North Ling Mountain. Within North Ling Mountain, there existed several locations of paramount importance. Among these was the "Human-Demon Hybridization Chamber." North Ling Mountain operated under a distinct set of rules. Every crucial location had a designated guardian. Because those research laboratories were exceptionally vital, the regulation stipulated that even if North Ling Mountain were attacked, these guardians could not abandon their posts. This was precisely why, when Lu Yuan breached North Ling Mountain, many powerful figures remained absent from confronting him. And now, in the Human-Demon Hybridization Chamber, an overwhelmingly grim space where adjacent prison cells teemed with monstrous beings—neither fully human nor fully demon— The chamber echoed with excruciating screams and ferocious roars. To blend the blood and flesh of humans and demons defied natural processes; how could it be free of agony?

Xiang Dongfei flapped his wings ceaselessly, hovering in mid-air, gripping a slender spirit sword. He cackled, sneering down at Lu Yuan, clearly convinced of his imminent victory. Indeed, he possessed both the confidence and the requisite power. At the Ninth Layer of Longevity, combining the advantages of a cultivator and the Celestial Bat clan made him substantially stronger than an average cultivator at that same level.

Lu Yuan looked down at the Yangwu blade in his hand: "The Yangwu Sword. For so long, whether from my Master or the elders of my sect, they imparted a single maxim: 'Upon sighting a demon or fiend, draw your sword and slay.' I never truly accepted this, believing that among demons and fiends, not all deserved death, nor was immediate execution necessary." "But now, I finally understand what 'Upon sighting a demon or fiend, draw your sword and slay' truly means. The vast majority of demons and fiends possess an inherent path toward destruction. Slaughtering them all might not be wrong, but skipping even one to kill the next is absolutely flawed." His tone was grave, his expression serious.

Anyone familiar with Lu Yuan would note this rare display of seriousness. In previous confrontations, Lu Yuan rarely fought with his full intent, often maintaining a relaxed posture, allowing his opponents to strike first. But now, he was genuinely enraged. "Yangwu, advance!" Lu Yuan roared. The Yangwu Sword transformed into a streak of lightning, whirling outward. Xiang Dongfei paid it no mind; Lu Yuan’s sword speed was formidable, but his Celestial Bat wings were faster. With a single beat, he evaded the strike, the flash of light slicing through the space where Xiang Dongfei had just been. "Dusk's Descent..." "Ice Sealing Ten Thousand Miles..." "Snow Blanketing a Thousand Peaks..." "Water Flooding Golden Mountain..."

Lu Yuan unleashed four strikes instantaneously. The first sealed Xiang Dongfei’s upper space, the second his lower, the third his left, and the fourth sped toward his right. Each strike was designed to slow him down, ensuring that no matter where Xiang Dongfei moved, deceleration was inevitable. Xiang Dongfei immediately sensed something was wrong; his speed plummeted. He strained to beat his wings, but his velocity was forcibly suppressed. Lu Yuan’s sword began to move. The Sword Intent of Swiftness was applied to the blade, simultaneous with the Sword Intents of Wind, Cloud, Rain, Lake, and Sea—all erupting wildly. At this moment, there was no set pattern or fixed technique; he wielded the sword entirely fueled by the anger in his heart. Rage! Rage! Rage!

Driven by fury, various ultimate skills burst forth like a violent storm. Xiang Dongfei, initially self-assured of his victory over Lu Yuan, quickly realized his error. Lu Yuan’s tempestuous assault left no room for evasion; he was struck again and again. Struck by one sword after another, although Xiang Dongfei prided himself on the immense resilience of his demon-flesh physique, the relentless barrage took its toll. His injuries mounted. His initial disdain for Lu Yuan, the certainty that this cultivator could never defeat him—possessing the power of the Ninth Layer of Longevity, the speed of the Celestial Bat clan, and the flesh of a demon—now dissolved into fear facing Lu Yuan's relentless onslaught. He finally felt the possibility of death loom over him. "Aargh!" Xiang Dongfei shrieked as his Demon Core was pierced. Before that, his heart and throat had already been rent open. This final strike extinguished every spark of life. "Why? Why? When I was a cultivator, I was immensely powerful! Now, merged with demon flesh and sprouting the wings of the Celestial Bat clan, why must I still lose to you?" Xiang Dongfei shrieked incessantly as he died, glaring fiercely at Lu Yuan: "Can it be that the blood of this hybrid, this generation’s mongrel, is inferior to your pure-blooded human lineage?" He died unwilling and unconvinced of his defeat.

Lu Yuan ignored Xiang Dongfei’s dying ravings and walked toward the hundred or so cells. Those cultivators trapped within suffered agonizing torment. So be it, let them remain for now. With the three Martial Grand-Uncles as reinforcements, North Ling Mountain would eventually fall. Perhaps then there would be a way to restore them, though Lu Yuan knew such a recovery would be monumentally difficult. On to the next location.

He had intended to ask Xiang Dongfei for the location of the barrier to the Wuji Cloud Array, but Xiang Dongfei had only managed a bitter laugh before dying. Before expiration, his demon-human flesh began to self-destruct, ending his utterly sinful life in endless torment. His posthumous form—half-man, half-demon—was shockingly hideous. Among Xiang Dongfei's spoils were a significant number of wind-attribute spirit beasts, including thirteen massive Spirit Whales—a testament to his status as a cultivator at the Ninth Layer of Longevity.

Lu Yuan mounted his sword and flew forward. Along the way, he encountered various rogue cultivators, but clearly, none matched Lu Yuan. Most were felled in a single exchange; those who survived managed only a few extra moves. Lu Yuan’s current strength positioned him as a truly formidable figure within the entire Jin Kingdom’s cultivation world; few within North Ling Mountain could stand against him.

This place, North Ling Mountain, was founded by the Venerable Yuan Ling. Had the Venerable Yuan Ling been personally overseeing matters, North Ling Mountain would have been far more terrifying. However, for the last half year, the Venerable Yuan Ling himself had been trapped within the Wuji Cloud Array, unable to manage affairs. North Ling Mountain was somewhat disorganized, compounded by the peculiar rule that guardians of vital research labs could not evacuate under any circumstances, and there was insufficient personnel to dispatch elsewhere.

Of course, North Ling Mountain did possess a command center. In this center, several North Ling Mountain Elders wore expressions of deep dismay. This debacle was truly humiliating; how could the grand North Ling Mountain be infiltrated by a junior from Mount Hua? They had always boasted of suppressing Mount Hua's Northern Peak, yet now, a junior from that very peak was causing chaos here. Shame. Utter disgrace.

These dispatching elders had initially planned to surround and kill Lu Yuan, but no matter how they tried, they proved no match for him. They sent the Seven Kills Star Constellation sect, but Lu Yuan was completely immune to poison. They sent the Dark Nether sect, but Lu Yuan was unaffected by the Dark Nether True Understanding, instead slaughtering many of their members. Compounding their woes, the current Master of North Ling Mountain, Venerable Yuan Ling, was trapped, and the Vice Master, Elder Tian Chou, was nowhere on site. Attempts to contact him failed; it seemed he too was caught in some crisis. They had pinned their hopes on Xiang Dongfei, the guardian of the Human-Demon Hybridization Chamber, to eliminate Lu Yuan, but they never anticipated Xiang Dongfei’s death at Lu Yuan’s hands. Now, these coordinating cultivators were out of viable options, left with no choice but to let Lu Yuan roam unchecked.

After all, North Ling Mountain was an organization established only about two hundred years prior. Possessing two figures at the Grand Dao Realm and several Sword Immortals made it noteworthy, but it simply could not compare to a power like Mount Hua’s Northern Peak, which spanned five millennia. Even with Yuan Ling’s genius, the inherent gap remained. The current issue was that Lu Yuan’s strength was overwhelmingly potent, rendering the now-deprived North Ling Mountain—lacking the suppression of its two Grand Dao Realm figures—utterly incapable of handling him. The command center could dispatch another cultivator at the Ninth Layer of Longevity and two at the Eighth Layer of Longevity—Sword Immortals, no less. But these three, having witnessed Lu Yuan's ferocity in defeating Sima Changbai and killing Xiang Dongfei—who was generally invincible among the Ninth Layer cultivators—were unwilling to sacrifice themselves. Consequently, North Ling Mountain was entirely helpless against Lu Yuan.

Lu Yuan surveyed the areas he had already cleared. The mountain’s interior was nearly swept clean, with only a few locations remaining untouched. He then arrived at another cave dwelling, designated the "Cultivator Imprisonment Cell." Upon entering, he found numerous cages, custom-made to resemble crystal—gleaming and transparent. Within these crystalline enclosures were filled with a clear fluid, and each cell held a cultivator in a state of unconsciousness. Countless tubes connected the cultivators’ bodies, leading out of the cells into strange devices whose function—whether magical artifact or instrument—was unclear. Simultaneously, densely packed data scrolled across a nearby display. Lu Yuan leaned closer and saw records detailing the reactions generated by drawing the cultivator’s blood, or extracting their souls, listing a series of resultant phenomena under various research headings. This… Lu Yuan’s anger flared uncontrollably. He had never imagined that other cultivators could be treated like pigs, sheep, or white mice, kept penned up only to have fluids drawn from them for constant experimentation.

Lu Yuan freed the individuals within, finding them all severely depleted. After distributing some elixirs to restore their vitality, Lu Yuan continued his search for the location of the Wuji Cloud Array. He should find the Wuji Cloud Array soon; after all, he had essentially swept through the entire city built inside the mountain. Only a small section remained unvisited. With that thought, he took to his sword and flew onward.