Seeing Elder Tianzheng remain silent, Demon Monarch Tongyou pressed repeatedly, "Since it is an ancient cultivator rather than an ultimate treasure, everyone stands to benefit once they are captured. Sin Abyss alone cannot swallow this, can you? Why fight to the death? If an unforeseen mishap occurs, it will be too late for regrets!"
Elder Tianzheng turned to glance at Old Demon Ye.
The fluctuations from the blood pool's seal grew increasingly violent, teetering on the verge of collapse.
Elder Tianzheng was indeed feeling somewhat apprehensive. Although they had scouted with demonic secret arts and determined that the sealed ancient cultivator had most likely exhausted their strength and could cause no great waves, an ancient cultivator's methods were impossible to predict. If an unexpected turn of events occurred while they were pinned down by their foes, Old Demon Ye alone might not be able to suppress the ancient cultivator.
If the ancient cultivator broke free and escaped, it truly could bring about a catastrophe, just as Demon Monarch Tongyou had warned.
Times had changed. Their plans had been seen through by the Xiaohan Realm, leaving the situation precarious.
As Tongyou had said, the Ziwei Palace held countless treasures, far more than Sin Abyss alone could devour. Negotiating a division of benefits, jointly imprisoning the ancient cultivator, and joining hands to explore the Ziwei Palace was not a bad alternative.
Yet Old Demon Ye turned a deaf ear to Tongyou's words. His fingers blurred like spinning wheels, flashing with lightning speed, showing no intention of negotiating with the Xiaohan Realm. He seemed entirely confident.
Seeing this, Elder Tianzheng had no choice but to push aside his stray thoughts and pour all his strength into driving his magic treasure.
Just as Demon Monarch Tongyou spoke, Qin Sang's group of three breached the ancient restriction and plunged into the River of Stars Chart.
Taking in the scene, they understood their situation and unleashed their magic treasures without hesitation, launching a full-scale assault.
Elder Tianzheng was fighting one against four. A single tree could not support a forest, and despite the marvel of his magic treasure, he was severely strained.
The space locked down by the magic treasure grew unstable.
Enveloped within the river of stars, Qin Sang and the others exerted their utmost to break out of the confinement.
A demon beast's phantom soared amidst the stars.
A sheet of demonic fire, bearing the power to incinerate the world, wiped out thousands of celestial bodies.
A black pagoda gave a gentle shudder, causing an entire swath of starry sky to collapse.
All of this was accompanied by Demon Monarch Tongyou's relentless barrage of Yin Thunder.
Apart from the Thunder-Devouring Falcon, who was slightly weaker after being imprisoned for so many years, none of the four could be underestimated. Gritting his teeth with sweat pouring down his face, Elder Tianzheng soon found himself struggling to hold on.
Knowing he could not stall them for long, he urgently sent a voice transmission to Jiang Chenzi, telling him to rush back to support and deploy the Banner Gate Array over the blood pool to buy time for Old Demon Ye.
Inside the Banner Gate Array, the two grand arrays clashed violently.
Jiang Chenzi and his companions looked relaxed. At first, the situation had been somewhat tense, but the precious banners linked with the Black Pagoda Array and drew upon its might, making their defenses impregnable and allowing them to fend off their rivals with ease.
Suddenly, Jiang Chenzi's expression changed drastically, and he cried out in alarm, "We've been tricked! Fall back, quickly!"
The others' faces shifted at once. They prepared to mobilize the banner array to regroup with Elder Tianzheng.
Within the Direct and Inverted Nine Palaces Array, Xiang Qing had been closely monitoring the changes in the Banner Gate Array. Seeing the bloody light retreat rapidly and the surrounding pressure drop precipitously, he instantly realized that Demon Monarch Tongyou's gambit had succeeded and promptly commanded the array to shift.
Boom!
Heaven and earth flipped, the earthen base surged upward, and the nine palaces reversed—the Inverted Nine Palaces Array formed in an instant.
The nine palaces hung high in the sky, towering above and descending to envelop the banner gates.
At the same time, Jiang Chenzi and the others felt the three banner gates grow incomparably heavy. An immense pressure fell from above like a swamp dragging them down.
The Inverted Nine Palaces Array specialized in trapping and killing!
In a flash, the tables were turned; now it was Jiang Chenzi's side trapped and unable to break free.
The Direct and Inverted Nine Palaces Array was not as powerful as the Banner Gate Array, but keeping Jiang Chenzi pinned down for a time was well within its capability. In this critical, second-by-second race against time, that delay was fatal!
With Jiang Chenzi failing to arrive, Elder Tianzheng knew things were bad. Suddenly, a dull roll of thunder sounded as a ball of Yin Thunder forcibly tore out of the river of stars, hurtling straight at him.
Right behind the Yin Thunder came demonic fire and the shadow of the pagoda in close pursuit.
Elder Tianzheng was horrified. Not daring to meet the blast head-on, he hastily dodged.
Rumble!
The river of stars abruptly shattered. Four figures shot out, and the river transformed back into the chart, flying into Elder Tianzheng's hand.
Demonic banners swirled around Qin Sang as he broke out of the River of Stars Chart. Scanning the area, he spotted Old Demon Ye and his Blood Demon avatar sitting cross-legged above the river of blood.
"It really is an avatar!"
Qin Sang's eyes narrowed slightly.
The avatar's aura was not a whit weaker than the true body's. Old Demon Ye had hidden himself far too deeply!
Qin Sang sensed a thick bloody fiend qi from the Blood Demon avatar, strikingly similar to the Old Demon Ye he had fought in the Abyss Ruins, with only subtle differences.
Many years had passed since that battle, so such slight changes were normal.
Back then, that Blood Demon avatar had chased him and the Snake King into a frantic flight.
Now, Old Demon Ye had both his true body and avatar present. Although Qin Sang's own strength had advanced by leaps and bounds since those days, snatching someone from right under Old Demon Ye's nose would be no easy feat!
Fortunately, their side had the advantage in numbers.
Four against three—they only needed to create an opening for Jingyu to make her move!
Thoughts flashed through Qin Sang's mind, yet his movement did not pause for an instant. Bypassing Elder Tianzheng, he pounced straight toward Old Demon Ye!
Demon Monarch Tongyou and the others did the same.
Seeing this, Elder Tianzheng hurriedly threw the River of Stars Chart back into the fray. The celestial sea having just been shattered, he lacked the power to stop all four of them, so he hurled the chart to engulf Demon Monarch Tongyou.
Tongyou possessed the highest cultivation. If Elder Tianzheng pinned down the strongest of them, the rest would have to be left to Old Demon Ye.
At the same time, he retrieved a talisman and turned to look at Qin Sang.
Having heard of Demon King Mingyue's rampage through the Abyss Ruins, he threw the talisman without hesitation. It manifested into a starlight warrior whose aura rivaled that of a Nascent Soul cultivator.
Whoosh!
The River of Stars Chart unfurled once more, conjuring a river of stars that circled Demon Monarch Tongyou.
Tongyou sighed softly. He had already anticipated being targeted and knew he would have to break the River of Stars Chart first. It was truly a pity that Dongyang Bo had vanished unexpectedly; otherwise, today's victory would have been assured.
A dim glow flashed in his dantian, and a walnut-sized black fiend seal flew out.
The moment the fiend seal appeared, ghostly wails erupted, transforming the starry sky into a nether realm.
Just as they fell into a stalemate, Qin Sang found himself blocked by the starlight warrior, while Qingjun and Jingyu slipped past Elder Tianzheng.
At that moment, Old Demon Ye, who had kept his eyes shut while concentrating on unsealing the blood pool, snapped his eyes open, a bloody gleam flashing across his pupils.
Then he and his Blood Demon avatar roared in unison, burning their blood essence. Raging blood flames erupted across their bodies and condensed in their palms into pillars of fiery blood, which slammed violently into the blood pool's seal.
"Stop him!"
Both Qin Sang and Qingjun heard Demon Monarch Tongyou's urgent shout, but it was already too late.
Boom!
After all the effort Old Demon Ye and his group had poured into it, the seal had already been on the brink of shattering. Hit by the pillars of blood flame, it fractured with a resounding crack.
Having broken the seal, Old Demon Ye glanced up at the approaching cultivators, his face still devoid of expression. He then leapt straight into the blood pool.
Jingyu had come solely for the Corpse Flower Blood Amber within the blood pool and had no interest in the ancient cultivator. If she failed to obtain the blood amber, she would perish beneath the heavenly tribulation; even if she gained a secret art for the Deity Transformation stage, it would be as useless as a reflection of flowers in a mirror. Thus, seeing the seal broken, she did not spare Old Demon Ye a single glance and plunged into the blood pool without hesitation.
Qingjun was not slow either.
However, the Blood Demon avatar did not follow the true body inside. Instead, it sent the Blood Moon Wheel smashing viciously toward Qingjun while lunging in full force after Jingyu!
Chapter 1262