"Come on, give it a try," Ye Xiu looked back at the team still organizing themselves and seized the chance to tease Old Liu for entertainment. "If you can get it moving, I'll give you this red iron rod."

"Forget it, I'm not after your damned divine weapon. Let me show you the power of my Strange Path Arts," Old Liu said, naturally approaching the horse's ear and whispering something to it. After talking for a while, he straightened up and patted the horse gently. "Run well now, don't throw your master off."

Ye Xiu sat there unmoving. The black horse looked wild but showed no sign of bolting. He smugly stretched out a hand: "What's wrong, Ancient Strange Beast Path? Don't even have this much ability..."

"No, this is impossible." Old Liu's ability to communicate with animals was real, yet the horse clearly understood his words but refused to run. After deep thought, he reached a conclusion: "I get it. It must be afraid of the deathly aura you carry. This damned beast is just that weak."

Ye Xiu smiled slightly, watching as the Third Immortal Mother, also wearing a headscarf, boarded the carriage. He then waved the iron rod in his hand and roared, "Depart."

The once grand procession was reduced to only a few dozen riders after leaving the post station. Following Xu Fu's guidance, there was still a long way to Xianyang. Since the potential conspirator might be the Crown Prince, this group would face danger even upon entering Xianyang. However, this peril was nothing to Ye Xiu, Old Liu, or even the Third Immortal Mother.

Along the journey, they rested several times and passed through numerous large and small marketplaces, the sights mirroring those shown on television. Ye Xiu sat leisurely inside the carriage. The group had now entered a deep, narrow gorge, but the scenery was breathtaking—the sheer verticality of the canyon was in no way inferior to any national 5A scenic area. Such fine weather found him accompanied by the sleazy Old Liu: "Do you think Hong Ling is just pretending not to recognize us?"

Old Liu shook his head, not understanding this world of transmigration: "Do you think what we are experiencing now is real?"

"I'm not sure. This kind of historical transmigration and memory experience isn't new to us. Remember the illusion playback scroll of Mo Shu?" Ye Xiu was very meticulous and thought deeply. "Do you think someone is deliberately making us experience all this to achieve some goal?"

"Deliberately?" Old Liu considered it and felt that this place hadn't appeared without reason. He explained in detail: "Blade Man said that forging a divine weapon in the Fourfold Pagoda must pass through four stages, yet you emerged from it having only completed two. Perhaps our arrival here was also guided by the Fourfold Pagoda, specifically for the emergence of the divine weapon in your hand."

"Is this the third stage?" Ye Xiu held up the iron rod. He had only obtained the sword soul of the Tianmiao Sword; this divine weapon, belonging to the Eight Directions Solitude, was not fully forged. Could this realm be solely for the third stage of forging, the integration of all energies?

"Aww... Aww..." At that moment, several strange cries echoed from above. Three massive monsters descended, wings flapping, landing on the cliff walls flanking the gorge. Their bodies were slender and broad, their giant wings hovering over the precipice. Most bizarrely, these creatures had no feet; on either side of their bodies were clearly two heads. The heads were long and pointed, like two radishes planted in the soil, each bearing a single eye—one white and one blue, one above the other, utterly horrifying.

"Stop!" Ye Xiu found the appearance of the approaching monsters amusing, but as the protector of the Myriad Demon Holy Empress, he needed to maintain the demeanor of a captain of the guard. "Behind, protect the Third Immortal Mother!"

Xu Fu's contingent appeared well-trained; despite being blocked by such monsters, not a single person panicked. In an instant, they formed a protective circle around the white carriage, their eyes showing only common fear.

"These are Twin-Eyed Death Bats!" Xu Fu charged from the rear of the group, brandishing his treasured sword, and pointed at the three monsters to explain: "Indeed, there are still monster interdictions. The prediction of the East Sea Divine Monarch was not wrong!"

"East Sea Divine Monarch?" Ye Xiu found the situation becoming more complicated upon hearing this. He motioned for Xu Fu to retreat: "General Xu, we can discuss the East Sea Divine Monarch later. Let Old Bear Two and me deal with these monsters first. It's too dangerous here; you'd best lead the team out of the gorge!"

"Yes, General Xu, quickly retreat! Leave this to us." Old Liu turned to look at the Twin-Eyed Death Bats with surprise mixed with excitement. "Finally, something to loosen my joints."

"Aiya!" One Death Bat seemed to hear Old Liu's provocation and swooped down, skimming directly over Old Liu's head. However, the creature had no talons, and it landed awkwardly, emitting a miserable shriek.

"Go quickly!" By now, Old Liu had concealed the Thin-Faced Blade in his hand. He signaled the rear troops to withdraw and leaped from his horse, stabbing towards the Death Bat. "Let's see just how powerful you are!"

"Swish-whoosh!" At that moment, the white eye of the Death Bat suddenly emitted a laser beam. The beam carried no attack power but instantly illuminated the entire world, like a flashbang.

"Old Liu, watch out!" Ye Xiu couldn't help but raise a hand to block the light. When he looked in that direction again, he heard a clang. Old Liu was actually wearing sunglasses and using the Thin-Faced Blade to pin the Death Bat's wing tightly! "Phew... that scared me!"

"Ah... Go, go!" Some members of the main force had already been blinded by the Death Bat's light. The remaining personnel took the opportunity to retreat from the bottom of the gorge. Xu Fu naturally stayed close to the Third Immortal Mother; facing everything in the gorge, they could only obey.

"This fellow can emit such intense light. Luckily, I still have my sunglasses, or I might have been injured by this monster!" Old Liu struggled to resist. Seeing that the crowd had completely departed, he summoned the Seven Demon-Slaying Swords and swept them in a circle, stabbing directly through the head of the Death Bat's white eye. "Now that everyone's gone, don't blame me for having a massacre!"

"Ya-hoo-aah!" The Death Bats on the cliff face seemed to see their companion falter. They flew down together, all pouncing on Old Liu. However, these two were clearly larger than the first one; if they landed together, they would crush Old Liu to death.

Ye Xiu smiled lightly, firing Black Flame from his hand towards the Death Bats. The bats indeed possessed the typical agility of bats; they altered their trajectory before the Black Flame even reached them. "This thing is quite nimble. Old Liu, are you up to it?"

"Demon-Slaying Eruption!" Old Liu paid no mind to the bats behind him, focusing all his energy on tracking the injured Death Bat. The Demon-Slaying Sword formed a circular sword array in the air and swept down, instantly piercing the Death Bat's chest. Old Liu felt smug, closed in for a closer look, and found the Death Bat's belly was empty. "What? This thing has no internal organs?"

"Watch out behind you!" Ye Xiu hadn't expected the two bats in the sky to adjust their positions so quickly. They attacked Old Liu from both sides with fierce intent, extremely dangerous.

"You seek death!" Old Liu raised the Demon-Slaying Sword, its ice dragon-like form manifesting in the gorge. He intended to charge upwards to meet the attack, but unexpectedly, the blue eye on the other head of the Death Bat nearby suddenly lit up. A stream of viscous slime shot out, directly adhering to Old Liu's legs. He tried to struggle free, but the substance was like soft silk, giving him no chance. "Damn it, what is this stuff!"

"Hurry up and run!" Ye Xiu finally realized the danger. He abandoned his horse, soared into the air, and continuously attacked the Death Bats with Black Flame. However, the two Death Bats seemed accustomed to the speed of the Black Flame and could deal with it flexibly. "Hurry and use your Black Talisman Slash to cut that thing away and run!"

"No need for that..." Old Liu was slightly overconfident facing these monsters. Although his feet were trapped, the Demon-Slaying Sword was already in position. Regardless of how sharp the Death Bats' attacks were, he only needed one sword strike. "A bunch of things courting death! Watch me slaughter you!"

"Squeak! Squeak!" The Death Bats shrieked incessantly. Just as they were about to reach Old Liu, their white eyes lit up simultaneously. While their attack method was simple, it was devastatingly effective.

In an instant, heaven and earth turned a blinding white. There was no gorge, no danger; everything dissolved into nothingness. Old Liu, still wearing sunglasses, wanted to deliver the final blow to the Death Bat, but this time the light was beyond what his eyewear could withstand. He felt dizzy, his body rigidly restrained by something, and then lifted up. The substance that had only bound his feet had now spread to his entire body, leaving him unable to move, at the mercy of whatever controlled it.

"Damn it, what's going on?" Ye Xiu was somewhat annoyed. He had never encountered such a fighting style. He and Old Liu had faced all sorts of divine beast duels, yet now they were subdued by this burst of light. After a short while, the white light gradually faded. He looked toward the heavens, and the two giant Death Bats were already disappearing from sight, carrying Old Liu away. Old Liu had been captured by that strange thing!

Xu Fu also seemed to witness the scene in the sky. He rushed in anxiously only to find the corpse of a slain monster on the ground: "One down! Where is Old Bear Two? Did they capture Old Bear Two?"

Ye Xiu took a long time to recover from the vertigo induced by the white light. Looking at the disgusting corpse on the ground, he felt that this stage of transmigration was far from simple. "General Xu, I only want to know why such monsters exist here! What is this East Sea Divine Monarch? And what else have you not told us?"

Seeing Old Bear Two captured by the monsters, Xu Fu felt a pang of regret. He collapsed onto the ground and confessed: "In truth, this unit of mine was specifically assembled to seek the elixir of immortality for the King. When we ventured into the East Sea seeking immortals, the first one we found was not this Third Immortal Mother."