As Ye Qin's words fell… the expressions of the cultivators surrounding Dou Hongshan, led by Zuo Gu, shifted dramatically, almost all of them instinctively recoiling slightly.
“There are still two portions of Spirit Paste!”
“Only the living cultivators have a chance to obtain them!”
Ye Qin’s words undoubtedly struck the strongest desire in their hearts.
In this world, what could possibly be more alluring to these Nascent Soul cultivators than breaking through to the Soul Transformation Realm?!
Their faction boasted more than twenty late-stage Nascent Soul cultivators, clearly holding an absolute numerical advantage over Ye Qin and Huangfu Bing'er.
However, each of these Nascent Soul cultivators harbored their own selfish calculations.
The living might still have a share, but the dead certainly wouldn't. The longer one lived, the higher the hope of acquiring one of the remaining two Spirit Pastes. Charging to the front lines to fight Ye Qin, a peak twenty-round cultivator, meant a slim chance of survival, ultimately only benefiting the others.
Especially after that stout cultivator met his tragic end, they adamantly held their ground before Ye Qin and Huangfu Bing'er, daring not to press the attack rashly. It would be best if others went to their deaths, thus reducing the competition for the Spirit Paste.
“A pack of good-for-nothings!”
Qiuqiu Li cursed internally. Despite holding an overwhelming advantage, she appeared weak and ineffective at this crucial juncture, unable to subdue Ye Qin.
Of course, she had no intention of rushing to the front herself.
With the Spirit Paste, she could reach the Soul Transformation stage. Once she retrieved the sacred object, the Grey Egg, she could safely retreat to the Southern Demon Continent and dedicate herself to studying its mysteries. Naturally, she was unwilling to risk a life-or-death struggle with Ye Qin; her individual strength offered little chance of victory against him.
“Young Master Ye, your Devouring Blood Ancient Demon Vine is indeed terrifyingly powerful. This cavernous lair is a dead end; I have more than twenty subordinates blocking the only exit. You are trapped here, and escape is absolutely impossible. Hand over the Grey Egg, and I will let both of you leave!”
Qiuqiu Li, having lost hope in pressuring her own cultivators to attack, spoke coldly.
Ye Qin hesitated. He was unsure if Qiuqiu Li would immediately silence them after he handed over the Grey Egg. He had kept the egg precisely to maintain leverage over her, preventing her from playing any tricks during their journey.
“Give it to her. This item serves no real use in my hands. We have already obtained the Spirit Paste and must leave this place quickly, or too many variables might arise!” Huangfu Bing'er murmured softly.
Ye Qin deliberated for a moment, finally withdrawing an egg from his storage pouch.
The cultivators surrounding Qiuqiu Li watched with curiosity, wondering what object had caused such a rift between 'Dou Hongshan' and Ye Qin, leading them to turn hostile right there and then.
What is that thing?! the cultivators wondered amongst themselves.
But their curiosity quickly turned to disappointment. What Ye Qin produced was indeed an unremarkable grey egg, perhaps the spawn of some low-tier demonic hawk or snake, showing no abnormality whatsoever. If this egg were lying by the roadside, they likely wouldn't spare it a second glance.
“Hurry and toss it over!” Qiuqiu Li exclaimed, delight washing over her face as she extended her hand urgently.
Ye Qin held the egg, preparing to throw it.
“Kill—!”
“Splat!”
“Someone has already entered the lair! The Spirit Paste might have been taken! Kill them all, let no one go! Search their bodies afterward—we must find the Spirit Paste!”
At that moment, several screams erupted from the perimeter of the lair. Two of Dou Hongshan's subordinate cultivators died instantly.
A throng of more than ten mid-to-late stage Nascent Soul cultivators burst in from outside, roaring maniacally. Disregarding who was who, they unleashed their magical artifacts in a frenzy of slaughter. This sudden, violent offensive caught Dou Hongshan's group completely off guard.
“Another group has arrived to fight for the Spirit Paste! Kill them and secure our paste!”
Dou Hongshan’s subordinates refused to sit still and immediately engaged the attacking wave of cultivators.
The entrance and passageway of the lair instantly erupted in dazzling magical light, plunging the area into chaos.
“Senior Qiuqiu, you truly are unlucky! Your subordinates probably can’t help you now. How will you retrieve the Grey Egg by yourself?” Ye Qin, momentarily stunned by the sudden turn, chuckled and did not throw the egg.
“You~! Despicable!”
Qiuqiu Li’s face flushed alternately white and blue. Facing Ye Qin and Huangfu Bing'er alone, her features flickered with uncertainty. She no longer held any advantage; a forced confrontation would likely lead only to defeat and death.
“Rumble~~~!”
Suddenly, the cavern was wracked by an extremely violent tremor.
At some unknown moment, the half-sleeping Deep Abyss Strange Beast had been awakened by the mysterious aura emanating from the birth of a Spirit Treasure.
The sheer power of this aura made its massive body tremble, and its usually tranquil heart even experienced a pang of terror.
It had roamed the Demon Domain Abyss for tens of thousands of years, encountering countless powerful Demon Beast Lords, yet never had a Demon Beast Lord been so formidable as to induce fear in it. It had also consumed countless spiritual items from the Deep Earth Sea, yet no heavenly or earthly spiritual item had ever inspired such dread.
However, beneath the fear, a surge of wild ecstasy rose within it. Demon beasts cherished the emergence of rare natural treasures above all else. Even if it couldn't devour this treasure, merely possessing it might, through long-term spiritual influence, allow it to break through the fifteen-stage might of a Great Demon Beast Lord, evolving into an even stronger entity and gaining hundreds of thousands of years of extended life.
It opened its eyes, each nearly a thousand feet wide and high, projecting dazzling golden beams of light that stretched for hundreds of miles, attempting to locate the source of the mysterious aura.
These twin beams, piercing the silence and darkness of the subterranean abyss, carried an aura of terrifying deterrence. Wherever the light passed, countless low-level demonic beasts and minor beast lords fled in panic. The majesty of the Deep Abyss Strange Beast, a Great Demon Beast Lord, was something ordinary beasts could not withstand; even standard Demon Beast Lords fled in disarray.
As a fifteen-stage Great Demon Beast Lord itself, the sheer mass of a mature Deep Abyss Strange Beast meant it rarely encountered a worthy opponent within the abyss. The Deep Abyss Strange Beast was the most powerful sovereign of this Demon Domain Abyss; the entire fissure, stretching hundreds of millions of miles, served as its hunting ground. In one massive gulp, even other Demon Beast Lords became mere sustenance.
“Roar~~~!!!!”
The Deep Abyss Strange Beast opened its colossal maw and let loose a furious roar. Its immense body, hundreds of miles long and wide, slowly rose from the ground, scraping against the rocky cliffs of the abyss. Rocks tumbled down, and the surrounding area for ten thousand miles vibrated violently.
Where was that sudden, appearing and then vanishing, heavenly treasure?!
It must be nearby!
Inside the Deep Abyss Strange Beast, the Nascent Soul cultivators who had been desperately fighting over the Spirit Paste were stunned into silence by the sudden, violent shaking.
“What’s happening?”
“Not good! It’s the Deep Abyss Strange Beast! It’s moving! It’s been awakened! Heavens, the Great Demon Beast Lord is awake! What do we do? Flee or not?”
“Forget about it! We’re inside it; can it reach in here to kill us? Keep fighting! Secure the Spirit Paste first!!!”
“Splat! Ah~!”
Around the Spirit Paste Lair, both inside and out, at least one or two hundred Nascent Soul cultivators were gathered—no fewer than seven or eight distinct teams surrounding the cave, resulting in utter chaos where friend and foe were indistinguishable. Cries of agony rose and fell continuously.
Fortunately, identifying friend or foe was irrelevant; they only needed to kill. Only the few who survived would ultimately claim the Spirit Paste.
Amidst the mayhem, Ye Qin and Huangfu Bing'er forced their way out of the lair's exit, carving a path along the tunnel.
Qiuqiu Li attempted to block them, but Ye Qin’s Eight-Li Sword Formation combined with Huangfu Bing'er’s Void-Shattering Flash struck almost instantaneously, injuring her and forcing a retreat. She could only watch helplessly as Ye Qin and Huangfu Bing'er burst out of the lair.
If Ye Qin and Huangfu Bing'er hadn't been so intent on breaking out, or if she hadn't recognized the danger and fled quickly, her own life might have ended there.
The cavern shuddered violently.
“Splat!!”
Ahead, another Nascent Soul cultivator fell, consumed by an intense sense of regret.
Ye Qin rode his sword at the forefront. His slightly bloodshot eyes were filled with cold indifference, almost emptiness. Controlling the Devouring Blood Ancient Demon Vine, he wielded the Eight-Li Sword Formation, unleashing a massacre. Before him, no one could stand even for the duration of a single breath.
The terrifying nature of the Devouring Blood Ancient Demon Vine was that it grew exponentially upon consuming flesh and blood. This place was saturated with slaughter and gore. As soon as it touched the corpse of a fallen Nascent Soul cultivator, it would expand to terrifying proportions. As long as it had flesh to feed upon, it was virtually unkillable.
Huangfu Bing'er followed closely behind, vigilantly monitoring every movement around them.
Accompanied by continuous booming sounds, a vast expanse of the Demon Domain Abyss’s cliffs, spanning several thousand miles, began to collapse. The tremors could be felt for over a hundred thousand miles around.
The Deep Abyss Strange Beast, unable to locate the mysterious aura, roared in mounting frustration as it gradually ascended towards the sky above the abyss. It was determined to find the vanished spiritual treasure aura.
The rage of the Deep Abyss Strange Beast shocked the entire Demon Domain Abyss. Countless low-level abyss demons fell into extreme panic, fleeing the deep recesses and pouring out into the world above—millions, perhaps tens of millions of them.
The hundreds of thousands of Nascent Soul cultivators who had been scattered throughout the abyss hunting demons and searching for the Strange Beast were equally stunned. They had initially assumed it was an earthquake or volcanic activity, but they soon realized something was wrong—a Great Demon Beast Lord was rampaging! They immediately mounted their swords and fled wildly.
“The Great Demon Beast Lord is gone mad! Hurry and escape!”
Hundreds of thousands of streaks of Nascent Soul cultivator light hastily streamed out of the abyss, joining the masses of fleeing demons, abandoning their hunts altogether.
“What is happening?”
High atop a distant, towering mountain peak, several dozen Soul Transformation stage cultivators observing the Demon Domain Abyss hunt were shocked by the scene of extreme chaos unfolding below.
Then, a whale-shaped Great Demon Beast Lord, nearly a thousand miles long, breached the surface from the abyss. From the look in its eyes, its status as a Great Demon Beast Lord was undeniable. Its hide had petrified, making it resemble a giant, thousand-mile-long boulder.
“Is that… the Deep Abyss Strange Beast?”
“Why has the Deep Abyss Strange Beast emerged?! It’s a sea beast; it never easily leaves the waters of the subterranean abyss!”
“Who startled or provoked it?! How could the weak power of Nascent Soul cultivators manage to disturb it?!”
Even these Soul Transformation cultivators were seeing the full form of the Deep Abyss Strange Beast for the first time. What chilled these Soul Transformation experts most was the pair of ten-thousand-zhang golden beams radiating from its eyes. Wherever the golden light passed, whether demonic beasts or Nascent Soul cultivators, they dissolved into ash with a hiss.