The Demon Peak Shatters the Immortal Palace, the Dragon Phoenix Suppresses the Nine Netherworlds

At the foot of the Demon Peak of Bones, the air felt kneaded by an invisible pair of giant hands, thick and viscous like congealed blood; every movement was fraught with a heavy, sluggish resistance. Surging dark-red demonic flames roared like wicked dragons, wantonly licking at the jagged giant bones and casting them into the likeness of gnashing fangs from hell. They threw twisted, dancing shadows that looked like the eerie contortions of demons performing upon the ground. Although the Corrosive God Poison Miasma had been isolated on the far side of the ancient river, the terrifying pressure radiating from the peak itself—a mixture of ancient baleful energy and Chaos Demon Flame—clutched at one's throat like a pair of cold, giant hands. Every breath felt like swallowing a mixture of scalding sulfur and decay, bringing a searing, stinging pain.

Xiao Yan struck the hard ground, which was covered in dark-red crystals, like a meteor out of control. His entire skeleton felt as though it had been dismantled and haphazardly reassembled, sending waves of heart-wrenching pain through him, while a metallic, fishy taste of blood surged uncontrollably into his throat. Gritting his teeth, he struggled to prop up his upper body. The Heavy Xuan Ruler had slipped from his grasp and landed nearby with a dull, muffled thud, as if it, too, were mourning their desperate plight. The agony in his left arm from his head-on clash with the Bone Demon Scorpion King had yet to subside, gnawing at him like a venomous snake; the dizziness from his soul being ruthlessly torn by spatial turbulence while crossing the river hit his consciousness in wave after wave, leaving him barely able to stand.

He lifted his head with great difficulty, his gaze piercing through the swirling demonic flames to look at the withered, gaunt figure suspended beneath the roiling sky—You Lao! The very same You Lao who had been burned to near-oblivion by Xiao Zhan's Dragon Phoenix Green Lotus Flame during the battle at the Oasis Tower base was now... still alive? Or perhaps, what stood before him was not the original body, but an eerie avatar?

You Lao's hunched figure hung silently like a giant bat clinging to the dark-red firmament, radiating a hair-raising aura. At the tip of his Skull Bone Staff, pale-green soul fire flickered soundlessly, resembling two ghostly flames from the netherworld. Those two points of soul fire pierced through the shadows of his hood like the vertical pupils of a viper—cold, greedy, and carrying a playful intent to kill—locking firmly onto the two lethargic figures below as if savoring prey already within his grasp.

That hoarse, dry voice, like the grinding of withered bones, sounded once more, carrying undisguised murderous intent like a cold wind in the dead of night that chilled one to the bone: "To survive the spatial fragments of the Ancient River of Buried Gods and even cross the Corrosive God Poison Miasma... Heh, heh, heh, you have truly earned this Seat's admiration. Unfortunately, everything ends here." His bone-like claws slowly raised, pointing at Xiao Yan like the scythe of the Grim Reaper, his voice cold and resolute: "Hand over the Bronze Ring and the fragments!" The bone staff gave a slight twist, pointing toward Xiao Yi Xian, his tone filled with greed and malice: "And you, Woe Poison Body, offer up your origin Woe Poison Pill! This Seat can grant you both... a less painful end."

Before the words had even faded, it was as if the rapid, ominous drumbeats of fate had struck!

"Hum--!!!"

In an instant, an invisible soul pressure, a hundred times more terrifying than the baleful energy of the bone forest, descended with the momentum of a mountain crashing down from the nine heavens, carrying a world-destroying force! The target of this pressure was Xiao Yi Xian, who had only just managed to sit up and was in a state of extreme exhaustion; it was as if the Grim Reaper had swung his scythe with surgical precision.

"Urgh!" Xiao Yi Xian was struck as if by lightning. Her already paper-white face instantly drained of its last trace of color, like a delicate flower ravaged by a violent storm. Her body shuddered violently, as if struck by an invisible giant force, and she spat out a large mouthful of blood flecked with seven-colored light, which traced a tragic, beautiful arc through the air. The Woe Poison Pill in her dantian, which had only recently condensed and was as dim as a dying star, began to tremble violently, as if gripped by an invisible hand, causing her origin poison power to leak out frantically like a burst dam.

Forcing herself to condense the Crossing-Tribulation Poison Dragon to cross the ancient river had already left her origin severely damaged, like a bird with broken wings. To be hit now by the precise soul pressure of a peak Dou Zong was undoubtedly the final straw that broke the camel's back. She let out a muffled groan, her vision went black, and her body slumped backward, losing consciousness entirely like a withered flower falling into endless darkness. The light on the surface of the poison pill flickered like a candle in the wind, ready to be extinguished at any moment, threatening to snuff out her life force forever.

"Xiao Yi Xian--!!!" Xiao Yan's eyes were bloodshot, his roar laced with blood foam as if it were a cry from the depths of his soul. Watching the young girl exhaust her strength to protect him across the river, only to suffer this unprovoked disaster because he possessed the fragments, the pain in his heart surged like a tidal wave. An unprecedented rage and self-reproach, like molten lava, shattered his reason and pushed him to the brink of madness. Finding strength from nowhere, he sprang from the ground, lunging toward Xiao Yi Xian's fallen body like a frenzied beast, desperate to use his own frame to shield her from this endless catastrophe.

"Overestimating yourself!" A cold sneer emanated from beneath You Lao's hood, the sound like a frigid wind in the night, dripping with infinite mockery and disdain. His raised, withered claw pressed down into the air toward the lunging Xiao Yan, as casually as if he were swatting away an annoying fly.

"Boom--!!!"

The space in front of Xiao Yan instantly solidified and collapsed, like glass shattered by an invisible giant hand. An invisible, terrifying force capable of crushing mountains slammed into him, as if countless peaks were pressing down upon him all at once.

"Pfft--!"

Xiao Yan was struck head-on by what felt like an invisible yet heavy-as-a-thousand-jun hammer. His forward-lunging body was sent flying backward faster than he had come. Blood, mixed with fragments of shattered internal organs, sprayed out like a bursting flood, leaving shocking streaks of red in the air. He slammed heavily into a sharp, blade-like giant bone dozens of feet away, and a clear "crack" of breaking bone rang out, piercingly sharp in the silence. He felt as if his spine had been snapped in two, and the agony, like a surging tide, instantly drowned out all perception. His consciousness fell into a bottomless abyss, surrounded only by boundless darkness and cold, as if he had been abandoned by the entire world.

"Yan... er..." Faint fragments of consciousness floated in the dark abyss, flickering like a candle in the wind. Endless despair and unwillingness followed him like a shadow; the kind face of his teacher, the resolute figure of his father, and the gentle smile of Xiao Yi Xian flashed repeatedly through his mind. "I'm sorry..." he screamed silently in his heart, but could only let the darkness consume him completely.

"Ants are merely ants." You Lao's voice was cold and indifferent, carrying a sense of boredom and disdain for the lives of ants, as if he had just casually crushed two insignificant insects. Before the words had even finished, his figure flickered, appearing instantly before the unconscious Xiao Yan like a ghost. His withered, bone-like claws reached out slowly, filled with cold greed, like the scythe of the Grim Reaper, reaching directly for the simple, ancient black ring on Xiao Yan's left hand, as if it were the most precious treasure in the world.

Just as those withered claws were about to touch the ring, it was as if the God of Fate had suddenly opened its eyes!

"Hum--!!!"

A sudden, drastic change occurred, like a star that had been silent for eons suddenly erupting!

On the index finger of Xiao Yan's left hand, the black ring, which had been as silent as death, seemed to sense its master's dying despair and the desecration of the evil power from without, and it suddenly erupted with an unprecedented, intense light. The chaotic, dark-gold radiance erupted like a dormant volcano, carrying a world-destroying momentum that instantly illuminated the dark world. Countless ancient and profound runes flowed and flickered wildly within the light, like mysterious incantations from the primordial era, radiating a supreme majesty and protective will that seemed capable of suppressing the heavens and the worlds, causing the very space to tremble.

The moment this light appeared, it was like the first brilliant ray of dawn at the birth of the universe, piercing through the eternal darkness!

"Boom--!!!"

The entire Demon Peak of Bones trembled violently, as if a red-hot iron had been plunged into it, as if an ancient beast were letting out a painful roar in its sleep. Countless giant bones groaned under the impact of this power, unable to bear the strain, and then began to snap one after another; the sound of the fracturing was like the prelude to a world collapsing, chilling to the bone. At the summit of the mountain-sized pile of giant bones, the core area that was scorched day and night by the dense Chaos Demon Flame became the focal point of this power.

A dark-gold beam of light, so thick and condensed that it defied description, erupted like a divine sword of punishment, shattering the layers of demonic flames with world-destroying momentum. Before the beam, the demonic flames were like fragile paper, instantly torn asunder. The dark-gold beam pierced straight through the nine heavens, as if to penetrate the endless firmament and explore the mysteries of the universe.

At the core of the beam, a large bronze fragment shone brilliantly. The fracture marks on its edges matched the two fragments in Xiao Yan's possession perfectly, as if it were a puzzle piece long ago arranged by fate. At this moment, the bronze fragment was like an awakened ancient god, erupting with glorious immortal light so dazzling that the entire world paled in comparison. On the surface of the fragment, countless dark-gold runes detached themselves like living creatures, dancing lightly within the beam and cleverly rearranging themselves, as if performing an ancient and mysterious dance.

A fragment of an ancient will, clearer and more vast than any before, carrying a massive, chaotic, yet star-like torrent of information, rushed into the depths of the unconscious Xiao Yan's mind like the water of a bursting galaxy with unstoppable momentum. This time, it was no longer fragmented or scattered images, but a more coherent and shocking fragment of ancient memory, unfolding slowly in Xiao Yan's mind like a grand epic.

The images raced through the endless chaotic void, as if traversing the long river of time, finally freezing at a mysterious node, waiting for Xiao Yan to uncover the secrets hidden deep within the ages.