The Fifth Layer Altar, Taiji Creation Platform

A dozen or so demonic cultivators, including several Foundation Establishment deathsworn under Lin Yaoyao, descended into total madness like a pack of hyenas catching the scent of blood, swarming toward the altar in an overwhelming wave.

There was no need for organization at all. Faced with absolute profit and the illusion that the demonic beast was heavily injured, they willingly rushed forward to their deaths, one after another.

Ye Chen stood quietly in place, not taking a single step back, nor a single step forward.

With his hands tucked into his sleeves, the corners of his mouth slowly curled into a gentle, compassionate arc.

...

Directly beneath the altar.

Ten zhang deep within the subterranean rock layer.

Gu Yang maintained the semi-transparent state of his Nether Shadow Evasion, quietly suspended within the earth.

He tilted his head up, his gaze piercing through the altar's spirit jade, taking in everything above.

"Using a colorless and odorless soul-extinguishing poison to trigger the reverse flow of the demonic beast's vitality, then using sword qi to stimulate the spirit fruit's fragrance, creating the illusion that it is about to ripen..."

A trace of extreme calmness flashed through Gu Yang's deep black eyes.

"Not a single wasted word, no forceful showing off. With just two tiny actions, he exploited their greed, turning everyone into willing stepping stones."

This was the Dao Child of the Dao One Sect.

However.

This played exactly into Gu Yang's hands.

The roots were right above his head.

Gu Yang did not move, like a lifeless stone, waiting with extreme patience for the climax of this bloody banquet.

...

Rumble!

Above the altar, a sudden change occurred!

Right at the instant the first demonic cultivator's fingertips were about to touch the demonic snake's scales.

The Twin-Headed Yin-Yang Snake, which had been biting itself and seemingly on its last breath, suddenly released its jaws.

Its blood-red vertical pupils, its ferocity thoroughly ignited by the Blood-Igniting Incense, revealed a cruelty that chilled one to the bone.

It was a trap!

Puchi!

A bloody maw instantly snapped open like a black hole, biting the leading rogue cultivator directly in half at the waist!

A rain of blood poured down from the sky.

The hissing of venom corroding bones, agonizing screams, and the shattering of magical artifacts intertwined, transforming the area into a living hell.

Gulp... Gulp...

The black and white vine, like greedy blood vessels, frantically sucked up the essence blood of these Foundation Establishment cultivators.

The chaotic luster on the fruit's surface began to separate into distinct colors at a speed visible to the naked eye.

An incense stick's time later.

There was no longer a single living demonic cultivator on the altar.

The deathsworn brought by Lin Yaoyao were all dead. She herself had been swept by the demonic snake's tail, shattering most of the bones in her body, and fell like a broken gunny sack onto the frozen earth in the distance, her life or death unknown.

Hiss...

The Twin-Headed Yin-Yang Snake had also reached the end of its strength.

One of its heads had even been blinded by an explosion, its aura withering to the extreme.

As for the Yin-Yang Creation Fruit.

After sucking dry the essence blood covering the ground, it suddenly erupted with a blinding burst of black and white light!

A perfect Taiji pattern flowed across it.

One hundred percent! It was completely ripe!

In the shadows.

Ye Chen finally moved.

The mediocre disguise on his face had faded at some unknown point, revealing his true appearance—a man in clothes whiter than snow, possessing peerless, handsome features.

"Vile beast, your mission is over."

With a slight flip of his wrist, the simple and unadorned sword Compassion let out a clear dragon's roar.

Clang!

Ye Chen bit the tip of his tongue, spitting a mouthful of pale gold lifeblood onto the sword's edge.

The sword's radiance surged by dozens of zhang, transforming into a heaven-cleaving, righteous sword qi that crashed down with the power to tear through everything!

Hiss—

The Twin-Headed Yin-Yang Snake didn't even have the strength to dodge, and was directly cleaved in two at its seven-inch weak point!

Demonic blood rained down like a waterfall.

Ye Chen gasped heavily, his face pale as paper, but a storm of fanaticism was now brewing in his eyes, which had always been as placid as an ancient well.

Borrowing a knife to kill, sacrificing the demons, playing all his trump cards!

All of this calculation and endurance finally paid off at this moment.

Without hesitation, he dropped his longsword, tapped his toes, and lunged toward the fruit radiating a fatal temptation like a great roc spreading its wings.

His slender, fair fingers trembled slightly from extreme excitement.

Ten inches.

Five inches.

One inch.

In the ten-thousandth of a split second before Ye Chen's fingertips could touch that perfect fruit!

Swish—

The Yin-Yang Creation Fruit was suddenly yanked downward, as if tightly gripped by an invisible ghostly hand from beneath the earth.

Along with the entire vine, it instantly vanished beneath the hard stone slabs of the altar!

It disappeared into thin air!

Ye Chen's fingers stiffly grasped at a clump of blood-scented air.

Dead silence.

Even the wind seemed to freeze completely at this moment.

Ye Chen's stiff fingers hovered in mid-air, still maintaining a grasping posture.

His fingertips were only a hair's breadth away from the melted, pitch-black hole.

The exotic fragrance that could have completely reborn him was dissipating bit by bit through the hole into the biting cold air.

Right under his nose.

From the depths of that hole, a trace of withered yellow residue was swept up by the astral wind.

It fluttered down, landing with extreme mockery on Ye Chen's spotless, snow-white robe.

Boom!

Ye Chen's mind went absolutely blank for a moment.

He could not hear the wind, nor the churning of the sea of blood.

Only an emotion called absurdity tightly strangled his neck like a venomous snake.

"Who...?!"

A roar, wretched to the extreme and resembling a dying beast, instantly tore through the core of the Yin-Yang Tomb!

Ye Chen's gentle and compassionate mask completely shattered, his handsome features twisting like a demon from the Nine Nethers.

He frantically sent his divine sense underground, his hands bombarding the black and white spirit jade of the altar like a madman.

Bang! Bang! Bang!

Shards of supreme-grade spirit jade flew wildly, cutting his cheeks and oozing glaring streaks of blood.

What answered him was not a fearful retreat.

But rather, ten zhang deep underground, a transformation that was violent to the extreme.

The moment the Yin-Yang Creation Fruit entered his stomach, there was no gentle melting sensation.

There was only a terrifying tearing sensation, as if he had swallowed an entire scalding mudslide.

The violent black and white torrent violently exploded within Gu Yang's dantian qi sea.

The creation power of extreme yin and extreme yang transformed into tens of thousands of sharp, invisible carving knives, frantically slicing at the barriers of his meridians.

Gu Yang sat cross-legged, suspended in the freezing dirt, his face as cold and hard as iron.

Cold sweat had barely beaded on his forehead before it was instantly evaporated into white mist by the out-of-control high temperature within his body.

He didn't even furrow his brow.

The Great Sun Heaven-Burning Sutra was pushed to an unprecedented limit.

Deep within his qi sea.

The first layer, the Chaotic Lotus Platform; the second layer, the Yin-Yang Glazed Platform; the third layer, the Crimson Blood Imperishable Platform; the fourth layer, the Nether Dao Platform.

The four towering phantoms simultaneously erupted with deafening hums.

Four entirely different suppressive forces, like four sea-calming divine needles, tightly locked down the frenzied dragon of creation that attempted to run rampant.

"Condense," Gu Yang let out a low, emotionless growl in his heart.

The extreme, brilliant gold of the Great Sun True Fire and the deep pitch-black of the Nine Nether Soul-Locking Flame were unhesitatingly used as firewood by him.

The dual heavenly flames intertwined, frantically burning the cluster of black and white spiritual liquid hovering at the very top of his qi sea.

Crack... Crack...