Yes, despair.

At this moment, Bai Niansheng had only one thought in his mind: not surprise at being ambushed, but... endless despair. He could sense, just from the aura, that he couldn't withstand the blow.

Because things had happened too quickly, the demon saints of Southern Border hadn't anticipated an ambush by the Shu Mountain within the Demon Suppression Tower. They couldn't react in time and could only watch helplessly as Bai Niansheng froze in place.

The attack came so swiftly, yet in Bai Niansheng's eyes, it was also incredibly slow, as if it were still far away.

In that moment between life and death, he thought of many things: his birth, his growth, his gradual rise from an unimportant mixed-blood descendant of the Nine-Tailed Fox Clan to a vital demon saint.

He thought of the hardships he had endured, and also of a human woman he had abducted in the Southern Border. He wore Confucian robes and studied the scriptures because of her influence.

Unfortunately, the lifespan disparity between the demon and human races was vast. Even with all the spiritual treasures he used, her cultivation only reached the Tongxuan realm of humans.

And then, he watched her gradually die...

Bai Niansheng didn't possess Chen Yuan's astonishing ability to凝固虚空(凝固虚空：immobilize space), and after being illuminated by the Tongtian Mirror, he had no power to resist. He watched helplessly as the white light approached.

It was... so dazzling.

"Boom!"

A thunderous roar echoed through the heavens and the earth, instantly collapsing thousands of feet of space. Terrifying aftershocks, like tidal waves, swept in all directions.

Bai Niansheng, located in the center, exploded into a cloud of blood mist.

Utterly fallen!

Zhao Danqing was already a figure at the level of a peerless True Lord, and he had also activated the Biyou Palace's supreme treasure, the Tongtian Mirror. It was reasonable and expected for a full-force strike to cause the fall of a demon saint.

Because this was Chen Yuan and the others' plan before the battle.

They knew that the demon clan's attack this time would be powerful and that they needed to use unorthodox tactics to repel them without relying on Shu Mountain's deepest resources.

And the most suitable person was Zhao Danqing.

As the Palace Master of Biyou Palace, his strength was already at the peak. Although he ranked eleventh on the Heaven's List, that was mainly because he had few combat records. His true strength was actually very high.

In other words, the leaders of the top ten immortal sects might have slight differences in strength, but relying on their sect-guarding immortal weapons, they could still unleash unparalleled power.

It was normal for him to possess the strength of a peerless True Lord.

Bai Niansheng died quickly. The demon saints in the void only had time to turn their heads. They were unable to provide assistance and witnessed the moment Bai Niansheng exploded into blood mist.

Bai Niansheng became the first demon saint to fall since the start of the battle!

The strength of both sides immediately began to return to normal.

At the instant of Bai Niansheng's death, the void above the entire Shu Mountain seemed to freeze completely. Everyone's gazes shifted towards that point.

Of course, the expressions in the eyes of the two factions were different. The demons were furious and shocked, while the Shu Mountain side breathed a sigh of relief.

Despite Bai Niansheng's average strength, he was still a genuine demon saint. Entering any battlefield would have changed the current situation.

The Three Absolutes Sword Formation of Yang Xu, Zhen Xu, and Shen Xu could only trap a demon saint of average strength. Another one would break the formation. And Chen Yuan, needless to say, was already at a disadvantage under the combined attack of Prince Zhennan, Nangong Lie, and a demon saint from the Xuantian Spider Clan. … It could be said that Bai Niansheng's death directly changed the battle.

After the silence came the fury of the demon saints.

"Damn it!"

"Roar!"

"There was another hidden powerhouse."

"Saint Bai!"

Howls erupted from the mouths of the demon saints, accompanied by roars of rage. They were incredibly angry, feeling like they had been tricked.

"Ling Xu, did you know we were coming all along!"

The pupils of the Soul-Devouring Demon Saint contracted. His mountain-sized body rose and fell, and terrifying demon qi rapidly dissipated as he stared fixedly at True Lord Ling Xu before him.

The Executing Immortal Sword swept away the power of the Demon Emperor Bell. Ling Xu said calmly:

"Dare to cause trouble in Shu Mountain. Today, you will all be left here permanently."

"Arrogant!"

The Soul-Devouring Demon Saint was furious. A tiger's roar exploded, and the heaven and earth's essence qi quickly condensed with the demon qi, surrounding the Demon Emperor Bell. A punch, like a divine pillar, struck the Demon Emperor Bell directly.

First, there was an explosive bell sound. Then, the Demon Emperor Bell rapidly pressed down on True Lord Ling Xu, carrying terrifying pressure. If Ling Xu was trapped inside the bell...

He would have no escape.

However, he was not stupid. Although he hadn't faced the Demon Emperor Bell often, he knew the terror of immortal weapons. If the Executing Immortal Sword was the ultimate sharpness...

Then, the Demon Emperor Bell, which had been forged with all the power of the Crimson Nether Blood Tiger clan, was the ultimate suppression force.

The sword emerged into the sky, and the essence qi within thousands of feet of space was instantly drained. His sharp sword intent erupted directly, striking the Demon Emperor Bell. Amidst the tremors, he also quickly retreated.

"Moo!"

A bull's bellow echoed. The fleshly body of the Azure Demon Bull clan's demon saint instantly swelled, ballooning to hundreds of feet. The enormous body was no different from a high mountain.

Jiang He's sword qi couldn't even break through his defenses!

"These sword qi are just tickling," the Bull Demon Saint's voice rumbled from within, like thunder. His size was the largest among those present.

Jiang He ignored him, unaffected. He merely moved his lips slightly and uttered a few words:

"Sword Three, Azure Fall!"

In an instant, an incomparably sharp sword qi fell with a bang. The terrifying sword light illuminated the heavens and the earth. At this moment, there was only the sword between heaven and earth.

The Bull Demon Saint felt the sharpness and was shocked. He immediately retreated, but his enormous body was already locked on and couldn't avoid it.

The sword light instantly landed on his head. However, he was also extraordinary. He immediately used his means to defend, and two attacks exploded directly in front of him.

A fragment of sword light, as if prepared long ago, struck his head directly.

"Swish!"

The sword light passed by. The Bull Demon Saint turned his head, but it still landed on one of his horns. The horn, as sturdy as a divine weapon, was directly削落(削落: shaved off) by the sword light.

The Bull Demon Saint was immediately enraged and roared. His body, hundreds of feet tall, immediately crashed down on Jiang He.

"You three want to stop me? You're courting death." The Sky Peng Demon Saint, trapped by the Three Absolutes Sword Formation, sneered and immediately used his innate divine ability.

Sky Peng Spreads its Wings!

Like a roc, he leaped up and soared into the sky.

As long as he escaped the encirclement of the sword formation, dealing with the combined forces of the three would be much simpler. … Zhen Xu, Yang Xu, and the other Shu Mountain elders also knew the danger at this moment. They couldn't afford to be a drag on the hard-earned even footing. They immediately exchanged glances.

Then, they directly unleashed their power, burning their foundations. They might be able to recover if it was short, but if it was long, there would be no hope of stepping into the Yang God realm.

But this wasn't the time to consider so much. Three rays of spiritual light flew out of their spiritual platforms and transformed into three ethereal spiritual swords in the void. They instantly landed on the Sky Peng Demon Saint.

"Ah! Damn it!"

The Sky Peng Demon Saint's demon body was struck, and the Sky Peng's momentum was interrupted. He fell from the void, and several Sky Peng feathers fell. He glared fiercely at the three.

"You three are courting death!"

The Sky Peng roared, completely enraged, and focused all his attention on the three Shu Mountain elders.

"Roar!"

The Gibbon Demon Saint beat his chest and roared, each punch shaking the void. His eyes flashed with fierce light, and a dense baleful aura erupted from his body, causing his bright fur to stand on end.

Such a terrifying physical body shook the Qing Xu True Lord until the corners of his mouth turned red. Clearly, if these demon saints got close, even the immortals would be unable to save him.

Although Yang God True Lords could detach from the restraints of the physical body, there was still a connection. Once the physical body was destroyed, their combat power would also rapidly plummet.

Only burning the primordial spirit would unleash a fatal blow.

But that was the last resort.

Facing the Gibbon Demon Saint's fierce attacks, the Qing Xu Taoist wasn't afraid. He wiped the blood from the corners of his mouth, and his eyes flashed with a crazed look.

It seemed that only this situation could arouse his ferocity.

He immediately transformed into a sword, combining man and sword, and mobilized endless sharpness to directly meet the Gibbon Demon Saint, instantly breaking through his protective light and piercing his flesh.

Not a sword through the chest, but a sword through the arm, leaving behind drops of demon saint blood.

Sound waves exploded, shocking Qing Xu's primordial spirit and causing him to quickly avoid a fatal attack. Beside him, a Shu Mountain peak was instantly blasted apart.

It crushed countless palaces and halls.

The indiscriminate bombardment of the demon saints had a huge impact, like meteorites falling. It was heart-wrenching, with earth tremors and 地龙翻滚(地龙翻滚: earthquake). Cracks appeared on the ground.

That was the result of directly shattering the Shu Mountain's grand formation. If Shu Mountain didn't have a sturdy formation, the scene would have been even more tragic, and Shu Mountain might have been razed to the ground.

"All humans deserve to die!"

The Gibbon Demon Saint locked onto the Qing Xu Taoist and spat out a golden light, containing extreme danger. Qing Xu was instantly shocked and used his divine sword as his heart, mobilizing the essence qi of heaven and earth to block it.

"Bang!"

All means shattered, and Qing Xu was directly blasted away. The robes on his body became tattered, but he didn't fall.

On the contrary, his fighting spirit continued to rise.

The Sword Pavilion Sect Master was evenly matched. Waves of sword qi, like ten thousand swords returning to their origin, bombarded another demon saint from the Crimson Nether Blood Tiger clan. Although he didn't gain the upper hand, he didn't lose either.

The opponent couldn't catch his figure at all. As far as the eye could see, there was only sword qi.

"What kind of ability is it to keep dodging? Doesn't your Shu Mountain claim to have invincible sword immortals? Why do you only dare to flee and not fight? If you don't dare to fight, then get out of here," the demon saint wanted to provoke the Sword Pavilion Sect Master and began to mock. …"You barbaric demons drink blood and eat raw meat, that's why you're like this. We naturally won't clash head-on. If you're so strong, why are you still avoiding the sword qi?"

"Hmph, sharp tongue!"

The demon saint couldn't win against the Sword Pavilion Sect Master. His body transformed into a phantom and scattered between heaven and earth. But whenever his killing intent appeared, the other party could always predict it in advance and dodge.

Overall, although Bai Niansheng had been killed and the number of demon saints and True Lords was now equal, the Shu Mountain side was still at a disadvantage.

Now, everyone had become serious. As long as they could kill two enemy powerhouses, they could change the direction of the battle. Everyone began to gradually unleash their trump cards.

On the other side, after killing Bai Niansheng, Zhao Danqing, the Biyou Palace Master, didn't bother with his corpse. Even if there was a demon soul, it would have been annihilated by that attack.

That was the power of an immortal weapon.

One of the reasons why Biyou Palace could stand between heaven and earth was because it relied on the Tongtian Divine Mirror. When it invaded the Southern Border five hundred years ago, it unleashed its true power in the hands of an immortal.

Almost every mirror shot caused the world to fall silent.

Even demon gods found it difficult to resist the Tongtian Mirror's power.

Let alone a mere Nine-Tailed Fox who had just entered the demon saint realm. Even without a fully charged attack, he was confident that he could defeat or even kill him in a short time.

And the opponent he was aiming for was none other than Prince Zhennan, Nangong Lie. After all, the situation here was the most critical. If he didn't come out, Chen Yuan wouldn't be able to hold on.

The Tongtian Mirror shone brightly, aiming at Nangong Lie. Endless essence qi swept out, and Nangong Lie, as the target, felt an extreme killing intent and immediately turned his body to avoid the blow.

His face was extremely gloomy. He glanced at the direction of the Demon Suppression Tower and had a premonition of something bad.

He knew Zhao Danqing's identity and had met him before. He understood his strength. Him being hidden in the Demon Suppression Tower meant that the demons inside the tower had basically lost their power to resist.

In that case, where would his demon god flower be?

How could he not be furious at the destruction of his goal?

He had agreed to collude with the demon clan, and the reward was the demon god flower. He also wanted to use it to break through the perfection of his artistic conception, comprehend the rules, and then become an immortal ancestor, swallowing the three southern prefectures and achieving great things.

Now... it was gone!

"Where is the demon god flower?"

Nangong Lie looked at Zhao Danqing and said coldly.

But it was Chen Yuan who answered him.

With Prince Zhennan, Nangong Lie, forced back, Chen Yuan suddenly felt a lot of pressure relieved. Even though he was blasted back by Jiu Zhu, he was still mostly unharmed. He said calmly:

"It's in my belly. Come and get it!"

"You're courting death!"

A divine sword instantly appeared in Nangong Lie's hand. Artistic conception converged, locking onto Chen Yuan. But before the sword light he unleashed could reach him, it was dispelled by white light.

Zhao Danqing looked at the black-robed man before him expressionlessly and said coldly:

"Human scum, your opponent is this poor Taoist!"

Biyou Palace didn't want to get involved in the changes in the world's general trend and didn't want to collude with any power. It had a bit of the Taixu Palace and Kunlun Mountain's purity and inaction.

But that was limited to internal human disputes. No matter how much they fought, the ultimate beneficiary was still the human race. Even if it caused misery and suffering, it would still recover after hundreds of years.

…But the demon clan was different.

The two races were not only sworn enemies but also wanted to occupy the human world and become the most powerful race in the world, exterminating the other race. Once the demon clan invaded the Central Plains, all the people and martial artists would be reduced to slaves and blood food.

This was what Biyou Palace couldn't tolerate.

Even with its principle of teaching everyone regardless of their background, it couldn't allow this to happen.

Therefore, he was very disgusted with this black-robed man for helping the demon clan for his own benefit. He wanted to kill him as a warning to others.

It was also a statement from Biyou Palace.

"Zhao Danqing, you're courting death!"

Nangong Lie shouted out his identity, and his figure instantly disappeared into the void. A sword directly targeted his physical body.

Zhao Danqing was shocked. He had lived on Tongtian Island for a long time and rarely entered the human world after breaking through to the Yang God realm. He didn't expect this person to be able to directly call out his identity.

Although it might have been because of the Tongtian Mirror, it was also possible that he already knew him.

He couldn't help but wonder who this person really was.

Of course, although he was shocked, Zhao Danqing didn't panic. He took a step, aligning with the 道蕴(Dao rhythm), and instantly appeared thousands of feet away. Then, the Tongtian Mirror illuminated the sun.

An incomparably blazing solar power was gathered, and fireballs erupted from the Tongtian Mirror. Each attack was no less than a Yang God strike, shaking the entire void.

With his cultivation, fully activating the Tongtian Mirror to the peerless True Lord level would result in instant death!

"Without that scum holding me back, demon, you're definitely going to die!" Chen Yuan roared, focusing all his attention on Jiu Zhu. As long as he killed her, he might be able to reverse the situation.

He directly opened the Furnace Cave Heaven, using Samadhi True Fire to restrain her spider silk. Then, the disguised Imperial Slaughtering Saber was summoned, and the sixth-level peak-grade divine weapon also began to unleash its power.

These things seemed incredibly slow, but they all happened in the short time after Bai Niansheng's death.

Avoiding the Soul-Devouring Demon Saint's fatal attack, the Ling Xu Taoist felt cold in his heart. He moved his lips slightly, and a sound transmission instantly entered Bai Changqing's ears in the Taiji Hall:

"Changqing, open the sword formation!"

Bai Changqing, who was already incredibly excited, immediately nodded and said solemnly:

"Disciple obeys!"

Then, Bai Changqing moved his mind and activated his true core. A huge wave of essence qi instantly poured into the divine wheel in front of him. Rays of light bloomed.

The next moment, Shu Mountain, which had already been ravaged beyond recognition, lit up with rays of light from the ground, connecting with the formation eyes in the void.

In an instant, it sealed off a hundred miles around. The entire Shu Mountain was enveloped in a killing formation.

Within the Sword Tomb, endless sword qi erupted, enveloping the entire Shu Mountain, bringing with it a vast aura like the heavens collapsing, shocking all the demon saints present.

"Since we set an ambush, how could we not expect you to be able to break the formation? The Shu Mountain Slaughtering Sword Formation was set up by immortals. Since you demons have come, then stay here forever!"

Ling Xu laughed loudly.

When closing the door to beat the dog, you naturally have to close the door first!

Terrifying foundations were instantly added to him and the other four Shu Mountain elders. The three True Lords, Yang Xu, Zhen Xu, and Shen Xu, who were originally in a precarious situation, immediately began to suppress the Sky Peng Demon Saint.

"It's just a killing formation. If we kill you, we can still get out," the Soul-Devouring's expression was incredibly gloomy, but he still forced his tone, seemingly having some other means.

But this was also normal. After all, this was a human immortal sect. Without making preparations, how would they dare to come here and talk about destruction?

"Fellow Daoist, offer up the immortal weapon!"

The Soul-Devouring turned his gaze to the Azure Demon Bull who was fighting Jiang He. The other demon saints were also shocked. They didn't know that another immortal weapon had been brought.

They only knew that the Soul-Devouring had brought the Crimson Nether Blood Tiger clan's supreme treasure.

————

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