"You think this ancient demon isn't strong enough only because the seal upon him hasn't fully opened! Do you have any idea how many human cultivators were slaughtered when the ancient demon roamed the world back then?" the elder roared in fury.
"Fellow Daoist, pray do not lose your temper. We never expected an ancient demon to be sealed here either. The Eastern Pole Alliance Leader was bewitched by the ancient demon, aiding his escape and even delivering a physical body to him..."
The Western Nether Alliance Leader glanced at the Demon Lord and explained to the elder via secret voice transmission, "The ancient demon breaking his seal is already a foregone conclusion; taking our own lives in atonement would accomplish nothing. Since Fellow Daoist is a descendant of the Four Sages, do you know how to subdue this demon?"
The ancient demon was displaying his terrible demonic might.
Both she and the Demon Lord were trapped within the true demonic qi, with the Eastern Pole Alliance Leader coordinating attacks from the flank.
The situation was grim.
The Demon Lord snorted. "No matter how catastrophic a massacre the ancient demon wrought in the past, after being sealed for so many years, how much strength could he possibly have left? Cut the chatter—do you have a solution or not!"
"Fortunately, you weren't stupid enough to undo the entire seal. The four ancestors left behind arrangements in the past to guard against the ancient demon's reemergence in the mortal world..." the elder transmitted swiftly, his tone fraught with urgency.
"What arrangements did the Four Sages leave?"
The Western Nether Alliance Leader's eyes lit up.
The ancient demon's strength was steadily recovering. They could still hold him off for now, but once he threw off the seal entirely, their fates would be dire indeed.
"I have a way to temporarily suppress the ancient demon before repairing the seal. But it will take time to complete the setup, and in the end, the ancient demon will surely notice. You must keep him tied down! The seal upon him is growing weaker by the second—any later and it truly will be too late..."
The elder spoke urgently. Instead of stepping forward to assist the two, he crept toward the edge of the mountain hollow, concealing himself in the shadows as he peered at the stone stele in the center.
Just as the elder said, the chain imprints upon the ancient demon's body were slowly fading. Once the marks vanished completely, his catastrophic demonic might would once again engulf the world.
The Demon Lord and the Western Nether Alliance Leader stood close together, weathering the onslaught of the ancient demon and the Eastern Pole Alliance Leader.
As one side waxed and the other waned, the situation grew perilous.
At last, the sound of tearing air came from above the hollow. In a flash, the elder swept through the sky over the hollow, pressing his palm downward to shoot a beam of azure light into the stone stele.
Activated, the jade stele expanded to half the height of a man, sparkling and translucent.
Inside the hollow, the ancient demon snapped his head up, glaring fixatedly at the jade stele with madness in his eyes. Abandoning the Demon Lord and his companion, he charged recklessly toward the elder.
"Quick! Stop him!" the elder shouted desperately as he manipulated the jade stele.
The Demon Lord and the Western Nether Alliance Leader exchanged a glance and struck with everything they had.
Upon receiving the ancient demon's command, the Eastern Pole Alliance Leader was about to recall his spirit sword and direct the sword formation against the elder when a beam of cold light shot toward him. Invisible ripples surged, wrapping tightly around the blade.
The sword hummed like rolling thunder and flared with brilliant radiance, yet for the moment, it could not shake off the entanglement.
The Western Nether Alliance Leader shifted from defense to offense, pinning down her former friend.
Meanwhile, the Demon Lord opened his mouth and spat out a cluster of yellow light enclosing a dusky yellow stone blade.
The surface of the stone blade was rough, looking as if crudely ground from a random rock. The blade itself was damaged, the hilt nowhere to be seen, and the edge notched with chips.
When the stone blade appeared and hovered before the Demon Lord, it emitted no powerful fluctuations, appearing utterly unremarkable.
Then, the Lunar Heavenly Ghost Divine Light erupted, resembling waters drawn straight from the Yellow Springs. Evil ghosts drifted within it, howling in torment and madness enough to make one's scalp tingle.
Yet the divine light did not shoot toward the ancient demon; it struck the stone blade instead.
The stone blade trembled faintly, unleashing an immense suction that swallowed the Lunar Heavenly Ghost Divine Light whole.
*Whoosh!*
The yellow radiance turned blinding.
The stone blade transformed into a bloodthirsty demonic blade, radiating an eerie, ravenous desire.
*Buzz!*
The stone blade vibrated rapidly, then suddenly flicked through the air.
A yellow streak flashed and disappeared, leaving only an afterimage behind. In an instant, the true blade materialized right behind the ancient demon's heart, striking straight for a fatal point.
Fierce wind bore down upon him.
Warning bells clanged furiously in the ancient demon's mind.
This strike was no trivial matter; the Demon Lord had premeditated it for a long time.
The moment he sensed the stone blade's aura, the essence blood inside this physical shell and even the ancient demon's demonic soul felt as though they were being tugged outward.
If pierced by the stone blade, even someone as mighty as the ancient demon would likely have all the vital essence of his flesh drained dry.
The stone blade had a profound origin. Cultivators of the present era were incapable of crafting such a treasure; it was an ancient treasure of evil cultivators that the Demon Lord had obtained from a secret realm within the Inner Hall.
The ancient demon formed hand seals with both palms. Surging demonic qi condensed into layer upon layer of heavy curtains that bore down upon the stone blade, while his own speed did not slacken in the slightest.
Just then, the ancient demon suddenly sensed something amiss.
After freeing himself from the stone stele and fully possessing the body, he had been battering the seal without pause. The chain imprints across his face had been steadily fading, and after devouring a Nascent Soul, they had grown fainter still.
Yet at this moment, for reasons unknown, the chain imprints darkened again, and hair-thin arcs of lightning surfaced across them.
At the same time, throughout the entire sealing grand formation.
Talismans rose from a portion of the sacrificial altars, including one primary sacrificial altar.
Around those auxiliary sacrificial altars stood figures of cultivators—all trusted confidants of the Western Nether Alliance Leader and the Demon Lord—swiftly forming seals to activate the talismans.
An inexplicable fluctuation traced its way along the seal. The talismans instantly shattered, releasing a power resembling that of the True Demonic Fiend Talisman, though its momentum was far inferior to the earlier True Demonic Fiend Talisman.
Yet once this power manifested, the might of the True Demonic Fiend Talisman was affected.
The thunder cables, originally dim and suppressed, gained a brief respite. Though still unable to contend with the True Demonic Fiend Talisman, they possessed enough strength to hold out for a while longer and even counterattack.
As the thunder cables flared into action, the ancient demon grunted in pain, his true demonic qi wavering.
"It's you!"
The ancient demon immediately realized the cause and roared in fury.
"I spent several centuries studying talisman formations, all thanks to you!"
The Western Nether Alliance Leader gritted her teeth.
She possessed great talent in the art of spirit talismans.
The True Demonic Fiend Talisman and the talisman formation imparted to them by the ancient demon were unfathomably profound—impossible for an ordinary Nascent Soul cultivator to fully decipher—yet the Western Nether Alliance Leader had managed to work out some of their principles.
Regrettably, she could only influence a single primary sacrificial altar and had to dispatch people to the corresponding auxiliary sacrificial altars to help activate the talismans.
She was far from matching the ancient demon, who could commandeer the talisman formation single-handedly to assault the entire seal.
The ancient demon's aura roiled violently, and his true demonic qi grew sluggish.
Seizing the opening, the stone blade broke free from the curtain of demonic qi and forced the ancient demon back.
*Whoosh!*
The jade stele crashed down.
Suddenly, a startling change occurred!
The void behind the elder warped abruptly, and a silhouette emerged without a sound. Two cold, sinister eyes locked onto the elder. Forming hand seals in secret, the figure launched a fire lotus like lightning, striking toward the elder's back!
At the same time, the Demon Lord's silhouette flashed repeatedly, his target actually being the jade stele!
The one ambushing the elder was none other than Old Devil Mou, who had lain in wait for a long time.
Caught off guard, the elder instantly understood, consumed by shock and rage.
The Demon Lord's true intention had been to use the ancient demon to lure out the Four Sages Palace's successor and seize the Demon-Suppressing Stele!
"In the past, the Four Sages obtained a supreme treasure surpassing spirit treasures in the Hall of Seven Kills. Later, internal strife erupted within the Four Sages Palace, leading to its decline and retreat from the world, and that supreme treasure vanished without a trace. It must be this very treasure, isn't it?"
The Demon Lord's eyes burned with fervor.
Just as he had anticipated, after being sealed for so many years, the ancient demon's strength had fallen drastically.
As long as he seized the Demon-Suppressing Stele, he wouldn't need to worry much even if the ancient demon broke the seal.
What the elder did not know was that the Demon Lord had long since laid down the Demon-Slaying Great Formation outside the Spirit-Suppressing Domain.
Chapter 1069