Unsealing the Demon

They escorted Su Nü into the mountain hollow. In the center of the hollow stood a mottled stone stele that appeared utterly ordinary. There was no telling how many years it had stood there, surrounded by piles of rubble in extreme desolation. Strangely, there were no graves nearby, nor were there any characters carved upon the stele—only the weathered marks left behind by the passage of time. It was a blank stele. They came to a halt before the stele. First, they laid down a concealing restriction above the hollow. Then, after a brief hesitation, they formed hand seals simultaneously, waves of true essence surging into their hands. Woven into their true essence was the distinct aura of true demonic qi. Behind each of them materialized the shadowy phantom of a three-headed, six-armed demon. Su Nü was all too familiar with true demonic qi, and her face filled with shock. On the surface, the three Business Alliance leaders had no ties to the demonic path, and the Demon Lord even viewed them as thorns in his side. Yet here they were, all proficient in demonic arts and capable of wielding true demonic qi! *Whoosh!* Three seal incantations coalesced and struck the stele at the same time. A streak of black light suddenly flowed across the mottled stele before returning to normal. Immediately following that, an ethereal sigh echoed from within the stele. "Ah... This seat has waited a full several hundred years. You have finally come..." The voice was faint, yet paradoxically, it was extraordinarily hoarse and grating, like two pieces of iron scraping together, shrill and ear-piercing. Su Nü's pupils dilated, her eyes turning dull. Her last sliver of hope had been extinguished—a great archdemon truly was sealed here! From the base of the stele, wisps of black qi seeped out from beneath, but they were held in check by an inexplicable power, unable to break the seal. Flattened at the bottom of the stele, the black qi coalesced into a grotesque face. The features of the grotesque face were contorted, far from human. Stared at by its two hollow eyes, their hearts tightened, a shiver of chill rising unbidden. "All at the peak of the mid-Nascent Soul stage. Not bad! You have not disappointed this seat. It was not in vain that this seat passed down the peerless divine arts of the Sacred Race to you... Why are there only three of you?" The three alliance leaders looked at the grotesque face with varying expressions, exchanging a glance. Dongji Alliance Leader stepped forward, bowed, and reported, "Reporting to the Sacred Sovereign, after receiving the Sacred Sovereign's guidance in the Outer Hall back then, we followed your orders to build a force and gather resources to help unseal you. Unfortunately, our cultivation was meager at the time. Two of our senior martial brothers inadvertently provoked powerful enemies and met with misfortune. We had no choice but to bide our time and seek another path..." The one sealed inside the stele was actually an ancient demon sovereign! "Business alliances?" The Demon Sovereign cared nothing for the deaths of his two disciples, letting out an eerie chuckle. "I recall you mentioning that in this current era, cultivators cannot even produce a single one in the Deity Transformation stage. In such a Dharma-ending land, as direct disciples of this seat, you failed to become overlords and could only form some business alliance, walking on eggshells around others?" In the Canglang Sea, the Three Great Merchant Alliances were major powers second only to the righteous and demonic factions. Yet the Demon Sovereign's tone was full of ridicule, brimming with dissatisfaction toward the three alliance leaders. When had the three alliance leaders ever suffered such mockery? Western Nether Alliance Leader raised her delicate brows, her lovely face flushed with anger. "Had you not secretly tampered with our bodies, causing our true essence to become erratic and putting us at risk of exploding at any moment, we would have already become great cultivators and dominated the cultivation world! Why would we need to act so cautiously?" Dongji Alliance Leader and Beichen Alliance Leader shared her grief. By now, they had sunk deep into the demonic path, beyond any hope of redemption. "You sensed it?" The Demon Sovereign smiled slyly. "It was not this seat who tampered with you. Rather, you possess human bodies yet cultivate the peerless divine arts of the Sacred Race. Once you reach a certain realm, if you do not receive this seat's guidance to make adjustments, this will inevitably happen. Back then, when this seat traced the seal back to the Outer Hall, I was already at the end of my strength and had no time to help you adjust. However, were it not for cultivating the Sacred Race's divine arts, with the talent of you three, breaking through to the Nascent Soul stage would have been your absolute limit. To possess your current cultivation and achievements today—are you still not satisfied?" The three alliance leaders felt somewhat abashed. The Demon Sovereign was right; without that fortuitous encounter in the Outer Hall, they would have long faded into mediocrity among the masses. "What is more, if there were no hidden dangers, would you still have come to see this seat?" The Demon Sovereign's tone was calm, yet it sent a chill through the three of them. "We swore an oath on our inner demons back then. How would we dare disobey?" Western Nether Alliance Leader's expression flickered between dark and pale. The Demon Sovereign dismissed her words with indifference, saying placidly, "Rest assured. Trapped here with nothing to do, this seat already completed deducing the divine arts countless years ago and can easily resolve the hidden dangers within your bodies. In the future, even if you cultivate above the Void Refining stage, there will be absolutely no lingering trouble." He spoke with immense grandeur. The Void Refining stage was something they dared not even dream of, let alone beyond it. "Is she the vessel you prepared for this seat?" The grotesque face squirmed. Its hollow eye sockets turned toward Su Nü. Dongji Alliance Leader pushed Su Nü before the stele. Su Nü trembled violently. After sizing Su Nü up for a moment, the Demon Sovereign's voice turned chillingly cold. "Have you completely forgotten this seat's orders?" Their hearts skipped a beat. Dongji Alliance Leader forced himself to remain calm, hastily explaining, "Sacred Sovereign, please appease your anger! The Nine Revolutions Radiant Yin Body and the other spiritual physiques you required back then are all exceptionally rare and precious physiques in this world, even scarcer than heavenly spiritual roots. Nowadays, they are well-nigh impossible to find. The three of us mobilized all the resources of the business alliances and searched with all our might, yet we only managed to find a few disciples with Yin Meridian Bodies. This woman was an accidental discovery of ours several decades ago, when she was only at the Foundation Establishment stage. We spared no expense and did everything in our power to assist her cultivation, which allowed her to reach the late Core Formation stage. Unfortunately, she fell short of success when attempting to form her Nascent Soul. However, she possesses a Five Yin Exquisite Body, second only to the Nine Revolutions Radiant Yin Body. Even if her cultivation is slightly lacking, she is still far superior to a Yin Meridian Body." After a moment of silence, the Demon Sovereign said coldly, "Forget it! This vessel is barely acceptable. Have you carried out the other matters properly?" The three alliance leaders secretly breathed a sigh of relief. The old demon had only grown angry because Su Nü's cultivation was insufficient; he had not discovered the contingencies they had arranged behind his back. Beichen Alliance Leader responded, "Reporting to the Sacred Sovereign, the secondary altars in the Outer Hall have all been successively infused with Demon Fiend True Spirit Talismans by us. The three main altars have also been tampered with according to the Sacred Sovereign's commands. Once activated, they can immediately suppress the power of the lightning cables on the sacrificial platforms, destabilizing the entire sealing grand formation to help the Sacred Sovereign break free..." Beichen Alliance Leader briefly recounted what they had done. The other two also gave a concise overview of their tasks. "Well done." The Demon Sovereign was very pleased, the grotesque face stretching into an eerie smile. "What are you waiting for? Quickly assist this seat in breaking the seal! This seat has long grown sick of lingering beneath this stele!" "This..." The three exchanged hesitant glances. Beichen Alliance Leader ventured cautiously, "Lord Sacred Sovereign, the hidden dangers in our bodies..." "Help this seat break the seal, and this seat will naturally impart the method to remedy your conditions. In the future, you will be generals before this seat's throne, accompanying this seat on conquests to rule over the cultivation world. What good would it do this seat to let your bodies explode?" The Demon Sovereign snorted. "Do you need this seat to swear an oath on my inner demon?" The three alliance leaders were tempted, yet remained silent. The Demon Sovereign showed no anger either and readily swore an oath. Their expressions relaxed slightly. Leaving Su Nü before the stele, they took up positions surrounding it from three directions, their fingers moving like whirring wheels as they rapidly formed hand seals.