Chapter 411: Raging Fire

Author's Note: Happy New Year to all fellow Daoists! May you earn plenty of "Grandpa Mao" in the Year of the Snake! Without further ado, let the text begin!

Zhang Nuo's figure sprinted across the land, his speed not the least bit slow. In the blink of an eye, he arrived at the entrance of the valley. He saw over a dozen low-level cultivators standing there, their cultivation only at the middle or late Foundation Establishment stage, yet the Spiritual Pressure radiating from these dozen cultivators was quite peculiar!

"Yin Qi!"

Zhang Nuo's thoughts shifted, and he immediately identified these cultivators as those who utilized Yin Qi! In that case, the people inside the valley were very likely from the Great Underworld Mansion!

Thinking of this, the hatred buried in Zhang Nuo's heart for many years erupted once again! Since they were cultivators from the Great Underworld Mansion, perhaps Jin Buhuan and Chi Bilie were among them! With no time to consult with Zhou Huizheng and the others, Zhang Nuo's figure flickered as he followed the side of the mountain, climbing into the interior of the valley!

Scanning the inside, he couldn't help but gasp. He saw a chaotic scene in the valley: dozens of cultivators with not-insignificant cultivation were fighting with hundreds of earth giants! Shouts of battle rose one after another. At this moment, one person's figure appeared in Zhang Nuo's eyes—it was the Demon Emperor!

As the Demon Emperor moved his hands continuously, pitch-black Demonic Qi erupted from his robes. One after another, earth giants were destroyed, but after a moment, those earth giants that had just been destroyed stood up once again, throwing themselves at him regardless of their own safety!

"Hurry up, you lot! These earth giants simply cannot be killed!"

It seemed the Demon Emperor had been fighting for a long time and was feeling extremely frustrated. Thinking about it carefully, it made sense; who would feel comfortable facing an enemy that couldn't be killed? Especially in such a dangerous situation as the First Immortal Mountain!

Zhang Nuo looked in the direction the Demon Emperor was shouting and saw dozens of cultivators gathered in front of a cave entrance, their hands flashing with various Array Disks as they desperately tried to break the Restriction in front of the cave.

Behind those cultivators, a man stood with his hands behind his back, coldly watching the battle in the valley, showing no intention of intervening at all!

Upon seeing this person, Zhang Nuo's heart tightened slightly. Qin Xiaofeng, the number one figure of the Great Underworld Mansion, actually had even the Demon Emperor following his commands! However, when Zhang Nuo detected the Spirit Power fluctuations on Qin Xiaofeng, he was greatly astonished. He hadn't expected that after not seeing him for several years, Qin Xiaofeng had also advanced to the Nascent Soul Stage!

Although he only had the cultivation of the Nascent Soul Early-stage, the not-insignificant Spirit Power fluctuations indicated that his combat strength was even a notch stronger than an average Nascent Soul Middle Stage cultivator!

Zhang Nuo took a deep breath. The Great Underworld Mansion must have benefited immensely after obtaining the Hongjun Immortal Mountain; looking at the growth speed of Qin Xiaofeng and the Demon Emperor, it was clear! His gaze continued to scan the valley, searching for two other figures! But after looking through the entire valley, he still did not find the figures of Jin Buhuan and Chi Bilie!

"Could it be that these two didn't come, and stayed behind to guard the Immortal Mountain?"

Zhang Nuo speculated in his heart. However, at this moment, the earth giants in the valley suddenly increased in number. After the ground shook, over a hundred earth giants appeared rapidly from the earth, making the already frustrated Demon Emperor even more irritable!

"Jin Buhuan! Get out here right now, Demon Emperor! If you don't make a move, I'm not fighting anymore!"

After destroying two earth giants, the Demon Emperor cursed loudly toward the valley entrance! No sooner had his voice fallen than a streak of light flew from the direction of the valley entrance. When the light faded, an old man appeared—it was none other than Jin Buhuan!

"I say, Lord Demon Emperor, wasn't it agreed upon? I guard the valley entrance, and you go in to kill the earth giants! Why are you making me make a move again?"

Jin Buhuan let out a cold laugh, not taking the Demon Emperor seriously at all!

"Hmph! I never imagined there would be so many earth giants! Hurry up and take out your 'Ten Thousand Ghost Banner'!"

"Fine! It seems this old man isn't entirely useless after all!"

As Jin Buhuan spoke, he flipped his hand lightly, and a small black banner appeared before his eyes. With a spin, the small banner transformed to a height of about a zhang. The old man grabbed the banner pole with one hand and gave it a light shake. Immediately, Yin winds rose, and several ghosts flew out from the banner, entangling all the earth giants in the valley!

The group-attack power of this 'Ten Thousand Ghost Banner' was not weak; instantly, the cultivators of the Great Underworld Mansion in the valley felt the pressure on them lighten! At the same time, Zhang Nuo also saw Jin Buhuan, but what surprised him was that Jin Buhuan's cultivation had actually dropped to the Golden Core Middle Stage!

When he had fought him before, the old man was clearly a Golden Core Late Stage cultivator. How could he have dropped a small realm all of a sudden? In fact, he didn't know that when Jin Buhuan escaped from the 'Pure Underworld Divine Tree', he had used a secret technique to forcibly unleash the power of his Golden Core, causing his cultivation to suffer great damage.

Moreover, after the cultivation damage, there was no possibility of recovery within a hundred years. When the Demon Emperor learned of this, he had even mocked him for being useless! This left the old man extremely depressed!

Just as Zhang Nuo was watching everything in the valley, a chaotic wave of Spirit Power came from above his head! His heart gave a violent jolt, and he quickly dodged to one side!

With a loud boom, a giant sword over a zhang long fell from high in the sky, striking exactly where Zhang Nuo had been hiding. If he had been even a split second slower, he likely would have been split in two by this giant sword!

Having been ambushed, Zhang Nuo was burning with rage. He looked up at the sky and saw a cultivator wrapped in a streak of light, pinching a magic seal, glaring hatefully at Zhang Nuo below!

"Shi Liang!"

Zhang Nuo recognized at a glance that the one who had ambushed him was none other than Shi Liang! He couldn't help but feel anger rise from his heart and malice grow in his gut! This traitor of the Divine Sword Sect seemed to be doing quite well in the Great Underworld Mansion; his cultivation had actually advanced to the Golden Core Late Stage!

When Shi Liang in the sky saw Zhang Nuo, his heart tightened. He had just discovered someone spying on the valley from the ground, but he hadn't expected it to be Zhang Nuo! What shocked him even more was that Zhang Nuo's cultivation had already entered the Nascent Soul Middle Stage! Without a second thought, he turned into a streak of light and flew toward the side of Qin Xiaofeng inside the valley!

Shi Liang had long heard of Zhang Nuo's reputation on the Xianhuan Continent during this period. Since a single strike hadn't succeeded, was he supposed to wait for the other party to retaliate?

The moment the giant sword struck down, everyone in the valley also discovered Zhang Nuo's presence. Seeing this, Zhang Nuo no longer had any need to conceal his aura! He stood up slowly, and a powerful Nascent Soul Stage aura surged out from his body!

Everyone in the valley shifted their gaze to Zhang Nuo. Jin Buhuan gripped the 'Ten Thousand Ghost Banner' with one hand, his face turning pale and then green. If it weren't for Zhang Nuo, he wouldn't have fallen to his current state!

"It seems the rumors are all true! This brat has actually advanced to the Nascent Soul Middle Stage!"

The Demon Emperor took a deep breath. The aura emitted from Zhang Nuo did not seem fake. In this way, this brat who was only at the Golden Core Stage back then had actually reached the same realm as him—it was truly unimaginable!

Qin Xiaofeng looked at Zhang Nuo in disbelief, a flash of surprise crossing his deep eyes. He had never imagined that Zhang Nuo would appear here!

"Demon Emperor! He is handed over to you!"

Without too much hesitation, Qin Xiaofeng understood that Shi Liang was no match for Zhang Nuo, so he had no choice but to pass this hot potato to the Demon Emperor!

Although he was unwilling in his heart, the Demon Emperor still braced himself and flew toward Zhang Nuo. By this time, Zhang Nuo had already flown into mid-air. The raging fire in his heart could not be suppressed at all; his target was the group from the Great Underworld Mansion, not the Demon Emperor at all!

Seeing the Demon Emperor arrive before him, Zhang Nuo let out a cold snort through his nose.

"Get out of the way! I don't want to fight you!"

The contemptuous, cold, and ruthless words made the Demon Emperor feel a chill in his heart! Was this still the little fellow from before? Facing Zhang Nuo's overwhelming momentum, the Demon Emperor's throat moved slightly as he said:

"Zhang Nuo! Don't think that just because you've advanced to Nascent Soul you can ignore my existence! If you want to deal with the Great Underworld Mansion, get past me first!"

"Running dog!"

Zhang Nuo's evaluation of the Demon Emperor consisted of only two words, and it was precisely these two words that made the Demon Emperor furious! He was a dignified Demon Emperor, and he was extremely unwilling to have fallen to this point today. However, facing the pressure of the Great Underworld Mansion, he had to lower his head. Although the cultivators of the Five Great Demon Mountains didn't say it out loud, they had long been unable to bear the sight of it! Some demonic cultivators had even cursed the Demon Emperor as a running dog in their hearts! Therefore, he was extremely disgusted by the term "running dog"!

"Go to hell!"

With a mad roar, the Demon Emperor didn't perform any probing attacks; he simply flipped his hand and summoned the 'Heavenly Demon Cauldron'! Zhang Nuo had only seen this cauldron once before, during the great battle when the heavens fell, when Nanxuan Laozu fought the Demon Emperor one-on-one, and the Demon Emperor was forced to summon the Small Tripod as a last resort!

The Small Tripod was only half a foot high, with Demonic Qi flowing on its surface. Wisps of green smoke slowly emerged from within the tripod, and the faint green smoke continuously condensed into various terrifying patterns above the Small Tripod!

"Hmph! Heavenly Demon Cauldron!"

Zhang Nuo snorted coldly, then slowly reached out from his robe. In his hand, there was also a small tripod—it was the 'Four Spirits Square Cauldron'!

The Demon Emperor was stunned for a moment, then let out a long howl toward the sky! He couldn't help but feel a sense of loss. His 'Heavenly Demon Cauldron' and the 'Four Spirits Square Cauldron' in Zhang Nuo's hand could be said to be Ancient Treasures from the same period. He hadn't expected that not only had Zhang Nuo's cultivation caught up to his, but his Magic Treasure was not the least bit inferior either! What kind of dog-shit luck did this brat have to get his hands on such an Ancient Treasure!

"Four Spirits Square Cauldron! Hehe! Today, this Demon Emperor will have to experience its divine abilities!"

Having said this, the Demon Emperor brushed his hand over the 'Heavenly Demon Cauldron'. In an instant, the green smoke in the cauldron surged, and in a moment, it formed a green ball of light above it. The next moment, a shrill screech came from within the ball of light, and it shot toward Zhang Nuo!

Facing this scene, it seemed that today's battle could not be avoided. Zhang Nuo was not afraid of the Demon Emperor; after all, his cultivation had also advanced to the Nascent Soul Middle Stage. Now, the only thing that remained to be seen was whose Magic Treasure was sharper!