Chapter 366: The Dark Hand of the Demon Clan

"Xue Feng was among the most gifted and insightful disciples I've taught over the years. He had boundless potential, yet he died at the hands of this demon saint." Venerable Qin Wu stood there, a hint of sadness in his voice. "It pains me every time I think of it."

Meng Chuan nodded, feeling the same pain and anger.

"Master, the demon race set up a large formation where they ambushed me earlier, and it's still there," Meng Chuan promptly reported.

"Oh?" Venerable Qin Wu's eyes lit up. "Quickly, take me there."

"Yes."

Meng Chuan led his master, Venerable Qin Wu, flying directly underground, reaching the formation's location in an instant.

"It's still there," Meng Chuan's Lightning Magnetic Domain swept over, detecting parts of the formation.

Venerable Qin Wu stood still, as wisps of sword qi gently swept through the surroundings. Soil and rock silently disintegrated, gradually revealing the deployed grand formation. Its intricate runes were profoundly mysterious; even ordinary demon saints would need time to study its setup and dismantling.

"Remarkable, what a powerful formation. It isolates the internal and external worlds, time and space, and seems to even block divinatory and karmic detection?" Venerable Qin Wu observed.

"Master is incredible," Meng Chuan said. With his Lightning Magnetic Domain, he only perceived many runes as too profound, involving time and space, and couldn't fully comprehend the rest.

"I cultivate the Thirteen Sword Fiend Demon Body, and formations are crucial to it," Venerable Qin Wu explained with a smile. "So, I'm somewhat proficient in matters of destiny and formations."

The most formidable practitioners of the Thirteen Sword Fiend Demon Body were undoubtedly formation masters. Not only was each sword fiend incredibly sharp, but they also had to form a formation to qualitatively transform their power.

"If one doesn't understand formations, even a Creation Venerable would likely struggle to dismantle this one. Forcibly dismantling it would only damage the formation," Venerable Qin Wu said. Countless wisps of sword qi began gently disassembling various parts. In terms of formations, he was far superior to Demon King Changyou, having reached the 'Grotto-Heaven realm' in this aspect alone. He could manipulate the Tribulation Realm secret treasure, the 'Sky-Rending Sword Array,' with his sword fiends to set up a killing formation, possessing astonishing strength. Even if Demon Saint Jiuyuan dared to approach, they would be reduced to dust beneath the sword array.

In just a few breaths, countless formation components were completely disassembled and collected by Venerable Qin Wu. If he wished to deploy a formation, he could successfully do so within ten breaths.

"This formation is extremely valuable, and you also held back Demon Saint Huangyao, which gave me the opportunity to kill it," Venerable Qin Wu said, smiling at Meng Chuan. "I don't even know how much credit to give you."

"Master, does the sect also count your merits when you kill enemies?" Meng Chuan asked.

Venerable Qin Wu was momentarily stunned.

They were the ones who managed the sect's resources.

"Once you become a Creation Venerable, you can also opt not to count them," Venerable Qin Wu chuckled. "As for now, they must be counted! Rules are rules; there should be no arbitrary changes."

"Understood," Meng Chuan nodded.

His own merits were astonishingly high; exploring demon kings underground, he earned nearly ten million merits on average each day.

Of course, he wouldn't redeem them recklessly, as ordinary treasures were useless to him at his current strength. In fact, the sect had already given him a lot: the Tribulation Realm secret treasure 'Bloodblade Disc,' as well as 'Azure Cloud Heaven,' 'Bodyguard Stone Talismans,' and more, all gifted directly.

During wartime, Mount Yuanchu still diligently protected every sect disciple. Of course, the disciples were also fighting with their lives, one after another falling in battle.

"At least three demon experts ambushed you this time. With the power of this formation, how did you manage to endure?" Venerable Qin Wu asked curiously.

"My self-created movement technique, 'Cloud Mist Dragon Serpent Body Art,' has also reached the Law Domain realm," Meng Chuan explained. "This technique is based on the 'Heaven and Earth Roaming Dragon Blade' but incorporates many more variations. So, after reaching the Law Domain realm, my true body can also enter deeper spatial layers. I hid in the deeper spatial layers, protected by the Bloodblade Disc, which allowed me to withstand their assault. I first killed a normal fifth-heaven demon monarch and the black-robed demon monarch 'Monan'."

Black-robed Beijue, who once manifested thousands of avatars, called himself 'Demon King Monan' to persuade various gods and demons, and had also met Meng Chuan and his wife.

"Self-created ultimate art? And you improved the 'Heaven and Earth Roaming Dragon Blade'?" Qin Wu looked at his disciple in astonishment.

Younger generations build upon the shoulders of their predecessors. True Martial King also created his 'Seven True Martial Arts' based on the ultimate art of the Yin-Yang Old Man. Otherwise, if he had to create it from scratch, he wouldn't have been so fast.

But to go a step further on existing foundations already demonstrated capability.

The Heaven and Earth Roaming Dragon Blade was hailed as the human race's top movement technique. And Meng Chuan improved it?

And at this age, he successively created two ultimate arts, both reaching the Law Domain realm?

"My disciple's talent is truly extraordinary. Perhaps he truly has the potential for miracles," Qin Wu thought, watching his disciple, as numerous ideas surfaced in his mind.

"Master, that black-robed demon monarch Monan was very strange," Meng Chuan said, puzzled. "It should have had the strength of a peak fifth-heaven demon monarch, but it had no defensive or escape methods. I released my blood blades and quickly killed it."

A peak fifth-heaven demon monarch would, by all accounts, devote considerable effort to survival and escape.

"That wasn't its true body."

Qin Wu chuckled, "Black-robed Demon King Monan, with its myriad avatars, appeared all over the world, and Mount Yuanchu had been tracking it for a long time. We initially suspected it was a newly ascended fifth-heaven demon monarch skilled in avatar techniques. But since you say it possessed the strength of a peak fifth-heaven demon monarch, then it wasn't a newly ascended fifth-heaven demon. It should be a demon saint. The most likely candidate is Demon Saint Beijue! Among all the demon saints, it's the one most skilled in clones and avatars."

"Beijue?" Meng Chuan had long received intelligence on the demon race, understanding information about their top-tier experts, and was aware of Demon Saint Beijue.

A very mysterious demon saint.

Its true body could never be found.

"Next, you will continue your underground reconnaissance, and there's no need to worry about demon ambushes," Venerable Qin Wu stated. "As I said, within the human world, the Bodyguard Stone Talisman will definitely protect your life."

"The formation set up by the demon race won't be effective either?" Meng Chuan asked in astonishment.

"Indeed."

Venerable Qin Wu nodded, "It can absolutely preserve your life, but it will be gone once used. This is the very last one."

Meng Chuan nodded slightly.

Absolutely?

His master's words left no room for doubt, clearly brimming with confidence.

"Haha, as your strength grows, the less likely it is that you'll need to use this Bodyguard Stone Talisman. Once you become a Creation Venerable, you can return it to Mount Yuanchu," Venerable Qin Wu laughed. "You've only been a Marquis Godfiend for a short time, yet the demon race ambushed you and was counter-killed instead. Even Demon Saint Huangyao lost its life because of it."

Venerable Qin Wu was very pleased. His disciple had grown, maturing to the point where he no longer needed to worry. It was just a pity about Xue Feng. If he had spent a few more years growing in the Black Sand Grotto-Heaven, Huangyao wouldn't have been able to kill him either.

Deep beneath the sea, a small grotto-heaven.

"Failed?"

"Huangyao is also dead?"

Demon Saint Jiuyuan, Demon Saint Chongxuan, Demon Saint Fire Dragon, and Black-robed Beijue all sat there in silence for a long time.

Demon King Changyou's death was insignificant; he was merely a newly ascended fifth-heaven demon monarch.

Black-robed Beijue had only lost an avatar, which could be cultivated back.

Demon Saint Huangyao, however, was dead.

This was the first demon saint to die in the human world, evoking a mixture of emotions among the demon saints.

"How could this happen?" Demon Saint Jiuyuan muttered in a low voice.

"No one expected that godfiend could hide in deeper spatial layers, and their defensive methods were also very powerful," Black-robed Beijue said. "Although their offensive methods were somewhat crude, weaker than King Anhai, their defensive ability was truly formidable; they could even resist my illusions."

"It's unexpected that we lost the Three Absolutes Formation this time, and even Huangyao died," Demon Saint Jiuyuan said, looking at Black-robed Beijue. "Then we have no choice but to use our last resort. Beijue, tell me his name. Which Marquis Godfiend was it? I will report to the Emperor, and the Emperor will curse him to death across worlds, no matter the cost!"

Killing an enemy across worlds.

Even if Emperor Xinghe specialized in causality, even for an Emperor to kill a Marquis Godfiend across worlds was extremely difficult and came at a great cost.

"I don't know his name," Black-robed Beijue shook his head.

"Those ancient godfiends are all godfiends born within the last one or two millennia. We've fought against the human race for over eight hundred years; even if information on these ancient godfiends is scarce, most of them should be recognizable, right?" Demon Saint Jiuyuan frowned.

"He was wearing a mask," Black-robed Beijue replied.

"What difference does a mask make?" Demon Saint Chongxuan pressed. "You fought him; couldn't you deduce his identity from his signature moves?"

"None matched," Black-robed Beijue stated.

"So, after fighting him, you still don't know who he is?" Demon Saint Jiuyuan couldn't help but exclaim. "The Emperor wants to curse him, but there's no target?"

"Truly unrecognizable," Black-robed Beijue shook his head.