Chapter 178 Demon Mountains

Gleaming spear slays evil, felling mountains and destroying temples. Lady Silver Bottle purged the Jizhi Tuo Demon Mother and her fifty demon sons, a bolt of azure Heavenly Fire incinerating the residence of this Huaguang Great Emperor's mother. Yet, after the destroyed temple, though appearing in the wilderness, it was not Phoenix Mountain.

As if through layers of barriers, blocking the path forward, Lady Silver Bottle had no turning back, she could only move forward.

"As long as I vigorously slay demons, the person behind the scenes will naturally appear. Everything is within the Great Emperor's calculations."

The mountains emitted a wailing sound, transforming into black mud.

Lady Silver Bottle's willow eyebrows slightly arched.

Black mountains, black mud, were precisely the scenes she had witnessed the last time she came here to slay demons.

"So this kind of black mountain is not the original appearance of Phoenix Mountain, but a state of internal demon mountains manifested externally. By chance, I even killed many of these demon mountains..."

"Hmm, this mountain nurtures demons... perhaps?"

Lady Silver Bottle suddenly felt that the mountain was not quite right. She tried to fly up, but found it very difficult. The demonic energy here was dense, even more ferocious and strange than the last time it appeared in the outside world. She climbed to a high place in the mountain and looked into the distance, only to feel a sudden sense of terror.

Dense and numerous, all black mountain peaks.

More specifically, these were like graves, and within each black grave mountain, there should be a demonic corpse.

What exactly was this place?

"Is this a boundary land? But how can a boundary land be so vast!"

Boundary lands were places opened up by powerful cultivators, taking a portion of the heavens and earth from the real world's yang realm and refining it into something similar to a small world. This was not a particularly profound technique, and in ancient times it was called a blessed land grotto-heaven.

Because the boundary land needed to rely on the real human world for existence, the small portion of heaven and earth that could be taken was also limited in scope. It was impossible to expand it infinitely. This was not the ability to create a small world or open up one's own realm, but merely a kind of "borrowing" approach.

At this moment, the demon mountain behind her began to shatter, and after the mountain collapsed, a temple appeared.

A demon temple.

Lady Silver Bottle understood, looking at the demon temple that appeared in the mountain collapse, she finally understood that the place where she was just now was inside the demon mountain.

Without saying a word, she rushed into the temple. Seated above was a demon, appearing as a green-robed woman, with two horns on her head, sharp teeth and claws, holding two iron fans.

"Rakshasi!"

Among the Rakshasa, males are called Rakshasa, and females are called Rakshasi.

At this time, the female Rakshasi waved her iron fan, and dozens of small earth-traveling demons crawled out of the temple, but they were all struck on the head by Lady Silver Bottle's golden spear, turning them into a sky full of bloody mist!

"You... are not as strong as Jizhi Tuo."

In the female Rakshasi's eyes, Lady Silver Bottle's appearance was changing. Her hair turned into a vermillion red color like fire, and floated up as if burning fiercely.

........

"Whenever someone in the world cultivates the correct Dharma, they will inevitably encounter ten types of demons testing the Dao, and suffer nine kinds of difficulties in cultivation. This is called the Ten Demons and Nine Difficulties."

"After passing through the Ten Demons and Nine Difficulties, the Many Demon Kings of the Five Heavens and Eight Emperors will descend to conduct the final examination, in order to confirm whether the cultivator of the correct Dharma has the qualifications to ascend to immortality."

Ji Xiang had only experienced One Demon and Two Difficulties. The One Demon was the mountain demon, and the Two Difficulties were the Difficulty of Life and Death and the Difficulty of Will. Moreover, they all appeared after the Azure Heaven Demon Examination. Ji Xiang had also seen that there was not much connection between the Nine Difficulties and the Ten Demons, but rather they were related to the heart of compassion and non-regression.

The Difficulty of Life and Death referred to the initial battle with Zhao Xuanlang, when the dead returned to the yang realm, hence the Difficulty of Life and Death.

The Difficulty of Will referred to the poisoning of the Gusu Ghost City, when the will regressed, hence the Difficulty of Will.

The Difficulty of Life and Death was a conclusion drawn by Ji Xiang through his own deduction, while the Difficulty of Will was something Ji Xiang clearly felt, with the power of that calamity appearing in the dark.

As for the affairs of the Shangqing Sect, they were purely accidental. The Shangqing Three Ancestors and the Shangqing Auxiliary Ancestors, as well as the released Immortal, and the final Spirit Communication Curse, had greatly exceeded the level of the "Nine Difficulties", and could never have been caused by the mere Nine Difficulties.

Rather, it was related to the mundane calamities that had entangled Ji Xiang after he used the True Meaning of the Three Teachings to deduce all dharmas.

The True Meaning of the Three Teachings was a characteristic of the Great Dao, and its accompanying negative effects were many levels higher than the Ten Demons and Nine Difficulties in terms of grade.

"I will not encounter the Tribulation of the Ten Demons again, because I have already passed the Azure Heaven Demon Examination... but this demonic tribulation is indeed a demon of the human world testing the Dao, so how could it appear in the Phoenix Mountain boundary land?"

"Could it be that Lady Silver Bottle is breaking through her realm, attracting the demons of trial?"

Ji Xiang was puzzled. He retained the demonic tribulation, preventing it from manifesting externally again, trapping it within his inner vision, and then used the Fifth Lesson of the Jade Purity Hidden Book to devour and dissolve this demonic tribulation.

The Chapter of Subduing Demons trembled slightly, but that was all.

"Hmm.... It feels a little different, not quite the same as the demon of trial I saw at first."

Ji Xiang recalled the demon of trial he encountered at the beginning. At that time, he used Fox Little Ten's transformation technique to deliberately manifest a heart of lewd pleasure, thus attracting the demon of trial who came upon hearing the news, transforming into various seductive appearances of fairies and demonesses to conduct the test. The demonic energy in it was not as mixed and turbid as the demonic energy in this demonic tribulation.

"I can even feel that there are traces of resentful vows mixed in this demonic tribulation, as if the wailing of the dead resounds within the void world."

"The demons of trial in the human world do not kill living beings. They only work to help cultivators overcome tribulations, so it is impossible for a demonic tribulation transformed by resentment to appear."

Ji Xiang frowned, realizing that things were not simple.

"Could it be..."

"This is a demon of trial artificially refined?"

Ji Xiang's thoughts were still turning, and his wise thinking had not stopped. The second demonic tribulation had already suddenly appeared in his perception.

With a light wave of his palm, the second demonic tribulation was captured.

"Another... one came?"

Truly amazing.

Ji Xiang praised slightly, if these demons of trial were really actively created by someone...

"I myself have the Jade Purity Hidden Book, and I still need to cultivate to the Sixteenth Lesson before I can conduct assessments for others and respond to the world."

"You little demons of the human world can casually go and test others?"

"Since this is the case, then let me test you."

.......

First Demon Temple, Jizhi Tuo Demon Mother, mother of the Huaguang Great Emperor, was a god of storage, with the power to ward off fire, but fell into hell for eating people.

Second Demon Temple, Female Rakshasi, subordinate of the Heavenly King of Increasing Knowledge, with red hair and green eyes, using beauty to charm people, flying in the sky and walking on the ground, eating human flesh and blood.

Third Demon Temple, Wilderness Evil Ghost, was a robber in his previous life, destroying mountains and rivers in waterless places in the wilderness. He received this retribution in death, transforming into a demon of the Buddhist sect.

Fourth Demon Temple, One-Horned Ghost King, formed by the gathering of scattered souls, gathered into a Yin Demon body, cultivated by soul cultivators to overcome tribulations, with resentment as his heart.

Fifth Demon Temple, Guilt-Bearing Heavenly Demon, belonged to the gods of heaven, bearing the sins of heaven, was blamed by the emperors, descended to the human world, and caused disaster.

Five of these dense black grave mountains had collapsed, and naturally five temples had also been destroyed. The number of demons that Lady Silver Bottle had killed had exceeded three hundred. She believed that this was the most effort she had put into demon slaying.

But whether it was a god or a human, their physical strength was limited. Her divine power was running low and she was beginning to weaken.

But the black grave mountain, this place was like a true burial ground, anyone who entered would continue to fight with the demons until they died, either killed by the demons or killing the demons.

This was like training between life and death, and its existence must have meaning.

Lady Silver Bottle could not help but think.

But the enemy's changes would not stop.

The sixth grave mountain rose.

This grave mountain was even larger than the previous five! The black mountain collapsed, and a strange roar came from inside. What appeared was a yellow temple, like a temple made of earth and mud, and it was very majestic.

A vast power of a demon god came from this great temple. The gate scattered like dust, and a yellow-faced giant nine feet tall appeared inside, with ferocious fangs, covered in clouds and mist, but was locked in the temple, with thick iron chains tied to his limbs.

"Who has come here, actually wanting me to take action?"

He saw Lady Silver Bottle's face clearly, and was slightly surprised: "Looks weak, but can continuously fell five mountains and five temples."

Gu "But you have killed five demons in a row, you have been infected with demonic tribulation, entering Phoenix Mountain, there is no way back, you will surely die."

At this time, the iron chains suddenly broke. The yellow-faced demon immediately understood the situation.

"Want me to kill her, to trigger the demonic tribulation on her body, easy to say, but after killing her this time, her primordial spirit must return...."

"Ugh!"

The yellow-faced demon king had not finished speaking when his ferocious face suddenly changed drastically. He seemed to have suffered some pain and received a huge punishment. After twisting and deforming for a while, which left Lady Silver Bottle dumbfounded, the yellow-faced demon king's body emitted an aura far stronger than her current realm.

"Not giving it?"

"Hateful."

"I understand."

The yellow-faced demon king did not know who he was communicating with, more like talking to himself, but a look of resentment appeared on his face.

"Your primordial spirit is actually useful, I wanted to eat your primordial spirit and corpse, but it is not allowed."

He suddenly spoke to Lady Silver Bottle.

Lady Silver Bottle frowned, secretly judging the other party's strength. From the aura he was showing at this time, it was the peak of the Innate Realm.

In her current state, she had no chance of winning.

But the other party's previous words made Lady Silver Bottle feel strange.

What did he mean by "already infected with demonic tribulation"?

She did not have any unusual feeling. Her current weakness was only caused by excessive consumption of divine power. After all, no one could continuously fight with a strong person of the same realm, let alone that even if she had obtained the divine position of the Fire Virtue Star Lord, she could not fully exert the power within it, and could only display the power of the Yellow Court Realm.

Fighting against the Innate Realm with the Yellow Court Realm was already a cross-realm struggle.

How could the consumption not be great?

Although she did not understand what demonic tribulation was, Lady Silver Bottle did not easily ask the question.

After all, the demon in front of her was constantly babbling.

"You don't need to put on such a vigilant look...."

"Because you are already dead."

The yellow-faced demon king said: "I want to kill you, I don't need to do it."

"The demonic tribulation on your body has already infected you, planting demonic thoughts in your heart. Now there are two paths in front of you, either be triggered by me and die on the spot, or transform into a demon, like us."

"After becoming a demon, even if your heart and liver are dug out, and your primordial spirit is damaged, you can still survive and not die. Even if one spiritual being is destroyed, you can still exist in the world by virtue of vows."

Lady Silver Bottle scoffed: "Vows, or resentments?"

"Do you think the advantage is on your side? Then you might as well make things clear."

Although she was constantly mocking, Lady Silver Bottle was still circulating her divine power in her body, but she was really confused.

She did not feel any demonic energy or anything like that.

Was it because that thing was hiding too deep?

And the yellow-faced demon king in front of her seemed to still be intimidating her, describing to Lady Silver Bottle the various pains when the demonic tribulation broke out.

"We demons are not ordinary demons. We feed on the correct Dharma, your spells will not work on us...."

Lady Silver Bottle interrupted him unceremoniously: "The five demons before you all said the same thing."

Yellow-faced Demon King: "......"

"But at least, we do feed on the correct Dharma, and I am not the same as them."

"Do you know about the Ten Demons and Nine Difficulties?"

His ferocious blood basin mouth opened to both sides, and the corners of his mouth rose greatly, revealing a smile that looked quite complete and particularly cruel.

Lady Silver Bottle was shocked.

"The Ten Demons and Nine Difficulties that cultivators must experience?"

"You.... What do you mean?"

The yellow-faced demon king laughed even more wildly: "It's what you think in your heart!"

"The demons like me, who were born in Phoenix Mountain, are the demons of trial among the Ten Demons and Nine Difficulties!"

"In other words, killing you is in accordance with the heavens! Because you have not passed the demonic tribulation, you do not have the qualifications to become an immortal!"

"And after the Ten Demons and Nine Difficulties, you should also know that there is still a final demonic test before ascending to immortality!"

"I!"

The yellow-faced demon king pointed at himself with his thumb, arrogant and unrestrained:

"I am the human demon king born from the source of the heavens and demon kings!"

"I will determine your sins and blessings, making you disloyal and unfilial, making you unjust and unkind, making you unbenevolent and disrespectful! Once the demonic tribulation breaks out, the inner demons entangle, and sins and hatred are born in your thoughts, and the light of death manifests in all kinds of futures, knowing that you are dead and you will surely die!"

"Those who are disloyal and unfilial will see deceit and treachery in the demonic tribulation and be invaded by resentment. Those who are unjust and unkind will see mountains of corpses and seas of blood in the demonic tribulation and be pierced by swords, making you unable to live and unable to die!"

"You cannot die until the demonic tribulation ends!"

"And the demonic tribulation has infected you. You must now feel restless in your heart, alternating between hot and cold, occasionally seeing all kinds of illusions in your eyes, but thinking that it is caused by your own overwork, and the seven emotions are not controlled by your heart, and grief, sorrow, anger, and hatred all surge into your heart!"

The voice of the yellow-faced demon king was like the howling of ghosts and gods, but Lady Silver Bottle frowned slightly.

Actually....

She did not have these feelings.

On the contrary, because of this unrestrained and demon-slaying action, although it made her divine power weak at this time, her spirit was unexpectedly invigorated, and she felt extremely happy and joyful!

After the yellow-faced demon king finished speaking, after a few breaths, he found that Lady Silver Bottle's spirit was still concentrated, and he could not help but wonder:

"You.... Could it be that you feel very good now?"

Lady Silver Bottle: "......"

She did not answer, and the Heavenly Fire Calamity swept out along with the golden spear!

The azure ghost fire burned the mud temple into a sky-covering calamity ash, and the yellow-faced demon king tore through the azure ghost fire, furious!

"You are at the end of your rope, and you still want to fight like a trapped beast!"

"Let me see how good your state can be!"

"Demonic Tribulation.... Arise!"

.........

Ji Xiang circulated five demonic tribulations in his hand, hearing the summons from the dark.

So he stretched out his hand and pressed towards the void, and then he heard the sound of the True Martial Dharma Mantra, and then he sent the demonic tribulation over.

"Demonic Tribulation... Arise!"

"Go to that demon's body."