Suddenly, a deep voice rang out from far beyond Yuqing Hall. "My old friend Daoxuan, a hundred years have passed, yet you look as magnificent as ever. What a cause for celebration!"
"Who goes there?" Everyone inside Yuqing Hall turned toward the entrance. At some point, four figures had appeared at the doorway: three men and one woman. One man wore a square scholar's cap and looked every inch a man of letters, but his eyes were unusually deep. He was none other than Ghost King, master of the Demonic Cult's Ghost King Sect.
To Ghost King's left stood an elderly man who looked over sixty. His hair and beard were flecked with gray, but he was vigorous rather than frail. This was Poison God, master of the Myriad Poisons Sect, one of the Four Major Demonic Sects.
Beside Poison God stood an exceptionally handsome man whose eyebrows swept toward his temples. He looked barely past thirty.
Yet he was Yuyangzi, the master of the Hall of Longevity, one of the Four Major Demonic Sects, whose name had been renowned for over a century.
Within the Demonic Cult, the Hall of Longevity was a particularly unusual faction. It had always been responsible for guarding the cult's most important holy site in the Wilderness—the Sacred Hall. As its name suggested, its sole guiding purpose was the pursuit of immortality.
Yet as one of the Four Major Demonic Sects, it often stopped at nothing to achieve its ends, taking a path utterly opposed to the pursuit of immortality taught by the orthodox sects.
Beside Yuyangzi stood an exquisitely beautiful woman: Sanmiao Fairy, leader of the Acacia Sect, another of the four major sects. Though she came from one of the Demonic Cult's most disreputable factions, her beauty was undeniable. Her expression was