The Desirous Demoness let out a shriek as she bit down on the Elder Ancestor's throat with a seductive giggle. Seven beams of white light erupted from her seven orifices, slithering like living snakes into the old man's seven openings. The old man's body rapidly withered, shrinking like a dried and shriveled orange. Soon, he was sucked dry, leaving behind only a husk of skin. Possessing the power of a third-rank Celestial Immortal, Ancestor Si's body was purely condensed from refined immortal energy. To the Desirous Demoness, every strand of his hair was a superb tonic.

The only reason she left him with a piece of skin was because she found the old man's appearance too ugly and couldn't be bothered to digest it. Though a demoness, she was still one who appreciated beauty.

Gu Xiechen watched in horror as the Desirous Demoness’s aura suddenly escalated after absorbing the entire essence, spirit, and vitality of a third-rank Celestial Immortal. Her magic power fluctuations had broken through the Clear Luminescence He Tong Heaven, reaching the level of a third-rank Celestial Immortal as well. Furthermore, this fluctuation was remarkably steady and seasoned, as if she were an established immortal who had advanced to the third rank tens of thousands of years ago, utterly unlike a novice who had just broken through. This surge of magic power lasted only for the time it took to snap one's fingers before vanishing without a trace, and the Desirous Demoness’s presence became obscure and hidden once more, undetectable even by Gu Wuchen's divine sense.

Before Gu Xiechen could formulate a countermeasure, the Desirous Demoness sprang into the air. With a single sweep, she sent nearly a hundred spiritual artifacts aimed at her flying, cackling as she dove into the formation composed of a group of youths. A pale, hazy mist diffused from her body. After she flashed past with her eerie laughter, all that remained in the spot she occupied were withered, desiccated skeletons—nothing else.

The Desirous Demoness’s magic power fluctuated once more, this time even more potent, showing faint signs of breaking through to the Clear Luminescence He Tong Heaven.

"She cannot be allowed to break through further," Gu Xiechen let out a light whistle. Three Taiyin Thorns shot out, dragging a sky full of fist-sized, angular blue profound ice shards that rained down haphazardly on the Demoness’s agile figure. Guo Hua flapped his wings, transforming into a streak of black shadow that merged into the white waves of ice. Like a fierce gale, he stirred up heavy sheets of icy waves that surged toward the Desirous Demoness like an overwhelming tide.

The chunks of profound ice summoned by Gu Xiechen nearly covered every blind spot in the Great Hall. The gaps between the ice chunks were so narrow that the Desirous Demoness had absolutely no way to slip through. A gasp escaped the Demoness’s rosy lips. She cast a mournful glance toward Gu Wuchen, then suddenly clutched her chest and wailed, "My esteemed lord~ How could you bear to harm your little slave so?"

Streams of black and yellow energy jetted from Gu Wuchen’s eyes, and his body was enveloped in a faint, almost imperceptible layer of Xuanhuang Qi. Before this most wondrous Xuanhuang Qi in the cosmos, all magic designed to confuse the mind was rendered useless. Under the protection of the Haotian Pagoda, Gu Wuchen’s heart was like stone. He coldly swept a glance over the Desirous Demoness and merely beckoned slightly with a finger.

Puff, puff, puff, puff! Tens of thousands of profound ice shards spun rapidly, striking the Desirous Demoness's body like countless rotating grinding wheels constantly wearing her down. As soon as one chunk of ice flew away from her, several, then dozens, even nearly a hundred ice shards bombarded her with sharp whistles. Large swathes of flesh and blood flew off. Enveloped by tens of thousands of profound ice shards, the Desirous Demoness let out sharp, grating cries. Her fair, smooth body was battered until it was a bloody mess, exposing large sections of strange, cyan-blue bone. A biting cold perpetually eroded the profound ice, turning it into misty vapor that dissipated.

In the blink of an eye, the flesh on the Desirous Demoness's surface was scrubbed away. The profound ice violently scraped against her bones, sending sparks flying everywhere. Just as the Desirous Demoness let out a scream and was about to use an evasion technique to escape the terrifying expanse of profound ice, Guo Hua lunged before her. His body suddenly sprang up like a powerfully compressed spring, and his right arm transformed into a bolt of black lightning that smashed fiercely into the Demoness’s forehead. This was Guo Hua’s full-strength punch, concentrating all the power of his Celestial Immortal-level Flying Yaksha body!

A terrifying force erupted. The Desirous Demoness’s skull, with its exposed bone, exploded. A headless corpse arced through the air toward a corner of the grand hall. Thousands of profound ice shards continued to rain down with sharp whistles, striking the Demoness’s bones and making them clang noisily. But who knew what material this she-demon’s bones were made of; thousands of profound ice shards were shattered into dust by the rebounding force, leaving only a dense scattering of small white dots on her bones.

"What hard bones!" Gu Wuchen’s face turned icy cold, and he instinctively reached back for the Qilin Seal hanging from his belt.

Just as he was about to summon the Qilin Seal, the Desirous Demoness’s battered remains slammed into the cluster of guests. White mist spewed from her skeleton. The nearly one hundred guests simultaneously let out terrified screams. Covered by the faint white mist, their bodies rapidly withered and shrank. In just a short breath, all their essence, spirit, and vitality drained away.

Large patches of soft, tender, white flesh flipped out from the Desirous Demoness’s body, and streaks of bone spurs emerged from her skeletal structure. Soon, a complete skull was reshaped. New flesh and hair regrew over the skull, and in a mere blink of an eye, a charmingly smiling, exquisitely beautiful, and pure Desirous Demoness reappeared before everyone, completely unharmed. However, as a result of the combined attack by Gu Xiechen and Guo Hua, the Demoness’s clothing had disintegrated into dust, revealing a completely nude Desirous Demoness to the crowd.

She swept a cold glance over Gu Wuchen, suddenly giggled softly, and extended her hand toward a middle-aged man whose face had turned ashen: "Are you willing to kill me?"

Without her clothes, the Desirous Demoness’s seductive demonic power increased by a thousandfold.

The middle-aged man’s mind blurred. He suddenly shrieked and flung his immortal sword—the one that the Desirous Demoness had slashed and hacked at earlier—back into the air. He spun it around himself in a violent storm spanning hundreds of meters. Constant screams arose. The two hundred-plus guests near the man hadn't anticipated their companion suddenly becoming a murderer. Everyone was cleaved in half at the waist, blood spurting out like cheap spring water, and large amounts of entrails and guts strewn across the floor.

Alas, these were all accomplished figures. Although their bodies were split by the immortal artifact, their lingering vitality prevented immediate death, and they all writhed on the ground screaming—a scene truly like hell. Gu Xiechen also noticed that although these members of the Star Alliance practiced the Dao, they seemed not to have cultivated the orthodox cultivator’s primordial spirit or spirit essence; their souls appeared to remain fused with their physical bodies. Thus, when their bodies were severed, they could not escape their fates as disembodied spirits and could only wait for death.

Lu'er, the Ancestor of Law, stamped his feet in anger: "Go save them quickly! Get the medical bay ready! If they are only severed in half, with timely treatment, the Star Alliance's technological power can repair the bodies completely in a short time."

But how could the Desirous Demoness allow Lu'er, the Ancestor of Law, a chance to save anyone? As soon as he called out orders to save people, she swooped in with a strange laugh, sweeping up the white mist around her body. She completely sucked the essence, spirit, and vitality of those two hundred people dry. Simultaneously, she thrust a finger into the top of the head of the middle-aged man she had enchanted and instantly drained him dry as well.

Lu'er, the Ancestor of Law, was so frantic he spat out a mouthful of blood. He never dreamed that the banquet he organized would suffer such heavy casualties before the serious discussions even began. The dead and injured here were all important figures from various great families. Hundreds had now perished under the Desirous Demoness’s hand. How could he account for this?

Gu Xiechen glanced sideways at Lu'er, the Ancestor of Law, then suddenly pointed a finger. A True Magnetic Two-Phase Splitting Sword Qi shot out soundlessly and invisibly, creating dozens of transparent holes in the Desirous Demoness’s body in an instant, dealing her another severe blow.

The Desirous Demoness shrieked in alarm, frantically fleeing into another group of guests. She swiftly killed this batch of guests, absorbing all their essence, spirit, and vitality to instantly heal the injuries on her body.

As Drought Demon had said, if one struck her fatally with a purely yang artifact, and if there were enough surrounding resources for her to absorb and recover her cultivation, she was an immortal demon, a calamity that could never be truly eliminated. There were thousands of guests in the hall; if Gu Xiechen did not summon a purely yang supreme treasure like the Qilin Seal to destroy the Desirous Demoness, she would eventually kill every guest present.

However, this was precisely Gu Xiechen’s intention.

He was quite displeased with the Ancestor of Law family’s contemptuous "command" for him to attend the banquet. No matter why Lu'er, the Ancestor of Law, had invited him, he was determined to disrupt this gathering. The Star Alliance and Gu Xiechen were certainly not friends. If the Desirous Demoness could be used as a blade to kill several high-ranking officials of the Star Alliance, that would be for the best.

As for the Desirous Demoness herself, with the Ten Heavenly Sovereigns enhancing the power of the Ten Absolutes Formation, and the genuine Heavenly Net Grand Formation set up by the Four Generals of the Demon Clan and Xin Jia, did he need to fear a mere Desirous Demoness?

Gu Wuchen even entertained the idea of capturing the Desirous Demoness alive. This demoness’s demonic flames were immense. If he could capture her alive, imprison her primordial spirit, and enslave her, what a powerful subordinate she would make! Gu Xiechen even planned how to utilize the Desirous Demoness—the people of Di Mao Temple Yi Ru Nunnery still lacked a strong leader, making her a perfect match to deal with those ninjas!

Lost in his pleasant thoughts, Gu Wuchen couldn't help but smile faintly, and he quickly conveyed his plan to Guo Hua.

Guo Hua was delighted upon hearing this. He pulled out his two large hammers and charged toward the Desirous Demoness with "Ao, ao" cries. Green lightning crackled and shot erratically from the two hammers, unleashing immensely fierce power. The Flying Yaksha's speed was incredibly fast; Guo Hua flapped his two great wings, and his absolute flight speed was even slightly faster than the Desirous Demoness's, just less delicate, flexible, and slippery than hers. Guo Hua could just barely keep up behind the Desirous Demoness, smashing his two great hammers toward her body without pause.

But every time, the hammers were frustratingly short of hitting her body by a hair's breadth. Guo Hua yelled anxiously and cursed, but every swing smashed huge craters into the ground, yet he couldn't land a single hit on the Desirous Demoness’s body.

Gu Xiechen also shouted loudly, driving the Taiyin Thorns to transform into a sky full of cold light, stabbing and poking everywhere, but each time he succeeded only in forcing the Desirous Demoness to charge toward the guests.

The Desirous Demoness struck with extreme speed. Even Guo Hua, who was close enough, could only see a flash of cold light around her hand before large sprays of blood erupted into the air. Then, a puff of white mist shot toward the sky, wrapping and gathering the blood, and dozens of guests instantly withered into dry bones. Meanwhile, the Desirous Demoness’s complexion improved slightly.

But just as the Desirous Demoness recovered a bit of energy, the formless, swift-beyond-despair True Magnetic Two-Phase Splitting Sword Qi would descend out of thin air, hacking her body to pieces with countless gaps, turning the little energy she had just regained into fleeting clouds.

The Desirous Demoness, who had always been so innocent, adorable, pure, kind, gentle, and chaste, finally could not contain the fire in her heart. She screamed almost hysterically, "Who is ambushing me? Get out here, Your Highness!"

Gu Xiechen blinked in surprise. "Your Highness?" That was a very interesting form of self-address.

Guo Hua’s eyes lit up even more. He swung his two great hammers and roared with laughter toward the sky, "Which Palace Master are you? Heh heh, come have some fun with your uncle!"

Dropping his hammers, Guo Hua's speed abruptly increased. With a fierce lunge, he reached the Desirous Demoness's back just as she slowed down slightly after killing several guests. A bolt of Yin Thunder shot out from his palm and slammed violently into the back of her heart.

With a muffled thud, the Yin Thunder, saturated with corrosive corpse qi, exploded behind the Desirous Demoness, nearly snapping her body in two at the back.

The Desirous Demoness let out a sharp, hideous scream, crying out, "You can't possibly kill me! How could Your Highness be so easily dealt with? Watch the might of my Nine-Tailed Soul-Hooking Banner!"

The flesh and blood shattered by the Yin Thunder suddenly leaped up and scattered around like a rain of blood. The Desirous Demoness waved her hand, and a large banner, about six feet long, appeared out of thin air. The drops of bloody rain were absorbed onto the banner. The nine long tails beneath the banner’s head, as white as snow and emitting a strange fragrance, swayed gently, slowly drawing in the drops of bloody rain.

A wondrous, rich fragrance emanated from the long tails, and ninety-nine percent of the people in the hall immediately had their eyes glazed over.

The Desirous Demoness giggled and gently waved the long banner. Immediately, a moan that melted souls and softened bones drifted out of the banner. The phantom image of a woman of unparalleled elegance and beauty, possessing nine long tails behind her, slowly rose from the banner. She twisted her snowy, perfectly sculpted waist, and her seemingly expressive eyes swept gently across the guests in the hall.

The hands of many guests loosened, and the numerous immortal and spiritual artifacts flying in the sky clattered to the ground.

Many people trembled, their vital orifices opening. Their pure yang essence and vigor poured out like a tide of desire. White vapor sprayed from the bodies of these guests. The white vapor, transformed from their primordial yang essence, was absorbed by the Nine-Tailed Banner, turning into a surging hot current that injected itself into the Desirous Demoness’s body. In the blink of an eye, over two thousand lower-cultivation guests in the hall died from having their essence and spirit drained. Most of the remaining guests collapsed onto the ground, unable to move, their bodies rapidly shriveling and withering, on the verge of having their essence and spirit sucked dry.

The long banner had only just been drawn out by the Desirous Demoness—

Gu Xiechen pulled Guo Hua and they retreated in one step toward a corner of the grand hall.

When that faint, ethereal fragrance drifted over, a black and yellow stream of energy rushed up above Gu Wuchen’s head, and wisps of auspicious, multicolored light draped down from the edge of the stream, precisely shielding the two of them. Between Guo Hua’s feet, a sesame-seed-sized golden lotus pedestal emitted a dim golden light, adding another layer of protection beneath their bodies—this fellow had made scheming a reflex; unwilling to let others know he possessed the Nine-Petal Golden Lotus Platform of Buddhism, he had deliberately shrunk the platform so small and was stepping on it with his toes.

When the nine-tailed woman manifested from the long banner, the Xuanhuang Qi around Gu Xiechen vibrated violently. Wisps of auspicious, multicolored light rippled outwards. An immense force slammed against Gu Xiechen’s body, making it sway wildly, but he stubbornly maintained the black and yellow stream of Qi. The pressure from the surroundings was tremendous. Although Gu Xiechen and Guo Hua managed to protect themselves, they were completely unable to move; they could only desperately hold on.

The Desirous Demoness looked at Gu Xiechen and Guo Hua in surprise, a flash of greed flickering in her eyes. Her aura was now subtly approaching the Profound Embryo Nurturing Heaven realm. She was clearly just moments away from achieving the cultivation of a fourth-rank Celestial Immortal if she could plunder the essence and spirit of the remaining guests in the hall.

Lu'er, the Ancestor of Law, painfully managed to prop up his upper body from the ground and shouted sternly, "Activate the formation! Kill this demonic woman!"

The Desirous Demoness giggled flirtatiously, swaying her hips, and slowly walked up to Lu'er, the Ancestor of Law. She cooed sweetly, "Old grandpa, why are you so eager to kill me? Why don't you... become my good brother... I like you so much!"

With a seemingly innocent smile, the Desirous Demoness reached out and grabbed at Lu'er, the Ancestor of Law’s neck, intending to crush his Adam's apple.

Just then, a chilling, eerie gust of wind blew in from the main entrance of the grand hall. The formation within the hall had not yet managed to activate when the formation eyes began to explode one after another.

A mass of dense black energy enveloping a giant figure nearly three meters tall slowly shuffled into the hall. A low, hoarse voice resounded, "Mei'er, Mei'er... Do you think you can escape the Young Master's Five-Finger Mountain just by fleeing here? The Young Master is waiting to marry you."

The Desirous Demoness shrieked as if she had seen a ghost. Ignoring the life-or-death situation of Lu'er, the Ancestor of Law, she turned into a streak of black shadow and fled.

The mass of black energy let out a cold snort and muttered quietly, "Ungrateful vixen... If it weren't for the Young Master taking a fancy to you, I would have wiped out your clan!"

Stamping his foot heavily, a terrifying shockwave erupted from beneath the shadow’s foot. With a loud bang, the entire grand hall instantly disintegrated into dust. Over ninety-nine percent of the guests in the hall who had luckily survived the Desirous Demoness’s assault screamed as their bodies were shattered by the shockwave, dying on the spot. The others, like Lu'er, the Ancestor of Law, the top-tier figures with the strongest cultivation, frantically burned their bloodline power to enhance their physical strength to the extreme, barely managing to survive the shockwave.

Gu Xiechen silently grabbed Guo Hua and instantly teleported dozens of miles away.

He saw the space where the grand hall once stood warp violently, and dozens of tall halls materialized one after another from the void. These massive structures were thrown to all sides by the shockwave, like stones from a heavy catapult, devastating over a dozen streets in Dahlia City near the Ancestor of Law family’s stronghold.

The huge halls crashed to the ground, causing the entire Dahlia City to faintly tremble several times. Furthermore, the compressed and overlapping space suddenly collapsed, and the massive spatial tremors caused everyone in the city to feel a tightness in their chests. Those with weaker strength who lacked protection were struck by the spatial shockwave, causing nearly three hundred thousand people to vomit blood and die.

Gu Wuchen glanced coldly at the Ancestor of Law family residence, which had been reduced to complete ruins, and sneered. He summoned the Seven Emotions and Six Desires Bewitching Talisman to conceal his aura and then commanded the Four Directions Exotic Beast Pattern Water Venerable to spew a large expanse of True Origin Profound Water, forming a black mist that shrouded the surroundings. Only then did he sneakily follow Guo Hua, trailing the black shadow that had become a small black dot in the distance, and the Desirous Demoness, who was even further away and almost invisible.

On the way, Gu Xiechen released a divine sense signal. The Ten Heavenly Sovereigns, who had been waiting anxiously, hurried toward them.

After an urgent pursuit, in a valley extremely far from Dahlia City, that mass of black mist used some unknown method to suddenly herd the rapidly fleeing Desirous Demoness into the valley.

Gu Xiechen quickly signaled, and the Ten Heavenly Sovereigns immediately set up the Ten Absolutes Formation nearby to encircle the entire valley.

Then, he led Guo Hua, whose face was smeared with signs of gossip, and the two of them sneaked into the valley.

As soon as they entered the valley, they saw the giant black shadow pulling out one after another huge golden halberds and iron spears, each three zhang and six chi long, plunging them heavily into the ground to form a massive formation spanning several miles, enclosing himself and the Desirous Demoness. These weapons were covered in rust, looking as if they had just been dug out of an ancient tomb, still clinging to large clumps of earth and signs of water erosion.

But as soon as these unremarkable weapons completed the formation, a chilling killing intent surged out of thin air within the valley. This nearly tangible killing intent spewed outward in all directions. Even Gu Xiechen and Guo Hua, hidden and observing from over ten miles away, felt intense pain all over their bodies, as if they were being chopped by steel knives.

The Desirous Demoness clutched the Nine-Tailed Banner tightly, her face pale as she rushed frantically within the large array, yet she could not break through its obstruction.

That dark figure suddenly roared in a muffled voice, "Mei'er, it was one thing for you to run away from your marriage, and fine that you fled to the Lower Realm. But you actually dared to defile the Nine Dragon Sky-Reaching Ladder with Sky Fox Essence, delaying the Old Master's grand affairs... If you don't come back with me obediently, don't blame me for showing no mercy!"

The Demonic Temptress sneered a few times, then suddenly shrieked, "Is there anyone who can save me? In this life and the next, I will serve as a slave, obedient to any command!"

She cried out sharply, "As long as I am not tainted by that monster's perverse young master, this lady is willing to risk everything!"

Gu Xiechen narrowed his eyes, completely unmoved.

However, Hua was already twitching with impatience and jumped up. He laughed joyously, "Girl, don't rush! Your daddy is here to save you!"

Relying on the Ten Absolute Array as his powerful backing, Hua threw his head back and laughed, walking toward the grand formation with his hands clasped behind his back, utterly unrestrained.

The dark figure in the black mist slowly turned around, and a mad, utterly inhuman red light shot out from its eyes.

"Then, die!"

A wave of death energy blasted straight toward Hua.