The exchange with the Cyan Hill Mountain lineage was very successful—even smoother than Gu Zhao had anticipated. Bai Ke also got to meet her grandmother.
After two days as a guest at Cyan Hill Mountain, Gu Zhao left the Silk Embroideress and Bai Ke to stay there temporarily. He took the few old Daoists and headed to the cave dwelling of Mo He Divine Monarch to deal with the Demon Realm he had evolved.
***
The Southern Border Mountains, Poison Dragon Swamp.
Legend had it that this swamp was originally called Jade Lake. Its waters used to be crystal clear, reflecting the surrounding landscape like a flawless piece of jade, which earned it its name. But one day, an East Sea Divine Dragon and a venomous insect of the Southern Border fought a massive battle here. Their clash darkened the sun and moon, and shattered the earth and mountains. All surrounding living creatures were wiped out, and poisonous fire surged up from the earth veins. In the end, both perished.
As the years passed, the Dragon Power and poisonous gas merged, and the dragon’s flesh mixed with the insect’s corpse. The lingering Dragon’s Might and toxic fumes covered an area of eight hundred miles, turning this place into a poisonous swamp filled with miasma, where no living creature dared to enter.
"This is where Mo He Divine Monarch’s lair is located," one of the old Daoists noted.
"The rumors are wrong," another chimed in. "It wasn’t a case of an East Sea Divine Dragon and a venomous insect of the Southern Border dying together. Rather, Six-Headed Divine Monarch slaughtered a dragon, used its corpse to fill the lake, and refined it with poisonous gas to create this Poison Dragon Swamp."
"The Dragon Race isn’t entirely made up of experts like the Dragon King of Ten Thousand Spirits, but Six-Headed Divine Monarch was truly formidable."
"That’s why I’m actually quite curious. Six-Headed Divine Monarch was about to reach Ascension. What kind of deep-seated grudge made him risk death to start a war with the Celestial Fox Ancestor?"
"I don’t know, and the Celestial Fox Ancestor doesn’t either."
The group arrived at Poison Dragon Swamp, casually chatting while scanning the area with their Divine Thought. In the great battle a hundred years ago, Six-Headed Divine Monarch was severely injured and killed. The Celestial Fox Ancestor had been in secluded meditation ever since; apart from occasionally communicating with Bai Qianzhu via Divine Thought, she had never once left her seclusion.
"Found it!"
Daoist Yuan He cultivated the Pure Yang Dao and was most adept at Refining Demon. His sensitivity to Demonic Qi was second only to Gu Zhao. Since the group had split up to search, it was no surprise that he was the first to locate their destination.
Gu Zhao led the four old Daoists to appear above a seemingly unremarkable patch of swamp. Below them lay a layer of muddy grass mats, with exotic trees scattered about in twos and threes. They were not Spirit Plants, but they emitted a faint poisonous gas, clearly having been assimilated by Poison Dragon Swamp’s toxic miasma long ago. At the same time, the group could clearly see that it wasn’t just the muddy grass mats—even the soil and trees were slowly shifting.
They sensed a faint Demonic Qi wafting up from underground.
"The underground is full of swamp mud, and there is flowing groundwater. These grass mats, rocks, and trees are all floating above the swamp. The underground must hold a hidden realm."
"Let’s go down and take a look."
All five of them were highly accomplished experts. With True Qi protecting their bodies, they descended from the sky and plunged into the swamp.
As they had expected, while the surface of Poison Dragon Swamp was indeed covered in muddy grass mats and thick with poisonous gas, there were surging water currents underground. The environment down here was actually much better than above. However, Poison Dragon Swamp was extremely deep. The so-called surface mud was actually two to three hundred *zhang* thick, and the total depth of the swamp reached six to seven hundred *zhang*.
The group quickly passed through the mud layer and arrived at the underground lake layer. Then, at the bottom of the lake, they saw a sprawling complex of buildings. It wasn’t a luxurious and exquisite palace architecture like the Jade Palace of Green Water, but rather a rougher, somewhat eerie stone complex. Just from their exterior shapes, one could see that they resembled venomous insects like spiders, scorpions, snakes, and toads.
"This is actually Six-Headed Divine Monarch’s cave dwelling," someone pointed out.
"However, after Six-Headed Divine Monarch died, his six disciples fell into discord. Naturally, this place was occupied by the most powerful among them, Mo He Divine Monarch."
"The Demonic Qi is coming from that central stone hall shaped like a spider."
"That might be the entrance connecting to the underground Demon Realm."
From the Nether Fire Sect to Mo Lake, and then to the Cloud Celestial Divine Palace, those who practiced Demon Techniques all opened up Demon Realms beneath the earth veins. They used Earth Vein Qi, Life Spirit Qi, and Heaven and Earth Spiritual Qi to nourish their Demonic Qi and evolve the Demon Realm. By doing so, the Demon Realm could slowly expand without being detected by powerful experts.
Once the Demon Realm beneath the earth veins expanded to a certain extent, it would suddenly detonate. Based on the Demon Realms previously evolved by the Netherfire Sect Leader, the Mo Lake Ink Flood Dragon, and the Cloud Heaven Divine Master, such detonations were enough to cover an area of several thousand miles. By striking from multiple points simultaneously, the world would be demonized. And with the Demon Ancestor emerging to stir up chaos, they might truly turn heaven and earth into a Demon Realm, transforming the entire world into a single Demon Realm.
The group followed the lake water to the palace entrance, where the Demonic Qi emanating from within became increasingly dense. Entering the main hall, they found the interior just as rough as the exterior. The hall was primarily constructed from massive blocks of lakebed stone, featuring stone pillars and beams that clearly hadn’t been finely polished. Apart from a few stone tables and stools, there weren’t even any daily necessities.
Right in the center of the hall sat a sculpture that was fully three people high.
"A spider."
"A six-faced spider."
"This should be the true body of Six-Headed Divine Monarch."
The three-person-tall spider sculpture had eight long legs spread out in all directions. In place of a head, there were six human faces squeezed together: a young boy and girl, a middle-aged man and woman, and an old man and woman. Their expressions varied wildly—playful, weeping, furious, shy, benevolent, and despairing. The mouths of the six heads were wide open, spewing out red, yellow, green, blue, purple, and black poisonous gases. These gases carried the sinister intent to swallow blood, devour Qi, rot bones, and corrode spirits.
At the same time, wisps of Demonic Qi were squeezing out from the cracks in the sculpture’s pedestal.
"There is a seal on the pedestal."
"Yet the Demonic Qi is constantly being squeezed out."
"It shows that the Demon Realm within the earth veins is already fully formed and extremely dense."
Gu Zhao formed a Seal Technique with his hands, pointing out a streak of True Qi that merged into the pedestal’s seal.
"BUZZ!"
The seal on the pedestal rippled violently. Then, an aura mixed with six types of poisonous gases surged up along the True Qi, aiming a direct Attack at Gu Zhao. Gu Zhao’s fingers slightly tightened, and a Thunderbolt generated out of thin air. The purplish-gold lightning flashed and vanished, instantly shattering the Attack and disintegrating the six poisonous gases.
"CRACKLE—"
A flurry of lightning flickered in the air, generating electricity from the void. It looked like ordinary static friction, but the aura it radiated made even Daoist Qingwei, who was closest, take a step back.
"Is this the seal placed by Six-Headed Divine Monarch?" Daoist Qingwei couldn’t help but ask.
"Indeed." Gu Zhao nodded. Then, his Hand Technique changed again. A faintly discernible streak of lightning merged into the pedestal. For a moment, lightning flashed, unexpectedly forming a standoff with the pedestal’s seal.
"As expected of Six-Headed Divine Monarch. A Restriction left behind a hundred years ago, unanchored and sourceless, can still hold its own in a standoff with the Sect Leader for this long," Daoist Yuan He praised.
It was a pity that the Cyan Hill Mountain’s Celestial Fox Lineage and Ye Ruyan were not present. Otherwise, they would only have marveled at the fact that Gu Zhao could easily block the counterattack of a seal left by Six-Headed Divine Monarch using Ten Thousand Years of Dao Practice. It could only be said that with different perspectives and levels of insight, what people saw was truly different.
Not long after Daoist Yuan He finished his praise, the group heard a soft pop, and a dense cloud of poisonous gas suddenly burst forth. Gu Zhao reached out and grabbed at the air. The endless poisonous gas converged into his palm, condensing into a Six-Color Pill.
The next moment, dense Demonic Qi surged out from the cracks in the pedestal. However, before they could enter the Underground Demon Cave, a voice rang out from outside.
"Eldest Senior Brother, I’m here! Get the hell out here!"