Chapter 187: Petrification

"Nine-Tailed Celestial Fox!"

As they looked at the massive white fox figure appearing above the crater of Tanggu, the expressions of the cultivators gathered at Qianmen Fortress all changed.

With more and more cultivators gathering, Qianmen Fortress had long been under martial law; the city walls were lined with Demon-Suppression Guards ready to fight at any moment, presenting a posture of killing anyone who dared to break through.

No one wanted to forcibly enter Qianmen Fortress, nor did they dare to directly confront the Demon-Suppression Guards.

Unable to enter Tanggu, they naturally could not investigate what was happening inside, but no one chose to leave.

First, the Soul Star above Qianmen Fortress was lit; even just gathering near Qianmen Fortress allowed one's soul to be nourished by the soul power radiating from the Soul Star.

For cultivators, the stronger the soul, the better, naturally.

Second, most cultivators were concerned about the situation inside Tanggu. Half a month ago, a tornado-like pillar of black demonic energy suddenly appeared at the crater of Tanggu, formed by the leakage of demonic energy.

Everyone could guess that the demon race that had infiltrated Tanggu had destroyed the formation eye.

Now, the demonic energy pillar showed a trend of growing larger; once the demonic energy could no longer be controlled, it would likely spread to the mortal world through the Artifact Saint Palace.

The cultivators present were all very worried about this, since the main place where everyone would live and cultivate in the future was still the mortal world.

Furthermore, witnessing the progress of events firsthand at Qianmen Fortress was certainly more accurate than hearing second-hand information from others later.

On the side of the Demon-Suppression Army, Chu Junyu frowned deeply as he looked at Liu Chengxiong on the city wall. As the supreme commander of the Qianmen Fortress Demon-Suppression Guards, now that a demon race had infiltrated the center of the formation eye and was destroying it, he should have immediately gone to stop it, rather than standing on the city wall, ostensibly guarding Qianmen Fortress but actually doing nothing.

The Lieutenant General Sheng Pengyun, seeing his grave expression, spoke up: "General, don't worry. People have come from the Xiangguo Temple, the Celestial Master Mansion, the Three Pure Ones Palace, and the Supreme Simplicity Palace. They will certainly have spread the news from here."

"If the demonic energy really spreads to the mortal world, it can certainly be controlled in time. Even if it's not controlled in time, it probably won't cause too much of an impact, since that demonic energy pillar isn't large and can't leak much demonic energy."

Chu Junyu's brows did not relax at all: "Do you know why the prison that holds ferocious beasts and demon race is not called the Demon Prison, but the Demon-Devil Prison?"

Sheng Pengyun and the others standing beside him really did not know this, so they all shook their heads.

Chu Junyu explained: "Since the establishment of the Demon-Devil Prison, the ferocious beasts and great demons imprisoned inside have all been cruel and vicious characters. After being locked in the Demon-Devil Prison, their hearts were filled with rancor, hatred, and killing intent. By the time these ferocious beasts and great demons passed away, these violent energies had grown to a very terrifying level. Any cultivator with an unsteady mind, upon contacting even a little, would be induced to give birth to all kinds of evil thoughts, and then be influenced, or even controlled."

"Therefore, what leaks out from the Demon-Devil Prison is not merely demonic energy, but demonic-devlish energy mixed with a massive amount of violent energy."

"If the demonic-devlish energy spreads to the mortal world, let alone ordinary people, even the vast majority of cultivators would not be able to withstand it. Once affected by the violent energy, it would definitely cause unimaginable chaos."

"The harm caused by the violent thoughts induced by demonic-devlish energy is no less than the evil desires spawned by the black flames of the Divine Lamp."

Hearing this, the faces of the Demon-Suppression Army soldiers all turned serious.

"What the hell are the Qianmen Fortress Demon-Suppression Guards doing? How did they let the demon race infiltrate the center of the formation eye?"

"The demon race probably entered from the Soul-Breaking Mountain."

Sheng Pengyun looked at the huge crater behind Qianmen Fortress and asked in confusion: "The Nine-Tailed Celestial Fox has nine tails; why do I only see eight?"

Chu Junyu's eyes flickered: "There must be someone inside Tanggu resisting the demon race and guarding the formation eye." He paused, "Most likely people from the Artifact Saint Palace."

Sheng Pengyun: "But the Artifact Saint Palace has been silent in the mortal world. How did they suddenly pop up?"

Chu Junyu: "It's not that they've been completely silent, just that they didn't want us to notice. They've always been there."

Sheng Pengyun: "The Refining Workshop has been watched by the Demon-Suppression Army, the Embroidered Uniform Guard, and the Eastern Depot, yet they've never found the Artifact Saint Palace's location. They really are hiding deep."

"If you ask me, there's no need to be so secretive. They might as well openly recruit cultivators like the Mausoleum Light Hall does. To expand and strengthen the Artifact Saint Palace, in the end, it relies on people. Hiding and concealing—how many cultivators can they recruit?"

"Although the Artifact Saint Palace holds the orthodox refining inheritance and is not afraid of having no one to join, right now is just the beginning of the spiritual energy resurgence, the time to grab people and territory. If they fall behind at this stage, catching up later will be hard."

Sheng Pengyun paused, looking at Chu Junyu: "Speaking of the sacred lands, the other three sacred lands don't seem to be making much noise either. General, things that I can think clearly about, the successors of the sacred lands should not be unaware. Seeing other forces recruiting cultivators everywhere, how can they be so patient?"

Chu Junyu shook his head: "Many things depend on timing. Perhaps the time has not come yet."

Just as everyone was worrying about the situation in Tanggu, the massive white fox above the crater of Tanggu turned into a beam of white light and flew directly into Tanggu.

After a moment, the white fox transformed into a stunning woman in white, appearing on the Boundary Stone Platform at the very center of Tanggu.

At this moment, at the center of the Boundary Stone Platform, a hammer emitting red light hovered. Beside the hammer, three people were engaged in a fierce battle; two of them wanted to seize the hammer, and the other was blocking them.

Further out from the three people were eighteen human-shaped stone statues sitting cross-legged, forming a circle that protected the hammer in the middle.

One of the human-shaped stone statues had been shattered for the most part and had fallen onto the platform.

Because this human-shaped stone statue had broken and fallen, a crack was exposed at the place where it had previously sat.

At this moment, surging and boiling black gas was continuously pouring out from the crack. As the black gas scattered into the air, it immediately formed a tornado-like vortex pillar.

In the distance from the black qi pillar, four figures were locked in fierce battle, three of whom were Baili Changfeng and his two disciples.

As soon as the White Fox appeared, she urgently said to her three subordinates, "Forget the Divine Hammer, focus all your efforts on destroying the array eye."

The fact that there was a powerful cultivator stationed at the bottom of the Tang Bath completely exceeded her expectations.

At this moment, the White Fox deeply regretted her greed—she should not have, upon detecting a treasure at the bottom of the Tang Bath, forgotten that the purpose of sneaking into the Tang Valley was to destroy the array eye, and instead intended to seize that treasure.

The treasure was guarded by a powerful cultivator, and her actions seemed to have awakened that expert at the bottom of the Tang Bath.

After speaking to her subordinates, the White Fox charged directly at a humanoid stone sculpture, and the other three demon followers also stopped entangled with Baili Changfeng and his group, each launching attacks at the stone sculpture.

"Wretched beast, stop!"

At the same time, at the bottom of the Tang Bath, Hua Changxi frowned at the massive fox tail falling down, recalling that the demons had infiltrated the Tang Valley to destroy the array eye. He put away the Shennong Cauldron and the fox tail, glanced at the rift connecting to the Divine Tree Space, and quickly swam toward the surface of the Tang Bath.

When Hua Changxi flew out of the Tang Bath, he heard Xia Xue's piercing cry.

"Master, no~"

Hua Changxi's expression shifted slightly; he rode a cloud toward the direction of the sound and soon spotted a massive grey stone platform.

On the stone platform, a woman in white shattered a humanoid stone sculpture, revealing an opening. In an instant, a vast amount of eerie, terrifying black gas surged out of the opening.

The black gas erupted, forming a black tornado-like qi pillar that rose from the ground at a visible speed.

Seeing the black qi pillar, Baili Changfeng rushed over and sat cross-legged atop the opening, blocking the outflow of black gas. The black pillar gradually dissipated, but Baili Changfeng was visibly petrifying into stone.