The sky had turned blood-red at some point. A red sky, red seawater, and black mist shrouding the earth had transformed the once-peaceful secret realm into a savage landscape.
The demonic cultivator smiled faintly, then looked again at Xia Yunzhao and Shang Shuangze floating in midair. “Where are you two children trying to go?”
Xia Yunzhao parted his lips slightly, but no words came. He could not feel even the slightest pressure from that demonic cultivator! If the man had not been visible to the naked eye, Xia Yunzhao would not have sensed even the faintest trace of his presence!
The demonic cultivator smiled and extended a pale hand with a sigh. “Why are children these days all so slow-witted?”
Run!
His reason screamed the warning, yet his body would not move at all. Worse, a warm sense of dependence and trust was rising in his heart. This was a true demonic cultivator. People whose minds were overwhelmed by demonic qi could only be called low-tier demonic cultivators. A true demonic cultivator bewitched other people’s reason itself.
At the critical instant, Shang Shuangze let out a muffled groan, broke free of the restraint, and carried Xia Yunzhao away. They retreated three steps. It was only three steps, yet Shang Shuangze had already been forced to release the sword intent of the Fuli Annihilation Sword. The Fuli Annihilation Sword was vast and profound, capable of countless transformations. Its intent protected the two of them and finally gave them a moment of autonomy.
Blood had already seeped from the corner of Shang Shuangze’s mouth. Xia Yunzhao immediately pulled him farther back while his thoughts raced. They couldn’t escape! No matter how fast they fled, to that demonic cultivator it would amount to no more than lifting a foot.
Since transmigrating, this was the first time Xia Yunzhao had understood with absolute clarity that death was right in front of him.
Suddenly his eyes lit up. Without thinking, he threw back his head and shouted, “Seniors! The demon has shown himself! Why haven’t you made your move?!”
Before his voice had faded, five pillars of light suddenly flared in the unreachable void surrounding the secret realm. Spiritual power of the five attributes, metal, wood, water, fire, and earth, surged outward. Spiritual energy collided, space shook, and the whole world began to quake. A colossal formation appeared out of thin air, and the five Myriad-Phenomena Spirit Stones were its formation eyes!
The demonic cultivator, who had been about to toy with the two young cultivators, looked up at the sky and raised an eyebrow. “Oh? So this is what you were planning?”
The violently surging spiritual energy could not stabilize at all. Xia Yunzhao managed to fly only a short distance before he could no longer hold on. Just as he was about to fall, Shang Shuangze finally recovered enough to catch him and continue flying. The two took turns supporting each other until they finally escaped to the edge of the secret realm.
Xia Yunzhao wiped his sweat and panted raggedly. “I… knew it. Since when was Qianyuan Sect kind enough to use a fragment of a Heaven-and-Earth Secret Realm as the competition grounds? So we’re bait!” And they had claimed that anyone who found a Myriad-Phenomena Spirit Stone would advance to the next round. They had hidden the stones in the void. Where exactly were contestants supposed to find them?
Shang Shuangze held Xia Yunzhao’s hand tightly, too preoccupied even to wipe the blood from the corner of his mouth. He frowned up at the sky. From this angle, they could see spiritual energy in five colors colliding overhead. It was an extraordinarily powerful formation, and its target was that demon!
The five-colored spiritual energy condensed into a rainbow of light and shot toward the demon. He waved a hand, scattering it with a streak of black qi, but the next rainbow was already before him.
The demon twisted aside and vanished rapidly. Only his voice descended from the sky. “I’ll leave some little fellows to play with you. Once I undo this formation, I’ll pay the present world a visit.”
Xia Yunzhao froze. “Little fellows? Play with who?”
Then the thin black mist blanketing the ground began to move, transforming into slaughter beasts one after another. Xia Yunzhao checked their levels and nearly swore. Level Three and Level Four!
A newly formed Level-Three slaughter beast happened to appear right beside him and lunged at once. Xia Yunzhao spun aside and chopped out with one palm. The beast howled twice, collapsed, and dissolved back into black qi.
Xia Yunzhao let out a breath. They were not ordinary slaughter beasts, but fortunately their fighting strength was about the same.
He and Shang Shuangze exchanged a look, then stood back to back, supporting one another as wave after wave of slaughter beasts sprouted around them like mushrooms. Kill!
The secret realm was chaos, and things were hardly better outside. On Tongxuan Platform, the gathered cultivators had been watching teams fight among themselves when the scene abruptly changed. Had they just witnessed the birth of a demon?
Before their minds could catch up, the situation changed again. The Myriad-Phenomena Spirit Stones appeared, the formation took shape, the demonic cultivator vanished, and slaughter beasts that had nearly been exterminated began emerging one after another. By the time everyone understood what was happening, the cultivators inside the secret realm were already locked in a bitter battle. The densely packed slaughter beasts were enough to make anyone’s scalp crawl.
“W-what’s going on? Isn’t this the Qianyuan Grand Competition? Why did a demonic cultivator appear?”
“That demonic cultivator looks terrifyingly strong. What if he escapes the secret realm? Isn’t Qianyuan Sect going to do anything?”
“Forget the demonic cultivator. If those slaughter beasts escape, we’re in serious trouble too!”
“Stop talking! I’m a coward. I’m leaving!”
“Wait… no, where would you even run? Duxu City has Qianyuan Sect here. Wouldn’t staying here actually be safer?”
Elsewhere, Du Yan and the others were nearly frantic. They had known something was wrong the moment demonic qi appeared, and now it turned out there was no such thing as the worst situation, only something even worse! With that many slaughter beasts, a single bite from each would be enough to chew their City Lord to death!
Du Yan leapt straight to the center of Tongxuan Platform, where several Qianyuan Sect disciples and an elder were stationed. Behind them was the entrance to the Heaven-and-Earth Secret Realm. He tried to charge through at once, but they blocked him. The elder said sternly, “The time is not up. The secret-realm entrance cannot be opened.”
Du Yan said coldly, “Are we supposed to stand here and watch everyone inside die? There are disciples of Lingxiao Palace and Shuixi Pavilion in there, and people from our own Qianyuan Sect. Can you bear responsibility for all their deaths?!”
The elder was unmoved. “The competition is not over. No one may open the secret-realm entrance.”
Du Yan was burning with urgency and had no intention of wasting time arguing. The Heaven-Measuring Ruler flew out of thin air and whipped toward the elder!
The elder frowned, blocked the Heaven-Measuring Ruler with one hand, and reached for Du Yan with the other, only to seize a black blade instead. Zhong Yundu had appeared to block him. “A Golden Core cultivator bullying a Foundation Establishment cultivator? Aren’t you embarrassed? Come on, come on. Let’s exchange a few moves.”
The other disciples continued trying to stop Du Yan. The Jade-Bone Fan flew out, and Xiang Moyue blocked them.
Jing Ruyun brought several members of the guard team over, and they immediately started fighting the remaining disciples.
The surrounding spectators saw the fight break out and quickly cleared a huge open space, unsure what they were supposed to do.
Du Yan finally reached the secret-realm entrance and sent a strand of spiritual power inside. His expression changed. “The entrance won’t open!”
Zhong Yundu and Xiang Moyue both turned grave. They stopped holding back, quickly dealt with their opponents, and came over. “Won’t open? Has it been sealed?”
“It’s the formation. The formation inside the secret realm has locked the secret-realm space in place! Unless that formation breaks, the secret realm cannot be opened!” Du Yan’s expression was icy.
Everyone froze and looked at one another. If the formation remained, the secret realm could not be opened. If the formation broke, that demon could escape. Was that really what this meant? Qianyuan Sect was ruthless.
Just then, Su Ying suddenly clutched his forehead, spat out a mouthful of blood, and collapsed. “A crack… there’s a crack at the entrance. Y-you can squeeze storage pouches through it and g-give them to the City Lord…”
Su Meng caught him. “Brother! Are you all right?”
Su Ying shook his head weakly and pressed his lips together. He had just used a secret art of the Sky-Peering Lineage to force himself to glimpse a fragment of the scene. But his ability was too weak, and he had no idea whether what he had seen would be useful.
Du Yan was about to search for the crack when Xiang Moyue stopped him. “I’ll do it.”
He touched one finger to the entrance and extended his spiritual power. His spiritual power was cold and viscous, clinging to the seal like a bone-deep affliction. It slowly spread across the entire surface, slithering like a snake as it searched bit by bit. The next instant, his eyes snapped open. “Found it!”
Under the effect of his spiritual power, a tiny opening really did appear in the mirror-smooth seal. Everyone brightened. “There really is a crack!”
But once they saw it clearly, their expressions changed again. “That’s way too small. What can possibly fit through there?”
Du Yan took out Xia Yunzhao and Shang Shuangze’s Hundred-Compartment Pouches, which the two had left with him before entering the secret realm. The pouches themselves were small enough to fit through the crack, but even if they threw them in, there was no guarantee they would land anywhere near the two men. Were Xia Yunzhao and Shang Shuangze supposed to search the entire secret realm for two tiny pouches?
Zhong Yundu’s face finally darkened. He looked the seal up and down. “Then let’s smash the seal and pull those two brats out! What do I care whether the demonic cultivator lives or dies?”
Du Yan said calmly, “The formation inside the Heaven-and-Earth Secret Realm is called the Qianyuan Demon-Suppressing Formation. The Myriad-Phenomena Spirit Stones serve as its formation eyes. Once the formation is complete, even a Soul Transformation expert cannot break it. You would need someone at the Integration stage or Mahayana stage to have a chance.”
Several people sucked in a breath at once. Jing Ruyun murmured, “No wonder they only left a few useless idiots guarding this place. They were never worried anyone could damage the entrance.”
The useless idiots lying on the ground wanted to curse them out, but after thinking about it, decided to swallow the humiliation.
Xiang Moyue was silent for a moment, then began, “Forget it. I’ll…” Before he could finish, Zhong Yundu’s robe suddenly moved. A gray shadow leapt out, landed in Du Yan’s arms, snatched the two Hundred-Compartment Pouches from his hands, and sprang straight through the crack in the seal.
“What…” Du Yan reacted instantly. “Xianchan?!”
Zhong Yundu had not expected Xianchan to jump through either. “Kitten!”
Everyone dissolved into panic. “Oh no! Xianchan went in!”
“This is terrible! The kitten is tiny. A slaughter beast could swallow it in one bite without even trying…”
“Don’t panic yet!” Zhong Yundu said not to panic, but there was not a trace of a smile on his face. “That kitten has eaten plenty of Xiao Xia’s pills, so it isn’t weak. Shang Shuangze trains it often too. It’s no slower than an ordinary Foundation Establishment cultivator. It’s Xiao Xia’s spirit beast, so the contract might let it locate the two of them. As long as they meet up, it’ll be fine.”
“Right, right. As long as they meet up, it’ll be fine…” Their hearts were still in their throats as they crowded in front of the Voice-Transmission Wall again, searching for that tiny figure. Could Xianchan find its two masters?
Xia Yunzhao and Shang Shuangze had joined forces to kill at least a hundred slaughter beasts, yet the number of beasts showed no sign of decreasing.
Spiritual energy in the air was thin. If they kept killing like this, they would only expend power without replenishing it until they were completely drained.
Xia Yunzhao looked into the distance and surveyed their surroundings. There were fewer cultivators now. Many had already died beneath slaughter-beast claws. The good news was that the demonic cultivator still had not returned, and the great formation around them remained perfectly stable.
Suddenly, his gaze fixed on a point in the distance. Were those spirit herbs?!
Of course. The demonic qi had spawned those strange slaughter beasts, but the formation powered by the Myriad-Phenomena Spirit Stones had also caused large numbers of spirit herbs and other spirit items to emerge. Just within his field of vision, there were several times more spirit herbs than there had been that morning!
In a flash, a plan formed. He raised his voice. “Fellow Daoist Shui! Fellow Daoists from Yunmeng Marsh! Would you be willing to cooperate again?”
Two voices answered at once. “How?”
Xia Yunzhao said, “I’ll provide magical artifacts and pills. You provide spirit items and kill slaughter beasts. We get out of here alive together!”
Bang! Bang! Two enormous Level-Four slaughter beasts crashed to the ground, revealing Shui Bingchan behind them, panting hard. “I’m in!”
The cultivator from Yunmeng Marsh smiled with equal decisiveness. “Count me in too!”
The two teams truly deserved to be called the favored geniuses of major powers. They had not lost a single member, and they quickly gathered around Xia Yunzhao and Shang Shuangze.
Just then, a nearby team suddenly spoke up. “Fellow Daoist Xia, we’re willing to cooperate with you as well. Would that be acceptable?”
Xia Yunzhao turned and saw people he did not recognize, which meant they had not participated in the earlier encirclement. He nodded. “Yes.” Then he called out, “Any Fellow Daoists who did not join the attack on us this morning may cooperate with us! But you have to follow instructions!”
The leader of that team hesitated. “Follow instructions” was not exactly reassuring. If they really obeyed, what if the other side ordered them to serve as cannon fodder? But then he looked at the sea of slaughter beasts around them. If they refused to cooperate, they would die anyway. He gritted his teeth. Fine!
“Thank you, Fellow Daoist Xia. We’re willing to follow everyone’s instructions!”
“Us too!”
“Our team as well!”
“I… everyone in my team is dead. I’m the only one left. Would you still take me…?”
Xia Yunzhao had not expected a single call to rally so many people, but he had no trouble taking on the burden. If he could manage an entire Qingxi City, what was a few thousand people here?
The people from Shuixi Pavilion and Yunmeng Marsh had already worked with him before and had developed some tacit understanding. Without needing instructions, they began organizing everyone.
“The most important thing is to clear an open area first,” Xia Yunzhao said quickly. “Also organize the strongest fighters into teams to gather spirit items. If we don’t get more pills, sooner or later we’ll be exhausted to death.”
“Spirit items aren’t a problem,” Shui Bingchan replied just as quickly. “The problem is that pill cultivators are poor fighters. The others all died just now. You’re the only one left. Even if we gather enough spirit items, can one person refine enough pills for all of us?”
Xia Yunzhao glanced at her. “As long as there are enough spirit items, there will be enough pills.”
Shui Bingchan froze, then said boldly, “Good! With that promise, I’ll personally lead the gathering team!”
The Yunmeng Marsh cultivator laughed. “I’ll clear the area!”
Everyone moved at once.
Having leaders truly made a difference. Before, each team had fought separately and felt as though the slaughter beasts could never be killed fast enough. Now several thousand people were organized together, and before long they had actually cleared a large open space.
Meanwhile, the teams that had taken part in the morning’s encirclement of Xia Yunzhao’s group did not dare approach. Wen Sihao was dead. The remaining Qianyuan Sect team members did not dare make a sound, and the Yunjiangguan cultivators were even quieter. Those people could only gather with other teams around Yin Meng.
A Lingxiao Palace disciple hesitated. “Senior Brother Yin, what do we do now?”
Yin Meng stared deeply at Xia Yunzhao in the center of the crowd for a long moment before saying, “We leave.”
The other disciples froze, but none dared oppose him, so they followed him away.
Xia Yunzhao did not even notice they had left. Their absence was better anyway. He would not have to waste attention guarding against them.
Shui Bingchan was clearly impatient by nature. When she said she was going to gather spirit items, she did not do anything halfway. Used to being the eldest senior sister, she apparently thought a small group lacked presence and simply assembled a thousand-person gathering force before setting off in grand formation.
Over the previous few days, everyone had already combed through the entire forest and knew exactly where spirit items could be found. In four hours, they swept clean every nearby source of spirit items.
By then, nearly ten hours had passed since the slaughter-beast horde first appeared.
Ten hours of fighting would not normally be much in the outside world. Many cultivators could fight for an entire day. But that was under conditions where spiritual energy was abundant and pills were available.
Those ten hours inside the secret realm had nearly drained them dry.
Many cultivators had already exhausted the spiritual power inside their bodies and narrowly avoided dying in slaughter-beast jaws. Xia Yunzhao immediately assigned them numbers and arranged rotations so no one would expend too much spiritual power.
They endured another four hours like that before Shui Bingchan finally returned!
“Finally!” Xia Yunzhao had been waiting desperately. To preserve enough strength to refine pills, he no longer dared use any spells and could only rely on Shang Shuangze to hold the line. He had been terrified that if Shui Bingchan returned even a little later, Shang Shuangze would be hurt.
To make gathering easier, Xia Yunzhao had given both storage pouches to Shui Bingchan. Now she was about to hand them back. “The spirit medicines inside are…”
Before she could finish, Xia Yunzhao waved a hand. “I know.”
He raised his right hand. Green light shimmered, and Xiao Qing appeared. The depletion of spiritual energy had affected it too. The child was practically falling asleep.
Xia Yunzhao gently shook it. “Wake up. Time to work.”
Xiao Qing moved, its lid opening and closing twice, and instantly perked up.
The surrounding cultivators keenly sensed that the young pill cultivator’s bearing had subtly changed.
He slapped Xiao Qing. The palm-sized furnace suddenly expanded and landed with a heavy thud, becoming so thick that it would take four or five people to encircle it.
Two streams of spiritual power flew out. Both storage pouches rose at once, their mouths opening as the spirit herbs inside poured into the furnace like flowing water!
The watching cultivators stared in shock.
“H-he put all of them in? What pill is he refining?”
“I don’t know. I saw Fire-Spirit Grass and Ice-Ling Flower. Aren’t those two spirit herbs incompatible? What kind of pill could they possibly make?”
“I saw Detoxification Grass and Poison-Spirit Grass too. There’s no way that can turn into pills…”
“That pill cultivator isn’t scamming us, is he?!”
Xia Yunzhao ignored all of them. He sat cross-legged with a solemn expression, formed hand seals, and immediately ignited the Earthfire Art.
Roaring flames heated the enormous pill furnace until it glowed hot. Inside the furnace, more than a thousand separate spaces had already formed.
Yes. He was going to refine more than a thousand batches of pills at once, across different levels and different types.
The slaughter beasts were endless, and their cultivators were nearly exhausted. There was no time to refine everything slowly. This time, it was succeed or die trying.
Shang Shuangze understood his plan instantly. He smiled helplessly and stood guard beside him with sword in hand.
Suddenly, a cultivator still holding the outer line shouted, “What are you all staring at?! Come help! The slaughter beasts are coming again! We can’t hold much longer!”
The spectators jolted. “Right, right. Coming…”
The cultivator outside suddenly sniffed. “Huh? What’s that smell? Is a pill cultivator refining pills? Then stay here and protect the Pill Master. Don’t let the slaughter beasts interrupt him. We can handle things outside!”
The spectators: “…” He had just said they could not hold on.
Wait. What had he just said? Pill fragrance?
Everyone froze and instinctively sniffed the air. In that incredibly short time, a genuine pill fragrance was already drifting from the furnace! That was unmistakable pill fragrance. Had this Pill Master really refined something successfully?
Under everyone’s gaze, the furnace lid suddenly snapped open. More than ten pills shot out toward one person. He caught them instinctively, only then hearing Xia Yunzhao say, “Spirit-Gathering Pills. Distribute them among the Foundation Establishment cultivators.”
The man froze, then lit up. “Yes!” He himself was a Foundation Establishment cultivator. Even now he understood priorities and did not dare pocket the pills. He found fellow Foundation Establishment cultivators and handed out one pill each. “Eat them. Then we’ll relieve the brothers at the front!”
The furnace opened again, and more than ten pills flew out. “Fire-Spirit Pills. Give them to cultivators using fire-attribute methods.”
“Water-Spirit Pills. Give them to cultivators using water-attribute methods.”
“Detoxification Pills…”
“Clearheart Spirit-Nourishing Pills…”
The furnace opened again and again, and each time a different kind of pill flew out. In everyone’s eyes, it had ceased to be a pill furnace and become a treasure pouch that granted wishes.
Many cultivators who had not yet received a pill crowded forward, excited and nervous, terrified there might not be enough for them.
The next instant, the flames beneath the pill furnace went out.
Xia Yunzhao slowly opened his eyes and changed the seals in his hands. “Open!”
The furnace burst open. A rich pill fragrance surged out all at once, spreading until it filled half the forest.
He brought both palms together and struck the furnace heavily. Countless pills flew out in every direction, one toward every person. “Five-Qi Convergence Pills. One for everyone!”
Pill fragrance washed over them as pills filled the sky. Many cultivators stood frozen, thinking, Am I dreaming? Has spiritual-energy depletion finally killed me?
Then the still-warm pills in their hands reminded them: this was no dream. It was real. Someone had truly refined more than a thousand pills in one breath!
The entire area fell silent, then erupted.
Screams, shouts of amazement, people even dropping to their knees in gratitude. No words or gestures could contain their excitement. One cultivator could not say anything at all and simply clutched his pill and burst into sobs.
Ever since the demonic cultivator appeared, the secret realm entrance had remained closed. Did they really not understand that they had been abandoned? None of them were fools.
Qianyuan Sect had abandoned them. The people outside had abandoned them. All they could do was wait here to die. Whether they were eaten by slaughter beasts, died from spiritual-energy depletion, or were killed by the demonic cultivator, the people outside probably did not care.
Their struggle and resistance had been nothing more than unwillingness to accept death, along with the stubborn tenacity carved into a cultivator’s bones.
But now the pills in their hands told them something different. No. There was hope. It might be difficult, but they could survive.
It was like throwing a bomb into stagnant water.
Even Xia Yunzhao himself was shocked. He had thought a seventy or eighty percent success rate would already be excellent. Put in a thousand batches of materials and get eight hundred successful batches. That efficiency would have been more than good enough, because what they lacked most right now was time.
He had never expected all thousand batches to succeed!
What surprised him even more was why all these cultivators had suddenly become so emotional.
He was just about to ask when a Five-Qi Convergence Pill was shoved into his mouth. He looked up and found Shang Shuangze staring at him disapprovingly.
Xiao Xia immediately gave an awkward little laugh. Only after swallowing the pill did he realize his spiritual power had been completely drained and he could not even lift his hands. He wanted to defend himself, but one look at Shang Shuangze’s expression made him think better of it, so he obediently kept taking pills.
“Fellow Daoist Xia, I, Shui Bingchan, have never admired anyone in my life. I admire you.” After taking her pill, Shui Bingchan cupped her hands toward Xia Yunzhao. “Refining a thousand pills in one furnace. There is nothing else like it under heaven.”
Xia Yunzhao smiled. “Fellow Daoist Shui, you’re exaggerating. Different trades simply have different specialties.”
Shui Bingchan shook her head. “If we make it out alive, I invite both of you to visit Shuixi Pavilion. From this day forward, the two of you will be honored guests of Shuixi Pavilion.”
Xia Yunzhao raised an eyebrow. If she could make a promise like that, Shui Bingchan’s status within Shuixi Pavilion was clearly quite high. Which great figure’s personal disciple was she?
He was about to ask when the space around them began shaking again.
Everyone’s heart jumped into their throat. “W-what now?!”
“Is it that demonic cultivator again…?”
The reality was even more hopeless than they feared. One of the Myriad-Phenomena Spirit Stones sustaining the formation, the earth-attribute stone, abruptly lost its pillar of light.
The formation flickered several times, then vanished.