Shi Feiyang unleashed the Ten-Day Divine Punishment, causing the blood within the Blood Pool below to evaporate rapidly.

"Hisss hiss" noises sounded, emitting a thick, pungent stench and generating copious amounts of white smoke.

In just a short moment, the water level of the Blood Pool had dropped by more than a foot, not one of the evil spirits and demons inside daring to show themselves. Despite enduring the torment to their Primordial Spirits by the Red Flower Princess of the Seven Absolute Demon Palace, they all had to keep themselves hidden, never daring to directly face the terrifying Purple and Blue Divine Flames!

After another period of time, roughly as long as it took to eat a meal, the level of Demon Blood in the pool had declined even more, revealing dry, blood-caked rocky cliffs along the shore.

The Red Flower Princess could no longer bear it, using her Divine Sense to command those million devils, charging out alongside her to fight Shi Feiyang to the death!

This time she took the lead in the charge, once again revealing seventy-two blood hands, launching Blood Shadow Demon Light in unison, and using magic to bolster her million Demon followers, all of whom turned into streams of bloody shadows, dense like blood-stained mosquitoes, swarming towards Shi Feiyang.

But around Shi Feiyang's body, the revolution of the Ten Sun Wheels continued, with Purple and Blue Flames raining down. The witch's Blood Shadow Divine Light simply could not compete, and the devils melted away halfway through their charge.

The remainder of them, no longer heeding the Red Flower Princess's command and wailing like ghosts and howling like gods, plunged back into the Blood Pool at the fastest speed possible.

The Red Flower Princess could not hold out either, retreating into the pool to hide once more.

At the very bottom of the eighteen layers of the pool, the Red Flower Princess was both frightened and furious, shuddering all over.

After hesitating for a long time, she steeled her heart and began to cast a unique family Secret Spell, cursing herself from afar, initiating a response from her father.

The Old Demon of Iron City Mountain was not in this world; his Iron City Mountain realm was bigger than the Red Lotus Cave Heaven, also existing outside of this world.

The Old Demon connected the two worlds only once every seven hundred and twenty years, opening the gate to handle some matters, then closing it again for isolation.

His Heavenly Demon Sensing was far more powerful than that of the Red Lotus Old Demon; he did not even dare to step out of the Iron City Mountain realm, only meeting predestined individuals at the Ghost Gate junction between the two worlds.

In the past, due to matters involving Deng Yin, the Red Flower Princess severed ties with her father, not once asking for his help, even when faced with death under Master Changmei's Green Rope Sword.

Now, she was cursing herself with magic, offering up herself in sacrifice, prepared to go all out against Shi Feiyang, even at the cost of her own complete annihilation, and yet, she was sacrificing to her father's Lifebound Demon...

The Old Demon of Iron City Mountain immediately sensed it, recognized this thousand-year-old karmic entanglement, and was initially disinclined to bother. However, upon Heavenly Demon Sensing, he foresaw some future events. After contemplating, he finally decided to intervene.

Shi Feiyang was in the midst of controlling the Ten Sun Wheel rotation, furiously incinerating the Blood Pool, when suddenly a distortion in space appeared in the upper left, revealing a pitch-black portal.

He looked up and saw a towering gate within the portal, seemingly forged from black iron, with a plaque above inscribed with three large characters: "Ghost Gate."

He was taken aback, for there was no Netherworld in the Shushan World, where after death, one either dissipated or immediately sought reincarnation, with no impermanence to escort souls or judgement by King Yan.

Why had the Ghost Gate suddenly appeared?

Additionally, he felt a powerful and terrifying presence emanating from within the Ghost Gate.

Following that, a powerful Divine Thought shot out from the Ghost Gate, crashing directly into Shi Feiyang's mind, displaying an endless darkness in his mind's eye. Within the darkness, a black-robed old man appeared, his face full of kindness: "Fellow Daoist, do you know who I am?"

This man exerted a pressure on Shi Feiyang even greater than that of Jile Perfected, Bai Mei Zen Master, and Xin Ru Nun.

Shi Feiyang guessed his identity: "Are you the one from Iron City Mountain? What is your Dharma name?"

The other did not directly answer his question, merely smiling faintly: "Please forgive me, Fellow Daoist. As a person of the Demon Path, I cannot lightly reveal my true name to outsiders. You only need to know that I am from Iron City Mountain."

Shi Feiyang asked, "What do you intend to do?"

The Old Demon replied, "What's trapped beneath this Blood Pool is a karmic entanglement from over a thousand years ago which I left in the Human World. She would not heed my discipline, obstinate and capricious, wielding the spells I once taught her to act recklessly. I had long ceased to intervene, but a father's love is not so easy to cast away. I ask that you, Fellow Daoist, in consideration of this old man, do not completely annihilate her, but leave her a sliver of a chance to live."

Shi Feiyang coldly retorted, "What face do you think you have before me? Just because you say so, I should release this witch? Not only will I annihilate her body and soul, but I will also burn the Demon Scripture to ashes, making it disappear completely from the world!"

"Ha ha ha ha." The old demon laughed uproariously, and suddenly, from the blood pool around them, a number of Divine Demons emerged, each with a lump of flesh-like substance on top of their heads.

These Divine Demons, totaling three thousand in number, were all empowered by the old demon's mana, roaring as they pounced towards Shi Feiyang.

Atop their heads, the flesh had only a gaping, blood-drenched mouth, with sharp fangs an inch long within, all howling at Shi Feiyang while emitting the Secret Demon Divine Sound.

Three thousand demons simultaneously unleashing the Secret Demon Divine Sound caused even Shi Feiyang's mind to tremble, silently admitting their potency.

The flames he had sent out were sucked in forcefully by these demon mouths without being able to immediately incinerate them; soon, they opened wide again to continue devouring the Purple and Blue Divine Flames.

The three thousand demon heads continuously devoured the Purple and Blue Fire Rain blasted out by Shi Feiyang, forming circles in the air, both inner and outer, surrounding Shi Feiyang within.

The old demon declared loudly, "Fellow Daoist, what do you think of this spell of mine?"

Shi Feiyang halted his spell casting, "My immortal flames have been diverted into your Iron City Mountain realm by your manipulation of space and the Inverting Five Elements. Although somewhat clever, it's not impossible to break."

The old demon said, "This technique wasn't meant to boast or compete with you. It's simply to show that if we pit ourselves against each other, we will both end up harmed, which benefits neither of us. Why not each take a step back? This wretch of mine has already lost her physical body, dead for a thousand years, her Primordial Spirit can only linger in this half of the Blood God Scripture, barely gasping for life. Now that the scripture has fallen into your hands, why persist in utterly destroying her?"

He paused, not waiting for Shi Feiyang's response, then continued, "I see you've also cultivated the Nine Child Mother Sky Demon, hmm, and the Heavenly Secret Demon Great Technique, too. Unfortunately, there's quite a bit you're still lacking..."

In the past, Jiu Panpo was abandoned and deceived by the Joyful Divine Demon Zhao Changsu, who eloped with a mistress and cursed her, leading to her severely damaged body, nearly causing her to deviate into demonhood.

This Iron City Mountain old demon was Jiu Panpo's ancestor. At the time when his cycle of opening and closing reached once every 720 years, seeing his grand disciple in such a wretched state, he bestowed upon her the three volumes of the Nine Heavens Secret Demon Mysterious Scripture.

The old demon himself cultivated the complete Nine Heavens Secret Demon Mysterious Scripture, which he gave Jiu Panpo was a simplified version. It also included the Heavenly Secret Demon Great Technique. To refine the Nine Child Mother Sky Demon most authentically, this technique was necessary.

Shi Feiyang had indeed refined his Heavenly Demons using this technique, but the Heavenly Secret Demon Great Technique he practiced came from the Demon God Scripture. Although both stem from the same Demon Cult lineage, if we talk about this technique alone, this old demon from Iron City Mountain is the first in the cosmos.

Moreover, he exchanged his method for nurturing the Nine Child Mother Sky Demon with Tie Shu, who also didn't receive the full teachings from Jiu Panpo, and thus it had many flaws.

Under normal circumstances, with the Heavenly Secret Demon Great Technique learned from the Demon God Scripture and the Heavenly Demon refining art obtained from Tie Shu, Shi Feiyang wouldn't have been able to refine the Nine Child Mother Sky Demon. The demon would cause his mind to become confused before it was even born, leading him towards demonic deviation because many critical steps were missing, including the heart-protecting, demon-suppressing skill. The stronger the demon head, the more it would attack its master, and it would certainly be overtaken by the demon in the end...

Shi Feiyang, on one hand, had a high Seeing Dao Realm and was untroubled by the demons' mind-disturbing curses; on the other, he possessed treasures like the Nine Heavens Yuan Yang Ruler, capable of nurturing the Primordial Spirit and restraining the demon heads, along with Guang Chengzi's Nine Heavens Yuan Yang Great Technique, which finally enabled him to refine the Nine Child Mother Sky Demon.

The old demon informed him, "The demons you've refined are not my direct orthodox legacy; they have several latent issues, merely suppressed by you for the time being. The greater the backlash they will exert in the future."

Shi Feiyang didn't think so, having refined many demon heads, all were kept obediently in check, with no ability to rebel at all: "What latent issues could there be?"

The old demon laughed heartily, "Fellow Daoist, your divine skills are vast, and your mana is unparalleled, which I admire. But they are irrevocably bonded to you now; they cannot be separated. Should you suffer the slightest misfortune, or your body and soul be damaged, they will immediately backlash, consuming your flesh and blood, draining your Essence Energy, disintegrating your Primordial Spirit.

Even if you are close to countless meritorious deeds, without a time of misfortune, you will not be able to ascend, nor part with them. Otherwise, they will eventually emerge to cause havoc, specifically harming your disciples and descendants, devouring your relatives, and everyone associated with you, and their every maleficence will be accounted on your head."

Shi Feiyang knew his words made sense, although he had no intention of ascending, and even if he went to other worlds, he would take these demon heads with him, or leave them to Lin Han to manage properly if they could not be taken along. Lin Han would surely manage them well... However, he could not guarantee that Lin Han's future disciples, and their successors, could suppress them—a significant concern indeed.

The old demon said, "The deeper their connection to you, the more impossible it will be to utterly destroy them, for they share your heart's rhythm and your Primordial Qi resonates with theirs. Should they perish, you would lose half your life... Moreover, as long as you harbor even the slightest thought of them, they can resurrect within your Divine Sense... like flesh-burrowing maggots, inseparable like a shadow."

Shi Feiyang fell silent for a moment, then asked, "Do you have a solution? Were you able to properly deal with your demons back then?"

The old demon laughed again, "Have you heard of the Stone God Palace?"

Shi Feiyang nodded, "I know of it."

"The former Palace Master was my twin brother; he was also the last Great Elder to wield the Blood God Scripture in our sect. In his lifetime, he also nurtured many demon heads, yet in the end, he managed to become a Great Demon God and achieve a perfect ascension. Tell me, why is that?"

He said to Shi Feiyang, "I am willing to pass this technique to you, as an exchange. I only ask you to leave a sliver of life for my daughter. How about it?"

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