The battle between the myna and the hawk raged on, stirring up the mist-like bone dust in a chaotic vortex that refused to settle. Within the shrouded void array, the three cultivators and two demons had their vision obscured, and their divine senses could only capture faint, blurred shadows.
"Junior Brother Ying, call Ah Lie back," Shang Lu said to Ying Zhizhen. "It's been a quarter of an hour. Ah Lie has inhaled too much miasma; it might harm its spiritual core."
"If I could call it back, I would have already done so!" Ying Zhizhen snapped, grinding his teeth in frustration. He shot a furious glare at Jian Xiaolou. "Why aren't you calling back your myna? Are you waiting for them both to die?!"
Jian Xiaolou shouted, "Xiao Hei, leave that one-eyed hawk for later and go consume the spirit essence first!"
Ying Zhizhen was incensed. "Now's the time to snatch the spirit essence? If the miasma destroys their spiritual cores, not even celestial pills can save them!"
Jian Xiaolou was utterly disgusted by him. "If you're so afraid of death, why are you here fighting over opportunities? Go home and sleep!"
Privately, though, she knew Xiao Hei rarely overextended itself. When it could no longer endure, it would return on its own.
In Ying Zhizhen's hand, his Serpent Sword began to glow green. His expression darkened with murderous intent, and he briefly entertained the idea of ending this vexing woman. But he restrained himself. As long as Jian Xiaolou was Zen Lingzi's disciple, he could not afford to kill her outright.
Otherwise, the sect would hand him over to Zen Lingzi and the Southern Ling Buddhist Nation in exchange for peace. Even his father wouldn't be able to protect him.
Besides, as much as she was loathsome, she hadn't done anything truly unforgivable.
As the son of the Tiandao Sect's master, Ying Zhizhen adhered to the sect's stringent rules. While he had the temperament of a spoiled young master, he wasn't inclined to kill indiscriminately. However, this was the first time someone had provoked him to such a boiling point.
Taking a deep breath to steady himself, he suppressed his rising anger. But suddenly, pain erupted in his dantian, causing cold sweat to seep from his back.
What's happening?
Ying Zhizhen's brows furrowed. Something felt off about his body. Jian Xiaolou's earlier attack hadn't harmed his meridians or organs—this didn't make sense.
When he circulated his qi to examine himself again, the pain subsided. A realization struck him, and he sent a telepathic message to Shang Lu: "Senior Brother Shang, what pill did you give me earlier?"
Distracted by his quarrel with Jian Xiaolou, he hadn't had time to refine the pill. Now, he couldn't detect its presence at all.
"It was just a sect-prescribed Stabilizing Qi Pill," Shang Lu replied, frowning. "Why? Are you feeling unwell?" He glanced at Jian Xiaolou. "The stone she threw was humanoid in shape. Quite unusual."
"Humanoid?" Ying Zhizhen murmured, deep in thought.
Meanwhile, the spirit essence of the Peng bird remained contested by the two birds, unrelated to the demons. With the Bone Mountain destroyed, the two demons finally located a fissure three feet long. From it, wisps of greenish gas continuously leaked.
"This should be the place."
"Let's pry it open."
Acting independently, the demons stood on either side of the fissure and removed the talismans from their jade plaques. Each delivered a palm strike to the surrounding area, blasting open a hole with a deafening boom.
The ground beneath their feet trembled as if a trapped beast was awakening.
"What are you doing?!" Jian Xiaolou exclaimed.
A massive plume of green mist erupted from the hole, shooting upward like a rocket. It engulfed Xiao Hei and the one-eyed hawk mid-fight, sweeping them away along with the spirit essence.
"Ah Lie!"
Ying Zhizhen gasped and tried to fly up, but Jian Xiaolou blocked him. "Those two demons have gone into the hole. The Demon Gourd is down there—we need to go too."
Ying Zhizhen was stunned. "You wouldn't let your myna be used as a blood sacrifice before, but now you don't care about its life?"
Jian Xiaolou walked toward the hole. "Look carefully. That miasma is so corrosive it's eating through the rock walls, yet the two birds are unharmed. Haven't you noticed they're immune to the miasma?"
She trusted Xiao Hei to handle the one-eyed hawk and couldn't risk Ying Zhizhen interfering.
Ying Zhizhen hesitated, looking to Shang Lu for confirmation.
Shang Lu nodded slightly and began descending into the hole. "Let them fight over the spirit essence. Finding the Demon Gourd is more important."
Jian Xiaolou set up a sturdy protective barrier with half her spiritual energy, holding a lotus lantern in one hand before leaping into the fissure. She wasn't taking any chances with Shang Lu and Ying Zhizhen.
Her foot splashed into water.
It was a tunnel resembling a limestone cave, filled with the sound of dripping water. The water on the ground rose to her knees as she waded through for nearly half an hour, reaching the tunnel's end.
Ahead lay no path, only a smooth stone wall two people high. The two demons stared at it intently.
When Jian Xiaolou approached, she was startled to see two indistinct black shadows on the greenish stone wall, as though performing a shadow play.
These shadows were so blurry that it was impossible to discern gender or features, but they moved like silhouettes on a stage.
One figure turned, raising its left arm and placing its palm forward. The other turned as well, extending its left hand to meet the first in a clasp, their thumbs intertwining to form a fist. It appeared to signify an agreement of some kind, silent yet profound.
Suddenly, the first shadow drew a short sword and stabbed the other through the chest.
The stabbed figure froze in apparent shock, unmoving.
Jian Xiaolou's eyelid twitched violently.
"Are there people inside the wall?" the shorter demon asked with a shiver.
"Is someone trapped behind it?" Ying Zhizhen wondered aloud.
"Neither," Shang Lu said, taking out a voice-transmission talisman to contact Elder Gumu. "The images are repeating."
The taller demon pointed to the wall. "See? It's back to the two figures standing side by side."
Jian Xiaolou watched quietly, suspecting the shadows were projections left by some special technique.
The question was: where was the projection coming from?
Turning her gaze from the wall, she studied the uneven stone opposite it. Her hand brushed over a groove resembling a short sword.
Before she could ponder further, an ancient voice echoed through the tunnel: "I have waited ten thousand years to meet someone worthy at last, hahaha…"
"Who's there?!" Everyone tensed, readying themselves for a fight.
"I come from the Greater World," the voice said sorrowfully. "Trapped here for ten thousand years, my energy is nearly spent. I have left only this fragment of my soul to pass on my legacy…"
The shorter demon's eyes lit up. A high-level cultivator from the Greater World during the Red Sky Era?
"Where are you, senior?" Jian Xiaolou asked, scanning the surroundings. The voice seemed to emanate from all directions, making it impossible to locate.
"I am where you cannot see me," the voice replied.
"What legacy do you speak of?" Shang Lu inquired.
The voice sighed. "Alas, I can only pass on my legacy to one. Yet there are five of you here. What shall we do?"
Jian Xiaolou asked, "What do you suggest?"
"Let the strong prevail. My legacy cannot be gifted lightly. Fight amongst yourselves, and the survivor shall inherit my power."
The two demons exchanged glances.
"Haha, just a jest," the voice chuckled. "Meeting you all is fate. I won't let you leave empty-handed, but everything comes at a price…"
"What price?" Ying Zhizhen asked.
The voice suddenly turned sinister. "Kill the woman."