The Man

Though Jiang Chen had guessed from Tian Mingye's punctual nature that she had the power to guarantee she would be on time,

he had never imagined the demoness would capture the Azure Mist Sect single-handedly.

Both were at the Nascent Soul Early Stage. Luo Qingzhou had put up a fierce fight, but against a demoness nearly invincible among Nascent Soul cultivators, he had fallen quickly.

Her Demonic Flame was too pure, like an ultimate evil no force of justice could destroy.

No wonder Reverend Guiqi, despite being at the Nascent Soul Peak, had fled beyond the mountain-protecting formation as soon as he heard the news, leaving a paper avatar to set the trap in his place.

At equal cultivation levels, setting intelligence aside, Demon Cultivators were stronger than the Demon Race, who were stronger than humans.

And Tian Mingye was a Heavenly Demon, a once-in-a-century genius of the Devil Race, nearly invincible in Fireburn Kingdom.

Single-handedly, she had led the declining Qiu Demon Sect to sweep across the land, then renamed it the Heavenly Demon Sect. She had slaughtered dozens of human cities, and her savage reputation had shaken Xihe Prefecture.

Jiang Chen had doubted the stories before. He had thought they were rumors spread to exaggerate the threat of Demon Sects in Xihe Prefecture, so someone could request resources from the Daqian Dynasty to exterminate them.

He had not expected the legends to be true...

Between the sundered halves of Myriad Laws Peak, Tian Mingye tossed aside the book she had been reading and raised a hand.

The white-haired elder flew into her grasp. She seized him by the throat and held him aloft.

Tian Mingye paused, then opened her hand and burned him to ash.

"Just a paper man..."

Then Reverend Guiqi's aged voice came from the sky.

"Where my true body is doesn't matter. What matters is that you're inside the formation."

In a single instant!

Ring upon ring of projections from the mountain-protecting formation fell over Tian Mingye, forming a Return-Form Formation.

With Tian Mingye at its center and the entire mountain-protecting formation supplying spiritual pressure, it unleashed the Second-Stage Return-Form Formation.

It devoured!

"Hmm?"

Tian Mingye's gaze shifted, cold enough to pierce.

The Azure Mist Sect's mountain-protecting formation had been built two thousand years ago, when the sect joined the Dao Alliance, to repel invasions by demons and devils. It had originally been a Fusion Realm formation.

But after years of neglect and without a steady supply of spirit ore, it had long since fallen to the Spirit Severing-tier.

Even so, a Spirit Severing-tier mountain-protecting formation was more than enough to crush Tian Mingye at the Nascent Soul Early Stage!

As long as the spiritual pressure driving Reverend Guiqi's Second-Stage Return-Form Formation exceeded its prey's cultivation by one major realm, it could devour them rapidly.

For instance, Reverend Guiqi had spent half a year wearing Qu Yang and the Jiao Serpent down to the Golden Core Realm before using the Second-Stage Return-Form Formation to devour them both in an instant.

This time, it was a battle. There was no time to savor the meal. The formation ran at full power and swallowed by force.

Tian Mingye's eyes cooled slightly. She did not seem concerned.

"How could such petty tricks ever hurt me?"

Yet her demonic energy was soon devoured completely.

The Form-Returning Formation had not hurt her, but it had forced her fully back into her original form.

Even without her demonic energy, Tian Mingye had lost none of her imperious bearing.

She sat cross-legged atop Myriad Laws Peak. Her black robes had turned white, and the dark red mark between her brows had turned blood-red.

Her skin was fair and her figure full. The darkness in her eyes had vanished too, leaving her looking like an ordinary, voluptuous woman.

Jiang Chen took a look. Well, she was even a little cute...

Tian Mingye was used to her demonic energy consuming spiritual power. She had not expected a mere human formation to devour her demonic energy instead. The sensation was novel.

"How could such a precise, high-pressure formation swallow all my demonic energy unless your true body was controlling it?"

With that, she gave an order.

"Lingyin, that old thief's true body must be outside the formation. Trace its workings backward and locate him."

The little demon girl outside the formation showed no panic.

"Yes, my lord!"

"No need to search. I'm right here."

Reverend Guiqi was certain of victory. He had surveyed the whole battlefield and held everything in his grasp, convinced Tian Mingye had no way to fight back.

He used the mountain-protecting formation to convert the demonic power it had devoured into spiritual power and draw it into his body.

At the same time, he clamped a large hand over Lingyin's forehead and lifted her up, disappointment on his face.

"I thought you had some secret. Turns out you're nothing but a timekeeper."

The mountain-protecting formation broke Tian Mingye's demonic energy down completely into spiritual power, which flowed thread by thread into Reverend Guiqi's body.

He had never enjoyed spiritual power so pure. She truly was the Devil Race's greatest genius in a hundred years!

"Tian Mingye, shouldn't you thank me? I've purged your demonic affliction and restored you to a normal human body. Once I finish absorbing your demonic energy, I'll reach Spirit Severing in one leap."

"Is that so?"

Inside the formation, Tian Mingye answered coldly.

At the same moment, the faint demonic energy coating the outside of the mountain-protecting formation gathered again. It formed a giant of demonic energy that appeared directly behind Reverend Guiqi.

Surging Demonic Flame radiated crushing pressure. Reverend Guiqi instantly found himself unable to move.

Tian Mingye raised a hand and seized at the air.

The demonic giant's hand followed, grabbing for Reverend Guiqi's head.

"You—"

Reverend Guiqi's aged eyes froze. The Demonic Flame forcibly suppressed his cultivation, leaving him utterly unable to move...

He could only marvel inwardly at the terrifying might of a Heavenly Demon!

He could open his Qi Sea Abyss and absorb Tian Mingye's Demonic Flame directly, but his soul could not withstand it. He would surely lose his will at once.

The entire Azure Mist Sect was horrified by the sight!

Jiang Chen stared, stunned.

That was the demonic energy she had scattered earlier, supposedly to slowly corrode the formation. Yet Tian Mingye had gathered it from across the barrier and used it to turn the tables on Reverend Guiqi...

Was this the control of a Heavenly Demon?

Reverend Guiqi had calculated everything a thousand ways and held it all in his grasp, yet he had failed to account for an overpowered monster going berserk.

Who could have guessed that the demonic energy scattered at the start would become the turning point of the battle?

And that timekeeper with the Stone-Carved Bell had drawn everyone's attention at just the right moment, so no one had noticed the even less conspicuous demonic energy.

Tian Mingye could still control the scattered demonic energy remotely through the mountain-protecting formation after her true body lost its power. That meant it was demonic energy bound to her very life!

Looks like this demoness isn't as brainless as her figure suggests.

That was what Jiang Chen thought.

A sword pierced the chest, and Demonic Flame bound the body.

"I've heard for years that you have some value, old thief. But to me, you're nothing more than a revolting corpse."

"Y-you can't kill me! Sell me to Liyue, and your Heavenly Demon Sect will have enough to live on for ten years!"

Tian Mingye suddenly gave a cold, ringing laugh.

"Liyue happens to be my enemy."

As she spoke, the giant demonic hand crushed Reverend Guiqi's skull in an instant. Towering Demonic Flame surged into his dantian.

Suddenly!

Spiritual pressure from the Spirit Severing Realm descended, suppressing everyone present.

Even through the screen, Jiang Chen could feel its overwhelming force.

The Demonic Flame was pinned in place, struggling to maintain its giant form.

A lilting, wordless tune drifted slowly from Tranquil Heart Peak, carrying an unusual fragrance of wheat.

Then a sword soared skyward!

A man trailed behind its hilt as it shot through the sect-protecting formation.

The blade slid diagonally through Reverend Guiqi's lapel, then twisted and scooped him up onto the sword.

A figure in a bamboo hat appeared above the Azure Mist Sect.

He reached back, tied Reverend Guiqi's long white beard to the sword to secure him, then hoisted him up and rested the blade on his right shoulder.

Reverend Guiqi breathed a sigh of relief.

Tian Mingye, too, had been suppressed by this unexpected Spirit Severing Realm expert. Had her true body been outside the formation, she might have fought him. With only her demonic giant, she stood no chance.

"Who are you?"

The man smiled and took off his bamboo hat, revealing a face of cracked skin, a sparse, curling beard, and boundless ease. The mark of Heaven-Worm Eats the Moon sat between his brows.

"Someone from Liyue?"

Jiang Chen saw Deacon Chen's face for the first time.

Damn it. He's a Spirit Severing Realm powerhouse...

No wonder his annotations on the jade slip had been so exquisite!

A Spirit Severing Realm powerhouse had holed up in the Azure Mist Sect for a century, devoting himself to growing wheat. What sort of resolve did that take?

Jiang Chen had a vague suspicion it might have something to do with cultivating Myriad Phenomena Resonance. Or perhaps with Reverend Guiqi.

And what exactly was Liyue?

Jiang Chen had arrived in this world only three years ago. There was still so much he did not know.

Chen Gongxing paid no attention to their reactions. He only asked Reverend Guiqi,

"I've observed you at the Azure Mist Sect for a hundred years. Congratulations on passing Liyue's test. I am Chen Gongxing, a Liyue envoy, and I formally invite you to join Liyue... What do you say, Senior Guiqi?"

Being called "senior" by a Spirit Severing Realm powerhouse... Reverend Guiqi, dangling from the sword, was suddenly overcome by mixed feelings.

No matter how he looked at it, the brat could not be more than five hundred years old, yet he had already reached Spirit Severing.

Damn these gifted prodigies!

Reverend Guiqi was gravely wounded and near death. He had no right to choose.

"Joining Liyue means making enemies of the Demon Race, the Devil Race, and the Daqian Dynasty all at once. It can only end in death... But do I have a choice?"

Chen Gongxing smiled without answering.

"You can still choose to turn to ash!"

Tian Mingye sent the demonic giant on another rampage. Its whole body turned to scarlet Demonic Flame and swallowed both men.

"Demonic Flame can do this too?"

Chen Gongxing was startled. Suddenly, all he could see in every direction was a boundless sea of fire.

He had no choice but to draw his sword. A streak of Sword Qi flew out with the motion, stabbing toward the scarlet giant's dantian.

"Hmm?"

The flames receded. Chen Gongxing looked closely and saw that his Sword Qi had pierced Reverend Guiqi's dantian.

He looked around. Tian Mingye's scarlet giant had burned away completely, its flames mingled with an illusion of unknown origin.

"Even I fell for an illusion?"