Immortal of the Nine Realms

Chen Feifei muttered to himself, ”Every single one of them is packed with trump cards. They just keep pulling them out, one after the other. What kind of world is this? Are you not even qualified to roam the world if you don’t have a few trump cards up your sleeve?”

”Chen Feifei, as a Palace Master of the Enlightenment God Palace, you ought to have your own trump cards too. I recall your relationship with the Wang family was quite decent back in the day,” a ninth transformation immortal said with a faint smile.

Fang Chen’s expression shifted as he glanced at the ninth-transformation immortal.

He was likely another fellow who had reincarnated and cultivated anew several times, possessing memories of the Nether Ruins era. Or at the very least, he knew something about the state of affairs back then.

Chen Feifei subtly swept his gaze over Wang Chongsong. ”How could I possibly have any trump cards?”

From the very beginning, Wang Chongsong’s presence had been exceedingly low-profile. Everyone present assumed he was merely an elder of the Enlightenment God Palace whom Chen Feifei had brought along at his own convenience.

”Shi Xinghai is already on the ultimate True Immortal path. Now that he holds the True King Sword, I’m afraid that young lady is in grave danger.”

By now, Shi Xinghai had successfully reached the Limit Breaking Realm. His aura wasn’t any weaker than Lu Fengshen’s. In fact, it was even a notch stronger than hers.

Only now did everyone understand why he had been qualified to cooperate with Lu Fengshen and True Immortal He. It was highly probable that even if those two joined forces, they might not necessarily be a match for Shi Xinghai when he wielded the True King Sword.

”With this sword, I shall sunder all dharmas.”

Shi Xinghai lowered his head slightly at first, then exhaled a mouthful of turbid qi. When he raised his head again, some kind of mystical, divine force seemed to have been infused into the True King Sword. The radiance it burst forth with was so dazzling that even ninth transformation immortals had to narrow their eyes or lift their hands to shield their vision.

With this single strike, he shattered Little Immortal Honglian’s defensive barrier almost instantaneously, directing the sword straight at the center of her brows. If it so much as grazed someone, they would have their soul completely annihilated even if they were a Limit Breaking expert.

”He really might be the current number one expert of the Nine Realms...”

The way the crowd looked at Shi Xinghai was now completely different. Previously, because top-tier powerhouses from all eras had emerged in succession and old monsters crawled out one after another, Shi Xinghai’s title as a ninth-transformation True Immortal no longer held the same transcendent status in everyone’s hearts. After all, how could a mere ninth-transformation True Immortal possibly compare to the numerous half-step Heavenly Dao entities present, each boasting an exceptionally profound origin and background?

But now, everyone realized how foolish they were. While wielding the True King Sword, Shi Xinghai might be the number one powerhouse in the Nine Realms, second only to the Ancient Demon. This single strike had effortlessly shattered the barrier that the joint forces of Lu Fengshen, the first emperor of the Black Sun Empire, and the others had failed to breach!

Fang Chen instinctively took a step forward. However, Yun He appeared before him with the Sarira in hand. He pressed a strong hand to Fang Chen’s shoulder and shook his head. He gestured toward the Ancient Demon.

Fang Chen looked over and saw that the frantically shrieking Ancient Demon had suddenly become incomparably clear-headed. He was staring coldly at Little Immortal Honglian, who was on the verge of being pierced to death by Shi Xinghai’s sword momentum.

In the next instant, his figure abruptly vanished from his original spot. By the time he reappeared, he was already standing directly in front of Shi Xinghai’s sword strike.

Shi Xinghai was startled. Before he could even react, the brilliant sword light was actually caught and pinched firmly by the Ancient Demon’s bare hand.

Behind the Ancient Demon, a massive mouth resembling an abyss unhinged, emitting a shriek-like roar from within. Strands of black qi surged out, merging into the Ancient Demon’s body.

The Ancient Demon crushed the sword light of the True King Sword with his bare hands.

”Is it your place to discipline her?”

Shi Xinghai’s face turned completely pale. He swiftly retreated several miles back, staring at the Ancient Demon and the flash of that massive mouth behind him in shock and suspicion.

Chen Feifei’s gaze was peculiar. ”Is that the Ancient Demon’s Inner Domain?”

An Inner Domain like that... was truly a bit sinister and bizarre.

Shi Xinghai said, ”Ancient Demon, I meant no malice; it’s just that what you were doing just now....”

He suddenly noticed that Saint Jinyang and the others were still shrieking in agony, and comprehension immediately dawned upon him. So the Ancient Demon alone had never actually been affected by the sound of the zither!

Lu Fengshen’s expression was incredibly dark. ”Ancient Demon, since you were unaffected, why didn’t you stop her earlier?!”

The First Emperor of the Black Sun Empire’s face was also completely livid. ”We cooperated with you, yet you showed absolutely no sincerity, allowing your adopted daughter to strike against my master and the others?”

The Ancient Demon suddenly smiled faintly. ”What qualifications do you two have to yap in front of me?”

His smile faded as quickly as it appeared. ”Scram!”

The sharp, piercing roar caused Lu Fengshen and the few others to turn pale. The cultivators under their command even suffered internal injuries of varying degrees due to the chaotic fluctuation of their auras caused by the sound.

Lu Fengshen and the other two exchanged glances. In the end, they chose to become silent.

”This person’s methods... are a bit terrifying.”

The cultivators from all factions protected within the Sarira light looked at one another in dismay.

First, he was completely unaffected by the zither music. Next, he forced back three top powerhouses with a single shout, leaving the likes of Shi Xinghai not daring to utter a single word. Such methods had truly exceeded their wildest imaginations.

Is this the difference between a regular Limit Breaking and someone who has condensed an Inner Domain?

The Ancient Demon suddenly turned around to face Little Immortal Honglian. ”Hongzhi, your father hasn’t treated you poorly, has he?”

Little Immortal Honglian uttered not a single word. Keeping her head lowered, she continued to pluck the zither strings.

Saint Jinyang could no longer endure it. ”Ancient Demon! Ah, hurry up and stop her!!!”

The Ancient Demon paid him no attention whatsoever. His piercing gaze remained fixed on Little Immortal Honglian.

”I have always known that you wished to rebel against me. Today, I simply wanted you to thoroughly recognize reality. With my methods, how could you possibly oppose me?” said the Ancient Demon indifferently. ”I hope you will properly ponder the truth behind this. I am willing to give you one more opportunity.”

The moment his words landed. The massive mouth behind the Ancient Demon suddenly manifested once more, swallowing Little Immortal Honglian whole in a single bite.

The zither’s music cut to silence instantly. Saint Jinyang and the others let out long sighs of relief. They immediately began to regulate their own conditions. ℯℯ𝑙.

The Ancient Demon turned his gaze toward the Demon Race cultivators of the Ancient Demonic Sect he had brought along. ”And all of you, you all must have started taking orders from Hongzhi a very, very long time ago, correct?”

This group of Demon Race cultivators looked at one another in dismay, feeling incredibly vindicated yet terrified.

”Sect Master, we have been wronged!”

”Though I have been in seclusion all this time, do not take me for dead,” snorted the Ancient Demon.

He coldly pointed his finger at them. The demonic cultivators he had brought with him instantly froze in place. Then, like sand sculptures weathered away by the wind, they crumbled away into ash. In the blink of an eye, the subordinates the Ancient Demon had brought along were annihilated, returning dust to dust and earth to earth.

Watching this transpire, astonishment flashed through the eyes of the cultivators sheltered within the golden light.

So it turned out the Ancient Demonic Sect had long since been turned against him, and the Ancient Demon was truly just a lone soul?

Lang Daochun said heavily, ”Ancient Demon, look at this. Even the clansmen you led are unwilling to walk your path. Are you still refusing to wake up from your obsession?”

”What does my path have to do with them? From the very beginning until the absolute end, I have only ever cared about myself.” The Ancient Demon suddenly chuckled. ”Even if they hadn’t betrayed me, I would still have found a reason to dispose of them. Otherwise, wouldn’t keeping them around be nothing but a hindrance?”

Burning the bridge after crossing it?

Everyone’s expressions turned strange.

It was highly likely that the cultivators of the Ancient Demonic Sect had done plenty of things for him over these years. Yet, when the opportunity arose to leave the Nine Realms, he chose to kick them to the curb, disdaining them as mere dead weight. Such a disposition made everyone feel that he shared a subtle, uncanny similarity with the Fallen Immortals.