Never mind him-even Cui Pinyuan and Ruan Meizhen had nearly cursed aloud.
They had expected Chen Jian's cultivation to be unfathomable, but however wildly they guessed, they had never imagined he was in the Three Calamities Realm.
And he was not even in its early stage!
What did that mean?
Chen Jian was fully capable of resolving Tamu Town's entire Demon Spirit crisis single-handedly!
If he would only unleash his full strength, he might not save everyone in Tamu Town, but at least the vast majority could survive.
No fourth-rank Demon Spirits had appeared in Tamu Town. Chen Jian alone could quell all the Demon Spirits wreaking havoc there, yet he had actually urged everyone to evacuate.
Zhao Changfeng felt even worse.
With Chen Jian's status as a Formal Disciple of the Ghost-Controlling Sect, coupled with his strength as a mighty Three Calamities Realm cultivator, he only needed to tell Tong Yi that the underground spirit beast and the Earth Yin Cold Spring belonged to him.
Even if Tong Yi came from the Primal Demon Temple, what could he do about it?
Yet Chen Jian had still drawn his head into his shell like a turtle. Instead, he had earnestly persuaded Zhao Changfeng to step forward and contend with Tong Yi.
"Chen Jian! Oh, you really are something, Chen Jian!"
Ruan Meizhen took several deep breaths in fury, her chest heaving like rolling waves beneath her scarlet robes. Judging by her expression, she might have tried to kill Chen Jian if she had possessed sufficient strength.
"No one knows I've broken through to the Three Calamities Realm, not even my master."
"Only by concealing my cultivation can I easily deal with enemies who come to kill me and misjudge my strength."
"Remember, after this battle, I'm still in the Primordial Spirit Realm!"
Chen Jian would rather let Tamu Town fall, rather let everyone die, than reveal his Three Calamities Realm cultivation. Everything he did was to guard against the next wave of enemies who came for him.
The burial mounds overlapped and fused, becoming a platform beneath the one-eyed evil ghost's feet.
Controlling the Yin Ghost with his Primordial Spirit, Chen Jian fought two opponents alone in the alley, forcing even Song Zejun and his wife to retreat before his onslaught.
The instant Song Zejun and his wife withdrew and vanished, Chen Jian said, "Follow me!"
However dissatisfied they were, the three could only follow. At this moment, Chen Jian was unquestionably one of Heavenly Shield City's strongest combatants!
The Three Calamities Realm-one more step upward, and Chen Jian could become an elder of the Ghost-Controlling Sect!
A quarter of an hour later.
The four huddled inside a house whose owner had died. Chen Jian sat cross-legged, the Yin Ghost Spirit-Seizing Banner suspended above his head, already communicating with the powerful Yin Ghost he had released earlier.
Along the way, they had slain quite a few more Demon Spirits and collected dozens of Demon Cores.
"Keep watch for me in case Demon Spirits attack."
Chen Jian gave the brisk order.
The others exchanged glances, unsure what to say.
"Brother Chen, you can kill low-rank Demon Spirits with a flick of your hand. Do you really need us?"
Cui Pinyuan's voice was sour.
"Every one of my Yin Ghosts took considerable effort to refine. Killing Demon Spirits wears them down too. You've reaped all the benefits by following me. Do you still expect me to handle everything?"
"If so, what do I need you for?"
His expression cold, Chen Jian began communicating with the Yin Ghost approaching the Demon Mountain.
Helpless, Zhao Changfeng and the other two formed a triangle around him, preparing to repel any Demon Spirits that might attack.
Chen Jian's extreme caution thoroughly irritated them, but the thought that he actually possessed Three Calamities Realm cultivation also reassured them considerably.
At the summit of the Demon Mountain, deep inside the gloomy cave.
The strange trees covered in black beetles had all withered and died. Even the black beetles that devoured living flesh had been blasted into powder scattered across the ground.
The rock walls, as hard as iron, were covered in cuts left by sharp blades. The stone tables, chairs, and stools had shattered into fragments.
Several fierce battles had clearly taken place here.
Teng Kun sat against the wall, his left eye bloodshot and his right socket empty.
"Lin'er..."
He stroked the fifth-rank Brain-Devouring Snake and murmured in a gentle, loving voice, "Don't be afraid. You'll be all right. Fortunately, we made that trip to the Lingxiao Sect and obtained this Soul-Pacifying Bead. It can ease the backlash from my descent into demonic cultivation."
Only a handful of people knew that one of the souls inside this Brain-Devouring Snake belonged to his great-great-great-granddaughter, separated from him by who knew how many generations.
Before setting foot on the demonic path of no return, he had already had children in the Mortal Demon Kingdom. To avoid implicating his relatives, he had severed contact with his lineage for a hundred years.
By the time his cultivation had amounted to something, his wife and children had long since died of old age.
Occasionally, he returned to his lineage, hoping to select gifted descendants and quietly lead them onto the path of cultivation.
But most of his descendants lacked the talent to enter that path, or their character and resolve were too weak. Entering the demonic path would offer them more peril than promise.
He returned home again and again, observing in secret each time, until he finally found a little girl with exceptional talent and temperament. He promptly took her away.
Unfortunately, this great-great-great-granddaughter, separated from him by countless generations, still met disaster amid the brutal struggles of the demonic path.
Her body perished; only her soul remained.
He roamed throughout the Lingyao Realm, painstakingly searching until he found an extraordinary Brain-Devouring Snake. He made it a vessel for his little granddaughter, allowing her to remain beside him in another form.
He had long since passed the three calamities and six tribulations and reached the pinnacle of the Six Tribulations Realm, only one step away from the Freedom Realm.
One reason he had yet to attempt a breakthrough was that the conflicts within his Insect-Grass Demon Art were growing increasingly severe. Plants and insects were, after all, two different forms of life, and their vital energies were extremely difficult to fuse completely.
Another reason was that he had diverted many resources to his granddaughter Lin'er, forcibly raising her to the fifth rank.
But this also left him repeatedly short of the reserves needed for his own breakthrough, delaying his advancement instead. The other elders had often mocked him coldly for it, and even Sect Master Jiang Xuanqi had criticized the matter several times.
He paid them no heed and stubbornly persisted.
This journey through the World Membrane had been fraught with danger. Both Formal Disciples had died, and every Named Disciple left to guard the Demon Mountain had perished. After rushing all the way to Heavenly Shield City, he had immediately been surrounded and attacked by two fifth-rank Demon Spirits.
His demonic vine trees were exhausted, his demonic beetles all dead.
After every major battle, the conflict between the two different vital energies of the Insect-Grass Demon Art intensified. He had already relied on the Soul-Pacifying Bead's miraculous effects to suppress it several times.
He was deeply thankful he had not feared the delay and had insisted on visiting the Lingxiao Sect's hiding place, ultimately obtaining the Soul-Pacifying Bead.
"Though it can't completely suppress the conflict inside me, it can still ease the pressure. A fine treasure indeed."
Teng Kun murmured to himself, then prepared to use the Soul-Pacifying Bead's wondrous power again, hoping to deal with the internal backlash and conflict as quickly as possible so he could face the two fifth-rank Demon Spirits' next attack.
Just then, he sensed an alien soul entity approaching, and his nerves quietly tightened.
"So soon? Impossible."
Teng Kun's expression shifted slightly.
He was at the pinnacle of the Six Tribulations Realm. The two Demon Spirits attacking him, neither of which had reached the peak of the fifth rank, had also paid a grievous price. They would have to rely on their fellow Demon Spirits rampaging everywhere to recover their combat strength quickly.
By any reckoning, they should not have been this fast.
"A Yin Ghost?"
Teng Kun recognized the approaching creature's form at a glance. Looking at the Yin Ghost, which resembled a spirit fox, he suspected it was a transformed high-rank Demon Spirit.
Just as he was about to raise his hand and kill it, the Yin Ghost shrieked, transmitting a message to his Primordial Spirit: "Senior Teng, I'm Chen Jian, a disciple of the Ghost-Controlling Sect! Your disciple Zhao Changfeng asked me to bring you a message. He says that the Soul-Pacifying Bead in your hand is very likely part of a painstaking plot by Song Zejun and his wife, working with high-rank Demon Spirits, to murder you!"
Horrified, Teng Kun replied through his Primordial Spirit, "What proof do you have?"
The fox-shaped Yin Ghost relayed Chen Jian's words, swiftly recounting all the suspicious details Zhao Changfeng had discovered, Song Zejun and his wife's appearance in Tamu Town, and the series of related events.
Shocked and doubtful, Teng Kun stared at the pale blue bead in his palm with his lone eye, his expression shifting repeatedly.
From the first battle at the World Membrane, he had known the Soul-Pacifying Bead possessed remarkable effects. After every battle, he had used it to suppress the conflict and backlash within him.
He had gradually become dependent on this Soul-Pacifying Bead. Using it to suppress the backlash after every battle had unwittingly become a habit.
Without Chen Jian's message through the fox-shaped Yin Ghost, he would have used the Soul-Pacifying Bead without hesitation after this fierce battle to ease the backlash from the violently conflicting energies inside him.
Now, Teng Kun suddenly hesitated.
He knew all too well how terrifying high-rank Demon Spirits were, so Zhao Changfeng's deductions were indeed plausible. The fact that Song Zejun and his wife were still alive raised many questions as well.
But...
If Zhao Changfeng had lied, and he did not use the Soul-Pacifying Bead to suppress the internal conflict and backlash, he would be unable to recover his combat strength in such a short time. The Demon Spirits' next attack might grievously wound him or kill him.
"Zhao Changfeng..."
Teng Kun recalled the various details and everything Zhao Changfeng had done, struggling to weigh his decision.
Everyone in the cave had died except the two junior brothers Zhao Changfeng had asked him to spare.
It was also Zhao Changfeng who had somehow known that the Soul-Pacifying Bead was hidden inside Song Ziyan's abdomen. He had cut her open and extracted it, securing his chance to survive and becoming one of Teng Kun's Named Disciples.
After pondering for a long while, Teng Kun said, "I understand."
Chen Jian tactfully refrained from asking what his final decision was and instead directed the Yin Ghost to retreat quietly.
The house whose original owner had died.
"I delivered the message. Whether he believes it, I don't know."
Chen Jian rose and opened the window, gazing at the towering Demon Mountain. Even he felt oppressed and stifled at that moment, thinking that if things went wrong over there, he would abandon everyone and flee alone.
Once his Three Calamities Realm cultivation was exposed, these three had become burdens.
If his gamble paid off, Old Devil Teng, who was fair in both rewards and punishments, would surely report the matter to the Demon Kingdom and the Ghost-Controlling Sect. A generous reward would undoubtedly await him at his sect.
If his gamble failed, he would do everything possible to preserve his own life.
Zhao Changfeng also moved to the window and gazed at the Demon Mountain, his thoughts much the same as Chen Jian's.
A short while later, the Demon Mountain shook violently like the body of a startled man, and thunderous booms erupted within it one after another.
None of the four spoke. They stared at the Demon Mountain in terror, immediately realizing that the high-rank Demon Spirits had launched another assault, though they had no idea what condition Teng Kun was in now.
They waited in torment, occasionally killing a few Demon Spirits that crept over, but their gazes remained fixed on the Demon Mountain.
Some more time passed like this.
"The Demon Spirits retreated!"
Unconcealable joy finally appeared on Chen Jian's perpetually expressionless face. He repeated, "The Demon Spirits retreated!"