you, sir, did not analyse it properly,” Hua Qing Si smiled.
“What do you mean?” The middle-aged man asked in shock. For some unknown reason, he felt that he had overlooked some part of the array.
“If sir had analysed it properly, you should know that when the Seven Points Black Tortoise Spirit Array is fully deployed, the formation members’ Source Qi are fused together as one. In other words, the Spirit Array will consume the same amount of Source Qi from everyone. If anyone exhausts their Source Qi, the Spirit Array will collapse.”
“Exactly what are you trying to say?” The middle-aged man frowned.
“Can’t you understand such a simple concept, sir?” Hua Qing Si giggled as she looked at him. “The Spirit Array does not draw the same amount of Source Qi from each of us. Instead, it draws in the same ratio to maintain equilibrium… yes, the higher your cultivation, the more Source Qi it will pull from you, and the opposite is true. Therefore, everyone’s rate of Source Qi consumption is the same. I wonder if sir understands what I’m trying to say?”
“What?” The middle-aged man’s expression instantly changed upon hearing her words.
He hastily sent his Divine Sense for a detailed check and discovered that, as Hua Qing Si had just described, the rate of consumption for his and her Source Qi was much higher than the others. Duan Yuan Shan came in second place, and the rest of the Dao Source Realm cultivators basically had the same load.
This discovery instantly caused his face to turn incomparably gloomy and filled with unhappiness.
“Is that really the case? Lady Hua’s eyesight is sharp indeed,” After being reminded by Hua Qing Si, Du Li Shen and Zhuang Pan also noticed it. Exchanging glances, they could see the delight hidden in each other’s eyes.
After all, if this was the case, that truly meant that all seven people would suffer as one, and prosper as one. This Spirit Array bound everyone — weak or strong — together, and did not differentiate between people!
Therefore, they did not have to worry about their Source Qi being sucked dry, as the middle-aged man was still able to handle the current situation with ease.
“This king is being burdened by all you useless trash!” The middle-aged man shouted out, an expression of incomparable rage appearing on his face.
“This sir, please do not forget that you’ve already sworn on your heart demon,” Hua Qing Si added fuel to the flames, causing the middle-aged man’s mood to burn even hotter with anger.
Being dragged down by someone else would never fail to make anyone unhappy.
Raging with fury, he shot a furious glare at Qin Zhao Yang, as though he was placing all of the blame on him.
Qin Zhao Yang mumbled, “I thought that everyone understood the basis behind this Spirit Array’s operations…”
Hua Qing Si giggled and added, “Since this sir hails from the Flying Saint Palace, I would assume that you would definitely carry the pill famous in the Southern Territory, the Blood Burning Source Restoring Pill, right? I wonder if you sir would be willing to spare a single pill for each one of us.”
“You wretch… you even dare to target this king’s pills?” The middle-aged man’s anger had reached his boiling point, and his face started to twist, teetering on the brink of cursing out loud.
“Blood Burning Source Restoring Pill?” Zhuang Pan’s eyes immediately lit up upon hearing this name, as he shot a look of longing towards the middle-aged man.
A similar expression also appeared on Du Li Shen’s face.
It seemed as though that Blood Burning Source Restoring Pill would be extremely beneficial in this current situation.
A chilling glint flashed within Hua Qing Si’s eyes, though she quickly restrained it. Continuing to purse her lips and give an alluring smile, she said, “There’s no need to be so stingy, sir. Although the Flying Saint Palace’s Blood Burning Source Restoring Pill has some negative side effects, its efficacy is incomparably powerful, making it famous throughout the Southern Territory. Sir, with your powerful cultivation, you should hold an important position within the Flying Saint Palace. Could it be that you don’t even have a single Blood Burning Source Restoring Pill with you right now?”
“None!” The middle-aged man’s cheek twitched slightly as he immediately refuted her claim.
Hua Qing Si could not help but let off a puff, while a look of contempt appeared on her face.
“What is a Blood Burning Source Restoring Pill?” Yang Kai quietly whispered to the nearby Qin Zhao Yang.
“Haven’t you heard about it, Little Brother Yang?” Qin Zhao Yang shot a flabbergasted look at Yang Kai, appearing to be extremely shocked by his question.
Yang Kai made a blank look, before shaking his head slowly.
“The Blood Burning Source Restoring Pill is a unique product of the Flying Saint Palace, and it seems to have harsh requirements regarding the location where it is refined. Therefore, even Spirit Alchemists from powerful places like the Start Soul Palace aren’t able to refine this Spirit Pill. The greatest effect of this Spirit Pill is its ability to restore one’s Source Qi at an extremely rapid speed. Furthermore, it has a very powerful efficacy. However…”
“However?” Yang Kai gawked before asking.
“However, after consuming this Spirit Pill, one would expend a portion of their Blood Essence. This is its minor side effect. However, how can this blemish affect its true worth? Compared to its efficacy, would some Blood Essence matter at all? A Spirit Pill like this is sufficient to let anyone keep their life during critical moments. Nevertheless, due to the extremely low production rate of this Spirit Pill, it has an extremely shocking price. A single Spirit Pill is valued at several hundred thousand Source Crystals at the very least!”
“You know quite a lot, Old Thing!” Hearing Qin Zhao Yong’s words, the middle-aged man gave a haughty laugh, “That’s right, our palace’s Blood Burning Source Restoring Pill is indeed the hallmark of the Southern Territory. Even a great sect like the Star Soul Palace isn’t able to refine it. The only way to refine it would be to enter our palace’s restricted area. Since the number of Spirit Pills refined isn’t even able to satisfy the needs of our palace’s disciples, how can this king have any spare to give you all?”
“If you don’t want to, then don’t. What’s the use of talking so much?” Hua Qing Si snorted, “In any case, when everyone’s Source Qi dries up, everyone will die here, and this mistress won’t be left alone.”
“There’s no need to say something so demoralizing. We can definitely hold on through this crisis.” Zhuang Pan reassured himself as his face grew paler.
“That Blood Burning Source Restoring Pill… what does it look like?” asked Yang Kai.
Qin Zhao Yang replied, “It’s blood-red in colour, has a fishy smell, and it’s around the size of a broad bean…”
An odd look appeared on Yang Kai’s face as he retrieved a jade bottle from his Space Ring, before saying in a dazed tone, “Could this be it?”
“What?” Everyone was shocked by his words, prompting all of them to look his way.
Yang Kai leisurely removed the bottle stopper and removed a single Spirit Pill. It was just as Qin Zhao Yang had described, blood-red in colour with a faint fishy smell and the size of a broad bean…
“Blood Burning Source Restoring Pill!” The middle-aged man exclaimed in astonishment, before revealing a chilling glare at Yang Kai and roaring, “How do you have this pill?”
“Haha, so this is really the Blood Burning Source Restoring Pill, right?” Yang Kai gave a hearty chuckle, appearing as though he was also surprised by this discovery.
“Little brother Yang, how is it that you have…” Qin Zhao Yang’s expression changed drastically, turning deathly pale in an instant. As he asked the question in a trembling voice, he shot a fierce look at Yang Kai, signalling him to hurry up and put his Spirit Pills away.
The faces of Duan Yuan Shan and the rest also changed, as they proceeded to keep their silence.
“Little brat, this king is asking you a question. Where did you obtain those Spirit Pills from!” The middle-aged man’s face sank as he emphasized every single word in his question.
“I picked them up.” Yang Kai replied.
“Picked them up…” Everyone’s face turned black after hearing his response.
There were at least several dozen Blood Burning Source Restoring Pills in that jade bottle, with a total worth of a few million Source Crystals! How could something like this be casually picked up like that?
One had to know that very few Blood Burning Source Restoring Pills were ever circulated in the open market. Only important figures from the Flying Saint Palace would carry a few with them. Yang Kai’s sudden revelation of having so many Blood Burning Source Restoring Pills inevitably led the others into thinking that he had done something bad to some important figure from the Flying Saint Palace… for example, something cruel like killing them and repossessing their belongings.
This was the reason why Qin Zhao Yang had shot a fierce glare at Yang Kai.
A year ago, there was indeed an important figure from the Flying Saint Palace that had come to Maplewood City, and that person was precisely the Flying Saint Palace’s Young Master: Ning Yuan Cheng!
However, after the auction fair that year, Ning Yuan Cheng disappeared without a trace while the Flying Saint Palace had a new young master.
This wasn’t really a secret. Therefore, paired with the appearance of those Spirit Pills in Yang Kai’s hands, people couldn’t help but to have such thoughts.
“Bullshit!” With a fierce roar, the aura radiating from the middle-aged man suddenly turned dangerous. Glaring coldly at Yang Kai, he said, “Little brat, if you don’t give this king a proper explanation today, this king will make sure that you’ll regret being born in this world!”
“Sir, what a bad temper you have.” Yang Kai gave a faint smile in response, appearing as though he was not one bit afraid of the man, causing everyone looking at him to be shocked by his courage. “You became so overbearingly aggressive after I said that I picked up this bottle of Spirit Pills, as though I’ve killed your parents. Even if this bottle of Blood Burning Source Restoring Pills came out of your Flying Saint Palace, there isn’t a need to be like that, right?”
After saying that, he did not wait for the middle-aged man to give his reply before he continued, “However, it’s true that I picked this thing up, and I even obtained a ship artifact.”
The middle-aged man gawked in response to Yang Kai’s words and seemed to have recalled something, suddenly suppressing his fury, before replying in a cold voice. “Explain in detail how you came into possession of these items!
“Is there anything good to say?’ Yang Kai chuckled, “At that time, two people were fighting against each other, ending up with both losing their lives at the same time. I hid in a corner and watched the fight until it ended, before looting these things from the battlefield.
“Is that even possible?” Qin Zhao Yang’s eyeballs were about to pop out from their sockets.
A fight between a sandpiper and a clam resulted in the fisherman’s win; but in the end, this was just a quote from classical literature. It would be incredibly different to encounter such a scenario in the cultivation world.
“At that time, my cultivation was only at the Third-Order Origin King realm, but that was a fight between Dao Source Realm masters. How would I dare to get involved?” Yang Kai explained.
“Indeed, Little Brother Yang has just been promoted to the Dao Source Realm a short period of time ago. Last year, he was a Third-Order Origin King.” Qin Zhao Yang nodded his head and added.
A frown appeared on the middle-aged man’s face before a shade of understanding flashed across his face. He proceeded to speak out sternly, yet his earlier fury seemed to have abated. “Since it’s a fight, other than the person from my Flying Saint Palace, who was the other party?”
“There was only one other person, and he was called Han Leng!”
“Han Leng?” Everyone exclaimed in shock upon hearing that name.
A burst of radiance flashed across Hua Qing Si’s beautiful eyes, while she shot a complicated, yet pleasantly surprised look at Yang Kai.
“So, it’s the Star Soul Palace’s traitor!” The middle-aged man seemed to believe Yang Kai’s words.
“Does this mean that the two parties managed to form some grievances against each other during the auction fair?” Du Li Shen pondered with a pensive look.
Basically all of the Dao Source Realm masters present here had participated in the auction fair, where they had all witnessed Ning Yuan Cheng and Han Leng competing for the auctioned goods. After discovering this matter from Yang Kai, everyone immediately guessed what had resulted in the conflict.
All of their guesses were basically the same. However, never in their wildest dreams would they believe that the Wood Spirit had a part to play in this matter. If not for the Wood Spirit quietly anchoring itself in Ning Yuan Cheng’s body, Han Leng would never have been ambushed.
With Yang Kai’s level of strength, he would not be able to obtain any advantage if he were to fight against Han Leng, who was at the Second-Order Dao Source Realm and hailed from a powerful sect.
A plethora of expressions flashed through everyone’s faces as they secretly felt envious and shocked at Yang Kai’s luck.
“Little Brat, hand that bottle of Spirit Pills and that ship artifact over to me right now!” All of a sudden, the middle-aged man extended his hand in an overbearing fashion at Yang Kai, “Those items belong to my Flying Saint Palace, you ought to return them to their rightful owners!”
“Those words don’t sound reasonable, sir.”
Before Yang Kai could reply, Hua Qing Si suddenly interjected with a ridiculing laugh. “For ownerless items, finders keepers. Since this little brother managed to obtain these items by luck, then it is also his destiny to find them. Do you not care about your dignity by asking him to return them like that?”
After finishing her sentence, she turned to look at Yang Kai. “Little brother, don’t listen to him.”
Little brother…
Yang Kai’s mouth twitched at the way she had addressed him, while a look of discomfort appeared on his face.
“Do you really think that this king is afraid of you, cheap slut?” After being ridiculed by Hua Qing Si time and time again, the middle-aged man’s belly was already filled with anger. At this moment, he could no longer endure it, cursing out loud at her.
“A useless man scolding other people is truly an ugly sight to behold, tsk tsk…” The ridiculing look on Hua Qing Si’s face grew even more contemptuous.
“You…” The middle-aged man’s anger skyrocketed. If not for the oath he had made with his Heart Demon, he might have already started a fight with Hua Qing Si to keep his face.
Hua Qing Si continued to provoke him, “What narrow mindedness. Little brother, would it be possible for you to give this elder sister a Blood Burning Source Returning Pill?”
“Sure!” Yang Kai nodded his head. He had taken out the bottle of Spirit Pills for two reasons. First, he wanted to use this opportunity to try to clear his name and erase that middle-aged man’s suspicions towards him, and secondly, he wanted to distribute it to everyone.
After displaying the Spirit Array, everyone’s fate was tied together, so it was useless to act solely for personal benefits.
“There’s enough for everyone,” Yang Kai said, all while giving everyone a Blood Burning Source Restoring Pill. Only the middle-aged man did not receive anything!
Being a higher-up of the Flying Saint Palace, no one would believe that he didn’t have such a Spirit Pill with him. Since he treated the Spirit Pills so importantly and had no intention of sharing them, Yang Kai was not so stupid as to give him a Spirit Pill.
“You sure are magnanimous, Little Brother. You’re looking really pleasing to this elder sister’s eyes,” Keeping the Blood Burning Source Restoring Pill, Hua Qing Si’s beautiful eyes gleamed with an alluring splendour as she said those words. With a giggle, she looked towards Yang Kai, her peach-like eyes shining with a soul-stirring gleam. As her red lips wriggled, they shone with a gem-like lustre. “Since you’ve given me a Spirit Pill, this Elder Sister will make sure to protect you. If anyone wants to touch you, they have to first go past this elder sister!”
After saying those words, she intentionally swept her gaze towards the middle-aged man, a look that was filled with provocation!
Yang Kai grinned and replied, “Then I’ll have to thank you, Elder Sister!”
Hua Qing Si could not help but to toss some coquettish glances at him after seeing how collaborative he was. Yang Kai responded with a look as though he had been charmed by her. This caused Duan Yuan Shan and the others to feel extremely uncomfortable, resulting in them cursing the two. [Why didn’t such amazing things happen to me, too?]
“You two sure are brave!” The middle-aged man was so angry, steam could be seen rising from his head. With a chilling voice, he added, “This matter isn’t over.”
“Elder sister, he’s threatening me!” Yang Kai immediately called for help.
Hua Qing Si rolled her beautiful eyes and replied in an unconcerned manner. “He has yet to take any action. What’s there to be afraid of? You better not be too gutless, Little Brother!”
“Can… you all please quieten down a bit? It’s extremely distracting to my concentration.”
All of a sudden, Qin Yu, who was focusing all of her efforts on repairing the seal, spoke up with an extremely annoyed look on her face, while simultaneously shooting fierce glares at the few raucous people.
After hearing her words, everyone instantly shut up. Nevertheless, everyone could feel the rather weird atmosphere.
The seven people that formed this Spirit Array weren’t united in heart, foretelling that this matter wouldn’t go smoothly.
For a period of time, deathly silence filled the interior of the mine, with the only noises coming from the continuous whistles and roars from the surrounding Demon Qi and demonic creatures.
Qin Yu continued to repair the seal in silence.
Not long after, a frown suddenly appeared on Duan Yuan Shan’s face as he roared out, “There’s something coming!”
There wasn’t any look of surprise appearing on the faces of the middle-aged man and Hua Qing Si. Clearly, they had discovered it before Duan Yuan Shan. This was also the case for Yang Kai. With his Divine Sense being not one bit inferior to a Third-Order Dao Source Realm master, he had naturally discovered it before Duan Yuan Shan. In fact, he was even able to faintly sense some information that was not privy to the rest.
On the contrary, the faces of the few First-Order Dao Source Realm masters turned solemn upon hearing his words.
*Whoosh whoosh….*
Human and beast figures started to reveal themselves within the swirling Demon Qi. Clearly, they were demonized creatures.
Having spent a period of time within the mine, which was the source of the Demon Qi, it was naturally impossible for the group to not worry about the demonic creatures present.
After gathering together, they proceeded to launch all-out attacks without regard for their lives.
Nevertheless, having travelled all the way here, the seven people were much more proficient in operating the Seven Points Black Tortoise Spirit Array than before. Under their combined strength, they focused strictly on protecting the area of the seal, all while not sparing a single demonic creature that dared to approach them.
After a while, piles made from the corpses of innumerable demonic creatures appeared before the group, with the resulting bloody smell assailing everyone’s noses.
Although they managed to achieve remarkable results, everyone had a feeling of unease creep into their hearts. As a result of suppressing the origin of the Demon Qi, all while needing to fight against the onslaught of demonic creatures, the consumption rate of their Source Qi had increased by 30%.
They had yet to spend a stick of incense’s worth of time since arriving here, yet they had already consumed the greater half of the Source Qi within their bodies.
At this rate, it wouldn’t take too long before they would exhaust all of their Source Qi. When that happened, they would need to consume that Blood Burning Source Restoring Pill.
“Roar…”
All of a sudden, a furious roar rang out from a certain location. In the next moment, a dazzling burst of radiance surfaced over there, transforming into an astonishing giant axe that cleaved downwards from the air.
Before the giant axe had truly chopped down, everyone felt a surging pressure descending from the sky, causing the faces of the few First-Order Dao Source Realm masters to turn pale.
Even the expressions of the two Third-Order Dao Source Realm masters, the middle-aged man and Hua Qin Si, suddenly turned solemn.
“Giant Spirit Axe?” Duan Yuan Shan exclaimed, as though he had recognized that artifact. With a roar, he rapidly formed seals with his hands.
The Black Tortoise projection raised its head and roared, before lifting up its gigantic foreleg to meet the incoming giant axe.
*Bang…*
This time around, the ever so mighty and invincible Black Tortoise’s palm was unexpectedly only able to block the incoming giant axe. In fact, a giant gash appeared on its palm, looking dangerously close to being chopped off.
Duan Yuan Shan’s expression changed as he realized that he had underestimated the might of that Giant Spirit Axe, causing him to hastily increase the strength of the Spirit Array.
However, right at this moment, a figure appeared in a flash, as a person with jet-black abstruse eyes had appeared in a location not far away from the group in a spectre-like manner. Although he did not use any artifact, he waved his fists about, Demon Qi swirling around them as he sent a fierce punch forward.
“In your dreams!” With a furious roar, Duan Yuan Shan’s hand seal formation speed increased by a few notches. In return, the Black Tortoise projection opened its big mouth, before biting down on that figure.
Just like a house, its gigantic mouth devoured that person whole.
However, before people could feel any delight, the Black Tortoise’s giant mouth unexpectedly started to swell and shrink, as though some kind of berserk energies were erupting from within. In the next moment, with a bang, the devoured figure rushed out, and with a flash, retreated away. Reappearing right beside the Giant Spirit Axe wielding demon, it continued to let out roars from its mouth.
“Brother Cheng, Brother Zhou…” Duan Yuan Shan shot a complicated look at the two demons that had suddenly appeared, before letting out a sigh.“It has been three years. I never expected that you two would actually become like this in our next meeting.”
From his sighing expression, it was clear that he recognized the two people.
Qin Zhao Yang’s expression had also sunk as he quickly said, “They are the two City Lords of Forest City!”
“Forest City!” Yang Kai repeated those words, before sighing too. “From the looks of it, Forest City has already fallen.”
Previously, Old Swindler had said that he had come from Forest City to ask for reinforcements from Maplewood City. Now, since the two City Lords of Forest City had appeared before them, and had both turned into demons, anyone could imagine the situation at Forest City!
Although Forest City was smaller than Maplewood City, these two City Lords were both First-Order Dao Source Realm cultivators. Strengthened by Demon Qi, most First-Order Dao Source Realms were truly no match for them. This explained the powerful attacks they were able to unleash.
All of a sudden, Yang Kai roared out, “If they are here, that Jiang Tai Sheng must also be here! Everyone, please pay attention.”
“They’re just a few trivial First-Order Dao Source Realm demons, that’s all! Is there anything to be afraid of? Take a look at how this king deals with them.” With his belly already filled with anger, the middle-aged man was worrying about how to vent his anger. Therefore, it was natural for him to find a good place for him to blow all of his anger off.
He was interested in showing off his strength. After saying those words, a short spear about a foot long suddenly appeared in his hand, before Source Qi surged into it.
“Pay attention to conserve your Source Qi!” Seeing him about to take action, Duan Yuan Shan immediately let out a reminder.
Nevertheless, it was a pity that he was too late. The short spear radiated with a weak brilliance. With a flash it disappeared from his hand, creating a shockwave in the process.
Not far away, appearing to sense something, the demonized City Lord Cheng twisted his body.
In the next instant, a blood mist erupted from his shoulder, while the connected arm blew apart, revealing jet-black muscles and white body, an exceedingly striking sight for one to see.
As pain set in, the demonized City Lord Cheng roared out loudly, its roars seemingly transforming into invisible shockwaves that shook everyone’s Knowledge Seas. Fortunately, as the cultivation realms of everyone present here weren’t low, coupled with the protection of the Seven Points Black Tortoise Spirit Array, they only needed to spend some energy to suppress the tremors.
“It isn’t dead yet?” The middle-aged man was extremely surprised.
His short spear was a Mid-Rank Dao Source Grade artifact, and possessed incomparably powerful might. Originally, he had assumed that it would only take a flick of his hand to deal with a demon that had lost its consciousness. However, he never expected that it would actually shift its body and vitals in time, resulting in it only losing an arm.
“Looks like their combat abilities have increased by quite a bit after losing their consciousness.” Yang Kai said pensively. Even he could feel the danger behind the strike the middle-aged man had launched, and it clearly wasn’t easy to evade it at all.
Hearing his words, Hua Qing Si nodded her head in agreement.
Right at this moment, a shocking spectacle appeared before everyone.
Demon Qi started to churn at the stump of the demonised City Lord Chen. It proceeded to merge together with the wound. In the next instant, right before everyone’s eyes, the wound started to squirm, before rapidly growing out.
Before ten breaths were up, it had actually regrown its severed limb!
“How is this possible?” Everyone’s eyes snapped wide open, their jaws dropping down, not closing even after a very long time.
Something like regrowing limbs was the stuff of legends. Only a few precious spirit medicines that were virtually extinct in this world were capable of allowing one to achieve such a heaven-defying effect. It was even impossible for cultivators of the Emperor Realm to rely on their own strength to achieve a feat like regrowing their limbs.
However, such a spectacle had just happened right before everyone’s eyes.
And the person who managed to do so was just a First-Order Dao Source Realm cultivator.
Who wouldn’t be astonished?
The demonic creatures they had encountered previously were not very powerful, with all of them possessing cultivations below the Dao Source Realm. They were utterly no match for anyone in the group, exploding apart after a single attack. Therefore, no one had discovered this terrifying effect the endless Demon Qi had on demonic creatures.
However, with the aid of the Demon Qi, this demonised City Lord Cheng was actually able to regrow his severed limb in such an extremely short period of time. Everyone was shocked, all while quietly feeling that the situation had become somewhat thorny.
“Looks like we have to strike their vital points, or smash them into bits.” Duan Yuan Shan quickly said.
“This king wants to see how many times you can evade!” The failure of the middle-aged man’s attack caused him to become angry out of shame. With a twist of his wrist, the short spear appeared once again in his hand before he started to send in Source Qi as though his life depended on it.
The short spear shook slightly before two spears appeared, then four, then eight…
Each of the short spears appeared identical to each other, as though all of them were Mid-rank Dao Source Grade artifacts. It was unknown whether this was his own Divine Ability or the special ability of that artifact.
“Go!” With a roar, the eight short spears trembled slightly, before they suddenly disappeared before everyone’s eyes.
In the next instant, the figures of the two Forest City City Lords swayed violently. Right at the same moment, another figure came lunging over from the side. With his hands clasped together to form a seal, Demon Qi erupted forth, causing a mysterious energy to condense in the sky, before descending and enveloping the area in front of it.
*Whoosh whoosh whoosh…*
Sounds of objects breaking through the air broke the silence, while large patches of blood mist erupted around the bodies of the two City Lords, creating an exceedingly miserable sight.
When the eight short spears that disappeared earlier re-appeared in the middle-aged man’s hand, an even more gloomy expression replaced the already gloomy expression he had on his face.
Severe injuries were present on the two Forest City City Lords. One of them had been struck in the chest, leaving a gaping fist-size hole that was so deep that one could almost see right through him, and could even faintly make out the organs squirming within his body.
The other person had lost both of his feet, causing him to fall down to the ground, though he continued to struggle in an attempt to stand up.
Nevertheless, despite the terrifying injuries sustained, the attacks did not lead to any of their deaths. As Demon Qi started to churn, the spectacle identical to the limb regrowth scene appeared once again.
Not long after, two completely uninjured Forest City City Lords appeared before everyone.
At this moment, other than the two, there was an existence that appeared to be an old man beside them.
“Jiang Tai Sheng!” Duan Yuan Shan snorted coldly, showing his bitter hate towards the perpetrator of Maplewood City’s crisis.
Clearly, this demon was the Jiang Family’s old ancestor, Jiang Tai Sheng. Not only did he appear somewhat different from how he looked since Yang Kai had last seen him, he had now turned into a demon-like existence, with the aura he radiated being much stronger than before.
It was precisely due to him taking action to help the two Forest City City Lords to block quite a few of the attacks that allowed the two to survive. If not, with the capabilities of the middle-aged man, he would have been able to kill one of them at the very least.
“You few pieces of trash, you’ve succeeded in angering me! I’ll make sure you all pay the price for that!” Anger seemed to have overwhelmed the middle-aged man as he roared out. In the next instant, he suddenly mustered all of the Source Qi in his body, and with the twist of his palm, a Secret Technique in the shape of a fireball formed above his hand. As he poured more and more Source Qi in, the temperature of the fireball skyrocketed, alongside its brilliance.
“No!” Duan Yuan Shan immediately lost his voice upon seeing this.
Maintaining the Spirit Array as well as fighting had already greatly exhausted everyone’s energies. The earlier attack launched by the middle-aged man had more or less drained him dry. At this moment, how could Duan Yuan Shan allow the latter to unleash a Secret Technique with even greater energy consumption?
If he was by himself, there was no issue with him displaying that Secret Technique at all. However, at this moment, all seven people’s Source Qi were fused as one. Therefore, the energy used in that Secret Technique was provided by all seven people. This was far less safe and energy-efficient than relying on the Seven Points Black Tortoise Spirit Array.
“He’s gone mad. He can’t listen to reason,” Hua Qing Si’s expression changed slightly, before she gave a shout. “If you all don’t want the Spirit Array to collapse, hurry up and use your Blood Burning Source Restoring Pill!”
After saying those words, she immediately retrieved the Spirit Pill Yang Kai had given to her and shoved it straight down her throat.
Seeing this, everyone else did not hesitate anymore and proceeded to consume their Spirit Pills.
This was the first time that Yang Kai had consumed this type of Spirit Pill. As it entered his stomach, he felt a fiery sensation blossoming from there. At the same time, a portion of his precious Blood Essence suddenly burst into flames, catalyzed by the medicine into pure Source Qi that gushed into his empty meridians.
He could not help feeling surprised by this, as he realized that this Spirit Pill was indeed a very good thing.
There were quite a few Source Qi replenishing Spirit Pills present in the Star Boundary. However, none of them could compete with the Blood Burning Source Restoring Pill in terms of efficacy and speed.
The only side effect was the consumption of a portion of the user’s Blood Essence. This wasn’t really a serious problem, but neither was it a minor issue; generally speaking, the consumption of one’s Blood Essence would result in them becoming weaker.
At this instant, the seemingly berserk middle-aged man made a malevolent sneer, while the fireball in his hand had grown to be as dazzling as a miniature sun, with its scorching temperature causing extreme discomfort for everyone present.
Nevertheless, all of the Demon Qi that came close to it were burnt cleanly into nothingness, which was an unexpected surprise.
“Die, you trash!” Raising his hand, the middle-aged man tossed the miniature sun-like fireball forward.
Sensing the terrifying might contained within that fireball, the faces of Duan Yuan Shan and the others turned pale. Without any hesitation, he raised his hand to form a seal and shouted out fiercely, “Defend!”
Being led along, everyone else hastily cooperated with him.
The size of the Black Tortoise projection shrunk by quite a bit, while a tortoise shell-like projection with complicated patterns and motley drawings appeared in the air. In an instant, the Black Tortoise Projection appeared to turn corporeal, causing everyone within it to feel a sense of security enveloping them.
Before them, Jiang Tai Sheng and the other demons let off roars while radiating feelings of unease, as though they were aware that they were in big trouble. In the next instant, all of them opened their mouths wide and devoured all of the Demon Qi in their surroundings.
In a blink of an eye, the Demon Qi around them grew much denser than before.
As the small sun descended, it landed right into the middle of the 3 demons.
Dazzling brilliance blossomed, causing everyone to shut their eyes, leaving them unable to see the situation before them.
*Hong.*
An earth-shattering explosion rumbled out.
The heavens and earth became devoid of light, as sand and rocks flew in the air, berserk winds howled and the earth rumbled and cried.
The originally collapsed mine shaft was now destroyed into nothingness.
“Hahahaha! Let’s see if you all are dead or not!” As he roared with laughter, the middle-aged man retrieved a Blood Burning Source Restoring Pill, shoved it into his mouth and chewed on it, his expression so malevolent that one would assume that he had fully lost it.
As the light gradually disappeared, a giant hole spanning several dozen meters wide was present in the ground before them, surrounded by flames that were still burning strong.
They were able to faintly make out three figures within the giant hole.
The middle-aged man’s mad laughter came to an abrupt halt as he looked incredulously before him, a look of disbelief blanketing his face.
With the giant hole, all of the Demon Qi had already been purged clean, allowing everyone to have a clear view of what was inside.
Despite being in an incomparably miserable state, with no uninjured parts on their bodies, the 3 demons that should have been obliterated into nothingness did not perish.
On the contrary, they still continued to suck in the Demon Qi in their surroundings in a bid to repair their bodies.
Nevertheless, flames burnt on their bodies, causing the Demon Qi gushing towards them to be burnt by the scorching heat into black smoke.
“They’re unable to regrow their limbs! What are you all waiting for?” Seeing this sight, Duan Yuan Shan exclaimed in a pleasantly surprised voice. Taking the lead, he summoned his personal artifact, and disregarding the consumption of Source Qi, started to unleash a fierce attack on the demons.
Seeing this, the other people didn’t hesitate anymore as they unleashed Secret Techniques or summoned the might of their artifacts.
Within the giant pit, Jiang Tai Sheng and the other two demons let off loud roars and lunged out. Continuing to let the flames on their bodies burn on, they evaded the incoming Secret Techniques and artifact attacks as they rapidly closed in on the group, their jet-black eyes filled with gleams of madness.
“Are they trying to perish together with us? Hurry up and obstruct them!” Hua Qing Si’s pretty face changed, and with a twirl of her tender body, she shouted out, “Butterfly Dance!”
In an instant, she appeared to have metamorphosed into a dancing butterfly, fairy-like and absolutely beautiful to behold.
Gorgeous five-coloured butterflies suddenly started to shoot out from her body, flapping their wings as they flew forwards. Numbering over a hundred, they hid the skies and covered the earth as they did so.
After closing in on the demons, powerful energy fluctuations erupted from those dazzling butterflies, before they proceeded to self-destruct. Each explosion rivalled that of the self-destruction created by a Third-Order Origin King cultivator!
The successive explosions of over a hundred butterflies was a magnificent sight to behold.
The three demons, who already suffered quite significant injuries, ended up in an even more disastrous condition.
“Chop!” Qin Zhao Yang wielded a long blade in his hand, which transformed into an astonishing gigantic arc that chopped down from the skies.
The demonized City Lord Cheng, who had arrived within ten metres of the group, was cleaved into two halves. Falling down onto the ground, he finally perished.
Also knowing that this was the critical moment that decided their life or death, Zhuang Pan and Du Li Shen did not dare to hold back any bit of their strength, unleashing their strongest trump cards to obstruct Jiang Tai Sheng and the demonized City Lord Zhou.
A longsword appeared in Yang Kai’s hand, Five Elements Indestructible Sword Qi surging endlessly into it. Forming a loop, it shot towards the demonized City Lord Zhou, striking the latter so many times that he appeared just like a bee’s nest after that.
“Dragon Emperor Flash!” Clasping his hands together, Duan Yuan Shan made a furious push forward.
With a loud dragon’s roar, a dragon projection lunged forwards, smashing right into the demonized City Lord Zhou’s chest. It was the straw that broke the camel’s back, and City Lord Zhou’s already broken body exploded into quite a few bits before dropping down onto the ground.
“Where’s Jiang Tai Sheng?” All of a sudden, Qin Zhao Yang’s expression changed as he roared.
Among the confusion, he had suddenly discovered that Jiang Tai Sheng had gone missing.
Great waves of shock surged through everyone’s hearts as they hastily scanned their surroundings!
“Over there!” Yang Kai roared. Using his accomplishments in Space Force, he managed to capture Jiang Tai Sheng’s movements. The long sword in his hand trembled, shooting out and transforming into a beam of light.
Pu…
Jiang Tai Sheng’s figure was revealed in a weird manner, with a long sword pierced right through the location of his heart.
Nevertheless, the group could not feel any happiness from this, as Jiang Tai Sheng had already closed in on them. Although he had suffered a lethal injury, a cold smile surfaced at the corner of his mouth, as unstable energy fluctuations radiated out from his body.
In front of everyone’s eyes, Jiang Tai Sheng’s body expanded abruptly in size. Within the blink of an eye, he transformed into someone extremely obese, ripping all his robes clean off his body.
Extremely discomforting energy fluctuations radiated out from his body, causing everyone’s heart to jump.
The Seven Points Black Tortoise Spirit Array blossomed with radiance, faintly showing signs of reaching its limit.
“Hurry up and stop him!” How would Hua Qing Si have the mood to act flirtatious at this moment? As she shrieked, her beautiful eyes were filled with the glow of terror.
Although she was a Third-Order Dao Source Realm master, it was impossible for her to simply disregard the self-destruction of a First-Order Dao Source Realm master. Furthermore, Jiang Tai Sheng had been demonised!
A similar look of dread was also present on the middle-aged man’s face. A short blade surfaced within his hand, slashing right down at Jiang Tai Sheng, attempting to kill him before he self-destructed.
Duan Yuan Shan, Qin Zhao Yang, Du Li Shen and Yang Kai simultaneously unleashed their strength, sending multi-coloured energy attacks rumbling towards Jiang Tai Sheng.
However, right at this moment, something that no one could have expected actually occurred.
All of a sudden, with a loud scream, Zhuang Pan’s eyes trembled violently, before he fled with all his might.
He had actually been frightened past his limits! The only thought he had at that moment was to flee as far as possible, absolutely forgetting the heart demon oath he had made with the group, as well as the safety of the others.
Originally, the Seven Points Black Tortoise Spirit Array would still be able to defend and not get broken. However, with his actions, the gigantic Black Tortoise Projection started to warp and distort, teetering on the brink of collapse.
“Bastard!” Yuan Shan almost coughed out blood upon seeing the fleeing figure of Zhuang Pan.
“Hurry up and come back, Brother Zhuang!” Du Li Shen shouted out loudly. Nevertheless, having already fled, how could Zhuang Pan hear him?
Hong…
A gigantic sound rang out as the earth shook. A dark black hole had appeared abruptly at where Jiang Tai Sheng used to be. Not a single trace of light could be seen within it as it appeared incomparably deep, as though it was able to devour anything it came into contact with.
The black hole expanded outwards, carrying energy shockwaves that caused people’s skin to turn cold.
Pu pu pu…
Being at the front of the group, blood mist erupted from Duan Yuan Shan’s mouth, as the strength of his aura declined substantially.
In the next instant, the faces of the middle-aged man and Hua Qing Si turned pale, while blood dripped down from their noses and mouths. Fortunately, due to their powerful cultivations, as well as their reasonably powerful Secret Techniques, they were able to rely on them to stand their ground and block the greater portion of the damage.
Being the weakest members of the group, Qin Zhao Yang and Du Li Shen’s conditions were the most miserable, with Qin Zhao Yang being sent flying by the explosion, landing a great distance away, his condition unknown.
Du Li Shen lost half of his body from Jiang Tai Sheng’s self-destruction and died right where he stood.
On the other side, Yang Kai continued to protect Qin Yu, back facing towards the explosion while channelling his Source Qi to protect himself.
Being a weak Second-Order Origin Returning Realm cultivator, coupled with the heavy responsibility of repairing the seal, this mission would be a complete failure if Qin Yu were to lose her life to Jiang Tai Sheng’s self-destruction.
Therefore, his first thought was to ensure Qin Yu’s safety.
Right when the terrifying energy shockwave arrived, despite using his Space Force Secret Technique, Exile, to negate the bulk of the impact, it still felt as though a giant hammer had struck him. An intense, scorching pain racked his back, churning his insides, causing him to spurt out a mouthful of golden blood.
As the aftermath of the explosion died down, the scene before them was too miserable to take in.
Everyone was gasping for air, their faces filled with dread and fear.
The explosion from the self-destruction of a First-Order Dao Source Realm absolutely did not possess such might. Jiang Tai Sheng being able to achieve this feat was absolutely due to him being demonised.
“Yu’er, how’s the repair of the seal?” within the silence, Duan Yuan Shan suddenly turned his head around to ask Qin Yu.
At this moment, of the seven original Dao Source Realm masters, one had fled, one had died, and another’s condition was unknown. They could no longer execute the Seven Points Black Tortoise Spirit Array any further. If the seal had been completely repaired, the group would immediately head back to Maplewood City. If it just needed a little more time, Duan Yuan Shan felt that they could just push through and get it done. However, if the repairs were nowhere near completion, they had no choice but to leave immediately.
As his question rang out, everyone turned their gazes towards Qin Yu.
In the next instant, a blank look appeared on everyone’s faces, before being replaced by despair.
That was due to the substantial increase in damage to the seal on the stone wall compared to before. Clearly, this was the result of the self-destruction. Furthermore, a weak golden sparkling glow was radiating from the seal, travelling across the lines like golden earthworms, appearing to have come alive after devouring some kind of life force.
On top of that, a weird suction force had appeared on the stone wall, preventing people from turning their eyes away.
Shock filled everyone’s hearts as they hastily bit their tongues, using the pain and resulting instance of clarity to immediately close their eyes.
“We can’t stay here for long. Let’s hurry up and leave!” Knowing that the mission was a failure, Duan Yuan Shan immediately moved to Qin Zhao Yang’s side, extending his hand to check on his breathing. Upon discovering that Qin Zhao Yang was still alive, his eyes lit up in pleasant surprise as he helped him up.
The middle-aged man and Hua Qing Si exchanged glances, both of them seeing the intent to retreat present in each other’s eyes.
“Little Brother, let’s go!” Hua Qing Si shouted to Yang Kai, who was still standing still, revealing what seemed to be a look of great concern.
“There’s something amiss with Senior Yang.” Qin Yu said through her sobs.
Being protected by Yang Kai, she did not suffer any injuries at all. On the contrary, Yang Kai had faced that terrifying energy shockwave head-on, causing him to spurt a mouthful of golden blood onto the seal.
Qin Yu had seen it with great clarity; when Yang Kai’s mouthful of golden blood landed on the seal, something within it had changed, as it became full of vitality and a strange type of demonic energy erupted.
In fact, she could even faintly feel that at this moment, Yang Kai had some ambiguous connection with the seal.
“What happened?” Hua Qing Si was shocked by this development, prompting her to ask out.
“I’m also not sure.” Qin Yu shook her head as she continued to look at Yang Kai in a daze.
Duan Yuan Shan’s expression turned gloomy before he proceeded to move beside Yang Kai to observe his condition. In the next instant, his expression suddenly changed.
That was because he discovered that Yang Kai’s eyes were wide open, and golden blood was dripping from their corners. Yang Kai was staring deeply at the seal, as though he was being attracted by something. Furthermore, a look of struggling was present on his face, though no matter what he did, he seemed to be unable to extricate himself from it.
Jet-black Demon Qi suddenly gushed out from the seal, before climbing straight up Yang Kai’s body. Just like a black rope, it bound him tightly to the stone wall where the seal was.
The aura radiating from Yang Kai promptly turned demonic, while weird jet-black Demon Crests started to surface on his revealed skin.
“Demonization!” Duan Yuan Shan cried out in shock.
After noticing this spectacle, how would he not know that Yang Kai had already been corroded by the Demon Qi, and that it would not take much longer for him to become an existence exactly like what Jiang Tai Sheng had been?
As such, he no longer hesitated. Extending his hand, he pulled Qin Yu to his side, surrounded her and the unconscious Qin Zhao Yang with his Source Qi, before shouting to Hua Qing Si and the middle-aged man. “This Duan will take leave first.”
As he said those words, he shot off like a bolt of lighting towards Maplewood City.
The energy he had remaining in his body should be enough for him to rush back to Maplewood City. As long as he arrived back at the city, he could rely on the city’s defensive Spirit Array to defend against the Demon Qi.
“What about Senior Yang?” Qin Yu asked in panic.
It was more or less due to her that Yang Kai had ended up in his current situation. If not for Yang Kai protecting her, leaving his back exposed, he would not spit that mouthful of golden blood that just so happened to land on the seal.
Therefore, Qin Yu could not stay silent. Nevertheless, with her cultivation realm being too low, she was utterly incapable of doing anything at all.
“Don’t worry about him.” Duan Yuan Shan replied, before abruptly increasing his speed, disappearing in a blink of an eye.
On the other side, the middle-aged man and Hua Qing Si did not immediately retreat. With their powerful cultivation realms, they were not too afraid of the Demon Qi that had gathered in their surroundings. On the contrary, they were sending weird gazes at Yang Kai.
After an instant, the middle-aged man let off a cold laugh before speaking, “Little brat, since you’ve been corroded by Demon Qi, you’ll definitely become a Demon. Therefore, this king killing you will be considered an act of justice for the heavens.”
The short spear resurfaced in his hand. In the next instant, a shockwave erupted as it stabbed right towards Yang Kai’s head.
However, right at this moment, Hua Qing Si’s hands suddenly shook, before a coloured streamer-like artifact shot out. Twirling around the short spear, it did not let the spear advance an inch further.
“What are you doing? Don’t tell me that you’ve also been corroded by the Demon Qi?” Anger surged as he turned his head and shouted.
With a giggle, Hua Qing Si replied, “Sir, do I look like I’ve been corroded by Demon Qi?”
“Then why did you obstruct this king?”
“Just a moment ago, this little brother was risking his life alongside us, and in a blink of an eye, you, sir, wanted to kill him. Aren’t you a little bit too heartless?” Hua Qing Si looked at the middle-aged man in contempt, before speaking out in a ridiculing tone. “Your change of attitude is faster than flipping through a book.”
“What kind of friendship do I have with a brat like him?”
“You didn’t have one, but I do now,” Hua Qing Si giggled sweetly. “Earlier, I said that I’d protect him. Now, are you not giving this mistress any face by trying to kill him in front of me?”
“This King has to give you face? Who do you think you are?” The middle-aged man squinted and replied, “Hurry up and scram. If not, don’t blame this king for being discourteous.”
“Aiya, I’m so scared.” Hua Qing Si made a frightened look while patting her well-rounded chest, before bursting into a fit of giggles. “You’ve become angry just like that, sir? Anger isn’t good for the body, it makes people grow old faster.”
“You cheap slut… time and time again you’ve infuriated me! This king doesn’t wish to argue with you anymore. However, if you continue to court death, don’t blame this king for being merciless and killing you first!” The middle-aged man roared out. With a wave of his short spear, it transformed into eight copies of itself, howling as they shot towards Hua Qing Si.
Faced with such an attack, even Hua Qing Si did not dare to be any bit careless. Forming a seal with her hands, dots of starlight suddenly erupted from her tender body, causing her to appear just like a sea of stars. In the next instant, the beams of starlight condensed together to form several dozen arrows that floated before her.
Each arrow appeared to be held in invisible bows, and with a flash, clashed against the incoming spears.
“Star Chaser Arrow!” The middle-aged man’s expression changed drastically upon seeing this spectacle. As he controlled his artifact to resist her Secret Technique attack, he roared out, “Are you a member of the Star Soul Palace?”
“Hehehehe… so, what if I am?” Hua Qing Si giggled sweetly. While doing so, she clapped her hands, before forming a series of complicated hand seals. Patting down in the direction of the middle-aged man’s head, she shouted, “Star Descent!”
The starlight that blotted out the skies descended, appearing just like meteors, each of them brimming with unimaginable might, smashing down so powerfully that they left the middle-aged man crying out incessantly.
Star Chaser Arrow and Star Descent were both Secret Techniques of the Star Soul Palace. Hua Qing Si being able to execute them was an undeniable sign that she was a member of the Star Soul Palace.
After making this discovery, the bitterness the middle-aged man felt in his mouth was too much for him to cope with.
From the very beginning, he had displayed a haughty attitude and did not place anyone with any regard at all, and the basis of this was purely due to his powerful cultivation realm and the Flying Saint Palace which he hailed from.
Within the Southern Territory, despite not being a peak sect, they had an Emperor Realm master overseeing the sect, giving them a certain level of reputation.
If not, how would Ning Yuan Cheng and this middle-aged man behave so condescendingly and dare to strut around shamelessly within Maplewood City?
However, right at this moment, the middle-aged man had suddenly discovered that Hua Qing Si’s background was even more powerful than his, causing him to feel shocked, as well as becoming angry out of shame!
This was just like him showing off his wealth before a beggar, only for the beggar to casually pull out a few pieces of gold to smash his face, hitting him till his face had become swollen…
In an instant, the sense of superiority the middle-aged man had always had within him had abruptly vanished into thin air. Not only that, he was helpless to do anything about it.
His opponent was a member of the greatest sect in the Southern Territory, the Star Soul Palace! How would he dare to go against a person like that?
It would still be alright if he had lost. However, if he were to win… he did not dare to imagine the resulting scenario.
Therefore, a comical spectacle proceeded to occur. Faced against Hua Qing Si, who continued to unleash various kinds of Secret Techniques, the middle-aged male could only defend against them, as he basically did not dare not launch any counterattacks back at her.
Nevertheless, Hua Qing Si showed no signs of dropping the matter. Not only did she continue to display Secret Technique after Secret Technique, but she even pulled out her artifact, resulting in the middle-aged man being completely suppressed by her.
On the other side, Yang Kai continued to stand quietly in front of the seal, though he continued to curse out loudly in his heart.
Just as Qin Yu had discovered, when he had spit a mouthful of golden blood at the seal as a result of Jiang Tai Sheng’s self-destruction, he had formed an unknown connection with the seal.
He was able to clearly sense that there was a terrifying consciousness present behind the seal, and it was quietly looking right at him.
This caused his body to turn rigid, and totally incapable of moving.
This continued all the way even as the pure Ancient Demon Qi gushed into his body, and yet Yang Kai was utterly helpless to stop it, leaving him no choice but to watch everything unfold right before his eyes.
Yang Kai did not know exactly what was behind the seal. The only information he had was what he had discovered while in Jiang Chu He’s Knowledge Sea, which he guessed was a portion of the ancient demon’s body, though he did not know exactly which portion it was.
Nevertheless, since it was sealed here, it naturally meant that it was an existence that could not be eliminated. If those Emperor Realm masters from ancient times could deal with this threat once and for all, they wouldn’t have been forced to resort to sealing it.
Nevertheless, as countless years went by, the world above the seal transformed, and so did the Earth. This continued until it was damaged by the Jiang Family members.
As the Ancient Demon Qi gushed into his body, Yang Kai felt an uncomfortable feeling spread throughout his entire being, his consciousness becoming murky, while his mind grew muddled…
When the middle-aged man had taken action against him, Yang Kai had assumed that he was dead without a doubt. Never did he imagine that Hua Qing Si would step in at such a critical moment and save his life!
This caused him to celebrate his fortunate circumstances, but he still had some doubts, as he did not know why Hua Qing Si had done such a thing.
As time passed, more and more Demon Qi gushed into his body, causing Yang Kai’s entire body to disappear, being replaced by a clump of darkness that appeared just like a black hole that had devoured all the light.
All of a sudden, a loud sound rang within Yang Kai’s Knowledge Sea.
The sound seemed to be the manifestation of the shock present in the depths of his consciousness, yet also sounded like a summoning call coming from ancient times. The sound was deafening, making it hard to hear exactly what was being said. As that happened, blood dripped out of the seven apertures of his head.
Nevertheless, the golden blood did not drip down onto the ground. Appearing to be drawn by some kind of mysterious power, they flew towards the stone wall, before fusing with the seal.
All of a sudden, a tremor shook through Yang Kai’s body as he opened his eyes wide to stare straight before him.
Everything in his world and sight had completely vanished, appearing as though he had entered a black hole that was completely devoid of light. Endless darkness surrounded him, a scene that would induce despair and terror in anyone who encountered it.
Hanging in the middle of the jet-black heavens was a gigantic horizontal eye.
This sole eye, incomparably jet-black and abstruse, seemed to take up half of the sky. An extremely mysterious power seemed to be contained within, pulling in and forming a resonance with Yang Kai’s soul.
“Black Eye!” Huge waves of shock surged in Yang Kai’s heart, as he immediately realised that this was the jet-black solitary eye of the ancient demon.
While observing the scenes in Jiang Chu He’s consciousness, he had seen the sole eye of the ancient Black Eye Great Demon radiating with jet black twilight, handing a beating to those powerful Emperor Realm masters and leading to the destruction of many starships.
The might of the jet-black twilight was even more powerful than Emperor Artifacts!
[So, that’s what it was!]
At this instant, a flash of understanding struck Yang Kai, as he finally understood exactly what part of the ancient demon was sealed beneath this ground.
Clearly, it was that solitary black eye!
The solitary black eye of the ancient demon was formed by Heaven and Earth, and could not be destroyed through mankind’s power.
Those almighty figures had used all the means and methods they could think of, but were still unable to destroy that solitary black eye. Therefore, they had no choice but to seal it up.
Although he finally made this discovery, Yang Kai was utterly incapable of doing anything about it.
Despite being dead for countless years, that solitary black eye still contained a portion of the ancient demon’s consciousness. That consciousness was immensely powerful, and a First-Order Dao Source Realm cultivator was nothing compared to it.
Yang Kai could only view everything that was happening to him like a spectator with a front-row seat.
Under the Black Eye that hid the skies, Yang Kai was just as small, insignificant and weak as an ant.
All of a sudden, the solitary Black Eye seemed to have noticed Yang Kai’s existence, causing it to focus its gaze towards him.
In an instant, Yang Kai felt intense pain racking through his Knowledge Sea, while his soul felt like it was being ripped apart, causing him to roar out unbearably in pain.
Endless amounts of Demon Qi gushed out from the damaged seal and flowed incessantly into his body, causing it to crumble. Nevertheless, due to the effects of his golden blood and the Demon Qi, his body was reconstructed at an astonishingly rapid speed.
The pain he was experiencing was absolutely worse than what people who had undergone the legendary trial of a thousand cuts would have to endure.
Moreover, there was an even more shocking matter that caused Yang Kai’s heart to be filled with incomparable terror, which was that the solitary Black Eye floating in the sky was unexpectedly starting to move towards him.
Yang Kai could clearly feel the delighted emotions present within that Black Eye, appearing as though it had finally found something after countless years of searching.
In the next instant, the Black Eye proceeded to engulf Yang Kai, before turning incorporeal and gushing straight into his body.
When that happened, jet-black energy suddenly erupted out with Yang Kai as its point of origin. Rushing through the sky, it scattered the clouds and reached the heavens.
As if it had been summoned, the endless Demon Qi that had spread over an area of a few hundred thousand kilometres started to surge over, gathering frantically towards Yang Kai’s location.
Within the Demon Qi, countless demonic creatures proceeded to turn around and look towards Yang Kai’s direction.
Despite having lost their consciousness and not knowing the pain of life or death, looks of delight had actually appeared on their faces as they proceeded to prostrate on the ground, looks of ardent worship gleaming in their eyes.
It seemed as though the ruler they had waited for countless years had finally arrived, as though their invincible sovereign had finally awakened.
Five hundred kilometres away, Duan Yuan Shan was protecting Qin Yu and the unconscious Qin Zhao Yang as he fought a bloodsoaked battle against a group of demonic creatures.
It wasn’t difficult to deal with the demonic creatures, as they were far from being a match for Duan Yuan Shan with their weak cultivation realms. However, their numbers were still overwhelming, and it was virtually impossible to completely kill off all of them. Furthermore, he still needed to protect the two Qin Family members, leaving him stretched thin.
Seeing that his defences were about to be breached by the demonic creatures, Duan Yuan Shan no longer gave any regard to his own health, biting down on his tongue and igniting his Blood Essence in a fit of anger.
Right at this moment, a sharp whistling sound rang out from the distance, piercing through his eardrums. The Demon Qi started to surge and churn, while the demonic creatures proceeded to kneel down, giving no regard to Duan Yuan Shan and the two Qin Family members at all.
Seeing this, Duan Yuan Shan’s eyes narrowed. Although he did not know exactly what had happened, he knew that time waited for no man. Paying no heed to continuing his battle with the endless demonic creatures, he immediately brought the two Qin Family members and leapt into the sky, flying frantically towards Maplewood City.
Along the way, he noticed dense numbers of demonic creatures, all of them kneeling on the ground. There were even some demonised monster beasts that were prostrated on the ground, not moving an inch at all.
“What the hell is happening?” Doubt welled up within Duan Yuan Shan, prompting him to turn around to take a look. Nevertheless, a stretch of jet black darkness was the only thing he saw. However, he was able to clearly feel terrifying energy fluctuations radiating from the location of the seal.
In Maplewood City, the countless cultivators present on the various city walls were also dumbfounded by what they saw.
Just a moment ago, the demonic creatures were still frantically launching attacks at the defensive Spirit Array. However, in a single breath of time, all of them had unexpectedly stopped moving, appearing as though they had all taken their last breaths and died.
Nevertheless, those cultivators with keener eyesight that allowed them to observe through the jet-black Demon Qi were able to notice the blurry figures of demonic creatures still present in the Demon Qi. However, those demonic creatures were either kneeling down or… just not moving at all.
Not far from the seal, Hua Qing Si and the middle-aged man had also stopped their utterly meaningless fight, with both of them opening their eyes wide to look down at the location beneath them.
The jet-black energy rushing towards the sky had overwhelmed them in fear, while the astonishing pressure radiating from Yang Kai’s body had caused their whole bodies to quake…
This feeling was even more terrifying than coming face to face with a Third-Order Emperor Master.
The two of them exchanged a glance, before simultaneously retreating ten kilometres to prevent themselves from getting affected.
“Do you feel it? The Demon Qi seems to be gathering over there!” All of a sudden, Hua Qing Si spoke out with a solemn look.
The middle-aged man gave a stern nod, before sneering, “From the look of it, that little brat can’t escape this calamity.”
“Why are you taking pleasure in other people’s misfortune?” Hua Qing Si snorted coldly.
“This king… I’m just speaking the truth, that’s all. Why are you getting all anxious?”
After discovering Hua Qing Si’s background, how would the middle-aged man dare to continue addressing himself as this king in front of her? Nevertheless, he was also filled with doubt and confusion, as he did not know why she would have such a special fondness for Yang Kai. With her cultivation realm, it was utterly impossible for her to develop any kind of personal relationship with a man she had just met. How would someone a few hundred years old develop a crush with such ease?
He could faintly sense that Hua Qing Si had some other kind of hidden motive behind her concern for Yang Kai.
When the gigantic solitary Black Eye entered and fused with Yang Kai’s body, his consciousness became blurry.
The various negative emotions that were always suppressed in the deepest part of his heart started to bubble to the surface, as though something was fishing them out, causing an extremely malevolent and evil aura to radiate from his body.
Complicated and abstruse Demon Crests started to crawl over his skin, and as great amounts of Demon Qi gushed into his body, these Demon Crests grew darker.
A power that far surpassed any First-Order Dao Source Realm started to brew within his body, shaking his consciousness and will. It made him drunk with delight and happiness of possessing such mighty power. Heavy murderous intent and destructive tendencies surged out from his heart, aimed at living creatures of blood and flesh.
His Divine Sense turned dim, enveloped by endless darkness without a single ray of light present. The only thing he could do was to wait for time to pass, as he turned into a member of the demons.
However, right at this moment, just like a sharp blade cleaving through the haze, a weak beam of radiance suddenly shone through the endless darkness.
This beam of radiance possessed seven colours and brimmed with magnificence. The seven-coloured light shone through the endless Demon Qi, shining down onto Yang Kai’s body, bringing warmth, making him feel as though he had been frozen during the Winter Solstice and waited until the sunlight appeared to start beaming down on him.
As though it had encountered its nemesis, the malevolent tendencies surging through his heart turned into smoke and rapidly dissipated away.
Yang Kai’s rapidly dimming consciousness had abruptly regained clarity.
Clenching his teeth, he summoned strength to his eyes and focused on what was before him.
In his vision, he saw the faintly discernible projection of a lotus flower radiating with a seven-coloured glow.
This seven-coloured lotus wasn’t large, appearing just like a speck of mud among the endless Demon Qi. Nevertheless, the place where it existed had become the final remnant of clean ground within this world of darkness.
“Seven Coloured Soul Warming Lotus!” Having abruptly regained clarity of his mind, Yang Kai realized he had unknowingly formed a Soul Avatar and entered his own Knowledge Sea.
This seven-coloured glow was clearly the light that the Seven Colour Soul Warming Lotus was radiating.
With a thought, he immediately rushed towards the Seven coloured Soul Warming Lotus.
After a short while, he stood before the lotus flower’s stamen.
The seven-coloured radiance enveloped him, cleansing him of all of his negative emotions. When those streams of black smoke shot out of his body, Yang Kai finally managed to fully regain his clarity.
Looking around, he noticed that his entire Knowledge Sea had turned into a world of darkness, with not a single speck of light present from the Starry Array map that should be floating above his Knowledge Sea. Other than the radiance coming from the Seven Coloured Soul Warming Lotus, there seemed to be nothing else present in this entire world.
Except for the gigantic solitary Black Eye lording in the air above his Knowledge Sea, coldly staring down on Yang Kai with not a single trace of emotion present in its gaze.
Yang Kai was not able to see it. Nevertheless, with this being his Knowledge Sea, he was able to sense it clearly.
Endless pressure and will radiated from the solitary Black Eye, attempting to destroy Yang Kai’s soul defences and stain his soul.
However, under the protection of a mystical, precious treasure like the Seven Coloured Soul Warming Lotus, any invisible attack would be cleansed away by its radiance.
Not only that, many tiny insects invisible to the naked eye were shooting out from the top of the Soul Warming Lotus.
Soul Devouring Insects!
Earlier in his life, Yang Kai had obtained these unique insects in the Tong Xuan Realm. Nevertheless, with Yang Kai’s promotion of strength, they were already unable to serve any useful purpose to him. All along, they had been placed by Yang Kai on the seven-coloured treasure island formed by the Soul Warming Lotus, and left to their devices.
After many years of nourishment, their numbers had reached an unimaginable level.
At this moment, they had exceeded Yang Kai’s expectations as they proceeded to fly from the Soul Warming Lotus and scatter in all directions.
Everywhere they went, they were accompanied by waves of ripping noises that sounded exceedingly sharp and crisp, as the ancient Demon Qi that had invaded Yang Kai’s knowledge sea was devoured at a rate visible to the naked eye.
[The Soul Devouring Insects are able to devour even something like Demon Qi?] Yang Kai was extremely surprised by this discovery.
As time continued to pass, the bodies of these Soul Devouring Insects that had devoured the Demon Qi started to grow larger. Being an existence that was extremely hard to detect, Yang Kai’s earlier enemies were utterly incapable of detecting them when he had released the Soul Devouring Insects to deal with them.
However, at this moment, within Yang Kai’s Knowledge Sea, they were visibly growing larger. Not only that, the colour of their bodies were gradually shifting to a jet-black shade. Mysterious and complicated Demon Crests started to appear on their bodies, causing their auras to become incredibly abstruse.
Within a short moment, these Soul Devouring Insects had already grown to the size of rice grains, and were still continuing to grow at a rapid rate.
Within his Knowledge Sea, the Demon Qi started to churn with unease. Seemingly possessing some kind of intelligence, it started to evade the Soul Devouring Insects. However, with this being Yang Kai’s Knowledge Sea, where else could it hide?
Therefore, clump after clump of Demon Qi was devoured, revealing large patches in its midst.
Yang Kai quietly observed this spectacle, not knowing if this was a good or bad thing. Nevertheless, since it was beneficial to his current situation, he did not worry too much about it.
In the next instant, a thought flashed in his mind before he proceeded to urge the Seven Coloured Soul Warming Lotus to fly to a certain part of the sky, a place within the endless darkness right before the gigantic solitary Black Eye was.
As the Demon Qi slowly scattered apart, it finally revealed the presence of the Black Eye.
Despite this being Yang Kai’s Knowledge Sea, it still lorded over half of the sky. Yang Kai appeared as weak and insignificant as an ant as he stood before it.
The seven-coloured radiance could dispel illusions and false realities. Transforming into a halo around Yang Kai’s body, it appeared just like a revolving heavenly body, its massive brilliance radiating out in all directions.
“Scram, or… get completely destroyed!” With Yang Kai’s will, a thunderclap descended from the skies, transforming into what seemed like a sharp knife that stabbed right into the Black Eye, causing its shape to distort and turn illusionary.
After a long while, the Black Eye’s shape finally stabilised, returning to its black hole-like form and not moving a single inch at all.
[So, devoid of the consciousness of its main body, the only thing left is its remnant will, huh?] Yang Kai thought. Although he had his guesses earlier, he didn’t dare to confirm whether it was true till this moment.
However, after this test, he finally got the answer he wanted. This solitary Black Eye had already lost the consciousness of its original body. What remained was just the remnant will of the ancient demon.
After all, in ancient times, countless Emperor Realm masters had destroyed its body, alongside its original consciousness.
Since it was like this, there was basically no way for him to communicate with it anymore.
With a stern look, Yang Kai proceeded to unleash the might of the Seven Coloured Soul Warming Lotus.
In the next instant, a dazzling seven-coloured brilliance blossomed out, transforming into more sharp blades that stabbed towards the solitary Black Eye.
Right at this instant, the solitary Black Eye looked deeply at Yang Kai, before slowly closing up.
Across this whole space, the voice of a giant rang out. “You have the aura of a demon! I’ll hand it to you! I’ll hand it all to you! Go and witness the end of this world and the destruction of Heaven and Earth!”
An unparalleled aura of savagery suddenly radiated out, as the solitary Black Eye transformed into a jet black beam of light that shot towards Yang Kai.
Yang Kai’s face was drained of all colour from shock as he hastily defended his mind. At the same time, the Seven Coloured Soul Warming Lotus also started to spin, its endless seven-coloured radiance transforming into a barrier that attempted to halt the invasion of the black light.
Nevertheless, both their efforts were futile.
The black beam of light passed through the Seven Coloured Soul Warming Lotus’s barrier with ease, shattering Yang Kai’s defences and smashing right into his body.
In the next instant, Yang Kai felt a heart-rending pain racking through his soul, to the point that he was unable to maintain his Soul Avatar, which proceeded to crumble apart.
As this happened, his consciousness finally returned to his body. Opening his mouth, he left out a furious roar, a roar from an injured wild beast.
His body enveloped by surging Demon Qi, Yang Kai was utterly incapable of observing his own face or body as he used a hand to clutch his right eye tightly, where golden blood continued to drip down from.
“That is…” ten kilometres away, Hua Qing Si and the middle-aged man were completely dumbfounded by what they said.
Ever since Yang Kai had entered that weird state until now, they had been constantly observing him. Therefore, they were naturally able to gain some understanding about exactly what was happening to him.
They had witnessed all of the jet-black Demon Qi that covered over several hundred thousand kilometres gush and disappear right into Yang Kai’s body within an incense’s worth of time.
All of the innumerable demonic creatures present in their surroundings were kneeling on the ground. However, for some unknown reason, all of the Demon Qi within the bodies had vanished into thin air, disappearing without a trace at all.
Without the protection of Demon Qi, these exceedingly savage demonic creatures had turned extremely weak in just a short moment of time. Although it didn’t lead to their deaths, it had severely damaged their cultivation foundation. Not only that, all of them wore blank looks on their faces, as though they were utterly confused about what had happened. Compared to them, the monster beasts had lost themselves in panic, as they fled away in a hurry.
Sunlight returned and beamed down onto the land, bringing warmth to everyone.
Despite these developments, the middle-aged man and Hua Qing Si felt a chill surge through their hearts.
That was because they felt a pressure that rivalled an Emperor Realm Master radiating from Yang Kai, who stood ten kilometres away from them. This pressure was exceedingly sinister, and filled with a bloodthirsty aura; a nemesis of the auras made by any living creature!
In the next instant, the violently shaking Yang Kai suddenly calmed down.
He slowly relaxed the hand clutching his right eye, before extending both hands before his eyes, as though he was examining them.
Within the darkness, two beams of mysterious lights shone out.
One golden, and one black.
The golden left eye had a vertical pupil that was filled with majesty, and the black right eye had a horizontal pupil that contained the void. Shaking violently in Yang Kai’s eye sockets, they were greatly contrasting each other.
“What is that?” The middle-aged man was gobsmacked by what he saw. Despite hailing from the Flying Saint Palace, he was unsure as to what monster he was looking at right now, with those mysterious eyes.
When his voice rang out, the two different coloured eye beams suddenly shot towards the location that he and Hua Qing Si were at.
“Not good!” As the two different coloured eye beams made contact with her, Hua Qing Si suddenly felt a pressure on her head, causing a drastic change to her pretty face as she shouted out, “Hurry up and run!”
As she said those words, she made a seal with her hands. With a bang, her entire being transformed into over one hundred five-coloured butterflies that flew away in all directions.
Seeing her leave with such resolution, how would the middle-aged man not know that he was in serious trouble? He hurriedly bit the tip of his tongue, spitting out a mouthful of blood that enveloped his entire body in a reddish glow, and in a flash, rapidly retreated several dozen kilometres away.
With his powerful Third-Order Dao Source Realm cultivation, the middle-aged man was extremely quick in fleeing when he put his mind into it.
In the blink of an eye, he had burnt his Blood Essence and fled a hundred kilometres away.
Dread filled his heart as he looked back, only for him to turn dazed with shock. He was unexpectedly unable to locate Yang Kai’s figure from his distant position. It was as though Yang Kai had disappeared into thin air.
The middle-aged man’s heart sunk, as an ambiguous feeling of fear and terror started to spread within him.
A series of chaotic spatial fluctuations rippled out in front of him before a jet-black figure suddenly surfaced from within.
The figure was shrouded by endless Demon Qi, masking his face. However, the golden and black radiance beaming out from his face caused great waves of fear to surge within the middle-aged man’s heart.
After seeing those two eye beams, the middle-aged man’s thoughts froze, his consciousness grew chaotic and his Soul shook with unease.
With a furious howl, he immediately summoned his short spear. Forming complicated seals with his hand, Source Qi poured madly into the short spear.
*Whoosh…*
The short spear started to expand in size, and in a blink of an eye, turned into a giant pole several dozen meters in length. With a slight tremble, it proceeded to shoot right at Yang Kai.
This was the middle-aged man’s most powerful attack, and he was rather confident of it. Even Emperor Realm masters wouldn’t dare ignore an attack like this coming their way.
Acting in a similar fashion to those demons, Yang Kai appeared to have already lost his consciousness, leaving only a primal bloodthirst. Faced against the impending danger, he did not show any attempt to avoid it, simply standing still.
Only when the spear was just about to reach his body did he send a fist forward.
His fist was enveloped in jet-black demonic Source Qi, so dense that it appeared corporeal.
“You’re courting death!” The middle-aged man could not help but exclaim loudly in happiness. He opened his eyes wide, wanting to see the result of his attack, to see Yang Kai being smashed into bits.
*Boom…*
A massive sound rang out. Yang Kai did not move an inch from his original location, but the incoming spear was met with a berserk energy blast. The long spear body instantly turned dim, before transforming back into its original smaller size. Moreover, it was sent flying backwards at a speed faster than it had moved at during the start of the attack, before disappearing without a trace.
“Huh?”
The middle-aged man’s eyeballs were almost popping out of their sockets, as he was utterly incapable of believing what he had just seen. He rubbed his eyes vigorously, before taking another look, and indeed, saw Yang Kai’s completely unhurt appearance.
Just as he thought he had lost his mind, Yang Kai suddenly raised his hand.
Great amounts of pure Demon Qi gushed out from his body, before flowing to his arm, causing it to seemingly grow in size.
In the blink of an eye, a gigantic jet-black palm took shape, before patting down towards the head of the middle-aged man.
The middle-aged man’s face lost all colour as he made a hasty attempt to evade. Nevertheless, despair filled his heart as he discovered that the space around him had unknowingly solidified into a glue-like substance, turning into a makeshift prison around him.
He was utterly incapable of evading.
All of the blood drained from the middle-aged man’s already deathly pale face. With a loud shout, he summoned a shield-like defensive artifact. Sending his Source Qi into it, the artifact immediately transformed into a barrier before him.
Not only that, he continued to form hand seals, while rapidly muttering, “Heaven, Earth, Mystery, Martial…”
Source Qi within his body surged madly.
Before he could properly execute that unknown Secret Technique, the jet-black mountain-like palm had already smashed down.
*Crack…*
The barrier formed by the shield artifact shattered like a piece of glass, as countless cracks formed across its surface before it shattered into pieces, unable to provide any defence at all. In the next instant, the giant palm landed on the middle-aged man’s body.
He was only able to let out a terrified shriek before there was silence.
As the giant palm gradually dissipated, other than the gigantic palm print, the only thing left on the ground was a pile of mush.
Under that palm, the middle-aged man with a powerful Third-Order Dao Source Realm cultivation was utterly incapable of resisting and was immediately smashed to death. Even the artifacts and Space Ring he carried had been shattered into pieces.
The items in his Space Ring were sent into an eternal exile in the void.
After accomplishing that feat, a totally emotionless Yang Kai raised his head and looked in the other direction.
Over there, Hua Qing Si, who had split up with the middle-aged man when both of them had fled, turned her head around in dread, her beautiful eyes trembling in fear. Just a moment ago, she was faintly able to hear the miserable shriek ringing from the far distance, which caused terror to fill her heart, while also pushing her to increase the speed at which she was fleeing.
However, right at this moment, the space before her turned blurry, before a jet-black figure appeared to obstruct her path.
“How’s this possible?” Hua Qing Si’s expression changed drastically, while her heart sank to an all-time low.
She and the middle-aged man had fled in different directions. After that, she had personally witnessed Yang Kai pursuing the latter. However, within a few breath’s time, Yang Kai had actually managed to kill that man before arriving here to obstruct her path?
This was a feat that even Emperor Realm masters couldn’t accomplish!
Looking at the jet-black figure and sensing the malicious and bloodthirsty aura radiating from him, Hua Qing Si’s face turned pale, while a bitter frown appeared at the corner of her mouth.
Nevertheless, she did not immediately take action. Instead, she made a faint smile, and in her terror, displayed her charm and elegance.
Since he was able to kill the middle-aged male in a single strike, this meant that he was also capable of destroying her at will. Therefore, there was no use in putting up any resistance at all.
At this moment, the only thing she could hope for was to awaken Yang Kai’s consciousness that was hidden in the deepest part of his heart.
“Little Brother…” Hua Qing Si said in a soft voice, her voice containing a gentleness that had never been there before. “Could you give way? You’re blocking my path.”
Yang Kai did not move an inch, continuing to stand at this original location as he quietly stared at her, appearing as though he was looking right at a stranger he had never met before.
The mysterious black and golden light beaming from his eyes filled Hua Qing Si’s heart with dread, though she was helpless to do anything about them.
She felt just like a little lamb coming face to face with the savage king of the jungle, with her fate resting in the other’s hands.
The only thing that Hua Qing Si could feel fortunate about was that Yang Kai did not immediately take action upon seeing her, giving her a glimmer of hope for her survival.
“It’s your elder sister. Do you remember me, Little Brother?” Hua Qing Si pushed her loose hair strands behind her ear as she continued her attempts to get through to him.
For good or bad, Yang Kai appeared to be affected by the words she had said, as his eyelids started to tremble violently, as though his consciousness was struggling to break through.
“Little Brother, I’ve just saved your life just now… you aren’t going to kill me and repay my kindness with enmity, right?” Hua Qing Si’s robes were drenched by the cold sweat coming from her body, revealing her beautiful and voluptuous figure. Huge beads of sweat rolled down along the curves of her face, deathly pale in shade yet stubborn and resolute.
“ROAR…”
All of sudden, the Demon Qi-cladded Yang Kai clutched his head, letting out a deep roar in the process.
Hua Qing Si was terrified by his sudden actions, causing her to retreat a few steps. However, a thought flashed through her mind. With his strength, it wouldn’t matter how far she retreated. This caused her to chuckle bitterly in helplessness, before standing her ground.
“If you’re not going to talk… this elder sister will leave, okay?” Hua Qing Si tested the waters with a gentle voice. Not getting any response from Yang kai, she exclaimed in happiness, “Our friendship wouldn’t change, just like the mountains and streams! Till we meet again!”
After saying those words, she displayed her Divine Ability to split herself into butterflies once again, transforming into countless five-coloured butterflies that fled into the distance like a berserk gale.
However, right at this moment, Yang Kai suddenly straightened his body and extended his hand, before grabbing fiercely at the location the countless butterflies were headed towards.
The butterflies dissipated away, revealing Hua Qing Si, who wore an ugly and bitter look on her face.
Feeling somewhat angry, she shouted out, “What the hell do you want? You didn’t even say a single word, and you won’t let me go! What? You just want to kill me!?”
Turning a deaf ear to her words, Yang Kai made a grab towards the location she was at.
“Huh?” Shock flooded Hua Qing Si’s heart as she exclaimed, “I’m just joking, okay? How can you not know it? No, noo…”
As words left her mouth, she desperately summoned her Source Qi in defence.
However, with the disparity of her strength compared to Yang Kai, it meant that he could suppress her with ease.
Before her Source Qi could surge out of her body, Hua Qing Si felt her body tighten, as though she had been bound by an invisible force. A stifling feeling came flooding over, followed by confusion as her Divine Sense grew chaotic before her vision blacked out.
When she was finally able to react, Hua Qing Si stared blankly at the wide and spacious wilderness she now stood in, her pale face appearing just like a sheet of snow.
Turning her head in all directions, she discovered that the ground was flat, dense vegetation surrounding where she stood. A mighty wind blew by, making her feel content with its refreshing breeze.
This wasn’t the Star Boundary!
Right from the beginning, Hua Qing Si could feel the difference between this place and the Star Boundary. She wasn’t able to explain this strange feeling, but she nevertheless was able to confirm that this place was definitely not the Star Boundary.
[Am I dead?] A blank look appeared on Hua Qing Si’s face as she stood there, bewildered.
[So death isn’t as terrifying as I had imagined it to be. I didn’t even feel like I had died at all…]
[So, would a person come to a place like this after death? Then where did that irritating fellow from the Flying Saint Palace go? Could this place be the legendary Netherworld?]
“Oh… He actually didn’t kill you. Instead, he sent you in here. From the looks of it… the main body’s consciousness is still present! At the very least, he still has some level of control!”
All of a sudden, thunder-like sounds rang out in Hua Qing Si’s ears. The voice was so powerful it sounded like the beating of war drums, giving Hua Qing Si a big scare.
“Who is it!?” Hua Qing Si’s expression changed drastically as she shouted out in vigilance, turning her head to scan in all directions. Nevertheless, she wasn’t able to detect anybody.
“Above, look above!” The voice rang out once again.
After the reminder, Hua Qing Si hastily raised her head.
What entered her vision were two stone pillar-like existences that stood by her side.
When she had just arrived here, she had already noticed those two stone pillars. However, her mind was still stuck within the ‘I’m dead’ mentality, so she did not think twice about them.
At this moment, after taking a closer look, a myriad of expressions flashed through Hua Qing Si’s face, from astonishment, to shock, amazement, and surprise.
After finally gaining a clear look of what exactly was by her side, Hua Qing Si made a small step and floated several dozen metres back.
Looking from a distance, Hua Qing Si was finally able to see with greater clarity.