Chapter 526: Endless Icefield Battle Royale (Part 1)

Invisible spatial ripples, centered on the iceberg platform, rapidly spread outwards, as if space was on the verge of collapse.

Wang Yu had personally caused such a situation once before, when he hunted down the support team from the Azure Cloud Sect. Back then, he used the spatial explosion of the Heavenly Yin Pool to unleash a spatial storm, successfully achieving his tactical objective. Now, they were facing the Heavenly Palace Secret Realm, which was far vaster than the Heavenly Yin Pool. If the Jail King Spirit Official were to completely destroy it, the power of that spatial storm would reach the extreme limit of the Ice Hell Realm, making it likely that even Nascent Soul cultivators couldn't survive such an environment. Spirit Transformation cultivators would also be severely wounded, and unlucky ones might even perish. This showed that Wang Yu had truly enraged the opponent.

The Azure Dragon Demon Venerable, whose injuries had not yet healed, was also somewhat wary of this sudden spatial storm, wondering about its cause. After telling the two Demon Kings to act, his divine sense immediately locked onto Wang Yu and his group. He saw Yu Tangtang and Yan Ling enveloped by aurora, resembling three rotating and interwoven light orbs. They were fleeing at a speed far exceeding that of the two Demon Kings, and their speed was increasing, about to disappear into the sky in just a few breaths.

The Azure Dragon quickly called out, "Wait, little friend Wang."

Wang Yu's speed immediately slowed significantly, and he looked back with a half-smile. "Demon Venerable seems to have some insight?"

"No, this old man wants to ask... um... have you seen that one?"

"—Haha." Wang Yu's laughter turned cold. This old scoundrel had indeed met the Jail King Spirit Official before, which was why he had been forced to leave his healing place and unexpectedly encountered them. Despite knowing Wang Yu was there to help, he hadn't revealed anything about the situation ahead. It was fortunate that Wang Yu was broad-minded and didn't want to dwell on such matters. This was not the place for discussions.

Everyone was still trying to escape the influence of the collapsing secret realm, racing across the endless ice plain. This environment was actually very suitable for an ice-attribute cultivator like Wang Yu. He could even fly for an entire day. The consumption of a fifth-tier escape technique in this environment was only slightly faster than his demonic energy recovery. Having just emerged, he was also curious about the situation outside. Based on the characteristics of the corpses he had seen earlier, they seemed to be people of mixed Ice Clan bloodline. Therefore, half an incense stick later, everyone successfully left the range of the spatial ripples. They casually found an iceberg to stand on, gazing at the grand spectacle about to unfold, while discussing the unfinished conversation from earlier.

The Azure Dragon Demon Venerable seemed very anxious. "Did that being attack you?"

Wang Yu's eyes darted, and he gestured towards the secret realm. "Senior, who do you think could create such a grand scene?"

The Demon Venerable's eyes dimmed. "If that's the case, we should escape as quickly as possible."

"He wants you to be his dog?"

"It's not as unpleasant as you make it sound, but the meaning is similar..."

Wang Yu suddenly smiled. "I didn't expect the renowned Azure Dragon Demon Venerable to have his spirit broken one day. Are you scared?"

"How could I be!"

The Azure Dragon Demon Venerable spoke with conviction, but his earlier words showed that he was genuinely startled by the power of a Void Refinement cultivator. Otherwise, why would he want to flee? Wang Yu shook his head with a slight laugh.

"This is precisely his goal: to intimidate us so that when we encounter his people in the future, we instinctively fear him. Otherwise, he would have already captured me; there would be no need to vent his anger on the secret realm. Rather, the grander the spectacle he creates, the more it proves that he lacks confidence and is very worried about us opposing him."

By all accounts, Wang Yu had made it clear enough. Even if the Azure Dragon Demon Venerable wasn't embarrassed, he should have felt relieved. Yet, he still looked incredibly stressed, having completely snapped out of the exhilaration of his previous rampage. "Little friend, what you say makes sense, but... the limitations of this fiend's actions are merely our guesses. If he decides to make a grand move at a crucial moment, it would be a huge loss!"

"—Absurd!" The Azure Dragon Demon Venerable's courage was even smaller than he had imagined, far exceeding the bounds of proper caution. It seemed that an old demon was much like an old human. He had long lost the ambition of his youth.

Seeing this, Wang Yu gave up on the idea of trying to persuade him. Let this old geezer play his own game. So, he barely offered any more opinions. In any case, it was useless to speak, so he turned into a pure answering machine until the spatial storm completely erupted. The scene was like a stretched canvas being cut with a knife. The blackness behind it seemed like the source of all consumption. It formed a bizarre, black-hole-like spectacle, causing spiderweb-like cracks to appear in the surrounding space, which then began to collapse at a visible rate. The spatial disaster quickly spread until it completely swallowed the space before them.

A faint glint flickered in Wang Yu's eyes, as if a flash of insight crossed his mind. In that instant, the Lunar Nether Pupil seemed to undergo a subtle transformation. It was on the verge of reaching the fifth tier! It was also in this instant that Wang Yu's expression drastically changed. A cluster of black and red flames suddenly ignited within the spatial storm, rapidly expanding to form a ring of fire. A handsome young man, very familiar to Wang Yu, walked out from it. His eyes seemed to reveal a sinister malevolence, and two runes flashed within them.

"—Refining Heaven Demon Venerable!"

The foremost figure of the Scarlet Kite Demonic Domain, a peak Spirit Transformation expert, the leader of the demonic path... there were countless titles and deeds associated with this person. He was also the one who had once severely wounded Wang Yu, leaving him with only a head. One could say there was a deep blood feud, but Wang Yu truly hadn't expected him to appear so quickly in the Endless Ice Plain, and directly emerge from the spatial storm at that. That was the Jail King Spirit Official's domain; it seemed incredibly bizarre. Could it be that he was also a pawn of this six-eared rogue? It shouldn't be...

Just as Wang Yu suspected Refining Heaven Demon Venerable might have some secret cooperative relationship with the Jail King Spirit Official, the Azure Dragon Demon Venerable completely bristled. Even after a millennium, his emotions were incredibly agitated. His cloudy old eyes showed a mix of panic and fury as he excitedly shouted, "Refining Heaven Demon Venerable, I can't believe you dare to appear before me!"

Such an act perfectly demonstrated bluster masking inner fear, like a clown on a stage. Refining Heaven Demon Venerable said with interest, "You've hidden from me for a millennium, do you think you can escape? Let your blood, bone, and cultivation become my new power."

With that, he completely ignored the presence of Wang Yu and the others. He directly charged at the Azure Dragon Demon Venerable with a clear target. The two Demon Kings were greatly alarmed, fearing that the Demon Venerable might be defeated due to underestimation, and quickly shouted, "Ancestor, be careful! Refining Heaven Demon Venerable has already cultivated to the peak of the Spirit Transformation realm!" In truth, no reminder was needed; how could the Azure Dragon Demon Venerable not know the situation of his old rival? Given the opponent's talent, cultivating to the peak of Spirit Transformation was entirely normal.

Though somewhat displeased at being ignored, Wang Yu was also glad that the opponent's target was clear enough, at least it wasn't him bearing the danger. Thus, he took the two girls and fled in the direction of the Inverse Spirit Blood Sect. He had no intention of staying. At this stage, he still had to maintain sufficient respect for a peak Spirit Transformation expert, unless his cultivation broke through further.

But the Azure Dragon Demon Venerable thought otherwise and quickly shouted, "Little friend Wang, help this old man deal with this demon! I promise you half of the Northern Demon Clan's treasury after this is done!" Wang Yu curled his lips. This old man knew less about his own treasury than Wang Yu did. He knew exactly what was inside, and in fact, due to his sixty years of refining high-grade spirit elixirs, all the sufficiently rare spirit herbs had either been turned into pills or had gone into his own pocket. There was absolutely no appeal.

His shout also made Refining Heaven Demon Venerable completely notice him. His rushing figure paused slightly, and he said in surprise, "A fifth-tier body refiner, a truly perfect physical body... I remember you."

Wang Yu didn't look back. His Aurora Escape Technique had already been pushed to its limit, and the whistling escape light had long surpassed the escape speed of ordinary Spirit Transformation cultivators. Refining Heaven Demon Venerable hesitated for only an instant before a ball of demonic flame essence split from his body, rapidly transforming into his likeness and pursuing Wang Yu. His main body, meanwhile, continued to attack the Azure Dragon Demon Venerable.

This was a core inheritance of the Demonic Sect: the Demonic Flame Clone Great Art! It was one of the peerless divine abilities recorded in the True Refining Heaven Demonic Scripture, allowing one to split off a clone with eighty percent of the main body's strength using demonic flame. Its duration depended on the amount of power split off. There was no need to think about it; Wang Yu certainly wouldn't be a match for the Demonic Flame Clone. Refining Heaven Demon Venerable's innate divine ability was the sole choice passed down in their lineage: the Refining Heaven Art! The origin of this art could no longer be traced, but it allowed one to acquire partial abilities by completely devouring living or dead objects of the same cultivation realm. For example, if Refining Heaven Demon Venerable devoured a Spirit Transformation demon, he could obtain nearly fifty percent of its blood and vitality foundation, greatly strengthening his physical body, and also acquire one to two innate divine abilities from the demon's bloodline. If he devoured a dead object, such as azure-gold stone, he could gain the hardness of this spiritual material, allowing it to reinforce his own bones. The increase in strength was undeniable. The longer one lived, the more external objects one refined, and the more one's strength would grow to unimaginable levels. It was hailed as the foremost wondrous refining art in the Ice Hell Realm!

However, this art also had strong side effects. There were strict numerical limits to the external objects that could be devoured at each realm. If one exceeded the limit too much, the body would collapse due to its inability to bear the load, completely turning into a mass of rotten flesh. Therefore, each succession within the Refining Heaven lineage was incredibly bloody. Almost exclusively, geniuses were selected from among geniuses, and only those seeds who successfully cultivated the Refining Heaven Art were qualified to become the inheritors of the demonic path overlord. Living long-term in a high-pressure and life-threatening environment, these seeds developed abnormal mindsets from a young age. When they went mad, they were the most terrifying demonic path lunatics. Such beings were completely impossible to control, unless one used special means far beyond the Spirit Transformation stage.

Facing the rapidly pursuing demonic flame clone, Wang Yu had no time to think about the Azure Dragon Demon Venerable's situation, but he could guess that the unhealed Demon Venerable was likely no match for Refining Heaven Demon Venerable. If he were to be dealt with, it wouldn't just be a demonic flame clone chasing him. To break this stalemate, the key lay with the demon race.

As he pondered, Wang Yu quickly said, "Junior Sister Yan Ling, Tangtang, you two run separately from me. His target should be me." With such a profound and wondrous demonic art like the Refining Heaven Art, the opponent's intentions were obvious: he definitely wanted to devour him. The demonic path was that simple and direct. Therefore, running separately was actually a safer option.

Who knew, Yan Ling completely rejected this suggestion. "No, it would be too dangerous to let Senior Brother Wang face such a powerful enemy alone. Even if it means death... Yan Ling wants to help."

"That's not what I mean. You possess a Soul Spirit Mark and are a special physique; you absolutely cannot let this guy know. Besides, I have something for you two to do."

Yan Ling was startled. "What is it?"

"First, take this."

Wang Yu took out a map and handed it to her, quickly explaining: "This map contains Cold Blood Peak's exploration and records of the Endless Ice Plain, primarily marking the locations of ancient teleportation arrays. You and Tangtang need to leave the ice plain as soon as possible and head to the Coiling Dragon Mountain Range. Inform the White Tiger Demon Venerable of the situation here. Although he has a feud with Azure Dragon, he was the victor in their struggle. He didn't suffer any actual losses because of it. Furthermore, as both are peak Demon Venerables of the demon race, he will not sit idly by while Azure Dragon dies at the hands of the Demon Venerable."

Internal strife aside, when faced with sufficient external pressure, even the most belligerent clans would unite against a common enemy. This was a congenital stance determined by their bloodline, which no one could change. This strategy was the only solution in the current urgent situation. Refining Heaven Demon Venerable's raw strength was too great. Whether Azure Dragon's life could be saved depended on how fast the two girls were.

As for Wang Yu facing the pursuit of the demonic flame clone, it wasn't a big problem. Clone techniques and external incarnations were two completely different divine abilities. The former involved one consciousness controlling two bodies. The latter involved splitting off two consciousnesses to control two bodies, with the constant risk of the main and secondary roles swapping. Sometimes, even the cultivator would forget who the main body was. These were all the side effects of external incarnations. After all, such a divine ability was too powerful; two individuals of the same cultivation level, working in perfect harmony as one, could overwhelmingly defeat another opponent. It was normal for there to be side effects. Therefore, as long as sufficient pressure was applied to Refining Heaven Demon Venerable's main body, he naturally wouldn't be able to focus on Wang Yu's situation with divided attention. This would lead to a decrease in the combat power of the demonic flame clone. At that point, whether resolving the clone or taking the opportunity to escape completely would be much simpler than it was now.

Once Wang Yu finished speaking, Yan Ling quickly grasped the meaning. "I understand, I'm going now!" Understanding the heavy responsibility on her shoulders, Yan Ling prepared to run separately without hesitation. Yu Tangtang, however, hadn't yet fully understood the situation when Yan Ling pulled her along. Her status as a demon would ensure Yan Ling could successfully meet the White Tiger Demon Venerable.

The pursuing demonic flame clone, upon discovering Wang Yu's group splitting up, did not hesitate and, as expected, chose to pursue the aurora that was Wang Yu. Refining Heaven Demon Venerable indeed intended to devour him using the Refining Heaven Art. A fifth-tier body refiner's physical body was a rare delicacy, perfect for complementing his strengths and weaknesses. It was precisely the type he needed. Encountering Wang Yu while pursuing the Azure Dragon Demon Venerable was an unexpected bonus.

A great ice plain escape began, and no one could predict the final outcome.

Meanwhile, in the Taihu Spirit Domain — Sword Sect mountain gate!