The eight Old Ancestors stood outside the Heaven-Refining Furnace, watching the Demon Race's finest young disciples thrown in one after another. As the faint screams from within gradually died away, satisfaction spread across their faces.
The Bull Demon Old Ancestor stroked his chin and sighed. "Good, good... These children can finally give the clan the last of what they have to offer. All the effort we spent raising them wasn't for nothing."
The Scorpion Race Old Ancestor nodded, anticipation in his voice. "I wonder what kind of pills an Eighth Realm body will produce when combined with those mysterious treasures of the lord's. If they could carry us straight into the Ninth Realm, how wonderful that would be..."
"The Ninth Realm?" The Flying Fish Old Ancestor shook his head with a rueful smile. "If it were that easy, so many prodigies throughout the ages wouldn't have spent their entire lives stuck at the Peak Eighth Realm, unable to take that final step. If we get a few pills that let us touch the threshold of the Ninth Realm, that alone would be a heaven-sent fortune."
The Lion Old Ancestor sighed and picked up the thread. "Exactly. Miss this chance, and who knows how many years we'll have to wait for another? Those other old Eighth Realm monsters are cunning. They hide in their own caves and hardly ever come out, so there's no catching them. Only this outsider, fresh into the Eighth Realm, with an unstable foundation and no knowledge of the situation in Central Continent, gave us an opening."
He paused, a trace of nostalgia in his eyes. "It does make me miss the one we caught before... A pity we didn't have enough ingredients back then. We made nothing worthwhile and wasted all those fine materials. Otherwise, we