The Three-Legged Crow Demon, Xu Xu, slowly unfurled its massive, glittering golden wings, descending upon Black Sand City, which was entirely engulfed in the true solar fire. Specks of golden flame scattered from its wings, striking the ground below.

Vast swathes of the city’s structures were instantly reduced to ruin, melting into rolling magma, as countless cultivators, insignificant as ants in its sight, fled with terrified screams and wails.

It surveyed the devastation without expression, scanning the area of Black Sand City and several hundred miles around it, searching for the whereabouts of the Nine-Tailed Spirit Fox.

Whether a cultivator at the late Nascent Soul stage or a mere ant at the Golden Core stage, most would never even catch a glimpse of a Demon Saint-level demon cultivator in their entire lifetime. Yet, this encounter signaled an unforeseen, catastrophic disaster.

In the Three-Legged Crow's eyes, all beings below the Demon Saint level, and certainly those below the Soul Transformation stage, were but insignificant specks. This petty Black Sand City was merely a nest of such specks. The outcome for the cultivators of the East Sea within the city resulting from its arrival was entirely outside its consideration.

It activated the great divine ability, 'Golden Crow in the Midday Sun,' to monitor tens of thousands of miles of ocean, finally detecting the trace of the Nine-Tailed Fox appearing within the city limits.

However, at this moment, it found no trace of the Nine-Tailed Fox Demon Saint within Black Sand City or the surrounding hundreds of miles.

The gaze of the Three-Legged Crow Demon Saint suddenly fixed upon a ruined teleportation array in the city's center.

It understood instantly.

The Nine-Tailed Spirit Fox had deliberately revealed its presence to lure it out, and then the Fox utilized the teleportation array within the human Immortal City to escape, fleeing to another Immortal City. But the array had been incinerated by its true solar fire, preventing pursuit via that route.

Damn it!

Its great divine ability, 'Golden Crow in the Midday Sun,' could only be cast once per 'Gang'—a measure of time. For the next month, it would be unable to use the divine ability to monitor the Nine-Tailed Fox's movements.

Fury surged within the Three-Legged Crow Demon Saint; it spread its wings and shot toward the heavens, its powerful, sharp cry echoing across the sea surface.

It may have escaped for a moment, but could it escape for a lifetime?

In the East Sea Cultivation World, just where could the Nine-Tailed Fox flee to?

With a stretch of its wings, the Three-Legged Crow Demon Saint transformed into a colossal golden light spanning ten thousand zhang, vanishing into the sea mist. It knew that other Immortal Cities scattered across the Sea of Blood also possessed teleportation arrays!

After an unknown span of time, Black Sand City was left in utter silence, reduced almost entirely to magma ash, devoid of any trace of living creatures.

Six colossal Demon Saint figures suddenly materialized ten thousand zhang above the sky, their grim gazes fixed upon the ruins of Black Sand City.

"The Demon Realm has long ceased to concern itself with the affairs of the Demon Sea. I never expected human cultivators to build cities deep within the heart of the Sea of Blood! In another few hundred thousand years, they might build cities into the Demon Sea itself, seizing the ancestral lairs of the East Sea Demon Tribes!"

A low, gravelly voice stated emotionlessly.

"Mere low-tier cultivators; one Demon Saint is enough to wipe them out. Let's not concern ourselves with that for now; retrieving the Sacred Relic is paramount. This city was destroyed so thoroughly by the true solar fire, leaving behind a potent demonic aura. It seems Captain Crow was here! He showed his form here, likely attacking the Nine-Tailed Fox, Qing Qiuli, but there is no trace of Qing Liuli’s demonic aura here, which is rather strange," one observed. "They did not linger long here."

A sharp, eagle-like voice interjected.

"Two Captains, do you believe Captain Crow collaborated with Qing Qiuli, or did Qing Qiuli act alone?"

"The one who stole the Sacred Relic is undoubtedly the Nine-Tailed Fox, Qing Qiuli. As for Captain Crow, even if he did not conspire with Qing Qiuli, he harbors wicked intentions, coveting the Sacred Relic. Whether they stole the Sacred Relic together or acted out of separate greed, both crimes warrant death. This incident has enraged the Sacred Master and shocked the entire Demon Realm; we must swiftly recover the Sacred Artifact of the Holy Palace and execute these two demons!"

"That Nine-Tailed Fox is notoriously cunning. To steal a Sacred Relic from the heavily guarded Holy Palace means tracking her down and reclaiming the artifact will not be easy." However, Captain Crow has been pursuing the Nine-Tailed Fox; with his great divine ability, it would be difficult for her to escape his notice. As long as we track down Captain Crow, we can find the Nine-Tailed Fox's whereabouts!"

After the eagle-like voice finished speaking, the scene fell into a brief silence before the low voice spoke again, "I harbor one more concern; I fear this journey will not be easy!"

"What concern?"

"Captain Crow acts violently and never knows restraint. With this Immortal City destroyed, the Soul Transformation cultivators of the Northern Darkness and Southern Demon will surely receive news of a Demon Saint descending upon the East Sea very soon. They will likely be extremely displeased. More troublesome still, if they learn that the Sacred Relic has been lost to the East Sea, they will certainly intervene to seize it—that is the true headache!"

"A mere small city, if it's destroyed, it’s destroyed. If we can retrieve the Sacred Relic, destroying ten or eight more is of no consequence. Do those Soul Transformation cultivators intend to wage war against the Demon Realm over this!" However, the news of the Sacred Relic must absolutely not reach those cultivators." Hmph, Qing Qiuli, Wu Tian, daring to take the Sacred Relic out of the Demon Realm—we will settle this score thoroughly! "For now, the priority is finding Captain Crow as quickly as possible! With the city destroyed, Captain Crow's demonic aura vanished in the northwest direction. Let's go!"

"Yes, Captain!"

Following a few brief exchanges, the voices of the two leaders, along with the figures of several Demon Saints behind them, abruptly vanished from the skies above Black Sand City.

No one knew they had come.

The shocking news that Black Sand Immortal City was destroyed by a Demon Saint gradually spread from the fleeing cultivators to various regions of the Sea of Blood and the East Sea Islands.

Perhaps because the East Sea cultivators had not dealt with a Demon Saint for so long, the reactions of those who received the news were complex. Some were pessimistic and despairing, believing a great catastrophe was imminent for the East Sea Cultivation World. Others, however, saw it as a golden opportunity, becoming elated and ecstatic. There were even some arrogant late-stage Nascent Soul cultivators who conceived the crazy notion of hunting a Demon Saint to forge a great divine artifact. It couldn't entirely be blamed on their arrogance, as there were precedents for slaying Demon Saints.

Ye Qin clearly belonged to the more pessimistic camp. He had personally witnessed the power of the Three-Legged Crow Demon Saint and the Nine-Tailed Fox Demon Saint, holding no illusions of luck. Moreover, he had personally seen the tremor that shook the Demon Realm due to the loss of the Sacred Relic, the gray egg. If that Sacred Relic was truly important, the Demon Realm would likely not give up easily. This meant there might be other Demon Saints appearing in the East Sea besides the Three-Legged Crow and the Nine-Tailed Fox.

The mere thought of groups of Demon Saints at the thirteenth stage or higher appearing in the East Sea made Ye Qin’s scalp crawl.

After a quick discussion with Huangfu Bing'er, Huangfu Bing'er immediately summoned the cultivators of the Azure Pill Palace to assign tasks, dispatching all several hundred cultivators to sell off all finished spiritual elixirs in the major Immortal Cities to acquire spirit stones, and massively purchase all kinds of raw materials unique to the Sea of Blood.

The disciples of the Azure Pill Palace were puzzled by the Palace Mistress's command, as, following the continuous victories in the Sea of Blood Immortal-Demon Battlefield, the supply of various raw materials had increased, causing their prices to continuously drop, making large-scale buying and hoarding unprofitable.

However, the Palace Mistress's orders were absolute and had to be executed immediately.

Including the department heads within the Palace such as Huangfu Rui, Chen Min, and Shen Bao, they led teams to various Immortal Cities to sell the finished spiritual elixirs refined by the Azure Pill Palace disciples over the years and procure raw materials.

Thanks to Ye Qin, the Azure Pill Palace had seized the initiative ahead of time.

By the time the news of Black Sand City's destruction by a Demon Saint spread, there was a massive surge in the purchase of raw materials from the Sea of Blood across all East Sea Immortal Cities, causing their prices to rise by one to two cheng in almost a single day.

This was only the beginning; the situation in the Sea of Blood was not yet clear, so there was no panic buying yet.

After dispatching a large number of Azure Pill Palace disciples to acquire spirit stones and raw materials, Ye Qin and Huangfu Bing'er finally calmed down to consider their next move.

Regarding this, Ye Qin already had further plans in mind.

"Bing'er, look at this."

Ye Qin took out a piece of Vermilion Fruit flesh from his storage pouch and placed it in Huangfu Bing'er's palm.

"Is this the Vermilion Fruit spoken of in cultivation legends?" It doesn't seem to contain spiritual energy!?" "It seems to be pure Primordial Qi?!"

Huangfu Bing'er felt an aura emanating from the Vermilion Fruit flesh seep into the flesh and blood in her palm, causing her to exclaim in surprise.

"Correct. Spiritual grasses of the sixth grade and below contain only spiritual energy. But the Vermilion Fruit is peculiar; it contains pure Primordial Qi, the same as the Qi of the Primordial Spirit. It can be absorbed directly by the Primordial Spirit without needing internal refinement, causing the Primordial Spirit's rank to surge in a very short time."

Ye Qin smiled faintly, "Just the Primordial Qi from a single such fruit could boost one from the early Qi Condensation stage to the peak of the late Nascent Soul stage. It's a pity this fruit cannot break through the bottleneck to the Soul Transformation stage; otherwise, we could use it to enter that realm."

"Husband, obtaining one Vermilion Fruit from the Demon Realm and reaching the peak of the late Nascent Soul stage in just one year is enough to shock the East Sea Cultivation World. Why are you still greedy enough to want to use it to break through to the Soul Transformation realm? There's no such easy fortune!"

Huangfu Bing'er chuckled.

"I have more than one Vermilion Fruit in my possession! As long as there are enough spirit stones, two, three, or even dozens can be obtained."

Ye Qin smiled and shook his head.

"More than one?"

Huangfu Bing'er looked doubtful.

"Indeed."

Ye Qin looked calmly into Huangfu Bing'er's clear eyes, carrying a touch of apology in his heart, nodding as if considering how to explain.

After a short while, he organized his thoughts and slowly recounted his entire experience: leaving home due to the Drought Disaster, accidentally discovering an eagle's nest on Eagle Cliff in Zhuqi County, joining the former Dan Sect, and how every breakthrough resulted in him forming a chrysalis.

Huangfu Bing'er knew most of Ye Qin’s affairs after he entered the Azure Pill Sect, but she was unaware of his earlier experiences in the Martial Kingdom.

"Gray Egg? Husband, you mean when you were still a youth in Zhuqi County, long ago, you swallowed a Gray Egg?" And this Gray Egg is exactly identical to the Holy Palace Sacred Relic held by the Nine-Tailed Fox Demon Saint?"

Huangfu Bing'er was stunned, covering her cherry-like mouth, and cried out in shock. She knew Ye Qin formed a chrysalis upon breakthrough and had always been puzzled, never imagining it was closely related to this Gray Egg.

"Mm."

Ye Qin nodded, then forced a wry smile, "I never knew what it was before, or why a space resembling a floating island of gray mist and purple lightning appeared in my sea of consciousness, where I could use spirit stones to rapidly grow spiritual wood and thus obtain a vast quantity of medicinal materials. I didn't know how to explain such an unimaginably strange matter to you. It wasn't until I went to the Demon Realm this time and encountered the Nine-Tailed Fox Demon Saint that I unexpectedly learned the true origin of the Gray Egg. Although I still don't know exactly what the Gray Egg is, I finally have some clues. And this Demon Saint catastrophe was brought about precisely because of the Gray Egg held by the Nine-Tailed Fox Demon Saint. If not for that Gray Egg, Black Sand City wouldn't have met the fate of destruction."