From within the ancient architectural complex beneath the volcano, a divine rainbow shot into the sky, its brilliant radiance illuminating the night as it streaked toward the mountain peak where Ye Fan stood. He was immediately startled, fearing that some powerful expert had discovered him. He held his breath and pressed himself behind a massive boulder, not daring to move.
Whoosh!
The divine rainbow swept down, and Elder Wu Qingfeng descended onto the mountain, placing Pang Bo in a concealed location before shooting back into the sky to regroup with the others as they advanced toward the volcano together.
Ye Fan stepped out from behind the boulder and quickly made his way over. At this moment, Pang Bo had been sealed by several elders of the Lingxu Cave Heaven. His eyes were tightly shut, his body rigid and immobile, enveloped by a faint blue-green aura. His complexion was deeply abnormal, and beneath the surface of his skin, dim azure-green streaks of light flowed slowly.
“What exactly has entered his body?” Ye Fan didn’t dare to touch Pang Bo carelessly — after all, the seals placed by several elders still pulsed with divine power.
At the volcano’s crater, the atmosphere had grown extremely tense. Human cultivators and demon clan members stood in a standoff, blades drawn on both sides, neither yielding an inch. A great battle was on the verge of erupting.
An ancient flood dragon, its entire body gleaming with crimson scales, stood upright like a blood-red great wall, radiating an earth-shattering sense of power. It bellowed, “People of Lingxu Cave Heaven — do you truly wish to shatter centuries of peace and wage war against us?!”
The sect master of Lingxu Cave Heaven argued with unwavering conviction, “The sacred treasure of the Eastern Desolation’s human race must be reclaimed. How could we allow it to fall into the hands of the demon clan? As for the most vital volume of the immortal scripture, the Dao Sutra — it must be brought back into the light. Having vanished from the Eastern Desolation for tens of thousands of years, it should rightfully return to the possession of the human race.”
The demon clan maiden with a pair of golden wings was beautiful and captivating, her voice melodious yet magnetic — but her words were laced with dominance and killing intent. “This is the burial mound of our demon clan’s Great Emperor. And yet you drag in talk of human sacred treasures and the Dao Sutra — it’s nothing but a pretense to plunder the Emperor’s tomb. If you truly wish to fight, come forward!”
The sect master of Lingxu Cave Heaven showed no weakness, his stance equally unyielding. “Whether or not it is so, we will know once we open the ancient hall. If neither the Eastern Desolation’s sacred treasure nor the Dao Sutra is found within, we will immediately prostrate ourselves in apology and accept whatever punishment you see fit. But if those two things are there, you allow us to take them away — how is that? This way, a battle is avoided, and both sides stand to benefit.”
The giant standing three meters tall with two horns atop his head spoke in a voice like a bronze bell reverberating through the air, making ears ring and throb. “If those sacred treasures and the Dao Sutra aren’t found, you’ll certainly resort to sophistry — insisting that whatever relics the Demon Emperor left behind are exactly those two things. I know your kind all too well. Calling a stag a horse, confusing right and wrong, distorting truth — these are your specialties. The Demon Emperor’s tomb will not be desecrated by the likes of you!”
The tension mounted with every passing moment. Neither side would budge even half a step, and an all-out battle seemed inevitable.
“You Great Demons have gone too far! Today, no matter what, we will reclaim the sacred relics that belong to the Eastern Desolation’s human race!” The sect master of Lingxu Cave Heaven spoke with absolute resolve, once again stepping forward.
“You forced our hand!” The beautiful maiden with her mane of golden hair spread her wings wide. Tens of thousands of golden divine feathers shot forth like arrows of gilded light, piercing straight toward the sect master of Lingxu Cave Heaven.
The sect master swept his wide sleeves, and a haze of faint purple qi billowed outward. Like a raging sea surging in turmoil, the purple mist rose up and blocked the endless rain of divine feathers.
“Kill!” The demon clan maiden’s voice was ice-cold. Divine radiance erupted from her body as golden feathers blanketed the sky — dense, dazzling, their brilliant light merging into a golden celestial net that blotted out the heavens. The purple mist was scattered, and the sect master of Lingxu Cave Heaven was swallowed beneath it.
From within the sect master’s body, a purple bronze cauldron surged forth. Purple qi shot toward the heavens as radiance burst in all directions — purple divine light trembled outward in waves, shattering every single golden feather. With a thunderous boom, they dissolved into a sky full of golden light, forming a blazing torrent of golden energy, blindingly brilliant.
The golden-haired maiden’s expression was glacial. She spread her wings, and a pair of golden divine swords flew out, their entire forms crystalline and resplendent. Swirling golden light burned like roaring flames as the blades slashed toward the sect master of Lingxu Cave Heaven.
The sect master extended his hand and gently pointed. The purple bronze cauldron beside him instantly shot into the sky, unleashing an endless torrent of purple divine fire that engulfed both golden swords, scorching them fiercely — an attempt to smelt them on the spot.
Boom!
The two divine swords moved like twin bolts of lightning, surging through the purple-lit sky. The very heavens trembled slightly with each collision.
“Kill!”
“Hold them back!”
At that very moment, the other Great Demons all made their move. Demonic energy shot into the heavens, killing intent pierced the sky, and demonic power surged like a vast ocean swelling with towering waves, sweeping across the high altitude.
At the same time, the four Supreme Elders of Lingxu Cave Heaven stepped forward as well. The wellspring of divine power within their Bitter Seas surged and boiled, their bodies radiating spectacular divine light that illuminated the entire sky, grinding apart every wave of demonic energy that rushed toward them. Four mighty warriors struck simultaneously.
Demonic energy crisscrossed the air, divine radiance shot into the heavens, and the few Great Demons clashed repeatedly with the human powerhouses. Brilliant light erupted in all directions, and countless weapons danced through the sky, turning the night as bright as day.
Divine drums, immortal lanterns, bronze cauldrons, golden swords, Eight Trigrams mirrors, blood sabers, flood dragon scale blades — all of them seemed alive, swallowing and releasing divine light, crowding together in relentless collision. The clanging never ceased; each clash was a contest of divine power that made even the sky tremble faintly.
Meanwhile, the lightning bird — its body blazing with golden light and crackling electricity — along with the silver centipede that appeared cast from molten silver and other supremely fierce beasts had also arrived at the volcano’s crater. At the same time, Elder Wu Qingfeng and the other elders of Lingxu Cave Heaven arrived from the opposite side, facing off against these savage creatures. Their great battle was about to begin as well.
In the distance, Ye Fan could not calm his heart. Watching from afar, the battle raging above the volcano’s crater left him dizzy with awe and yearning.
It would be impossible to say Ye Fan had no designs on the Demon Emperor’s burial mound — he did, only he lacked the power to act on them. What he desperately wanted was that volume of the Dao Sutra. As an immortal scripture renowned throughout the Eastern Desolation, even the mightiest of demon clan emperors had treasured it. It was certain to be extraordinary — and it was precisely what he urgently needed right now, for he lacked any cultivation methods for the stages ahead.
As for the so-called sacred treasure of the Eastern Desolation’s human race, Ye Fan knew nothing about it and felt no particular pull toward it. Only the Dao Sutra filled him with boundless longing.
Though he had obtained an ancient scripture within the Ancient Bronze Coffin, no matter how he studied it, the hundreds of ancient characters carved into his heart did not seem to describe specific cultivation methods. They read more like a grand overview — something he had no hope of comprehending in its entirety at his current level.
The Dao Sutra was renowned throughout the world as a legendary immortal scripture. Over tens of thousands of years, only a handful of ancient scriptures across the vast expanse of the Eastern Desolation could be mentioned in the same breath — yet none had ever fully surpassed it. It contained profound and wondrous cultivation methods: from refining the Wheel of Life and opening the Bitter Sea, to connecting the Divine Bridge between Heaven and Earth, reaching the far shore, and entering the next hidden cultivation realm within the body — all were explained in meticulous detail. It was the supreme immortal scripture Ye Fan so urgently needed.
Thoom… thoom… thoom…
Just then, a series of dull, heavy sounds rang out — like a tremendous heart beating violently. Five-colored divine light shot from the crater into the heavens, scattering in all directions the surging demonic energy and vast divine power fluctuations that filled the sky.
The crimson-red magma boiled and churned, flowing steadily over the rim of the crater and turning half the sky a deep scarlet. The majestic ancient hall rose and sank within the lava, trembling with each pulse — gleaming and translucent, radiating the breath of countless ages.
Boom!
With one final earth-shaking tremor, the ancient hall slowly rose from within the magma. Countless complex and abstruse demon patterns flickered across its surface, but they could no longer bind it — they let it ascend freely.
Rumble… rumble… rumble!
The volcano shook. The majestic ancient hall broke free from the crater, its blinding radiance illuminating the entire ancient land as though it were broad daylight. Every star in the sky dimmed in its presence, five-colored divine light swirling all around it.
The Great Demons and the powerhouses of Lingxu Cave Heaven immediately ceased their fighting, all of them surging toward the majestic ancient hall. Each wanted to be the first to force open its doors — to enter and seize the Demon Emperor’s inheritance and the divine treasury within.