Outer Realm Great Demon Leng Bingyan

"Better to kill than to humiliate."

Shi Tian was slapped several times by Ye Qianqian, his facial bones cracking, and he roared continuously.

However, Ye Qianqian did not stop. She continued to slap him back and forth, making his head buzz and his consciousness blur.

"Stop hitting me, I... I surrender."

Finally, Shi Tian could no longer bear the torment and begged her to stop.

Ye Qianqian smiled, "Since you've surrendered, shouldn't you tell me your secret?"

Shi Tian's expression dimmed, dejected and dispirited. "As long as you spare my life, I am willing to reveal all these hidden truths."

Hearing Shi Tian's submission, Ye Qianqian nodded with satisfaction. She turned to look at the heavily injured Yun Shan and She Qingqing and said, "You two go back to the Misty Cloud Sect first. I still have some matters to attend to."

Yun Shan and the other nodded and did not linger. They immediately piloted the Qing Luan Warship and flew away from the Lion Underworld Sect.

The leaders of the other sects, jolted awake from the recent battle, also did not wish to stay any longer. After respectfully bidding farewell to Ye Qianqian, they rapidly departed.

After today's immense upheaval, it was likely that the Lion Underworld Sect would be forcefully taken over by the Misty Cloud Sect. In the future, the strongest sect on the Northwest Continent would undoubtedly be the Misty Cloud Sect alone.

Controlling Shi Tian, Ye Qianqian, Kaguya, and Saber, we began to explore the underground world once more yesterday.

Soon, Shi Tian led them to the mysterious Years Stele.

"It's here," Shi Tian said weakly, pointing to the Years Stele with faltering steps. "It was from this Years Stele that I obtained a great opportunity."

"What opportunity?" Ye Qianqian became curious.

What could allow Shi Tian to leap from the Six-Star Dou Venerate realm to a five-turn Dou Venerate? What kind of thing could achieve that?

Shi Tian said, "You can touch this stele with your hand. As soon as you touch it, you will naturally know."

"Are you kidding me?"

Ye Qianqian clearly remembered from last night that the moment she touched the stele, she would be eroded by the power of years on it, which would continuously strip away her soul and lifespan. Her body, which was only five or six years old, had rapidly grown to resemble that of a seven-year-old child.

Could such a bizarre stele be touched casually?

Shi Tian said, "I'm not lying. There is indeed a great treasure hidden within this stele. I became like this because I was trying to obtain what's inside. If you don't believe me, there's nothing I can do."

Ye Qianqian pondered for a moment, then immediately released her Emperor-level soul, wrapping her right hand. She gently touched the stele.

"Buzz!"

As soon as the Years Stele encountered Ye Qianqian's hand, it was like a famished Taotie, continuously sucking at her soul and lifespan.

Ye Qianqian hurriedly used her powerful soul force to resist the erosion of the years, but she was still drained of a lot of her lifespan. Her body underwent a startling change, transforming from a seven-year-old body to an eight-year-old one.

Just as she was about to withdraw her arm, a small crack opened on the stele, swallowing her right hand.

Inside, Ye Qianqian's hand seemed to touch something round. She decisively grabbed it and quickly pulled it back.

In her hand appeared three white, marble-sized spheres.

"What are these?" Ye Qianqian asked curiously, looking at the spheres. Each one was carved with two characters: one side had the character 'Divine', and the other had the character 'Venerate'.

Shi Tian said, "These are called Divine Venerate Beads. As long as you absorb one of these beads, no matter what trash cultivation level you had before, your cultivation will leap to become a Venerate. I obtained this thing back then, so I gave it to one of my subordinates and had him impersonate me to confuse everyone."

Ye Qianqian finally understood. The fake Shi Tian had advanced to Dou Venerate after absorbing this bead. No wonder she had suspected the previous Shi Tian; the personality of that fake Shi Tian had changed so drastically.

"Then how did you increase your strength to a five-turn Dou Venerate?" Ye Qianqian continued to ask.

These beads alone had no effect on those above the Dou Venerate realm. Shi Tian must have had other secrets he hadn't revealed.

Shi Tian said, "Because I was lucky, after grabbing twice in a row, I obtained a Divine Sacred Bead. After absorbing and refining it, my cultivation advanced by leaps and bounds. If it weren't for..." He suddenly let out a cold snort at this point, "If it weren't for your appearance, in a few more days, I would have definitely become a Saint."

Ye Qianqian nodded. This made sense. This Years Stele contained immense secret treasures. If all the items within were extracted, it could create an army of low-level Dou Venerates and Dou Saints.

Thinking of this, she impatiently grabbed twice more from the Years Stele. Her body miraculously transformed from eight years old to ten years old, and she now held a total of ten Divine Venerate Beads in her hand.

"No, taking beads like this is not a solution," Ye Qianqian said with lingering fear.

Her soul power had been completely depleted. If she hadn't advanced her Emperor-level soul and used her vast soul power to resist the erosion of the years, she too would have become a withered corpse like Shi Tian.

"I need to find a way to take this Years Stele back. Once I get this thing back, I'll have plenty of time to decipher it."

As she was secretly contemplating a method, the entire underground world suddenly trembled, as if a massive earthquake was about to occur, making it impossible for anyone to stand steadily.

"This place is going to collapse. Let's get out quickly!" Ye Qianqian decisively abandoned the idea of taking the Years Stele and flew towards the exit of the passage with Kaguya and Saber.

However, Shi Tian's eyes turned bloodshot. In an instant, he broke free from Ye Qianqian's restraint, looking greedily at the Years Stele.

"Are you crazy?" Ye Qianqian frowned.

Shi Tian seemed possessed, completely ignoring the collapsing underground space and walking step by step towards the Years Stele.

"I'm not leaving. I'd rather die than leave. This is my opportunity, Shi Tian's opportunity! No one will take it away. This Years Stele is mine, mine, mine!"

He hugged the Years Stele, rubbing his old face against it with immense enjoyment. The power of years on the stele instantly absorbed his remaining life force, causing his limbs and body to gradually turn into white bones, then vanishing into thin air, leaving only a talking head.

"This is my opportunity!"

As soon as the head finished speaking, it also turned into a pile of dust, blown away by a gust of wind.

"Obsession leads to self-destruction."

Ye Qianqian sighed. Without any further hesitation, the three of them urgently flew out of the underground world.

Meanwhile, the vast, boundless underground world collapsed with a roar. Inside the Lion Underworld Sect on the surface, a giant sinkhole formed. Many disciples of the Lion Underworld Sect were affected by the cracking earth and fell into it, screaming in agony.

A holy stele emitting golden light shot up from underground, hovering in the air and continuously releasing the ancient, profound power of time.

This scene terrified everyone, their clothes soaked with cold sweat as they looked up at the Years Stele, not understanding what had happened.

Ye Qianqian's heart was filled with dread, sensing that something terrifying was about to occur.

"Crack! Crack! Crack!"

The Years Stele, seeing the light of day again, slowly developed spiderweb-like cracks. The cracks widened bit by bit, as if it were about to shatter.

"Rumble!"

In an instant, a tremendous energy erupted from within the stele, causing the space to tremble and emitting piercing sonic waves.

Ye Qianqian, protected behind Kaguya, watched this earth-shattering scene unfold, her pupils contracting sharply.

After the Years Stele exploded, an old woman with a decaying body emerged from within.

This old woman was incredibly ugly, with very little white hair on her head. Her skin was covered in corpse spots, and when she opened her mouth to laugh, not a single tooth was visible.

"Hahaha, hundreds of Saints and thousands of Venerates couldn't trap me, Leng Bingyan? What a pipe dream! I am a Time Demon from beyond the heavens!"

The old woman collected all the divine beads scattered across the sky, absorbing them into her body and slowly refining them.

Her strength began to soar, instantly reaching the peak of the Nine-Revolutions Dou Venerate realm, and she was still pushing towards the Half-Saint realm.

"Hmm? Why do I feel like twelve are missing?" the ugly old woman frowned, a hint of confusion in her voice.

Ye Qianqian immediately broke out in a cold sweat. She had just taken ten Divine Venerate Beads.

It turned out that those Divine Venerate Beads and Divine Sacred Beads were used to suppress this monster from beyond the heavens. It was over, she had caused a huge disaster.

"Who... who are you? Why have you appeared in my Lion Underworld Sect?" some of the powerful figures of the Lion Underworld Sect asked bravely.

"Years Zither!" The ugly old woman ignored them and instead let out a soft cry. An ancient zither appeared before her, and she grasped it with her hand, her aged fingers gently plucking the strings.

"Zing zing zheng!"

The strings were plucked, and sonic waves filled the heavens and earth.

Everyone in the Lion Underworld Sect, including all the residents of Holy Lion City, was affected by these sonic waves, as if their souls and lifespans were rapidly diminishing.

"Ahhh!"

In an instant, hundreds of thousands of people let out miserable wails, continuously eroded by the power of time. Children rapidly grew up, adults instantly aged, and the elderly turned into scattered piles of grim white bones, vanishing into dust.

"Quick, get out of here!" Ye Qianqian felt her own lifespan being affected by the sonic waves. Her ten-year-old body had grown to eleven, and if this continued, they would all be finished.

Kaguya-hime hurriedly tore through space, pulling Ye Qianqian and Saber into it, shielding them in the void and quickly escaping the area.

"The laws of heaven and earth are in chaos. There might be a huge upheaval in the northwest."

This strange power, stirring the laws of heaven and earth, immediately attracted the attention of the ancient family controllers in the Northwest Continent.

Two old men from the Shi Clan and the Ling Clan, both possessing the Half-Saint realm, emerged from their respective halls, opened spatial wormholes, and headed in the direction of the Lion Underworld Sect.