Urban Immortal Cultivation Supreme

In the following period, Zhu Bufan spent most of his time in closed-eye cultivation. Occasionally, he would go to the Bone Forging Realm's arena, but since Zhu Bufan could even beat Zhu Rong into submission, no one was willing to challenge him. Hence, when Zhu Bufan went there, it was merely for show.

During these days, Huo Ling completely ignored Zhu Bufan. Even when they crossed paths, she would turn her head away with an indifferent expression, leaving Zhu Bufan with a wry smile. Despite his frustration, he knew that Huo Ling was still angry, so he dared not provoke her to avoid another barrage from her Hanhai Spirit Pearl.

Ten days passed quickly. When the Earth Gate on the Fifth Layer opened, the Demon King summoned Zhu Bufan and his two companions to the Golden Hall. There, at the Earth Gate of the Heavenly Pillar, the Demon King said to them: "Every time this Earth Gate opens, the spatial forces become chaotic. Only those who have reached the Sixth Rank or the Gathering Yuan Realm and can skillfully control the spatial forces can make use of the turbulent spatial fluctuation to navigate the range between the First and Ninth Layers. The last time you saw Ang Ang using this force to move from the Seventh Layer to the Second Layer."

"Are there Sixth Rank Spiritual Beasts on the Seventh Layer too?" Hearing that Ang Ang had moved from the Seventh to the Second Layer, Zhu Bufan and the others broke into a cold sweat.

"Among the Demon Beasts of the Sixth Rank, there are levels of strength. In the first ten layers of the tower, only the Six-tailed Beast might contend with this king. Ang Ang and the likes are far from being my adversaries. When you reach this level, you'll understand the meaning of 'a miss is as good as a mile,'" said the Demon King, looking at the surprised crowd. As he spoke, he began forming Hand Seals.

Golden flames shot up from the Demon King's hands, then the flames started burning in an expanding ring-like pattern. The void where the flames burnt turned into a circular pitch-black portal, just like a hole burned through paper. The darkness was so deep that one could see nothing within, and this was the shortcut to the Ninth Layer opened by the Demon King.

"Let's go."

Facing the dark spatial portal, Zhu Bufan stepped in first, followed by Huo Ling and Wang Hui. Once all three disappeared into the portal, the Demon King extinguished the golden flames and walked on air towards the palace.

※※※

A moment after stepping through the portal, Zhu Bufan felt the world before him suddenly open up, and Huo Ling and Wang Hui appeared close behind. They found themselves on a path that seemed to be carved out of a dense black fog, with a glint of light at the end of the tunnel, while the surroundings were shrouded in darkness.

Walking on air, the three hurried towards the end of the path. The light ahead grew brighter, and after about a minute, they stepped out of the space channel created by the Demon King, which led directly to the Ninth Layer.

A flash of white light, and they found themselves in a picturesque landscape, with tender green grass beneath their feet, a lush green forest not far away, coupled with a clear blue water body in the distance, and the light blue sky above. It was indeed the most beautiful scenery they had seen within the Demon Tower, here on the Ninth Layer.

"Such a rich concentration of Water Element Spiritual Energy, even richer than the water bodies on the Fourth Layer," said Huo Ling with amazement after sensing the surrounding Spiritual Energy. But Zhu Bufan and Wang Hui frowned slightly; the extremely dense Water Element Spiritual Energy made it difficult for the two Fire Attribute cultivators to adapt, and even their power felt greatly suppressed.

"No wonder the arrogant Demon King said he was uncertain he could defeat the Six-tailed Beast here. The Water Element Spiritual Energy is too rich. Users of Fire Element Primordial Qi will inevitably be greatly suppressed here. It seems the Demon King's strength must be considerably reduced in this place," Zhu Bufan mused after taking a deep breath.

"Speaking frankly, since arriving on the Ninth Layer, I feel that my Primordial Qi circulation is a bit hindered. If we have to fight in this state, I'm certain my strength would drop by more than thirty percent," Wang Hui said with a wry smile, shaking his head.

"Suppressed by thirty percent? That's excellent news. We were somewhat apprehensive about your strength, but now it seems unnecessary," said a feminine voice at that moment. Then, rustling noises emerged from the jungle, and Zhu Bufan's trio soon discovered they were surrounded by a group of Demon Beasts, with the speaker being a graceful woman dressed in a white cheongsam-style gown.

"Who are you?" Seeing themselves surrounded by Demon Beasts, Zhu Bufan and his companions immediately geared up for a fight. Though the surrounding Demon Beasts were of the First and Second Rank, not very high in rank, the disciplined manner in which they were encircled was a new experience for them. The white-clothed woman before them seemed especially eerie and mysterious.

"Who am I? I should be the one asking you that, shouldn't I? To have barged into the Ninth Layer like this, you must have had the help of the Fifth Layer's Demon King. Since you're the Demon King's people, that makes you our enemies." The white-clothed woman flipped her hand, and a white jade flute appeared in her hand. She brought the jade flute to her lips and gently played it. As the notes from the flute of the white-clothed woman sounded, the demon beasts surrounding the trio acted as if commanded, fiercely launching an attack on the three.

"Attack!"

Seeing the surrounding demon beasts pouncing towards them, the three of them immediately split up to meet the enemy. Zhu Bufan drew his Emperor Yan's weapon and fiercely unleashed the Overwhelming Sky Formation against a Shui Mi charging at him, filling the sky with sword energy mixed with Blood Spirit Poison Fire charging straight at the Shui Mi.

"Hisss"

With a hiss, the Shui Mi used its Water Snail Great Move to counter the sword energy of the Overwhelming Sky Formation, while several other demon beasts also moved in to provide support, launching a fierce attack on Zhu Bufan. The different demon beasts, at this moment, were as well-trained as an army, launching a series of coordinated attacks on Zhu Bufan, throwing him into chaos, forcing him to retreat several steps before he could regroup.

"Heaven and Earth Shock! Reverse Heaven and Earth!"

Zhu Bufan, after catching the tail swipe of a Second Rank giant serpent with a palm, channeled that force into the Emperor Yan's weapon in his hand, continuously slashing at the approaching demon beasts. However, the demon beasts were exceptionally cunning, or rather intelligent. The moment sword Qi was unleashed from Zhu Bufan's hand, those thick-skinned beasts positioned themselves in the front, acting as shields to protect the other beasts behind them.

The tune of the flute changed, and the demon beasts blocking the front opened a passage, allowing the beasts behind to begin a new round of attack. Zhu Bufan was now certain that it was the white-clothed woman's flute controlling the movements of these demon beasts. Realizing this, Zhu Bufan rapidly dodged the encirclement of the beasts and lunged towards the white-clothed woman.

"Foolish!" After a sneer, the white-clothed woman played the jade flute again. As the sound of the flute resonated, Zhu Bufan felt a throbbing pain in his head, and the demon beasts became much more ferocious. Especially those attacking Zhu Bufan, they charged over as if their lives didn't matter.

"Want to play mind control? Let's see who's stronger!"

Finally, infuriated by the music of the white-clothed woman, Zhu Bufan summoned the ferociously spirited Emperor's Hatred. With continuous swings of his sword, translucent ripples spread out and fell upon these demon beasts.

Upon contact with the translucent ripples raised by Emperor's Hatred, the originally frenzied demon beasts, rushing towards Zhu Bufan, suddenly froze as if stupefied. However, soon under the surprised gaze of the white-clothed woman, they began frantically turning on each other in a self-destructive frenzy. Their eyes had become blood-red, and the demon beasts attacking Wang Hui and Huo Ling also seemed affected by this berserk aura, beginning a wild undiscriminate slaughter.

"How can this be? What exactly have you done?"

Watching the beasts killing each other in mayhem and Zhu Bufan's trio quickly disengaging, the white-clothed woman asked with an indifferent voice, clearly somewhat puzzled by the situation before her.

"Actually, it's quite simple. You control them with your flute; I just use sword Qi, and we both use mind control. There's nothing surprising about it, is there?" Touching the Emperor's Hatred in his hand, Zhu Bufan revealed a slight smile.

"Oh, is that so?" As the flute touched her lips, the white-clothed woman was about to play again, while Zhu Bufan also immediately swung Emperor's Hatred. Transparent ripples moved toward the white-clothed woman, and as their techniques met, Zhu Bufan and the others clearly saw the spatial ripples raised by the two of them dissipate like cancelling ripples in water.

After playing the flute for a while, the white-clothed woman found that her spiritual attacks in the form of sound were nullified by the ripples raised by Emperor's Hatred. Realizing that it was futile to continue the struggle, the white-clothed woman put away her flute and quickly retreated, her beautiful eyes fixed on the trio. She then said, "So it seems, you do possess some skill. To think that I alone could capture you was far too naive."