I was born a god, the son of the Demon Lord.

With a loud bang, Xu Nanyi was sent flying out of the air.

Xu Yuan caught her, and the two rolled together on the ground for about ten meters. They were hit on the back by pebbles and covered in dust. Finally, Xu Yuan pressed her down and used his back to shield her from all the falling rocks.

Xu Nanyi slowly came to her senses from the warm embrace, raised her head, and met a pair of eyes.

"Mother..." she whispered.

"Don't be afraid."

He brushed her hair aside, pulled her behind him, stood up, and patted the dirt off his knees. The whole sequence of movements was smooth and effortless.

Lin Qingyue used the gun barrel to push herself up, shouting, "Run..."

Movement began in the ruins. A large figure was arching out of the rubble, stones rolled to the left and right, raising a cloud of gray smoke. The ghostly immortal raised its head from the pile of broken bricks.

Xu Nanyi glanced at him; he was no longer the Second Prince at all.

The silver threads and auspicious clouds on the immortal's crane cloak had all turned black, the edges were grainy and had a scabby texture; just imagining the smell was enough to make one's stomach churn. The glass crown on his head was askew but hadn't fallen off, and the face beneath it was handsome from afar, but up close, black energy flowed beneath the skin in ripples, the writhing curves exuding a strong vitality—a vitality that Xu Nanyi had absolutely no need for.

Its lips were crimson, and its mouth was split from the corner to its ears. A forked, scarlet tongue extended out and licked the blood from the corner of its mouth. It had no teeth but had a row of fine, dense black barbs, like suction cups, that were wriggling.

Lin Qingyue thrust her spear horizontally, Tianxing unfolded the astrolabe, and Shen Jiuyuan lowered his scythe.

The three people stood shoulder to shoulder in front of her, but Xu Nanyi could feel that the legs of those three figures were trembling slightly. The pressure of the peak Tribulation Transcending stage was crashing down, as if a mountain was nailed to each of their shoulders. They wanted to run, but their legs wouldn't obey them.

The ghost fairy stood up from the ruins, tilted its head and scanned the area. Its gaze first fell on Xu Yuan, then on Xu Nanyi, and its pomegranate-colored eyes lit up.

Its forked tongue darted out again and licked around once more.

"And they're actually two phoenixes! Hehehe..."

"What pure and delicious souls and flesh you possess, but your flames are utterly repulsive. Especially you—little one."

He raised his hand.

With a casual grab, Xu Nanyi felt something bite her neck out of thin air, and she was pulled off the ground. Her cultivation was like a snake being gripped by the throat, unable to move at all.

"Let go of Yiyi—!"

"Sister!"

Before the others could react, Xu Yuan's voice and Shen Xizhou's voice collided.

Xu Yuan charged forward, the pressure intensifying, the ground creaking. She paused, her phoenix bloodline and rage igniting into a single force, forcefully breaking through the oppressive layer, and she took another half step forward—

The ghostly immortal glanced at her.

The pressure increased by double.

Xu Yuan was forced back to his original form. The golden phoenix was as if it were molten gold, and every feather was shining. But its wings fluttered and then went limp, pressing down on the ground. A mouthful of blood slowly oozed from its beak and fell into the gravel.

Lin Qingyue was forced to the ground by the oppressive force. "A-Yuan!"

"Sister Yuan!"

Make a wish!

Xu Nanyi stared blankly back at this scene, her rationality snapping in an instant, and a tear of blood slid down her cheek.

"mother……"

The Three Thousand Divine Flames completely went out of control, frantically burning the phoenix essence blood on Xu Nanyi's body, covering her skin with golden flames.

The Three Thousand Emperor God Flames, which have devoured the essence of the phoenix, can now burn even those at the Integration Realm to ashes if they come into contact with them.

The immortal's palms began to burn, but he resisted the urge to pull away, instead curling his fingers inward, his lips twisting into a deeper grin: "So it really is this annoying flame... You really are extraordinary..."

【Yiyi, wake up!!!】

Tongzi transformed back into her golden-haired elf form, jumping up and down anxiously inside Xu Nanyi's dantian, and slapped the Nine Nether Ghost Seal.

[Are you deaf, you blockhead?! If you don't come out soon, even those at the Tribulation Transcending Realm will be burned to ashes!]

The Nine Netherworld Ghost Seal hummed.

Xu Nanyi had lost consciousness. The Three Thousand Divine Flames were completely out of control, with golden-red flames bursting out from every pore of her body, and the temperature was soaring, approaching the critical value of the Tribulation Transcending Realm.

The eccentric immortal's hand was already charred, but he didn't loosen his grip. A glint of greed and madness flashed in his eyes as he reached up with his other hand—

The Nine Netherworld Ghost Seal landed on the ground at some unknown time and slowly merged into the underground. The next moment, the ground suddenly cracked open, and black water gushed out continuously, creating ripples. A bronze door rose from the crack.

Ten meters tall, covered in verdigris, the door is engraved with densely packed ghost face reliefs, each face screaming silently, and white vapor seeping out from the cracks in the door.

Thousands of white figures rushed out from the crack in the door, their roars filling the entire space.

An immense, suffocating aura exploded from Xu Nanyi's body, and the aura of the Law of Reincarnation gradually dissipated from her body.

The ghostly immortal was thrown back by this force, traveling thousands of meters, crashing through four houses along the way, shattering wood and tiles into a cloud of dust.

For miles around, a deathly atmosphere pervaded the area, and even the dust in the air seemed to have stopped.

"Who is it that has disturbed my peaceful slumber?"

Xu Nanyi opened her eyes. She was suspended in mid-air, her crimson eyes sharp, her black hair fluttering with her red dress, and the ends of her hair shone with a faint golden light.

A huge phantom image rose up behind her, the outline of a woman, whose face was similar to hers but more mature, more like Xu Nanyi in her adulthood, noble and cold, her gaze sweeping down as if looking down on ants.

Seven golden rings unfolded from behind the phantom, layer upon layer, each radiating an inviolable sacred radiance.

Tianxing slammed the astrolabe shut in his hand, froze, and his lips trembled before he could utter a sound:

"Seven...seven pagoda rings..."

As the old saying goes, saving a life is better than building a seven-story pagoda.

Within the body of the Taiyuan Guardian, the Seventh-Level Floating Pagoda Ring is a legendary existence, equivalent to the certification of a hundred lifetimes of virtuous reincarnation.

Of all the guardians throughout history, only the first-generation guardian, the Azure Sky Saintess, ever obtained this ring.

That saint who transformed into a barrier with the body of an immortal, protecting the entire Taiyuan Realm with his own power.

Shen Xizhou stood at a distance, staring at the red figure in the sky. The phantom from the depths of his memory was slowly merging with the red figure in the sky...

Xu Yuan maintained her golden phoenix form, weakly raising her head, the blood still wet on her beak. She gazed at the little figure in the sky, her pupils reflecting the light of the seven golden rings.

Little Yiyi is now... beyond just undergoing tribulation, isn't she?

Shen Jiuyuan looked up at the sky, then at the person beside him, and his lips moved: "Is it an immortal... or a god?"

The ghostly immortal crawled out of the ruins, the crack on its face half-healed and then split open again, its whole body trembling violently, and for the first time, pure fear appeared in its rotten pomegranate-colored eyes.

"How is this possible... How could the Lord of the Nine Netherworlds appear in the world so quickly..."

Xu Nanyi stood in mid-air, her eyes slightly lowered, her gaze falling on the blue-skinned figure. Her young and clear voice carried a profound quality that was incongruous with her age.

Xu Nanyi... or rather, the phantom behind her chuckled softly.

"I thought you were some important figure. Is there no one left in your Ten Demon Immortal Realms? You mere Xuanxian ants dare to disturb this Emperor."

With a "bang".

The ghostly immortal's knees bent down an inch.

The seven golden rings in the sky began to rotate, each ring brighter than the last. All the death energy on the ground began to be drawn into the golden rings, and even the floating rubble in the air was being pushed back.

Xu Nanyi raised her right hand, palm down.

In the eyes of the mysterious immortal, a golden sun was taking shape.