A piercing shriek ripped down from the densely pooled black clouds above, where a gaunt demon, thin as a reed and swaying, with a single eye and a face covered in ghastly green tattoos, flickered into view.

", our clan leader asks when we may depart?" The one-eyed demon’s expression was surprisingly respectful as he even offered a slight bow amidst the thick demonic vapor.

", tell the Evil Eye to wait." Moqita roared skyward, an overwhelming surge of baleful energy shooting straight into the firmament, jarring the one-eyed clansman so violently that he tumbled repeatedly within the demonic clouds. It took him a moment to regain his footing, after which he flew off with a grimace through the mist, vanishing in the blink of an eye.

Moqita scoffed, settling heavily onto his bone dais. He suddenly reached out, snatching at empty space.

A bolt of black lightning erupted with sudden force from the void.

Space seemed to tear apart, revealing a succession of blood-stained skulls, each one grotesquely unique, sourced from countless different races. Many of the skulls still had vivid, lifelike eyes, and some even retained patches of scalp, as if recently wrenched from a neck.

Dripping skulls rolled behind Moqita, forming an unholy nimbus around him, like the halo of a deity or Buddha.

Streams of evil, terrifying black smoke poured forth from the empty sockets of the hundreds of gruesome skulls, slipping like phantoms into Moqita’s ears and vanishing instantly.

Moqita’s pair of maniacal eyes gradually turned utterly pure black, seeming to contain infinite reservoirs of soul energy.

", Devil's Eye Insight!" Moqita pressed his hands together, his eyes snapping shut. The hundreds of rolling skulls behind him instantly froze solid.

A beam of black light shot from the back of Moqita’s neck, slicing through the void, crossing millions of miles in an instant, and disappearing without a trace.

Snow Dragon Island.

Dishan, Yurou, and Shiyan stood positioned in three different directions, each behind Yitianmo, Zhameng, and Kaba, respectively. Their expressions were solemn, their senses acutely on guard.

Brilliant, sparkling light coalesced into a visible curtain of energy, enveloping the area above the six figures.

Threads of pure, refined power flowed continuously from the fingertips of Dishan and Yurou, being injected into the luminous canopy overhead, anchoring the barrier with a steady source of energy capable of resisting any fluctuation.

Three minutes passed.

Yitianmo and the other two had linked their souls, employing the Yinmei Clan’s unique Soul Tethering and Spirit Guiding technique. Using their combined soul power as a guide, they were scouring the depths of Snow Dragon Island, determined to locate the strange latent life form lurking beneath.

Ripples of peculiar soul waves washed out from Yitianmo, Kaba, and Zhameng...

These waves were incredibly subtle, yet wherever they passed, the very pulse of the earth seemed to be affected. Under their influence, even the tiniest subsurface organisms buried thousands of meters deep, their minuscule life fluctuations, would be amplified countless times.

Kaba’s brow gradually furrowed, as if he had detected something, and a sliver of chilling amusement slowly curled at the corner of his mouth.

Shiyan felt a surge of excitement, watching with quiet anticipation.

Dishan and Yurou exchanged a glance, concentrating further, releasing more of their power to discreetly bolster the dome above them, ensuring no surprise breach occurred.

The clear, bright sky suddenly experienced a gust of chilling wind, and then—the midday sun seemed to instantly dim significantly.

Thick, heavy black clouds, emanating from an unknown source, silently drifted overhead, entirely obscuring the sunlight.

Snow Dragon Island, already frigid, was plunged into an even more bone-piercing cold, deprived of the sun.

Many of the Yinmei clansmen on the island suddenly felt the chill threatening to penetrate their bodies, causing them to shiver involuntarily.

With the black clouds pressing down, a malevolent, savage aura abruptly flooded the air!

Dishan’s expression turned ashen, and he instinctively looked up, a flicker of shock crossing his eyes.

Yurou’s delicate body trembled slightly, recognizing the change, and she whispered in alarm, “A powerful presence—this person’s cultivation is incredibly refined!”

“, a demon…” Dishan nodded slowly, his expression complicated. “We’ve finally encountered them.”

Yurou paused before softly sighing, shaking her head. “Though we didn't wish to meet them, the encounter was inevitable. Alas, I wonder if that fellow will recognize us.” Dishan remained grim-faced, offering no reply.

Shiyan stood behind Yitianmo, quietly absorbing the conversation between Dishan and Yurou, his own expression growing strange as uneasy thoughts began to surface.

At that very moment.

In the thick mass of demonic clouds above, a colossal eyeball materialized, displaying a clear image within its depths...

An island shrouded in heavy demonic mist, a dais constructed of bloodied bones, and a powerfully built giant with curved horns atop his head, standing before hundreds of motionless, gore-soaked skulls.

Upon the bone platform, a dense throng of Horned Dragon clansmen stood, their eyes bloodthirsty and eager, instinctively licking their lips like wild beasts about to be unleashed.

The image within the massive eye was perfectly sharp; even the intricate scars covering the giant’s face were clearly visible.

“, the Wing Clan!” A deep, booming voice, rough as thunder, roared out from the giant within the eye in the sky. The giant abruptly stood up, clearly agitated, unable to contain himself as he threw his head back in wild laughter.

He pointed across the distance toward Dishan and Yurou within the eye, howling, “I am Moqita, Chief of the Horned Dragon Clan, one of the Eight Demon Clans! You of the Wing Clan, as one of the Eight, regardless of your origins, must unite with us for the grand design of the demons unifying humanity! For the eternal dominance of the demons, clear the obstacles in the Boundless Sea, and lay the foundation for the Demon Emperor’s arrival!” Shiyan’s formidable body involuntarily shuddered, and an unbelievable light sparked in his eyes.

“, we severed ties with the Demon Realm tens of thousands of years ago. When we were imprisoned in the Abandoned Land and nearly annihilated, we received not the slightest aid from the Demon Realm. From that moment on, the Wing Clan belonged no longer to the Demon Realm, nor did we heed the commands of any Demon Emperor,” Dishan stated, looking up at the sky with a dark expression, his tone even and cool.

“, Insolent!” Moqita roared within the eye. He stood up from the bone dais, his muscular physique radiating raw strength and savage beauty. Every vein on his body convulsed beneath taut skin, and the malevolent aura seemed to press forward, as if leaping out from the visual projection.

“, as one of the Eight Demon Clans, as long as you of the Wing Clan draw breath, you must answer the Demon Emperor’s call! Even if you are no longer in the Demon Realm, if you can hear the Emperor’s decree, you must immediately present yourselves to receive orders!” Moqita bellowed from the dais, and the hundreds of skulls behind him began to move in unison.

Beams of inky black light shot forth from the eye sockets of the hundreds of skulls, crossing the spatial distance, passing directly through the celestial eye suspended over Snow Dragon Island.

“, you seek only trouble,” Dishan declared, his eyes sharp and cold. Black wings suddenly unfurled, and a tidal wave of black energy surged out from them.

The torrents of dark light raining down were instantly caught up and swallowed by the black wave Dishan expelled, dissolving into nothingness.

Moqita raged upon the dais, his ferocity boundless, but because he could not manifest his presence directly, the full might of his earth-shattering power could not be transmitted across the distance. Faced with Dishan’s resistance, he was helpless; all attacks emanating from the eye were merely superficial irritations to Dishan, having little effect.

“, the Demon Emperor will soon learn of the Wing Clan’s reappearance. You wait,” Moqita shrieked after failing to affect Dishan, issuing a venomous threat from the dais. “, and the Yinmei Clan, the four branches of the Netherworld race—the Avici Pluto will also receive news soon enough! Then we shall see how you deal with it.” With those words, Moqita slowly withdrew his power.

The eyeball hanging in the sky gradually shrank, and the heavy black clouds obscuring Snow Dragon Island began to dissipate.

A final wave of soul-probing energy sprinkled down from the eye, covering Dishan, Yurou, and their vicinity, seemingly intent on cataloging their auras.

This wave of soul exploration carried no aggressive force, being purely an act of perception.

As this energy washed over them, Shiyan was enveloped as well, immediately feeling a sensation of his soul being intruded upon. The sea of his consciousness stirred involuntarily, his primary soul gently swaying within. A few delicate threads of soul-line quietly extended from the main soul, weaving into his sea of consciousness.

The celestial eye slowly faded, eventually condensing into a single beam of black light that sped away for ten thousand miles.

On the bone dais.

Moqita spread his hands, observing streams of soul-light descending from the sky, pouring into his palms like black water, which he gently sensed.

“, Hmm?” Moqita’s brow suddenly furrowed as he closely examined one returning tendril of soul-probing energy. He vaguely detected a familiar aura.

“, this soul signature... I feel as if I have encountered it somewhere before...” Moqita was somewhat perplexed, racking his mind for recollection, but the source remained elusive. After a moment of contemplation, Moqita shook his head, deciding not to delve deeper. He slowly lifted off the bone dais and roared, “We go find the Evil Eye!” The dense multitude of Horned Dragon demons responded with an excited howl, clutching various bloody knives and forks, following Moqita with manic energy.

On Snow Dragon Mountain.

Shiyan soothed the turbulence in his sea of consciousness, his expression complex. He secretly wondered if Moqita had noticed his presence. He recalled how, using the Soul Gathering Orb, he had nearly captured Moqita’s descended spirit, prompting Moqita to swear vengeance, promising to subject him to every torture in the Demon Realm. Even the Demon Emperor, Poxun, had apparently taken notice of him then, remembering his soul signature.

This time, Moqita’s true body had entered the Boundless Sea! His aura was a thousand times more terrifying than the spirit projection from before. The current Moqita would be a hundred times harder to deal with! Even if the Soul Gathering Orb were functioning perfectly now, Shiyan couldn’t possibly use it against Moqita; with his true body stepping into this plane, Moqita’s power was beyond the scope of ordinary resistance.

The last surge of soul exploration from Moqita before his departure seemed to have snagged a portion of his soul aura. If Moqita retained any memory of him, detecting his origins through that lingering aura could drive Moqita into a frenzy, causing him to charge directly into Snow Dragon Mountain.

“, this is troublesome,” Shiyan muttered, frowning, his face clouding over.

...