Chapter 533: A Demon Suppression Stone Comparable to the Dao-Combining Realm

Boom! Boom! Boom!

Diming Youmang revealed its true form, its massive body slithering restlessly through the gloomy great tomb, hunting for any sign of life within. A casual flick of its tail made the entire tomb rumble thunderously.

The vast force could not truly destroy this Baoyue great tomb, but it seeped into the earth veins, causing dense, web-like cracks to spread across the surrounding vast forbidden zone of living beings, as if it were about to collapse entirely.

Within the entire great tomb, eight tomb-guarding Bai Hu demons remained.

Perhaps because they had been guarding this great tomb for far too long, the many factions of Xihong had gradually forgotten their fame. But in terms of strength, this group of elder great demons could easily subdue the majority of so-called young prodigies.

At this moment, these old demons were in their respective lairs, palms trembling as they controlled the Baoyue Soul-Suppressing Grand Array, sweat pouring down like rain, nearly soaking through the messy, filthy fur on their bodies.

Their expressions also shifted from fury to dread!

Even after tens of thousands of years of familiarity, when they operated this great array, they had achieved perfect coordination, as if they were a single person.

But there was still a gap compared to a single person truly controlling the array.

Even though they had given their all, they could not seize back control of the grey mist; being temporarily free from the grey mist's backlash was already their limit.

Moreover… the one controlling the array on the opposite side also held more array diagrams than they did.

There was a traitor! And this was a conspiracy that had been carefully plotted for many years!

The hearts of the eight tomb-guarding Bai Hu demons trembled in unison.

In this land of Xihong, which faction would dare to set its sights on the great tomb of the Haoyue Shuanghu clan, and what did it seek?

Soon, the thick python body that nearly filled all the tomb's passages came into their view. Its damp scales were like the hardest divine iron in the world, and the thick demonic aura it exuded instinctively moved them.

What a terrifying great demon this was!

Though its strength had not yet reached the Dao-Combining realm, the density of its bloodline surpassed most of the demon clans they had seen in Xihong, including the Haoyue Shuanghu clan itself.

A true prodigy!

What faction could bear to send such a being to risk attacking a great tomb that held almost no value?

Could it be that they had offended the demon clans of Beihong?

Thinking of this, the hearts of the tomb-guarding Bai Hu demons began to pound even more violently.

Fortunately, this scene did not last long.

Boom—

A tremendous roar echoed from within the tomb as the massive python head slammed in. Its crimson tongue flicked, and its chilling eyes stared straight over.

As the python demon drew closer, the hearts of the tomb-guarding Bai Hu demons, cornered as they were, suddenly stopped.

Instinctively splitting their focus to resist, the moment they withdrew their control over the array, the grey mist's roar rang in their ears!

The Dao-Combining realm array guarding this great tomb had now become their death warrant.

"Whatever the matter is… please discuss it with our clan leader… there is nothing here…"

The tomb-guarding Bai Hu stared into the python demon's utterly calm eyes, and despair finally welled up in its heart. It ignited its entire essence and blood, and strength nearly on par with the Sicheng realm poured from its arms, attempting to blast the giant python back!

Yet when its sharp tiger claws struck the pitch-black scales, not only did they fail to budge it in the slightest, but a muffled crack of shattering bone rang out from its own arms.

The two sides' strength simply was not on the same level.

Youchang suddenly slammed it against the stone wall. Before the tomb-guarding Bai Hu could even scream, it pulled back a little, then slammed it again, over and over.

This sturdy great tomb, which could only be breached by those at the Dao-Combining realm, had utterly cut off the Bai Hu demon's last sliver of hope.

It could only desperately pound the python's head, until it was crushed into a pulp of flesh.

At the same time.

In the rest of the tomb, amid the raging Heart Flames, the Bai Hu demon suppression stones, clearly unable to control this new body, staggered forward, then, with overwhelming force, easily reaped the lives of these former companions.

Before these three suppression stones, these elder Bai Hu demons were no different from fish on a chopping board; they could not even last until reinforcements arrived from the clan.

Amid such obvious commotion.

Only one place in the entire tomb remained quiet.

The main tomb chamber.

Shen Yi casually closed the heavy stone door, then his gaze fell upon the cold, flat stone platform ahead.

On it lay a "small" corpse roughly seven chi long.

The reason it was called small was that it was a Haoyue Shuanghu; compared to its kin, this corpse could be called nothing if not petite.

At this moment, this Haoyue Shuanghu was in an extremely strange state.

Its body had long since rotted away by half, exposing ghastly white bone. The fur on its limbs was nearly gone, leaving it mottled and ugly, looking as though it had been dead for a very long time.

But on the remaining skin, under the浸润 of moonlight, a vigorous vitality was still maintained.

This mingled state of life and death appeared extremely eerie within the gloomy great tomb.

Shen Yi walked over quietly and looked down at it.

Only now did he realize that this tiger demon's eyes were still open. Though those eyes were dim and lifeless, showing no emotion, it was clear the other was still alive.

If a third person were present, they would notice something particularly absurd.

That was, the eyes of this black-robed cultivator and the strange Haoyue Shuanghu revealed an almost identical weariness.

That weariness was not ordinary; it was as though they had endured unimaginable torment through the ages, barely keeping their spirits from collapsing.

"…"

Shen Yi knew full well how urgent the situation was. Before the tomb-guarding Bai Hu demons acted, they must have already sent word to the clan; a great demon comparable to the Dao-Combining realm might arrive at any moment.

Given what he had done, he did not expect to have Lady Yushan's luck when meeting her later.

Yet Shen Yi still did not make a move.

The Bai Hu demon suppression stone had once said that this little princess of the Haoyue Shuanghu clan had a treasure of the Dao-Combining level protecting her body.

And indeed that was the case.

Just approaching this tiger demon made Shen Yi's body instinctively tense up. This premonition of danger had saved his life many times before.

If he dared to reach out, he would probably have to stay here today.

Shen Yi was never a hesitant person.

Under normal circumstances, upon realizing a situation was hopeless, he would have withdrawn immediately.

But this time was different.

After witnessing this tiger demon with his own eyes, he had a vague premonition that the creature was undoubtedly the perfect demon prodigy to serve as a vessel for his Death Tribulation.

The fear of death stems largely from having once experienced the beauty of life.

And this tiger demon, which should have died in the womb, had not yet tasted the world's splendor or felt the warmth and coldness of human emotion before being cast into this gloomy great tomb, where it had barely clung to life for a full hundred thousand years.

If he missed this opportunity, Shen Yi found it hard to imagine where he could find a second existence of similar nature.

Moreover, to stand before this stone platform, the majority of the lifespan he had gained from slaying the eight tomb-guarding tiger demons earlier had been consumed by the Moon-Resonating Soul-Calming Great Formation, a technique of the Dao-Integration realm.

The exhaustion of qi following continuous fierce battles, combined with the torment of a mind nearly lost to confusion, together made life almost unbearable.

The only reason he could maintain his composure was that he had grown accustomed to it.

"Hoo."

Shen Yi slowly extended his palm, stopping just a few inches short of the stone platform.

Sensing that faint yet terrifying aura, if he moved any closer, not only would this hand be destroyed, but even the Divine Phoenix Immortal Sword Body would likely shatter completely.

He intended to make one final attempt.

For instance, to strike a deal with this tiger demon.

"Come with me."

Shen Yi gazed intently at the numb eyes on the tiger demon's severed head, even though the demon showed no reaction to his words, appearing like a true corpse.

Typically, after stating conditions, one must offer a corresponding reward.

Shen Yi pondered for a moment, trying to soften his voice: "I grant you death."

Such absurd words, spoken with his sincere expression, seemed even more peculiar.

However—

That tiger demon reacted for the first time since he entered the tomb chamber.

Though it was merely a simple lifting of the eyelids.

After seeing the exhaustion Shen Yi was equally straining to conceal within his own eyes, the tiger demon lowered its eyelids once more.

But in that instant, a hoarse yet youthful voice echoed through the tomb chamber.

"You lie... you dare not... it is coming soon."

She did not seek an answer; she was merely stating a fact.

With power comparable to a Dao-Integration great demon, traveling from the Haoyue Shuanghu clan to the Baoyue Great Tomb truly required little time.

Perhaps it was the first time she had seen a living stranger, or perhaps she felt Shen Yi resembled her in some small way and could slightly understand her feelings, which is why this tiger demon spoke so rarely.

It could also be seen as a warning for him to leave.

As the words faded, this young tiger demon did not detect panic on the youth's face; it seemed the other had anticipated this yet still chose to remain here.

"Try."

Shen Yi spoke no more, merely nodding slightly: "At the very least, you can go out and see."

"I do not wish to see."

The youthful and hoarse voice held no hesitation.

For her, the desire to see the world outside was a thought that belonged to many, many years ago.

As for what comes after... besides death, she had no other thoughts.

Shen Yi fell silent, waiting quietly; he knew best what this young tiger demon was thinking.

Having sunk into despair and sat in stagnation for a hundred thousand years, any chance to escape such a situation was impossible to abandon.

Indeed, she did not make him wait long.

The voice sounded again: "Fine, do as you please; let us try."

Immediately following, a series of somewhat strange syllables entered Shen Yi's mind.

He closed his eyes and recited them aloud.

At the position of his fingertips, the terrifying aura of resistance began to gradually fade; he顺势 scooped up the tiger demon's body, yet a layer of flowing sensation still passed through his fingertips, preventing Shen Yi from truly touching the other.

"To fully unravel the incantation of this ghostly thing, it was never taught to me; I have spent many years deducing it, and I am not entirely certain if I can succeed."

"Of course, even if I succeed, you will certainly be doomed."

The voice finally no longer drifted through the tomb chamber but emerged from the tiger demon's mouth.

Her voice carried no emotion, nor did it contain any sarcasm.

From the occasional conversations she overheard among those tomb-guarding tiger demons, she knew that in this place called Xi Hong, perhaps no one had yet been born who dared to grant herself death.

Shen Yi glanced back at the tomb chamber, then without further hesitation, his form transformed into a purple-white long rainbow that swiftly shot out of the great tomb.

Immediately after, the three镇压 stones, having eliminated all remaining tomb-guarding tiger demons, pursued in streaks of flowing light.

Possessing three Haoyue Shuanghu of the Dao-Integration great demon level, the Haoyue Shuanghu clan was undoubtedly a first-rate power in Xi Hong; above them, perhaps only the Xi Dragon Palace could completely suppress them.

This terrifying giant, the forbidden zone crafted with immense effort and heart.

Under the hands of merely four people, it had been utterly turned into a realm of death!

If this matter were to spread, it would surely cause every power in all of Xi Hong to remember the honored name of the one who acted... while quietly waiting for him to be hunted down by the enraged Haoyue Shuanghu clan until not even bones remained.

Having caused such a great calamity, Shen Yi did not appear particularly panicked.

Mainly because panic would be useless.

He sped toward a specific direction with clear purpose.

That was the direction the other three Daozi had departed when they parted ways; if the Haoyue Shuanghu clan leader truly caught up, and if there was anyone in Xi Hong who could save his life, then it would surely be only Shen Zongzhu of the Qingyue Sect.

Of course, Shen Yi had a second plan prepared.

His mind stirred slightly, and the corpses of several tomb-guarding tiger demons brought along by the town stones, at a speed visible to the naked eye, transformed into a surging sea of blood that poured entirely into the tiger demon town stone.

One had to know that every tomb-guarding tiger demon was an existence far surpassing cultivators of the three cities; placed among the Diming Youmang clan, they would be a genuine clan leader.

Setting aside techniques or treasures, calling them comparable to the four cities was no exaggeration.

And now, this town stone had gathered a full eighteen of such terrifying demons within it.

If exchanged for cultivators, even sweeping through all of Yu Nanhong's Seven Sons along with the Banshan Sect and Baohua Sect, one could not gather such a massive number.

"Roar—"

The tiger demon town stone let out a shrill wail, the aura that already crushed Youchang surged once more, then its eyes lost their luster, its colors faded like flowing water, its entire body returned to a stone-like form, and it plummeted straight downward.

During this process, a subtle, mysterious flavor quietly spread.

Shen Yi suddenly recalled back when he was still a mortal, when he had obtained the Wind Thunder Remnant Scroll and first made contact with the initial realm, the sweet, mellow fragrance he had sensed.

Only back then he had merely smelled it in passing.

But now, this sweet, mellow fragrance nearly filled every pore of his body.

That represented an entirely new realm!

"……"

Shen Yi shook his head sharply, quickly snapping out of that intoxicated feeling.

In that momentary sublimation just now, his perception had grown much sharper, and he detected a prickling sensation as if a thorn were at his back.

As if someone had set their sights on him—more precisely, on the "young tiger" in his hands.

This Haoyue Shuanghu clan leader, a great demon comparable to the Dao Merging realm, surely had other things to do—had he already caught up this quickly?

"Regretting it now?"

The little tiger demon hung its four limbs and asked in that emotionless voice.

She had previously said she didn't really want to see the outside, which didn't seem to be empty words—since leaving the great tomb, she hadn't even glanced at her surroundings once.

"It's alright."

Shen Yi stared calmly ahead and smoothly retrieved the falling town stone.

【Remaining demon lifespan: 630,000 years】

Although he had slain another full sixteen great demons, these old things long tormented by the tomb really didn't have many years left; moreover, having spent a massive amount of lifespan on that Dao Merging realm formation, what remained was only this much.

One had to know that the last formation Shen Yi had encountered was merely the Five Element Treasure Lotus Grand Formation, equivalent to the mid Return-to-Emptiness stage; having leapt across so many levels in one go, being able to forcibly comprehend it before falling into stupor was already decent—there was nothing to complain about.

He wasn't entirely sure whether the remaining lifespan could elevate that tomb-guarding tiger demon's soul to the point of being able to control this town stone, which had very likely touched upon the Dao Merging level.

Of course, judging by how that tiger demon had performed, even if the demon soul's strength sufficed, it would still be difficult to bring out the true power of this town stone.

But if things truly became urgent enough to threaten his life, this would count as a fallback measure.

He didn't ask to be able to defeat the Haoyue Shuanghu clan leader.

At least delaying it should be doable.

As long as he could weather this tribulation and survive…

Shen Yi took a deep breath and glanced at the little tiger demon in his hand.

Not only would he have a chance to open the fourth city, he could even possess a "hall master" potentially comparable to the Dao Merging realm.

This harvest was many, many times richer than he had previously imagined!

"You'll keep your promise to me, right?"

The little tiger demon raised its head, a pair of Tianyan Siji eyes quietly watching the young man's profile.

She was very curious—after sensing that Dao Merging realm great demon's killing intent, why this young cultivator could still remain so calm.

The other party shouldn't have touched upon that level of realm, otherwise why would he need her to undo this protective treasure?

She couldn't figure it out—what exactly did the other party want.

Fortunately, she had long been accustomed to not being able to figure certain things out, and had no habit of dwelling on such matters.

"I'll do my best." Shen Yi continued to travel at full speed.

Hearing this, the little tiger demon was silent for a moment: "Thank you."

This was the first time she had met a human cultivator willing to help her; although she didn't know the reason, the other party didn't seem to be the kind who made promises carelessly and broke faith.

"You're welcome."

Shen Yi lowered his gaze to glance at it, softly reminding: "Don't worry about me, focus on your own matters."

Though both their tones sounded utterly calm, they somehow revealed a faintly heartwarming quality.

But whether it was Yulan or Youchang, their expressions at this moment both grew somewhat strange.

There was actually someone in this world who could make the promise of "granting you a death."

Even stranger, the other one seemed to value this promise greatly.

Truly mad!

(End of this chapter)