Monster Alliance 3

Feeling the sinister chill of the Ten Thousand Ghosts Devouring Yin Grand Formation, Xiang Hui and the others, despite their profound cultivation and each possessing Qi Induction Stage - Mid Phase strength, still shuddered. Xie Xiaohong said, "It truly is a killing formation of the demonic path. Though it is far inferior to Shu Mountain's Ten Thousand Swords Exterminate Immortal Formation, which guards our mountain gate, wouldn't it take the combined cultivation of the four of us, along with the magical treasure Master gave me, just to tear open a gap in this formation?"

Xiang Hui was carefully examining the man-sized opening when he replied, "Our Shu Mountain's Ten Thousand Swords Exterminate Immortal Formation was laid down by countless immortal seniors. However formidable this Ten Thousand Ghosts Devouring Yin Formation may be, how could it possibly compare with Shu Mountain's formation?" Liu Zhihua and Lu Hongchen both nodded in agreement. The four entered the formation one after another and stealthily approached the enormous villa.

From afar, Liao Xiaojin watched the four figures and gave a cold laugh. "Damn it, Master's prediction was spot-on. There really has been a change. But what kind of waves can these little shrimp possibly stir up? Forget it. I'll wait for the big fish!"

The entire villa sat there like an ancient colossal beast, waiting to devour its prey. It was pitch-black, without a single light. Zhou Qing asked Zhou Chen, "Can you still sense where your younger sister is?" Zhou Chen nodded. "Good. Lead the way. I'll follow you."

"Mm!" The two turned into the villa. Zhou Qing suddenly separated out his Second Primordial Spirit, and at the sight of two identical Zhou Qings, Zhou Chen's cherry lips fell wide open. She exclaimed in shock, "External Incarnation, Second Primordial Spirit!" Zhou Qing hurriedly covered her little mouth. "Don't speak. I can sense four demonic auras—three powerful, one relatively weak. They must be the four monsters you mentioned. I took the Eight Extremes Wolf King's Inner Core, so he won't recover without several decades of bitter cultivation. Eh! Why can't I sense the aura of that great monster?" Zhou Qing whispered into Zhou Chen's ear.

With Zhou Qing's hand covering her lips, Zhou Chen had just been about to speak when a masculine, vigorous scent rushed over her. Still stunned by Zhou Qing's Second Primordial Spirit, she felt her heart and mind fall into delicious confusion. Then Zhou Qing's voice brushed against her ear, making it itch. The pleasant sensation nearly drew a moan from her lips.

But Zhou Qing said again, "Eh! I sense an aura exactly like yours. It must be your younger sister. She's fifty meters ahead of us."

Though the villa was dark, to Zhou Qing's cultivation it was no different from broad daylight. With a flicker, he withdrew his Second Primordial Spirit and carefully felt his way forward.

Zhou Chen bit her tongue and regained her senses. Ignoring her flushed face, she activated the Invisibility Talisman with all her strength and followed behind Zhou Qing. The aura seemed close, yet after passing through eight rooms and descending three flights of stairs, the two finally saw a great door forged from refined steel. Zhou Qing thought to himself, Why is this place like a maze? If my Primordial Spirit's divine sense weren't so powerful, anyone else would truly get lost.

Zhou Chen had already rushed forward. "Master, my younger sister is inside! I can feel it! But why is there nowhere to open this door?" Zhou Qing stepped forward to inspect it as well. "You're right. It's just a solid slab of iron, and there isn't even a formation set upon it. How strange."

"Then how do we open it?" Zhou Chen grew anxious.

"Don't worry! It's only a slab of refined steel. How could that possibly stump your master?" With a thought from Zhou Qing, a strand of Sword Qi silently swept forth. The iron slab, a full three feet thick, was carved open with a pitch-black hole as easily as a kitchen knife slicing tofu. Zhou Qing's Flying Sword was the Azure Lock Sword, forged from Prime Gold of Taiyi and incomparably sharp. After the Azure Lock Sword had been broken by the Blood-Devouring Divine Saber, Zhou Qing reforged it with Samadhi True Fire. He removed the superfluous formations that Shu Mountain's Elder had placed upon it, pursuing sharpness and speed instead, then quenched it with Liao Xiaojin's blood. In quality, it had long surpassed the original Azure Lock Sword, and in sharpness it was even better. Though it might still not compare to Liao Xiaojin's strange sword!

Seeing Zhou Qing silently cut through the iron door, Zhou Chen had no time for further words. With a twist of her body, she slipped through the opening. By the time Zhou Qing tried to stop her, it was already too late, so he could only follow her inside. The instant they landed, a gust of yin wind swept across the ground. Zhou Qing hurriedly reached out to grab Zhou Chen, but his hand caught nothing but air.

Dense black mist, thick enough to seem solid and carrying waves of foul stench, rushed into his face, making Zhou Qing dizzy and muddleheaded. The surroundings were engulfed in black fog, so dark that one could not see one's own fingers. Zhou Qing was greatly alarmed. His Flying Sword transformed into a streak of azure light that guarded his entire body, forcing the black mist more than a foot away. "It's actually Five Poison Smoke Cloud Miasma!"

Only then did Zhou Qing clearly see tiny insects flying about amid the black fog. He immediately recalled the records of this vicious thing in the Refining Compendium: Five Poison Smoke Cloud Miasma was refined from poisonous miasma gathered in deep mountains and ancient forests, mixed with the venom of five kinds of deadly poisonous insects and combined with venomous gu insects. Once someone was afflicted, their entire body would go weak and their skin would gradually rot away. Then the gu insects would enter the body and gnaw upon the festering flesh. Yet the victim would not die immediately, instead watching helplessly as the gu insects devoured them clean. Throughout the devouring process, the victim could neither move nor speak, forced to endure boundless agony while still alive. It was one of the cruelest tortures under heaven and earth.

At this thought, Zhou Qing grew frantic and worried even more for Zhou Chen. Suddenly, a wave of vexation rose in his heart, followed by a sharp pain in his chest. Only then did he recall that he too had inhaled a trace of the miasma, and the gu insects had begun to act up. Zhou Qing immediately used his Second Primordial Spirit to draw true fire into his body, burning that trace of miasma and the gu insects to nothing!

With another thought, Zhou Qing spat out a mouthful of Samadhi True Fire. At once, the dense black fog formed by the Five Poison Smoke Cloud Miasma was like piled snow meeting scalding water. In less than a quarter of an hour, it was refined away without leaving a trace. An enormous, empty meditation chamber was revealed, and Zhou Qing immediately saw Zhou Chen lying unconscious on the ground, her complexion unnaturally bright.

Knowing that Zhou Chen had inhaled the miasma, Zhou Qing grasped her hand. Powerful True Essence, mixed with threads of true fire, instantly coursed through every meridian in her body. Strands of black mist, carrying gu insects with them, seeped out from Zhou Chen's body and were then refined away by Zhou Qing's Samadhi True Fire.

"Mm..." Zhou Chen moaned and slowly awoke. Seeing Zhou Qing holding her hand, her face reddened slightly this time before returning to normal. "Why were you so impulsive? If your master didn't have a few tricks up his sleeve, wouldn't we both be dead? These monsters are truly vicious—they even used Five Poison Smoke Cloud Miasma!" Recalling what had just happened, Zhou Qing broke into a cold sweat.

Clap! Clap! Clap! Applause rang through the originally empty meditation chamber. A wall on one side suddenly split open, and five people entered. Zhou Qing carefully examined them. The leader was a middle-aged man with an imposing bearing, dressed in a broad red robe. Had Zhou Qing not known beforehand that this was the Monster Alliance, he might have thought they were filming a movie. Of the four beside him, one was a grizzled middle-aged man glaring fixedly at Zhou Qing—it was the Eight Extremes Wolf King.

Of the remaining three, one had arms that reached below his knees and protruding cheekbones, looking exactly like an ape. This must be the Yuan Wuji Zhou Chen had mentioned. Another was entirely shrouded in mist, his body impossible to see. Gusts of yin wind circled around him, accompanied by the faint screams of aggrieved souls. He was the Nether Ghost. The last was unexpectedly a beautiful woman, her entire body exuding a wanton, seductive aura that made one's lust blaze like fire.

The one applauding was the imposing middle-aged man in the broad red robe. "May I ask which sect this brother's expertise comes from? From your Sword Qi, you seem to be from Shu Mountain, yet I have never heard of such a young Spirit Transformation expert among Shu Mountain's disciples. I am Tianxuan Blood Demon, leader of the Monster Alliance. May I ask this brother's honored name?"

"Blood Demon! What did you do to my younger sister?" Seeing her irreconcilable enemy before her, Zhou Chen could no longer suppress the towering hatred in her heart and was about to rush forward to fight for her life. But Zhou Qing firmly pulled her back. "Stay calm. You're no match for him. Let me speak." Zhou Qing spoke softly to Zhou Chen. She also knew the urgency and gravity of the situation. After glancing at Zhou Qing, she nodded and stared fixedly at Tianxuan Blood Demon.

"Hehe! Alliance Leader Blood Demon, I am Zhou Qing, sect master of the Heavenly Dao Sect. I came this time to ask a favor of you, Alliance Leader—return my disciple's younger sister. Let us make friends, shall we? Better to dissolve an enemy than tie one tighter, isn't it?" Zhou Qing silently operated his Second Primordial Spirit, yet he could not see through Tianxuan Blood Demon's depth of cultivation. He could not help but be secretly alarmed, so he spouted nonsense to stall for time and think of a solution.

The Eight Extremes Wolf King let out a raspy, strange laugh. "Boy, we've been waiting for you for a long time. Now that you've come here, do you still think you can leave? I'll skin you alive to avenge the theft of my Inner Core!" Hearing the Eight Extremes Wolf King speak, Zhou Qing's face turned cold and brilliant light burst from his eyes. An overwhelming aura pressed down upon the five monsters.

Thud! Thud! Thud! Aside from Tianxuan Blood Demon, whose expression remained unchanged save for a flutter of his red robe, the other three staggered back three steps in succession. The Eight Extremes Wolf King, having lost his Inner Core and suffered a great reduction in cultivation, retreated five full steps and nearly collapsed onto the ground. Zhou Qing's Second Primordial Spirit was a Six-Winged Golden Silkworm, a primordial exotic species. Though these monsters all possessed Qi Induction Late Stage cultivation, they could not withstand the pressure of a higher-order demon. It was an instinctive reaction.

Zhou Qing laughed loudly. "You want to take my life, Zhou Qing's life? Can you manage it?" Tianxuan Blood Demon suddenly stepped forward two paces. Zhou Qing's laughter abruptly stopped as he felt as though a mountain were crushing down upon him, making even breathing difficult.

Zhou Qing was greatly alarmed. Tianxuan Blood Demon's cultivation is indeed profound. Even my Second Primordial Spirit is finding it this difficult to contend with him! Zhou Qing circulated his Primordial Spirit with all his strength, and faint golden light flickered over his entire body. Bang! Bang! Bang! Three floor tiles were lifted by the opposing auras of Zhou Qing and Tianxuan Blood Demon, exploding into powder.

Zhou Qing did not budge, while Tianxuan Blood Demon took a step back. The composed expression on his face turned to surprise. That boy is clearly a notch weaker than me. How did he manage to force me back? Could he be concealing his true strength? In Tianxuan Blood Demon's eyes, Zhou Qing became unfathomably profound.

In truth, Zhou Qing had used a trick. The one initially clashing with Tianxuan Blood Demon's aura had been Zhou Qing's Second Primordial Spirit. When the aura finally erupted, all its force was borne by the Primordial Spirit. Yet Zhou Qing had been unwilling to retreat and dissipate the force, so he forcibly made the Primordial Spirit take the blow. But how powerful was the fleshly body of a Six-Winged Golden Silkworm? This strike was nothing at all.

Tianxuan Blood Demon's expression immediately turned ugly, and the atmosphere became exceedingly awkward. Both sides simply glared at one another, big eyes staring at small, not knowing what to say.