Now, utilizing Cangming, she covered a hundred miles in one breath, her speed extremely fast.

Qiyuan Island was not far from Phoenix Feather City. After flying over the sea for about the time it takes an incense stick to burn, Liu Changning had already reached her destination.

The Secluded Immortal Palace was built on Mount Secluded Immortal on Qiyuan Island. The town at the foot of the mountain gate was called Qiyuan Town, mostly inhabited by ordinary people.

Liu Changning used a concealment talisman and entered the town, finding that the atmosphere in the town was not good.

The streets that should have been bustling were now deserted. Every household had closed their doors and wouldn’t come out.

Those walking back and forth on the streets were all demon race guards. Their cultivation was not high, but enough to intimidate ordinary people.

“Right Protector, you’ve finally arrived. The Demon Lord instructed you to send all the elders in the town to the mountain gate.” A pointed-eared, monkey-faced woman piled on a fawning smile, trailing behind a woman demon cultivator dressed entirely in black, with even her face completely hidden under a hood.

Liu Changning’s ears twitched slightly. At this time, she was not in a hurry to go up the mountain, following not too far nor too close behind the two.

Just now, her divine sense had covered the entire island, and she discovered that Jing Huan had not yet broken through the Secluded Immortal Palace’s formation.

The reason why the Ten Great Sects of Lingyu could rank at the forefront of the righteous path was firstly because of the strength of the sect’s cultivators, and secondly because of the foundation of the mountain gate.

The Secluded Immortal Palace had been established for many years. The great formation of the mountain gate had been continuously perfected and reinforced by each generation of Tribulation Stage ancestors, and would not be easily conquered.

Even with Liu Changning’s divine sense comparable to a true immortal, she might not be able to forcefully break in.

Given Jing Huan’s ruthless nature, she probably knew that forcibly breaking through the formation was impossible, so she was using the lives of the town residents to force Pei Ziyuan to open the mountain gate.

That’s why these bloodthirsty demon cultivators hadn’t massacred in the town, but only captured people.

Pei Ziyuan was tough-mouthed but soft-hearted. Jing Huan was counting on his kindness. Huh!

Understanding all the connections, Liu Changning suppressed the fierceness between her brows and listened intently.

The tall, thin person licked their face, seeing that the Right Protector Bai Qi didn’t respond, and thick-skinedly smiled and said: “The last batch of demon race members will also arrive. I wonder why the Demon Lord has used seven-tenths of the entire demon realm’s power to deal with just one Secluded Immortal Palace?”

As soon as these words fell, the black-hooded woman who hadn’t spoken suddenly turned her head, her light gray eyes showing clear displeasure: “Just one? You have quite a big mouth. Pei Ziyuan is a Tribulation Stage ancestor with extraordinary talent. Since the Lord demands to break the mountain gate and capture him alive, it’s naturally a bit troublesome.”

After being warned by the protector, the tall, thin person nodded and bowed, taking out a high-grade demon stone from their bosom and stuffing it into the Right Protector’s arms, giggling.

The two exchanged a knowing glance. Having received a benefit, the Right Protector’s tone didn’t change, but she added a couple more instructions: “You’d better remember, that dog Pei Ziyuan has a grudge of wife-stealing with the Lord. He will definitely die from ten thousand worms piercing his heart in the future. The Demon Lord won’t let him die easily.”

The tall, thin person shuddered. The most cruel punishment of the demon race, ten thousand worms devouring the heart, was almost a fate worse than death, with both divine sense and flesh suffering torment.

The more one thought about it, the more terrifying it became.

Their voice involuntarily became smaller: “What a great grudge and resentment this must be.”

The Right Protector, exasperated at the inability to forge iron, slapped the tall, thin person’s head, impatiently saying: “Enough, why are you in a daze? As long as you don’t betray, this punishment will never fall on you. Capture all the infants, the Demon Lord doesn’t know, these righteous male cultivators care most about children.”

After she finished speaking, she cackled with laughter.

A circle of white and gold intertwined light emerged from Liu Changning’s palm, nearly thrown at the two’s heads. She suppressed the anger surging in her heart, closed her eyes briefly, held back the gushing killing intent, and continued to follow behind the two.

Today, none of these people would return.

She had been moved to great anger this time.

The Secluded Immortal Palace was halfway up the mountain, surrounded by mountains, with white clouds floating and cranes circling. From the outside, the palace looked like a Taoist in meditation, wholeheartedly pursuing the Dao, retreating into the gate of the Dao.

This was also the origin of the Secluded Immortal Palace’s name.

Liu Changning followed the two demon race members all the way up, stopping at the palace gate.

The mountain gate formation was impregnable. A group of black-hooded, deep-featured, multicolored-haired demon race members had gathered in front of the mountain gate.

A group of ordinary pregnant men with big bellies were sobbing and kneeling at the mountain gate, with demon cultivators holding silver knives behind them.

Jing Huan sat in front of the mountain gate on a gold-inlaid wooden chair. She held a cyan jade tea cup in one hand, her full lips lightly sipping at the cup’s rim.

Her voice was neither light nor heavy, seemingly gentle and soft, but it directly penetrated through the immortal formation and spread throughout the entire palace: “Elder Pei, think it through. This lord gives you ten breaths of time. If you don’t come out, we’ll use these people to offer sacrifices to heaven first.”

Perhaps due to reconstructing her demon body, her appearance in this life was different from the previous few lives. Her features were handsome with a hint of frailty, beneath the清隽 giving people a sense of incongruity with her gentleness.

This type of appearance was very popular among many female cultivators nowadays. It’s a pity that this was only a mutated breed of rabbit. Looking gentle and soft, among a bunch of ferocious female cultivators, she didn’t seem out of place at all. Instead, she fit in extraordinarily well, with a gentle and elegant smile, carrying a bloodthirsty aura full of viciousness.

Liu Changning’s gaze only lingered on her for two breaths, but she seemed to sensitively seek it out. Fortunately, Liu Changning was now cultivating the Chaos Emotionless Scripture, in the realm of unity between heaven and human. If she wanted to conceal her form, almost no one in the entire Lingyu could detect her whereabouts now.

Jing Huan frowned, the look of surprise disappearing.

The Right Protector and the tall, thin person came forward. Behind them, guards escorted about a hundred villagers from the town, kneeling and pleading for orders. The leading dozen demon guards were holding crying infants in their arms.

The appearance of the infants once again stimulated the pregnant men kneeling outside the great formation.

Heart-rending cries soared to the sky, mixed with the wailing of infants. The immortal formation shook under such sorrowful cries.

“Five!”

“Four!”

…

Jing Huan played with the white jade tea cup, counting down with relish.

“Two”

The demon race crowd cackled with laughter.

As the final “One” was uttered, the great formation emitted a rumbling sound, and the light screen was removed.

Pei Ziyuan, leading the palace’s elders and elite disciples, appeared at the mountain gate.

“Clap, clap, clap!” Having expected him to appear, Jing Huan symbolically applauded towards Pei Ziyuan and said: “Elder Pei is truly merciful, worthy of being the alliance leader of the righteous path’s famous sects.”

The man amidst the lingering clouds wore a red robe, his ink-black long hair half-tied into a bun with a white jade hairpin, the remaining half naturally falling over his chest.

The gold-threaded magnificent robe was embroidered with a fire-red phoenix, its wings spread in flight, vivid and lifelike. He walked out of the lingering clouds unhurriedly, his skin snow-white, the bluish-black blood vessels on his neck clearly visible. His sword-like eyebrows raised, phoenix eyes falling carelessly on Jing Huan.

His sensual thin lips curled into a mocking smile: “In the battle three months ago, haven’t you learned your lesson? Is the Demon Lord delivering herself to be slaughtered by me?”

“Facing death and still daring to be arrogant!” Before Jing Huan could speak, the tall, thin person beside her, in an attempt to curry favor, spoke up first.

But it didn’t earn the Demon Lord’s praise. The pressure on their chest suddenly increased, and blood involuntarily spurted from their throat.

Pei Ziyuan tidied the sleeves that had been messed up by the wind, not even glancing at the blood-spitting tall, thin person. He stared at Jing Huan and lightly laughed: “A dog barking everywhere, the Demon Lord’s rule is lax!”

As soon as these words fell, Jing Huan laughed out loud again.

She shrugged indifferently, her gaze falling on Pei Ziyuan’s chest.

Her eyes showed pity: “Palace Master Pei’s lesson is right, these dogs indeed need to be well educated. You must not get angry again. If I’m not mistaken, that day you received my Ghost Shadow Demon Palm, I fear you haven’t fully recovered. Take care of yourself, otherwise… how can I spare your life to enjoy the feast of ten thousand worms devouring your heart?”

“You!” As soon as these words fell, the disciples of the Secluded Immortal Palace behind Pei Ziyuan showed anger in their eyes, gripping their long swords tightly. Although they knew they couldn’t escape this calamity, not one of them retreated.

Pei Ziyuan was seriously injured, the demonic energy in his body hadn’t been completely eliminated. If another bitter battle were to come, he simply couldn’t hold on.

Although he appeared relaxed on the surface, at this moment he was merely at the end of his strength.

His ink-colored eyes flashed a fleeting look of dejection.

He opened his mouth, about to speak, when suddenly a familiar divine thought darted into his dantian. Normally, he wouldn’t let her in, but the moment that familiar, tremor-inducing divine sense surged into his dantian,

The human-shaped nascent soul in his dantian shamefully opened its arms, rejoicing. Even if it was just a strand of divine sense.

He shamelessly showed a rare expression of desire!

Pei Ziyuan: …

Since the mountain gate opened, Liu Changning’s gaze had been fixed on him, unmoving.

When Jing Huan was speaking recklessly, she noticed the red-robed man not far away.

His expression was still proud, his tall figure standing straight, without any sign of retreat.

But between his brows, there was a subtle worry!

Liu Changning couldn’t help but probe her divine sense into his body. Originally, just transmitting a message with divine sense would have been enough, but she inexplicably wanted to hug him.

As soon as her divine sense entered his body, she could feel his great joy. His dantian was no longer the barren wasteland it had been many years ago.

There was a hint of a smile in Liu Changning’s eyes.

For those who cultivate the Way of No Emotions, the dantian is a deathly quiet wasteland.

She had dual cultivated with him before, and at that time his dantian was a barren indifference.

But now, not only was the nascent soul honest, even the true qi in his dantian exuded an enthusiastic jubilation.

There was no time to carefully inquire. Liu Changning transmitted a message with her divine sense, deliberately lowering her voice: “Sorry, I’m late!”