"Is it done...?"

Qi Xiu gasped heavily for breath, his two arms covered with charred gashes torn open by Lei Mang.

The burden on his body from the Ninety-ninefold Thunder Skill was simply too immense. For an ordinary cultivator of the Shenxiao Sect, controlling the Ninefold Thunder Skill was already their limit. He, however, due to the power of Hunyuan Body Refinement and his Mixed Primordial Beads, could control a quantity of Thunder Magic more than ten times that of an average Shenxiao Sect cultivator. However, under extreme conditions, the backlash from the Thunder Magic on his body could not be fully mitigated. At least, not until he reached the perfection of the Dao-Entering Realm. Only after cultivating three hundred sixty-five Mixed Primordial Beads and completing the Dao-Entering Realm Hunyuan Body Refinement could he control it without harm.

"It should be done."

Glancing at Qi Xiu beside him, Cheng Junie's gaze turned grave. This junior... truly immeasurable. Who would have thought that the terrifying, world-destroying Thunder Magic from before would come from the hands of such a junior in the Dao-Entering Realm?

But just as the two were conversing, a huge hand, wreathed in black and red, eerie and unpredictable, suddenly shot out from the void and slapped viciously towards Qi Xiu's back. The attack was incredibly sudden and difficult to anticipate. It targeted the precise moment Qi Xiu's guard was down, his old strength expended and new strength yet to be mustered—a sneak attack determined to end him with a single palm strike.

CRACK!

A loud explosion echoed as shockwaves rolled out. A torrent of azure flames burst forth, forcefully expelling a grinning, portly monk from the void.

"Yong Jue Monk, so these are the only sneak attack skills you possess."

Standing before Qi Xiu, having blocked Yong Jue Monk's fatal Demonic Mind Giant Hand Seal for him, Cheng Junie sneered mockingly at the high monk of the Heart Demon Zen Monastery.

Then, he glanced indifferently at Qi Xiu. "Don't get me wrong. This is to repay your favor for the medicine. I, Cheng, detest owing favors to others the most."

With a light chuckle, Qi Xiu nodded. "Alright then, we're even."

"Cheng Junie, this humble monk can see you harbor dissatisfaction towards this junior, so why interfere and save him? If I kill him, you can leave. We would all be happy, wouldn't that be wonderful?"

A hint of helplessness on his face, Yong Jue Monk shook his head, perplexed by Cheng Junie's intervention.

"Stop spouting bullshit, you bald donkey! The grievances between me and this junior are none of your damn business! Compared to him, I, Cheng, am more eager to personally scrape away scum like you demonic fiends! Don't you dare use your Heart Demon Zen Monastery tricks on me. My Sword Intent is specifically designed to vanquish all your heretical paths!"

With a cold snort, Cheng Junie exposed Yong Jue Monk's Heart Demon techniques. Sword Intent spewed from Cheng Junie's eyes, severing several deeply hidden, black-red Silken Threads that emanated a bewildering power, capable of entrancing minds and luring people into demonic delusions.

With his techniques broken, the smile vanished from Yong Jue Monk's face. He grunted and furrowed his brow.

"You sword cultivators are so damn annoying! Stubborn mules, impetuous fools, the lot of you!"

His ruse having failed, Yong Jue Monk shifted his feet lightly, intending to retreat. He was never skilled in direct confrontation. Moreover, the two men before him—one a Sword Cultivator, the other a thunder cultivator—were both extremely tough opponents. Clashing head-on with them, he would most likely be the one to suffer.

However, just as Yong Jue Monk began to consider retreating, Qi Xiu, after a couple of light coughs, had already moved to block his escape route.

"Master, since you've revealed yourself, don't be in such a hurry to leave. Look, your four companions have already gone inside. Why don't you go in and take a look too?"

"You junior..."

Yong Jue Monk's eyes turned cold. Just as he was about to make a move, he saw Qi Xiu's hands light up with brilliant streaks of Lei Mang.

That profoundly majestic power of thunder, symbolizing the wrath of heavenly punishment, made his hair stand on end and his eyelids twitch uncontrollably. Thunder Magic was revered as the King of All Techniques; this wasn't just empty talk. This power, symbolizing divine retribution, suppressed all demonic and heretical paths.

Although Qi Xiu was only in the Dao-Entering Realm, his Thunder Magic was the pure Bing Fire Divine Thunder from the Five Thunder Celestial Heart Skill. It specialized in slaughter, judged evil impartially, quelled the chaos wrought by demons, and illuminated the six cardinal directions. When its thunder and fire erupted, all things vanished from sight!

When layers of Thunder Magic were superimposed, their power was far more than a simple sum. Moreover…

Slightly tilting his head, Yong Jue Monk's gaze flickered to the emotionlessly approaching Cheng Junie. And here's an even more ferocious one!

"Alright, alright, this humble monk surrenders." Raising his hands with a sigh of resignation, Yong Jue Monk decisively chose to give up resisting.

Forcing Yong Jue Monk to the entrance of the Dragon Pool, Cheng Junie kicked him inside.

"Now only Nie Biao is left," Cheng Junie stated gravely. After dealing with Yong Jue Monk and the other four Blood-Stained Realm cultivators, only the Golden Armored Corpse Demon Nie Biao remained in the Crystal Palace.

"This Nie Biao is quite troublesome. He's considered one of the top elites among the Blood-Stained Great Cultivators of Dianchuan Province. In a one-on-one fight, I only have a fifty percent chance of escaping from him. As for defeating him... I'm afraid the two of us alone won't be enough."

Cheng Junie clearly held Nie Biao in high regard, even admitting he only had a fifty-fifty chance of escaping if he faced him.

"No rush. Nie Biao must be killed, but not right now."

Sitting cross-legged, Qi Xiu took out a bottle of elixirs, poured one out, and swallowed it. His eyes half-closed as he recovered his depleted True Gang.

"I forced these five Blood-Stained Realm cultivators into the Dragon Pond Forbidden Area not just to trap them."

"Then what else was it for?" Cheng Junie pressed.

"Five Dragon Demons guard the Dragon Pool, each at the Pinnacle of the Blood-Stained Realm in strength. As soon as someone intrudes into the forbidden area, these five Dragon Demons will awaken. Moreover, the gate to this forbidden area only allows entry, not exit, unless the Dragon Demons are eliminated."

"My main purpose for forcing Yong Jue Monk and his four companions into the Dragon Pond Forbidden Area..."

Qi Xiu slowly opened his eyes a fraction, a captivating glint within them. "...is to use them to eliminate these five Dragon Demons."

Shock flashed across Cheng Junie's face. He hadn't expected this young Daoist to conceive such an intricate and vicious interconnected series of plots in such a short time! His heart tightened.

"You seem to understand this Crystal Palace very well."

The Dragon Pond Forbidden Area! The guardian Dragon Demons! These were things someone who had never been here couldn't possibly know. Even for those who had, such deeply hidden secrets were not common knowledge. Yet this Qi Xiu knew them like the back of his hand, every step he took was remarkably decisive. His composure was unsettling, sending a chill down one's spine.

"I'm not extremely familiar with it; I just happened to see a few things." A hint of purple flashed briefly in the depths of Qi Xiu's pupils as he rubbed the bridge of his nose.

Truth be told, his ability to grasp the situation and strategize to this extent was largely thanks to the Observing Qi Skill taught to him by Daoist Qingya. It allowed him to perceive things from an almost omniscient viewpoint, enabling him to seize the initiative and control the overall situation. Otherwise, no matter how clever he was, he could not have planned everything so flawlessly. Speaking of which, it had been over a decade since he parted ways with that rotund Daoist. He wondered when they would meet again. He had a whole host of questions he'd saved up, eager to discuss them with him thoroughly.

The Dragon Palace's secret elixir was indeed potent. Having recovered some of his depleted True Gang, Qi Xiu rose and walked to the entrance of the Dragon Pond Forbidden Area, using his Observing Qi Skill to peer inside.

Within the forbidden area, the five Dragon Demons had revived. They were dragon-headed humanoids, clad in Heavy Armor, with black blood-qi coiling around their bodies. Their tyrannical and unmatched aura was so oppressive that the surrounding space warped and twisted.

"We can't get out; the entrance is sealed!"

After inspecting the way they had come in, Beastmaker Scholar Liu Chang'an's expression darkened slightly.

To hunt falcons his whole life, only to be pecked blind by one in the end! Five experts from the Demonic Path, actually outwitted by two cultivators from the Righteous Path! If word of this got out, they'd be laughed at until their teeth fell out!

"Merciful Buddha... Five against two, and we ended up in this situation. What a terrible loss of face." Yong Jue Monk shook his head as he intoned a long Buddhist phrase.

"Yong Jue, you weren't tricked into coming in, were you? So why did you enter willingly on your own? Why didn't you dare to fight those two bastards?"

Zhu Yi's seven eyeballs swiveled simultaneously as he opened his mouth to reproach Yong Jue Monk. After all, if Yong Jue Monk had been a little smarter, they might still have had a sliver of a chance. Not like now, trapped like turtles in a jar.

"One a Sword Cultivator, the other a thunder cultivator; this humble monk lacks the ability to clash with them head-on. Since Benefactor Zhu speaks so boldly, if an opportunity arises later, we must certainly let you have a hearty battle with them."

Glancing at Zhu Yi, Yong Jue Monk didn't mince words and retorted sharply.

"Enough. Save the arguing for when we get out. This situation doesn't look good for us," the Insect Daoist Hong Ning said in a hoarse voice.

Numerous bulges continuously rippled across his black robe, and the restless buzzing of disturbed insects emanated from within.

Glancing at the Insect Daoist who had spoken, the other four, Zhu Yi among them, instinctively shifted slightly to the side.

This Hong Ning had originally been a cultivator on the Righteous Path. However, he suffered a cultivation deviation that greatly reduced his lifespan. By a stroke of luck, he acquired an inheritance from a Demonic Sect of the Middle Ancient Era, the Ten Thousand Demons Sect. He then switched to cultivating a major Demonic Path scripture called the "Ten Thousand Insects Devouring Primordial True Scripture." By harnessing the power of countless insects, he managed to extend his lifespan. However, cultivating this True Scripture meant enduring the constant agony of myriad insects gnawing at his body. Consequently, most practitioners of this art became twisted in temperament, perverse, and utterly mad. Once they went berserk, they often attacked friend and foe alike.

Come to think of it, the path taken by this Insect Daoist Hong Ning was somewhat similar to that of the first cultivator Qi Xiu had encountered, Yuhua Viewpoint's Master. However, compared to Hong Ning, Yuhua Viewpoint's Master wouldn't even qualify as a minor underling.

Facing the five sinners who had trespassed into the forbidden area, a terrifying crimson glow slowly suffused the eyes of the reawakened Dragon Demons.

"Those... who... trespass... the forbidden... area... die!"

As if only just revived, the Dragon Demons spoke slowly, haltingly. Yet, the moment the word "die" left their lips, an intense, surging, and terrifying killing intent erupted from them!

Blood seeped from their pupils as the Dragon Demons took a step forward. An ultimate, majestic, pure power erupted, shattering the void as they charged furiously towards the five cultivators!

So strong!

Sensing the explosive killing intent from the Dragon Demons, the expressions of all five cultivators changed drastically.

RUMBLE—

Imbued with an infinitely tyrannical combat intent, a Dragon Demon threw a punch. The fist, wreathed in a brutal, slaughterous aura, annihilated layers of space. Tangible shockwaves, condensed from pure power and immense pressure, billowed out and roared, terrifying beyond measure!

BOOM! BOOM! BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!

"It's coming!"

"Damn it! Block it! Block it!"

"This monster is too strong! Give it everything you've got! Everything!!!"

"It's no good! We can't block it at all!"

"Run! Run! Run! Run!"

"Run, my ass! Where the hell can we run to in here? Fight! We have to fight with everything we've got!!!"

...

Withdrawing his gaze, Qi Xiu's expression remained calm. He leaned against the wall, silently reviewing everything he had just witnessed. That black blood-qi, more dazzling than Taiyang itself; those fists that crushed and shattered the void; and combat skills akin to those of ancient gods and demons... He had been a bit too cautious, underestimating the combat strength of these Dragon Demons. If he had managed to lure the Golden Armored Corpse Demon here as well, perhaps he could have resolved everything in one go. The reason he hadn't lured Nie Biao along with the others was primarily his concern that, given Nie Biao's strength, he and Cheng Junie might not have been able to reliably force him into the Dragon Pond Forbidden Area. Secondly, he had also underestimated the Dragon Demons' power. He had wanted to prevent a scenario where the Dragon Demons couldn't eliminate Nie Biao, allowing Nie Biao to instead seize the Dragon Origin hidden within the Dragon Pool. Looking at it now, it seemed he had indeed overthought things.

After all, I'm not an immortal; I can't calculate everything with such precision, he consoled himself. After a long while, Qi Xiu glanced at the situation within the Dragon Pond Forbidden Area and said to Cheng Junie, "Next, it's our turn."

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