Yao Ziyan

The horizon.

Dark clouds sealed the sky, lightning serpents twisting through one another.

Beneath the might of heaven and earth, countless beasts within the Jiuyao Mountain Range had nearly all hidden in their dens, not daring to make the slightest move.

Yet amid the dark clouds overhead, a black figure flashed past.

Wherever it passed, even space let out bursts of cracking sounds!

At the same time, several figures followed close behind like shadows.

"Yao Ziyan, if you can still escape the siege of five Seeking the Way cultivators, then these nearly hundred years of my life have been lived in vain!"

"Yao Ziyan, the Demon Race can barely protect itself now. Do you still expect them to come to your aid?!"

"Yao Ziyan, surrender without resistance, and we may yet leave you an intact corpse!"

Cries of provocation rang out from behind.

The name Yao Ziyan carried immense prestige throughout the Tianxing Empire and its surrounding regions.

She was said to be the top figure on the Shadow Kill Ranking, a dragon whose head was seen but whose tail was never found, and she even bore the title King of Assassins.

But she possessed another identity as well!

She was a member of the Royal Family of Beasts in the Jiuyao Mountain Range!

Most beasts that embarked upon cultivation possessed an Inner Core within their bodies.

To humans, the Inner Cores of beasts had many uses.

The violent spiritual energy within an Inner Core was simply impossible for humans to refine. Swallowing one directly would only end in their bodies exploding to death.

Thus, when humans obtained the Inner Cores of beasts, they mostly used them to temper their bodies or forge spirit artifacts.

And the higher a beast's rank, the greater the use of the Demon Core within its body.

Yao Ziyan bit down tightly on her red lips, her lovely face filled with icy coldness.

During an assassination mission several months ago, she had accidentally exposed her identity as a member of the Demon Race, drawing the attention of human experts.

Beasts in the Seeking the Way Realm could already assume human form, and their Inner Cores were peerless treasures that could only be encountered by chance!

Not long ago, Yao Ziyan had finally crossed the threshold of the peak of Seeking the Way and brought upon herself the lightning tribulation needed to advance into the Venerable Realm!

One had to know that tribulations were several times more dangerous for beasts than for humans!

Yet just as Yao Ziyan had completed her tribulation, while she was at her weakest, these Seeking the Way Realm experts had joined forces to ambush her and gravely wound her!

Yao Ziyan had never told any human about the place she had chosen to undergo her tribulation.

In other words, there was a traitor among the Demon Race!

At that thought, fury surged even more fiercely in Yao Ziyan's violet eyes!

Whoosh!

Suddenly, a streak of golden light flashed past from the side.

Yao Ziyan failed to evade it in time and was struck directly.

Her body shuddered as though hit by a heavy blow, and she spat out a mouthful of violet blood.

The golden light circled back. Looking closely, it was actually a Golden Alms Bowl!

"Amitabha."

A monk with an alluringly demonic appearance swept through the air and tucked the Golden Alms Bowl into his robes. His dark-red Kasaya fluttered in the wind, resembling congealed blood!

"I truly didn't expect the famed demon monk Wuxiang to make a move as well."

Yao Ziyan wiped away the blood at the corner of her lips, a mocking smile appearing on her peerlessly beautiful face.

"A Demon Core from the Venerable Realm is quite a rare sight."

A sinister smile appeared on Wuxiang's face as he licked his scarlet lips.

Wuxiang the Demon Monk was rather renowned across the Tianlan Continent, and his cultivation had already reached the second rank of the Venerable Realm!

Facing the encirclement of one Venerable and five Seeking the Way cultivators, Yao Ziyan took a deep breath, determination flashing through her eyes.

"Not good! Retreat!"

Sensing the energy fluctuations spilling from Yao Ziyan's body, Wuxiang's expression changed drastically!

Only a person in the Venerable Realm like him knew that, at a critical moment between life and death, a member of the Royal Family of Beasts could pay the price of most of their life force to unleash an attack far beyond their current realm!

A Demon Core resembling violet jade emerged from Yao Ziyan's mouth, blooming with dreamlike colors of destruction.

Boom!

Space shattered, and the void churned.

In an instant, the five Seeking the Way Realm pursuers perished, their bodies directly assimilated by the terrifying spiritual energy!

Wuxiang's Kasaya tore apart as he hastily hid within the Golden Alms Bowl and fled into the turbulent currents of the void!

At this moment, the Demon Core had completely dimmed.

After Yao Ziyan swallowed it, her lovely face instantly turned pale. Her aura abruptly receded, and then she plummeted straight down.

Yao Ziyan's long hair danced in the air, her heart filled with desolation. Was everything about to end...