All Appearing

Old Devil Mou manifested behind the elder, striking without mercy. The fire lotus was condensed purely from Dongming Cold Flame. Over the years, as he nursed his injuries, he had simultaneously refined the Dongming Cold Flame, finally subduing this spiritual fire. The Dongming Cold Flame transformed into a fire lotus glowing with shimmering blue light, carrying no earth-shattering fanfare. In fact, its shape was not that of a fully blooming lotus, but rather an unopened bud, though the contours of its petals were already discernible. *Whoosh!* Eerily beautiful, the fire lotus condensed the purest power of the cold flame. The elder's attention had been entirely focused on the Demon-Suppressing Stele. His protective spiritual aura was pierced through like dry weeds before a gale, and the terrifying chill nearly froze his entire body solid. In the nick of time, the elder madly channeled his internal true essence toward his back, activating his protective magic treasure, but the effect was limited. *Boom!* The fire lotus detonated. A torrent of blue fire lunged at the elder like a giant python. With a wretched shriek, a bloody hole was blasted through the elder's back, leaving him grievously wounded. For a moment, the Demon-Suppressing Stele fell out of control. ... Though forced back by the combined might of the Demon Lord and the Western Nether Alliance Leader, the ancient demon was not flustered. Instead, a sneer lurked at the corners of his mouth. Little did others know, the Demon-Suppressing Stele was a paramount treasure specifically crafted by immortal cultivators to suppress ancient demons. He could not control it at all; attempting to force it would only bring about a severe backlash from the treasure. His attempt to seize the Demon-Suppressing Stele had merely been a feint to keep the elder and the others from diverting their attention. Yet contrary to his expectations, things did not unfold as the ancient demon anticipated. The person ambushing the descendant of the Four Sages to snatch the Demon-Suppressing Stele was not who the ancient demon had expected. Upon seeing Old Devil Mou, the ancient demon's gaze shifted instantly. The aid he had arranged had not shown up! The Demon Lord's move to fight for the Demon-Suppressing Stele surprised the ancient demon even more. Seeing that matters had come to this, the ancient demon was exceedingly decisive as well, immediately whirling around to pounce upon the Western Nether Alliance Leader. ... A smile broke across the Demon Lord's face as he surged his true essence forward, sweeping toward the Demon-Suppressing Stele to claim the treasure for himself. Right then, another unexpected change occurred. Beside the Demon-Suppressing Stele, a figure materialized without warning. The newcomer held a horsetail whisk, radiating an otherworldly, immortal demeanor. Smiling at the Demon Lord with a look tinged with complacency and mockery, it was none other than Lingzhuzi, who had followed them here. "I never expected Fellow Daoist to possess such boldness as to plot for the legacy treasure of the Four Sages. This poor Daoist shall accept it with thanks..." Lingzhuzi burst out laughing. The smile on the Demon Lord's face stiffened abruptly, and he let out a world-shaking roar. "Lingzhuzi! How dare you!" "Why wouldn't I dare?" Lingzhuzi retorted mockingly, flicking his horsetail whisk to wrap around the Demon-Suppressing Stele, moving a step faster than the Demon Lord. Enraged, the Demon Lord coalesced his true essence into a blade and slashed violently at Lingzhuzi, his flight speed surging as he lunged straight for the Demon-Suppressing Stele. ... High above. Having ambushed the elder and seeing him heavily injured but still alive, Old Devil Mou flashed forward to close in behind him. Once more gathering cold flame, he prepared to end the elder's life without granting him a breath of respite. Just then, a glance from the corner of his eye caught the scene below, giving him a start. The condition on which the Demon Lord had spared Old Devil Mou was precisely that once the ancient demon appeared and flushed out the descendant of the Four Sages, Old Devil Mou would strike from the shadows to help the Demon Lord seize the paramount treasure. The plan had proceeded with extreme smoothness, only to hit a snag at the very final moment. Someone else had actually been lurking in the shadows to vie with the Demon Lord for the paramount treasure. Worse, the newcomer was someone Old Devil Mou hated to the very marrow of his bones—Lingzhuzi, Sect Master of the Tiandao Sect! Lingzhuzi was his archenemy. If Lingzhuzi acquired the treasure, unless Old Devil Mou could break through to the late Nascent Soul stage, he would never see the light of day again. Just as he considered recalling the fire lotus to force Lingzhuzi back, Old Devil Mou suddenly sensed that something was amiss. Was Lingzhuzi at Yitian Peak purely by coincidence, happening upon the scene, or had this been premeditated all along? If it was premeditated, Lingzhuzi was likely not alone. *Not good!* Old Devil Mou cried out inwardly. The instant that thought surfaced in his mind, Old Devil Mou suddenly felt a blast of fierce wind sweeping from behind, its aura incomparably sharp, making the hairs on his neck stand on end. As the saying went: the mantis stalks the cicada, unaware of the oriole behind. Behind Old Devil Mou, a graceful silhouette stepped out from the void, her eyes fierce and piercing—Madam Li. Her jade-white fingers flicked lightly. A phoenix hairpin shot forth, resembling a true phoenix piercing through the void, heading straight for the vital point between Old Devil Mou's shoulder blades. The exact same ambush, at the exact same spot. Old Devil Mou's injuries had not yet fully healed, and his fire lotus had already been unleashed. He had never expected someone in the shadows to have been watching him all along. Sensing the aura of the phoenix hairpin, Old Devil Mou knew he lacked the strength to block it. Letting out a cry, he lunged violently forward. ... High in the air, deep in the ravine. The battlefield was divided into two fronts, both reaching their most critical juncture. "Senior Brother!" Suddenly, a grief-stricken cry echoed from above. The bell had sounded an alarm. The old woman had rushed over without stopping for a single moment, only to behold the Demon Lord and Lingzhuzi fighting over the Demon-Suppressing Stele, and her senior brother ambushed by Old Devil Mou, grievously wounded and on the verge of death. "You court death!" Furious, the old woman pressed her palm against her glabella, letting out a muffled grunt. Yet her aura surged upward in rapid leaps. Employing some unknown secret technique, her cultivation—which originally mirrored the three alliance leaders at only the peak of the mid Nascent Soul stage—leaped across this chasm in an instant, matching the Demon Lord and Lingzhuzi. At the same time, the Demon-Suppressing Stele flickered dim and bright before suddenly unleashing tremendous force, shaking off the horsetail whisk and tearing free from the ground. *Boom!* Azure light erupted like surging billows. Plummeting downward, the old woman drove the Demon-Suppressing Stele, unleashing a torrential wave of azure light solely to save the dying elder, leaving Old Devil Mou to bear the brunt of it. No one had anticipated that yet another uninvited guest would enter the fray at this moment. Lingzhuzi and the Demon Lord had been locked in bitter contention, only to watch helplessly as the paramount treasure flew away. The most miserable of all was Old Devil Mou. Misfortune never came singly. In the flash of an electric spark. Before he could even react, he was trapped in a pincer attack from front and back, caught in an inescapable dilemma. Under the old woman's command, the Demon-Suppressing Stele possessed power far beyond what it had shown before. With what little strength Old Devil Mou had left entirely committed to parrying the phoenix hairpin, his face drained of all color. "Save me!" From down in the ravine came a sudden cry for help from the Western Nether Alliance Leader. The ancient demon had abandoned the Demon-Suppressing Stele and pounced upon the Western Nether Alliance Leader. The Western Nether Alliance Leader was instantly thrown into mortal peril. Originally, if the Demon Lord had secured the Demon-Suppressing Stele and joined Old Devil Mou in besieging the ancient demon, the situation would have stabilized immediately. Who could have foreseen that consecutive upheavals would leave her alone to face the ancient demon and his demonic attendant? The Demon Lord was likewise thrust into a dilemma. Any chance of snatching the Demon-Suppressing Stele was gone; the question now was whether to save Old Devil Mou or the Western Nether Alliance Leader. Seeing the terrifying momentum of the Demon-Suppressing Stele, he gritted his teeth, whirled around, and moved to save the Western Nether Alliance Leader. *Boom!* *Splat!* Blood splattered across the sky. Old Devil Mou's body twisted until it barely resembled a human form, a gaping hole blasted through him. His Nascent Soul failed even to escape before he was smashed into a pulp and knocked off the cliff, dying on the spot. Sensing the might of the Demon-Suppressing Stele, Madam Li's expression shifted drastically. She hastily retreated, yet was still clipped by the aftershock, coughing up blood as she was sent flying backward. *Whoosh!* Descending from the sky, the old woman caught the elder in her arms, held the Demon-Suppressing Stele before them like a shield, and cast a cold gaze over everyone present. Seeing that nothing more could be done, Lingzhuzi let out a soft sigh, stowed his horsetail whisk, and flashed to Madam Li's side. Madam Li's face was as pale as golden paper. Looking at the phoenix hairpin, whose spirituality was heavily damaged, she felt a pang of deep sorrow. Nodding to Lingzhuzi, she wiped the blood from the corners of her mouth, swallowed an elixir, sat cross-legged, and seized every moment to heal her wounds.