The Ancestor of All Demons

Shi Zhu said to Ming Shu: "You don't need to cry and be sad. The reason your father sent me here was to take both of you away."

Ming Shu thought she heard wrongly: "My father wants you to take me away? Take me where? You're trapped in this Great Ashura Array now, even my father and the divine demons who have been cultivated by my master for thousands of years can't get out, how can you leave? And take us with you?"

Shi Zhu laughed: "This Demon Prison is made quite intricately, but how can it trap me? Divine demons cannot escape, but that doesn't mean I can't."

Ming Shu, who had lived on Divine Sword Peak for years, seldom went out, and had only heard of Elder Bitter Bamboo, knew little about Shi Zhu, and did not quite believe that Shi Zhu could break her father's array.

Shi Zhu naturally did not argue with her, and told her to step back: "Farther! Farther! Keep moving back!"

He kept having Ming Shu retreat to the corner of the corridor, until she was out of sight, then took out a bottle of elixir, threw it to Ruan Zheng, and told him to take it, and stay behind him.

Ruan Zheng, with weak vital energy, numb hands and legs, could not stand immediately after taking the elixir, and moved to sit behind Shi Zhu with difficulty.

Shi Zhu first summoned nine treasure beads, forming nine flag gates according to the Nine Palace positions, then summoned the Xuanyuan Divine Sword, transforming into nine golden dragons attacking the surrounding walls.

The Vajra walls, under attack, immediately revealed layer upon layer of runes, dense, filled with red light, resisting the Xuanyuan Sword's attack, while a large amount of blood gushed from beneath.

Viscous blood flowed from behind the net-like runes, like some kind of fuel, and soon ignited into roaring flames.

Ashura Demon Flames burned from all directions, and a deluge of fire rained from above.

This was only the first wave; the blood flames and fire rain were blocked by the Nine Palaces, preventing the successive waves from flooding in, immediately triggering the second wave, producing infinite Golden Sabers, Golden Swords, Golden Needles, and Golden Spears from the runes, which were also blocked by the flag gates. Then the third wave was triggered, releasing thousands of Ashura Divine Thunders, crashing in from all directions like hailstones, bombarding fiercely!

Shi Zhu stood in the central palace, his left hand forming a mudra to control the Xuanyuan Sword, slashing and piercing the key points of the Demon Formation, his right hand summoning the Six Roots Pure Bamboo, weaving countless green lights intertwined.

Outside, the demon thunders became denser, shaking the heavens and earth with explosions, the blood flames raging, while Shi Zhu's face remained steady, not a hint of panic or haste.

Ruan Zheng, however, was very anxious, thinking this Demon Prison was once where Elder Shi Pi imprisoned divine demons, and any slight movement would alert them, fearing with such a commotion the opposition would soon arrive.

Indeed, Elder Shi Pi rushed over quickly, seeing the Demon Prison Formation fully activated, roared, and charged in waving his horsetail whisk.

However, as soon as he entered, he fell into Shi Zhu's Nine Palace Qimen Formation, with the internal space-time twisting, producing countless portals, Elder Shi Pi traversing swiftly inside, while Shi Zhu ran out of the formation, united the Nine Swords into one, breaking all the talisman lights, and the Six Roots Pure Bamboo shot out a blue demonic light quickly towards the end of the corridor.

Ming Shu, hiding here, watched with pounding heart, suddenly hearing Shi Zhu's voice by her ear: "If you want an outcome with your brother Ruan Zheng, come with me immediately!"

Ming Shu hesitated slightly, then advanced, quickly enveloped in green light, speedily drawn back.

Then, Shi Zhu shouted softly, causing simultaneous explosions inside and outside the Nine Palace Array, booming, the metal walls shattered, and the outer rocks instantly collapsed.

Shi Zhu wrapped himself, Ruan Zheng, and Ming Shu in a column of blue light, forcibly burst out of the demonic flames and debris, shooting straight into the sky.

"Where do you think you're going!" Deng Yin, the Princess of Stone God, Red Corpse God Monarch, and Jiulei God appeared simultaneously in the sky, each attacking, firing large amounts of Blood Shadow Divine Light, Red Corpse Seven Evil Divine Light, Jiulei Yin Thunders, while the Princess of Stone God further summoned the Heavenly Demon Immortal Slaying Sword, flying to slash at Shi Zhu.

Shi Zhu blocked all with the Xuanyuan Nine Swords, then opened a small gourd at his waist, pointing with a bamboo staff, releasing large amounts of Two-Pole Magnetic Divine Thunder.

This was a massive acquisition from the Mingyu Immortal Market, combined with his past life's Wind Wood Divine Thunder, remodeled and refined.

In his past life, he refined large quantities of thunder pearls from Jia Wood Quaking Thunder and Yimu Wind Essence, intending to use them in the Void Illusion Realm to blast the Outer Heaven Divine Mountain, which were taken by Shi Feiyang, and later returned to him.

The original thunder pearls were crafted using unconventional methods, having great power but evident flaws, easily counteracted or confiscated.

In this lifetime, Shi Zhu re-refined them into these Two-Pole Magnetic Divine Thunder, throwing out over a hundred at once, each thunder pearl a cluster of colored light, initially pea-sized, rapidly expanding in mid-air into sun-wheel sizes. Atop were Polar Magnetic True Energy, reacting with Five Elements Essence, forming brilliant five-color auroras, attracting, rotating, colliding, and rubbing, instantly triggering intense explosions.

"Krack-a-boom…" the incessant thunder roared, seemingly about to shatter the entire sky into pieces.

As Deng Yin and the others followed the Corpse Elder who emerged with an attack, all spells were intercepted by the thunderstorm. Shi Zhu laughed heartily and wrapped Ruan Zheng and Ming Zhu in a cyan light beam, flying north and disappearing in an instant.

Deng Yin and his group assumed Shi Zhu would return to the South Sea, fleeing back to the Outer Heaven Divine Mountain, so they positioned themselves to block the southern path. However, they did not expect Shi Zhu to head north, and by the time they passed through the thunderclouds, Shi Zhu was already far away.

The group looked to the north, Deng Yin's face darkened: "They went to Mount Emei!"

He always intended to destroy the Emei Sect, and now he wanted to take this opportunity to lead his group in pursuit and wipe out the Emei Sect.

Within mere seconds of flying out, behind them, on the other side of the Divine Sword Peak, another explosion occurred at the Demon Palace, followed by a surge of Asura Blood Flame shooting straight into the Southern Heaven.

"That's not good!" The four hurried back, just in time to see the Corpse Elder waving a horsetail whisk, returning from the south with a face full of anger.

It was the Fire Spirit Lord escaping again!

The Fire Spirit Lord had a dispute with the Corpse Elder, due to Shi Zhu attacking the Demon Prison, the Corpse Elder had to rush there to inspect, resulting in another explosion: "I sealed him in the Demon Palace back then, never expected him to blow up the Demon Palace! Truly vile! I will no longer consider him my junior!"

Deng Yin coldly chuckled at him, while the Princess of Stone God slightly pursed her lips, her charming eyes silently conveying: "Are you fooling a fool?"

The Corpse Elder understood their meaning, angrily saying: "Now that my Demon Palace is blown up, I've resolved to join you. What more do you want?"

Deng Yin was about to explode, but the Princess of Stone God hurriedly smoothed things over: "We are here entirely for Fellow Daoist Shipi; as long as Daoist is willing to join us, nothing else matters."

Originally, it was all part of the Corpse Elder's plan, hedging his bets.

Not only did he entrust Ming Shu to Ruan Zheng, intentionally letting Shi Zhu take her to Mount Emei, but he also discussed with the Fire Spirit Lord about not putting all their eggs in one basket, and thus hedged his bets.

In truth, he genuinely believed Deng Yin's side had a better future, while the Fire Spirit Lord thought Shi Feiyang's side was more secure.

Thus, the two brothers decided to part ways, ensuring no matter which side won, they would both preserve a lineage of the Magic Vein.

The Fire Spirit Lord seized the opportunity to fly at the fastest speed to the South Sea and head to the Outer Heaven Divine Mountain, directly choosing to join Shi Feiyang.

Shi Feiyang personally came out to meet him, aware of the brothers' plan, and asked him, "Fellow Daoist, although you follow the Asura Sect's path, under the influence and guidance of True Master of Ultimate Bliss back then, and after a thousand years of cultivation, your temperament has long since departed from the Demon Path and gradually entered the range of the Mysterious Sect. In the future, if you cultivate the Mysterious Sect's orthodox True Immortal Skill, your achievements will certainly reach Heavenly Immortal. Of course, if you wish to continue cultivating the Asura Path's spells, I can also..."

"No, no! The first option! I want to join the Mysterious Sect orthodox!" The Fire Spirit Lord didn't listen to the rest, directly choosing the first path.

Shi Feiyang's later words, even without mentioning it, the Fire Spirit Lord had already half-anticipated along with the Corpse Elder beforehand.

Shi Feiyang couldn't possibly carve out a separate place for them at the Outer Heaven Divine Mountain, at most setting up a peak for solitary cultivation, which was the main reason the Corpse Elder was reluctant to come here and preferred Deng Yin's side.

As Shi Feiyang said, though the Fire Spirit Lord was in the Demon Path, his temperament was already within the range of the Mysterious Sect. Since his interactions with Li Jingxu back then, he had long yearned for the Mysterious Sect orthodox. Now, with the cosmic catastrophes looming, those with lower Dao Levels may not understand, but he could directly feel that fear!

Seeing him willing to convert to the Mysterious Sect orthodox, Shi Feiyang simply proposed a straightforward method: "Fellow Daoist has cultivated the Demon Path for over a thousand years, with Mana and Essence Energy all cultivated from Asura Great Technique, deeply rooted. Such a direct cultivation of Immortal Law would inevitably be counterproductive, especially with the End of Dharma Era soon approaching, Fellow Daoist would struggle to achieve greatness. It might be better to go through a tribulation, evading the impending Heavenly Tribulation and Demon Tribulation. After reincarnation, cultivating for ten or twenty years could quickly lead to success. Once the foundations of Alchemy Dao are established, you can then restore and convert memory and Mana from your past life, speeding up the process."

"This is perfect! This is what I want!" The Fire Spirit Lord, knowing time was pressing, not only didn't mind but was quite pleased.

If he didn't reincarnate, even if Shi Feiyang gave him a Cultivation Method, he wouldn't be able to learn the core parts and would have to study on his own in the mountains.

If he reincarnated and was reborn, he had the chance to apprentice under Shi Feiyang, and at that time, he could learn the authentic Immortal Law passed down from Shi Feiyang!

"After my reincarnation and rebirth, my future life will rely entirely on True Master's protection and fulfillment!" The Fire Spirit Lord took out a gourd, "All my wealth is stored in this gourd, all given to the True Master, just hoping to apprentice under the True Master in the future..."

Shi Feiyang found the Fire Spirit Lord's character even better than anticipated, which made him quite pleased, and he accepted the gourd: "I'll keep this safe for you, and return it after your reincarnation."

During Chi You's southern invasion last time, the Fire Spirit Lord witnessed Shi Feiyang summoning three hundred and sixty suns to illuminate the Universe, sweeping away the miasma of demons. It made a deep impression on him, making him feel that even if he cultivated the Great Asura Divine Skill for another ten thousand years, he couldn't achieve such a feat. His heart had long been yearning for it, or else he wouldn't have been willing to risk a confrontation with the Corpse Elder to come here.