As the first Golden Crow fireball descended upon Black Sand Immortal City, Ye Qin stood on the only long-distance teleportation array in the city—the 'Black Sand City-Linhai City' array.

The array was already activated, radiating dazzling light.

Inside the array with Ye Qin were dozens of Golden Core stage cultivators, likely heading to Linhai City for business, who had joined him for the transport. However, these Golden Core cultivators were pale with panic and terror, unaware of what was happening, or why such a terrifying natural disaster had suddenly struck.

Ye Qin watched the massive deluge of Golden Crow fireballs descending from the sky, blankly covering Black Sand City, his hands tightly clenched within his sleeves, his palms chillingly cold. If he hadn't sensed the danger and rushed to the teleportation array in time, he might not have escaped the perilous Sea of Blood so smoothly.

"The calamity is here, run for your lives!"

"I'm heading back to the East Sea, get out of my way! Anyone who dares compete with me for the teleportation array!"

A desperate roar rose from the panicked cultivators swarming towards the array within the city. In such chaos, the scramble to enter the array meant that the chances of many cultivators escaping via the array were extremely slim.

Ye Qin’s figure began to blur.

In an instant, Ye Qin vanished from Black Sand Immortal City, teleported into the array of the distant 'Linhai City'.

The accompanying few dozen Golden Core cultivators were nearly petrified. The tragic scene in the city before teleportation—Black Sand City being violently pulverized by the Golden Crow fireballs, the frenzied slaughter around the array as cultivators fought just to escape—these unbelievable sights left them unable to regain their senses.

Ye Qin ignored them and shot out of the teleportation array, rushing toward another array, the 'Linhai City-Baifu City' array. In just a matter of mere dozens of breaths, he returned from the Sea of Blood's Black Sand City to the main northern island city, Baifu City.

This Baifu City was far removed from the battlefield; its city streets were bustling and prosperous, teeming with people, devoid of any unrest. Most cultivators in the entire East Sea Cultivation World were still unaware of the Demon Saint’s emergence.

Ye Qin's expression was grave; he hurried towards the Qingdan Immortal Palace in the city at the fastest possible speed.

Huangfu Bing'er had established the Qingdan Palace herself and served as its inaugural Palace Master, falling under the jurisdiction of the Northern Branch of the Heavenly Dao Alliance. Due to Ye Qin’s connections, Sect Master Zhou had not conscripted her for the front lines but instead assigned her to coordinate logistics and supplies for the northern Immortal Palaces from the rear.

"Bing'er!"

Ye Qin strode into the palace and found Huangfu Bing'er in the alchemy chamber, refining high-grade spirit pills.

"Husband, you've returned from the Demon Sea!"

Huangfu Bing'er beamed with delight, rising from beside the furnace to meet him.

Ye Qin took her soft, boneless hands, feeling a surge of warmth in his heart.

Before leaving for the Demon Realm, Ye Qin had informed her via a communication talisman that he needed to journey to the perilous depths of the Sea of Blood, but he had deliberately kept the specifics vague to prevent her from worrying too much.

Seeing Ye Qin safely returned from the Sea of Blood, Huangfu Bing'er finally relaxed.

Noticing Ye Qin's heavy expression, Huangfu Bing'er couldn't help but ask, "What happened?"

Ye Qin spent a very short time briefly recounting how Saint Emperor had invited him, the Ghost Master, and Old Monster Hen Shan to the Demon Realm to gather Purple Spirit Yang Restoration Grass, the encounter with the Demon Saint in the Demon Realm, and the subsequent destruction of Black Sand City after their departure.

"Husband went to the Demon Realm, and the Three-Legged Crow Demon Saint and the Nine-Tailed Spirit Fox Demon Saint—two Demon Saints—appeared in the East Sea simultaneously?!"

Huangfu Bing'er gasped, her usually pristine, beautiful face turning pale with disbelief.

"It is indeed hard to credit, but both Demon Saints have manifested in the Sea of Blood. The Heavenly Dao Alliance and the Heavenly Demon Alliance only have late Nascent Soul cultivators; there is simply no one capable of stopping them. The instantaneous destruction of Black Sand Immortal City is testament enough!" Ye Qin offered a wry smile. "What worries me most is that the Demon Tribes will take advantage of this to launch a massive counter-attack. Panic will grip the major Immortal Cities in the Sea of Blood, and they are sure to fall!"

"Then what do we do now?" Huangfu Bing'er asked quickly.

"The Sea of Blood has long been an extremely vital source of raw materials for our East Sea Cultivation World. Nearly thirty percent of the 'demon beast skin and bone materials, high-grade demon cores, high-grade ores, and high-grade spirit herbs' resources for East Sea cultivators come from the Sea of Blood. But with the appearance of the Demon Saints, if the battle in the Sea of Blood collapses, it will cease to be a place where East Sea cultivators can acquire raw materials. Without the Sea of Blood supply, the raw material prices in all East Sea Immortal Cities will inevitably skyrocket due to severe shortages."

"Now, you must immediately liquidate all finished spirit pills refined by the Qingdan Palace alchemists, including all the various high-grade spirit pills you and I have refined. Simultaneously, dispatch Qingdan Palace disciples to massively acquire spirit stones and all types of raw materials from the various cities! We can refine spirit pills ourselves; there is no need to hoard finished pills. What we lack are the raw materials. If the supply of raw materials is lost, Qingdan Palace will..."

Ye Qin paused, taking a deep breath, his voice settling into calm authority, "The news of the Demon Saints appearing in the Sea of Blood has not yet spread widely. Before this information spreads across the entire East Sea Cultivation World, we must acquire and hoard a large quantity of spirit stones and various raw materials. We must prepare in advance for the great disaster that is about to befall the East Sea!"

"Yes, I will immediately order all cultivators in Qingdan Palace to be dispatched!" Huangfu Bing'er nodded solemnly.

Massively selling finished spirit pills while rushing to buy spirit stones and raw materials was an extraordinarily significant decision for an Immortal Palace.

But she trusted Ye Qin's judgment. Given his meticulous caution, he would not make such a resolute decision unless he possessed overwhelming certainty.

"Additionally, someone needs to be sent to Purple Sword Immortal City in the Sea of Blood to notify Sect Master Zhou, suggesting he withdraw all cultivators of the Northern Branch back to the East Sea as soon as possible, lest a large contingent of elite cultivators suffer a devastating blow. The newly built Immortal Cities in the Sea of Blood have shallow foundations and weak defenses; only the main East Sea Immortal Cities might possibly withstand the threat of the Demon Saints."

...

Black Sand City had already been engulfed in a sea of fire from the Golden Crow fireballs, turning the sky a blinding golden color. Piercing screams rose and fell ceaselessly within the city.

Cultivators who had narrowly survived desperately fled toward the sea, away from Black Sand Immortal City.

A detachment of twenty to thirty late Nascent Soul cultivators broke free from the fire-ravaged Black Sand City, transforming into dozens of streaks of light heading westward toward the sea.

Outside the city, on the ocean surface, many such groups were visible.

"Ancestral Master, why aren't we leaving via the teleportation array? Perhaps that Three-Legged Crow Demon Saint is nearby; the sea outside the city is too dangerous."

A young cultivator with a hooked nose in the group asked anxiously.

"The large, long-distance teleportation array in the city is the only one, and it only connects back to Linhai City. It can only be activated once every ten breaths, and only transports dozens of people at a time. Too many cultivators are inside the city right now, all desperate to live. The struggle will be intense, and who would defer to me, their Sect Master, at such a moment? Should we kill them if they refuse to yield? We must first travel to nearby Immortal Cities and teleport back to Linhai City from there as quickly as possible. With the Three-Legged Crow Demon Saint appearing in the Sea of Blood, the entire area is highly unsafe; we must return to the East Sea Immortal Cities immediately," Sect Master Ji ground out hatefully.

A large, long-distance teleportation array is extremely difficult and costly to construct due to the precision required for long-distance targeting. Normally, one such array would suffice for an Immortal City, capable of transporting nearly a thousand cultivators per hour, allowing the safe evacuation of tens of thousands of citizens in just two or three days.

For Black Sand City, this single large array was more than adequate for routine use, even with capacity to spare. It was inconceivable that the Demon Tribes could breach an Immortal City in a single day.

But this catastrophe caused by the Demon Saint struck too quickly; the time available for escape was too short, preventing the vast majority of the city’s cultivators from using the large teleportation array.

"With fireballs this dense, the teleportation array has likely already been destroyed by the True Solar Fire!" Palace Master Wei, following closely behind Sect Master Ji, shook his head.

The young cultivator stood on his flying sword, turning back to look at the Black Sand Immortal City drowning in flames, his heart still pounding. He was preoccupied with thoughts of the exquisitely beautiful Fairy Qing; regrettably, they had been separated in the panic, and he didn't know if she had escaped the city. However, he dared not mention going back to look for her. Doing so would surely incur the Ancestral Master’s fury, resulting in his expulsion as the direct lineage Young Palace Master.

"The Three-Legged Crow Demon Saint is this formidable; perhaps half of the cultivators from the Immortal Palaces of the Heavenly Dao Alliance's Southeast Branch perished in Black Sand City! Damn it, this debt must be repaid!" Sect Master Ji’s face twisted in fury.

"Repay the debt? Who in the East Sea Cultivation World can kill the Three-Legged Crow Demon Saint?" the young cultivator asked, startled.

"Our cultivation world spans hundreds of thousands of years; there have been no shortage of Soul Transformation stage cultivators. Once these ancient cultivators learn of this, they will certainly come to eliminate this Demon Saint that has intruded into the Sea of Blood!" Sect Master Ji snorted.

"Soul Transformation stage cultivators? Ancestral Master, I recall reading in many ancient texts in the Palace that those ancient cultivators have all gone to the Northern Abyss Continent and the Southern Demon Continent!" The young cultivator’s spirits immediately lifted upon hearing about Soul Transformation cultivators, and he eagerly pressed for details.

"That is correct; those Soul Transformation stage cultivators have all gone to the Northern Abyss Continent and the Southern Demon Continent. Those two continents are far vaster and more perilous than the Central Lands or the East Sea Islands, but they contain unimaginable heavenly treasures and exotic materials that cannot be found in the East Sea. Most Heavenly Dao Alliance cultivators travel to the Northern Abyss Continent, while Heavenly Demon Alliance cultivators mostly head to the Southern Demon Continent. The divergence of the two great Immortal Alliances in antiquity was precisely due to differing destinations, which led to conflict." Sect Master Ji's expression darkened.

"But the Northern Abyss and Southern Demon Continents are incredibly distant from the East Sea Islands. For Nascent Soul cultivators to reach those continents... how many years would it take to fly there? Can they return in time to stop the Demon Saints before the chaos overwhelms the East Sea?" Palace Master Wei worried.

It wasn't just him; the other Palace Masters and Elders looked concerned.

"The Grand Headquarters of the Heavenly Dao Alliance has means to contact those Soul Transformation cultivators on the two continents and direct them to return immediately!" Sect Master Ji said bitterly.

At this moment, he didn't mind leaking some classified information from the Heavenly Dao Alliance to bolster the morale of the Palace Masters and Elders following him. This group of Nascent Soul cultivators constituted the core figures of the Heavenly Dao Alliance's Southeast Branch Immortal Palaces. If they lost confidence, the Southeast Branch might never recover. Sect Master Ji, in an effort to rally morale, felt compelled to reveal secrets to restore their conviction.

Yet, his own heart was exceedingly heavy.

Long ago, a Kui Ox Demon Saint from the Demon Realm had also appeared in the Sea of Blood causing trouble. That Kui Ox was ultimately slain by the great powers of the East Sea Cultivation World and forged into a Kui Ox Drum, a supreme magical artifact that served as the Heavenly Dao Alliance's cornerstone treasure. This was a widely known fact among many East Sea cultivators, symbolizing a great victory for the East Sea Cultivation World.

However, there was one matter that the vast majority of historical records and inscriptions never mentioned.

That was the earth-shattering catastrophe the Kui Ox Demon Saint had unleashed upon the East Sea Cultivation World before it was killed.

That calamity was the most tragic disaster the East Sea Cultivation World had endured in tens of thousands of years. The event was so horrifying that vast amounts of related records were either destroyed or sealed deep within the Grand Headquarters' archives. Furthermore, it involved so many critical secret dealings that even the five Grand Sect Masters of the Heavenly Dao Alliance could not access them, let alone ordinary cultivators.