"Brother Yan, don't push us too far. Even if this matter is brought before your ancestors, it still has to be based on reason," Immortal Elder Hangwu said with a straight face.
But the moment he said this, Great Master Yisong of the Pure Land Sect had a change of expression. He cried out inwardly, 'This is bad!' and cursed in his heart, "Oh no, this is going to be a disaster."
Leading the team into the secret realm this time, he had done his homework thoroughly. Besides reading through all sorts of jade slips and records in the temple, he had also tried his best to gather information from some elders. The Supervising Elder of the temple, Elder Yuanjing, had once said, "The fourth-tier demonic cultivators in the secret realm are mostly eccentric. Unlike human Nascent Soul cultivators, who mostly dislike going out and don't get involved in trivial matters, spending their years in seclusion. Fourth-tier demonic cultivators are not like that. They might fly into a rage and kill someone over a small matter. Do not provoke them when you speak. Remember this, remember this."
And it was indeed true. This was also why the Nascent Soul Old Monster from the Malevolent Spirit Sect at the entrance, despite sensing that there was a problem with the people brought by the Supreme Mystery Teachings , had no intention of investigating further.
Immortal Elder Hangwu had the same thought. A Nascent Soul Old Monster would never get involved in such matters concerning juniors. At that level, they were almost always in seclusion for years on end. If someone rashly disturbed them, a reprimand would be light; a heavy punishment could even lead to death. Therefore, his righteous speech seemed full of conviction.
"Heh heh, since you all want to talk about reason, then I'll reason with you." At this moment, a sinister voice came from behind. It was Yin Congfeng . He had already walked from where Mei Bucai and the others were to the front of the Malevolent Spirit Sect's peak. Under Elder Peng's instruction, Mei Bucai's group had let him check their spirit roots, and he had stopped after checking only three of them.
As he spoke, his black robe billowed. He reached out and slapped his waist, and a small, round object landed in his hand. The object was light yellow, like jade but not jade, and bore some resemblance to a mortal's copper coin. His eagle eyes stared at Immortal Elder Hangwu in the field. He brought the object to his mouth, his lips moved quickly, and a moment later, he casually tossed it. The small object transformed into a streak of light and shot toward the horizon, vanishing without a trace in a flash.
"That's... a Voice-Falling Jade! What a grand gesture! That's a magical treasure that can transmit messages for forty or fifty thousand li!" a somewhat strange voice sounded. It was Xiahuà. He stared in the direction where it had disappeared, his face changing color several times as he muttered to himself.
The Voice-Falling Jade was itself a low-grade magical treasure, but it was several times more precious than a Ten-Thousand-Li Voice Transmission Talisman . It was not something a Golden Core cultivator could possess; it was the stuff of legendary Nascent Soul Old Monsters .
"A...mi...ta...bha," Great Master Yisong chanted in a low voice, but his voice trembled with shock. The other party had actually dared to disturb a Nascent Soul-level old monster.
For a time, this part of the world fell silent. Two of the three demonic cultivators stood in the air, while one stood on the Malevolent Spirit Sect's peak. They all looked up at the sky with cold smiles, not saying a word.
As for the human cultivators, let alone the Foundation Establishment and Qi Condensation disciples, even the Golden Core elders were stunned by this sudden turn of events, not knowing what to do. The demonic cultivator seemed to be sending a message to a great demon. No one had expected things to suddenly turn out this way. Even Elder Peng and his group were staring blankly, cursing endlessly in their hearts.
'Damn it, if he's notifying a fourth-tier demonic cultivator, who knows what will happen when it arrives.' Elder Peng and his group also began to worry. Although what they had said was the truth, old demons over a thousand years old were all capricious. One moment they could be calm and clear, the next a river of blood would flow. It was quite possible that this old demon, because of the three sects' cheating, would ignore all reason and just kill all the human cultivators here first. That was a very real possibility. After all, while the death of a Golden Core cultivator was a loss, it wouldn't necessarily lead to a major war between the realms. It was possible they would die for nothing.
Elder Peng was also cursing inwardly, but now there was no way back. He looked at Yin Congfeng beside him and forced a wry smile. "Brother Yin, have you played your hand too big?"
Yin Congfeng was looking toward the horizon. Hearing this, he turned back and grinned. "Elder Peng, no need to worry. It's not your problem. Besides, the one responsible for supervising this time is Martial Uncle Tonggui. When the secret realm opened, he had just come out of seclusion with nothing to do, so he gave me a 'Voice-Falling Jade'. It finally has a real use. In the end, our boys cannot die by such treacherous means." He hadn't spoken before because he was observing the reactions of the three sects.
As for using the Voice-Falling Jade, he would have crushed it in the end no matter what the three parties from the Ten-Pace Courtyard said. He just needed to understand more information before crushing it so that he could be more detailed in his voice transmission. That's why he had observed for a while longer. This was also why he wasn't worried that the Malevolent Spirit Sect would lie before. The cultivators of their secret realm were not to be used as pawns so easily.
Elder Peng felt slightly relieved after hearing the first half of Yin Congfeng's words, but when he heard the words "Martial Uncle Tonggui," his whole body trembled, and cold sweat instantly streamed down his forehead.
He certainly knew that there were seven fourth-tier demonic beasts in this secret realm. The "Martial Uncle Tonggui" Yin Congfeng spoke of was an Ironback Copper-Ghost Vicious Beast. Its combat power was only ranked fourth among the seven demonic beasts, with its attacks being of average level. But the toughness of its body was ranked number one. Its ability to take a beating was comparable to a high-grade magical treasure. Ordinary magical treasures wouldn't even scratch it. Even the Nascent Soul sword cultivators of the Ten-Pace Courtyard , known for their sharp attacks, didn't want to encounter it. It was extremely difficult to deal with. It seemed that Yan Motian was its disciple.
It was rumored that this Ironback Copper-Ghost Vicious Beast had a violent temperament, a dark heart, and ruthless methods. Its reputation for ferocity was at least in the top three within the secret realm. The fate of those who fell into its hands was extremely miserable, even more painful than being cast into the eighteen levels of the Asura Purgatory.
Years ago, this vicious beast once left the secret realm on business, transformed into a human—an ugly giant. On the way, it encountered a team of seven young cultivators. These seven were the pride of the local Zhang cultivation family, all full of vigor. One of them, a disciple named Zhang Feng, upon seeing this vicious beast and finding its appearance ugly and its attitude arrogant, felt contempt in his heart and made a sarcastic remark about its appearance.
After hearing this, Tonggui did not get angry, but just grinned and with a wave of his hand, subdued all of them. He then took the seven of them and barged directly into the Zhang cultivation family's estate. Using his supreme magical power, he gathered all the thousand-plus members of this large family, young and old, in the main courtyard. He used an art to turn the earth into a prison, trapping the thousand-plus people there. With his divine abilities, he forced them to stay awake, their eyes wide open in a state of excitement at all times. He then sat on a cloud above, lined up the seven of them, and started with the cultivator who had first mocked him, Zhang Feng, eating him alive.
His method of eating was to start from the fingers and arms, bit by bit, not killing him with one bite. Often, with a forceful tug, a finger would be pulled out from the body with long tendons attached, bit by bit. The muscle inside would first be snow-white, then quickly dyed a thick, crimson red by the gushing blood. Zhang Feng's blood-curdling screams instantly echoed through the heavens, an endless, horrifying sound that could be heard for dozens of li around—a sky-shaking shriek of bone-deep pain. The vicious beast, with bloodstains on the corner of its mouth, chewed slowly with a crunching sound, as if savoring the taste, its face full of contentment, looking very much like it was enjoying itself.
By the time the second finger was torn off, half of Zhang Feng's body had already been pulled and shrunken into a twisted mess by the tendons, while the other half remained its normal size, constantly trembling as he shrieked and begged for a quick death. But the demon was not moved in the slightest. Instead, it continuously stimulated him with spirit power to prevent him from fainting, keeping him conscious at all times, while it continued to tear and devour. From time to time, it would even point with its bloody fingers at the people in the courtyard below, as if considering whose turn it was next.
By the time it was devouring the third finger, people in the courtyard below had already begun to die one after another, scared to death. There were swathes of them soiling themselves, their eyes rolling back as they collapsed and died. Zhang Feng, too, had gone mad by the time his third finger was ripped off. Even with a Nascent Soul-stage demonic cultivator's spirit power deliberately keeping his primordial spirit awake, he had reached his limit and instantly lost his mind.
Among the remaining six cultivators lined up, one suddenly stood up. With a loud cry, his face filled with terror, he unconsciously tried to flee, but how could he escape? With just a wave of the beast's hand, two of them flew directly toward it. As they got closer, their eyes saw even more clearly the man being torn apart, flesh and skin. These two were also scared to the point of soiling themselves. The Copper-Ghost beast, in a fit of anger, kicked each of them, and they exploded into two clouds of blood mist.
The clan members in the courtyard below, under the effect of the spell, were unable to close their eyes. Even the Golden Core late-stage Great Perfection ancestor, who had always been regarded as supreme by the Zhang clan, could only watch the bloody scene above, his eyes about to split with rage, yet unable to move or make a sound. Only the beads of blood from his cracked eye sockets showed his immense hatred and ferocity. Many of his clan members, stimulated by this bloody scene, had thick black blood trickling from the corners of their mouths as they stared wide-eyed, their gallbladders having burst from fear long ago as they died.
In this way, it stayed in the Zhang family's estate for over an hour. Someone had already secretly reported this matter to the Zhang cultivation family's affiliated sect, the Ten-Pace Courtyard .
When the Nascent Soul grand cultivator from the Ten-Pace Courtyard arrived, in over an hour, the demon had only eaten one arm of the Zhang Feng who had offended it, truly chewing slowly and savoring the meal. And hundreds of people had already been scared to death.
When a Nascent Soul grand cultivator from the Ten-Pace Courtyard who had some connection with the Zhang family arrived, while his aura was still nearly a hundred li away, a fierce glint flashed in this Copper-Ghost demon cultivator's eyes. Seeing that it could not continue, it swallowed the dying Zhang Feng, whose soul was already transparent, in one gulp. Then, it smashed down a fist from the sky. With its formidable physical body, just one punch leveled the entire courtyard of the Zhang cultivation family. The entire Zhang family, men and women, young and old, were all turned into meat paste with a single strike.
This sudden, violent action was seen by that Ten-Pace Courtyard Nascent Soul through his Divine Sense . The Nascent Soul Old Monster was so angry his hair and beard stood on end. He crossed the hundred-li distance in an instant. With a furious roar, he started fighting it. Two Nascent Soul-level old monsters fought until the sun and moon lost their light, and sand and stones flew. Everything within a range of several hundred li was continuously razed to the ground with rumbling sounds. This made the Ten-Pace Courtyard Nascent Soul Old Monster even more furious. Below were the families protected by his Ten-Pace Courtyard . Seeing countless deaths and injuries in an instant, his anger soared.
Although a sword cultivator's attacks were sharp, this beast had a copper skin and iron bones. For a time, he couldn't do anything to it. After fighting for half an incense stick's time, it managed to escape. This so angered the Ten-Pace Courtyard Nascent Soul Old Monster that he went straight back to the sect and wanted to activate the teleportation formation to the secret realm to kill this fiend.
In the end, several Nascent Soul old monsters from the Ten-Pace Courtyard discussed this matter with the fourth-tier demonic beasts of the secret realm. After learning that it was the Zhang family who had spoken insolently first, the Nascent Soul Old Monster who had some connection with the Zhang family could only sigh. In the cultivation world, offending a superior was a great taboo. If you had the ability, you could come back for revenge; otherwise, you were killed for nothing. In the end, after consideration, the Ten-Pace Courtyard figured that if they went to war with the secret realm, there was still the Malevolent Spirit Sect waiting for an opportunity on the other side. They had no choice but to let the secret realm offer some compensation to supply the families affected by the fighting and grudgingly let the matter go.
But the great name of this vicious beast became famous for a time. Many who knew the inside story were very wary of this vicious beast and avoided it at all costs. To think that this fiend was overseeing this secret realm trial this time. Elder Peng was also uneasy for a moment, his face shifting between sunny and overcast, looking extremely troubled.