Chapter 118: The Demon Eye

Ge Qian formed hand seals and began refining the furnace, raising the temperature of the pill cauldron.

Runes swirled above the cauldron as its temperature rose rapidly.

With a change of his incantation, the flames were tempered and refined.

From time to time, he tossed supplementary spiritual herbs into the cauldron, then adjusted the intensity of the flames—sometimes fierce, sometimes gentle, always perfectly controlled.

Alchemy came as naturally to Ge Qian as lifting a finger. His skill was extraordinary. With his powerful spiritual sense and ferocious flames, he had already become a fifth-tier superior alchemist. Wherever he went, the major sects would compete to employ him.

Just as Ge Qian was concentrating fully on refining the pills, Ren Guyue suddenly smiled faintly and murmured to himself, “Fortunately, I took the Memory-Recalling Spirit Disc from Master’s treasury. Junior Sister has already left, so there is no reason for me to stay here either. I wonder whether that Wang Meng is dead. If he is, then he has certainly found release. Otherwise, if he falls into my hands, he will learn exactly what suffering means.”

With that, he took out a teleportation talisman and was about to leave in pursuit of Qian Huixian.

At that moment, a terrifying and violent pressure descended from the heavens. A mid-stage Core Formation demonic cultivator appeared before him. He was tall and powerfully built, and in his hand he carried a Five-Ring Sky-Hauling Trident.

The man arrived in front of Ren Guyue and let out a series of strange, shrill cries before saying, “You are He Changqi’s closed-door disciple—the little bastard who claimed that our Supreme Ancestor should kneel before you? Today I’ll teach you that the Red Fiend Desert is the graveyard of righteous cultivators!”

Ren Guyue was arrogant by nature, but his opponent was two major realms above him. He dared not be careless. He was also deeply vexed. How had the other side learned his identity? And, clearly, someone was deliberately framing him.

Only Qian Huixian knew who he really was. Could it be her? Was she playing this trick to shake him off? That little witch had gone too far. She would actually do something like this?

Though he knew he had been framed, Ren Guyue had no intention of explaining himself. So what if the other man was a Core Formation demonic cultivator? Since he was already in a mid-grade cultivation kingdom, he might as well experience the strength of its demonic cultivators firsthand.

With that thought, he raised the seven-foot greatsword in his hand and said, “So what if I said it? Since you’re courting death, I’ll grant your wish. You demonic cultivators commit every evil under the sun, yet in my Righteousness Kingdom you hide in holes like rats, too afraid to show your faces. Today I’ll turn you into a rat. Heaven-Splitting, First Form—Bone Shatter!”

As he spoke, he suddenly raised the greatsword high. There was no flourish, no surge of magical force—only pure strength—as he hacked down viciously at Naha.

Naha felt an immense force press down upon his entire body. His bones throbbed with unbearable pain, as though they might split apart at any moment.

He shook the Five-Ring Sky-Hauling Trident in his hand, and it instantly expanded by ten feet. His baleful core trembled within his dantian as he unleashed the Blazing Fire Burns the Heavens technique and met the greatsword head-on.

It was a collision between physical strength and magical power.

“Boom!”

The thunderous explosion shook heaven and earth.

Ren Guyue had yet to form his core. Although his cultivation method was extraordinary, the Red Fiend Desert was saturated with baleful energy. Naha possessed every advantage of terrain, timing, and circumstance, placing him in an absolute position of superiority.

Both men were driven back thirty feet.

Naha secretly nodded. As expected of He Changqi’s closed-door disciple, the youth’s strength was truly astonishing. With only the cultivation of the late Foundation Establishment stage at its peak, he had actually forced Naha backward.

Naha’s hand trembled, and his bones had clearly cracked. A strange force had traveled through the Five-Ring Sky-Hauling Trident and entered his body. For the moment, he was unable to expel it. Without at least a month of recovery, he feared he would not heal.

Ren Guyue was in an even more disheveled state. Blood stained the corner of his mouth, and his right hand shook uncontrollably around the sword hilt. The web between his thumb and forefinger had split open, while the greatsword stood embedded at an angle in the ground.

Yet his eyes gleamed as he said, “Now take my Heaven-Splitting, Second Form—Soul Annihilation! To die beneath Soul Annihilation is a stroke of fortune for a lowly insect like you. You should be proud!”

As soon as he finished speaking, his body rippled. A silver suit of battle armor emerged and completely encased him. Its defensive power was astonishing; even the surrounding baleful energy was instinctively forced three feet away.

A powerful aura spread outward, unexpectedly no weaker than that of a Core Formation cultivator. Silver light flashed across the greatsword as he slowly raised it.

At that moment, twenty-two Foundation Establishment demonic cultivators rushed over, though their speed was clearly much slower.

A strange howl rang out. Two mid-stage Core Formation demonic cultivators came flying through the air, their auras far more powerful than Naha’s.

One was fat and the other thin. Both examined Ren Guyue with curiosity.

The thin demonic cultivator chuckled and said, “That armor is incredibly powerful. It would fit me perfectly. Boy, stop struggling. The three of us are Core Formation cultivators. Unlike you righteous fools, we don’t prattle on about benevolence and righteousness. Shall we kill him together?”

Naha immediately agreed. “Attack together. We’ll divide his belongings afterward.”

The three Core Formation demonic cultivators surrounded Ren Guyue from three directions.

Naha swung the Five-Ring Sky-Hauling Trident and smashed it toward the top of Ren Guyue’s head. The fat demonic cultivator formed hand seals and cast a spell, condensing countless streams of baleful energy into crossbow bolts that filled the sky as they shot toward Ren Guyue.

The thin demonic cultivator opened his mouth and spat out a torrent of baleful demonic fire, aiming directly at Ren Guyue’s face.

Faced with the combined assault of three Core Formation demonic cultivators, Ren Guyue could no longer remain calm. This was, after all, the Red Fiend Desert, and his strength was still far too weak. He had no chance of resisting them.

He abruptly pointed the greatsword toward the sky and began chanting an incantation. The sword immediately split into four pieces, which connected to form a three-zhang-wide spatial teleportation array.

A smile curled at the corner of Ren Guyue’s mouth.

“Now I’ll show you the methods of a Spirit Refining cultivator.”

The moment his voice fell, a pressure capable of destroying heaven and earth descended through the void from within the formation. It swept outward once—and the three Core Formation demonic cultivators and twenty-two Foundation Establishment demonic cultivators instantly shattered into powder, vanishing into the baleful energy.

A great hand formed from magical power reached out of the formation, seized Ren Guyue, and pulled him inside.

“Your master warned you not to come to the Red Fiend Desert. It is not that I fear the Red Fiend Elder, but rather the existence behind him—the Lich King. His strength is formidable. If he discovers you, even I will be unable to save you. Go back and cultivate properly. Do not cause trouble for me.”

As soon as he finished speaking, the formation also dissolved into the air.

In a secret cavern dwelling somewhere within the Righteousness Kingdom sat a Daoist priest. His hair was white, yet his face was youthful; he was thin as a skeleton, and his eyes were gloomy, as though countless black storms raged and spiraled within them. No one dared meet his gaze.

He sighed and said, “Ren Guyue is truly useless. He could not win the heart of that old monster Qian’s granddaughter, wasting ten years of my cultivation for nothing. As for the spatial teleportation—if the plan had not proceeded so perfectly, I would not have bothered saving him. Let him die if he must. I only hope Li Qing does not disappoint me. If he can steal the Nine Glazed Lanterns, I will be able to advance to the late stage and will no longer need to fear the Lich King.”

Not long after Ren Guyue departed, an emaciated late-stage Foundation Establishment old man was walking along at an unhurried pace. He suddenly stopped, and his expression changed.

A Spirit Refining cultivator’s magical fluctuations.

It seemed the plan would have to be brought forward. If all the Spirit Refining cultivators on the Black Tortoise Continent united, he would be unable to leave. If he failed to complete the mission, his senior brother would certainly ridicule him.

Still, he would first bring that heavenly Baleful Demon Physique to his side. After returning to the Mighty Tiger Sect and nurturing the child for a thousand years, the sect would gain another Spirit Refining cultivator. Then it would truly dominate the White Tiger Continent.

With that thought, he lightly swept the area with his spiritual sense and discovered that Ge Qian was at a critical stage of pill refinement.

Not far from Ge Qian, two early-stage Core Formation cultivators came flying through the air. One of them tapped his forehead, and a pitch-black eyeball surrounded by swirling baleful energy split open there.

He swept his gaze across the surroundings, a mocking smile appearing on his face. Turning to the other demonic cultivator, he said, “Busa, I see a righteous Foundation Establishment cultivator refining pills inside that formation. Nearby lies a beautiful woman who is barely alive. If I’m not mistaken, the two of them must be lovers. The woman was injured, and the man risked his life to refine pills here in order to save her. What a touching love story. Wouldn’t it be more interesting if I went over and made it even more tragic?”