Zi Ling struggled desperately in the air, her body crackling with lightning and fire, but she couldn't break free from the nine-tailed fox's restraints. She paced anxiously in circles, saying, "But the longer Master stays in the Sea of Mist, the greater the danger! Those mists can devour divine consciousness and spiritual power, and there are countless eerie soul-devouring phantoms..."
“That’s precisely why we must not act rashly.” Shen Wuchen raised his hand to signal everyone to be quiet. “We must return to the Immortal Mountain immediately and discuss a rescue plan with the Alliance Leader.”
Everyone understood that the most urgent task was to find Rong Jiaojiao. Otherwise, the Demon-Suppressing Stele could not be synthesized, and destroying the demon's main soul would remain just wishful thinking.
Victory seemed within reach, but then an unexpected turn of events occurred, leaving everyone unwilling to accept defeat.
The group immediately took to their swords and flew towards the Immortal Mountain Alliance's base.
Meanwhile, Rong Jiaojiao, whom they were worried about, risked injury to her sea of consciousness in the instant she was swallowed by darkness, in order to collect all her belongings into the small secret realm.
She believed that with Yue Ling's intelligence, even if she died, Yue Ling would not let the Nine Dragon Seal fall into the hands of the demon spirit.
In that case, there would still be a glimmer of hope for the Divine Dragon Realm.
With a "plop," Rong Jiaojiao fell into a pool of blood. Overwhelming pain swept over her entire body, and the blood corroded her skin and flesh. The burning pain made her want to scream and resist.
But the foul-smelling blood filled her nasal cavity, burning her nose and throat, so she quickly held her breath.
At this moment, a force wrapped around Rong Jiaojiao's ankle, and she was hung upside down in mid-air. Blood dripped down her hair, and gradually, her scalp and hair fell off piece by piece, turning her into a bald head in the blink of an eye.
Her vision was blurred by being upside down, but she endured the rush of blood to her head and tried her best to observe her surroundings—
This is a huge underground cavern, with countless blood-red roots hanging from the ceiling, wriggling like blood vessels.
The pentagonal blood pool was covered with strange runes, and the blood inside was churning, with bubbles rising from it from time to time, as if something was lurking beneath it.
Even more chilling was the sight of a group of grotesque, malevolent puppets standing around, each with a bloody line piercing their brows, moving stiffly like marionettes.
The demons roamed in the shadows, emitting low hisses.
"Oh? I didn't expect you to still be awake." A hoarse voice came from the darkness.
Rong Jiaojiao turned her head with difficulty and saw an old man, withered like a dried corpse, walking slowly towards her.
He wore a tattered black robe, his skin was covered with black runes, and his eyes were sunken, yet they gleamed with an evil and triumphant light.
“Ghost cultivator…” Rong Jiaojiao gritted her teeth and tried to mobilize her spiritual power, but found that her meridians were still sealed and even her divine sense was suppressed in the depths of her sea of consciousness, making it impossible to contact Yue Ling and Zi Ling.
The old man gave a sinister smile, and his withered fingers lifted her chin: "The one who holds the seal is indeed extraordinary. To remain conscious even after falling into the 'Soul-Devouring Blood Pool'."
Rong Jiaojiao stared coldly at him and asked in a strained voice, "What do you want from me?"
"What are you doing?" the old man chuckled, his voice like sandpaper scraping. "If I'm not having an easy time, nobody else will either!"
"What do you mean?"
"What do you mean?" The old man cackled, "Back in the day, I was a genius in the underworld. I made a few minor mistakes, and you wanted to beat me to a pulp. I escaped from the underworld, but I never expected to have nowhere to go in this mortal realm. I was even cursed and turned into a puppet. Do you think I'll let you have an easy time?"
"Hahaha, soon you'll be just like me, hideous and grotesque, even neither human nor ghost, hahaha~~"
Having landed here, Rong Jiaojiao didn't think she could go back alive. With a defiant sneer, she said, "Don't act so innocent. I don't need to guess to know that you committed a heinous crime to escape. You're still restless in the human world, so you're being hunted down by the righteous path again, aren't you?"
She was hanging upside down above the pool of blood. The backflow of blood and the excruciating pain made her vision blur, but she still stared intently at the old ghost cultivator in front of her and sneered, "Heh, a bloodthirsty demon like you has the right to cry injustice."
The old man's expression suddenly twisted, and his withered fingers gripped her neck tightly: "You bitch, who do you think you are? You dare to lecture me?!"
Rong Jiaojiao struggled to breathe, yet still managed a mocking smile: "At least... I won't be running around like a stray dog..."
"You're courting death!" the old man roared, raising his hand to tear her soul apart.
He raised his blood whip and lashed it at Rong Jiaojiao.
However, at that moment, another figure appeared. That person did nothing, and the old man's blood whip automatically disappeared.
The old man's pupils constricted upon seeing the newcomer, and he quickly bowed his head in greeting: "Greetings, Demon Lord?"
Rong Jiaojiao was equally shocked upon seeing the newcomer's face: [Isn't this the same person who called himself "This Sovereign" back then? Could this also be a branch of the main demonic soul?]
The newcomer was still handsome, but his words were icy cold: "Hand over the Nine Dragon Seal, and I will spare your life."
Rong Jiaojiao remained silent, knowing that handing over the secret realm was out of the question; she only hoped that Yue Ling could keep the secret realm well hidden.
Yue Ling was pacing anxiously in the small secret realm. When she heard that the other party wanted the Nine Dragon Seal, Yue Ling had a flash of inspiration. She took out various spirit jades from the small secret realm and quickly polished them into five fake Nine Dragon Seals.
To make it more realistic, it even extracted a trace of the true Nine Dragon Seal's essence and infused it into the fake Nine Dragon Seal, making it difficult for anyone other than the one holding the seal to distinguish between the real and fake.
Rong Jiaojiao's consciousness gradually drifted into confusion, and she didn't want to waste her energy.
Although she felt the chances of surviving were slim, she didn't give up.
Seeing her on the verge of death, the Demon Lord reached out and grabbed Rong Jiaojiao, pressing his palm against her head without a word.
At this moment, Rong Jiaojiao was truly terrified. She didn't want to become an idiot and be turned into a puppet.
At this moment, five Nine Dragon Seals flew out from Rong Jiaojiao's sea of consciousness and fell into the blood pool.
Rong Jiaojiao's eyes widened in anger, her face, pitted and rotten, filled with indignation and confusion.
Why would Yue Ling do this? Is it being controlled as well?
At this moment, Rong Jiaojiao felt utterly disheartened.
Seeing the Nine Dragon Seals fly out, the Demon Lord disdainfully tossed Rong Jiaojiao into the blood pool, then swept the five Nine Dragon Seals over with a flick of his sleeve. After sensing them, he disappeared into the blood pool with satisfaction.
Rong Jiaojiao, who was thrown into the blood pool, wanted to writhe in pain, but she was too weak to struggle and gradually sank to the bottom of the blood pool.
Seeing Rong Jiaojiao's flesh and blood begin to rot and dissolve into the blood pool, her unbearable pain filled the old ghost with great joy. He left with a wicked laugh, waiting for Rong Jiaojiao to finish suffering before taking her soul to refine into the spirit of his Myriad Soul Banner. At that time, he would possess a treasure.
In the council hall of the Immortal Mountain Alliance headquarters, hundreds of Celestial Master level experts sat, offering suggestions on how to rescue Rong Jiaojiao.
At this moment, Zi Ling, nestled in Mo Bai's arms, coughed up a mouthful of blood, scratching her head with her claws, her sharp, mournful cry piercing the eardrums of everyone present.
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