Although the Demon Cave belonged to the Ten Thousand Demon Dao, it was not within the Mountain Gate.

In fact, even Void Refining Stage Demon Cultivators were unclear about the exact location of the Demon Cave, only knowing that the small world could be accessed through the Black Wood Gate.

It was laughable, really, that the Ten Thousand Demon Dao had no record of the Demon Cave's origins, merely treating the small world as a Chaotic Burial Mound to dump deceitful objects.

To ensure the deceitful objects would not escape the Demon Cave, the Ten Thousand Demon Dao organized affiliated Demon Sects approximately once every century to clear out the deceitful objects in the small world. However, their numbers continued to increase.

It wasn't until the collaboration between the Daoist and Demon paths that the Ten Thousand Demon Festival was born.

According to the intent of the Ten Thousand Demon Dao, part of the deceitful objects would be drawn into several large sects, to be handled by specialized Mountain Protection Arrays.

Four large sects agreed to accept the deceitful objects.

First was the Medicine King Valley, dominated by Pill Cultivators and Poison Cultivators.

Then the Three Elements Pavilion, a Body Cultivation sect almost as powerful as the Heavenly Sword Sect and the Ten Thousand Demon Dao.

The Heavenly Sword Sect, which, regardless of ancient or present times, has always seen Sword Cultivators standing at the peak of the Taoist world. Even after a millennium of decline, a starved camel is still bigger than a horse.

Lastly, Zhibai Dao, a large sect that had risen in later eras, specializing in Array Tao and Artifact Refining, with a Mountain Gate so formidable that even Land Immortals would not dare forcibly intrude upon it.

However, in terms of strength, Zhibai Dao was far inferior to the other four, including the Ten Thousand Demon Dao.

The Five Sects were without exception beneficiaries of the Twelve Immortals' metamorphosis, each boasting at least one Innate Immortal Seed among their disciples.

The loss of control over the Demon Cave was real, but what compelled the Five Sects to mobilize on such a scale was primarily the opportunity to probe and assert dominance over each other.

This was why the Heavenly Sword Sect directly deployed the entirety of the Great Sun Sword Tomb.

Now.

Five suspended islands floated above the Demon Cave, populated by disciples dispatched from the various sects.

For the first twenty years after moving into the Demon Cave, they focused mostly on constructing the floating islands. Only recently did they begin systematically clearing the Demon Cave.

After several rounds of encounters,

The Great Sun Sword Tomb, with its small number of personnel and lack of a Chief to oversee operations, even performed worse than Zhibai Dao. Their island construction was rather ordinary as well.

The Concealing Breath Array was pushed to its limits, shrouding the five islands in dense mist.

As long as the islands did not emit any aura, they would remain free from the attacks of deceitful objects, allowing the disciples to recuperate in preparation for the next wave.

Surprisingly, the land beneath the Ten Thousand Demon Dao was not the Corpse Mountain Blood Sea rumored by the outside world but a verdant, lush forest.

Without observing the stance of the Five Sects, one might have mistaken it for an ordinary small world.

The sun and moon alternated with an almost surreal regularity.

In the forest lay many villages where numerous mortals tilled the fields.

Some houses showed signs of damage, with wailing cries from women and children echoing, the aftermath of a calamity not long ago.

A hunter, with a limp, hobbled out of his home, skillfully arranging goods onto a wooden cart.

The cart was filled with earthen jars, their sealed openings covered with clay. Yet, the blackened soil betrayed the presence of something bloody within.

Several companions arrived with bloody sacks in their hands.

They intended to head to the central Business Leader City to trade for some necessities.

The mortals within the Demon Cave all bore some form of bodily deformity, though they were far less afflicted by the severe Death Disease seen outside, with their limbs still functional for travel.

A pregnant woman, her belly swollen, watched the hunter taking the sack and couldn't help asking, "What use do conjoined fetuses have? The immortals in the city are willing to pay such high prices for them?"

As she spoke, strange fetal outlines shifted across the surface of her half-exposed abdomen.

The fetus moved its body, yet its umbilical cord was not attached to a placenta but instead to a ghastly and deformed stillborn, known as a conjoined fetus.

The villagers were long accustomed to the sight.

All pregnant women were the same, birthing one alive and one dead.

They typically soaked the conjoined fetuses in alcohol, hauled them to the town market to sell, and earned enough silver coins to sustain their families for half a year.

The hunter glanced at the pregnant woman. "Should be worth even more lately. Don't forget, there's been another descent of the Heavenly Demons. The immortals need to consume conjoined fetuses for cultivation in their resistance against foreign enemies."

His tone was full of reverence, not just because he had been in contact with immortals, but because he had nearly become a disciple of a Taoist School twenty years ago—unfortunately, his talent was insufficient.

The villagers collectively turned their gaze toward the five floating islands.

The very mention of the Heavenly Demons instilled a fear so tangible that even the children stopped crying, and a deep, indescribable dread surfaced in the villagers' eyes.

"Who knows how long the descent of the Heavenly Demons will last?"

"Don't worry. Heavenly Demons rarely harm mortals, thanks to the protection of the immortals. As long as we hide in the cellar during disasters, we'll be fine."

The villagers knelt to the ground, murmuring prayers to the immortals for their blessing.

The hunter did not linger.

He understood that as time passed, the likelihood of a Heavenly Demon's descent would only increase. He had to reach Business Leader City as soon as possible to ensure the journey's safety.

They packed the conjoined fetuses into earthen jars, pushing the wooden cart hurriedly along the mountain path.

The mountain path was muddy and overgrown with weeds.

Even though the hunter had traversed this route over a hundred times, delays were inevitable. It took over ten days to exit the forest and reach the official road.

The official road was crowded with people transporting conjoined fetuses.

Most were traveling merchants returning with purchased conjoined fetuses since not all the young men in the villages were willing to risk venturing out of the mountains.

"Hiss..."

The hunter sucked in a breath of cold air.

The scale of the traveling merchants far surpassed his expectations. He had stayed in the Taoist School and knew it signified severe losses for the immortals against the Heavenly Demons.

Unease sprouted in his heart, a vague sense of looming catastrophe.

The blazing sun shifted into a full moon. The sky dimmed, and the five floating islands, faintly glowing, loomed oppressively like dark clouds over the land.

"Uncle Ge, is Business Leader City close?"

A villager's quiet question interrupted the hunter's thoughts.

"Let me check. If we can't reach the city gates by nightfall, we'll dig a hole by the roadside and make do for the night."

The hunter, now past fifty, no longer had sharp eyesight. Combined with the dim light, he dared not make any guarantees.

"Whatever you say, Uncle Ge. We'll listen to you."

The hunter located an ancient tree towering a hundred meters tall, then agilely climbed its branches. Using the lingering twilight, he scanned the distant Business Leader City.

An unbroken expanse of buildings came into view.

Thick walls encircled the city, with pavilions and towers adorned with lanterns. Outside the city, fertile fields blanketed the hills in prosperity.

The population must have exceeded a million.

"Phew, we should reach the city gates before curfew. If not, we can at least spend the night by the walls, which is far safer than staying in the wilderness."

The hunter also noticed figures flying through the air within the city.

"With immortals present, how could the Outer Heaven Demons stand a chance against us? If only I had consumed that half of the conjoined fetus back then, maybe..."

The hunter buried his distractions and called his companions to hurry toward Business Leader City.

The wooden cart jolted as it traveled, the earthen jars colliding and emitting noises. The scent of blood filled the air, prompting the villagers to wrap the rocking jars tightly with cotton and hemp fabrics.

The atmosphere, for some reason, turned grim.

Mist drifted faintly from the glowing floating islands, while the forest went dead silent, devoid of birds or beasts.

Even the traveling merchants quickened their pace.

Should a conjoined fetus fall to the ground, none dared to stop for it, instead peering repeatedly toward the floating islands for any irregularities.

The hunter already saw the Business Leader City, with immortals moving among its roofs.

"There's no time. The immortals are already mobilizing; let's find a place to hide first."

"Uncle Ge, is it the Outer Heaven Demons..."

"Shut up!"

The hunter's expression darkened. "Don't say I didn't warn you: any action that attracts the Outer Heaven Demons will be your death sentence."

They turned onto a mountain trail, searching for a nearby cave to hide in.

Just then,

The island in the northwest brightened, its defensive array gradually dissipating. At the island's edge stood a stone stele inscribed with the name, Medicine King Valley.

The hunter clutched his head and screamed, "The Heavenly Demons are here!!!"

His gaze fell on the scattered conjoined fetuses. Driven by terror, he grabbed one and stuffed it into his mouth, veins bulging across his forehead.

"Uncle Ge..."

The agony from the conjoined fetus left the hunter trembling violently, his thoughts flashing back to his Taoist School days.

But soon, his deformed limbs began to return to normal, as faint spiritual power emerged within him.

"I've become immortal, I've become immortal!"

Swish.

A flash of elixir energy pierced through the hunter's head. His body burst with burgeoning flesh, transforming into a mass of semi-human, semi-deceitful flesh.

From within the Medicine King Valley's island, countless unspeakable horrors emerged, blotting out the sky and sending waves of terror across the mortals.

These creatures, stripped of skin and veined with vine-like blood vessels, bore beating hearts. Despite their monstrous form, traces of gender, age, and attire could still be discerned.

Judging from their garb, they were once disciples of the Medicine King Valley.

However, their transformation had escalated far beyond the point of deviation, something that should have rendered them incapable of leaving the sect's Mountain Gate.

"Heavenly Demons!"

"Everyone must kill them!!"

"By the brilliance of the Heavenly Dao, how dare you Heavenly Demons continue to defile this world."

The mortals cursed, yet the Medicine King Valley disciples dismissed them as ants, releasing tangible waves of Dan Qi that swept up the conjoined fetuses on the official road.

"Forget the 'Human Branch.' Focus on collecting the Tao Seeds and retreat immediately—deceitful objects from the city are about to move. Do not act alone."

'Human Branch' seemed to refer to the mortals of the Demon Cave.

Boom boom boom.

The earth quaked beneath Business Leader City.

A swarm of Medicine King Valley disciples, merging their Dan Qi, reached the level of Divine Separation Stage Perfection.

"I, Gu Shenzi, shall personally face you Outer Heaven Demons!"

An aged voice roared.

Immediately, a white-haired elder ascended to the skies, followed by thousands of disciples surging to confront the Medicine King Valley, overturning air currents in their wake.

The sweeping Dan Qi felled isolated immortals to the ground.

As their corpses began to mutate, mortals perceived it as wicked sorcery from the Outer Heaven Demons, robbing the dead of their souls.

Gu Shenzi let out a cold snort, his arm marred by a wound.

Around the injury, pustules and blisters formed, oozing viscous fluids.

"A mere Heavenly Demon can only harm this old man's physical shell."

With a flick of his horsetail whisk, muffled echoes in the dozens resonated from within the city. The lives of numerous mortals were drained into streams of blood, flowing into his mouth and mending his wound instantly.

"Demon Slaying Formation!"

The immortal cultivators activated the formation, Dan Qi surging wildly.

The Medicine King Valley clearly staged this as a test. After a brief clash with Gu Shenzi, and at the cost of two Nascent Soul Stage Pill Cultivators, the concentrated Dan Qi dissolved and retreated to their suspended island.

"Pill Demons are nothing to fear."

"In sixty years, the rift connecting this small world to the outside will close. What can you do to the thirty-six Immortal Daoist Schools..."

Before Gu Shenzi could finish, the most seemingly fragile of all—the Sword Demon Island—shuddered, and a shadow spanning thousands of meters engulfed the island.

"The Great Demon has descended!!!"

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