True Countenance

Drawn by the qi of the magic treasures, the jade skeleton tumbled along helplessly like an inanimate object. Chains bound its form, their qi still connected to the blood pool's seal. The crowd could not sense the slightest breath from the jade skeleton, making it impossible to tell whether the ancient cultivator was merely trapped by the chains or already dead. *Splash!* At that moment, Old Demon Ye and Qingjun flew out of the blood pool almost simultaneously. Qingjun emerged riding the Qingluan puppet, encircled by the Rivers and Mountains Concealing the Moon Scroll. The Qingluan puppet cried out repeatedly, its calls ringing with fury. Jingyu trailed behind. Her feathers were disheveled and her aura languid, having expended a tremendous amount of strength breaking the crimson filaments before suffering injuries in the ensuing battle. After breaking the curse of the crimson threads upon the white bones and securing the Corpse Flower Blood Amber, she had rushed over only to find that Old Demon Ye had already opened the cage and freed the jade skeleton. She hurriedly spurred the Thunder Remembrance Bead to aid Qingjun. Old Demon Ye truly lived up to his reputation as the foremost figure of the Beichen Realm. Even joining forces, she and Qingjun were unable to gain any advantage over him. Not daring to draw too close to the two clashers at the heart of the melee, Jingyu remained on the periphery, unleashing her innate divine ability to direct thunder and cast down pillars of lightning against Old Demon Ye. Old Demon Ye fought two foes at once. Wherever he passed, heavy snow fell and the bloody water froze solid. Beside him lingered a white silhouette—a fusion of the several white silhouettes from earlier. At times, it bared its fangs and brandished its claws like a living beast, lunging at Qingjun to prevent her and the Qingluan puppet from nearing the jade skeleton. At other times, it dissolved into a cloud of icy mist. When Jingyu's lightning pillars and Qingjun's attacks struck the icy mist, they sank away like stones cast into the sea, absorbed by the mist without inflicting the slightest harm upon Old Demon Ye. That white figure originated from a piece of ten-thousand-year profound ice Old Demon Ye had stumbled upon in the Abyss Ruins. An ancient cultivator had already refined it long ago, and after comprehending it for many years, Old Demon Ye devised a method to utilize it. He had secretly refined another cultivator's Nascent Soul and merged it with the profound ice, creating an ice demon. Although the ice demon appeared to be a puppet under his control, its consciousness was chaotic and incapable of independent action. In truth, it functioned more like a magic treasure, capable of both offense and defense, and it had played a major role in unraveling the seal just moments before. Even with the ice demon, Old Demon Ye did not dare ignore the joint assaults of Qingjun and Jingyu; several attempts to close in on the jade skeleton had been forced back. All three harbored conflicting thoughts. They remained wary of the jade skeleton yet feared its fragility, dreading that the shockwaves of their battle might destroy it and leave them with nothing to show for their efforts. Constrained by these concerns, their battle raged with restrained caution all the way from the depths of the blood pool to the open air above. *Crack!* At last, one of the chains binding the jade skeleton shattered under the shockwave of a magic treasure. Everyone's pupils contracted sharply. The jade skeleton tumbled through the air before their eyes, still showing no sign of revival. With a sharp cry, Qingjun brought the painted world of the Rivers and Mountains Concealing the Moon Scroll into reality. Her expression remained entirely unmoved. Looking placidly upon the jade skeleton, she silently recited an incantation. A ray of moonlight shone through to illuminate the jade skeleton, parting a path for the Qingluan with its lunar radiance. *Skre-e-e!* The Qingluan raised its head and let out a long cry, utilizing the power of the moonlight to swoop forward in a swift pounce. Old Demon Ye's face darkened, and he likewise reached out toward the jade skeleton. Some distance still separated him from the jade skeleton. The ice demon dissolved into a plume of icy mist, flew into his palm, and instantly coalesced into a giant hand of profound ice that materialized directly beneath the jade skeleton. On the other side of the battlefield, the Blood Demon avatar exhausted every technique at his disposal, struggling bitterly under the demonic fire. Qin Sang held nothing back, fully unleashing the terrifying might of the demonic fire before the eyes of all present. The bloody light of the Blood Moon Wheel had been suppressed to its absolute limit, barely able to protect the Blood Demon avatar. The light flickered as dimly as a candle flame, virtually lost within the sea of black fire. The bloody glow hovered on the brink of collapse, liable to shatter at any second. Unable to dodge, the three bloody silhouettes found not a single breath of respite, their strength draining at an appalling rate. Relieved to see Qingjun and Jingyu safe and sound, Qin Sang recognized that victory and defeat hung by a thread. Looking upon the Blood Demon avatar desperately striving to block his path, a chill flashed through Qin Sang's eyes. With a cold snort, he caused the endless demonic fire to abruptly converge toward the center, forming a fiery dragon that lunged forward with a furious roar. A look of shock surfaced on the Blood Demon avatar's face, well aware he had little hope of withstanding this strike. Old Demon Ye cast a glance in that direction, his lips twitching faintly. The Blood Demon avatar's expression abruptly stiffened. The three bloody silhouettes then lunged inward and fused into one. Yet instead of returning to his original form, he condensed into a fist-sized blood bead that surged directly toward Qin Sang instead of retreating. Qin Sang frowned, sensing disaster, and deployed his turtle shell shield without hesitation. In the next instant, an earth-shattering boom erupted from the center of the demonic fire. *Rumble!* Old Demon Ye had actually detonated his Blood Demon avatar! Bearing the brunt of the blast, the demonic fire was torn apart by the shockwave. In a flash, countless tongues of demonic fire scattered in all directions, rolling across the sky in overwhelming waves. The Blood Demon avatar and the blood bead vanished entirely, plunging the battlefield into chaos. Qin Sang had not expected Old Demon Ye to be ruthless enough to self-detonate his Blood Demon avatar, leaving him no time to dodge. Engulfed alongside his demonic banners by the backlashing demonic fire, his fate remained unknown. The spectators had been completely absorbed by the struggle for the jade skeleton, never expecting such a gruesome outcome to emerge from the clash between Qin Sang and the Blood Demon avatar. Fighting Qin Sang alone without external aid, Old Demon Ye's Blood Demon avatar had actually been driven to a dead end! The crowd gained a whole new appreciation for the might of the demonic fire and the prowess of Demon King Mingyue. Expressions of terror appeared on their faces; some even wondered if Demon King Yu had arrived in disguise. The Xiaohan Realm faction was both shocked and delighted. The destruction of Old Demon Ye's avatar was akin to severing one of his arms and would undoubtedly inflict severe damage upon his vitality. Even if they failed to claim the jade skeleton, their journey had not been in vain. Yet what worried them was the dead silence at the center of the demonic fire, leaving Demon King Mingyue's condition uncertain. The power of the Blood Demon avatar's self-detonation was extraordinary, and it had targeted Demon King Mingyue directly. Caught off guard, could he have perished? *Whoosh! Whoosh!* Suddenly, the wildly scattering demonic fire began sweeping back toward the center. The scene at the heart of the demonic fire was laid bare before everyone's eyes. Eighteen demonic banners stood askew. The banner array had sustained severe shock, though the demonic fire had absorbed the brunt of the impact. Amidst the demonic banners, a figure emerged from behind the turtle shell. His breathing was ragged, his hair disheveled, and his complexion ashen, yet he remained standing proud and upright! "Eh?" Someone noticed that the mask on Demon King Mingyue's face had disappeared, destroyed in the self-detonation of the Blood Demon avatar to reveal his true features. Ever since Demon King Mingyue first emerged, he had always worn that mask. Catching clear sight of Demon King Mingyue's true appearance, the onlookers could not help feeling bewildered. Although he looked excessively youthful—hardly older than a boy—there was nothing peculiar about his features. What need had there been to hide behind a mask and play at mystery? However, several among the crowd who had once attended the assembly on Cangheng Island felt a stir of familiarity upon seeing that face, and the memories of that past event suddenly rushed back to them. This man was named Qin Sang. He had appeared unexpectedly back then to claim the reward promised to him two centuries earlier by the Two Domains Alliance. He had originally been a disciple of Shaohua Mountain, yet he had stood beside Leng Yuntian—who was Qingjun—and was estranged from his founding ancestor, Dongyang Bo, with dark undercurrents and ancient grievances lingering between them. "It's him!" "This man is a cultivator of our human race, not a demon king! What a blessing for our people, what a blessing for the Xiaohan Realm!" "So that's how it is!" ... Every one of them was shrewd and worldly. In an instant, they grasped the reason behind Qin Sang's hidden identity, and sudden realization dawned upon them all.