Chapter 905: Evil Demon Appearing
However, some in the group were slightly slower or did not understand what was going on. They appeared puzzled.
The originally hazy clouds in the sky quickly churned, building up mass. In the blink of an eye, it became a solid and realistic evil Demon.
A malicious smile filled the twisted face, making everyone tremble in fear. Then, it turned into ten red beams of light shooting at the ground.
Three people failed to dodge those sudden red beams of light in time, letting the light enter their minds.
The expected scene of them screaming in agony did not happen. The three cultivators, whose minds the red light had penetrated, looked dazed. Their appearance did not seem to change in any way.
“Crunch! Crunch!” Soon, chewing sounds came from the three’s brains.
No words could describe the anguished expressions on the three’s faces. Their facial features contorted as they held their heads with their hands and writhed on the ground. They mouthed soundless screams of pain.
They hit their own heads with immense force. They clawed their faces bloody, unable to stop, as if they were trying to pull something from their brains.
The faces of the three became even more terrifying than that of a monster. The three Martial Sages casually chatting earlier turned into something that looked neither human nor ghost.
The remaining cultivators all paled in fright, particularly those who managed to dodge the other seven beams of red light. All of them felt a shiver run down their spine, their legs trembling. If they had not heeded Xiao Chen’s warning, they would be the ones lying on the ground.
There was still seven beams of red light in the air. Together with their lightning-attributed flames, the cultivators fled far away.
The three beams of light came back out, having cleanly swallowed up the three fallen cultivators. Aside from the clothes they had worn, only pools of blood remained as proof that the three of them once existed.
“Gagaga! This is great. Great! Really great! What wonderful flavor!”
The ten beams of red light merged and formed a scarlet human figure. This scarlet person was clearly different from the black-smoke-like evil Demon clones from earlier.
Not only did its body looked more solid, but its facial features were also not twisted and vague. One could faintly make out its countenance. The most important thing was its intelligence.
It was clearly unlike the black-smoke-like evil Demon clones, which only knew how to call out “I want to eat! I want to eat!” This scarlet figure had much more emotions and expressions.
After consuming the three cultivators, black spots appeared on the scarlet figure as if it was in the process of metamorphosis and could evolve with another step.
“Whoosh!”
Unexpectedly, after this scarlet evil Demon clone appeared and glanced at the people in the distance, it immediately rushed away, not remaining at all.
The crowd reacted. All sorts of lightning-attributed flames transformed into arrows, flood dragons, ferocious tigers, and many others, flying towards the distant scarlet evil Demon clone.
That scarlet evil Demon clone let out its strange laughter as the lightning-attributed flames struck it. It immediately split into many clones. Despite receiving multiple attacks, it still managed to flee far away.
Many of the people who just had their confidence boosted felt that such a scene was unacceptable.
A purple light flashed and caught up to that distant scarlet evil Demon at an even faster speed. It pierced through its head, and the entire scarlet evil Demon clone combusted with a ‘whoosh.’
“Such pain! This is the Purple Thunder True Fire, the greatest nemesis of my race!”
The scarlet evil Demon started shrieking and tried to split its body. However, its efforts were useless. The purple fire kept on burning, incinerating it to ashes while it was alive.
The one who attacked was Xiao Chen. The Purple Thunder True Fire was extraordinary, worthy of its reputation of being the king of lightning-attributed flames.
Yao Yan said softly, “This is an evil Demon clone that already gained intelligence. It is different from those simple will bodies. It is hard to deal with. This one is only the lowest grade. The next level is completely black. After that, it will be jade-like and completely white. That one will no longer fear ordinary lightning-attributed flames.”
Unexpectedly, the scarlet evil Demon was only of the lowest grade. Her listeners could not help being flabbergasted. This trip to the Sea Monarch Palace was much more dangerous than they expected.
“Now, the evil Demon clones actually know how to plan. They made us lower our guards first, much faster than when I was last here.” Princess Yao Yan’s grave expression showed she was clearly worried.
Then, she raised her head and looked into the distance. The vague silhouette of the Sea Monarch Palace appeared at the end of her vision.
Xiao Chen patted Yao Yan’s shoulder and said, “Let’s go. Don’t be too worried. This time, we were able to gather many strong experts. The situation is much better than when you came alone.”
“Right, I’m overthinking this. We definitely can do this.” When Yao Yan heard the confidence in Xiao Chen’s voice, she smiled and continued leading the way.
Following that, the crowd perked up. No one dared to underestimate the evil Demon clones anymore. No one was willing to follow in the miserable footsteps of the three.
After this, the group ran into a few more scarlet evil Demon clones. However, with the earlier experience, they were no longer as flustered as they were at the start.
Aside from one unlucky fellow, no one else fell before they reached the Sea Monarch Palace.
“So this the Sea Monarch Palace? It is really grand and imperious. I heard that the first Sea Monarch used ten stars to refine it.”
Seeing the magnificent palace before them, several people could not help but sigh.
Xiao Chen looked around curiously as well, comparing this Sea Monarch Palace to the Star Grave Palace he once saw.
He had heard that Sovereign Martial Monarchs had the ability to refine stars. They would use a star to make a moving palace.
The Sea Monarch Palace before him was entirely dark blue, as glossy as water. When one looked at it, ripples like the waves of the sea moved through it. When one listened carefully, one could even hear the sound of the waves.
The palace was no more than a hundred meters tall with one main palace and eight side palaces, all seamlessly connected, forming a wavy line.
Viewed from afar, the Sea Monarch Palace looked like a tyrannical and ferocious sea creature. The entrance was a huge maw filled with fangs.
Compared to the Star Grave Palace, the exterior of this Sea Monarch Palace looked much more exquisite. Furthermore, it seemed to have a spirituality to it that gave the impression of an animate object.
However, this was normal as well. Although the Heavenly Roc King had also been a Sovereign Martial Emperor like the Sea Monarch, their strengths differed greatly.
“We’ve arrived at the Sea Monarch Palace. You all must have made a decision already on whether to follow us to the main palace to seal the main body of the evil Demon or to take the risk and explore the side palaces alone.” Yao Yan looked at the crowd and waited for their answers calmly.
“Haha! My senior brother already said it long ago. We are here to aid the Merfolk Race in sealing the evil Demon’s main body. Naturally, we are willing to follow you.”
This was rather unexpected. The ones to express their stance first were the two from the Penglai Sea. Furthermore, they chose to travel together with Yao Yan and Xiao Chen.
Xiao Chen could not help but give these two youths another glance. He wondered at their intentions. After all those arrogant words earlier, who would believe what they just said? Anyone who did would be a fool.
“I plan to go alone to try my luck. Everyone, I will take my leave first.”
Lang Taotian covered his entire body with the Blood Kill Lightning Flame and leaped up. After a few bounds, he arrived at the entrance to a side palace.
Following this, a few other people expressed their stance, and each entered a side palace.
The pair from the Spirit Returning Island, who seemed to be a couple, appeared to be arguing about something, probably about how to proceed from here. They each had their own opinion, and in the end, that man made his choice, said something, and headed into another one of the side palaces.
The Northern Sea Alliance’s Yan Chihai performed a cupped-fist salute and said, “My apologies, Princess Yao Yan. This old man cannot help the Merfolk Race much. I will not be following Young Master Xiao and you.”
After Yan Chihai finished speaking, he led his group of five to a side palace that no one went to.
With this, most of the people were already gone, leaving only Qi Wuxue, Long Fei, and the low-profile Leng Ao, who had not made their decisions yet.
Qi Wuxue chuckled and said, “Brother Xiao, Brother Long Fei and I have decided to follow you. Tagging along with someone powerful, I like this the best.”
Yao Yan rejoiced in her heart. Among the group, Long Fei’s and Qi Wuxue’s strength stood out. The two of them would definitely be of great help.
They then looked at Leng Ao, the only one who had yet to express his decision. They did not know how he would choose.
“Princess Yao Yan, please lead the way. I will follow you. I want to see what the evil Demon’s main body is like.” When Leng Ao spoke, his tone was not cold at all.
Now that it was clear who would be following Xiao Chen and Yao Yan, the matter was settled.
The pair of disciples with unclear motives from the One Dao Palace, Long Fei and Qi Wuxue—who joined on account of Xiao Chen—as well as the unfathomable Leng Ao, including Xiao Chen and Yao Yan, there was a total of seven people.
“Let’s go. It is a small world inside. The environment is complicated and changeable. I have not entered for more than a year, either. I have no idea what it is like now. Everyone, please be careful.”
Yao Yan took the lead and entered first with the others following behind. Xiao Chen turned his head and took a look over his shoulder, thinking for a moment before entering as well.
After the group entered, nine completely jade-like and snow-white evil Demon clones with handsome appearances and blue eyes appeared in the air outside the Sea Monarch Palace.
The evil Demon clone in the middle was the most special, an indistinct silver light coming from its jade-like body. It licked its lips and smiled evilly. “They all went in. We will follow the plan, then. Each of you, take a path. However, don’t mess up the others’ schemes.”
“Tsk tsk, these people are all extraordinarily strong. I feel that we can evolve again after swallowing them.”
“There is something off about that white-robed brat. I suspect that he discovered us with his final glance around.”
“Never mind, I’ll deal with that brat. I feel that if I swallow him and the two fellows dabbling in Immortal Cultivation, I can definitely evolve into a Silver Sage Body.” The evil Demon clone in the middle smiled faintly and flew into the main palace.
The figures of the other eight evil Demon clones all flickered, each of them heading to a side palace.
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Hundreds of flowers bloomed with butterflies flitting around. A spring fragrance spread out, filling the entire place.
When the seven entered the main palace, they did not see the palace walls, passageways, or stone pillars that they expected. Unexpectedly, what met them was a garden, an enchanting garden with pavilions decorating the place and flower paths winding through it.
On first sight, Xiao Chen thought it was an illusion. Only when the fragrance entered his nose and lingered for a long time did he reveal a shocked expression. The garden before his eyes was indeed real.
It looked like the story about the inside of the Sea Monarch Palace being a small world was true. The space inside was much larger than how it looked on the outside.