Chapter 1431: Ice Butterfly

Golden Scale Great Venerable's eyes lit up, then he shook his head. "None of the Sages remaining in the Central Land can move about freely. They are either injured or have special circumstances restricting their actions. But besides a Sage making a move, who else could scare away all the Hell Creatures from the entire eastern path?"

Not only him, even the Young Emperor stopped pursuing the Hell Creatures and paused to look at Ice Heart Great Venerable's projection.

Under the gaze of the three Great Venerables, half a cup of tea later, the endless beast tide finally came to an end. Their gazes converged behind the beast tide, wanting to see who exactly was responsible. However, the scene they witnessed silenced all three cultivators in the Five Decays realm.

They saw a woman in palace attire, panting as she chased after the Hell Creatures, shouting, "Big brother Hell Creature up ahead, you dropped your money!"

The running Hell Creatures glared back at her fiercely, as if to say, "Do you take us for fools?"

Having pursued them for so long, everyone from Taicang Province was exhausted and slowly couldn't keep up with the fleeing Hell Creatures. They had to find ways to make them stop.

Jiang Fan also took a deep breath. After half a cup of tea of continuous slaughter, he had lost count of how many he had killed. He only knew that he was utterly drained of energy, and his hands were trembling. He couldn't even activate his three top-grade spirit swords. Seeing that the beast tide was about to reach the breach, there was no time left to kill them all.

He opened his mouth and, speaking in the language of Hell, shouted, "Brothers up ahead, you dropped your... parts!" A few running Hell Creatures subconsciously tightened their legs and slowed down. Jiang Fan seized the opportunity, lunged forward, condensed the last wisp of lightning energy into a Hell Lotus, and threw it among them. With a thunderous boom, three Hell Creatures were instantly blown onto their backs, their mouths agape, spewing gurgling Hellish words. Clearly, these were their friendly greetings to Jiang Fan. What awaited them, however, was a swarm of Taicang Province powerhouses, whose relentless barrage left them without a trace.

The three Great Venerables stood rooted in place, stunned. Golden Scale Great Venerable's eyelid twitched. "These must be powerhouses from Tianzhou, right?" he mused. "They're... quite unique."

The Young Emperor's speaking speed was noticeably faster than usual. "They're not from our Tianzhou!"

Ice Heart Great Venerable looked at Jiang Fan's middle-aged face, somewhat speechless. "He's already this old, yet still so undignified?" Still, she didn't understand why the Hell Creatures were fleeing in such a panicked, disorderly fashion. Had someone done something that instilled such fear in them? Her gaze returned to Jiang Fan. "It must be this person's doing," she thought. "The only variable on this defense line is his presence." However, she didn't voice her thoughts. For one person to drive away an endless tide of Hell Creatures was an unheard-of feat across the entire Central Land. It could easily attract the attention of those with ulterior motives who might want to control Hell Creatures through him. Furthermore, with only an eight-orifice Nascent Soul cultivation, it was akin to a child parading through the market with a gold ingot.

She calmly said to the Young Emperor and Golden Scale Great Venerable, "Let's put aside why the Hell Creatures are acting so strangely for now. Our immediate priority is to quell the chaos. Golden Scale Great Venerable, hold your ground on the western path. Once we clear out the Hell Creatures on our eastern path, we will come and assist you."

Golden Scale Great Venerable's eyes showed excitement. He finally saw a glimmer of hope! He nodded and said, "We'll await your good news!"

Ice Heart Great Venerable retracted her scales, ended the communication, and then flew down to Jiang Fan's side, joining him in driving back the Hell Creatures.

"You're not really Wang Chongxiao, are you?" In recent times, names like Wang Chongxiao and Jiang Fan had been popping up like mushrooms after rain across various provinces. The difference was, those impersonating Wang Chongxiao usually engaged in shady dealings and dared not show their true faces. Conversely, those claiming to be Jiang Fan often performed righteous deeds openly and were proud to identify as Jiang Fan. The "Wang Chongxiao" before her was undoubtedly a fake name. She wondered what kind of illicit deeds he was planning that required him to impersonate Wang Chongxiao.

Jiang Fan subtly shifted away, maintaining a respectful distance from the formidable cultivator in the Five Decays realm. He politely said, "Senior is wise. This junior is the Crown Prince of the West Sea Demon Clan from Taicang Province."

Ice Heart Great Venerable nodded slightly. "So you're the West Sea Crown Prince, are you?" she said. "We owe you a lot this time; otherwise, it would have been difficult to resolve this." She gently flicked her sleeve. An ice butterfly flew out, landing on Jiang Fan's shoulder. "This is a magical artifact I refined in my spare time. When activated, it can shield you from the influence of domains. It can only be used three times, so use it wisely."

Such a good item existed in the world? Jiang Fan was overjoyed. He quickly caught it and gratefully said, "Thank you for the gift, Senior!" After a pause, Jiang Fan asked again, "Besides the Central Land's domain, can it also block the Giant King's origin power?"

Ice Heart Great Venerable pondered, "I haven't tested it, but both the Central Land's domain and the Giant King's origin power are forms of Heaven and Earth energy; they achieve the same result through different means. It should also be effective."

Jiang Fan cherished it even more. He still remembered when he was afflicted with bad luck by the Giant King of Fortune, causing him to stumble and break into Lü Zhu's bath. With the ice butterfly, he could at least avoid being manipulated by strange, unknown origin powers.

Jiang Wuya and the other powerhouses from Taicang Province secretly frowned upon hearing this. West Sea Crown Prince? Although none of them had met the West Sea Crown Prince, they knew the situation in the West Sea. There was only an old Demon Emperor in the early Demon Emperor realm holding things together. Where did this old monster in the late Nascent Soul stage come from? It was clear he was bluffing Ice Heart Great Venerable. Realizing this, Jiang Wuya secretly wiped away a cold sweat. Good heavens, who exactly was this person? He dared to bluff even a Great Venerable in the Five Decays realm! Was he not afraid of being exposed?

Amidst their astonishment, the Hell Creatures ahead suddenly slowed their pace and became more crowded. Looking up, at the end of the underground world, was a golden, sparkling mountain body, which was an extension of Spirit Snake Mountain descending underground. On the mountain face, there was a black crack a thousand zhang wide and a hundred zhang high. Endless Yin energy surged out from the crack like a flood. The Hell Creatures were pushing and shoving to return through the fissure, thus creating a crowded mass near the crack.

"This must be the so-called breach, then?" Jiang Fan stared at the crack, his eyes slowly narrowing. The shape of the crack looked as if it had been torn open by a colossal claw that spanned the heavens. He had seen such a giant claw once before: the Demonic Claw of the Asura Saint Son! Furthermore, there should be a powerful world barrier between the interlayer world and the Myriad Demon Province. Only Sages or higher cultivation realms would be capable of tearing through such a barrier and connecting two worlds.

"What are you looking at?" Ice Heart Great Venerable asked, noticing Jiang Fan had suddenly stopped in place.

Jiang Fan thought for a moment. Since he finally had the opportunity to speak with a Great Venerable, he should ask some of the questions he had. "Senior, may I ask how many Sages have been born in the past thousand years?" The Asura Saint Son had only escaped from the underground world of the Heavenly Secrets Pavilion eight hundred years ago. Therefore, his ascension to Sagehood should also have occurred within the last thousand years.