The next moment, a white light flashed. The figures disappeared, and the passage sealed itself up so that the air returned to its normal state.
Lonemoon finally began to breathe normally again. He faced Shen Ying and said, “According to what he said… Why do I feel like Jing Qi and this stupid god came here by accident? It doesn’t seem like they intended to get here.”
“Mm, indeed they did not.” Shen Ying nodded and sat down. She picked up a fruit and chewed on it.
“Then what’s going on?” Lonemoon asked. “According to proper procedures, doesn’t one have to get your permission in order to transmigrate into this plane?” Was that not the reason why Shen Jing issued the both of them permits in the first place? Otherwise, if invaders came in by force, they would be rejected by the plane like Chef was earlier. By right, they should have been half-dead. Yet, the two men looked completely fine, aside from the fact that Jing Qi’s soul had since separated from his body.
From the beginning, he thought that it was because the god – as the manager of his own plane – was strong. But Lonemoon saw with his own eyes that the god was so weak that he could not even win against Chef in a fight. It was obvious they would not be able to withstand rejection from the plane.
“How did they get here safely?” Lonemoon could not figure it out. Was the plane taking a break from rejecting invaders?
“It could be that they did not even make use of the plane gates,” Shen Ying replied.
Lonemoon stared blankly back at her. This caught even Yi Qing’s attention.
“What do you mean?”
Shen Ying swallowed the mouthful of fruit and turned to address them. “Our plane seems to… have a hole in it!”
Yi Qing: “…”
Lonemoon, “…”
The two of them momentarily did not know how to react. At that moment, the ground beneath their feet began to shake. There were a series of loud crashes which sounded throughout the entire Heavenly Palace. A great force seemed to appear out of nowhere, sweeping past them and causing the immortal Qi around them to thicken significantly.
The three of them started and quickly ran out of the main hall to release their divine perception. It was then that they detected a faint pillar of light in the distance, which extended all the way to the sky. It was blinding.
What was that?
“That’s the direction of… the demonic realm!” Yi Qing’s eyes widened.
Lonemoon jumped. That pillar of light had a frightening amount of immortal Qi. Why was there so much immortal Qi coming out of the demonic realm?
“Sect Master, Elders…” Just as he was thinking about this, Yu Hong rushed into the hall, addressing them anxiously. “Little Black is in trouble.”
Lonemoon exclaimed, “What’s the matter with him this time?”
“I… I’m not sure either,” Yu Hong replied worriedly. She seemed to be at a loss for words.
“Bring us there!”
“Yes.” Immediately, Yu Hong led the three of them toward the side hall.
The moment the three of them entered the hall, they saw Little Black lying in the bed, writhing in pain. His face was drained of all colour and covered in cold sweat. He looked to be in a massive amount of pain. More importantly, swirls of black smoke were continuously flying out of his body.
Lonemoon immediately stepped forward to check on him. Shocked, he said, “HIs demonic Qi is dissipating.” Even his cultivation level seemed to be unstable. “What just happened?”
Yu Hong shook her head. “Nothing. We didn’t step out of this hall after Elder Yi Qing brought us back here.”
Lonemoon frowned. Little Black was a demon – there was no way Lonemoon would be able to figure out what was wrong with him at this moment. “Get Boss Lan-”
Just as Lonemoon was about to suggest that Yu Hong call Lan Hua over, Si Yu rushed into the hall.
“Sect Master, something has happened. Celestial Emperor Lan Hua has…” Before she could finish her sentence, she realised Little Black’s condition. “Why is he also-”
“Something’s wrong with Lan Hua?” Lonemoon asked.
Si Yu nodded. “He was refining pills when he suddenly collapsed.”
What a coincidence – both of them collapsed at the exact same time?
The few of them immediately rushed over to Boss Lan’s room. Lonemoon checked his meridians and found that he was suffering from the same condition as Little Black. His demonic Qi was dissipating rapidly. In fact, his condition looked much worse than Little Black’s.
Lonemoon did not know why this was happening and had no choice but to conjure a defensive array so that their demonic Qi would be prevented from escaping.
“What’s the matter?” Why was this suddenly happening to them?
“How are the Skyfiends who were waiting in the guest hall?” Yi Qing suddenly turned to address Yu Hong. “Go and check on them. Are they alright?”
Yu Hong paused. “I’ll go right this moment. She quickly ran out of the room. A few minutes later, she returned. “Elder Yi Qing, the Skyfiends have collapsed as well. I’ve already sent disciples to look after them.”
“In other words, all of the demons are undergoing the same condition?” Lonemoon’s expression darkened. He exchanged a meaningful glance with Yi Qing and said, “Could it be because of that pillar of light?” Was that pillar of light controlling all the demons?
“Watch them!” Lonemoon instructed. To Shen Ying and Yi Qing, he said, “Let’s go to the demonic realm and check things out.”
The three of them mounted their swords and flew toward the demonic realm.
Shortly, they arrived at the boundaries of the demonic realm. The normally dark realm filled with demonic Qi was now completely lit up. In the center was that blindingly bright pillar of light, which was responsible for illuminating the entire demonic realm. Everywhere they went, they saw demonic Qi dissipating.
The pillar of light seemed to have a cleansing function. It was cleaning out the demonic realm, ridding it of all its demonic Qi. The strange thing was apart from demonic Qi, the immortals seemed to be unaffected. Lonemoon even felt like the pillar of light was unbelievably rich with immortal power.
Just as they guessed, all the demons they saw along the way were suffering from the same condition as Little Black and Lan Hua. They were all writhing on the floor. There was not one demon left standing. The demons of lower cultivation already had weak physical bodies to begin with. As their demonic Qi dissipated from their bodies, even their silhouettes grew fainter.
If this carried on, all the demons would probably disappear into the light.
Lonemoon’s heart sank. He quickly flew next to the pillar of light and realised that Little Black’s demonic palace was right in the middle of it. Underneath the demonic palace was a huge array. The array looked extremely strange. It was set up in levels, as if it were made up of multiple different types of arrays stacked up one on top of another. All around, there were golden talismans placed in a complex formation. Lonemoon could not figure out what this meant.
“Chef, can you tell what array this it?”
Yi Qing shook his head. “I’ve never seen anything like it.” He drew his immortal sword. “Whatever it is, we have to break it!”
He waved his sword and caused hundreds of thousands of swords to shoot toward the array. Lonemoon drew his immortal sword at the same moment, employing different sword techniques to complement Yi Qing. Although they did not understand what the array was and why it was set up, they could not allow it to continue standing or the demonic realm would disappear forever.
The swords became a blur as they all shot down toward the array. The strange thing was the array stood completely unaffected. Neither sword Qi nor immortal Qi could break through it. While the demonic palace fell into smithereens from Lonemoon’s and Yi Qing’s attacks, the array remained. In fact, if anything, the pillar of light became even brighter.
“This pillar of light can absorb immortal Qi!” Lonemoon exclaimed. “Attacks using immortal Qi would have no effect on it!”
