Blood Hulu Old Demon and Azure Soaring Sword Venerable saw the Nine-Tailed Spirit Fox self-detonate its physical body, and their expressions finally changed drastically. They exchanged a glance, their shock barely concealed.
Whether a Demon Saint or a Soul Transformation cultivator, both cherished their lives immensely. To reach their current level of cultivation, they had endured countless years of grueling training and tribulations. One wrong step on the immortal path meant being forever cut off from reaching Soul Transformation or Demon Saint status.
These Demon Saints had gone mad in their killing spree; they weren't even sparing their incomparably precious physical forms, willing to self-detonate and destroy millennia of demonic cultivation progress. Whatever they were fighting over must be far more valuable than their bodies to drive them to such a frantic act.
The two of them were clearly at a disadvantage. If these Demon Saints resolved their internal conflict and joined forces against them, the situation would likely turn dire. There was little opportunity to fish in troubled waters in this scenario; instead, their lives could be forfeit at any moment.
“Go!”
Blood Hulu Old Demon roared, unleashing a mighty blow with his staff-like divine artifact. It transformed into countless massive mountain shadows, each weighing over ten thousand jun, smashing one charging Demon Saint dozens of miles away. He then turned, leaped onto the Blood Gourd, and sped off.
Azure Soaring Sword Venerable used his great divine sword ability to cover the retreat, turning and rapidly leaving the sea area.
Azure Luan Demon Saint, having been caught in the sudden, massive fiery explosion, was momentarily distracted. This allowed the other two to punch a hole in the encirclement and break out. Even with the combined strength of three Demon Saints, they could only gain a slight advantage; preventing these two Soul Transformation cultivators from escaping, especially when they were determined to leave, was not an easy task.
“Do not pursue!”
Azure Luan Demon Saint watched them leave with his own eyes but sharply halted the two Demon Saints attempting to give chase.
“Azure Luan Captain, if we let them escape, they will certainly leak the news! They might even draw a large number of Soul Transformation cultivators here to fight for the Sacred Artifact!”
One Demon Saint urgently stated.
“They probably don't know exactly what the Nine-Tailed Spirit Fox held; at best, they can only guess we were fighting over some treasure!”
Azure Luan Demon Saint’s face was grim. He slowly fanned his wings, his voice sharp, “Furthermore… we can’t kill them anyway. Return! Securing the Sacred Artifact is the priority. We must bring the artifact back to the Demon Realm before the Soul Transformation cultivators arrive to contend for it!”
...
The hundred-mile radius of sea centered around the Nine-Tailed Spirit Fox’s self-detonation—the pillar of fire that shot straight up into the azure sky—had gradually weakened. Flames still wreathed the surface of the sea.
The closest, Azure Ox Demon Saint and Three-Legged Crow Demon Saint, ignoring the injuries sustained from their physical bodies being bombarded, pushed through the rolling inferno and plunged into the boiling sea, frantically searching the depths for any trace of the Sacred Artifact.
They cared nothing for the Nine-Tailed Spirit Fox’s self-destruction, but the Sacred Artifact absolutely could not be lost!
Within the Twilight Hall, there were numerous Sacred Artifacts; every single one was an exceedingly rare spiritual treasure of heaven and earth, some even being peerless treasures of the sixteenth rank.
However, the Demon Realm’s most precious and singular Sacred Artifact, one intrinsically tied to the realm’s destiny, was unique. It rested upon a Twilight Altar in the deepest recess of the Twilight Hall, and only the Saint Lord, who reigned for a thousand years, was qualified to comprehend its mysteries. If the current Saint Lord could not unlock its secrets, the next Saint Lord would continue the endeavor.
Once a Saint Lord deciphered the mystery of this Sacred Artifact, their power would soar to unimaginable heights, enabling them to sweep across all the tribes and clans of the Demon Realm, unifying the fractured domain, and becoming the undisputed Lord of the Demon Realm, capable of resisting the pressure from the human cultivators of the Southern Demon and Northern Abyss regions. Only upon the Demon Realm Lord’s death would the Sacred Artifact return to its origin, placed once more on the Twilight Altar.
The Saint Lord of the previous millennium in the Demon Realm was the patriarch of the Spirit Fox Clan. The patriarch of the Azure Ox Clan was newly inaugurated as the Saint Lord for the current millennium. However, just as the succession took place, the Azure Ox patriarch discovered that the Sacred Artifact on the altar had been stolen by Qing Qiu Li, the Nine-Tailed Spirit Fox responsible for guarding the Sacred Hall.
Losing this Sacred Artifact would spell an unimaginable disaster for the Demon Realm.
“No, where is the Sacred Artifact? Why can’t I sense even the slightest trace of it! Could the Nine-Tailed Fox’s self-detonation have destroyed it? Impossible! How could the Sacred Artifact be destroyed!”
Azure Ox Demon Saint roared as he charged into the ocean, his four hooves churning the seawater within a hundred-mile radius.
The physical body of the Nine-Tailed Spirit Fox, Qing Qiu Li, had completely disintegrated into dust, leaving not even a minute fragment. The dense, seductive fox aura filled the skies over the entire hundred-mile expanse of sea. The crimson mist released by the Nine-Tailed Spirit Fox Demon Saint just before her demise had caused the physical bodies of the Demon Saints to fall into a state of slight numbness.
However, being Demon Saints, their resistance to the fox essence was formidable. This crimson mist only caused a one or two-tenths reduction in their strength, not enough to completely strip them of combat effectiveness.
“The Sacred Artifact is gone! How can this be!”
Three-Legged Crow Demon Saint’s scarlet eyes swept over every inch of the sea, finding nothing, revealing immense disappointment.
“Seize the Three-Legged Crow for me!”
Unable to locate the Sacred Artifact, Azure Ox Demon Saint turned his unfocused rage entirely upon the Three-Legged Crow Demon Saint, bellowing orders at the surrounding Demon Saints.
“Azure Ox, you are merely a captain guarding the Sacred Hall, your status is equal to mine. What right do you have to seize me!”
Three-Legged Crow Demon Saint shrieked fiercely.
“You colluded with the Nine-Tailed Spirit Fox, Qing Qiu Li! That crime is enough to take you down! If the Sacred Artifact isn’t with the Nine-Tailed Spirit Fox, it must be with you!”
Azure Ox Demon Saint roared.
“You are framing me! I was the one who discovered the Nine-Tailed Fox’s theft of the Sacred Artifact and pursued her to the East Sea, risking my life to capture her and return her to the Demon Realm. That is my duty! I served the Saint Lord with my life; where is my guilt?! The Sacred Artifact was clearly with the Nine-Tailed Spirit Fox, how could it be in my hands!”
Three-Legged Crow exclaimed in a panic.
“You still dare to argue! Qing Qiu Li guarded a passage in the inner hall of the Twilight Hall, and you guard a passage in the outer hall. If you hadn't conspired with her, secretly conniving and covering for her, how could she have smuggled the Sacred Artifact out of the Hall in plain sight? You seized the Sacred Artifact from her and pursued her relentlessly—it’s clearly an attempt to silence her and cover up the artifact’s whereabouts. Your sins will be judged personally by the Saint Lord! Seize him and take him back!”
Azure Ox Demon Saint tolerated no further argument, charging forward with his head lowered. A streak of azure light emerged from his sharp horns as he roared and lunged toward Three-Legged Crow Demon Saint.
“Kill!”
The remaining five Demon Saints exchanged glances without a word, converging on the Three-Legged Crow from all directions. Whether the Sacred Artifact was destroyed or not, someone needed to shoulder this blame. Besides the Three-Legged Crow Demon Saint, who else could possibly take the fall for such a monstrous crime!
The Nine-Tailed Spirit Fox was dead, and the Sacred Artifact hadn't even left a shadow. They had to capture the Three-Legged Crow Demon Saint and bring him back to the Demon Realm to give an account to the Saint Lord.
…….
“Damn it, why did so many Demon Saints suddenly appear and ruin my Skeleton Warship!”
In a vast expanse of sea, the Ghost Lord burst forth from the churning, wave-tossed surface. Flying several feet above the waves, he stared toward the epicenter of the massive explosion a thousand miles away, still shaken and filled with vexation and regret. That wave of fiery cloud surging up earlier had sent him crashing into the sea, and he had taken advantage of the violent currents to escape to a far distance from the battlefield.
With so many Demon Saints in this area, he dared not fly too high in arrogance.
If even the Ghost Lord, with his formidable cultivation and strength, ended up in such a wretched state, the situation for the other Ghost Cultivators was even worse.
About six or seven Nascent Soul Ghost Cultivators gradually emerged from the surrounding deep sea. Discovering the Ghost Lord’s location, they swiftly flew toward him to pay respects. Among them were Skeleton General, Corpse King, and the Ghost Lord’s mount, the Two-Headed Ghost Vulture.
As for the other Ghost Cultivators, they had either perished in the chain of sudden events or fled to unknown locations.
Many Nascent Soul Ghost Cultivators had only recently submitted to Desolate Spirit Island, yielding only due to the pressure of the Ghost Lord’s power; they possessed no deep loyalty. Now that the Desolate Spirit Island forces had suffered heavy losses—their power accumulated over centuries shattered in an instant—they naturally scattered when the Demon Saints began their chaotic battle and disaster loomed, abandoning their master.
“My Lord, where do we go now?!”
Skeleton General’s tone was deeply mournful.
“Chase! Don’t let that Ye brat escape! My Ice Lotus Seed is still in his hands!”
The Ghost Lord gritted his teeth and hissed sinisterly.
The chaotic demonic energy from the Demon Saints continued to surge; the Ghost Lord dared not linger. With a sweep of his great robe, clusters of pitch-black corpse clouds enveloped the six or seven panicked Nascent Soul Ghost Cultivators, forcing them to fly almost skimming the sea surface as they sped south in pursuit of the Great Wing Warship.
The Skeleton Warship was destroyed.
The Ice Lotus Seed in Ye Qin’s possession—that, he had to reclaim.
...
The Great Wing Warship, tossed about like a small skiff in towering waves, was blown over a thousand miles by the violent gale before it finally stabilized. The light radiating from the fiery ascent gradually faded, and the strong winds finally subsided.
Ye Qin, controlling the Great Wing Warship, flew incessantly toward the southern sea, putting distance between himself and the battlefield.
After the massive explosion, he noticed that the demonic energy fluctuation belonging to the Nine-Tailed Spirit Fox, Qing Qiu Li, had vanished from heaven and earth. The Great Wing Warship had been fleeing at top speed since the Three-Legged Crow Demon Saint appeared. Despite being far away, it was still violently affected; Ye Qin turned pale just recalling the sheer power at the core of the blast.
Such terrifying might could likely only be caused by the self-detonation of a Demon Saint or a Soul Transformation cultivator.
The disappearance of Qing Qiu Li’s spiritual pressure made it easy to deduce what had happened—Qing Qiu Li had self-detonated and died.
“Even with the strength of a Nine-Tailed Spirit Fox Demon Saint, she was still forced to self-detonate. The power of that group of Demon Saints is probably not inferior to hers, one by one.”
Ye Qin murmured inwardly.
He hadn't had much interaction with Qing Qiu Li; perhaps only meeting her three or four times, with very little conversation shared. However, despite being a Demon Saint of the Demon Realm, she had never displayed any bullying behavior. While Ye Qin didn't feel much affection for her, neither did he harbor any aversion.
But to see such a dignified Demon Saint die like this left Ye Qin with a heavy sense of pressure. Superior strength was eternally indispensable in the Cultivation World. Insufficient power meant even a Demon Saint could perish at the hands of others.
He dared not even watch closely at the level of fighting between Demon Saints, let alone intervene.
“Husband, Senior Qing Qiu died by self-detonation?”
Huangfu Bing'er also arrived on the deck just then. Seeing Ye Qin gazing into the distance with a strange expression, she couldn't help but ask.
Ye Qin sighed faintly and nodded, “Once one cultivates to the realm of Demon Saint or Soul Transformation, unless they actively seek death, true death and the obliteration of spirit are exceedingly rare. When the Saint Emperor was almost entering the Soul Transformation realm, he was ambushed, yet still managed to preserve his life without his physical body being destroyed. Senior Qing Qiu’s self-detonation suggests she was truly cornered with no way out.”
Huangfu Bing’er’s mood was complex for a moment.
“Brother Ye, Sister Bing’er, come quickly and look! Senior Qing Qiu left two things in her private cabin!”
Just then, Bai Xiu’er suddenly poked her head out from the cabin, calling out to the two on the deck.
“She left two things?”
Ye Qin, hearing this, was startled.
He immediately flashed into the Great Wing Warship’s cabin, taking several steps to reach the room formerly occupied by Qing Qiu Li.
Huangfu Bing’er followed gracefully, her sleeves fluttering.