Half-Step Dou Di, Still a Dou Di!

"Is this... the Spirit Clan?!"

Mu Tong trembled all over, unable to believe what he was seeing.

If he had not seen it with his own eyes,

Mu Tong would never have believed that one of the Dou Qi Continent's strongest and most ancient Emperor Clans would be in such a state.

"What exactly happened here?!"

Mu Tong's trembling voice echoed through the empty Spirit Realm as his body shook uncontrollably.

Beside him,

despite having prepared herself beforehand,

Qing Luo still could not stop herself from trembling at the tragic sight of the Spirit Realm, an inexplicable sorrow rising within her.

An Emperor Clan,

a symbol of power on the Dou Qi Continent, had fallen to such a state.

Its domain had shattered, mountains and rivers lay overturned, and corpses covered the ground...

"The Soul Clan..."

"What?!"

Mu Tong stared at Qing Luo in disbelief. "The Soul Clan? Did the Soul Clan do this?!"

"Other than the Ancient Emperor Clans, who else could slaughter an Ancient Emperor Clan?"

Qing Luo waved her delicate hand.

The strange black mist pervading heaven and earth was drawn into her palm.

As the rolling black mist churned,

it exuded an extremely cold, evil, tyrannical aura that Mu Tong found incomparably familiar.

This black mist,

Mu Tong had seen it before—at the Pill Tower, when Nihility Devouring Flame had appeared.

"Why?"

"Both the Soul Clan and Spirit Clan are Emperor Clans. Why would the Soul Clan attack the Spirit Clan?"

Mu Tong looked at Qing Luo in confusion and asked,

"Because of Attaining Emperorhood!"

Qing Luo looked at Mu Tong. "Before Tou She Ancient God vanished, he left behind a Tou She Ancient God Jade within every major Emperor Clan. The Soul Clan attacked the Spirit Clan for the Spirit Clan's Tou She Ancient God Jade!"

"What?!"

He had heard about Attaining Emperorhood twice in just a few days.

Though it sounded absurd, Mu Tong could find no words to refute it.

"Could Nihility Devouring Flame have recovered its memories as well?"

Mu Tong realized the crucial point and looked at Qing Luo as he asked,

"Not yet!"

Qing Luo replied calmly,

"If Nihility Devouring Flame had recovered its memories, given Hun Tiandi's style, the Soul Clan would probably have already mobilized in full force and surrounded the Dou Di Cave Mansion so tightly that not even water could pass through."

"How do you know the Soul Clan hasn't done that?"

Mu Tong countered.

"Because the entrance to the Dou Di Cave Mansion is in the Demon Flame Space!"

Qing Luo said calmly.

"What..."

"In the Demon Flame Space?!"

Upon hearing that,

Mu Tong's face filled with shock as he looked at the Purifying Demonic Lotus Flame in disbelief.

No wonder.

Tou She Ancient God had vanished for ten thousand years, yet no one throughout the Central Plains had ever heard of the Dou Di Cave Mansion.

The Demon Flame Space contained the Ancient Grand Formation left behind by Purifying Demon Saint, a Half-Step Dou Di.

And there was also the Purifying Demonic Lotus Flame, ranked third on the Heavenly Flame Ranking.

If the Dou Di Cave Mansion was in the Demon Flame Space, it could indeed be explained.

After glancing at Mu Tong,

Qing Luo withdrew his gaze, stepped into the void, and headed out of the Spirit Realm.

In order to earn Mu Tong's trust,

Qing Luo had no choice but to tell him the location of the Dou Di Cave Mansion.

However,

the Dou Di Cave Mansion was Qing Luo's greatest trump card at present. It gave him the capital to contend against the Emperor Clans and allowed him to stay one step ahead at the critical moment.

Therefore, Qing Luo could only fabricate a Dou Di Cave Mansion for Mu Tong.

However, Qing Luo was not lying.

The Demon Flame Space held Purifying Demon Saint's inheritance, and Purifying Demon Saint was a Half-Step Dou Di—Dou Di for short!

Of course,

if the time came when he had no choice but to reveal the location of the Dou Di Cave Mansion,

Qing Luo had already thought of a countermeasure.

That was,

to set up two cross-regional spatial nodes beforehand, one in the Dou Di Cave Mansion and one in the Demon Flame Space.

Using those known spatial nodes,

he could construct a long-distance teleportation array. When the time came, they could enter the Flame Prison World directly from the Demon Flame Space.

Even if Mu Tong had doubts,

he would only assume it was a backup left behind by Tou She Ancient God. He would never suspect that Qing Luo had deceived him.

As for the long-distance teleportation array, no one else in the Central Plains could set one up,

but Qing Luo could.

Do not forget that Qing Luo was not only the Purifying Demonic Lotus Flame in his true form, but had also obtained all of Purifying Demon Saint's inheritances.

Formations!

That was precisely what Purifying Demon Saint excelled at.

Purifying Demon Saint had even been able to set up the Heaven Refining Ancient Formation.

Having inherited all of Purifying Demon Saint's knowledge, setting up a teleportation array was not difficult for Qing Luo.

"Where are you going?"

Watching Qing Luo's departing back, Mu Tong hurriedly caught up and asked,

"The Stone Clan!"

Qing Luo's voice echoed through the endless void.

Several days later,

Qing Luo and Mu Tong emerged from the void one after another. They were Qing Luo and Dan Xuan, the Pill Tower Ancestor, Mu Tong.

The moment they stepped out of the void,

Qing Luo and Mu Tong felt an immense aura crash toward them, as heavy as mountains and incomparably profound.

This was the foundational pressure possessed only by an Emperor Clan.

It was utterly different from the deathly stillness of the Spirit Clan they had visited earlier.

Every inch of heaven and earth here was filled with an unbreakable, eternal and steadfast Dao aura.

Simply setting foot in this place

made one instinctively feel insignificant.

"What are we doing at the Stone Clan?"

Having arrived here, Mu Tong finally could no longer suppress the speculation and confusion he had carried all the way and asked.

"Of course we came here to find helpers."

Qing Luo looked at Mu Tong, the corners of his lips lifting slightly.

"Our opponent is the Soul Clan. Surely you do not think the two of us alone are a match for the Soul Clan?"

"But... the Stone Clan and Soul Clan are both Emperor Clans, and the Soul Clan has Hun Tiandi, a Peak Nine-Star Dou Saint. Are you confident you can persuade the Stone Clan to oppose the Soul Clan?"

Mu Tong still did not understand.

"Go call someone."

Qing Luo did not answer and directly instructed Mu Tong.

Mu Tong scrutinized Qing Luo.

Ever since coming into contact with the Purifying Demonic Lotus Flame, Mu Tong had felt that he understood Qing Luo less and less along the way.

Tou She Ancient God.

The Dou Di Cave Mansion.

The secret of Attaining Emperorhood.

Even the massacre of the Spirit Clan—Qing Luo knew about all of it.

At first,

Mu Tong had believed Qing Luo was like him, only discovering the Spirit Clan's massacre after arriving at the Spirit Realm.

But on their way to the Stone Clan,

Mu Tong had realized the key point.

From the moment Qing Luo began searching for the Spirit Realm, he had shown no fear at all and had directly told Mu Tong to tear open the Spirit Clan's sealed domain.

Clearly,

Qing Luo had known in advance that the Spirit Clan had already been slaughtered. That was why he had been so fearless.

Thinking back on it now,

Mu Tong recalled the moment Qing Luo had sought him out for cooperation and felt as though he had been calculated against. It was as if Qing Luo had been certain from the very beginning that Mu Tong would work with him.

Thinking back on it now,

Mu Tong's gaze at Qing Luo grew increasingly alarmed.

Qing Luo gave him the feeling that he knew everything and could do anything...

"Alright!"

After pondering for a moment,

Mu Tong nodded, took a step forward, and approached the Stone Clan Domain.

He could not see through Qing Luo.

But in a sense, this incomprehensibility was not necessarily a bad thing.

For instance, right now,

they were facing the Soul Clan, which possessed a Peak Nine-Star Dou Saint. Qing Luo's mystery instead gave Mu Tong a little more sense of security.

Mu Tong said nothing. The pressure of a Six-Star Dou Saint swept outward without the slightest concealment.

Buzz—

Not long after Mu Tong released his pressure,

a passage was torn open from within the sealed domain before them.

Four Stone Clan experts at Peak Dou Zong emerged from the domain. They were burly, clad in armor, and looked like ancient giants.

"Who goes there? This is the Stone Clan Domain. Leave at once!"

"This old man is Dan Xuan, Pill Tower Ancestor. I have come to visit the Stone Clan Chief. Please inform him!" Mu Tong said as he restrained his aura, speaking with the air of an elder.