Xuan Yi’s mouth fell open, then suddenly snapped shut—she nearly bit off her tongue.

She abruptly stood up, hopping and jumping wildly on one leg. The golden ring even fell from her hair bun as she joyfully shouted: “Qing Yan! Qing Yan! You’re still alive!”

The cold, low voice outside paused for a moment, carrying a trace of laughter: “Little girl, your mouth is still just as wicked.”

The cave wall carved with demon clan incantations suddenly shattered into fragments. Before the dust had even settled, more than a dozen figures drifted in. Most wore the ceremonial robes of inspection spirit officials in alternating black and white, but the young divine lord at the front wore pale cyan long robes. Two pitch-black pearls dangled from his ears, swaying gently. His complexion was pale, and between his brows there was a gloomy air. It was none other than Qing Yan, whom they hadn’t seen in three hundred years.

Xuan Yi pounced on him like a hungry tiger. He immediately opened both arms and caught her in an embrace, one hand supporting her body while the other brushed aside her disheveled long hair. He looked up at her for a long while and smiled slightly: “You’ve grown quite a bit taller.”

Xuan Yi clutched his head tightly, so anxious she could only call out: “How did you come? Why didn’t you reply to my letters? What have you been doing these three hundred years? I almost went with Qi Nan to search for you in the Northern Heavens!”

Qing Yan patted her back: “No rush, we’ll ask slowly later. You all seem to have encountered some trouble.”

As he spoke, the inspection spirit officials had already filed in. Seeing Yan Xia lying on the ground with her eyes tightly closed, the officials immediately went forward to check. Discovering she had only fallen into a coma from a soul-capturing technique, they felt relieved and stood up to apologize to the several young celestial deities in the cave: “We apologize—this is our dereliction of duty that has implicated you all. We’re deeply sorry. May we ask where that locust demon who fell into the demonic path is?”

The inspection spirit officials had finally arrived! Zhi Xi felt her knees go weak. She sat down in a daze and pointed at the cave wall carved with demon clan incantations, sighing: “He burrowed inside. We don’t know where he’s hiding. His injuries can repeatedly heal, making him extremely difficult to kill. He’s also skilled in bewildering illusion techniques. Please be cautious, spirit officials.”

The inspection spirit officials didn’t seem to believe he was that formidable and just smiled.

This cave was integrated with the entire mountain. The locust demon’s lair was precisely this cave, dug from the mountain peak down to the mountain base. Earlier, they had to tunnel through the entire mountain to break through the cave wall from outside. They’d originally thought the locust demon would surely be hiding in the cave, but who knew he’d run away again. With the search area expanded to the entire mountain, it would require considerable effort.

The chief spirit official leaped up and completely erased all the demon clan incantations on the cave walls and on the massive rock blocking the cave entrance. He removed the dagger from his waist and swiftly carved divine clan true words. Before long, the entire sealed cave had been covered with true words. With a sweep of his long sleeve, he commanded: “The locust demon’s lair is here. With his roots remaining in this place, he can’t escape far. Go lure him in here!”

The officials immediately dispersed. Seeing that they probably wouldn’t start fighting for a while, Xuan Yi hugged Qing Yan’s arm and asked: “How did you come down? Did you see the letters I wrote?”

Qing Yan was looking down at the injury on her right leg. Seeing that it had nearly healed so quickly, he didn’t seem surprised and only said: “I’ve already entered the realm of formlessness and boundlessness—one dream lasting three hundred years. I was awakened the night the Sea of Parting Regret fell. I didn’t have time to read the letters from you or Qi Nan. I only returned to Zhongshan once. Qi Nan’s face was all swollen from crying. That girl never lets him worry less. Since you’re fine, why don’t you hurry back? What are you staying in the lower realm for? Still want to slay demons and eliminate evil?”

Seeing him staring at the injury on her right leg, Xuan Yi’s face puffed up unhappily: “Did Father tell you about my injury?”

She had instructed countless times not to tell Qing Yan, but he still said it.

Qing Yan smiled faintly, skirting around the topic of Zhongshan Dijun: “Qi Nan told me. He rambled on about a pile of miscellaneous matters… Let’s not talk about that first. I sensed you were in this vicinity and came looking for you when I encountered these inspection spirit officials. Apparently there are now countless fallen demons in the lower realm. Several divine clan members who fell down with you have already perished. Ah, it really scared me.”

Xuan Yi hooked her arms around his neck, leaned in close to examine him carefully, and murmured: “Qing Yan has gotten thinner. That Xuanming Dijun must torment you harshly every day, right? Why don’t you just change teachers? Baize Dijun is very amiable.”

Qing Yan showed a trace of an odd expression and was about to speak when he heard those spirit officials behind them suddenly shout loudly: “Block him! Don’t let him run out!”

With that, they saw the various officials chasing the locust demon, who had transformed into black ash, wildly around the entire cave. All sorts of techniques and true words struck the locust demon’s body like scattering a plate of sand—completely ineffective. Instead, it exhausted the officials until they were all gasping for breath. He seemed to be deliberately flying and stopping like a cat toying with a mouse, shrieking with laughter: “The divine realm’s inspection spirit officials are nothing more than this! Even a hundred times more of you, I wouldn’t fear! I’d like to see what you’ll do after your divine power is exhausted!”

Qing Yan watched quietly for a while and said in a low voice: “Oh? He can actually continuously heal his injuries? Indeed, we can’t afford to wear him down.”

He set Xuan Yi down in a clean corner and turned to go over: “Sit properly. Once I’ve dealt with this, we’ll chat.”

Xuan Yi puffed up her face very unhappily and grabbed his sleeve, saying softly: “Come back quickly.”

Qing Yan ruffled her disheveled hair: “I’ll be right back.”

Xuan Yi immediately let go and watched him with smiling eyes, taking the opportunity to re-bind her disheveled long hair and insert the golden ring.

That locust demon flew around wildly for a while, seeming somewhat bored. He slowly stopped, allowing techniques and true words to smash into his body with no effect whatsoever. Suddenly noticing Xuan Yi sitting alone in the corner binding her hair, her sleeve having slipped down to reveal her snow-white, slender arm, his two eyes couldn’t help but turn red. With both hatred and desire, this young goddess from the Zhuyin Clan had schemed to make him lose both legs—he absolutely must torture her thoroughly!

He suddenly gave a great shout. The next moment, the cave walls were covered with thick, blood-red branches crawling like snakes, coiling and extending. On each branch were many densely packed mouths, their teeth sharp as knives, gleaming with cold light. They suddenly shot forth violently in unison, rolling toward Xuan Yi.

The inspection spirit officials noisily rushed forward to block them, but they heard Qing Yan’s cold voice ring out from behind: “Step back. I’ll handle this.”

Zhuyin White Snow suddenly fell in drifting flakes, fluffed and drawn out like cotton—countless times larger than Xuan Yi’s snowflakes, countless times denser, and covering a much wider range. Those waving blood-colored branches, the moment they touched the snowflakes, drooped darkly downward, twisting sluggishly, extremely unwillingly frozen into solid ice.

Qing Yan’s toe touched the ground lightly and he flew swiftly upward. The various deities couldn’t see clearly at all how he actually moved. They only felt a flash of snowy light pass by, and that locust demon shrinking against the cave wall was forcibly struck down by his palm, crashing to the ground with an enormous sound. Surprisingly, he didn’t transform into black ash to escape again.

The locust demon lay on his back on the ground with a strange expression. At first he could still struggle a few times, but gradually his movements became stiff. Finally, like an ice sculpture, he couldn’t move at all. He murmured: “…What did you do to me?”

Qing Yan slowly descended and said coolly: “What kind of thing are you to dare question me? Who gave you the guts to target the Zhuyin Clan?”

The locust demon’s eyeballs rolled, and he opened his mouth wanting to speak again, but even his lips and tongue had already been frozen. He could only keep rolling his eyes wildly, which actually added a bit of absurdity to his appearance.

The inspection spirit officials were immediately overjoyed and came forward one after another, using demon-binding ropes to tie the locust demon thoroughly from head to toe. The chief official, with a trace of awe, cupped his hands and said: “Many thanks to Xiaolong Jun for lending aid.”

The Zhuyin Clan truly lived up to their reputation. This Xiaolong Jun was not yet twenty thousand years old, yet he already possessed the realm of formlessness and boundlessness. Given time, his achievements would surely surpass the current Zhongshan Dijun. Although his arrogant attitude made the officials somewhat uncomfortable, the strong were revered, and the Zhuyin Clan indeed had the capital to be arrogant.

Qing Yan said: “I can only freeze him for no more than one mortal day. When that time comes, when the ice melts and snow thaws, he’ll still be able to escape. I advise you not to think about bringing him back to the divine realm to be interrogated by the Justice Ministry deities. I’m afraid you won’t be able to bring him back.”

The chief official was greatly shocked: “This… what should we do then?”

“Killing him right here is most secure. After all, his crimes warrant death anyway.” Shao Yi’s gentle and sweet voice came from behind. He walked up close with a smile, glanced at Qing Yan, and said: “Xiaolong Jun, long time no see. You’ve become even more formidable.”

Qing Yan’s eyes moved slightly, showing neither joy nor anger. He only nodded slightly: “Shenjun Shao Yi, indeed, it’s been a long time.”

He turned around and cupped his hands respectfully, bowing to Fucang and Zhi Xi who were approaching: “These two must be Shenjun Fucang and Shennu Zhi Xi. My younger sister is willful. I’m very grateful to you both for your tolerance and care.”

Oh? He seems quite modest and courteous? They’d thought all the Zhuyin Clan would be as arrogant and sharp-tongued as Xuan Yi. Apparently not. Zhi Xi immediately returned the courtesy with a smile: “Xiaolong Jun is too polite.”

Fucang clasped his hands together and bowed elegantly: “Xiaolong Jun is too kind.”

As he raised his eyes, he felt Qing Yan’s gaze resting on his face, seemingly thoughtful. Though puzzled in his heart, his face remained impassive. Their gazes crossed, each looking for a moment before separately turning away.

Over there, the various officials had already unleashed who knows how many more techniques. All manner of weapons had stuck the locust demon until he looked like a porcupine, yet his eyeballs still rolled, his gaze full of mockery, as if ridiculing the deities’ uselessness.

The chief official could only repeat in frustration: “What should we do! What should we do!”

He had lived for over a hundred thousand years, and this was the first time he’d encountered a demon that couldn’t be killed no matter what. What kind of monster was this?

Shao Yi rubbed his fingertips together, and a cluster of bright red Phoenix Nirvana Fire appeared. He gazed at it intently for a long time, gradually breaking out in a sweat on his forehead. Finally, he sighed: “No good. Extracting the regeneration divine power is too taxing. I can’t summon the fire of destruction today.”

“Let me try.”

Zhi Xi flicked her wrist, and the transparent soft sword coiled like a silver dragon. Coming from a family of divine realm warriors, her movements were extremely agile. With a flash of silver light, that locust demon was instantly cut into fragments. However, very quickly, the frozen body fragments attracted each other like magnets, slowly adhering back together. The mocking color in the locust demon’s eyes grew even thicker.

Shao Yi turned his head toward Qing Yan with an ambiguous smile: “Xiaolong Jun, as the saying goes, help should go all the way. I know you must have a method to deal with him. Why not eliminate this hidden danger?”

Qing Yan slowly opened his mouth: “I came down to the lower realm this time only to search for my younger sister. Whether he’s killed or not has nothing whatsoever to do with me.”

He turned and walked toward Xuan Yi, bent down to pick her up, and actually planned to just leave like this.