Silence.
Except for the Sword Light unleashed by the strike, which continued to spread and wreak havoc.
Inside and outside Silver Lake Immortal City, every Immortal capable of observing the battlefield's unfolding drama was frozen in place, as if time itself had been suspended.
The figure that had instantly lost its aura, its masterless Demonic Power dissipating uncontrollably into the surroundings, bore no resemblance to the proud, invincible Demon Race Heaven's Chosen they remembered.
This sight was so shocking it nearly stopped their hearts.
Unbelievable. Utterly unbelievable.
Yet Immortals possessed steadfast Dao Hearts. In less than half a breath, they regained their composure and grasped the truth:
Yuan Jingtian was dead.
One of the Great Sage Demonic Ape's most favored direct descendants, ranked second on the Eastern Emperor Profound Demon Rankings, known for slaying numerous ordinary Golden Immortals and even turning the tables on seasoned Golden Immortals, Yuan Jingtian was truly dead.
Rustle.
Han Yi, who had delivered the fatal blow, naturally reacted first. His gaze shifted from Yuan Jingtian's severed corpse plummeting into the Void to the two Demon Immortals trailing behind him.
These two Demon Immortals were not Golden Immortals; they were dispatched by the Eastern Sovereign Demon Court, serving less as Yuan Jingtian's bodyguards and more as his servants.
However, these two Demon Immortals were not to be underestimated. Though not listed on the Profound Demon Ranking, their strength was certainly worthy of inclusion.
More importantly, the instant Yuan Jingtian fell, Han Yi sensed a looming crisis emanating from them.
Sure enough.
When Han Yi's gaze settled upon the two Demon Immortals, their expressions abruptly twisted, freezing midway through the transformation. A mysterious energy began to stir within them.
No.
This energy wasn't singular but dual, its opposing end anchored in...
Han Yi glanced sideways and backward, toward the Eastern Sovereign Demon Court's territory.
In the blink of an eye, he understood what was happening.
A powerful, enigmatic Demon Immortal was using these two as vessels to descend remotely.
A single thought flashed through Han Yi's mind: I can't let this Immortal descend. If they do, wielding the combined strength of these two Profound Demon Ranking-worthy Demon Immortals, I'll stand no chance.
Even as the thought formed, the Green Ripple Sword, which had just slain Yuan Jingtian, shifted slightly. It streaked across the sky, bisecting the two Demon Immortals at the waist. The Immortal Power clinging to the blade utterly annihilated their bodies and Demon Souls.
The energy surging from the two Demon Immortals showed no signs of diminishing; instead, it intensified relentlessly. The shattered remains of their Demon Bodies, destroyed by the Green Ripple Sword, didn't dissipate but collapsed inward, coalescing into a pulsating, blood-colored mass.
This mass writhed and contorted as if attempting to reshape itself into a clone, a vessel through which a mysterious Demon Immortal from a distant realm could descend.
Han Yi's sense of impending doom grew sharper. He knew he couldn't allow this mass to fully form; otherwise, escape would become impossible.
What could he do?
What method remained to prevent the descent?
In the blink of an eye, he abruptly raised his head, a sudden inspiration flashing through his mind.
I've got it!
He finally had a solution. Focusing his divine sense, he swiftly retrieved the Yueguang Ancient Divine Artifact from his Divine Aperture World.
The Yueguang Ancient Divine Artifact was colossal, stretching over fifty kilometers in length. Under Han Yi's deliberate control, the artifact remained tilted at a precarious angle.
Then, with swift momentum, the colossal artifact toppled downward, crashing down just as the writhing, blood-colored mass was about to solidify.
Crack!
A sharp crack echoed through the void. The blood-colored mass shattered into nothingness, accompanied by a faint, furious roar—so muffled that only Han Yi, standing closest, could barely hear it.
Before the colossal Ancient Divine Artifact could fully crash to the ground, Han Yi swiftly retracted it.
However...
With just a single activation of the Ancient Divine Artifact, Han Yi felt at least thirty percent of his divine power drain away.
His earlier assessment had been correct: this Ancient Divine Artifact should never be used except in dire emergencies. Even if he survived its use, he would be left completely drained, utterly vulnerable to anyone's mercy.
Having obliterated the vessel attempting to materialize through the void, Han Yi finally breathed a sigh of relief.
At that moment...
The Ape Demons still gathered before the Immortal City trembled abruptly, turning to flee.
With the power and perception of Demon Immortals, they naturally recognized the mysterious weapon Han Yi had revealed as an Ancient Divine Artifact.
Legends of such artifacts circulated within the Eastern Sovereign Demon Court, and fragments occasionally surfaced in the Demon Territory, sparking frenzied competition among demons.
Yet none of these Demon Immortals had ever witnessed such a terrifying Ancient Divine Artifact firsthand. Even a fleeting glimpse had convinced them of imminent doom.
In their hearts, Han Yi's demonstrated power inspired genuine despair. All fighting spirit extinguished, they scattered in disarray.
The Sound Sage Profound Immortal reacted first, pursuing them relentlessly.
Han Yi merely unleashed a few sword strikes, felling the closest Profound Immortal-level Ape Demons. Pursuing those who had fled further away would be no simple task.
Driven to desperation, the Ape Demons were burning their Demon Race Essence Blood, granting them astonishing speed. Even Han Yi would have to exert considerable effort to catch them. He decided it would be wiser to leave the task to the Sound Sage Profound Immortal, allowing her to contribute to the Demon-Slaying efforts and share in the merits.
Meanwhile, within Silver Lake Immortal City, dozens of Profound Immortals remained trapped by the immobilized Immortal Formation, forced to watch helplessly as the scattered Ape Demons escaped. Their resentment burned fiercely.
Han Yi glanced at the approaching Xuan Cheng before shifting his gaze to Yuan Jingtian's corpse below.
Nearby, Daoist Xuan Cheng drew closer, his inner turmoil beyond measure.
"That Ancient Divine Artifact..."
"Yes, it's that Ancient Divine Artifact."
"I once glimpsed it from afar during the Primordial Dao Discourse. Its master was none other than a Primordial Ancestor-level Ancient God."
"Han Yi, you have indeed inherited the legacy of a Primordial Ancestor-level Ancient God."
"It's even possible... that you are the second incarnation of that very Ancient God himself."
"No wonder... no wonder..."
His heart surged with unrestrained emotion, his eyes betraying a mixture of awe and reverence. In the Primordial Era, his status had only allowed him to gaze upward at such a Primordial Ancestor-level Ancient God.
Though the Primordial Era had witnessed the cataclysmic fall of the Ancient God Clan, countless millennia later, the mere memory of their unrivaled dominance during the golden age of the Three Clans of Gods, Demons, and Immortals—a power second only to the Great Realm Lord—still filled Xuan Cheng with awe.
This deep-seated awe, etched into his soul, had never faded.
Below, Han Yi collected the shattered armor and Immortal Cudgel from Yuan Jingtian's corpse. Though the Fifth-Rank Immortal Artifacts were broken and their spirituality extinguished, their raw materials still held great value, either for reforging or resale.
As he finished gathering the artifacts, Yuan Jingtian's bisected corpse underwent a sudden, unsettling transformation.
A black stone levitated from within the remains. Then, as if weathered by time, the two halves of the corpse began to crumble, shedding thin strands of flesh and blood that flowed into the strange black stone.
The process accelerated rapidly. Within mere three breaths, the entire corpse had been completely absorbed into the stone, leaving no trace—not even a hair or a speck of dust. The black stone, now hovering a meter above the ground, pulsed with an eerie, demonic light.
Han Yi raised an eyebrow, both curious and wary of the suddenly appearing stone.
"This is condensed from the Essence Blood of an Ancient Demon," Xuan Cheng explained. "In the Primordial Era, it was called an Ancient Demon Heartstone."
"If I'm not mistaken, Yuan Jingtian must have obtained this very Ancient Demon Heartstone, allowing him to rise to his current heights."
Han Yi turned to Xuan Cheng, who had landed beside him, and asked, "Ancient Demon Heartstone?"
Xuan Cheng nodded, his gaze fixed on the black, eerily floating stone. "Formed from the Essence Blood of an Ancient Demon, this Ancient Demon Heartstone contains that demon's entire Inheritance. As for which particular Ancient Demon, we'll only know once it's refined."
"Whoever refines this Ancient Demon Heartstone inherits everything from that Ancient Demon, including their Bloodline, Inheritance, and Demon Arts."
"Don't be fooled by its small size. This is essentially a miniature Demon Spirit Realm. Upon refinement, it merges with the body, transforming it over time. When the moment arrives, your Cultivation Realm will naturally advance."
"Of course, refining an Ancient Demon Heartstone doesn't guarantee one will reach the original demon's level. Generally speaking, once Demonic Power reaches perfection at the Peak Profound Immortal Realm, further breakthroughs become exceedingly difficult."
"The rumors are false," Xuan Cheng said. "Yuan Jingtian hasn't broken through to become a Heavenly Demon not because he's deliberately holding back for a better opportunity, but because he lacks the necessary foundation for such a breakthrough."
Han Yi didn't ask Xuan Cheng how he knew this hidden truth. After all, this information wasn't accessible even to Golden Immortals within the Profound Repository Palace.
From their first encounter long ago, Han Yi had sensed that Xuan Cheng harbored profound secrets. His knowledge of this matter likely stemmed from those very secrets.
Han Yi turned his gaze to the hovering black stone, his eyes flickering with contemplation.
"An Ancient Demon Inheritance," he murmured.
Come to think of it...
The Demon Sea he had cultivated within his body still existed. Before his Immortal Ascension, he had even cultivated a True Body of the Demon Race: the Nine-Headed Bird True Body.
Furthermore...
During his Nascent Soul stage, he had discovered a secret: cultivating the three ancient paths of Gods, Demons, and Immortals to their ultimate limits would trigger a unique transformation.
He still hadn't grasped the purpose or power of this transformation. Over the years, despite occasionally pondering it, he had found no records of such a phenomenon.
As far as he knew, no powerful being in the Great Luo Immortal Realm had ever achieved Three-System Co-Cultivation.
This outcome was inevitable. Ever since the Great Primordial Continent shattered during the Primordial Era, the Laws and Dao Principles had shifted, turning the Divine Tribulation into a death sentence. The emergence of new Primordial Realm Ancient Gods became exceedingly rare, and individuals as heaven-defying as Han Yi were vanishingly few. Even rarer were those who could glimpse the Ancient God's Holy Land in the Ferocious Realm from the Divine Tomb while undergoing their Divine Tribulation. In fact, apart from Han Yi, it remained unknown whether any other Ancient Gods had ever been born.
Previously, Han Yi hadn't seriously considered pursuing this path, or perhaps his resolve had been weak. Time was limited, and dividing his focus to cultivate the Ancient Demon system would inevitably hinder his cultivation progress.
But if he could inherit the entirety of an Ancient Demon's legacy, ascending to new heights in a single bound and completing the foundation of the Ancient Demon System, even if it only allowed him to reach the peak of the Profound Immortal Realm, Han Yi would be more than satisfied.
He reached out, enveloping the Ancient Demon Heartstone in divine power, and stored it within his Divine Aperture World. He remained wary of this ominous stone, unwilling to fully trust it and risk placing it in his Immortal Spirit Realm.
After securing the Ancient Demon Heartstone, Han Yi cupped his fist in a respectful salute to Xuan Cheng, expressing his gratitude: "Many thanks, Fellow Daoist Xuan Cheng."
Turning to the returning Sound Sage Profound Immortal and the Immortals of Silver Lake Immortal City, who had already restored the Immortal Formation to its normal state, he declared, "Let's head into the Immortal City first."
Although the Immortal Realm's space had yet to fully recover to its state from centuries past, making instant teleportation across vast distances impossible, methods still existed for rapid communication. Immortals could rely on exceptionally swift Immortal Beasts or specialized Immortal Artifacts, which, while slower than Transmission Formations, were far faster than direct communication between Immortals.
Thirteen days after the Eastern Sovereign Demon Court's army marched towards the Sui Zhu Immortal Court, news of Sui Zhu Hanyi's victory over Eastern Emperor Ape Jing Tian at Silver Lake Immortal City spread like wildfire.
The death of Yuan Jingtian—direct descendant of the Great Sage Demonic Ape and ranked second on the Eastern Emperor's Myriad Demon Pagoda's Profound Demon Rankings—sent shockwaves through the lower ranks of cultivators, as well as among True Immortals and Profound Immortals. Even the Golden Immortal battlefields buzzed with the news.
Like a stone thrown into calm waters, the ripples of this battle continued to spread and deepen with each passing day.
Between the Spirit Origin Immortal Domain and the Holy Ape Immortal Domain lay the Holy Spirit Mountain Range, a modest range whose name wasn't derived from any "holy spirit" within its peaks. Instead, it was a portmanteau of "Spirit Origin" and "Holy Ape," two words from the neighboring domains.
Far to the east, deep within the Spirit Origin Immortal Domain, as Han Yi's sword utterly annihilated Yuan Jingtian's Demon Body and Demon Soul, a thunderous roar erupted from the Holy Spirit Mountain Range.
In an instant, a colossal ape tens of thousands of zhang tall manifested its True Body as a member of the Demon Race. In its hand, it gripped a heaven-piercing great cudgel, poised to shatter the very fabric of the cosmos.
"Who?"
"Who killed Heaven-Shaking?"
"Damn them! Damn them all!"
The gargantuan ape roared skyward, its frenzy shaking the mountains. It swung its massive cudgel with a force capable of piercing the heavens, then slammed it downward with world-shattering force.
In that instant, a torrent of Immortal Light surged before the ape, and an Immortal Formation materialized.
As the perspective shifted upward, thick, pulsating Immortal Light could be seen enveloping the mountain range from all sides—north, south, east, west, above, and even below.
This was a Seventh-Rank Immortal Formation, a hundred li in radius, blanketing the outer reaches of the Holy Spirit Mountain Range. It had been established by Immortal Monarch Yuanshu for the Great Sage Demonic Ape.
Within the Immortal Formation, the colossal Demonic Ape raged—the Great Sage Demonic Ape, ranked fifth among the Great Sages of the Eastern Sovereign Demon Court.
As the Great Sage Demonic Ape thrashed, a Daoist materialized before the Immortal Formation, meditating in the Void. Clad in a profound violet Immortal Robe, his aura flickered intermittently. If Han Yi were present, he would recognize this figure as none other than Immortal Monarch Yuanshu.
The Immortal Monarch fixed his gaze on the Great Sage Demonic Ape within the formation, his brow furrowing. "What has driven this old ape into such a frenzy?"
"Heaven-Shaking?" he mused. "Could it be Yuan Jingtian, the Profound Immortal-Class scion the old ape holds so dear?"
"More likely, a Golden Immortal from my Primal Art Dao Field has taken action," he concluded.
"Hmph, what does it matter if he's dead?"
Divine light swirled in Immortal Monarch Yuanshu's eyes, as if countless Immortal Arts were constantly forming and dissolving within his gaze. New techniques blossomed in his mind with each passing moment.
With a downward gesture, the Immortal Light in his hand spread, reinforcing the Immortal Formation before him. No matter how violently the Great Sage Demonic Ape thrashed, he could only shake the formation, never breaking through to escape.
This Immortal Formation was no mere Seventh-Rank formation; it was an Eighth-Tier formation, one of Immortal Monarch Yuanshu's hidden trump cards. Trapping the Great Sage Demonic Ape within it was his first step; he had other methods prepared to deal with the old demonic ape.
Moreover, Immortal Monarch Yuanshu had been developing numerous high-level Immortal Arts for years, yet he had never had the chance to test them. The old ape, with his thick hide and sturdy frame, proved to be the perfect test subject.
With this in mind, he lightly flicked his finger. A bolt of black lightning, crackling with destructive intent, erupted from his fingertip and struck the Immortal Formation ahead.
The formation abruptly split open at the point of impact, and the Great Sage Demonic Ape roared furiously:
"Again?! Yuanshu, you old thief! I swear I'll tear you apart!"
"Roar!!"
The Great Sage Demonic Ape lunged through the breach, only to be blasted backward by the black Immortal Light. The shattered formation swiftly sealed itself once more.
"Aaaah! This is infuriating!"
"Yuanshu, you old thief! If you have the guts, dismantle this formation and face me in a one-on-one fight!"
"Coward! Coward!"
Immortal Monarch Yuanshu remained unmoved by the Great Sage Demonic Ape's furious taunts. His only reaction was mild dissatisfaction with the Immortal Art he had just unleashed.