Chương 171: The Shattered Passage

On the dark altar, Lou Guying's strike seemed to flip some kind of celestial switch. Stellar power converged, carrying with it ripples of spatial distortion. Demonic energy surged all around, warping and twisting the very fabric of the air. Before their eyes, a dark passageway took shape, a yawning maw of swirling shadows.

"Retreat!" Lou Guying was the fastest, closest to the passage. With a sharp whoosh, his form vanished into its depths. Beside him, the purple skull hovering near Zigu Bone Demon let out a piercing shriek that forced Fang Jisheng to stagger backward. At the same moment, Zigu burned his own essence blood, his speed erupting outward like a detonation. In the span of a single breath, he reached the edge of the dark altar.

"Chigu, I'll give you one last hand!" Zigu roared, demonic energy billowing from his body like a storm unleashed. Hundreds of purple ghost-claws coalesced from the churning energy, blasting outward in every direction, forming a wall of claws that covered the pursuers behind him. Then his form plunged into the dark passage, and vanished.

"A teleportation passage! Damn it!" Fang Jisheng couldn't hold back his fury, even though he'd half-expected this outcome. Despite standing a full level above Zigu Bone Demon, he'd found himself fighting at a disadvantage within the White Bone Demon Lair. The terrain favored the demons. And Zigu's final strike had carried the full, devastating power of the late Tier 3 level.. None of the cultivators surrounding Chigu Bone Demon dared meet it head-on. So they scattered.

And in that opening, Chigu Bone Demon seized his chance. He broke free of the encirclement. Hope flickered in Chigu's eyes. Wild. Desperate. The altar was drawing closer with every frantic step. Meanwhile, the Tier 2 demonic cultivators around the altar began their own mad rush toward the passage. They shoved and clawed at each other, scrambling for salvation. This was a random teleportation array, refined from demonic energy woven with some rare spiritual material. Only demonic cultivators could use it.

An Orthodox cultivator who dared to step inside would be unable to withstand the demonic energy's corrosive assault. Worse, the volatile spatial forces would tear their body apart from the inside out. Generally speaking, only Golden Core factions possessed the resources and knowledge to construct teleportation arrays. Of course, some ancient, well-established Tier 3 factions could manage it too, given the right opportunity.

But now, with limited space in the passage, the Tier 2 demonic cultivators turned on each other. Brother against brother. Master against disciple. Blood sprayed. Bodies fell. And in the chaos… Boom! At that moment, Huaijin strode forward. The Thunderclap Nether Sword flew from his palm, singing with released power. A blazing sword aura shot skyward, weaving into a dense net of crackling lightning that arced in a smooth, sweeping curve, and slammed down directly in front of Chigu Bone Demon, barring his path.

Crackle-pop! Lightning energy clashed relentlessly against Chigu's demonic energy. Sparks exploded. The air screamed. And in that instant, the remaining Tier 3 closed in from all sides, tightening the noose. Fang Jisheng, meanwhile, had already arrived at the teleportation passage. The silver void seal blazed with blinding silver light, its power as a Tier 3 upper grade spirit artifact pushed to its absolute limit. If you spot this story on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation.

The seal swelled like a small silver mountain, growing larger and larger until it blotted out the darkness, and then it crashed directly into the passage. Fang Jisheng knew perfectly well that this was a random teleportation array. There was no way to pursue Zigu. The old demon could be anywhere in the Nine Peaks Realm by now. At the end of the day, it all came down to his own strength being too weak. He simply couldn't pin the old demon down. But Chigu Bone Demon, he had to die. Boom! Crack!

Struck with the full force of a late Tier 3 cultivator's all-out attack, the teleportation passage shuddered violently. Dense cracks spiderwebbed across its flickering surface, and then, with a final, shattering groan, it exploded outward. The altar itself remained intact, dark and silent. The passage, however, was utterly destroyed. Of the dozen-odd Tier 2 demonic cultivators who had rushed toward it, only three had managed to slip through before the collapse.

The rest stared at the ruins with looks of utter despair. Their escape was gone. Their hope was gone. And now… Now Chigu Bone Demon was the one truly feeling despair. Because Fang Jisheng's silver void seal was already crashing down upon his head, descending like divine judgment. Chigu struggled desperately, willing his own spirit artifact to meet the blow, a twisted staff of blackened bone that flared with dying light. Boom! His artifact was sent flying, spinning away into the darkness.

Chigu coughed up a mouthful of blood as Fang Jisheng's attack blasted him backward across the stone floor. He skidded, tumbled, came to a halt on his knees. Fang Jisheng's eyes burned with cold, relentless killing intent.

'I couldn't kill Zigu? That's fine.' A grim smile twisted his lips.

'But I will kill YOU?' Zhou Yuezi and Fang Xinjin charged in as well, their own spirit artifacts blazing. In an instant, Chigu Bone Demon was surrounded once more. Less than twenty seconds later, Chigu Bone Demon's body was shattered in utter despair. His final scream was swallowed by the clash of steel and light. Five Purple Mansion cultivators joining forces to put him down, that was as much respect as the old demon was ever going to receive.

By then, Huaijin had already begun cutting down the remaining Foundation Establishment demonic cultivators. In the blink of an eye, blood painted the stone floor. The cornered demonic cultivators, despair blazing in their eyes, surged toward Huaijin in a final, suicidal charge. Huaijin's face was utterly calm. One sword. One kill. Scorching sword lights tore through bodies, sending up bursts of crimson mist. There was no hesitation. No mercy. In moments, he had cut down eight Tier 2 demonic cultivators.

Fang Xingyu and Zhou Sinuo joined the slaughter as well, their own weapons flashing in the dim light. Deep within the White Bone Demon Cave, screams rose and fell in endless waves, echoing off the ancient walls. Huaijin's sword-light descended, cleaving into the chest of a fifth level Tier 2 demonic cultivator. Lightning energy ripped through his torso, blackened flesh and bone exposed for a split second before the man crumpled. Then, suddenly, Huaijin's brow furrowed.

His sword flickered, slicing away the black robe that masked the man's face.

"Hu Lingsi..." He'd sensed something familiar in this demonic cultivator's aura, a ghost of a memory from decades past. And the man had survived his strike, barely, despite being only at mid Foundation Establishment.

"Cough, cough!" Hu Lingsi's face was ashen, his lips smeared with blood, his eyes gleaming with venomous hate. He had been the patriarch of the Hu family back in the day. When demonic cultivators ran rampant across the region, fear of the Zhang family had driven him to the demonic path. He'd joined the White Bone Demon Cave and, in the most depraved act imaginable, sacrificed his own entire clan in a blood ritual to break through to Foundation Establishment. Decades had passed since then.

Hu Lingsi's cultivation had grown swiftly. Who knew how many innocent lives he'd taken along the way? Huaijin had no interest in such a creature. Not even a flicker of recognition. Not even a word. A gleam of gold flickered at his fingertip. A beam of pure energy shot out, piercing straight through Hu Lingsi's brow. The man's eyes went wide for a moment, and then went dark. And with that, Hu Lingsi's decades of wickedness came to an end.

All these demonic cultivators, who had butchered mortals, who had feasted on the innocent, deserved to die. Half an hour later, the depths of the White Bone Demon Cave fell silent. All the demonic cultivators had been eliminated. The battle results among the Tier 2 cultivators were likewise impressive. Aside from the few who had slipped through the passage, every single Tier 2 demonic cultivator was dead.

The White Bone Demon Cave was crippled, a hollow shell of its former self, its demonic energy fading, its halls stained with the blood of its own disciples. But Zigu Bone Demon was no ordinary foe. They had to track him down as quickly as possible. Fang Jisheng's expression was grim, his fists clenched at his sides. He hadn't expected to fail so completely against Zigu. And he'd never even imagined there was a second Tier 3 demonic cultivator hiding within the cave. Worse, both had escaped.

As long as a Purple Mansion demonic cultivator survived, the White Bone Demon Cave could rise again at any time. It was like cutting down a poisonous weed, leave one root in the ground, and it would grow back stronger. The various factions had already begun clearing the battlefield, collecting the dead, looting the fallen.

"Fellow Daoist Fang!" Huaijin approached, his Thunderclap Nether Sword still humming faintly in his grip. He still carried the lingering chill of slaughter about him, his robes spattered with demon blood.

"Without the cave's demonic energy to fuel their cultivation, their progress will slow dramatically. We've already done what we could in this battle."

"True enough." Fang Jisheng let out a long, weary breath.

"But it still comes down to my strength being insufficient. If I had been stronger, if I had pinned Zigu down…" He shook his head, unable to finish the thought. Huaijin said no more. He understood. There was nothing to be gained from dwelling on what-ifs. The reason demonic cultivators gathered in the White Bone Demon lair was simple: it held an incredibly pure source of demonic energy, a vein of darkness that pulsed like a living heart.

Throughout the Nine Peaks Realm, countless lairs like this existed, as if connected to the legendary demon realm itself. To demonic cultivators, they held an almost fatal allure, a siren's call that drew them in and refused to let go. And as long as those caves existed, as long as Zigu Bone Demon lived, the battle would never truly be over. But tonight, at least, they had won. Tonight, the demons had bled.