"Not enough."
Jiang Ming tightened his grip, his face cold and indifferent as if he were about to crush the Lightning Bird into pulp. A surging, oppressive demonic aura poured from him.
"Add another piece of Grand Unity Divine Iron."
Feeling the threat of death, the Lightning Bird did not hesitate to offer up its most precious treasure.
Grand Unity Divine Iron was a material capable of forging a Heritage Saint Weapon. There probably would not be much of it.
"Deal. Where is it?"
Jiang Ming did not truly intend to kill him. He mainly wanted to display the image of his current Long-Armed Demon Ape, a Primordial Species, and make everyone understand just how ruthless and greedy it was.
"I don't carry such a precious treasure with me. It's stored in my cave abode."
The Lightning Bird hurriedly explained again.
Within these Primordial Ruins, the Demon Race also had a Secret Realm Cave-Heaven. Yan Ruyu had awakened within that secret realm.
She had likely accompanied the Demon Emperor in seed form, undergoing Nirvana alongside him before being brought here.
During the Immortal Ancient Era, the Azure Emperor had been Lotus Beneath the Eternal Azure Sky, whose true body was the Primal Chaos Azure Lotus. Known as Immortal King Azure Lotus, it later accompanied the Green Copper Block at the end of the Desolate Ancient Era in the Shrouding Era, rooted itself atop it, and grew alongside it for a million years before gaining sentience within the Immortal Transformation Pool of the Qinling Mountains in the Central Plains.
"Kill!"
More than twenty savage beast riders suddenly charged down from the sky. Their mounts were all comparable to Life Spring cultivators, and all of them were unusual savage beasts. Their scales gleamed menacingly, their horns were imposing, and purple mist swirled around them. They were clearly the Purple Glow Qilin Beasts of the Qixia Sect.
A month ago, a fat Daoist had dug up the tomb of one of the Qixia Sect's leaders, stolen several precious treasures and other items, then declared that anyone dissatisfied could come to the Primordial Ruins to find him. He had even claimed to be a Great Demon of the Azure Emperor Lineage from the Primordial Ruins.
As a top major power in the Southern Region of the Eastern Wasteland, the Qixia Sect had a Great Ability overseeing it. Even Smoke Glow Grotto-Heaven of the Yan Kingdom was merely one of its subordinate forces.
Upon seeing these demons, the Qixia Sect's Purple Glow riders immediately urged their mounts forward and launched a charge.
The mount at the front was particularly extraordinary. Its entire body was covered in purple scales, purple qi swirling around it, and it looked almost exactly like a true Purple Qilin. It was a Purple Glow Qilin Beast with Divine Bridge cultivation.
The Qixia Sect had been established atop Purple Glow Ridge. After the sect was founded, it had been named for this special region, where purple radiance lingered year-round and contained faint violet qi from the rising Supreme Yang.
Savage beasts painstakingly raised with a trace of Qilin aura were nourished over time by rosy light containing violet qi, eventually becoming these imposing, horned, unusual savage beasts that resembled Purple Qilins.
Beside the leading rider was a young man whose mount looked much like the Old Cold Chi Jiang Ming had cooked in a hotpot. It was a giant serpent only twelve meters long, with forked deer antlers growing from its head and two pairs of four-clawed talons beneath its belly. Clearly, it was not a snake, but a flood dragon.
The deer antlers on the flood dragon's head were also purple, like a pair of purple jade horns. Purple scales covered its body as well, making it look immensely noble.
A fourteen- or fifteen-year-old youth stood atop the back of this unusual Purple Flood Dragon. Dressed in green, he cut a heroic figure, and his golden armor made him seem like a dragon among men. His eyes were filled with arrogance as he looked disdainfully upon the Lightning Bird, the golden-winged girl, and the burly man with ox horns.
Only when he looked at Jiang Ming did curiosity appear in his gaze. This black Demon Ape looked overwhelmingly powerful and incomparably fierce. It was even holding the Lightning Bird in its grasp, its bloody maw wide open. Was it planning to swallow it alive?
A monster was still a monster—eating raw flesh and drinking blood, utterly savage.
The Qixia Sect riders charged over and began killing without a word. They swung great purple copper halberds and wore Star Iron armor, armed to the teeth. Every rider was a Divine Bridge cultivator, and they all appeared young, no older than forty.
The two leaders were even Other Shore cultivators. Together with their mounts, they erupted with terrifying might.
More importantly, a woman in her twenties seemed to be the leader of the group, yet she had not acted at all.
She rode a unicorn that shimmered with silver light. Silver scales covered its body, while a purple jade horn grew from the center of its forehead. Purple radiance flowed across its entire form as it walked through the air, flawless and immaculate, untouched by dust.
Judging by its aura, it was clearly a Great Demon comparable to an Other Shore cultivator. Its bloodline was purer still, belonging to the descendants of the legendary Archaic Desolate Species, the Unicorn.
The woman seated atop the unicorn looked twenty-two or twenty-three. Her skin was fair, her features beautiful, her legs long, and her skin smooth as congealed cream. Her eyes glimmered like autumn water, and her red lips were vivid. She watched everything with a gentlemanly gaze, detached from the world, giving others the sense that she was beyond reach. She seemed unconcerned with anything, casually indifferent, as though the slaughter before her was nothing more than children playing house.
"Capture that Demon Ape alive. Its bloodline should be very pure. Its essence blood can be used to cultivate immortal seedlings for my Qixia Sect."
At that moment, the woman's voice was as clear and pleasant as silver bells. Yet to Jiang Ming's ears, it sounded like demonic music from Hell.
"Damn it!"
At first, Jiang Ming had planned to put on a show, rescue these people, and then take the opportunity to join the demon faction here. Now, however, he no longer thought so. He wanted to capture this little bitch, strip off her clothes, lock her in a cage, and raise her like a canary.
"Roar..."
He roared, and surging demonic qi erupted from his body, carrying an aura of madness, loss of control, violence, and despair. It was black as ink, its dark radiance cold and sinister, brighter even than the Supreme Yang in the sky. It transformed into endless, grim demonic flames that leaped and burned around Jiang Ming's body.
This was the innate demonic nature of the Long-Armed Demon Ape, also a Primordial Antiquity ferocious beast. It belonged to the lineage of the World-Overturning Demon Ape and had inherited the most of its demonic nature.
The World-Overturning Demon Ape was one of the strongest bloodline races even in the Immortal Domain. It had turned the Immortal Domain upside down and once competed with the Sun Heavenly Emperor for the position of Heavenly Emperor of the Ancient Heavenly Court.
Heaven-Piercing Arm!
Jiang Ming attacked. As his arm stretched out, it became like a Primordial Antiquity Demon Mountain crushing down. With a puff, the charging savage beast riders were reduced to powder in an instant, blood spraying everywhere. Even the leading rider coughed blood and flew backward. The arm holding his halberd twisted and broke, jagged bone piercing through the flesh, white bones exposed. The Purple Glow Qilin Beast beneath him had its bones shattered and tendons torn, turning directly into a puddle of flesh.
"Congratulations, Host, for causing the death of one Divine Bridge cultivator. You have obtained a one-star reward: one cubic unit of Purple Copper." "Congratulations, Host, for causing the death of two Divine Bridge cultivators. You have obtained a one-and-a-half-star reward: one cubic unit of Light Stone."
Hearing the system notifications, Jiang Ming felt no joy. Instead, he felt insulted. He had struggled so hard to obtain crafting materials, yet this damned system was handing them out by the cubic unit?
Was it trying to entice him into killing people?
Pluck Stars and Seize the Moon!
Jiang Ming only killed those who provoked him or wanted to kill him. He would never take the initiative to kill anyone. He had his own Dao. Reaching out with his huge hand, he made the savage beast rider leader who had escaped death feel as though he were actively charging toward the Demon Ape. The surrounding space seemed to be shrinking. Though he was retreating in terror, trying to get farther away, he was actually drawing closer to the Demon Ape.