Qinghe Immortal Clan.

The "Nine Nether Sect" is located in an underground cave on the back mountain.

A figure with only half a body remaining was tightly chained to a giant cauldron by several black iron chains.

Not far in front of him, there was an old man whose whole body was tightly wrapped in a black robe, his eyes fixed on the incomplete figure in front of him.

"If you are willing to hand over that item, why suffer the torment of being refined by Yin Fire every day?"

"To be honest, I have greatly admired you over the years."

As long as you are willing to cooperate with me, there is no need for us to act like this. I am even willing to share the foundation of the Nine Nether Sect with you.

When that time comes, I will unify the Northern Underworld Immortal Continent, and the Huayang Realm will be invincible.

We could ascend to the upper realm together; wouldn't that be the best of both worlds?

".

No matter how the old man in black robes tried to tempt him, the figure opposite him remained silent, as still as a dead man.

"Hmph! You don't know what's good for you."

Seeing that the other party had no intention of paying attention to him at all, the old man in black robes turned cold and immediately raised his right hand.

As the black-robed elder cast his spell and activated his spiritual light, bursts of yin fire suddenly erupted from the giant cauldron, spreading along the black iron chains and directly covering the half-human figure.

The next moment, the person, who only had half a body left, seemed to feel some great pain, and suddenly opened his eyes and his body began to tremble uncontrollably.

Soon, screams of agony echoed from the cave.

"what!"

".

Hearing such a shrill scream, the old man in black robes showed no pity whatsoever; instead, a look of enjoyment appeared on his face.

It wasn't until about half an hour later, when the other party's voice became much quieter due to the burning of the Yin Fire, that they were finally able to stop casting the spell.

The remaining half of the figure was already on the verge of death due to torture.

"Even if you are a true demon from the upper realm, your primordial spirit is now so severely damaged that you cannot withstand my Yin Fire Soul Refining. If this continues, you will not be able to hold on for long."

Why waste time with an old man over something so trivial?

".

Despite his disheveled appearance, the man still ignored the old man in black robes before him, closing his eyes and lowering his head.

Seeing this, even the "Nine Netherworld Demon," whose entire body was shrouded in black robes, showed a hint of helplessness on his face.

He has kept this person trapped here for decades since he captured him.

During this period, the other party was subjected to soul-refining by Yin Fire almost every few days. Such excruciating pain would have been unbearable for an ordinary cultivator.

But the person before him never compromised, preventing the "Nine Netherworld Demon" from getting his way.

The opponent was a true demon from the upper realm, whose primordial spirit was far more powerful than his. The "Old Demon of the Nine Netherworlds" had no way to search his soul and could only keep wasting time with this demon.

"I don't believe you can really endure it."

Just as the "Nine Netherworld Demon" was about to continue casting his spell, he suddenly stopped what he was doing.

As if sensing something, his expression became somewhat strange.

"Hmph! I'll let you off the hook for now."

Fellow Daoist, you should think carefully. Next time I come here, you won't be so easily spared.

".

After uttering a vicious sentence to the person in front of him, "Nine Nether Old Demon" flashed with spiritual light and instantly disappeared into the cave.

After the old demon had been gone for a while, the figure trapped above the giant cauldron suddenly opened its eyes again, a strange expression appearing on its face.

".

Within the "Ancient Secret Realm".

As a giant sword plunged into the restrictive array below, a shattering sound rang out, and the surrounding white mist quickly dissipated.

Having just retrieved his spiritual treasure, Yu Zhenzi landed beside Song Qingming below with a flicker of light beneath his feet.

"Haha, we finally cracked it!"

At this moment, there was still a thin layer of sweat on his forehead, as if he had just used up a lot of his magical power to cast a spell.

Even though he looked tired, Yu Zhenzi's face still showed a hint of joy as he looked at the broken restriction array in front of him.

He didn't forget to praise Song Qingming, who was not far away and had also contributed significantly to breaking the formation.

After putting away the array flags in his hand, Song Qingming looked at the courtyard that appeared in front of him, his face also showing a hint of anticipation.

“Brother Yuzhen, the commotion we made when breaking the formation just now must have alerted the nearby demons. I estimate that it won’t be long before Old Demon Jiuyou arrives in person.”

We don't have much time left, so let's hurry inside and search for the spirit.

"If the old demon arrives here beforehand, we'll probably have worked for nothing!"

In the perilous land of "Northern Underworld Immortal Continent," Song Qingming originally planned to break the restrictive formation by slowly wearing it down in order not to alert the nearby demons.

However, several waves of demonic cultivators have recently found this place, and it is about to expose the situation here.

Knowing that they could no longer conceal it, Song Qingming and "Yu Zhenzi" immediately changed their minds and chose to join forces to forcibly break the barrier in front of them.

Although the great formation has been successfully destroyed, the commotion must have alerted the nearby demons.

They don't have much time left to search for the treasure.

Song Qingming and "Yu Zhenzi" must quickly find treasures and leave this place before those Nascent Soul demons arrive.

Otherwise, if they were trapped here, it wouldn't be so easy for them to escape safely.

Upon hearing Song Qingming's reminder, Yu Zhenzi, who was also fully aware of the situation, immediately nodded in agreement.

The two transformed into streaks of light, quickly passing through the white mist on the left and right, and arrived above a large courtyard.

After exchanging a glance, Song Qingming and "Yu Zhenzi" tacitly agreed to each choose a house to search for treasures.

Song Qingming chose the larger main house in the middle, while "Yu Zhenzi" went to the side room next door.

During this time, both of them carried image-recording beads to prove that they would not keep the various spiritual items they found to themselves.

After easily breaking through the outer layer of damaged restrictions, Song Qingming pushed open the door and entered a large hall that was several dozen feet long and wide.

With its blue brick pillars, carved railings, and jade steps, the hall appears somewhat ornately decorated.

To Song Qingming's disappointment, a quick glance around revealed that the entire hall was completely empty except for a few stone pillars; there wasn't even a table in sight.

He raised his hand and released a swarm of "Golden Illusion Butterflies," which searched the entire hall.

After spending some time, Song Qingming only found some low-level cultivation scrolls and some damaged and useless medicinal materials in the back hall.

Seeing this, Song Qingming could only leave quickly with a hint of disappointment.

As soon as I stepped outside, I saw "Yu Zhenzi" coming out of the room on the other side.

Seeing the same disappointment on the other person's face, Song Qingming immediately guessed that he probably hadn't gained anything either.

Next, the two began searching other rooms in the vicinity.

The result was quite unexpected for them. The courtyard was full of low-level spiritual creatures, and it did not seem to be a place where high-level cultivators lived.

"That's strange. This place is clearly protected by such powerful restrictions, so how come we haven't seen anything? Could it be that we've just wasted our time?"

The restrictions the two encountered when they entered this place were much stronger than those in other places outside.

Logically speaking, the other party must have gone to great lengths to set up the restrictions just to protect these few ordinary courtyards.

Just as Song Qingming was wondering about this, he suddenly saw a flash of light in front of him, and "Yu Zhenzi" appeared beside him.

"Fellow Daoist Song, I just received a message from the Five-Colored Spirit Sparrow. Something seems amiss behind this courtyard."

"Oh!"

Upon hearing what "Yu Zhenzi" said, a look of surprise immediately appeared on Song Qingming's face.

With a flash of light beneath their feet, the two vanished from their spot.

The next moment, two figures emerged from an open space in the back corner of the courtyard, their spiritual light flashing.

Looking up, one could see a five-colored spirit bird circling around an open space in front of it, as if it had discovered something.

This "Five-Colored Spirit Bird" is a special spirit pet kept by "Yu Zhenzi".

Although its cultivation level is not high, it is very sensitive to fluctuations in spiritual energy, making it very suitable for assisting cultivators in exploring and finding treasures in such ancient secret realms.

After glancing at the location of the "Five-Colored Spirit Bird," Song Qingming raised his hand to cast a spell, releasing a beam of spiritual light, which was quickly blocked in mid-air by a mysterious force.

Immediately afterwards, a transparent shield appeared in front of the two of them.

"So that's what they hid here. No wonder we didn't find anything up ahead."

"Fellow Daoist Song, time is of the essence, let's break the formation quickly!"

Upon seeing the magic array before them, both Song Qingming and "Yu Zhenzi" were overjoyed; after all that work, they had finally found the right place.

".

The small magic array in front of us is not as powerful as the outer restrictions.

Before Song Qingming, a high-level array master, it only lasted for a quarter of an hour before collapsing and revealing a stone tower that was four or five zhang tall.

The stone tower doesn't look very big, and there's no room inside.

At the very top of the tower, several orbs of light appeared, emitting bursts of dazzling multicolored light, instantly attracting the attention of Song Qingming and "Yu Zhenzi".

Seeing this, Song Qingming and "Yu Zhenzi" immediately used their magic to each capture a ball of light.

The restriction above the ball of light was removed, revealing a purple, round spiritual object.

Before Song Qingming could see clearly, the spirit fruit seemed to be startled and moved quickly, flying directly into the distance.

"Huh!..."

Seeing this, Song Qingming immediately raised his hand and released a beam of spiritual light to sweep up the other party, then quickly retrieved the spiritual object into his own hand.

A purple spiritual fruit, about the size of a thumb, quickly appeared before Song Qingming's eyes.

"This is a level five spirit fruit!"

Although the purple spiritual fruit in front of him did not look very big, Song Qingming could feel the rich spiritual power emanating from it at a glance, far exceeding that of many spiritual fruits he had seen before.

Barring any unforeseen circumstances, this spiritual fruit is at least close to the mid-grade level five.

Just as Song Qingming was expressing his amazement, he heard Yu Zhenzi, who was also holding a spirit fruit beside him, exclaim excitedly, "I didn't expect that this place would actually hide ripe level 5 spirit fruits. Brother Song, our trip here has really not been in vain."

Although the two had found many spiritual items in the secret realm, their value to them was far less than that of the two high-level spiritual fruits before them.

Although they had not yet recognized the origin of the spiritual fruit before them, judging from the rich spiritual energy emanating from it, they estimated that it could save them at least several hundred years of cultivation time.

Yu Zhenzi's cultivation has been stuck at the third level of the Nascent Soul stage for five or six hundred years.

Now that he has seen this spiritual fruit that could hopefully help him break through his cultivation level, he can't help but be excited.

After exchanging a glance, the two each put away a spirit fruit, their gazes falling once more on the spirit tree atop the stone tower, where there were five or six spirit fruits of different colors.

Only two of them were close to maturity, but their grade was not as good as the ones the two had just picked; they seemed to be only at the low-grade level of the fifth rank.

The remaining four are clearly still some distance from maturity, and are only grade four superior.

"Fellow Daoist Song, we have already alerted the demons outside. Leaving these spiritual fruits here will only benefit them."

It's better to take it directly, to avoid it nourishing those demons later.

"What you say makes sense, fellow Daoist!"

Although these spiritual fruits in front of us are not fully ripe yet, picking them now would greatly reduce their effectiveness and be a waste.

However, the two of them had already alerted the demons outside, and this place was no longer a safe haven. Sooner or later, they would be discovered by the surrounding demonic cultivators.

Even if Song Qingming and "Yu Zhenzi" intended to keep these spiritual fruits, they would likely end up falling into the hands of demonic cultivators outside.

Rather than doing that, it's better to just pick it now, so that those devils don't get to benefit from it.

After Song Qingming and "Yu Zhenzi" swept through the remaining six spirit fruits, they all fell into their hands.

As for the spirit fruit tree above the stone tower, they had no intention of destroying it.

After all, the spiritual fruits above have already been completely looted by them, and it will take at least several thousand years for them to ripen again, so there is no need to go through all this trouble.

Yu Zhenzi, who has some knowledge of spiritual plant techniques, also wants to try to transplant fruit trees himself using magic.

Unfortunately, after trying it, he discovered that the spirit fruit tree in front of him had already merged with the stone tower formation below, and with his supernatural powers, he was unable to separate it from the formation.

Seeing that he was at a loss, "Yu Zhenzi" did not insist on it and immediately gave up his idea.

Just as the two had each made their gains and were about to turn and leave, the secret realm beneath their feet suddenly shook.

The next moment, a voice transmission quickly entered Song Qingming's ears.

"Brother Song, a formidable opponent has arrived outside, and I can no longer hold him off!"

"Oh no, the Nine Nether Demon is here!"

"They arrived pretty quickly. Well, let's hurry up and get going!"

Hearing Qu Bai's somewhat anxious tone, Song Qingming immediately realized what was happening and reminded Yu Zhenzi beside him.

Upon seeing this, the two immediately abandoned their desire to continue exploring and turned into streaks of light, leaving the spot.

".

Above the sea, a giant skeleton, thousands of feet tall, had already plunged into the white mist ahead.

The giant skeleton raised its hand, wielding a long white sword, and slashed down at the front.

A powerful aura instantly sliced ​​through the surrounding white mist, revealing a semi-transparent circular barrier inside.

As the blade flashed, the barrier shattered, and a figure inside was knocked back over a hundred feet.

"Hmph! I wondered who dared to jump around under my nose, but it turns out to be just a Nascent Soul junior."

"Huh? Why are you still in the form of a spirit puppet? Who exactly are you?"

"Since it's a spirit puppet, it naturally belongs to its master. Why don't you go and ask him?"

Facing the white skeleton with eerie green eyes, "Qu Bai" showed no fear whatsoever and deliberately steered the other's gaze toward the sea.

Just as the "white bone skeleton" released its divine sense, it quickly sensed a special spiritual energy fluctuation on the sea surface ahead.

Before the other party could get close, a circular whirlpool appeared on the sea surface, and two figures emerged from it one after the other.

One was a young-looking man in a green robe, and the other was a middle-aged Taoist priest carrying a whisk on his back.

"Yu Zhenzi, it was you all along!"
When I first met you hundreds of years ago, I already suspected that you had come to the Northern Underworld Immortal Continent in search of something.

"It seems what you're looking for is right here. I, your humble ancestor, have arrived at the perfect time."

"Haha, Nine Nether Old Demon, you've come at the perfect time. We've already taken what we needed, so this place is yours now."

"Oh! What use would I have for this place?"

Now that you've already obtained the items, why don't you just ask the two of you to hand them over?

"Fellow Daoist, you're like a stray dog, barely escaping from my grasp. Do you really think you'll have that kind of luck again today?"

Hundreds of years ago, in order to search for and confirm the location of the ancient secret realm, "Yu Zhenzi" had already come to Beiming Immortal Continent alone.

He had encountered the "Nine Netherworld Demon" once in the vicinity, and the two even fought each other face to face.

However, at that time, "Yu Zhenzi's" cultivation and supernatural powers were somewhat inferior to those of the Nine Nether Old Demon.

After a fierce battle, "Yu Zhenzi" was ultimately defeated and fled "Beiming Immortal Continent" injured.

Now that they meet again, upon hearing the Nine Nether Demon bring up the past, "Yu Zhenzi" also recalled his humiliating defeat at the hands of the other party, and his face couldn't help but turn somewhat ugly.

But in just a short while, Yu Zhenzi's complexion quickly returned to normal.

"Old Demon of the Nine Netherworlds, you and I are both Nascent Soul cultivators who have cultivated for so many years, there's no need to waste your breath trying to provoke me."

If this were anywhere else, we two might not be afraid of you, and might even want to destroy you, this demon, to rid the cultivation world of a scourge.

However, we have other matters to attend to today, so we will not keep you company any longer.

Faced with the "Nine Netherworld Demon" who was deliberately trying to provoke him into fighting, the calmed-down "Yu Zhenzi" immediately exchanged a glance with Song Qingming beside him.

Then, the two took out their magical treasures and held them in front of them.

The next moment, Song Qingming released his spiritual light, picked up "Qu Bai" beside him, and flew away into the sky together with "Yu Zhenzi".

"Where do you think you're going!"

Seeing that Song Qingming and his companion were trying to escape, the skeleton controlled by the "Nine Netherworld Old Demon" shot out two beams of green light from its eyes and chased after them.

Seeing this, Yu Zhenzi, who was prepared, raised his hand and activated his whisk, which conjured a Bagua shield to protect the two of them.

The green light shot towards the top of the shield, but was quickly blocked.

Taking this opportunity, Song Qingming increased his magical power to activate the jade shuttle beneath his feet, instantly widening the distance between himself and his opponent and flying dozens of miles away into the sky.

Just when Yu Zhenzi and Song Qingming thought they had successfully shaken off their opponents.

Unexpectedly, a shadow suddenly loomed over them from the void ahead. Looking up, they saw that the white skeleton that had been dozens of miles behind them had somehow appeared in front of them.

The skeletal figure raised its long sword and slashed down at Song Qingming and his companion, instantly creating gusts of wind.

Faced with such a powerful attack, Song Qingming and "Yu Zhenzi" both showed a hint of solemnity on their faces, each controlling their magical treasures to block the long sword in the skeleton's hand.

"Hahaha, neither of you are leaving here today!"

Just as they blocked a white skeleton, another voice came from behind them, and a large cloud of black mist had caught up.

Soon another white skull of the same size, wielding a long spear, appeared from the black mist.

Two skeletons, one in front and one behind, sandwiched Song Qingming and "Yu Zhenzi" between them.

"Stop your arrogance!"

Seeing that the two of them had fallen into the enemy's encirclement, "Yu Zhenzi" immediately snorted coldly and raised his hand to cast a spell to summon a silver longsword.

The sword light pierced through the void in an instant, directly penetrating the skull above it.

After the skull was hit, a layer of frost instantly formed on its neck, freezing it in mid-air.

"Frost Sword, I didn't expect your magical treasure to have become even more powerful."

The frozen white skull opened its mouth and uttered a sentence, then suddenly raised its hand and chopped off its frozen head.

Before long, another cloud of black mist emerged from the skeleton's body.

After the neck, which was entangled in black mist, twitched a few times, a new head immediately grew back.

"Hahaha, Yu Zhenzi, it's not just you whose supernatural abilities have improved over the years. If that's all you've got, you probably won't be leaving today."

The white skull laughed loudly and inhaled the black mist beside it directly into its mouth.

The next moment, his body suddenly swelled, and the pressure of his aura more than doubled.

The skeleton, whose cultivation level was just about the same as "Yu Zhenzi" a moment ago, now had an aura that subtly surpassed his opponent's. He raised his spear and swept it directly at his opponent.

On the other side, the giant skeleton wielding a long sword had split into two.

They surrounded Song Qingming, who was casting spells to control his magical artifacts in resistance.

The enlarged white skeleton was significantly more powerful than before, both in terms of its aura, speed, and magical power.

Even if struck by the opponent's sword light, they can recover quickly.

Despite his best efforts in casting spells, Yu Zhenzi was still unable to shake off the other party's entanglement, and a hint of anxiety appeared on his face.

Hundreds of years ago, he was defeated by the "Nine Netherworld Demon" when he faced him alone.

Unexpectedly, even with Song Qingming restraining him, he still couldn't gain the slightest advantage in their rematch.

Although the true form of the "Nine Nether Demon" is hidden inside the skeleton, it has not yet revealed itself.

However, Yu Zhenzi vaguely sensed that the other party's cultivation level seemed to be far beyond what it was back then, and it was very likely that he had already entered the mid-stage of the Nascent Soul realm.

This can't go on; we must defeat the old demon as soon as possible.

Otherwise, if other demons came after them, the two of them would really have a hard time escaping.

Seeing that the situation was becoming increasingly unfavorable, "Yu Zhenzi" no longer hesitated and immediately cast a spell to summon a high-level talisman, which he then placed on his chest.

Just as he was casting his spell, a white light suddenly appeared on the other side of the battlefield.

Looking up, he saw that the two giant skeletons fighting with Song Qingming were trapped in white flames by his spell.

Unable to escape, they let out a series of pitiful screams.

"Damn it, it's the Profound Yang Blaze!"

"Fellow Daoist Song!" (End of Chapter)