From the stone platform’s layout and patterns, this was clearly some kind of altar.

Yao Mengying and eight black-robed figures were arranged in an orderly manner, all praying devoutly, obviously activating some kind of ritual.

However.

A problem had occurred.

There should have been ten positions, but they were always missing one!

As a result, after the altar ritual began, it couldn’t fully merge, and the situation fell into a stalemate.

If it were just this, there wouldn’t be much of a problem, but Yao Mengying’s vital signs were continuously declining, which proved that if they couldn’t form a group of ten, her life would be endangered.

Jun Changxiao panicked.

He wanted to pull his disciple out, but once the ritual started, he couldn’t touch her at all, so in the end, with no other choice, he could only stride forward onto the empty position to act as the tenth Innate Demon Body.

This operation made the system’s scalp tingle, though it had no scalp.

“Have you lost your mind!”

It roared: “If more serious consequences appear, it won’t just implicate Yao Mengying, it might involve you too!”

Standing within the pattern with his back to the camera, Jun Changxiao said seriously: “If I can’t even save my own disciple, am I still fit to be the Sect Master of Eternal Ancient Sect?”

“Whoosh!”

“Whoosh whoosh!”

The flowing light with nowhere to settle, after confirming the tenth person had entered, regardless of whether they matched the other nine, frantically surged forward, instantly completely enveloping Jun Changxiao’s body.

At that moment, Dog Sheng’s back was highlighted infinitely large by the radiance, inevitably making people feel strong respect, even the impulse to shout “awesome.”

“Buzz buzz buzz!”

The black flowing light, like swimming serpents, continuously spread along his legs and wrists until it completely enveloped and permeated his entire body.

At the same time, after Jun Changxiao acted as the tenth person, the light at his feet that had been flashing like an alarm gradually entered a stable state, seemingly indicating that someone had filled the vacancy and the ritual could continue.

“Yao Mengying’s vital signs are recovering.”

The system’s voice rang in his ear, but Jun Changxiao had no time to listen, because his body had already been infused with large amounts of demonic energy!

He had experienced sitting on the Demon Ancestor’s throne in the Demon Origin Land before. Now here it was again, still the same taste, still the same recipe—that feeling was simply too refreshing!

“Sigh.”

The system sighed: “Good luck to you then.”

It didn’t presume to activate crisis relief mode, after all, the host valued the three attributes too much. If they all cleared to zero this time, who knows, he might strangle himself to death again.

“Huff huff!”

More and more demonic energy poured into Jun Changxiao’s body. He didn’t scream miserably, but clenched his fists and gritted his teeth to endure, obviously wanting to fully display his “my fate is mine to control, not heaven’s” character.

“Sect Master…”

Suddenly, Yao Mengying’s voice came.

She still stood in the pattern, her eyes gradually becoming clear. She had obviously regained consciousness, but with the ritual fully activated and a barrier surrounding her, she simply couldn’t break free.

As for the other eight people, they also regained their awareness. They lifted their heads one after another—four men and four women, some about fifty or sixty years old, some about twenty or thirty.

Like Yao Mengying, they had all inherited the Innate Demon Body and had all ascended from the lower realm. Although there was a time difference, today they all had to experience the same thing—being sacrificed in a special way.

“Swish!”

“Swish!”

Just then, something seemed to be extracted from everyone’s bodies, transforming into flowing light that flew toward the sky above, then quickly gathered together to form an existence similar to an embryo.

“Sect Master…”

Yao Mengying said painfully: “My Innate Holy Demon Body is being extracted…”

Not just her.

The other eight also lost theirs.

However, throughout this entire process, Jun Changxiao didn’t speak, because the degree of demonic energy disturbance was too intense, making his face gradually become ferocious. Moreover, they seemed to be searching for something, but yet… couldn’t find it.

What were they searching for?

The Innate Demon Body.

The reason they couldn’t find it was simple: this guy didn’t have one at all!

No choice.

Since it had already started, since it was already operating, they couldn’t very well return empty-handed, right?

So the demonic energy gathered in Dog Sheng’s body could only continue searching, finally locking onto the evil energy within his dantian.

“Dad!”

“I’m going out with them!”

“Swish!”

Little Evil shouted once, then, pulled by the demonic energy, transformed into flowing light and flew upward, quickly merging with the other nine clusters of black energy.

The fusion process was somewhat inharmonious, because aside from Yao Mengying’s constitution accepting it, the other eight expressed rejection, even looking down on it from the bottom of their hearts. This guy isn’t one of us, what’s he doing coming to join the fun?

Won’t acknowledge it?

No problem, just scare them into submission!

Little Evil explosively released evil energy, enveloping the eight attributes that didn’t accept him, suppressing them with the aura of “I’ve said my piece, who agrees, who objects.”

The eight constitutional attributes weren’t human, so naturally they had no backbone. Realizing this foreign attribute was somewhat strong, they immediately backed down and obediently merged with it.

Truly worthy of being the biological son born in Jun Changxiao’s body, perfectly inheriting the arrogance a annual VIP user should have!

“Whoosh!”

“Whoosh!”

Nine constitutional attributes and one evil spirit attribute successfully merged, beginning to slowly spread, slowly gathering into a vortex.

“Swish swish swish!”

In an instant, Jun Changxiao and Yao Mengying and the others on the altar transformed into flowing light and merged into it.

“Step! Step! Step!”

Just then, quite a few black-robed masked figures rushed out from the distant dark area. From the aura they emitted, their strength was considerable—they should be Burial Moon Pavilion’s elite.

“It’s open!”

The lead black-robed martial artist said excitedly: “The entrance to Demon Delusion Domain has finally opened!”

Though their faces couldn’t be seen, from the luster flashing in their eyes, one could judge they were extremely excited at this moment.

“The Ten Great Immortal Sects would never imagine that our ancestor divided the Innate Demon Body into ten portions and sent them to the lower mortal realm. The true purpose wasn’t to use them for resurrection, but to open the Demon Delusion Domain that has been sealed for a hundred thousand years!”

“Hahaha!”

Unrestrained laughter rang out in the altar.

“Swish!”

Suddenly, a flowing light flew from the distance, dragging a black-robed person in its hand. Landing before the altar, it said in annoyance: “Damn, had a little accident in the middle, delayed quite a bit of time. Hope I didn’t miss the ritual…”

Speaking to here, seeing the vortex gathering above, his gaze immediately revealed disbelief.

“Grand Protector, you…”

The black-robed martial artist who had been laughing maniacally earlier was also stunned.

The next second.

The two said in unison: “What’s going on here?”

…

The black-robed martial artist who just arrived was a Burial Moon Pavilion protector, also one of the people in charge of this altar ritual’s activation. His main task was to bring the tenth Innate Demon Body back on time, but an accident on the road delayed quite a bit of time.

So.

Here’s the problem!

If the person hadn’t arrived, how did the ritual proceed?

Even if some error occurred and it started early, that could be understood, but without the tenth Innate Demon Body in position, how did the vortex appear?

“What on earth is going on!”

The Grand Protector wore no mask. He was an old man about seventy years of age, and his facial expression had now completely collapsed.

It required ten Innate Demon Bodies to activate. Now with one missing, it actually successfully opened the vortex—completely unreasonable, completely not following the script!

Just go in and look, wouldn’t they know?

Unfortunately, they couldn’t enter, because this vortex’s appearance meant only those who activated it and possessed the Innate Demon Body had the qualification to enter.

“No! Something’s wrong!”

The Grand Protector calmed down, his expression grave: “Someone must have fraudulently replaced one and mixed in!”

“If a non-Innate constitution inheritor goes in, will there be problems?” the black-robed martial artist said with considerable worry.

“There shouldn’t be.”

The Grand Protector guessed: “To be able to merge with nine Innate Demon Bodies and successfully activate the vortex leading to Demon Delusion Domain, perhaps they’re one of our own.”

“That’s good then, that’s good.”

—