The Great Winged Warship flew at its normal pace. After several months, Ye Qin finally spotted a vast expanse of land on the horizon—an endless coastline. The sky above this continent was pale blue, contrasting with the jagged mountains, sweeping deserts, lush peaks, and immense rivers, not to mention wildernesses choked with wild growth taller than a person.

Ye Qin and Huangfu Bing'er piloted the warship, gradually nearing the edges of the Southern Demonic Continent.

The colossal Spirit Demon City stood sentinel on the northernmost coast of the Southern Demonic Continent. This was the first place where cultivators from the Eastern Sea had arrived, where the Ancient Cultivators had gathered and established this magnificent Immortal City.

The Southern Demonic Continent also housed massive Immortal Cities where cultivators resided. Now, a large portion of the city's inhabitants were descendants of those Ancient Cultivators, who had continuously multiplied here. Relatively few cultivators had migrated directly from the Eastern Sea Cultivation World.

As they approached Spirit Demon City, they could already see numerous high-tier cultivators flying through the air, piloting dazzling magical artifacts or riding the mounts of demonic birds.

The Nine-Tailed Spirit Fox hesitated for a long time before finally proposing to Ye Qin that she place the Grey Egg and the Purple Spirit Rejuvenation Grass on his person.

As a spirit entity, she had no safe place to conceal these two items; she couldn't carry them openly. Furthermore, she intended to attach herself to Ye Qin's flying sword, unwilling to move freely on the Southern Demonic Continent for fear of being captured by Nascent Soul Transformation cultivators. The seal on her divine-grade flying sword could only restrain a Nascent Soul level artifact spirit; it was useless against her, a Demon Saint.

"Senior Qingqiu handing this item to this junior—aren't you worried that I might…"

Ye Qin felt immensely surprised, his heart pounding erratically, his mouth growing dry. If he hadn't known what the Grey Egg could be used for, he wouldn't have placed such importance on this sacred object. But since he did know, it was hard for him to fully believe it.

Before this, he dared not harbor any ambitions regarding the Grey Egg, as it was in the hands of the Nine-Tailed Spirit Fox Demon Saint.

Yet, unexpectedly, this sacred object of the demon realm, the mysterious treasure for which the Demon Saints risked their lives fighting, had fallen so easily into his grasp.

"What use is the sacred object of my demon race to you? Can you discover its secrets? It is merely being entrusted to you for safekeeping temporarily. Once I acquire a suitable physical body, I will naturally reclaim it. And make sure you don't lose this purple spirit grass either." Qingqiu Li's expression held a distinct air of disdain.

"However, for this junior to guard these two items for Senior, I must bear risk—I cannot do so without some form of compensation!"

"If you encounter trouble, I will try my best to assist you."

"Very well…"

Ye Qin sheepishly rubbed his nose, "reluctantly" agreeing to temporarily hold these two crucial items. He placed the Grey Egg and the Purple Spirit Rejuvenation Grass into his storage pouch. Qingqiu Li flashed and transformed into a small spirit fox, embedding herself within a small, fire-attributed divine-grade flying sword he carried.

Huangfu Bing'er watched from the side, biting her lip, wanting to laugh but daring not to. The Nine-Tailed Spirit Fox Demon Saint had actually miscalculated; she was completely unaware that her husband knew the Grey Egg inside and out.

Though, to be fair, even if Ye Qin took the Grey Egg, it wouldn't be of much immediate use to him. At the Nascent Soul stage, he already possessed a Violet Mansion space spanning four floating islands, which was more than enough for his cultivation, making the Nine-Tailed Spirit Fox's Grey Egg redundant for him.

The Grey Egg was best utilized by lower-tier cultivators, as a new floating island was generated in the Violet Mansion space with every advancement in realm, maximizing its benefits. A Nascent Soul cultivator using this Grey Egg to break through to the Spirit Soul Transformation stage would only gain one floating island, which was significantly less advantageous.

The Great Winged Warship gradually flew closer to the majestic Spirit Demon City.

Spirit Demon City was immense, with countless cultivators entering and exiting.

Not far outside the city, there was an area bustling like a marketplace. A towering banner hundreds of feet high hung there, inscribed with "Demon Combat Stage." Dozens of platforms, made of large and small bluestones, were laid out. Some cultivators were engaged in duels and sparring on these bluestone platforms, while surrounding them were crowds numbering in the thousands, perhaps tens of thousands, of Nascent Soul and Core Formation cultivators, with even quite a few Spirit Soul Transformation cultivators observing the action.

Ye Qin recalled his warship and landed, heading toward Spirit Demon City.

He, along with Huangfu Bing'er and Bai Xiuer, arrived at the North Gate of Spirit Demon City, intending to enter.

The guards at the city gate were uniformly Nascent Soul cultivators. Even though they were only in the early Nascent Soul stage, their presence alone was astonishing.

"Spirit Soul Transformation cultivators enter and exit Spirit Demon City free of charge. The entry fee for Nascent Soul cultivators is one Seventh-Tier Elemental Crystal per person. There are three of you; you need to pay three Seventh-Tier Elemental Crystals to enter. Are you ignorant of the rules?"

A Nascent Soul guard clad in black armor stopped the three when he saw Ye Qin and Huangfu Bing'er attempting to enter without paying the required crystals, his expression showing clear displeasure.

"Entry requires Elemental Crystals? Can't I use high-grade spirit stones?" Ye Qin looked bewildered.

"We do not accept spirit stones, only Elemental Crystals. Not only is payment required for entry, but every day spent inside the city also costs one Elemental Crystal. These are the rules of Spirit Demon City! Are you new to the Southern Demonic Continent and unaware of these customs? Go earn some Elemental Crystals and then return!"

The Nascent Soul guard couldn't help but look down on them slightly; newly arrived Nascent Soul cultivators held little status on the Southern Demonic Continent. Unless they were Spirit Soul Transformation stage, no one paid them much mind.

Ye Qin couldn't help but frown. Having just arrived on the Southern Demonic Continent, he was naturally unaware of these matters.

The Southern Demonic Continent produced Elemental Crystals, which were superior to spirit stones and therefore not highly valued.

He possessed only one Elemental Crystal, obtained from a Seventh-Tier demonic beast several months prior; this was clearly insufficient for the entry fee for three people.

"Let's go. We'll hunt a few demonic beasts and come back! This Southern Demonic Continent is vast; there should be plenty of demonic beasts." Huangfu Bing'er, her face veiled beneath a bamboo hat, whispered softly, holding Ye Qin's arm.

"Haha, where do you plan to hunt demonic beasts? The area spanning tens of millions of li around Spirit Demon City is all claimed territory. Only the Lords within this perimeter can dispatch people to hunt the beasts there. If you trespass onto a Lord's domain randomly, you'll have no grounds for complaint if you are killed."

"Of course, deep within the Southern Demonic Continent, there are vast tracts of uncivilized wilderness where demonic beasts roam freely to be hunted. However, the barbaric lands host powerful demonic beasts; only Spirit Soul Transformation cultivators can survive in those areas. If you feel your life is too long, you are welcome to try your luck there."

Upon hearing this, the guards burst into loud laughter, mocking them openly.

"Move along! Head over to the Demon Combat Stage by the city gate. If you are strong enough and lucky, perhaps winning a few rounds might earn you some Elemental Crystals. If you manage to win ten rounds, perhaps a Lord might even be willing to hire you for work! The more rounds you win, the more you earn."

The guard captain impatiently waved Ye Qin’s trio away to allow other cultivators waiting behind them to enter the city.

Ye Qin, feeling helpless, led Huangfu Bing'er and Bai Xiuer away from the North Gate.

Ancestor Blood Gourd had once told him that upon reaching Spirit Demon City on the Southern Demonic Continent, he should announce the ancestor's name to find someone to guide him to his territory, promising double remuneration for Ye Qin's services.

Ye Qin intended to settle down in Spirit Demon City first with Bing'er, checking various commercial establishments for any formulas to refine the Spirit Soul Transformation Elixir, hoping to find a way to reach the Spirit Soul Transformation stage on their own. If he and Bing'er could achieve this breakthrough independently, there would be no need to work for Ancestor Blood Gourd.

Being subservient was certainly less comfortable and unrestrained than finding one's own way. Only if he truly found no path to the Spirit Soul Transformation realm would he consider temporarily seeking out the Demonic Ancestor Blood Gourd to see if the ancestor possessed a method to assist his advancement.

What depressed Ye Qin, however, was that without Elemental Crystals, he couldn't even step through the gates of Spirit Demon City.

The single Elemental Crystal he possessed came from an unowned, barren island far out at sea, where he had coincidentally hunted a demonic ape months ago. The guards stated that all land on the Southern Demonic Continent was ruled by Lords who forbade unauthorized hunting of demonic beasts, under penalty of death.

Given this restriction, unless he spent several more months traveling to unowned islands in the distant sea, he had no way to hunt demonic beasts to acquire more Elemental Crystals. Moreover, those islands far out at sea did not harbor many beasts to slay. Living inside Spirit Demon City required one Seventh-Tier Elemental Crystal per day.

"Bing'er, let's go to the Demon Combat Stage! Those guards said one can earn spirit stones there; let's check the situation out." Ye Qin said.

Huangfu Bing'er nodded, leading Bai Xiuer toward the Demon Combat Stage located outside the North Gate.

The Demon Combat Stage was a few li outside the North Gate—an open-air venue for duels, surrounded by a dense crowd of onlookers. Many cultivators were actively fighting on the platforms, and the spectators cheered loudly in excitement.

"Fellow Daoist Wang, keep up the pressure and finish off that Sun fellow! That Sun fellow is almost done; his spiritual power is about to run out—fight him to the death!"

"Ah! Why has this Wang fellow run out of power too? He can't unleash his killing move at this critical juncture!"

"Damn it! Such a promising situation was completely reversed! This cost me over a hundred Elemental Crystals! Damn it, I'll never bet on Wang winning again! I suspect he and Sun colluded to cheat!"

Ye Qin, Huangfu Bing'er, and Bai Xiuer curiously pushed into the crowd to watch the duels.

After watching for about half an hour, Ye Qin quickly grasped the rules of the Demon Combat Stage.

Any cultivator could ascend the platform to become the platform master, wagering Elemental Crystals and accepting challenges from other cultivators.

Any spectator below the stage could bet an equivalent amount of Elemental Crystals against the platform master's wager and then challenge the master.

Generally, duels involved two cultivators or two groups of cultivators of the same rank. A late-stage Core Formation cultivator fought another Core Formation cultivator; a late-stage Nascent Soul cultivator fought another late-stage Nascent Soul cultivator.

If one did not fear death, they could challenge multiple opponents, or a lower-tier cultivator could actively challenge a higher-tier one.

If a combatant fell off the bluestone platform to the ground, they were considered defeated and forfeited their wagered Elemental Crystals.

Few cultivators dared to engage in one-against-many or low-tier challenging high-tier battles because, in addition to betting Elemental Crystals, the Demon Combat Stage operated under the principle of self-responsibility for life and death—fights were permitted to the death without any liability. If a cultivator realized they were outmatched, they should jump off the stage immediately and concede defeat to avoid being killed by their opponent. The rules of the Demon Combat Stage were quite lenient, essentially imposing no limits on cultivation realm, number of participants, or frequency, provided the platform master agreed to the challenger's demand.

Spectators could also place bets on the outcome of the duels.

The most thrilling rule of the Demon Combat Stage was "Continuous Battles, Doubling Wagers."

As the platform master successfully defended their position, the required wager for the next round doubled. Ten rounds, twenty rounds, or even more—there was no upper limit. In the later stages of a continuous defense, the Elemental Crystals required became a shockingly astronomical figure.

As long as the platform master did not descend or suffer defeat, they could continue defending indefinitely. (To be continued RH)