Lighting Lanterns in the Mountains and Seas

After the thirty-six paths of radiant divine light became plentiful and sufficient, Situ Zhen muttered to herself: "Such speed, an unexpected joy, truly disaster and fortune are intertwined."

With a flick of her large sleeve, several beams of light shot into the void, day and night alternated and eventually returned to normal daylight.

The supernatural phenomenon of descending rainbow qi gradually ceased, and the thirty-six brilliant rays of light began to condense, eventually withdrawing their glow, transforming into thirty-six spinning Golden Cores, with swirling Pill Qi resembling black and white clouds.

She slowly descended, sitting cross-legged in front of Duanwu Hall, the thirty-six Golden Cores in the air resembling stars in daylight.

A black light emerged from her brow again, and once more entered the brow of Pang Tiansheng, reawakening two drooping heads which lifted themselves.

Pang Tiansheng stood up and looked into the sky.

Situ Zhen, also standing up, looked in the same direction and saw the thirty-six Golden Cores floating in mid-air without any mana supporting them, exclaiming with joy: "Pill Qi controlling the air! Could it be that these thirty-six are all the 'Infinite Golden Pills' crafted by the Lord?"

She had seen these before in her early years, but never in such numbers, and she knew well that even crafting a single one was not easy.

Pang Tiansheng said: "Opening this realm and nurturing countless Spiritual Objects was always to prepare for this Mirror Thought as a last resort, to quickly enhance cultivation and achieve great deeds. Originally, it was calculated that no more than one batch could be achieved, but in less than three two-hour periods, a batch was easily refined. Observing this momentum, after some decades of recuperation from the remnants, another batch could be formed."

Situ Zhen enviously said: "The Lord is wise."

Pang Tiansheng raised his hand and grasped, causing the thirty-six Golden Cores to be pulled swiftly down, floating before him. With a flick of his finger, he flicked one towards Situ Zhen opposite him.

The latter naturally caught it with a swift move.

Pang Tiansheng waved his sleeve to store the remaining Golden Cores in a pouch, then stared at Situ Zhen and said: "Your physique, inherently spiritual, is not an ideal vessel for cultivating Demon Skill, and cannot be reshaped. Once replaced, this Golden Core would be enough to help your new body break into the Heavenly Immortal Realm within ten years."

Situ Zhen, overjoyed, bowed and said: "Thank you, my Lord. However, the world has greatly changed, and our Demon Path lacks freedom to act. This body currently takes advantage of heaven, earth, and humanity to still be of great use. Important matters should take precedence, and it will not be too late to gradually pursue this later."

Pang Tiansheng said: "Tell me in detail about the state of the world."

"Yes..." Situ Zhen immediately reported the current state of affairs in detail.

After gaining an understanding of the current situation, Pang Tiansheng realized that it was not suitable to stay here long. If he did not leave in a timely manner, the Demon Altar might suffer unintended attacks from the outside, so it was crucial to address this matter first.

He immediately decided: "Let's go, take me to see the current world."

The two of them ascended into the air one after another.

Along the way, Situ Zhen looked around and wondered: "I wonder if those from the Three Sects have left."

Pang Tiansheng said: "The exit is closed, without me opening it, they won't be able to leave with their strength. They must be gathered at the exit, uneasy."

Situ Zhen didn't quite understand the meaning of his words, but still reminded: "My Lord, people's hearts are unfathomable. Letting them see you open the exit now might not be advisable."

So the two of them paused again, and on an Immortal Mountain, Situ Zhen ceased her thoughts again, allowing him to cast a spell using her body...

The strange situation that evaporated blood and cultivation had already disappeared, but the cries of birds and beasts in the world continued. The Three Sects on the exit altar were like startled birds, unsure whether the abnormality had completely stopped or was just temporarily halted.

If it happened repeatedly, it would really be unbearable.

Now they were all emaciated and their cultivation greatly reduced, hard not to be scared, fearing the disaster would descend again. They were all gathered around the altar, repeatedly studying methods to exit, forgetting the purpose for which they initially entered.

Suffering comes suddenly, and hope in the midst of suffering often comes just as suddenly.

The gentle white light on the altar, when it appeared, appeared suddenly.

Everyone was both delighted and worried, fearing it would be different than before, afraid there might be danger.

The thin-faced Su Mian, very unlucky, held the lowest status here, was unhesitatingly ordered by a man in a black robe: "You go and check."

The already weakened Su Mian, what could she do, she could only bite the bullet and venture in, regretting running here to take risks, failing to gain anything, collecting some spirit ginseng and immortal grass, only for the spirituality to evaporate away, stored in the Qiankun Bag it couldn't even be kept, resembling a heap of dead straw, and her own cultivation lost more than half.

Fortunately, there was no danger, after she went and returned to report joyfully: "It's open, Sect Hierarch, it's the exit."

No alternative explanations, fearing any delay could result in change, everyone rushed eagerly into the gentle white light.

Once again in a weightless environment, confirming it was the environment of the Land of Extreme Abyss, everyone felt as if receiving divine pardon.

Not long after the joy, the lineage of Tianyi noticed something amiss, where were the people guarding outside, why was not a single person in sight?

The Tianyi Sect Hierarch immediately shouted at the woman in a white robe: "Wretch, where are my people, what did you do to them?"

The white-robed woman glanced around the scene and was also surprised: "They took the initiative to stop us first, we only injured them slightly, not taking their lives."

The Tianyi Sect Hierarch immediately stared at the Lianshan Sect Master, who wore a silver mask.

The latter immediately said: "It wasn't us. When we arrived, they had already fallen, unable to stop us further, no need for us to do anything else."

The white-robed Gui Cang Sect Master immediately snorted coldly: "You heard that, the Lianshan Lineage can testify for us."

The Tianyi Sect Hierarch angrily said: "If it wasn't you, nor him, where did they go? Even if they left, they wouldn't have left without a single guard!"

As soon as the words were spoken, his expression suddenly changed, and he looked around warily, asking again, "Are you sure it's not the doing of your two families?"

The other two families didn't respond; each of them looked around warily, also realizing the crux of the problem. Logically, the Tianyi lineage wouldn't leave without at least a guard. If it wasn't them, then who was it?

"Let's go!"

The woman in the white robe seemed extremely vigilant. She suddenly called out to her subordinates and quickly led her people away.

"Let's go together." The Lianshan Sect Master shouted, leading his people to chase after Gui Cang's group, making it clear they intended to travel together.

"Go." Tianyi Sect Master also urgently called out, rushing to follow.

Each of them was afraid of lagging behind.

As for the fate of the missing subordinates, there was not even the slightest intention to search for them.

Not to mention the missing subordinates, they didn't even care about the Demon Altar behind them.

On a normal day, they certainly wouldn't act like this, but now their cultivation was significantly damaged, and they had to be cautious. Avoiding potential danger came first.

As for the Demon Altar, if they had miscalculated and no hostile forces came here, then others wouldn't find this place either. The Demon Altar wouldn't be lost, and they could confirm the situation and return later.

Shi Chun and Huang Yingying were still hiding somewhere, silently waiting for the big fish to take the bait. Shi Chun just didn't believe that the Demon Path would lose so many people and not search for them.

As always, he wasn't greedy, planning to capture another Demon Cultivator of the Heavenly Immortal Realm before stopping.

Yet he couldn't have dreamed that because he had cleared out all the Demon Path's stay-behind forces, it actually scared away those big fish.

The real issue was that human calculations could not match celestial ones. He couldn't anticipate that the experts of the Three Sects would encounter a great calamity inside the Demon Altar, leading to a significant loss of cultivation and confidence.

If he had known in advance that those people had become like startled birds, he would have definitely ambushed near the Demon Altar, using the 'Void Escape Divine Arrow' to take down as many as he could.

"It seems a group of people just passed by."

Highly alert to the outside, Huang Yingying gave a reminder. His night vision was better than Shi Chun's right eye superpower, vaguely seeing a group of people flying in the distance.

Shi Chun saw nothing, remaining calm as he said, "It doesn't matter. Groups have nothing to do with us, we're waiting for what's delivered to us."

Huang Yingying had no choice but to continue observing with his experienced eyes.

At the exit of the Demon Altar, Situ Zhen and Pang Tiansheng emerged from the gentle white light.

The two floating by the edge of the Demon Altar scanned their surroundings, seeing no one.

Pang Tiansheng asked, "Where are the people?"

Just a moment ago, Situ Zhen had told him that the Three Sects would never easily give up this Demon Altar, and none of the families would easily yield. People must be clustered outside, arguing, and she even said that the Gui Cang Sect Master would smooth things over when he saw her.

Yet reality differed greatly from her expectations. Not only were there no clusters, but not even a single silhouette was present. What on earth?

How could those people possibly give up the Demon Altar? It didn't make sense!

She then quickly flew around to investigate the surroundings.

After checking everywhere, she confirmed there wasn't a single person.

When she returned to the Demon Altar, she found that Pang Tiansheng had already landed on it.

Inspecting the broken end of the chain that had dragged the Dragon Corpse, he praised, "With the 'Mystic Gold Chain' I've chained the corpses of the Nine Great Dragon Emperors as doormen, yet it was easily severed. Indeed, it is a Treasure Blade!"

Situ Zhen said, "The truth about the 'Breaking Wilderness Saber', the legends circulating within the Dragon and Phoenix Clans are likely more reliable. It should be the rebellious weapon that was shattered into fragments by the Sovereign in battle. Whoever possesses this blade is likely the rebel."

Another legend, however, suggests the opposite, saying the Breaking Wilderness Saber was originally the weapon of the Demon Ancestor, shattered by the rebel during their great battle.

In those days, when she was still by the Sovereign's side, she had never seen this blade, and the Sovereign himself had previously said he never possessed it.

But the problem is, the Sovereign's memory halts at becoming Mirror Thought. Whether he acquired it afterward, no one can say for sure, but given the Sovereign's capabilities, it's not impossible he obtained it.

Pang Tiansheng slightly shook his head, "If there had been any hints, it would have already fallen into my hands. This blade's origin is by no means ordinary; perhaps it comes from the 'Weiyang Palace'. In the final great battle, the 'Weiyang Palace' might have intervened."

Situ Zhen was puzzled, "'Weiyang Palace' only has a few gatekeepers; how could they dare to offend the Sovereign?"

Pang Tiansheng said, "It doesn't stop them from secretly using a borrowed blade to kill. The truth will be known the day I break through its gates; meanwhile, let it be for a few more years."

The implication was clear: since there was suspicion, they wouldn't let it go!

With that, a wisp of black light seeped from his forehead, entering the white light of the Demon Altar like a divine decree, instantly causing the soft light atop the Demon Altar to retract, quickly transforming into a deep blue pearl, detaching from the Demon Altar and falling into his palm.

He collected the pearl, turned, and said, "Let's go."

Situ Zhen immediately led the way, and the two left, leaving the so-called Demon Altar floating there, unattended.