Chapter 898

After another slaughter, Yan Buji had not yet left.

Boom!

Nine golden chains suddenly thrust out from the void, crushing the mountain where Yan Buji stood into powder. Amid the smoke and dust, seven figures appeared; the leader, holding a bronze compass, sneered: "Pot demon, do you know this \"Zhou Tian Star Dipper Demon-Subduing Plate\" specifically counters......"

Before he could finish, he suddenly discovered in horror that the compass needle was frantically pointing at his own brow.

"Idiot." Yan Buji's voice came from all directions, "What you're chasing is merely a clone I formed from the desires of three thousand mortals." Beneath the feet of the seven experts, a bloody formation suddenly appeared; the Dao Heart they had painstakingly cultivated for a thousand years began to uncontrollably spawn inner demons!

Just then, an abrupt change occurred.

Hehehe...

A strange laugh emanated from inside a fallen cultivator's body. The person suddenly crawled up in a reversed-joint posture, the heavenly spirit cap popped open with a 'poh', and a writhing black mass shot out. The black mass emitted a piercing shriek: "What pure desire! It's a million times tastier than the demon fodder of Chaos Heaven!"

"Heavenly demon?" Yan Buji's pupils contracted. He saw more "corpses" rise one after another—some chests split open to extend tentacles, some heads spun 360 degrees; all the mutants stared fixedly at him.

The cultivator possessed by the leading heavenly demon had his skin peel off inch by inch, revealing the flowing black substance beneath: "Why resist, fellow cultivator? You feed on desire, we nest in desire..." It suddenly transformed into a black arrow shooting forth:

Better yet, let us merge as one!

"Courting death!" Yan Buji manifested the true form of the Swallow Desire Pot behind him; its mouth spewed a scarlet storm. Yet the black arrow split and multiplied within the storm, instantly turning into a sky-full of black needles!

At the critical moment, a Dao jade talisman appeared before Yan Buji's chest.

At the instant the talisman exploded, the entire heaven and earth fell into absolute stillness, even drifting dust froze in midair. Only an ancient transmission sounded in his ear:

Come quickly!

When time flowed again, only a group of enraged heavenly demons remained on the spot. They frenziedly tore at the lingering aura of Yan Buji, when an especially huge black shadow suddenly paused: "This is...... Lao Gui's temporal forbidden technique?"

In the depths of the Nine Abyssal Rift, Yan Buji stumbled out of the void. Before him lay a blood‑yellow, turbid great river; on its bank stood a rain‑cloaked old man, whose fishing rod was actually hooking half a twitching heavenly demon corpse.

"Kid." The old man didn't turn his head: "Do you know that those just now were the vanguard of Chaos Heaven's Seven Emotions Devil Lords?"

He flung the fishing rod hard, and the heavenly demon corpse exploded into a blood mist in midair: "They've caught the scent of the source of wisdom on you."

Yan Buji stared at the dozen or so writhing black masses in the old man's bamboo basket, and his scalp went numb—those were clearly heavenly demons of the Void‑Refinement realm!

Senior, are you......

"I'm merely a gatekeeper." The old man finally turned around—under his straw hat lay a face devoid of features.

Suddenly the river surface surged with huge waves, and amid the spray appeared a scene identical to Yan Buji's previous hallucination.

This time he clearly saw a disheveled Daoist muttering: "Once the Dao corruption is formed, one should enter the Return to the Void......"

Yan Buji stared at Lao Gui's faceless face, and alarm bells rang loudly in his heart.

"Senior said... a gatekeeper?" He slowly stepped back half a pace, secretly gripping the Swallow Desire Pot in his palm, ready to erupt at any moment.

"Don't be nervous." Lao Gui's voice was hoarse and low, like sandpaper rubbing, "I have no interest in you, but you bear the aura of 'that one,' so I made an exception to appear."

"Which one?" Yan Buji frowned, then realized, "You mean... that Daoist?"

Lao Gui didn't answer; he merely waved his hand, and the turbid Yellow Springs river surged violently, countless fragmented images appearing in its waters.

There was a Daoist's silhouette, a tumor plunging into the deep sea, and countless twisted Abnormal Beasts crawling out of the darkness......

"What you saw is 'Dao corruption'." Lao Gui said slowly, "That is the most primordial pollution between heaven and earth; even sages cannot completely eradicate it."

Yan Buji's pupils narrowed slightly: "So... must cultivators of the Nine Heavens and Five Domains rely on Mutant Force to break through to sagehood?"

"Heh." Lao Gui snorted coldly, "What do you think sages are? They are merely vessels of Dao corruption."

Yan Buji's heart jolted.

What he said wasn't even a carrier—it was a vessel......

"Then what do you want from me?" Yan Buji narrowed his eyes: "Surely you didn't come just to clear up my doubts?"

"Of course not." Lao Gui raised his hand, and a black stone tablet rose from the Yellow Springs river, its surface covered in eerie runes: "The Yellow Springs of Youming Jie are drying up; I need your Swallow Desire Pot to help."

"Drying up?" Yan Buji blinked: "Isn't the Yellow Springs formed by heavenly and earthly law? How could it dry up?"

"Because Dao corruption is devouring everything." Lao Gui's voice rare-ly carried a hint of solemnity: "It has seeped into reincarnation; the souls of Youming Jie are mutating...... If the Yellow Springs run completely dry, reincarnation will collapse, and the Nine Heavens and Five Domains will have no new life."

Yan Buji fell silent for a moment, then a flash of inspiration struck: "So you want me to use the Swallow Desire Pot to devour the desires of those mutated souls, to delay the drying of the Yellow Springs?"

"Not bad." Lao Gui nodded, "As an exchange, I can tell you how to evade the pursuit of the Seven Emotions Devil Lords, and even... let you truly master the power of the source of wisdom."

A flicker of greed crossed Yan Buji's eyes, but he quickly calmed: "Why should I trust you?"

Lao Gui slowly raised his hand; the faceless face suddenly split open a fissure, revealing a black vertical pupil:

"Because, I and 'that one'...... come from the same place."

"Someone from beyond the heavens?"

Yan Buji pondered for a moment, then asked again: "But the situation in Youming Jie remains unsettled; the Star Void Sect and the Underworld are still locked in conflict—never mind other matters. The Star Void Sect is backed by the wilderness deities; relying solely on you and me, senior......"

Speaking of which, how does he know that the desire path I carry is part of the source of wisdom?

Yan Buji narrowed his eyes; just because this person saved him doesn't mean he'll gratefully serve them.

Moreover, the stranger's appearance was oddly coincidental—just when he had been ambushed, he happened to encounter the netherworld's heavenly demons......

Could he also have come down from the Nine Heavens? He might even be residing in Chaos Heaven!

"The Star Void Sect has already lost."

"Huh?" Yan Buji blinked: "How is that possible?!"

The last time Yan Buji saw the newly appointed Yama King, although he had teamed up with the Underworld God Emperor to lend him a hand, with their meager combat strength at the time, how could they possibly match the Star Void Sect?

After all, the members of the Star Void Sect are all cultivators of the native Asura and Rakshasa races of Youming Jie, and the sheer number of powerhouses in those two great clans goes without saying—otherwise the Underworld wouldn't have been nearly exterminated by the Star Void Sect.

But how could they have been defeated in just a few short decades?

Yan Buji eyed Lao Gui dubiously, feeling that the old man was just stringing him along.