"Be careful!" The Nine-Life Black Tortoise remained on guard.

The seal here and the one on the stone gate originated from the same source; they were one and the same. The Jiao King moved forward slowly, using every method he knew to pass through layer after layer of barriers.

The closer he drew to the crystal, the more terrifying the True Dragon’s pressure became.

The Jiao Clan possessed the bloodline of the True Dragon. The Jiao King performed a secret technique using his own blood and essence, covering his body with a blood seal to prevent the seal from backfiring, forcibly breaking through the barrier to approach the crystal.

When he lightly touched it, the crystal felt icy cold and incomparably hard. He did not strike rashly. After carefully sensing that neither the seal nor the crystal showed any abnormalities, he retreated to the ancient hall’s entrance, exchanged a look with the Nine-Life Black Tortoise, and summoned his golden spear.

Bang! The golden spear thrust toward the crystal. The crystal remained completely unscathed.

In the next instant, a sudden change erupted. The ancient hall trembled violently as a crack appeared beneath the crystal pillar, spreading rapidly until it almost reached their feet.

From within the fissure, an ancient barrier unfolded like a massive screen, faintly showing countless fine cracks. The ground shook furiously, and the crystal began to quiver.

Just as the two demons were about to continue attacking the crystal pillar, it suddenly shone with a blinding brilliance, unleashing a peerless dragon might that swept across the hall.

At the same time, a terrifying suction force burst forth from within the ancient barrier. The sudden change shocked both demons beyond measure.

Rumble! The suction surged out of the stone hall, causing the poison lake to reverse its flow and spread outward in all directions.

Overwhelmed by the dragon’s might, the two had no time to respond. They did not even have the chance to unleash the Heavenly Phoenix Feather before they were instantly pulled into the crack.

***

In another poison lake, the grand witch priest and Old Devil Fang had just joined forces to unravel the divine-patterned ancient barrier.

Beneath the stone platform lay a hidden passageway. Following it to the end, they were met with a breathtaking sight. A red divine furnace floated in mid-air.

Its surface was covered in dense divine-patterned ancient barriers, clearly a sacred relic of the witch race. Inside the furnace, a dying flame flickered weakly, radiating a faint warmth.

The moment they saw it, both the grand witch priest and Old Devil Fang were stunned on the spot.

They had never before witnessed such a divine-patterned ancient barrier that harmonized perfectly with heaven and earth, evoking reverence from the heart.

For countless generations, the immortal cultivators of the witch race had sought the path of divine patterns, scouring nearly every corner of Canglang Sea and the surrounding storm belts, yet found nothing. The road of divine patterns had long been severed.

They had been forced to cultivate human arts instead. The only remaining legacy of their race might be the technique of witch gu, though even much of that had been lost to time. Now, they finally glimpsed a ray of hope.

However, their joy soon dimmed when they noticed that the divine patterns on the furnace were incomplete. Its diminished power likely caused the patterns to fade.

Old Devil Fang’s figure flickered as he rushed toward the divine furnace, but the grand witch priest stopped him.

"This place would not contain divine-patterned ancient barriers without reason. It may be some form of seal. Though we and the humans are sworn enemies, both our roots lie within the Inner Sea, our fates intertwined. If a great devil is released, none of us will be spared. Countless innocents across the Witch God Continent would be unable to flee, and rivers of blood would flow!"

The grand witch priest’s tone was solemn. "We must not act rashly!"

Old Devil Fang snorted coldly, clearly impatient. The grand witch priest’s eyes locked firmly onto him until Old Devil Fang finally yielded.

They began breaking the divine-patterned barriers together. Their progress was painstakingly slow, for each attempt had to be carefully tested to ensure no strange fluctuations occurred before proceeding.

Each time a barrier was broken, the furnace reacted, emanating immense pressure. The grand witch priest activated divine patterns and the witch race's secret techniques, using her bloodline to ease the furnace’s hostility.

To their delight, with every movement of the furnace, a new divine pattern lit up. They were enthralled, memorizing every single pattern, hoping to comprehend the Great Dao of divine patterns in the future.

Just then, the furnace emitted a deep hum, the flame inside roaring to life and glowing crimson.

Crack! The ground split apart.

A screen of the ancient barrier surfaced once more, followed by an enormous suction. Both men, already focused on resisting the furnace’s power, were caught completely off guard and dragged into it without resistance.

***

Atop Yitian Peak, three great cultivators were jointly attacking the ancient devil. The elder from the Four Saints Palace, who was responsible for controlling the Devil-Suppressing Stele, suddenly darted toward the fissure in the ground.

Qingzhu stood still, outwardly calm, but within his body an intense struggle was raging. The devilish soul inside him resisted fiercely, leaving him unable to spare any attention elsewhere.

The ancient devil charged madly toward the fissure. No matter how he tried to activate the devilish barrier he had planted within Devil Qingzhu, there was no response. It was either disrupted by his true body or suppressed by Qingzhu’s true soul.

He had been thoroughly outplayed by the true body. The ancient devil knew well that his strength, restored through devouring three Spiritual Infants, could not last long. Once the Devil-Suppressing Stele recovered or Madam Li led her people to repair the altar, his fate would be grim.

"Stop him!" The Devil Lord and the others attacked with all their might.

Boom! Boom! The battle reached a level of intensity beyond words.

Heaven and earth dimmed. Even the glowing mists of light were shrouded, and the ground itself was torn to ruins.

***

Within the fissure beneath the earth...

The crack in the screen had embedded itself into the altar and seal laid down by the Four Saints. Upon the altar stood a vast and complex array. It was the very same one that Devil Qingzhu had secretly set up when the Four Saints Palace removed the Devil-Suppressing Stele, causing the ancient barrier's power to weaken.

The array was in operation, twisting around the altar like a pair of iron shears, ready to tear it apart.

The elder flew beside the array and, following Qingzhu’s prior instructions, began to sabotage it.

The altar trembled violently, rubble scattering everywhere. Yet the altar itself remained intact; to destroy it completely required both the ancient devil and Devil Qingzhu working together.

Devil Qingzhu was being suppressed by Qingzhu’s true body, leaving only the ancient devil to act alone.

The ancient devil endured the combined attacks pressing down on him, performing secret techniques to forcibly channel the unrefined power of the Spiritual Infants within his body. He even ignited his own origin, roaring toward the heavens as he gathered all the true devilish qi and slammed it ferociously into the array.

The elder’s heart jolted. He hurriedly dodged aside.

The torrent of true devilish qi poured into the array. At the same time, a tremendous surge erupted from within the screen, resonating with the ancient devil’s split soul.

An astonishing wave of power burst forth. Cracks spread across the altar; the seal, overwhelmed, dimmed and faltered, revealing fractures in its structure.

The ancient devil let out a wild laugh. But in the very next instant, another change struck.

As the seal shattered, a colossal suction erupted from within. The Devil Lord and the others were caught off guard and were instantly pulled into the screen.

Neither the ancient devil’s split soul, the elder, nor Qingzhu himself escaped its pull. In the blink of an eye, the fierce battle came to an abrupt end.

Moreover, the suction was not confined to this place. The entire network of cracks across the screen was affected.

***

In the ancient hall upon the cliff wall...

After the elder’s departure, he had sealed the hall, leaving behind two descendants of the Four Saints Palace who dared not take a single step away.

Then, as the fissure in the earth appeared, the cliff face split open, and massive boulders crashed down. This place was the source.

Their grandmaster had not returned for a long time, and the two were growing anxious. The young man left to report to their grandmaster, while the young woman remained behind to guard the ancient barrier. However, Both were soon swept into the suction as well.

A great upheaval was about to begin.

***

Boom! A thunderous explosion suddenly echoed from the depths of Dark Valley, shaking the entire region violently.

Outside Spirit-Suppressing Domain, the gathered demon kings and Spiritual Infant grandmasters looked at one another in confusion, utterly unsure of what was happening within.

The Nine Phoenix Monarch had initially thought that the poison lake’s disturbance was nothing more than a natural current. Now she realized that something unforeseen had occurred atop Yitian Peak.

She flew out of Spirit-Suppressing Domain, turned toward Yitian Peak, and her expression shifted rapidly, dark and uncertain.