Huang Xiaolong staggered back again and again due to the collision force before regaining his balance after several li. When he did, a numbing pain coursed through his entire body. Huang Xiaolong panicked, swiftly throwing a Spring Autumn Hundred Life Divine Pellet into his mouth and initiated Instant Recovery to heal. Only then did he feel a little better.
An exclamation of surprise sounded in the void as a crimson-haired old man appeared in the air, above what used to be Huang Xiaolong's yard.
Huang Xiaolong's pupils shrunk; this crimson-haired old man was the Crimson Devil City's Castellan, Crimson Devil, no doubt. Only a late-Second Order Highgod Realm master could force him back to this extent.
Crimson Devil Shi Jiutian's surprise was obvious in his eyes, looking at Huang Xiaolong. His palm strike earlier merely made the other side stagger backward?
During this small interval, Gaunt Devil Shi Jiuxin had retreated to Shi Jiutian's side, glaring fiercely at Huang Xiaolong, "Big brother, you mustn't let this old codger escape!"
Shi Jiutian took a quick glance at Shi Jiuxin's chest wound and turned to face Huang Xiaolong, "This gentleman is...? What matters have you in my Crimson Devil City?"
Watching Crimson Devil's attitude, Huang Xiaolong issued a harsh chuckle with a hoarse voice, "What matters I have in your Crimson Devil City? Could it be that other people aren't allowed to come to Crimson Devil City? Then this old man is confused, does this means the ten thousand Baihu coins I paid for this identity token were fake?" Huang Xiaolong took out the identity token as he was saying this.
Shi Jiutian frowned, not missing the mockery in Huang Xiaolong's tone and words.
"The grace of your palm attack today, I will repay it twofold." Huang Xiaolong added. With that said, Huang Xiaolong disappeared from the spot in a flicker, without the slightest ripple in space, as if he was never there.
Shi Jiutian watched the spot where Huang Xiaolong disappeared, but he didn't make a move, allowing him to leave.
"Big brother, you're letting that old codger go just like that?" Shi Jiuxin sounded anxious.
Shi Jiutian tilted his head, "So what if you catch up to him? This person is quite strong, I don't have full confidence of killing him."
Shi Jiuxin's mouth opened and closed. He wanted to persuade Shi Jiutian, but no words would come out. Shi Jiutian coldly reminded, "I think you'd better heal your wounds before thinking of other things." He snorted and left.
A while later, Huang Xiaolong's figure appeared close to a hundred thousand li outside of Crimson Devil City, above a forest area.
In the next moment, he reached a valley within the forest and quickly arranged a defensive formation in the surroundings before sitting down cross-legged to heal his injuries.
Crimson Devil's palm force contained an overbearing evil force like a crimson flame, and even though he would be able to expel it from his body with the Black Tortoise and Vermilion Bird Divine Fires, a second faster this force was out from his body would be a second earlier he could feel at ease.
This place was the Devil Domain Mainland after all, anything could happen at any given time.
Half an hour later, Huang Xiaolong breathed in relief after he had completely expelled the crimson flame energy in him. He stood up, turned into a black streak of light, and left the valley.
It didn't take long for him to arrive at another large city called West Raven, which was one of the main cities under Ghost Demon Valley's territory.
In the following month, Huang Xiaolong stayed in this West Raven City, inquiring for related information.
According to the information he managed to gather so far, Huang Xiaolong eliminated the possible locations one by one. In the end, he deduced there were two locations with the highest probability of being the place where the Hundred Spirits Beast King's legs were sealed. One was a place called Devil Cave on the southern side of the Devil Domain Mainland, whereas the other was on the far north, an extremely cold land.
However, there was an ancient sealing formation over the Devil Cave, and the sigil keys to open it fell into the hands of the four hegemonic powers, the Flaming Devil Sect, Ghost Demon Valley, Gorb Fiend House, and the Crimson Devil City. Hence, Huang Xiaolong could only head to the northern cold lands first.
"Hopefully, the Hundred Spirits Beast King's legs are sealed in the northern cold lands…" Huang Xiaolong muttered under his breath, otherwise, if they were inside that Devil Cave, it would be a load of trouble.
At this point, his own strength wasn't weak, but he had yet to reach the level where he could snatch the four sigil keys from the hands of the four hegemonic powers.
Having made his decision, Huang Xiaolong left the West Raven City, heading toward the northern cold lands.
At the speed of his flying sword, one day later, Huang Xiaolong arrived at the edge of the northern cold lands. Standing high in the air, all that entered his sight was mountains, one after another.
However, the ice on those mountains emitted a faint black light that was enough to creep out anyone who saw it from afar. Even the hail falling from the sky above was also black in color.
Huang Xiaolong summoned the Black Tortoise and Vermilion Bird Divine Fires, creating a protective barrier around himself, and started flying through the black hail.
After a while, he chose to stop above an ice mountain and drew a drop of blood essence from his finger. Using the Blood Sacrifice Law, he sent the drop of blood essence into the ground below.
The drop of blood essence quickly passed through the ice mountain, sinking deep into the earth. A long time passed, but there was no reaction.
This result was a disappointment to Huang Xiaolong.
Shortly, he stopped above another ice mountain, once again spilling a drop of blood essence into the earth using the Blood Sacrifice Law. After a few times, Huang Xiaolong had checked the entire northern cold lands with no reaction at all. He didn't look too good at this moment.
If it wasn't there in the northern cold lands, there was only one place left where the Hundred Spirits Beast King's legs could be sealed.
"The Devil Cave." Huang Xiaolong's brows were tightly locked together.
There was no other method to enter the Devil Cave other than wait for the four hegemonic powers to open it with the sigil key. Unfortunately, snatching the sigil keys from the four hegemonic powers wasn't a realistic option.
For now, Huang Xiaolong was at a loss, not knowing how to proceed. While thinking of this, he flew back to West Raven City.
Not long after he left the northern cold lands, he heard two voices in front of him.
One of them said, "I wonder if we'll have a chance to enter the Devil Cave when it opens one year later."
"Our chances aren't high. From our Hundred Devils Gate, only our Patriarch can enter following Lord Ghost Demon." His companion shook his head and sighed.
Devil Cave opening? Huang Xiaolong's interest was piqued, arriving in front of the two devil cultivators in a flicker.
The two Hundred Devils Gate disciples were startled at Huang Xiaolong's sudden appearance. Before they could even react, both of them were sucked into Huang Xiaolong's palms. The two disciples' faces twisted in pain as Huang Xiaolong read through their memories.
After the soul-scouring ended, Huang Xiaolong destroyed the two cultivators' souls.
From these two's memories, Huang Xiaolong found out that every thousand years, the Devil Cave would birth something called Demonic Devil Bead by gathering the purest devil qi in this world, a rare treasure hard to come by.
Hence, every thousand years, the Flaming Devil Sect, Ghost Demon Valley, Gorb Fiend House, and the Crimson Devil City would come together, taking out the four sigil keys to open the Devil Cave. All eligible forces would enter and compete for the Demonic Devil Bead.
One year later was the time when the four hegemonic powers would gather to open the Devil Cave once again.
Huang Xiaolong let out a delighted whoop.
When the four hegemonic powers opened the Devil Cave, all he needed to do was sneak in with the other cultivators.