The Demonic Eye Divine Weapon darted restlessly through the cloud-veiled, luxuriant peaks of Kunlun, and with every appearance from the mist, the entire mountain would subtly tremble. Though not large, the Divine Weapon possessed a staggering power capable of toppling mountains, leaving Kunlun on the verge of collapse.

The Grand Protective Array of the Guiyuan Sect, which shrouded the summit of Kunlun, finally exhausted its last vestige of vital energy. As the milky-white, ethereal mist slowly dissipated, the true visage of the Kunlun summit, long hidden by the smoke, began to emerge piece by piece.

At the apex of Kunlun Mountain, a party of seven sat cross-legged in profound stillness, acting as if they were utterly unaware that the array shielding their peak had vanished.

The seven maintained serene expressions, their gazes fixed but silent, seemingly awaiting an unseen event. Yet, faint halos shimmered around each of them, seven formidable auras rising like smoke signals toward the clouds above the Nine Heavens of the Five Elements Continent.

This was the terrifying power unique to the Nine Palaces Heavenly Sages!

The mist fully dispersed, and the cool moonlight spilled down like liquid mercury. Silence reigned on Kunlun; even insects ceased their chirping, as if sensing the strangeness atop the peak.

Accompanied by Youlan and Heavenly Martial King, the master of the Demonic Grotto advanced with effortless grace through the air. The crescent-moon-shaped Demonic Eye Divine Weapon hung quietly at his waist, its myriad eyes flashing with cryptic, unsettling colors, like hungry ghosts from the netherworlds peering upon the living, ready to strike at any moment.

This chapter was collected and published by the Four Friends of the Muscle-Grinding Group.

Behind the Master of the Demonic Grotto trailed three other Nine Palaces Heavenly Sages: Han Tian, Can Lang, and Xiao Yu. Han Tian’s face was alight with fighting spirit; Can Lang’s was set with killing intent; Xiao Yu’s expression was impassive. Though their dispositions differed, they instantly found their marks.

Han Tian turned his gaze toward Asura King. Can Lang narrowed his eyes at Gu Dan. Xiao Yu’s pale eyes flickered, finally settling upon Hu Hao.

The Demonic Grotto, one of the Eight Great Powers of the Sun Star Domain, possessed strength far exceeding any sect on the Five Elements Continent. The arrival of the Demonic Grotto Master himself, accompanied by three peak experts of the Nine Palaces Heavenly Realm, clearly signaled an intent to decisively settle the continent's affairs and seize the power of the Four Holy Beasts entirely.

The Four Holy Beasts were ancient lifeforms; even severely wounded beneath the earth, they retained a power unimaginable to ordinary beings. Should these invaders obtain their strength, they—already at the pinnacle of the Nine Palaces Realm—could nearly all break through, using the Beasts' power to ascend directly to the Ten Directions Heaven Realm.

The temptation of the Ten Directions Heaven Realm was overwhelmingly potent to anyone. Youlan could not resist it; Heavenly Martial King could not resist it; and these experts from the Demonic Lands were equally unable to stand against it.

The six arrived at the Kunlun summit. The Master of the Demonic Grotto glanced at Cao Xuanqi, adopting an air of perfect courtesy: “It is widely known that Brother Cao is one of the foremost experts in the Sun Star Domain. Seeing you today confirms the reputation is well-deserved. Brother Cao, if you would willingly submit to my Demonic Grotto, I promise to share half of the Four Holy Beasts' power with you. Shall we advance to the Ten Directions Heaven Realm together?”

Upon hearing this, the faces of Holy Mother Youlan and Heavenly Martial King shifted subtly. Simultaneously, they queried, “Grotto Master?”

The Master of the Demonic Grotto waved a hand to silence them, his gaze fixed brightly on Cao Xuanqi, awaiting an answer. Should Cao Xuanqi nod, he would immediately be treated as an honored guest.

Cao Xuanqi, who had been meditating with closed eyes, finally opened them. “In my entire life, I, Cao Xuanqi, have never served under anyone. It was true on the Five Elements Continent, it is true in the Sun Star Domain, and it shall remain true in the Boundless Star Domain hereafter!”

The Master of the Demonic Grotto sighed softly, a note of regret in his voice. “I knew Brother Cao was such a heroic figure. A pity. We must acquire the power of the Four Holy Beasts to reach the Ten Directions Heaven Realm. Men of divergent paths cannot walk together. If Brother Cao is unwilling to ally, then I must only offer my offense.”

Cao Xuanqi stood, his eyes sharp as swords, fixed upon Youlan and Heavenly Martial King. He slowly turned his head. “I perfectly understand that you two despise me to the core. Having remained on Kunlun for years, I have been waiting for you to seek revenge. You clearly possess the strength to fight me fairly, yet you have dared not come for so long, which has greatly disappointed me. Today you arrive, but only by borrowing the strength of others. Even if you gain the Four Holy Beasts’ power, you will remain mere cowards. What matter if you reach the Ten Directions Heaven Realm and enter the Dead Star Domain? You will still be nothing but insignificant figures unfit for notice!”

Youlan and Heavenly Martial King’s faces turned pale and flushed with shame at Cao Xuanqi’s words, leaving them speechless and unable to retort.

“Youlan, your use of a venomous scheme to force Gu Dan and me into battle clearly showed premeditation,” Asura King stated without politeness, each word hitting a weak point in Youlan’s heart. “Had Gu Dan and I not both been injured from that fight, would you have ever dared approach Guiyuan Sect, even with the aid of experts from the Demonic Lands?”

“Youlan, even if you obtain the power of the Four Holy Beasts, you will struggle to break through to the Ten Directions Heaven Realm! I guarantee it. How can you break through when fear festers within your heart?” Gu Dan remarked calmly, a slight smile on his lips.

The three spoke in turn, their words directly targeting the emotional weaknesses of Youlan. Her expression grew increasingly grim; the momentum she had gathered vanished under their sharp remarks, leaving no trace of combative sharpness.

“Heavenly Martial King, for a monarch, you actually practice perverse, heretical arts. Alas, no wonder your situation is so pitiful. Like Youlan, you will never hope to enter the Ten Directions Heaven Realm in this lifetime, even with the power of the Four Holy Beasts!” Shi Qianjie began his verbal assault, his tone contemptuous.

The Master of the Demonic Grotto smiled faintly, observing how Cao Xuanqi and his allies were inflicting deep psychological damage upon Youlan and Heavenly Martial King, making no move to stop them.

Only when the faces of Youlan and Heavenly Martial King turned increasingly ugly, and the cracks in their resolve widened, did he speak softly, “You two—only their blood can wash away the insults they have cast upon you. Only by personally slaying them and grinding their bones to dust can your hearts be made whole, and you can truly become demons!”

This mere sentence infinitely amplified the hatred brewing in Youlan and Heavenly Martial King’s hearts.

Suddenly, their eyes filled with bone-deep, unforgettable hatred. The power of this hatred magnified infinitely in their souls, causing their auras to surge instantly. Demonic intent boiled in their gazes, making them appear progressively further from being normal humans.

Gu Dan sighed inwardly, recognizing the Master of the Demonic Grotto’s true prowess. He cared nothing for the ultimate fate of Youlan and Heavenly Martial King; he merely used words to magnify the hatred and demonic will within them, allowing them to be swept away by these emotions and instantly gain world-shaking power.

Afterward, the fissures in their psyches would only deepen, perhaps never to heal in their lifetimes. The Master of the Demonic Grotto only cared that their power be immense in this moment, ensuring they would not drag him down. Whether Youlan and Heavenly Martial King lived or died afterward mattered nothing to him. It was even possible he might strike them down himself later.

Indeed!

With their internal hatred and demonic intent unleashed to their maximum, Youlan and Heavenly Martial King could no longer contain their inner resentment. They were the first to charge out, directing their conflict toward the group that had insulted them.

Cao Xuanqi paid them no mind whatsoever; his eyes never left the Master of the Demonic Grotto. As Youlan and Heavenly Martial King approached, Cao Xuanqi frowned slightly and spoke to the Master of the Demonic Grotto, “Come then!”

“As you wish,” the Master of the Demonic Grotto replied with an easy smile.

Boom! Boom!

Clouds of dark energy descended from the sky, and colossal demonic gates materialized in the air around the summit of Kunlun. These gates seemed to lead to unknown, abyssal hells; every one stood ajar, emitting intensely concentrated demonic qi.

Suddenly, the rich ambient vitality of the heavens and earth vanished from Kunlun. Demonic qi replaced everything, and any expert cultivating the profound mysteries of evil within this domain would find their power significantly enhanced. Conversely, those relying on the natural vitality of the world would be constrained, perhaps only able to exert eight-tenths of their full strength.

The Heaven Demon Devouring Heaven Barrier formed, allowing external demonic energy to pour directly in from the Star Domain, rolling in from beyond the Five Elements Continent to aid the experts from the Demonic Lands.

As the Heaven Demon Devouring Heaven Barrier took shape, the entirety of Kunlun was enveloped in dense demonic qi. The Master of the Demonic Grotto looked up, smiled upon finding the moon and stars completely obscured by the dark energy, and nodded to Han Tian and Can Lang beside him. “You may proceed.”

The great battle ignited instantly!

Can Lang and Han Tian blurred into motion, each fabricating a space of their own in the air. Within the Heaven Demon Devouring Heaven Barrier, these self-created spaces seemed to fuse with the Barrier itself. Within them, they commanded every blade of grass, every tree, every mountain, and every stream, moving to engulf Asura King and Gu Dan.

Peak Nine Palaces Heavenly Realm: Creation of the Void.

Two new worlds formed from thin air. Can Lang and Han Tian positioned themselves at the entrances of their respective domains, utilizing their immense power as peak Nine Palaces Heavenly Sages to come and go, swallowing Asura King and Gu Dan.

Asura King and Gu Dan exchanged a look, and a halo suddenly flared around their bodies.

From Gu Dan’s halo, a spectacle of ice and snow materialized. As the halo spread, a magical realm filled with glaciers and swirling snowflakes slowly surfaced behind him. This newly formed world appeared like a mirage, both tangible and elusive.

Asura King was equally formidable. Evil light pulsed from him, slivers of corrupt power snaking around like long serpents. A world materialized, choked with miasma and swamps, where monsters from the Asura Realm fought viciously—the rule of the survival of the fittest was evolved to its extreme within Asura King’s created world.

The worlds formed by Gu Dan and Asura King suddenly expanded outward from their centers, as if the two intended to draw this concrete reality into their constructed domains.

Can Lang and Han Tian also pushed their power to the extreme. Their respective worlds shot forth mountains and lakes, filled with demons ten times larger than sharks leaping out toward the worlds of Gu Dan and Asura King.

In a bizarre twist, the terrifying attacks launched by the two generals, when striking near Gu Dan and Asura King, silently entered the worlds that had sprung up beside the pair.

The mountains, lakes, flowers, birds, and demons belonging to Can Lang and Han Tian’s worlds, upon entering Gu Dan and Asura King’s domains, instantly became frenzied. The natural scenery and demonic flora there immediately displayed their violent natures. Towering mountains in those two worlds began to ceaselessly smash and collide. Lakes unleashed torrents of floodwater to drown everything, while the demons hunted the beings within Gu Dan and Asura King’s worlds everywhere.

However, Gu Dan and Asura King’s worlds possessed immense retaliatory force. Tens of thousands of mountains flew out simultaneously to suppress the mountains that did not belong, and when floods raged, the earth cracked open, swallowing the torrents deep underground.

The plants, flowers, spirit beasts, fierce monsters, and demons within their worlds also launched counterattacks, battling the creatures from Can Lang and Han Tian’s worlds.

Furthermore, the physical bodies of Gu Dan, Asura King, Can Lang, and Han Tian began to engage each other directly. Their mutually created worlds pressed and collided, rendering the environment within the Heaven Demon Devouring Heaven Barrier highly unstable, occasionally erupting with bizarre, multicolored light.

Meanwhile, Heavenly Martial King and Youlan, fighting in tandem, had managed to surround Shi Qianjie, Yao Kui, and Li Hentian, leaving the three struggling desperately.

Heavenly Martial King and Youlan clearly understood that Cao Xuanqi was their greatest enemy, yet when they advanced, they did not strike him directly. It seemed that in their minds, Cao Xuanqi remained an insurmountable threat.

The fact that the two, even united, dared not challenge Cao Xuanqi demonstrated the terrifying deterrent he held over them.

Perhaps precisely because they were aware of their own inner cowardice, they could not unleash their full strength against Yao Kui, Shi Qianjie, and Li Hentian. They should have been able to eliminate the trio easily, yet for some unknown reason, they could only temporarily contain them. Many potentially devastating secret techniques suffered a great drop in power due to their internal psychological fissures.

The psychological attacks waged by Cao Xuanqi, Gu Dan, and Asura King were now beginning to show their effect.

Xiao Yu, her face pale and sickly, drifted toward Hu Hao. Unlike Can Lang and Han Tian, she did not immediately unleash a barrage of attacks upon Hu Hao. Instead, she simply watched him quietly, her gaze fixed as if she were looking at a corpse.

Under Xiao Yu’s stare, Hu Hao felt immense pressure. His usual languor vanished; his eyes were grim, and all his power was gathered, poised for any moment.

Xiao Yu delayed her move, but her eyes slowly turned numb, cold, and rigid, as if incubating some mysterious, unfathomable demonic strike.

Hu Hao finally broke, choosing to strike first against Xiao Yu. Yet, before he reached her, the scene abruptly shifted. He suddenly found himself in a dead, stagnant world, where nothing existed but endless corpses. The bodies were varied and grotesque—some dismembered, some burned, some flayed—the manner of death too horrific to witness.

Corpses littered the ground; corpses hung suspended in the sky. Blood of all colors streamed forth. In this world, there was no sign of life—only death.

Hu Hao felt profoundly uncomfortable. Just as he sought a way to escape, he noticed that the corpses on the ground and in the sky were reviving, one after another. Blood-dripping heads and severed arms seemed to gain life and surged toward Hu Hao from all directions.

“Brother Cao, you are also known as a strong figure in the Sun Star Domain. To be able to exchange blows with you today is truly one of life’s great pleasures,” the Master of the Demonic Grotto smiled, walking slowly toward Cao Xuanqi.

Between the Master of the Demonic Grotto and Cao Xuanqi, wondrous spaces suddenly materialized from the air. These spaces resembled moving scrolls, depicting every facet of human emotion: joy, anger, sorrow, happiness, the cycle of birth, aging, sickness, and death.

There were nine such scenes in total, encompassing the meanings of birth, aging, sickness, death, joy, anger, sorrow, happiness, and hate—human experiences. In every scene, there was an iteration of the Master of the Demonic Grotto.

The first scene depicted the Grotto Master’s birth: immediately imbued with demonic qi, he was abandoned by his parents on a desolate mountain, crying bitterly.

The second scene showed his growth and various experiences, detailing the precise process by which he slowly descended into demonhood.

The scenes for sickness, death, joy, anger, sorrow, happiness, and hate all flashed with active images. The entire life of the Master of the Demonic Grotto seemed to unfold within these nine segments.

The Master of the Demonic Grotto stepped into the first scene, causing the figure within to vanish. He then stepped into the second. The replica in the second scene also disappeared. Moving step by step, he seemed to merge with the nine figures housed in the scrolls, his aura growing stronger with each transition.

When he emerged from the final scene—Hate—the Master of the Demonic Grotto’s aura had magnified ninefold!

He appeared as a completely different person. His former elegant demeanor was gone, replaced by eyes filled with savagery and hatred, like the most terrifying demon king from the depths of hell, arriving with profound loathing for every living thing in existence.

Cao Xuanqi’s expression grew solemn. Finally, a plain longsword appeared in his hand. With a wave, tens of thousands of sword projections, shining like solar light, shot out and struck the nine scenes behind the Master of the Demonic Grotto.

The nine scenes shattered instantly. However, the fragmented scenes behaved like mirrors, revealing even more marvelous scenarios.

But this time, something was different: in the hundreds of fragmented scenes that appeared, the protagonist was Cao Xuanqi!

In every single shard, there was an image of Cao Xuanqi! And in each scene, Cao Xuanqi was engaged in a different activity!

Sometimes cultivating, sometimes fighting opponents, sometimes walking alone through dense forests, sometimes searching the Sun Star Domain for star essence.

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