From the ancient ruins at the base of the volcano, a divine rainbow shot into the sky, shining brilliantly and lighting up the night as it flew toward the mountain where Ye Fan stood. Startled, he held his breath and hid motionlessly behind a massive boulder, thinking a powerful cultivator had spotted him.
Swoosh!
The divine rainbow arrived, Elder Wu Qingfeng descended onto the mountain, placed Pang Bo in a hidden spot, and then soared back into the air to rejoin the others heading toward the volcano.
Ye Fan emerged from behind the boulder and hurried over. Pang Bo, now sealed by several elders of Desolate Spirit Grotto-Heaven, had his eyes closed and body stiff, unable to move. A faint greenish aura flowed beneath his skin, and his face looked unnaturally pale.
"What exactly entered his body?" Ye Fan didn't dare touch him lightly, the sealing technique left godpower rippling across Pang Bo's body.
At the volcano's crater, tension soared. Human cultivators and demons were locked in a fierce standoff, neither side willing to back down. A battle could erupt at any moment.
The old Flood Dragon, covered in crimson scales, stood upright like a blood-red wall. He bellowed, "People of Desolate Spirit Grotto-Heaven! Do you truly wish to break centuries of peace and declare war on us?!"
The sect master of Desolate Spirit Grotto-Heaven replied with unwavering resolve, "The sacred treasure of the Eastern Wilderness' human race must be reclaimed. It cannot fall into the hands of your demon clan. And that critical volume of the Dao Scripture, vanished for millennia, must return to human hands!"
A strikingly beautiful demon maiden with golden wings and a magnetic voice, though cold and murderous in tone, countered forcefully, "This is the tomb of our Demon Emperor, and now you invoke human treasures and the Dao Scripture? You clearly want to loot the emperor's resting place. If you're determined to fight, come on then!"
The sect master held firm. "Right or wrong, we'll know once we open the ancient temple. If the sacred treasure and the Dao Scripture aren't inside, we'll immediately apologize and accept any punishment. But if they are, we will take them, and no one can stop us. That way, we avoid needless bloodshed. It benefits us both."
The three-meter-tall demon giant with twin horns roared, his voice shaking the air, "If your so-called treasures aren't there, you'll just twist the truth and claim something else as your own. I know your kind too well, calling black as white, confusing right and wrong is your specialty. The Demon Emperor's tomb is not yours to defile!"
The tension escalated rapidly. Neither side would retreat even half a step. A full-scale war seemed inevitable.
"You demons go too far. No matter what, today we will reclaim the sacred relic of the Eastern Wilderness' human race!" the sect master declared, stepping forward again.
"You've forced our hand!" the golden-haired demon spread her wings, unleashing thousands of golden feathers like divine arrows, piercing the air toward the sect master.
With a sweeping motion of his sleeve, the sect master released a misty violet aura that surged like a furious sea, blocking the onslaught of divine feathers.
"Kill!" the demon girl shouted coldly. Her body glowed with divine light as a tidal wave of golden feathers filled the sky, forming a celestial net of light that shattered the purple mist and descended on the sect master.
The sect master summoned a purple bronze cauldron, which erupted with divine light. Violet flames surged outward, shattering the golden feathers into glimmering shards, forming a brilliant stream of golden energy.
The golden-haired girl's face was expressionless. She spread her wings again, and two golden divine swords shot out, crystal clear, radiant, and wrapped in flame-like golden light, as they slashed toward the sect master.
With a gentle point of his finger, the purple bronze cauldron rose, unleashing endless violet flames that engulfed the swords, attempting to melt them on the spot.
Boom!
The divine swords shot through the flames like lightning, shaking the sky with their collision.
"Kill!"
"Hold the line!"
At that moment, the other demon lords attacked. Baleful energy surged skyward, bloodlust erupted, and the power of the demon race swept across the sky like storm-tossed waves.
Simultaneously, the four grand elders of Desolate Spirit Grotto-Heaven advanced. Godpower in their Bitter Sea boiled over, and their bodies shone brilliantly, illuminating the sky and dispersing the approaching demonic aura. All four struck together.
Demonic power and divine brilliance clashed violently. Demon lords and human experts battled in a flurry of radiance and flying weapons, lighting up the night as if it were day.
God drums, celestial lanterns, bronze cauldrons, golden swords, Eight Trigram mirrors, blood blades, dragon-scale sabers, all imbued with life and spiritual energy, collided endlessly, clanging in fierce contest, each strike pulsing with divine force that made the sky tremble.
At the same time, terrifying beasts like the lightning bird glowing with electricity and the silver centipede cast in shimmering metal arrived at the crater. On the opposite side, Elder Wu Qingfeng and other Desolate Spirit elders arrived as well, forming another standoff, one that was also on the verge of exploding into chaos.
From afar, Ye Fan watched, overwhelmed. The battle above the volcano stirred his spirit and filled him with awe.
To say Ye Fan wasn't tempted by the Demon Emperor's tomb would be a lie. But he lacked the strength to fight for it. What he desperately wanted was the missing volume of the Dao Scripture. Revered across the Eastern Wilderness, this celestial tome was of unmatched value, and its missing chapter was said to be treasured by the Demon Emperor himself. For Ye Fan, it was vital, he had no method to continue his cultivation otherwise.
As for the so-called sacred treasure of the Eastern Wilderness' human race, Ye Fan didn't know anything about it. It didn't stir any emotion in him. Only the Dao Scripture filled him with deep desire.
Though he had obtained a portion of an ancient scripture from the bronze coffin, the hundreds of ancient characters imprinted in his mind were more like a preface or overarching principle than practical instructions for cultivation. They were too profound for his current level.
The Dao Scripture was a peerless celestial classic, revered across the ages. For tens of thousands of years in the vast Eastern Wilderness, only a handful of ancient texts could compare. None had surpassed it. It detailed the path of cultivation from igniting the Life Wheel and opening the Bitter Sea, to building the Celestial Bridge and reaching the Other Shore, everything, including the next stage of cultivation within the human body. It was exactly what Ye Fan urgently needed.
Thud… Thud… Thud…
At that moment, heavy thuds echoed again, like a massive heart pounding violently. Five-colored divine light burst from the crater, shattering both the overwhelming demon energy and divine power surging in the sky.
Blood-red lava boiled violently, flowing outward and lighting half the sky. The radiant, resplendent ancient temple rose and fell within the molten sea, pulsing with the breath of time.
Boom!
With one last thunderous quake, the temple slowly emerged from the lava. Ancient, mysterious demon runes flickered faintly on its surface, no longer able to bind it, it was now free.
Rumble…
The volcano trembled as the magnificent temple burst from the crater, its blinding light illuminating the ancient land like daytime. The stars above faded. Five-colored god-light spiraled around it.
All the demon lords and Desolate Spirit's elite cultivators immediately ceased their battle. They charged toward the majestic temple, each trying to be the first to open its doors and claim the Demon Emperor's legacy and hidden treasures.