With every hand seal completed, they cast out a treasure. Each was a precious spiritual material, exorbitantly valuable and exceedingly rare to find. Only the Three Great Merchant Alliances possessed the financial might to gather so many.
The seals merged with the treasures, scattering like heavenly maidens showering blossoms and falling one after another around the stone stele.
At last, an extraordinarily intricate spirit array gradually took shape, encircling the stone stele.
The demonic phantoms behind them strode forward into the grand array.
*Bang! Bang! Bang!*
The demonic phantoms roared furiously. Sweeping up the power of the grand array, their heavy fists smashed toward the stone stele.
The fist force shook the heavens, rumbling like thunderous war drums in unison.
Within the mountain hollow, fierce winds howled as demonic qi surged like a tsunami.
Unexpectedly, subjected to such an assault, the seemingly ordinary stone stele not only failed to shatter, but remained standing where it was, unyielding and motionless.
Across the surface of the stele, a dim gleam swept by—the radiance of a mysterious seal—effortlessly neutralizing the force of the blows.
The stone stele was the seal itself.
Three alliance masters at the peak of the Mid Nascent Soul stage, combined with a grand array painstakingly prepared over many years, were still unable to shake the seal!
Yet, this was only the beginning.
The demonic phantoms danced wildly.
Countless fist shadows bombarded the stone stele in continuous succession.
From the depths of the stone stele came the Demon Sovereign's voice, seemingly chanting an incantation, obscure and incomprehensible.
*Bang!*
After the deafening rumble, all the fist shadows abruptly dispersed.
At this moment, the seal remained completely undamaged, but an inexplicable power now layered the surface of the stone stele. The array's might converged there, gradually forming a never-before-seen black talisman.
The talisman clung tightly to the stone stele, seemingly fusing into the seal.
"Demonic Fiend True Spirit Talisman! Open!"
The Demon Sovereign bellowed in fury, madly battering against the seal, the strange face twisting into a ferocious expression.
*Boom!*
The black talisman suddenly exploded, shattering completely into what seemed like tens of thousands of demonic needles. Some were obliterated by the seal's counterattack, but a portion stabbed directly into the seal!
The power of the Demonic Fiend True Spirit Talisman clashed against the seal.
Dim light flickered upon the stone stele; the outcome remained unclear.
Elsewhere, anomalies were occurring at the same time!
Inside the Hall of Seven Kills.
Within those secluded, hidden grounds, strange fluctuations erupted without warning.
Some were in secret realms, others deep within perilous lands—all places rarely visited by human footsteps.
Cliffs collapsed, and the earth split open.
The fluctuations grew increasingly violent, faintly accompanied by the rumble of thunder. At the center of the disturbances, piercing golden light shone as nearly identical altars emerged into the world, one after another.
The altars were square, their tops roughly one zhang across.
At the four corners of each altar, iron chains hung down and embedded into the ground, densely covered with profoundly intricate runes.
As the restrictions were triggered, the iron chains snapped taut and the runes flared, bursting with silvery-white brilliance.
In an instant, every trace of rust was swept away. Silver serpents slithered along them, transforming the iron chains into lightning chains that radiated a violent aura of pure, supreme yang.
Lightning flashed and thunder roared as heavenly lightning danced wild and untamed.
*Rumble! Rumble!*
Altar after altar revealed themselves, their distribution following an underlying order that corresponded to the constellations.
Among the cultivators exploring the Outer Hall, some sensed the anomaly, laid aside whatever they were doing, and flew to high vantage points to look around, their expressions uncertain and alarmed.
Then came the three main altars.
One was in the Trial Realm, while the other two were hidden deep within forbidden grounds in the Inner Hall. All three had been located and tampered with by the three alliance masters.
The three main altars surfaced simultaneously. They were the core of the seal, linking with the other auxiliary altars; their scale was vastly more magnificent, their sealing power far mightier.
At this moment, the entire sealing array was fully activated.
Starting from its very core, the stone stele gradually transformed into silvery-white, and countless tiny bolts of lightning surged from within, striking down savagely upon the Demon Sovereign beneath the seal.
The Demon Sovereign shrieked shrilly, enduring horrific agony, yet he continued to batter ceaselessly against the seal.
Just then, a strange fluctuation traced backward along the seal, spreading toward the outer altars.
Upon the altars rested Demonic Fiend True Spirit Talismans. Originally lying there in silence, they were tugged by the fluctuation at this very instant. Without anyone actively channeling them, the power of the talismans was activated.
*Whoosh!*
Demonic qi of the utmost purity coalesced into a grotesque face that cackled weirdly and lunged madly at the lightning chains.
Covered by demonic qi, the lightning chains suffered massive loss of power; the sealing might weakened drastically, and the altars' golden light dimmed until it was nearly extinguished.
***
At the same time.
Inside the ancient hall within the sheer cliff.
The three descendants of the Four Sages Palace wore solemn expressions.
This place seemed like an ancestral hall. Before them stood an altar table bearing only three memorial tablets. However, had any outsider seen the names upon them, they would have been utterly shocked—for they were none other than three of the Four Sages!
The human race had named the Four Sacred Mountains on Tianxing Island in memory of the four ancient sages, yet their memorial tablets were here.
"...These are the ancestral teachings left behind by our forebears. You must commit them to memory!"
Offering incense, the old man paid homage to the ancestors while instructing the juniors, passing down the ancestral teachings.
"This disciple shall keep them firmly in mind."
The boy and girl kowtowed to the ancestors, their movements meticulous.
Suddenly, a muffled chime echoed through the ancient hall. A black bell hanging from the old man's waist was violently vibrating. He looked down, his face changing drastically, and he darted out of the hall in a flash.
The youth and maiden looked at each other in dismay, having no idea what had happened.
Flying out of the cliff face with an anxious expression, the old man swept his gaze rapidly around, then rushed along the cliff toward the summit of Yitian Peak. Once he reached the crest of the precipice, he spotted the mountain hollow in the distance.
Demonic qi raged violently within the hollow. The restriction set up by the three alliance masters could no longer suppress the anomalies.
"The ancient demon is breaking the seal!"
Seeing this, the old man was thoroughly shocked. Just as he was about to dash toward the hollow, something suddenly occurred to him, and he swiftly flew back into the ancient hall.
"Grandmaster..."
The youth and maiden were at a complete loss.
"Wait here. Do not wander about!"
The old man barked a hurried instruction and strode quickly to the altar table.
"Ancestors, forgive me!"
He shoved the altar table aside. Beneath it lay another stele, though it was far smaller than the stone stele in the mountain hollow—only knee-high—and verdant green throughout, translucent like jade.
It was actually a jade stele!
The old man sat cross-legged before the jade stele and cast out intricate hand seals one after another. Runes flickered around the jade stele as ancient restrictions emerged.
*Bang!*
The old man executed a secret technique, attempting to take the jade stele away.
With a loud crash, the jade stele seemed to weigh tens of thousands of jun. After rising just a few inches from the ground, it crashed heavily back down.
His face flushing red, the old man channeled his true essence with all his might and cast yet another secret technique before finally lifting the jade stele. Under the worried gazes of the two juniors, he flew out of the hall without stopping for even a moment.
At this time, the old woman—likewise a successor of the Four Sages—had just entered Secluded Valley after inspecting the immortal restrictions at the entrance of the Hall of Seven Kills.
The bell at her waist was vibrating as well.
A sharp glint flashed in the old woman's eyes, and her flying speed surged dramatically.
***
At the summit of Yitian Peak.
Jolted awake from their meditation, Qin Sang and Ning Wuhui exchanged a glance and rose abruptly to their feet, standing before the hall doors and gazing downward.
Near the very edge of their field of vision...
Inside a mountain hollow surrounded by a stone forest, black mist churned, giving off abnormal fluctuations.
"Could it be that Senior Qingzhu has arrived?"
Qin Sang stared intently at the mountain hollow. Confined within the hall, he had no way of knowing what upheaval was taking place there.
"Wait here a moment. I will sneak close to investigate."
Ning Wuhui watched for a moment without discerning any clear signs, then flickered and vanished from sight.
"Be careful, Daoist friend!"
An uneasy feeling suddenly arose in Qin Sang's heart. The black mist felt somewhat familiar—it resembled true demonic qi immensely!
Chapter 1066