Tie Zhan nodded. "They haven't yet. Why did you come out so soon?"
Tie Ming shook his head. "After I broke through, the spiritual qi in the Spirit-Nurturing Mystic Chamber grew noticeably weaker. I spent some more time consolidating my cultivation, then saw that staying would yield little more, so I simply came out."
At this point, he suddenly sensed something was wrong.
Tie Zhan's expression was not as relaxed as he had imagined. "Eldest Uncle, has something happened?"
Tie Zhan glanced at him and concealed nothing. "The Demon Race has blocked us in from above."
Some of the joy immediately faded from Tie Ming's face. "How many great demons are there?"
"Over these past few years, I've detected traces of three to five great demons." Tie Zhan paused, his voice growing heavier. "But we don't know exactly how many there are. Quite a few of the Demon Race experts who entered the Nine Netherworlds Forbidden Grounds this time may already have gathered on Bone Claw Plain."
Tie Ming fell silent.
Having just broken through to the Nascent Soul Middle Stage, he should have been at his most high-spirited. But those words immediately pressed down the little swell of pride in his chest.
The Nine Netherworlds Forbidden Grounds were not the outside world.
Here, there were no reinforcements, no clan grand formation, no fortune power, and no support from a Dao Army's qi and blood or magic power.
Spatial rifts riddled this place. If the Demon Race had prepared in advance, they might walk straight into an encirclement the moment they went out.
Before Tie Ming could ask more, Tie Zhan activated the Primordial Magnetism Cauldron again, quietly probing upward.
This time, the instant the cauldron's magnetic light reached near the surface, Tie Zhan's entire body jolted. His expression became