Silence persisted for a long time. It lasted so long that by the time Deng Tianbai and the other two Supreme Elders snapped back to their senses, the Blood Moon they had summoned with their Divine Skills had already shattered into pieces.

The fragments fell from the sky, emitting thunderous rumbles. Each impact was like a hammer blow to the Supreme Elders' hearts, causing them to shiver uncontrollably.

Even Deng Tianbai, who was confident he had a trump card that could lead to mutual destruction with Xu Lai, felt his scalp tingle. What kind of technique is this? A single sneeze is so terrifying! But he knew it couldn't have been an ordinary sneeze; it must have contained some sort of technique or Divine Skill.

But for the Blood Moon Technique to collapse before it could even be fully utilized… The morale of the Lower Crescent Moon Clan plummeted. Many of its members who had risen to their feet hesitated before kneeling once more.

"Senior, if we kill Deng Zhe and the eight Elders, can today's matter… be resolved?" an old man, so hunched over he didn't even stand 1.3 meters tall, looked up at Xu Lai.

It seemed that with a single nod from Xu Lai, he would be able to steel his heart and kill the nine most outstanding pillars of his clan.

"Old Li, what are you saying!" Deng Tianbai shouted, his eyes bursting with fury. He clearly hadn't expected an old friend he'd fought alongside for three hundred years to say such a thing. "You're defecting to the enemy?"

"Old Deng, you saw what happened," the Supreme Elder named Li said with a complex expression as he walked toward Xu Lai. "It is unwise to make an enemy of this Senior."

He said this while trying hard to suppress the dread and killing intent in his heart and eyes. But who was he dealing with? Xu Lai still easily caught a trace of resentment from the man.

Having cultivated for one hundred thousand years, Xu Lai walked an invincible path. Playing mind games in front of him was simply a death wish. After all, the Lifetheft Sect Saint Heir, renowned in the Immortal Domain for his unparalleled cunning, had been out-schemed and killed by a much younger Xu Lai.

At this moment, Xu Lai didn't expose him. Instead, he said with a smile that wasn't quite a smile, "Fine. You kill them, and I'll let today's matter drop."

"Ancestor!!" Chief Deng Zhe and the eight Elders turned pale, their expressions filled with horror as they began to plead for mercy.

"Li Wushuang, if you dare to kill my descendants, this will be a fight to the death!"

"Li Wushuang, you've gone too far!"

Deng Tianbai and the other Supreme Elder bellowed, their voices shaking the heavens. A terrifying pressure began to emanate from all three of them. As their auras collided, the void trembled and the ground shattered!

The Moon Clan members were dumbfounded. They couldn't understand why their Ancestors had suddenly turned on one another. Just as the auras of the three Supreme Elders reached their peak, Li Wushuang made his move.

Deng Tianbai and the other Elder moved as well, and the three of them lunged at each other in a tangled brawl.

The battle looked spectacular, but no one was getting hurt. Instead, they seemed to be inadvertently surrounding Xu Lai. As if by design, the three of them ended up positioned on the horizon in a triangular formation. They were exactly three hundred zhang from the fearsome Moon Pit.

Success!

Li Wushuang and Deng Tianbai could barely hide the wild joy in their eyes.

Hmm? Xu Lai raised an eyebrow. He looked down at the Moon Pit below him. Its raging Pill Fire seemed like it was about to… Unleash all of it!?

But releasing it would take a long time—at least another ten minutes. It was clear that their 'battle' was merely a diversion, and the ongoing fight was just a continuation of that misdirection.

Xu Lai sighed. I thought there might be a surprise, but they're just trying to use the Pill Furnace's fire against me. How disappointing!

After ten minutes of their sham battle, the three Supreme Elders simultaneously retreated a hundred zhang and burst into hearty laughter.

"I don't know who you are, but provoking our Lower Crescent Moon Clan is definitely the biggest mistake of your life!" Deng Tianbai declared proudly. "Our apparent strength may be inferior to the Upper Crescent clans, but our trump card… is countless times more powerful. For we can—control the Moon Pit!"

As his words fell, a screen of light emerged from the Moon Pit, enveloping Xu Lai and Luo Chu and the others floating behind him. It formed a cage!

"This is…"

The Moon Clan members were stunned.

Deng Zhe stammered, "Ancestor, this is…"

"Hahahaha! The Moon Pit is a forbidden ground on the Moon, but in my early years, I found a bamboo slip in a cave. It faintly recorded that the Moon Pit is actually a fragment of a Pill Furnace!" Deng Tianbai cackled, stroking his beard.

HISS.

A Pill Furnace!?

The alluring female Elder said in astonishment, "If even a fragment of a Pill Furnace became a forbidden ground, how terrifying must the complete one be?"

"It could refine an entire star system!" Deng Tianbai stated, emphasizing each word.

Everyone, from the Chief and the Elders to the other Moon Clan members of various Boundaries, was lost in a prolonged stupor. Can a Pill Furnace capable of refining an entire star system really exist? If so, what Boundary must the Artifact Refiner who created it have reached? It's simply beyond our imagination!

"Deng Zhe, you must remember: the Moon is small, Earth is small, the Solar System is small, but the Universe is vast—so vast it is boundless!" Supreme Elder Li Wushuang said with deep feeling.

Deng Zhe looked as if he understood, but not completely.

"Deng Zhe, you were scared just now, weren't you? But I watched you grow up; how could I possibly kill you? Learn from this. This is called strategy. As the current Chief, you must always remember to use your brain," Li Wushuang said, hovering in the air. He patted Deng Zhe's head and then pointed at Xu Lai. "Take him, for example. Despite his profound Boundary, he was still completely outsmarted and toyed with by Old Deng and me."

"..."

Xu Lai felt a complicated mix of emotions. He's actually boasting about such childish tactics? He had seen through it all but hadn't bothered to say anything. This 'remarkable strategy' is beyond laughable. I have no idea where Li Wushuang gets his confidence from…

Just then, the searing heat from the Moon Pit grew even more terrifying.

Deng Zhe suddenly remembered something and shouted, "Wait, Ancestor! This human flew out of the Moon Pit! The flames of the Moon Pit might not…"

"Rest assured," Deng Tianbai said confidently. "When stimulated by our Spiritual Energy, the Pill Fire released by the Pill Furnace fragment is… one hundred times more intense than before!"

"Normal Pill Fire can kill a Supreme Elder of an Upper Crescent Second Moon Clan, and even the Moon King would have to retreat from its edge. But a Pill Fire that is one hundred times more intense?" Li Wushuang continued, his eyes burning with fervor. "It is enough to incinerate everything!!!"

Of course, the price for forcibly stimulating the Pill Fire was immense—it would cost Deng Tianbai and the other two Supreme Elders their lives. Without their Dao Endowment, the Crescent Moon Clan would become a paper tiger, collapsing at the slightest touch. But for the survival of their clan, the three of them had no other choice.

After all, as long as they could control the Pill Fire, the Lower Crescent Moon Clan would forever stand in an invincible position, especially considering the countless Moon Pits on the Moon.

WHOOSH!

The Moon Pit trembled, and a hundred-zhang-tall black flame erupted, carrying an apocalyptic might. Like a giant abyssal maw, it swallowed Xu Lai whole

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