The Black Dove Demon Immortal, who was still chewing on a wisp of remnant soul, looked at Gu Xiechen in astonishment and then burst into loud laughter. The Demon Immortal, whose body radiated a chilling aura of blood energy, flipped his palm, and a long banner made of beast hide and tendons—painted with five tiger skulls in foul blood—slowly rose from his palm. With just a flick of his hand, the surroundings darkened, and a foul wind swept up from the ground. Instantly, the nearly one hundred thousand demons and fiends nearby collapsed, their limbs weak and their muscles paralyzed, struggling feebly for a long time.

This foul wind carried an insidious toxin that weakened bones and paralyzed muscles, along with an evil power capable of corroding one's primordial spirit and injuring internal organs—truly a top-tier demonic artifact.

The Cycle of Reincarnation Eye swept over the banner, and Gu Xiechen chuckled, "A high-grade demonic artifact, refined to at least the peak of the Grand Unity Golden Immortal level. Hmm, refined using the Myriad Souls Cleansing Method, aren't I right? No wonder its power is so tyrannical!"

With a wave and a flash of his hand, a thumb-sized black pearl flew out before Gu Xiechen. Pure Yang flames, including Samadhi True Fire, various celestial fires, and Solar True Fire, poured out from the pearl in a dazzling torrent of multicolored flames. Anything they touched instantly ignited, including the foul wind swept out by the demonic banner, which immediately transformed into a raging sea of fire.

The invisible and traceless foul wind burned fiercely, sending seven-colored smoke and mist scattering. The pungent smell of charring smoke choked the fallen little demons and fiends into violent fits of vomiting. Some small fiends with naturally acute senses of smell, such as wild dog spirits and wild wolf spirits, couldn't bear the noxious odor and convulsed until they passed out.

Before the Demon Immortal could react, Gu Xiechen flicked his finger, and the black pearl shot out like a streak of firelight, effortlessly piercing the demonic banner in the Demon Immortal’s hand and blasting a transparent hole through his sternum.

This time, the Demon Immortal had no chance to escape with his soul. Both his physical body and his spirit rapidly combusted, turning to ash in an instant.

Snatching back the pearl, which was forged from the Solar Essence condensed within the Profound Solar Orb, Gu Xiechen weighed it in his hand and chuckled at the dumbfounded Black Dove Demon Immortal, "Haven't I told you that harmony brings wealth? Why the need to fight to the death?" His figure flashed forward, and Gu Xiechen seized the Demon Immortal by the neck, brutally driving his knee into his lower abdomen. With a dull thud, the Black Dove Demon Immortal's pale face instantly turned purplish-black, and foul blood slowly spurted from his seven orifices. He opened his mouth and slowly spat out a mouthful of bloody ichor mixed with fragments of internal organs.

Casually releasing the hapless Demon Immortal, Gu Xiechen pulled out a handkerchief to wipe his hands and coldly sneered with measured calm, "I am the Grand Protector of the Heaven Wolf Palace. Your attack on Iron Spine Mountain today has greatly offended my boundaries! My children, strip them bare!"

With a casual gesture toward the hundreds of thousands of demons and fiends lying incapacitated and vomiting on the ground, a demonic wind from Iron Spine Mountain surged forth, carrying a massive cloud of fiends. Nearly one hundred thousand Iron Spine Mountain demon soldiers rushed out of their caves with delighted laughter, truly stripping those hundreds of thousands of demons and fiends utterly bare, not even leaving them a loincloth.

No one knew how Xin Long'er and Hong Ya had managed to [omitted section for artistic flow] the Iron Spine Mountain demon soldiers. Not only did these rascals strip the unfortunate demons and fiends of everything they possessed, but they also swept away every usable item on their bodies.

Gu Xiechen saw more than a dozen Rhino Spirits having their horns sawn off, and three or five Elephant Spirits having the tusks pulled from their mouths. Truly, they were like geese passing over plucked feathers, unwilling to let go of anything useful.

When the predatory gazes of the lesser demons of Iron Spine Mountain fell upon a group of Tiger Spirits and Sika Deer Spirits [omitted section for artistic flow], these spirits, already weakened by the toxin and unable to move, let out miserable wails, scrambling up and clutching their lower bodies as they fled away in a flash. Guo Hua and Siren squatted on the mountain crags, roaring with laughter, pointing and debating whether certain parts of the nascent Tiger and Deer Spirits might possess greater nourishing properties.

The Black Dove Demon Immortal shrieked in anger, howling hoarsely while spitting blood, "We are under the Ancestor Iron Stone! 00"

Gu Xiechen pulled out a piece of pitch-black iron and slammed it heavily onto the Black Dove's face, contorting his already hideous features into a flat pancake of flesh. Kicking the blood-spitting Black Dove onto the ground, Gu Xiechen smiled gently, "Ancestor Iron Stone, you say? Wasn't I just preparing to pay Ancestor Iron Stone a visit?"

He clapped his hand above his head, and a gray, hazy chill shot skyward. Gu Xiechen's Tai Yin Primordial Spirit lazily emerged, stretching languidly toward the sky, slowly transforming into a snow wolf three zhang long, completely covered in silvery-white fur.

Dense demonic energy erupted from the snow wolf formed by Gu Xiechen's Tai Yin Primordial Spirit. The terrifying demonic pressure blasted the Black Dove Demon Immortal dozens of zhang high, leaving him tumbling miserably before crashing into a mountain crag—luckily, his spirit wasn't extinguished.

The Blood Fox Demon, seeing the situation turn dire and attempting to sneak away, was struck by this domineering, fierce, and overwhelmingly evil demonic aura, immediately collapsing to the ground with weak legs, crying out mournfully.

Gu Xiechen had already separated his Three Corpse Primordial Spirits using the Secret Chapters of the Three Pure Ones; his cultivation level was truly unfathomable. With his current level of cultivation, magical power, and supernatural transformations, merely simulating a wisp of demonic energy was as easy as drinking water or eating a meal. The Great Dao has three thousand paths; if one path is mastered, all paths are mastered. At Gu Xiechen’s stage, if he said he was a demon, he was a demon; if he said he was a ghost, he was a ghost. If he wished, he could casually learn a few Buddhist techniques from Fu Ya? Ming and instantly transform into a Buddha to save the masses.

Manifesting a demonic form with his Tai Yin Primordial Spirit and releasing demonic energy equivalent to the peak strength of a Grand Unity Golden Immortal—how could the Blood Fox Demon, a mere peak Golden Immortal, withstand the pressure Gu Xiechen intentionally directed at him? It was a blessing he wasn't scared to death. Seeing the Blood Fox Demon collapse, Hong Ya raised his spear to stab down at him.

Gu Xiechen turned his head, pretending not to see Hong Ya's action. He knew that Hong Ya’s father had been killed in the conflict between Iron Spine Mountain and Blood Soul Ridge, and perhaps the Blood Fox Demon himself had personally slain Hong Ya's brother's father. Vengeance for a father was also fitting [omitted section].

The spear, carrying a wisp of cold light, stabbed toward the Blood Fox Demon. The spear tip was just about to pierce the demon's body. Just as the Blood Fox Demon shrieked, certain of his death, Hong Ya suddenly reined in the spear's momentum. The spear’s thrust had been extremely rapid and fierce; Hong Ya had concentrated all his spirit, energy, and will into that one strike.

To abruptly retract the spear now caused Hong Ya to be thrown back by the counter-recoil, spitting blood from the corner of his mouth. The rock beneath his feet cracked and shattered over a large area.

Slowly recalling his spear, Hong Ya bowed to Gu Xiechen with clasped hands, "Grand Protector, is there still use for him?"

Glancing approvingly at Hong Ya, Gu Xiechen descended from the clouds and forcefully patted Hong Ya's head: "Good child, truly a good child. In truth, killing him would have been fine, but the fact that you considered I might still have use for him, intentionally sparing his life, makes you an excellent child!" Had Hong Ya killed the Blood Fox Demon with that spear thrust, Gu Xiechen would have merely cultivated him as an ordinary disciple in the future.

But because Hong Ya could stop his spear thrust, suppressing the killing intent in his heart without harming the Blood Fox Demon in the slightest, this young fellow would be highly valuable in the future.

Demons as low-life as the Blood Fox Demon could be slain without major consequence. However, the decision of whether to kill him or not, in that moment of choice, was the best test of a person's vision, magnanimity, and restraint. For Hong Ya, in his short few hundred years of life experience, to suppress the urge to kill the Blood Fox Demon showed that his temperament had been forged! The Blood Fox Demon could not be killed, but the demons gathered by the Blood Fox Demon to attack Iron Spine Mountain could not be spared.

All the Demon Kings and Fiend Kings were executed on the spot, their vital blood shared among the lesser demons of Iron Spine Mountain. The lesser demons and fiends from various peaks and caves were restrained by restrictions and incorporated into the Iron Spine Mountain demon army. As for the lesser demons and fiends of Blood Soul Ridge, Gu Xiechen commanded that they all be handed over to Hong Ya for disposal.

The Hong Ya brothers were not hesitant. Although they were demons, there was little room for heavenly justice or human feeling here. The tens of thousands of demon soldiers present from Blood Soul Ridge were ordered slain by Hong Ya. Afterward, the Hong Ya brothers mustered three hundred thousand Iron Spine Mountain demon soldiers and marched mightily toward Blood Soul Ridge, intent on leveling the stronghold and completely purging the place that held a blood feud with them over their father's murder.

Fearing that Blood Soul Ridge might still harbor great demons or fiends that Hong Ya and his group could not handle, Gu Xiechen subtly signaled the brothers Banruo and Maha to secretly follow them. Afterward, he conferred with Guo Hua and Siren, mustered eight thousand demon soldiers, and rode the demonic clouds and winds, advancing majestically toward Ancestor Iron Stone's cave dwelling.

Gu Xiechen controlled the simulated demonic aura to the peak level of a Grand Unity Golden Immortal. Guo Hua released the unique Corpse Qi of a Corpse Cultivator, also at the peak Grand Unity Golden Immortal level. Siren exuded an aura filled with the meaning of dark engulfment and destruction, likewise maintaining the strength of a peak Grand Unity Golden Immortal.

The eight thousand demon soldiers behind them included one hundred Grand Unity Golden Immortals, eight hundred Golden Immortals, and the rest were high-level Heavenly Immortals.

Upon Gu Xiechen's command, the group of demon immortals arrogantly and unrestrainedly unleashed their full auras, stirring up demonic winds and clouds spanning nearly ten thousand miles, carrying an overwhelming scent of fiendish energy as they proceeded with immense pomp.

This time, the Iron Spine Mountain demon army advanced flying the banner of the Heaven Wolf Palace. Thirty-six neat banners stood tall at the front of the army, fluttering in the wind. The blood-red banners bore the embroidery of a ferocious wolf head on one side, and the ancient, archaic characters for 'Heaven Wolf Palace' on the other.

Wherever the demon army passed, the mountain ranges bowed in deference, and the peaks trembled. The demon kings in their caverns urgently ordered their subordinates to close their doors tightly, and the fiend kings in the abyss hastily concealed all their auras. Within the territory of Ancestor Iron Stone, which demon or fiend, apart from Ancestor Iron Stone's direct lineage, would dare provoke this powerful and astonishing group of demon immortals making such a grand display?

After marching with great display for a month, when they were still tens of thousands of miles away from Iron Water Black Stone Mountain, Ancestor Iron Stone's direct territory, a battalion of elite demon soldiers advanced to meet them from afar. Thirty thousand demon soldiers clad in black armor, bearing the crest of a black mountain crag on their chests, formed a battle line, firmly blocking the path of the Iron Spine Mountain demon army.

A Demon Immortal with the mid-stage cultivation of a Grand Unity Golden Immortal rushed forward on a dark cloud. This Demon Immortal was a spirit monster cultivated from a rare Horned Bear-Grizzly, standing about eight zhang tall. His hide was tough and coarse, and the heavy, sturdy armor he wore made him resemble a mobile fortress of steel. Wielding a massive wind-sweeping broadsword, the Grizzly roared loudly and arrogantly at Gu Xiechen and his party: "You scurrilous things! What are you doing here? Don't you know this is the domain of Ancestor Iron Stone?"

Gu Xiechen subtly altered his appearance, transforming into a middle-aged man whose features were rugged but carried a hint of sinister cunning. He then stepped forward past the vanguard demon soldiers, emerging from the formation atop a chilling ice wind.

Glancing at the Grizzly spirit, Gu Xiechen did not speak. Instead, he condensed a snowball about the size of his fist in his palm. It looked light as it was tossed toward the Grizzly spirit. The snowball's trajectory was not particularly fast; at least the weakest little demon present could clearly see its path.

The Grizzly spirit grinned. He was most proud of his physical strength; among the myriad demons under Ancestor Iron Stone, his brute force was unmatched. Seeing Gu Xiechen toss a snowball at him, he didn't even bother using his great saber, simply slapping out his palm toward the snowball. Then, the Grizzly's entire arm was gone.

His arm looked as if it were carved from tofu, or perhaps swung heavily by a dumbbell. The several-zhang-long, thick arm snapped with a crack, tearing off at the shoulder, carried by the snowball far toward the direction of the battalion of demon soldiers behind him.

The front rank of demon soldiers, unable to evade, could only watch in horror as the snowball, carrying a massive arm, smashed into them.

The front rank of soldiers cried out and fell, thrown backward, their spines colliding heavily with their comrades behind them. A vast surge of dark force coursed through their bodies, flinging their rear comrades far away as well.

Over two thousand demon soldiers were sent flying by Gu Xiechen's throw. They shrieked, flung nearly ten li like wingless birds, landing with sickening crackles, kicking up clouds of dust and ash. The disarmed Grizzly spirit looked back at his subordinates being knocked down so easily. His body staggered a few times, and the flesh buds at the severed stump of his arm writhed, rapidly sealing the profusely bleeding wound. He glared fiercely at Gu Xiechen and roared, "Who are you? Don't you know who I am..."

Gu Xiechen swept a cold glance at the Grizzly spirit. His chilling gaze made the Grizzly shudder, and he dared not utter another sound.

With a cold sneer, Gu Xiechen snapped his fingers, and Guo Hua flew out carrying the Black Dove Demon Immortal. He casually tossed the swollen, hunchbacked, and unable-to-stand Black Dove Demon Immortal out.

The Grizzly spirit instinctively dropped his great saber and embraced the Black Dove. He stared blankly at the dying Black Dove in his hands and suddenly shrieked, "Black Skin Bird? Black Skin Bird? You, they injured you? Hey, where is Fox Consort, who was escorting you with Old Red Fiend?" "Fox Consort...?"

Gu Xiechen felt a sudden chill in his heart. Siren, who had just stepped out from among the demon soldiers carrying the Blood Fox Demon, felt goosebumps rise all over his body. He snorted coldly and delivered a heavy kick to the Blood Fox Demon's rear, sending him flying far away.

The Grizzly immediately dropped the Black Dove Demon Immortal, hurriedly rising on the clouds, and gently caught the Blood Fox Demon with one palm.

The Blood Fox Demon, kicked awake by Siren, shook his head groggily and suddenly yelled, "General Grizzly, General Grizzly, get rid of them! Think of the lives of my hundreds of thousands of children in Blood Soul Ridge!"

The Grizzly spirit glared fiercely at Gu Xiechen, whose body was surging with demonic aura, and coldly curled his lips into a sinister smile: "You have courage. Just three Grand Unity Golden Immortals, yet you dare injure the Ancestor's most cherished Fox Consort! You have guts! Wait right here, the Ancestor will settle this with you!"

Before the words fully faded, a sharp, grating sound, like colliding iron and stone, drifted from the pitch-black mountain range tens of thousands of miles ahead: "Who dares injure the people of my Iron Water Black Stone Mountain? Go slap your own head off and offer it as apology!"

Gu Xiechen smiled coldly, and an equally hoarse and unpleasant voice drifted from his throat: "If the Ancestor judges without discerning right from wrong, do not blame us for turning back. This immense benefit, besides you, Ancestor, others also desire it!"

A stretch of dark mist slowly rolled in from the distance, gradually drawing nearer. The entire cosmos was filled with piercing ghostly shrieks, and a colossal pressure rushed toward them. Gu Xiechen instantly perceived this pressure and knew that all the rumors about Ancestor Black Stone were nonsense.

This low-profile old fellow from the Icy Hell was clearly an ancient monster at the peak of the Great Luo Golden Immortal level, not some mid-grade Great Luo Golden Immortal!

No wonder this old monster stubbornly guarded his territory and seldom showed his face—it turned out he had cultivated to this extent.

Having reached the peak of the Great Luo Golden Immortal stage, if they could not advance further, given the inherent nature of immortals born from demons and fiends, they would indulge their negative emotions, indulge in eating, drinking, and enjoying countless handsome men and beautiful women—this served as a necessary means of relief.

Glancing back at Guo Hua and Siren, Gu Xiechen grinned faintly, then raised his voice into a sharp, shrill reprimand: "Ancestor Black Stone, 00"

A clamor suddenly erupted from the dark mist. Ancestor Black Stone roared fiercely, "Enough nonsense! What benefit? You dare injure the Ancestor's trusted subordinate right at the Ancestor's doorstep, and harm the Ancestor's beloved concubine? Heh, heh, what benefit can you offer to compensate for all this?"

Gu Xiechen burst into laughter upon hearing this. The old fellow’s initial tone was extremely severe, indicating a readiness for a fight to the death with Gu Xiechen, as if he would risk everything for his subordinate and concubine. But by the end, his tone shifted, and the old fellow directly started demanding compensation!

Well, if he wanted compensation, he would get compensation. Gu Xiechen had come here precisely for this purpose.

With a cold smile, Gu Xiechen spoke coldly, "Firstly, we have come to submit to the Ancestor! We from Iron Spine Mountain hope to become your vassal force!"

The black mist surged forward, enveloping Gu Xiechen and his party. The surrounding air became heavy, and the nature of the air seemed to undergo a subtle change. When the air was inhaled into the lungs, it felt like heavy sand scraping through. Surrounded by such air, the Iron Spine Mountain demon soldiers were already struggling to breathe, on the verge of suffocation and fainting.

Ancestor Black Stone let out a sinister, cackling laugh: "Submit to the Ancestor? What kind of rubbish benefit is that? A few crooked gourds and rotten dates like you, the Ancestor doesn't care! For such a small matter, you dare injure the Ancestor's subordinates and concubine?"

Gu Xiechen remained silent, then pulled out the black pearl he had used to strike that Demon Immortal. As soon as the pearl forged from Solar Essence appeared, the surrounding temperature soared straight up.

The group was suspended about ten li above the ground, but after this pearl appeared, the sand and stones on the ground immediately grew scalding hot. In just a few breaths, the sand and stone began to melt, and the sand within a thousand-mile radius gradually liquefied into magma.

It was only a thumb-sized pearl, yet it possessed such momentum. Clearly, even if this pearl wasn't Innate, its power surpassed that of an Innate artifact. Especially when Gu Xiechen injected a trace of magic power into the pearl, a strand of black flame suddenly rose from it, causing Ancestor Black Stone to cry out in shock. "Solar Blazing Flame? The first wisp of supreme Yang True Fire of the Innate stage?"

Gu Xiechen tilted his head up proudly, laughing loudly, "Ancestor, please see clearly! It's not just this pearl; there are other good things waiting for the Ancestor's appraisal." The black mist surrounding them suddenly dispersed, and Ancestor Black Stone's sharp voice came from afar: "Open the main gates wide and welcome the distinguished guests. Heh, heh heh, if what you offer satisfies the Ancestor, you will be the first Outer Guest Minister of Iron Water Black Stone Mountain."

Gu Xiechen smiled slightly, chest held high and head unbowed, and soared through the clouds over the venomous gazes of the Blood Fox Spirit, the Grizzly spirit, and the Black Dove Demon Immortal.

Iron Water Black Stone Mountain lay ahead.