Everyone understood that now was not the time to settle accounts with the Jiao King.

The blood-red crystal wall clearly originated from the blood coffin. It was the handiwork of the ancient devil’s true body. Since the ancient devil had drawn them all into this sealed space, what scheme was he plotting? The situation was perilous and impossible to read.

The sword qi and the blood coffin’s power had already intertwined, unleashing dreadful fluctuations that made every heart tremble. No one dared to approach the platform even half a step. Though they seemed locked in stalemate, none could tell which side would prevail in the end.

If the sword qi were to be ground away by the blood-red light, they would all face the ancient devil’s true body directly, and none of them would escape alive. The entire Canglang Sea itself would plunge into chaos.

Everyone’s gaze turned toward the ancient devil’s split soul. There, beside him, stood Qingzhu, and something was clearly wrong with his state.

When Qingzhu had first been dragged into this space, the moment he appeared, torrents of true devilish qi had poured out from the blood coffin and surged straight into his body.

The clarity in Qingzhu’s eyes faded instantly, replaced by dazed confusion, while his aura skyrocketed. His devilish soul had been seized by the ancient devil’s true body.

Qingzhu had been on the verge of suppressing the devilish soul and reclaiming his body, but all his efforts were undone in a blink by the ancient devil's interference. Everything he had fought for was destroyed.

His physical body fell completely under the ancient devil’s control, leaving his true consciousness powerless to resist.

"As expected!" The ancient devil’s split soul glanced at Qingzhu. He had long suspected that the reason his devilish barrier had lost effect was because his true body had meddled with it.

Turning his gaze toward the blood coffin, he shouted angrily, "You still don’t trust me!"

The true body was using a secret art, forcing torrents of true devilish qi into Qingzhu’s body.

Moments ago, the split soul had overexerted himself when activating the grand array, leaving his strength greatly diminished. If that true devilish qi were given to him instead, his power would immediately surge back to its peak.

"Stop talking nonsense!" A furious, anxious roar echoed in his mind. "I’m consuming the origin of the sacred coffin! Kill them all now and set up the Blood River Array to defile the sword qi! This sword qi has also been eroded by time and is no longer what it once was. Those people will be enough to contaminate it. If not, once it strikes, it will annihilate all qi. You and I will perish together!"

The split soul froze, fear flickering in his eyes as he sensed the terrifying aura of the sword qi.

Qin Sang noticed that no one was paying him any attention. Quietly, he edged his way toward the edge of the blood-red crystal wall.

Not far from him were the young boy and girl. Having received their grandmaster’s last command, they too huddled in the corner, afraid to even breathe. If a battle broke out, even a stray ripple of power could claim their lives.

Qin Sang exchanged a brief glance with them, saying nothing, then secretly communicated with Bai, inquiring about Mute Girl’s condition and discussing their next move.

"This girl fought desperately. Now her consciousness is dormant, almost as if she's dead. The fat silkworm is slightly better. It merely exhausted its strength and is sleeping inside her body." Bai sighed.

"Originally, lifting the Heavenly Corpse Talisman would likely have revived her, but now it’s hard to say. Fortunately, you fed her the Soul-Cleansing Liquid. There is also the vitality from the Jade Liquid, as well as the Soul-Nourishing Wood. At least her condition won’t worsen. The rest depends on fate... But tell me, how do you always end up surrounded by so many monsters?" His voice was filled with resentment and despair.

Qin Sang could only sigh in frustration. He pressed his hand against the space’s barrier, but it wouldn’t budge. Seeing that even the Devil Lord and the others were helpless, he knew there was no way he could escape amidst this chaos.

Out of the tiger’s jaws, straight into the wolves’. The only good news was that no one here bore him any personal grudge. To them, he was an insignificant insect, beneath notice.

"It must be another one of the ancient devil’s schemes. Let’s just hope they can defeat him," he murmured weakly.

No matter the danger he faced in the past, he had always fought his way through. But this time, he truly had no path forward. He could only blame himself for being too weak.

The good thing was that there were still others fighting before him. He took some grim comfort in the thought that if he were to die here, at least he would perish alongside these legendary figures.

When he had fallen into this space and seen Qingzhu’s figure, a flicker of hope had risen in his heart, only for it to die again upon noticing Qingzhu’s strange, half-conscious state.

So something happened to Senior Qingzhu again? Qin Sang’s eyes scanned the scene, quietly observing the situation.

Noticing Su Nu’s body was now occupied by the ancient devil’s split soul, Qin Sang was not surprised.

Back on the mountain, when the split soul had appeared in the mountain col surrounded by true devilish qi, Qin Sang hadn’t dared approach. He hadn’t seen the split soul directly, but he had suspected as much.

Su Nu’s intuition had been right. The three great merchant alliances had ill intent toward her. She had been powerless to resist, and this was her tragic end.

Qin Sang’s attention shifted again to the blood coffin and the sword qi. That sword qi was unimaginably strong, unlike anything he had ever seen. Fairy Nangui’s earlier words confirmed that it was left behind by ancient cultivators.

Yet as Qin Sang gazed intently at the sword qi, his eyes flashed with a sense of strangeness. The sword will hidden within carried a sense of familiarity.

Different cultivators might walk different paths even under the same art, but the origin of that power was unmistakable. Qin Sang stared at the sword qi, feeling the unique sword will within it.

The cultivator who had left behind this sword qi must have also cultivated the Primordial Spirit Sword Nourishment. So the Primordial Spirit Sword Nourishment truly had deep connections to Seven-Kill Hall!

Both the Sky Tower of the outer hall and Yitian Peak within the inner hall now proved it beyond all doubt.

Streams of true devilish qi poured into Qingzhu’s body. His features twisted slightly, and his eyes turned blood-red.

Within him, another power surged, roaring silently in defiance. Qingzhu’s true body had not submitted; he was struggling with all his might, yet he could not stop the invasion.

Everyone exchanged glances, a chill running down their spines. Though Qingzhu’s cultivation was just slightly inferior to theirs, yet he was utterly unable to resist. If it had been them, they might not have fared any better.

Qingzhu’s aura continued to rise sharply, breaking through his bottleneck in an instant and advancing to the late stage of the Spiritual Infant Realm. Even then, it showed no sign of stopping, leaving all who watched pale with alarm.

The methods of the ancient devil’s true body were far more terrifying than those of its split soul.

No further words were needed. The grand witch priest understood the situation at once and immediately sided with the human cultivators. If the ancient devil escaped, both their races would suffer calamity.

Near the blood-red crystal wall, a strange fluctuation suddenly erupted behind the Jiao King.

Crimson flames ignited. At the heart of the flames appeared a phoenix feather, one end tightly gripped in the Jiao King’s hand.

It was none other than the Heavenly Phoenix Feather bestowed upon him by the Nine Phoenix Monarch!

As the Heavenly Phoenix Feather manifested, its pointed tip aimed toward the blood-red crystal wall, releasing a blaze that flickered between illusion and reality.

In the next instant, the blood-red crystal wall began to distort, as though it were about to be pierced through by the Heavenly Phoenix Feather!

A faint smirk curved the Jiao King’s lips. When he had seen all these formidable enemies appear one after another, his shock and fury had been immense.

He still did not know the true cause of the upheaval or what exactly was sealed within the blood coffin.

But he understood one thing clearly. Whatever the outcome, his end would not be pleasant. He might even become the target of every cultivator present.

Now, the Heavenly Phoenix Feather that the Nine Phoenix Monarch had given him was revealing its might. Though it was not the true feather, it still contained a trace of the Heavenly Phoenix’s supernatural ability. He had secretly activated it moments ago, and it worked!

Boom! The Nine-Life Black Tortoise, who had been secretly communicating with the Jiao King, instantly moved to shield him. He transformed his shell into a massive, unbreakable barrier that stood firmly before them.

The Jiao King swung his arm, and the Heavenly Phoenix Feather made a light downward slash.