Shen Ni and the Invasion of Demonic Creatures

As the golden light faded, a deep ravine was revealed, stretching from beneath the trio's feet all the way to the horizon. Glass-like crystals lined both sides of the ravine.

Seeing such terrifying power, even though he had mentally prepared himself, Zhongli, with his strong composure, could not help but frown deeply.

Hongmeng put away the manifested Hongmeng Measuring Heaven Ruler and said to Zhongli and Raiden Ei, "Now that the matters outside have been settled, let's head back first. Otherwise, Skadi and Jielü will start worrying."

Zhongli and Raiden Ei both smiled and nodded, returning to the Grotto-Heaven World with Hongmeng.

Just as Hongmeng and the others were about to return to the Grotto-Heaven World, black qi began to surge from the corpse of the Fierce Beast they had just destroyed.

Such an obvious sight quickly drew the trio's attention. Within the black mist, an evil figure flickered in and out of view.

As Hongmeng and the others focused their gaze, the sinister figure in the black mist flicked his fingers at them as though swatting away a fly.

A strand of Chaos-colored mist shot toward Hongmeng's forehead like a sharp sword.

"Xiao Meng, be careful!" At that critical moment, Xiao Yi appeared beyond the crystalline wall of the Grotto-Heaven World.

With a wave of her hand, Xiao Yi conjured a diamond-shaped shield before them.

"Get into the Grotto-Heaven Pearl! He's Shen Ni," Xiao Yi urged.

"Hm?" Shen Ni was greatly surprised that Lifeforms from the outside world knew his identity. Ever since his birth, he had never revealed his name to the outside world.

"Then I have even more reason not to let you live." A vicious glint flashed through Shen Ni's eyes, and his attacks became even fiercer.

If Shen Ni had initially regarded them as ordinary ants, then now they were merely somewhat stronger ants. If this were not just one of his projections, he would not need to expend so much effort to deal with them.

Hongmeng and the other two immediately returned to the Grotto-Heaven Pearl. Seeing that they had left, Xiao Yi was greatly relieved and transformed into a streak of light, entering the Grotto-Heaven World.

At the edge of the Grotto-Heaven World's boundary wall.

Hongmeng looked at Xiao Yi, who had revealed her form, while listening to the boundary wall tremble.

Hongmeng asked, "Sister Xiao Yi, what should we do?"

Xiao Yi shook her head. "Just as the legends said, Shen Ni's cultivation is probably already at the Daluo Golden Immortal realm."

"Sister Xiao Yi, doesn't that make this very dangerous?" Hongmeng asked worriedly.

Xiao Yi smiled. "It's fine. We can still hold on. The problem is that if we focus only on defense, we have no way to strike back."

Outside the Grotto-Heaven World.

Shen Ni's avatar discovered that his attack had been blocked by an invisible defense, and he could not help frowning. "Why is there an innate grand formation here? Could some supreme treasure be gestating within?"

Shen Ni tested this "innate grand formation" several times.

"What's going on? I can't even make out a single formation node." Shen Ni was puzzled.

Let alone Shen Ni—even if Hongjun were present now, he would not be able to see that the formation wall before him was actually a world barrier.

Thinking about it, how could a Chaos God-Demon possibly open such a tiny world within the world created by Pangu? Even Chaos God-Demons capable of creating worlds would disdain creating one inside another's world, because such a world would be nothing more than storage space to them.

Without Pangu's strength, if one still wished to create another Primordial World within the world Pangu had created, one would need Pangu's consent. How could that be possible? Pangu had already transformed into the Primordial World and merged with the Dao.

Therefore, whether it was Shen Ni, the future Hongjun, or other great powers, all believed that this was merely a peculiar protective grand formation.

Only in the future, when Hongjun comprehended the Heavenly Dao and Houtu comprehended the Earthly Dao, would the two of them see its true nature.

Returning to the present, after Shen Ni's avatar tested the Grotto-Heaven World several times, although he did not understand the true nature of the Grotto-Heaven Pearl, he could tell that the "innate grand formation" before him was extraordinary.

"The object gestating within this formation must be a top-grade innate supreme treasure." Shen Ni said with certainty, "Unfortunately, my true body has already begun exploring cultivation beyond the Daluo Golden Immortal realm and cannot come here in person. I can only slowly erode it."

After saying that, Shen Ni's avatar pressed one hand against the Grotto-Heaven Pearl's boundary wall. Strands of ink-black Chaos Qi clung to the boundary wall.

Within the Grotto-Heaven World, the moment Shen Ni began eroding the boundary wall, Xiao Yi, as the artifact spirit of the World Pearl, noticed it immediately. Her expression changed. "Not good."

"Sister Xiao Yi, what happened?" Seeing her expression, Hongmeng asked nervously.

Xiao Yi frowned. "Shen Ni is slowly corroding the world barrier through the erosive properties of Chaos Qi. That alone is manageable, but a small portion of the Chaos Qi has seeped in through the spiritual energy circulation."

"Is the situation serious?" Raiden Ei asked from the side.

"Not really. Using my authority over the world, I can turn the Chaos Qi into demonic creatures. I'll keep their strength below the Immortal Realm, but their numbers will be enormous," Xiao Yi explained.

Every word of Xiao Yi's explanation was heard by Skadi, who stood atop the walls of Black Jade City below.

Skadi gave Xiao Yi in the sky an elegant salute, then said, "God of Heavenly Principles, in that case, let us children of the Mother Goddess help you."

The seven elemental Elves Cheng Jue had originally created had now become the Seven Archons of the Grotto-Heaven World. As the artifact spirit of the Grotto-Heaven Pearl, Xiao Yi was also the Heavenly Dao of the Grotto-Heaven World, and the Elves called her the God of Heavenly Principles.

"Then I'll leave it to you, little Skadi." Xiao Yi nodded at Skadi.

At that moment, the Black Sea churned like boiling water. Hideous demonic creatures emerged one after another from the seabed. Skadi looked closely and saw that they were all creatures driven into the Black Sea last time. She had not expected that, after this invasion of Chaos Qi, many of them had already reached the Dao Integration Stage.

Skadi remained completely calm before such a sight. She drew the Mountain-Mist Sword at her waist and pointed it ahead.

Elf archers appeared one after another atop Black Jade City's walls. A careful count showed that there were no fewer than three thousand Deity Transformation archers among them.

As Skadi raised her sword, she sensed the Elf archers gathering their focus. The aura emanating from every feathered arrow was one minor realm above the archer who held it. This seemed to be the explosive skill possessed by the Elf archers.

When the aura of the feathered arrows in the Elf archers' hands reached its peak, Skadi shouted, "Fire!"

Clusters of feathered arrows shot toward the many demonic creatures that had just emerged from the Black Sea like a raging storm.

As Skadi swung the Mountain-Mist Sword in her hand, it emitted an emerald glow. At the same time, wolf-shaped phantoms appeared around every arrow in the sky.

Mountain Spirit Possession

This was Skadi's innate ability while wielding the Mountain-Mist Sword. Mountain Spirit Possession granted every allied combatant present ten percent of Skadi's attack and one layer of defense.

Skadi owed this talent to the Mountain-Mist Sword in her hand, which was also an acquired Merit spiritual treasure.

When it was forged, it had received the blessings of both the Anemo Archon Venti and the Geo Archon Zhongli. In Skadi's hands, the Mountain-Mist Sword possessed the nimbleness of wind and the solidity of rock.

After a rain of arrows, nearly half the demonic creatures had been wiped out. Thus began another war against demonic creature invasion in the Grotto-Heaven World.

The Anemo Archon Venti, the Geo Archon Zhongli, Raiden Ei, and Hongmeng, the Elf Queen, rushed throughout the Grotto-Heaven World to put out fires, while the other four Archons had gone traveling through the Primordial World for various reasons.

Even without the aid of four Archons, the three Archons still suppressed the demonic creatures within the Grotto-Heaven World with remarkable speed.

Even so, whenever Venti, Zhongli, Raiden Ei, and Hongmeng, the Elf Queen, finished their tasks, they would look toward the great tree at the center of the world.

It was the World Tree, Cheng Jue.

He had already broken through to the Golden Immortal realm, yet he had still not taken human form. However, when Cheng Jue attained the Golden Immortal realm, two violet-gold fruits had grown from the canopy above him.

As the Mother Goddess had said, "These two fruits are the World Tree's innate ability. They can lead to different worlds."