Chapter 104: The Heavenly Demon Attacks

In this world, things do not always yield a way out simply because you strive hard enough.

Hong Jian sat trapped in her city of sorrow—for herself, for Ji Youfeng. The news that Ji Youyun was about to tear open the Heaven's Curtain and obtain a fragment of the *Scripture of Great Tribulation* hung over her like a chain coiled around her neck, threatening to tighten at any moment.

But no matter how she turned the problem over in her mind, she could see no escape from this dead end. In the end, she curled up in Ji Youfeng's warm embrace and fell asleep.

Ji Youfeng turned his head and watched her for a while, then reached out and extinguished the oil lamp.

Hong Jian had no idea how long she had slept when Ji Youfeng suddenly shook her awake.

She started in alarm, unsure what had happened, and only then realized that Ji Youfeng's eyes were open in the darkness, perfectly alert—he had clearly not slept at all.

Seeing that Hong Jian was awake, Ji Youfeng whispered in her ear: "Girl, get up. Something's happened."

Hong Jian was greatly startled. She rubbed her eyes and asked, "What's wrong?" Then she threw off the blanket and sat up to light the lamp.

Ji Youfeng warned her: "The prison is shaking."

Hong Jian sat for a moment, puzzled. "Why don't I feel anything?"

Ji Youfeng sat up as well. "It's extremely faint—below the threshold of Foundation Establishment perception. If I hadn't been keeping close watch, I would hardly have noticed it myself." Perhaps because even he had encountered a situation he could not fathom, Ji Youfeng's expression turned unusually grave.

Combined with the information the two of them had gleaned since Ding Qin's appearance, Hong Jian grew tense as well. "What do we do?"

Ji Youfeng was concentrating on sensing the subtle changes around them. He said, "Don't rush. Let's wait and see."

How could Hong Jian not be anxious? Precisely because she could sense nothing at all, she felt as though a hundred claws were scratching at her heart. She and Ji Youfeng were already at the end of their rope; nothing could make their situation any worse. She only wished the upheaval would come faster, grow larger—let the heavens collapse and the earth split apart.

Though Ji Youfeng had calmed Hong Jian down, his heart was far more troubled than he let on.

This situation could almost certainly be attributed to human hands.

There was the soul of a Spirit Severing stage demonic beast at large. The side controlling the Refining Demon Prison commanded the spiritual energy here—they could summon wind and rain at will. Now that Ji Youyun had taken the beast soul to break through the Heaven's Curtain, the guards left behind were, like everyone else, trapped in the dire predicament of depleted true essence. If someone wanted to strike at the Refining Demon Prison, this was a golden opportunity that would never come again.

Who? Ji Youfeng ruled out Ding Qin first. For one, he lacked such capability; for another, Ji Youfeng had previously probed Ding Qin with the *Scripture of Great Tribulation* and found no such intention in him at all.

The ground lurched violently.

An earthquake?

Suddenly, a sharp whistle pierced the air outside the prison cells. Then came the chaotic footsteps of the guards, scurrying about as if something urgent demanded their attention.

Rather than remain trapped here guessing blindly, it was better to take the initiative. Call someone over and probe with the *Scripture of Great Tribulation*, and one would naturally learn what was happening. Besides, Ding Qin, currently overseeing the Black Tortoise cell block, still shared some measure of goodwill with him.

---

Ji Youfeng made up his mind and gestured to Hong Jian.

Hong Jian understood immediately. She leaped off the bed and ran to the cell door, pounding on it with all her might: "Someone come quick! The senior has taken suddenly ill and fainted—come save him!"

Ji Youfeng gave a wry smile. He shot Hong Jian a look of exasperation, then turned over to face the wall and lay down.

Based on her nearly twenty years of experience, this method worked best—every time she shouted like this, the prison guards would fly into a panic. Whether real or feigned, the gaunt old man would inevitably appear at once. But today, to Hong Jian's surprise, she shouted for a long while and the people outside carried on as before, not even a single voice answering her.

Hong Jian grew desperate and bellowed using the Thousand-Mile Sound Transmission technique: "Is there anyone alive out there? Go fetch your Elder Ding at once!"

That finally produced a response. Some guard shouted from a distance: "Elder Ding has gone out to face the enemy! Keep it quiet—tell that one to hold on and stay alive. When Elder Ding returns, he'll come see him of his own accord."

At this, Ji Youfeng abandoned any pretense of illness. The two exchanged looks, both finding it utterly bewildering.

No wonder everything felt off—the entire prison was shaking. It turned out the heavens had heard the two of them loud and clear: enemies had arrived outside the Refining Demon Prison.

If Ji Youyun, who fancied himself infallible in his calculations, had actually had his nest raided, that would be a resounding slap to the face. Who would dare not only stroke the tiger's whiskers, but do so with such precision and ruthlessness?

Hong Jian could not suppress her curiosity. She secretly prayed that the side attacking the Refining Demon Prison would win a sweeping victory, but then she heard Ji Youfeng say: "There won't be a resolution anytime soon. Girl, come here."

Hong Jian returned to the bedside. Ji Youfeng took her hand, and the flame of the oil lamp reflected in his glimmering eyes. When he spoke again, his voice sounded directly in Hong Jian's sea of consciousness—he had unsparingly expended more of his true essence.

"Don't make a sound. Listen carefully. This is probably our last chance. If there's any possibility at all, you must escape. I'll teach you the *Scripture of Great Tribulation*."

Hong Jian's eyes flew wide. She wanted to say no—she only wanted to stay with Ji Youfeng, for both of them to live—but she knew that at a moment like this, if Ji Youfeng was telling her this way, then he had already made up his mind and would not change it.

Sure enough, Ji Youfeng reached out and gently covered Hong Jian's eyes. "Silly girl, don't look at me like that. It would grieve me." In twenty years, this was the first time Ji Youfeng had spoken so tenderly. Unfortunately, Hong Jian could not see the expression on his face as he said it.

Then Ji Youfeng spent over an hour, patiently and painstakingly, delivering the incantations of the *Scripture of Great Tribulation* into Hong Jian's sea of consciousness line by line. He seemed not to care how much of his true essence he was burning through, so long as Hong Jian could firmly commit this miraculous art to memory.

The ground shook more violently by the moment. The oil lamp's flame flickered bright and dim, and the two of them in this underground cell felt as if heaven and earth were about to collapse.

"Have you memorized it?"

Hong Jian nodded. The incantation was long—fully seven or eight hundred characters—and by Ji Youfeng's account, this was only a small portion of the *Scripture of Great Tribulation*. No wonder they said the more powerful an art, the more complex and difficult it was to master. She had no way to test it now; she could only commit it all to memory first.

She was deeply grateful. Leaning against Ji Youfeng, she said: "Senior, if there's a chance, let's escape together. And if there isn't, then so be it. You don't need to make such plans for my sake."

Ji Youfeng smiled at her.

The oil lamp suddenly went out.

In the darkness, Hong Jian heard the sound of an argument from somewhere in the distance beyond the prison cells. Her hearing was sharp, and having studied the Thousand-Mile Sound Transmission technique, a single exertion of her power brought the voices clearly to her ears.

---

"Old Shao, the only member of the Heavenly Demon Sect we have in our hands is that one surnamed Jing. They won't withdraw for the sake of these unrelated convicts. Even if you kill them all, it won't do any good."

"Don't try to stop me. They struck without warning while Elder Ji is away, and they know the Refining Demon Prison this well—they must have bribed someone among our people. I can see the prison won't hold. Let me slaughter these demon cultivators first, and then I'll be at peace to fight the Heavenly Demon Sect to the death."

"It's pointless. Better to summon Ding Qin and the others back and make plans early—"

The voices of the two speakers were both familiar—they were none other than Master Gong Tengfa and the short, elderly man Shao Qitian.

Hong Jian relit the lamp. In the instant it flared to life, she and Ji Youfeng stared at each other.

So the ones attacking the Refining Demon Prison were demon cultivators. According to Old Jing, some members of the Heavenly Demon Sect had never managed to retreat in time back then. They had hidden themselves away from the world, passing down their legacy generation after generation, evading the purges of the Dao cultivators. Thousands of years had passed—so why would they suddenly stir now, of all times, to raid Ji Youyun's lair?

Hong Jian was extremely curious. The Refining Demon Prison was starved of spiritual energy; she wondered what methods the demon cultivators had used to attack, such that they had driven the few remaining Nascent Soul elders to their wit's end.

Shao Qitian wanted to unleash a slaughter inside the prison. Gong Tengfa tried to dissuade him, then suddenly said: "Old Shao, hold your temper a moment. The situation is clear now—we can't hold the prison. In my view, we should cut our losses like a warrior severing his own arm: temporarily break apart the 'Demon Refiner,' scatter it into pieces, and evade their pursuit. As long as we can get word out in time, and Elder Ji returns with the beast soul, no matter how many of them come, they'll die. We can take the opportunity to wipe out this remnant branch of the Heavenly Demon Sect in one stroke."

Without waiting for Shao Qitian's response, he ordered the guards to blow the whistle again.

Hong Jian asked in a low voice: "Senior, what does it mean to break apart the 'Demon Refiner'?"

Ji Youfeng explained: "Any artifact can be taken apart, just as a porcelain bowl shattered on the ground breaks into scattered pieces. If the 'Demon Refiner' is dismantled, it will split into fragments of varying sizes—perhaps one or two prison cells will form a single separate piece."

Hong Jian let out a gasp. If that were so, then wasn't the opportunity Ji Youfeng spoke of right before them?

But Ji Youfeng was not as optimistic as Hong Jian.

Gong Tengfa urgently summoned the remaining elders to confer in the corridor. By now the Black Tortoise cell block was shaking more and more violently. Shao Qitian cried out: "You all keep deliberating. Old Qin, let's go kill that monster leading them."

The elder surnamed Qin did not echo him. Instead he said: "I've already exhausted my true essence. If I go now, I'd only have a blade to swing."

Shao Qitian's tone was laced with displeasure: "What's there to fear? The demonic arts of the Heavenly Demon Sect need spiritual energy to replenish themselves too."

Gong Tengfa cut him off: "What I mean is, before the enemy breaks in, we break the Refining Demon Prison into scattered parts. We can't look after so many—abandon the Azure Dragon and White Tiger sections entirely. Kill the demon cultivators, and release the Dao cultivators to deal with the Heavenly Demon Sect people. Arrange the Vermillion Bird section along similar lines. Old Qin, take some men and make the selections quickly—anyone we must keep, bring them to the Black Tortoise block."

Elder Qin said: "That's a sound plan. And what arrangement for the Black Tortoise side?"

Gong Tengfa mused: "I've calculated it. Once the 'Demon Refiner' is dismantled, the Black Tortoise cell block hidden among the pieces will need to split into at least seven or eight portions to avoid drawing the enemy's attention. There are exactly nine of us. One person will come with me to watch over Cell One—those two must not come to any harm. The rest of you divide up the duties. Once the artifact breaks apart, it will sink and scatter in all directions. Everyone keep a close eye on the prisoners in your charge, and do your best to break free of this spiritual-energy-starved sea and get in contact with Elder Ji."