The Great Demon

After sunrise, dawnlight surged like a tide. Mist rose amid the layered mountain ranges, making them seem like a realm of immortals.

Using his paper umbrella as a cane, Xie Xuanyi trudged through the mud, one foot deep and the next shallow.

The tallest mountain north of Jade Pearl Town was called Emberpeak. It was an ancient volcano, buried beneath snow year-round due to its location in the far north. It was also the place Reverend Heavy Mist had looked toward before his death.

"Soul-Calling Banner, Soul-Locking Pennant..."

Along the way, Xie Xuanyi found quite a few Yin Mountain artifact-forging items. Their grades were low and their appearance miserable; one glance was enough to tell they had come from Reverend Heavy Mist's hands.

The Spirit Domination Art sounded exceedingly domineering, but the conditions required to wield it were incredibly harsh—

To command living beings and make them one's own, a soul covenant had to be formed within both parties' Divine Soul Palaces!

Most of the time, the higher commanded the lower. That was why the several shapeshifting demon spirits under Reverend Heavy Mist were all weaker than he was.

To command the higher from below, to reverse the natural order, required the blessing of time and place, the aid of heavenly treasures, and immense fortune at one's back—only then was there the slightest sliver of possibility.

These items were all meant to assist in Spirit Domination.

Yet by the time Xie Xuanyi found them, they had already been shattered to pieces.

Xie Xuanyi crouched and pulled a broken little pennant from the snow. Narrowing his eyes, he examined it closely. More than a dozen holes had been burned through the pennant... and after holding it for only a few breaths, he could feel a searing heat that scorched his heart and lungs through his palm!

"Could there really be some monster dwelling in Emberpeak Mountain...?"

Xie Xuanyi tossed aside the little pennant and frowned toward the mountaintop.

He took a soft breath.

A strange feeling rose from the depths of his heart.

After sleeping for ten years, it was as though his life had been frozen in place. The outside world had passed through season after season, while his own world remained locked in ice. Now, at last, he had seen daylight again and returned to the light—yet his mind... suddenly went blank. So many memories of the past surged in like a tide, only to ebb away again moments later.

He could not shake the feeling that the scorching aura emanating from this ruined little pennant was familiar.

Could it be an old acquaintance?

A moment later, Xie Xuanyi reached the summit. The snow had already melted away. This ancient volcano, silent for a thousand years, seemed to be showing signs of revival. Billowing steam burst from its conical peak, and looking down, he could vaguely glimpse patches of scarlet through the boiling white vapor.

"A demon! A great demon!"

Xie Xuanyi stared at the bottom of the volcano for a long time before finally speaking those words, his expression grave.

The one at the mountain's base had to be a peerless great demon!

Every wisp of radiant mist steaming out from here was mixed with demonic aura!

The purity and density of that aura were truly rare—

Xie Xuanyi had stood atop the mountain for only a few breaths, yet his breathing had already turned scorching hot, as though his very organs were on fire!

Had an ordinary mortal climbed this mountain, they would likely have been set ablaze in an instant!

However, judging by the demonic aura currently leaking from Emberpeak Mountain, that great demon dwelling at its base must be in an extremely weakened state...

That was the reason Reverend Heavy Mist had entrenched himself in Jade Pearl Town and refused to leave.

He really had stumbled upon an opportunity rare even in a thousand years!

Xie Xuanyi looked around. Broken formations were everywhere, along with dark-red bloodstains scorched dry. Clearly, Reverend Heavy Mist had been constantly attempting to use the Spirit Domination Art to enslave the peerless great demon at the bottom of the volcano!

But every attempt had ended in failure!

Bang!

The dull sound of an umbrella opening rang across Emberpeak Mountain's summit.

Xie Xuanyi silently stepped forward twice, then simply jumped down.

Xie Xuanyi knew this was actually a very foolish thing to do.

His current strength was less than a tenth of what it had been, and killing Reverend Heavy Mist had already taken considerable effort. Now that he had confirmed the existence of an extraordinary great demon at the bottom of Emberpeak Volcano, the urgent thing to do should have been to stay far away.

But...

For no reason at all, a thought arose in Xie Xuanyi's heart.

Go down and take a look.

What a true sword cultivator cultivated was not, in fact, a sword.

It was precisely that single thought.

Xie Xuanyi trusted that his "intuition" would not deceive him... From the moment he set foot on Emberpeak Mountain, he had sensed a familiar aura. Now, he wanted to see whether an "old acquaintance" he knew was living at the very bottom of this volcano.

Rumble—

Rolling waves of heat rushed straight at him. With a hiss, the oil-paper umbrella caught fire in midair. By the time Xie Xuanyi landed, all that remained of it was a lonely frame.

At the bottom of Emberpeak Mountain, ash drifted through the sky, demonic aura towered heavenward, and blazing fire whirled through the air.

Several thousand—perhaps nearly ten thousand—strands of blazing red firelight flew through the air like a horsetail whisk, scattering countless threads of streaming radiance.

Xie Xuanyi extended his palm and touched that brilliant scarlet radiance from afar...

This ash.

It seemed to be breathing.

The demonic aura emanating from this place was a hundred, a thousand times denser than at the mountaintop, yet Xie Xuanyi could not sense the slightest danger...

Could it truly be... an old acquaintance?

Xie Xuanyi casually plucked a strand of crimson radiance that swept past his cheek. Nourished by the billowing demonic aura, it did not fade away, but gradually solidified into a single feather.

Xie Xuanyi walked forward.

He saw the "Dharma form" woven from countless streams of light.

These innumerable strands of demonic aura coiled and swirled beneath Emberpeak Mountain, lingering without dispersing for ages.

If someone were to enter the mountain's depths and observe from up close, they would discover that the tens of thousands of rays of sunset light pieced together an incomparably colossal "phoenix" Dharma form!

"This is... a phoenix?"

Xie Xuanyi froze for a moment.

His first thought upon seeing this Dharma form was: why had the sight of a phoenix stirred within him the notion of an "old acquaintance"?

Humans and demons could never stand together.

He was the once-in-a-century swordsmanship prodigy of the Great Grain Sword Palace. He slew demons when he encountered demons and eradicated devils when he encountered devils—how could he possibly have anything to do with a phoenix?

The next instant, it felt as though his sea of consciousness had been torn apart.

"Mm..."

A pained groan burst from Xie Xuanyi's throat.

Instinctively, he raised a hand to clutch his forehead, staggering toward the heart of that immense Dharma form.

The streams of light filling the sky, vivid as blood, whirled around his white robes.

Unexpectedly, the journey went smoothly. Xie Xuanyi encountered no obstruction at all and easily reached the "center of heaven and earth" shrouded by the Dharma form. The resplendent, majestic phoenix Dharma form above him had merely been a deception. The streams of light throughout the sky had long since lost their lethality; they only looked terrifyingly imposing... This was why Reverend Heavy Mist, despite his meager cultivation, had dared to remain here. The master of this Dharma form had already fallen asleep.

Several hundred flickering flames had formed a towering throne at the foot of Emberpeak Mountain. Every wisp of fire gave off a dim, black glow.

This Phoenix Fire Throne was far more majestic than the Dharma form overhead.

Unfortunately.

Fast asleep upon the throne was a red-haired little girl who appeared to be only eight or nine years old.

The little girl wore ragged clothes woven from some unknown material. Bathed in phoenix fire, she did not burn. Because she was so small, the towering, magnificent throne instead resembled a cradle. The little one lay curled up upon it, using fire as her blanket, sleeping with the utmost sweetness.