The majestic Black Mountain was like a primordial immortal demonic mountain, a supreme hell.
At the waist of the mountain, there were many strange pitch-black flower buds. There were faces growing on them, and they were all smiling strangely at everyone.
"Heehee …"
Everyone once again heard the sound of children playing. They felt their bodies tremble, and their hairs stood on end.
Outside the Black Mountain, they were already affected by these demonic flowers, and they even killed each other. Now that they were surrounded by these demonic flowers, how could they escape?
Everyone felt a chill in their hearts, as if cold water had been poured over their heads. Even their souls were trembling.
"These … these demonic flowers are looking at us, w-what do they want?" Someone's hands and feet were trembling.
"Hmph, they are mere demonic flowers without any cultivation. What's the use?" Someone said coldly.
However, although he said that, his eyes were filled with fear when he looked at the demonic flowers. He had only said those words to boost his courage.
"Brother Ye, what do you think we should do?" Xia Dingyu, Su Ling, and the others looked at Ye Xingchen, asking for his opinion.
Ye Xingchen pondered for a moment before saying, "Let's find a way out and leave the Black Mountain first."
As he spoke, he raised his hand and struck out with his palm.
The Mighty Dragon Elephant Palm was a palm power of extreme Yang. As he pushed out his palm, the Yang Qi at the mountainside was at its peak. The Yang Qi filled the air and condensed into a divine elephant and a true dragon, rushing towards the demonic flowers.
"Chi chi!"
The palm strike was like fire, and when it came into contact with the demonic flowers, they started to burn and let out miserable screams, as if their souls were suffering from the torture of the eighteen levels of hell.
"Ah …"
"Ah …"
The demonic flowers that covered the entire mountain started to burn. Those demonic flowers let out miserable screams, and the faces on the flower buds became sinister.
"These demonic flowers are actually afraid of the power of extreme Yang." Xia Dingyu's eyes flashed as he circulated the true force in his body and struck out with the Dragon Sparrow Seal.
The Dragon Sparrow Seal connected its head and tail, transforming into a huge circular seal that struck towards those demonic flowers. It shone brilliantly and looked incomparably holy.
As a prince of the Great Xia, his body was tainted with imperial qi. Right now, his martial technique was filled with imperial qi, shattering the demonic flowers into pieces. Then, after being tainted with a trace of imperial qi, they started to burn.
Just as Su Ling was about to make a move, a demonic flower suddenly appeared in front of him. However, this demonic flower wasn't black, but blood-colored, as if it was soaked in blood.
A pitiful girl's face appeared on the Blood Demon Flower. Her limpid eyes were filled with tears as she stared at Su Ling.
Instantly, Su Ling was stunned, and he couldn't help but walk towards the blood-colored flower.
The corner of the Blood Demon Flower's mouth curled into a strange smile.
Ye Xingchen was the first to notice that something was wrong with Su Ling when he saw the blood-colored demonic flower. "Evil!
He let out a loud roar, and his voice contained the sound of dragons and elephants, causing Su Ling to wake up.
"That was close. Thank you, Brother Ye, for saving me again." Su Ling flicked his finger, and a scarlet flame flew out, igniting the blood-colored demonic flower.
Ever since the blood-colored demonic flower was ignited, the pitiful face of the woman on the flower had been staring at him. Her pitiful eyes hadn't changed at all even until the flower was completely burned.
Su Ling shook his head. There was a hint of confusion in his eyes, but he soon regained his composure.
"These demonic flowers are too strange. Everyone, be careful." Su Ling reminded.
Even with his cultivation, he almost fell for it, let alone the others.
He reminded everyone, but in his mind, a miserable and pitiful face appeared, and those limpid eyes appeared.
Su Ling didn't think too much about it. He led his fellow disciples to clear the demonic flowers at the waist of the mountain.
Although these demonic flowers were very strange and could bewitch people's hearts, they couldn't resist the power of extreme yang. Very quickly, they were burned to ashes.
"Although the demonic flowers have been destroyed, this mountain is too big. The surroundings are shrouded in black fog. We will soon find a way down the mountain." Nocturne said.
After clearing the demonic flowers, they walked down the waist of the mountain. But after walking for half a day, they finally realized that they weren't going down the mountain, but up the mountain instead.
Everyone changed directions several times, but the result was the same.
Su Ling stared at the sky and said, "Maybe we can fly out."
"No, I got someone to try, but they can't fly out of the mountain. Also, the speed of flying towards the peak is too fast." Xia Dingyu had also lost confidence.
This mountain was much stranger than they had imagined. They used all kinds of methods, be it walking, flying, or using space-breaking talismans, but they couldn't leave.
"This mountain can connect to the Hell Realm. It has already formed a domain. Right now, the mountain is no longer in the shrine, but at the intersection between the shrine and the Hell Realm."
Ye Xingchen had experienced the Azure Dragon Secret Realm incident and personally saw the invasion of the Hell Realm demons, so he had a better understanding.
There was a world barrier between worlds. Especially for beings that didn't belong to the Absolute Beginning Realm and were extremely powerful, if they wanted to enter another world, they would first have to break through the world barrier.
In order to break through the world barrier, they needed to build a bridge. This mountain was a bridge that connected the Hell Realm and the shrine's small world.
"Brother Ye, what do you think we should do?" Su Ling asked.
Now, everyone treated Ye Xingchen as their pillar and leader.
Ye Xingchen used his Eye of Fate to look at the peak of the mountain. Because of the demonic Qi, he couldn't see clearly, but he could see a mysterious flower bud that was about to bloom at the top of the mountain.
Ye Xingchen knew that when the demonic flower bloomed completely, it would be the time when the bridge stabilized. At that time, demons would pass through the bridge to the Demon Mountain and then enter the shrine's small world. From there, they would enter the Great Void Grotto-Heaven and invade the Absolute Beginning Realm.
"Let's go to the peak," Ye Xingchen suddenly said.
He decided to go to the peak. First, they had to stop the flower bud from blooming, and second, they had to find a way out.
As long as they destroyed the flower bud, the Demon Mountain's domain would fail and they would have a chance to escape.
"To the peak …" Everyone pondered, not knowing if they should listen to Ye Xingchen's suggestion.
After thinking for a moment, Xia Dingyu said, "Just like Brother Ye said, let's go to the peak."
Su Ling thought for a moment and said, "There's no way out. We can only go to the peak and try."
As he spoke, a pitiful face appeared in his mind. Her eyes were as clear as autumn water.
"Strange, why do I see the face of the woman on the blood flower? Could it be that she's affected and there are repercussions?" Su Ling thought. However, he didn't take this to heart.
The journey to the peak was very smooth. No matter which direction they went, they would eventually reach the peak.
This time, they didn't stop and followed the small path all the way to the peak.
Before long, they arrived at the peak.
The peak of the Demon Mountain was very big. After they arrived, they actually didn't feel demonic qi at all. Instead, it was somewhat warm and dense spiritual qi was rising.
At the center of the peak, there was an incomparably huge golden flower bud that looked like an ancient tree. This flower bud was shining with golden light like a divine flower.
Golden threads flowed out of the golden flower bud. It was incomparably beautiful.
"En, there's a golden flower bud at the peak. Is everything we see an illusion?" Su Ling couldn't help but ask. He had already been affected by the illusion twice and couldn't help but be cautious.
Xia Dingyu and the others also had expressions of caution. They carefully looked around to determine if it was an illusion or not.
"It's not an illusion. There is indeed a golden flower bud." Ye Xingchen walked to the front of the golden flower bud and carefully examined it.
"A golden flower bud. Could it be that the extreme yin gives birth to yang? A holy flower was born in a filthy and evil environment?!" Su Ling was startled and muttered to himself.
Xia Dingyu patted him on the shoulder and said, "Brother Su, you must be careful. The golden flower bud might not be a holy flower. It could be an even more evil demonic flower, just that it has been wrapped in a golden color."
"You're right." Su Ling smiled. A strange light flashed in the depth of his eyes.
"There's only this golden flower bud that's even bigger than the ancient tree on the peak. There's nothing else. Just in case, let's destroy this flower bud first." Nocturne suggested.
Xia Dingyu nodded and said, "Blue Dome is right. This flower bud is too strange. It grows in the demonic soil and emits a holy light. This doesn't make sense. It's better to destroy it."
Hearing that they were going to destroy the golden flower bud, Su Ling's pitiful face appeared in his mind. He was extremely unwilling and hurriedly said, "Brother Blue Dome, Brother Xia, don't be in such a hurry. There have been cases of holy flowers being born in the demonic soil in the Xuanyu territory. We should find out the origin of this golden flower bud first before dealing with it. If it turns out to be a holy flower, wouldn't we be missing out on a great opportunity?"
Su Ling's words tempted his senior and junior brothers. Xia Dingyu and the others were also hesitant.
Seeing that Xia Dingyu and the others were hesitating, Su Ling smiled and said, "I'm sure everyone understands the value of a holy flower. Don't be fooled by our numbers. This holy flower is enough to transform us, increase our potential, and improve our talents."
"Yes, Brother Su is right. Let's find out its origin first." Nocturne was tempted.
Xia Dingyu was a little hesitant. He looked at Ye Xingchen and said, "Brother Ye, what do you think?"
Ye Xingchen stood under the golden flower bud with his hands behind his back. He carefully looked at the flower bud and thought about how to destroy it.
The more he looked, the more shocked he became.
Others might not be able to see the true appearance of the golden flower bud, but with his Eye of Providence, he could see it clearly.
In his vision, there were golden threads in the golden flower bud. They flowed through the stem and into the ground, connecting to the Hell Realm.
Underground, an incomparably huge array was operating. Wisps of refined demonic Qi turned into golden threads and flowed into the flower bud. The flower bud shone brightly inside and the petals shook, almost blooming.
Ye Xingchen guessed in his heart. In order to connect the two realms, the Hell Realm had spent a lot of effort and resources.
They first sent the Demon Mountain over. Then, they used the Demon Mountain as a huge array to devour the power of the strange beasts in the temple and nurture this golden flower bud. Then, the golden flower bud absorbed the refined demonic Qi and stored energy.
When the golden flower bud completely bloomed, it meant that the energy was full. The Demon Saint of the Hell Realm would then split a wisp of his divine sense to pass through the passage between the two realms. After that, the divine sense would be cleansed by the array and the energy in the flower bud would be used to form a new body.
When Ye Xingchen heard Xia Dingyu's question, he retracted his gaze and said, "This golden flower bud isn't a saint flower. It's a demon flower. If we let it bloom, demons will descend. At that time, none of us will be a match for them."
"So, we need to destroy this flower bud as soon as possible."
When Ye Xingchen said this, the others hesitated. They believed Ye Xingchen's words, but they still had some hope in their hearts. They hoped that this was a saint flower.
Su Ling's eyes shone with a blood-red light. He didn't know what was going on. He smiled and said, "Brother Ye, you're too alarmist. What you said is just a guess. If this is a saint flower, it won't destroy everyone's fortuitous encounter. I think we should let this flower bloom first."
Su Ling's words received the approval of everyone.
"Brother Ye, although you saved us before, we should listen to senior brother Su this time around!"
"That's right, if the saint flower is destroyed, wouldn't we have missed out on a great opportunity? We would regret it for the rest of our lives."
"That's right, let's wait for the golden flower bud to bloom first."
"…"
Ye Xingchen shook his head. These people were all blinded by the saint flower. Their greed won over their rationality.
Think about it, the Hell Realm spent so many resources and consumed so much energy just to nurture a saint flower in the Devil Mountain.
All of this was an illusion. Sadly, everyone was fooled by it.
In their hearts, they were thinking what if it was true?
Xia Dingyu hesitated, "Brother Ye, Brother Su's words aren't unreasonable. Or …"
Ye Xingchen interrupted Xia Dingyu's words. His gaze landed on Su Ling, "Brother Xia, look at Su Ling's eyes first. He has already been fooled."
At this moment, Su Ling's eyes turned blood-red. A beautiful face appeared. It was actually the face that appeared on the blood flower at the waist of the mountain.
"Ah, senior brother, what are you doing?"
"Junior brother, what's wrong?"
When Xia Dingyu's gaze landed on Su Ling, he only saw Su Ling's silhouette flashing as he attacked the disciples behind him.
He slammed out with his palm, killing several disciples. Fresh blood seeped into the ground and the corpses of those disciples were instantly sucked dry, turning into dust.
Su Ling cackled, "The grand formation is still too slow. Since you guys want the saint flower, then turn into energy to nurture it!"
"Not good, that blood flower actually contained a strand of demonic will. It has already taken control of Su Ling." Xia Dingyu spoke, hurriedly blocking Su Ling.
"Wrong, it didn't take control of Su Ling. It completely ate his soul and turned him into its avatar." Under Ye Xingchen's gaze, Su Ling's flesh and blood kept squirming, his meridians and organs gradually moved.
His body also gradually transformed into a woman, finally turning into a beautiful woman in blood-red robes.
The blood-red robed woman's beautiful face revealed a trace of misery, causing people to feel pity for her. However, her eyes were incomparably cold.
"You guys discovered it too late. Lord Maha is about to descend. This world will transform into an eternal devil domain." The blood-red robed woman's cold voice rang out.
"RUMBLE!"
The golden flower finally bloomed after absorbing enough energy.
Golden petals danced in the air, shining with resplendent light. In the middle of the golden flower, a golden-haired woman could be seen lying there.
At this moment, this golden-haired woman slowly opened her eyes. An unprecedented pressure gushed forth from her, causing the entire devil mountain to tremble. This bridge seemed to be on the verge of collapsing.