Chapter 437: Demon-Suppressing Tower

"Damn it!" Yan Buji's face darkened; if he had known, he should have run away as soon as he left the mountain gate.

He was still greedy, thinking that coming back would earn him some reward, but instead they ended up having to kill each other.

Although Yan Buji didn't care about slaughtering those people, the issue is that if this place truly suppressed a demon emperor, those people probably weren't ignorant of it.

So why come here to break the seal? Remember, relations between humans, the Otherworldly Race, and demons aren't great.

"Unless that emperor is already dead, or it's a treasure one must obtain even at the risk of one's life."

Yan Buji thought carefully: what kind of treasure is most important for a cultivator?

Naturally, it's a treasure that helps break through realms!

Yan Buji looked around; the tower had many relief sculptures that seemed about to come alive at a glance.

The restrictions all around were no fewer than outside, but Yan Buji didn't know just how dangerous this place was.

In the blink of an eye, numerous sword-wielding Daoist phantoms suddenly rushed over!

Hmm?

"Good timing!"

Yan Buji moved with the wind, and as Instant Shadow Step activated, Shatter Heart Palm erupted in tandem!

Bang bang bang bang!!

In just three breaths, the surrounding Daoist phantoms were shattered by Yan Buji's palm into green smoke, and then an upward staircase appeared before his eyes.

"Is this the type of trial?"

Yan Buji went up all the way, and the opponents he encountered grew stronger and stronger.

And at that moment.

At the tower's summit, the three factions were mostly covered in wounds, their strength exhausted; they had to guard against incoming opponents while also watching for others' sneaky tactics, appearing quite restrained.

And their opponent was actually a Nascent Soul–stage demon emperor!

"Roar!"

"Retreat!!"

Song Xing and the others' faces shifted; they quickly cast spells to dodge to one side, after which the people around also launched an attack simultaneously.

"Brother-in-law!" Song Ziyue hurriedly helped Song Xing up, whispering: "Brother-in-law, we can't keep fighting. We're about to reach the seal site; if we continue like this, we won't have much strength left."

Song Xing gritted his teeth; he saw that beside Song Ziyue, of the three corpse refiners, only Da Zhuang remained.

Wang Li and his group also suffered casualties among several Golden Core cultivators; adding the Otherworldly Race's losses, all three factions sustained heavy losses—continuing like this, not only would they fail to preserve their strength, but they'd likely face great danger even against that demon emperor!

"This demon emperor has been crippled in his arts and doesn't know how to use Dao Mark power; otherwise we'd already be dead!" Song Xing rose to his feet, looking around.

"Cousin, we need to pick the right moment; this demon emperor won't last much longer—from now on, whoever reaches the seal site first will seize the initiative!"

"All right, brother-in-law!"

Song Ziyue looked around, gritting her teeth.

Earlier in the battle, it was obvious the Otherworldly Race side had signs of diverting trouble eastward, but because everyone held a piece of the key, they merely endured without turning on each other.

But now the seal site is right at the door; everyone is on edge, afraid of falling behind by even a step.

The other two factions are planning the same.

"Fellow Daoist Wang, at this point we can't talk about human righteousness—Song Xing and his lot deliberately screwed us over, killing many of our fellow Daoists; now we have only seven people on our side while they have just three! This treasure rightfully belongs to us; we can't let them snatch the leftovers!"

Bang bang!

Boom—

Several people hastily dodged the demon emperor's attack; fortunately, although this demon emperor's realm is higher than theirs, he completely doesn't know how to use his own power—though we don't know why, if it weren't so, not a single Golden Core cultivator present would survive.

Wang Li naturally understood, but upon glancing at the nine Otherworldly Race individuals, his expression turned ugly: "Have you noticed that the Otherworldly Race side is deliberately targeting Song Xing and his group?"

"You mean...."

"Lure them over, let them fight first!"

Several Golden Core cultivators exchanged glances, then unleashed spells—sky‑filled flames and earth spikes bombarded the demon emperor, who winced and turned his attention to them!

Consequently, those Golden Core cultivators scrambled to dodge, and ended up colliding with the Otherworldly Race troop.

"What are you doing over here?!" Xue Ping shouted.

"Fellow Daoists, stop hiding—this is still a demon emperor, even if you pull its fangs it's still a demon emperor!" The few Golden Core cultivators' faces grimaced as they hurriedly dodged.

"Damn it!"

She Junshi and the others could clearly see the opposing side's tactic of diverting trouble eastward; Wang Tian Sheng sent a mental transmission: "Lure it over to those few scoundrels!"

Thus, although everyone fought fiercely, no open conflict erupted on the surface; yet secretly, seeing the demon emperor covered in wounds and on the verge of collapse, they all exerted hidden force, aiming to have the demon emperor's dying backlash take away the forces of the other two sides!

At this moment, everyone's struggle became increasingly evident.

Not long after, Yan Buji came up from downstairs, saw the scene's conflict, froze momentarily, and quickly stepped aside.

"This is... a demon emperor?! It's amazing that with so many of them they can actually fight that demon emperor."

Yan Buji also didn't know when they had arrived, but looking at the situation, it seemed his timing was just right.

"Is it you, brat?!"

A familiar voice came from afar; Yan Buji turned his head to look.

Only to see that the disciple who had asked for directions earlier, Lie Huo of the Sun and Moon Palace, was hiding nearby, letting out a sinister grin.

"You old ghost, you actually dare to occupy the body of a Sun and Moon Palace disciple?"

"Hmph, kid, your breath‑concealing technique isn't bad either; if it weren't for my strong perception as an old ancestor, I'd really have let you slip through."

Yan Buji looked around and sent a mental message: "Then, senior, may I know how to address you?"

"I am Gui Xie; and you?"

"This one is Yan Buji."

"Looks like we're on the same road—tell me what's going on?" Gui Xie asked.

Yan Buji recounted everything that had happened to him at Penglai Pavilion, concealing some key topics. Gui Xie narrowed his eyes, sensing that the other party was hiding something, but he didn't ask further.

"You've come at just the right time—beyond this gate lies the place where the demon race emperor is sealed. If we can obtain the essence of that deceased emperor, it'll be enough to break through to the Nascent Soul stage!" Gui Xie gave a hehe laugh.

"Dead?!" Yan Buji's face changed.

"How come? Those few old things didn't tell you? You wouldn't really think there's a living being that could span the ages and survive to this day, would you?" Gui Xie said lightly.

"What else do you know, Senior Gui Xie? If possible, our side would be willing to cooperate with you."

"You..." Gui Xie narrowed his eyes.

Cooperation?

This martial artist's strength is hard to gauge, but seeing how confident he is, he could be somewhat useful as a shock trooper.

Gui Xie pondered; their goal was the emperor's essence sealed behind the gate, and that thing is a tremendous treasure for any cultivator.

But how to divide it among so many people is also a big problem—we can't give each person a share.

The three-way fight up ahead is fierce, and lurking in the shadows are people like them who watch the battle, waiting for a chance to seize the treasure; logically they naturally belong on the same front.

However, Gui Xie wasn't that kind-hearted; after concealing some key points, he began to narrate:

"This place is called Penglai Pavilion, a human cultivator's dojo from the ancient desolate era. The three old Daoists you saw are the three patriarchs of Penglai Pavilion. This place indeed once suppressed a demon race emperor, but he's long dead. Now all we need to do is wait for them to break the seal, then we can seize the essence when the opportunity arises!" Gui Xie said as such.