"After all, this old woman has little time left. I have no choice but to make some arrangements for my disciples!"
As Lady Ling Snake spoke, she hunched over, seeming like a candle guttering in the wind. She was utterly unlike the woman who had manifested her python Supernatural Ability earlier.
Which Spirit Condensation Realm cultivator present hadn't weathered countless storms? How could they believe the face Lady Ling Snake was putting on?
Blue Lotus Monk sent Chen Ming a voice transmission. "Fellow Daoist, you arrived in such a hurry that you haven't obtained a Secret Token to enter. Lady Ling Snake has quite a few now. Why not ask her for one?"
Chen Ming didn't answer him. Instead, he said, "Since Divine Monk invited me here, you should be the one to ask her for it."
"Indeed, you're right, Fellow Daoist!"
Blue Lotus Monk smiled and stepped forward. "Lady Ling Snake, I invited Fellow Daoist Xuan Mingzi to join me in the secret realm, but I'm one Secret Token short. Could I borrow one from you?"
Hearing this, Lady Ling Snake swept them with her Spiritual Sense. Both Blue Lotus Monk and Chen Ming had the aura of Spirit Condensation Realm cultivators, and were no weaklings. Neither showed signs of waning longevity.
She smiled faintly. "Of course, of course. It's only a Secret Token. There's no need to talk of borrowing."
"Let this be a chance for my Ling Snake Mountain and the two of you to form a good relationship!"
With that, Lady Ling Snake promptly took out a Secret Token and gave it to Chen Ming.
Chen Ming had now seen for himself how adept Lady Ling Snake was at ingratiating herself with everyone.
But with the Secret Token in his hand, he couldn't help but be grateful.
"Good!"
"The secret realm is about to open. I'll dispense with the formalities!" Chen Ming nodded to Lady Ling Snake, accepting the goodwill between them.
The Secret Token in his hand was growing faintly hot—a sign that the secret realm was about to open.
Rumble!
A thunderous boom rang out as Purple Light appeared in the sky above Beichen Mountain.
"Blue Lotus Monk, look what you've done!"
A cold shout rang out from within the Purple Light, but it wasn't the secret realm opening.
True Person Suyuan of the Divine Firmament Sect had found them!
Blue Lotus Monk's Supernatural Ability was Profound, but the Divine Firmament Sect had deep foundations.
After True Person Suyuan lost his clone, he couldn't trace its fate no matter how hard he tried. So he brought out a Magic Treasure left behind by his patriarch and used its power to divine what had happened.
His divination revealed that Fuyunzi had fallen, and that his own clone had ended up inside Chen Ming's White Bone Demon Pot.
How could True Person Suyuan tolerate that? He came straight to their doorstep.
"So a whole nest of fiends has gathered here!"
"Perfect. I'll wipe you all out in one fell swoop!"
True Person Suyuan manifested in the sky and swept his gaze across Beichen Mountain. The mountain was full of heretical practitioners and members of the Heretical Path.
Blue Lotus Monk was mixed in among them. Though he wore a respectable façade, the Magic Treasure in True Person Suyuan's hand laid his true nature bare.
"It's True Person Suyuan of the Divine Firmament Sect!"
"Who offended him and brought him here?"
"True Person Suyuan's strength is about on par with ours, but he has his patriarch's treasure in hand. We can't withstand that!"
The cultivators on Beichen Mountain grew anxious. The secret realm was about to open, and now this had happened. One could well imagine their feelings.
True Person Suyuan caught sight of Chen Ming. His expression shifted, and he pointed at him. "You fiend! You refined my clone!"
"Give me your life!"
Chen Ming sneered. "I haven't even wiped out your Divine Firmament Sect yet, and you've come knocking on my door!"
The White Bone Demon Pot rose in Chen Ming's hand. A Blood Bead appeared as Karma Poison Smoke and countless insects poured out, rushing toward True Person Suyuan.
Now that his identity had been exposed, Blue Lotus Monk stopped hiding it.
A blue lotus bloomed beneath his feet, and an eerie Buddhist chant burrowed into True Person Suyuan's ears.
"Divine Firmament, drive out the fiends!"
Purple Light blazed around True Person Suyuan, blocking Chen Ming's and Blue Lotus Monk's Supernatural Abilities.
But their attacks held him at bay, leaving him no opportunity to counterattack.
Chen Ming remained unhurried as he formed hand seals and chanted an incantation.
The Blood Bead inside the White Bone Demon Pot trembled, and a thumb-sized insect shot out, wreathed in Purple Light.
It was the form taken by True Person Suyuan's clone. The instant it emerged, True Person Suyuan sensed it.
"How dare you, fiend!"
True Person Suyuan's temples throbbed as a sense of danger rose within him. He cursed aloud.
Chen Ming ignored him. He blew a breath at the purple insect, and it writhed, transforming into a thumb-sized little man.
Immediately afterward, Five-Colored Radiance appeared behind Chen Ming, transforming into red, black, green, yellow, and white Five-Colored Needle Rays.
Thwack!
The Five-Colored Needle Rays pierced the little man.
True Person Suyuan let out a scream as the Five-Colored Needle Rays appeared out of thin air and stabbed into his body.
They pierced his five viscera and pinned down his spirit, soul, will, ghost, and essence.
True Person Suyuan's body stiffened, and he couldn't move.
"What kind of method is this? It's truly hard to defend against!"
It wasn't just Blue Lotus Monk. The Spirit Condensation Realm cultivators on Beichen Mountain all found Chen Ming's bizarre method difficult to guard against.
While True Person Suyuan was immobilized, Chen Ming's Karma Poison Smoke formed a giant hand. It seized True Person Suyuan and dragged him toward the White Bone Demon Pot.
True Person Suyuan was frantic, but he couldn't move, and his magic power wouldn't circulate.
He had brought plenty of life-saving treasures with him, but he had been careless for a moment and fallen into a quagmire, unable to escape.
Just then, a stream of Seven-Colored Cloud Qi rushed over from afar. It was Fairy Caiyi, riding a Luan Bird.
When Fairy Caiyi arrived at Beichen Mountain and saw True Person Suyuan caught in the attack, her heart jolted. He had plenty of protective treasures left by his patriarch. How could he have failed to match his opponent?
Then she glanced at Chen Ming and sensed that he was the one who had killed the Seven-Colored Clothes under her command.
"How did he reach the Spirit Condensation Realm so quickly, and even manage to restrain Suyuan? I don't know the depths of his abilities. He must be a hidden pawn of the Myriad Laws Sect."
Fairy Caiyi's thoughts raced, and she grew wary.
Yet her face showed only concern as she called out in a clear, bright voice, "True Person Suyuan, I'll help you!"
She urged the Luan Bird onward. Its colorful tail feathers swept out, scattering the giant hand formed from Chen Ming's Karma Poison Smoke.
Taking advantage of the opening, True Person Suyuan caught his breath and immediately activated his protective treasure. The stiffness in his body slowly faded.
"Fairy Caiyi!"
Chen Ming was startled. He hadn't expected Fairy Caiyi to come looking for him too.
"Explode!"
He made a split-second decision and shouted. The Five-Colored Needle Rays stuck in True Person Suyuan's body suddenly exploded.
The blast tore through True Person Suyuan's five viscera, blowing five bloody holes in his body.
At the same time, Chen Ming crushed the little man formed from the insect in his hand. True Person Suyuan's Sea of Consciousness convulsed in agony, and he fell from the sky.
Fortunately, Fairy Caiyi conjured cloud vapor to catch True Person Suyuan, preventing him from hitting the ground.
"You fiendish monster! You killed my disciple without cause and gravely wounded True Person Suyuan. How could we, the righteous path, ever tolerate you?" Fairy Caiyi declared, her voice ringing with righteous indignation.
"Who are you saying that to? Which person on this mountain belongs to the righteous path?"
As Chen Ming finished speaking, the Secret Token in his hand turned into a streak of light and joined with the tokens held by several other Spirit Condensation Realm cultivators.
A portal to the secret realm opened in the sky above Beichen Mountain.
Everyone flew into the secret realm. Their revealed auras were indeed all the methods of the Heretical Path and demonic cultivators.
In the blink of an eye, the portal vanished.
Fairy Caiyi wasn't angered. She glanced at the gravely wounded, unconscious True Person Suyuan and knew he could still faintly sense the outside world.
A cunning idea struck her.
She circulated her magic power and called out to the empty air in a clear, bright voice. "Fiends, don't you dare run wild! Once I've treated True Person Suyuan, I'll make sure to wipe you all out!"
After shouting, Fairy Caiyi used her magic power to block True Person Suyuan's senses. She then circled through the air on her cloud vapor.
Only when True Person Suyuan had completely passed out did she mount the Colorful Feather Luan Bird and carry him back to the Divine Firmament Sect.
Before you continue