The spiritual energy was restored, and he became a mortal immortal in two days.

Qingcheng Mountain, the night market is about to close.

At the dessert stall, the glutinous rice balls in Chen Xuan's bowl had already gone cold.

Lu Yao asked cautiously, "Senior brother, when you went back later and saw the words Sister Wu left behind, did you...?"

"It's a pity, but she's also very stubborn."

Chen Xuan said calmly.

He picked up the copper coin and twirled it between his fingers: "So I was avoiding her because I didn't know how to face her."

The lights in the night market gradually went out, and the vendors began to pack up.

Chen Xuan got up to pay and led Lu Yao back. As they passed an antique stall, he suddenly stopped.

The stall displayed some old bronzes and jade pieces, most of which were fake.

But in the corner there was a palm-sized black iron plaque, rusted and with the words "Netherworld" faintly visible.

"Boss, how much is this?"

Chen Xuan picked up the iron plaque.

The stall owner, a thin old man, glanced at it and said, "That one? It was dug out of an ancient tomb in southern Xinjiang. It looks eerie. You can take it for five hundred yuan if you want."

Chen Xuan paid the money.

Lu Yao asked curiously, "Senior brother, what is this?"

"The Guidance Order from the Netherworld Sect."

Chen Xuan stroked the rust on the iron plate. "This is a token of the Demonic Sect founded by that brat Yin Jiuyou. It seems that his remnant soul is not limited to the one imprisoned in Lingxiao."

He looked up at the southern night sky.

There, the battle in the southern swamps is not yet over. But with his gentle breeze as a help, Wu Minghuang should be able to handle it.

"Let's go."

Chen Xuan put away the iron plaque. "It's time to go back."

........

Deep in the Blackwater Swamp of Southern Xinjiang

The putrid miasma was so thick it was impossible to disperse, like a viscous black fog swirling among the dead ancient trees.

The swamp water glowed with an eerie, dark green light, and bubbles occasionally rose to the surface, releasing a dizzying toxic gas when they burst.

Wu Minghuang stepped barefoot into the mud. With each step, crimson-gold phoenix flames ignited beneath her feet, evaporating the poisonous water and burning away the miasma.

A hundred feet behind her, Taiqingzi held a whisk and stepped out with the Seven Star Step.

The patriarch of Taiqing Temple had a solemn expression, surrounded by azure Daoist energy, which shattered the poisonous insects and demons that tried to approach into dust.

"Your Majesty, Qiongqi's escape route is not right."

Taiqingzi transmitted his voice, "It was severely injured by your Phoenix Flame, its right wing is broken, and its horn is destroyed. It should be seeking help from the demon territory, but instead it is burrowing into the deepest part of the swamp, as if it is deliberately leading us."

Wu Minghuang's gaze was sharp as a knife: "I know."

The Phoenix Flame Spear in her hand emitted terrifyingly high temperatures, and the air distorted wherever the spear tip pointed: "But it must die."

"Qiongqi's fearsome reputation is too great. If it escapes today, the demons of the Southern Frontier will have a leader, and Zhennan Pass will never have a peaceful day again."

"But the old Taoist priest always felt..."

Before Taiqingzi could finish speaking, a sudden change occurred ahead!

A hundred feet away, Qiongqi, which had been fleeing in a sorry state, suddenly stopped.

It turned around, its four hooves pounding on the mud, and there was no trace of panic in its scarlet beast eyes.

Only grotesque mockery and ridicule.

Even more bizarrely...

Its shocking wounds are healing at a speed visible to the naked eye!

The severed right wing, flesh and blood wriggled, bones regenerated, and within three breaths it was restored to its original state!

The horn, destroyed by the Phoenix Flame, regrew from the broken stub, as black as ink, and entwined with an even stronger aura of ferocity!

"That's impossible!"

Taiqingzi's pupils constricted sharply. "The Phoenix Flame contains the Law of Nirvana; a body destroyed by it is extremely difficult to recover! Unless..."

Unless Qiongqi was acting from the very beginning.

"After going to such great lengths, we've finally managed to lure you all here."

Qiongqi spoke in a human voice, hoarse like sandpaper, "Wu Minghuang, three hundred years have passed, and you're still so easy to catch."

Wu Minghuang gripped his spear tightly, his phoenix flames transforming into crimson-gold armor around him: "You know me, Emperor?"

"More than just acquaintances."

Qiongqi grinned, revealing its gleaming white fangs. "Three hundred years ago, at the foot of Tianmen Mountain, I caught a glimpse of you from afar."

"Back then, you followed behind that 'Mr. Chen' like a little girl who hadn't been weaned."

It licked its lips: "I never imagined that three hundred years later, you would become an empress and even kill that old bastard Zhu Jiuyin."

"Indeed, your bloodline is more delicious than Zhu Jiuyin's."

Taiqingzi's heart sank. He flicked his whisk, and a barrier of azure Daoist energy formed, protecting the two of them: "Your Majesty, this is a trap! It's stalling for time!"

"procrastination?"

Qiongqi sneered, "No, I'm waiting for all the audience members to arrive."

As soon as the words were spoken, three terrifying auras rose simultaneously from all directions of the swamp!

"boom!"

In the east, the mudflats exploded, and a ferocious beast with the body of a tiger and the face of a human soared into the sky!

It is hundreds of feet long, with fangs like halberds, and its body is shrouded in ominous black aura. It is one of the four ancient ferocious beasts, Taotie!

"Wu Minghuang, I want your head."

The sound of the Taotie was like the friction of metal and stone.

In the west, the surface of the swamp froze into ice, and a ferocious beast resembling a giant crocodile with bony spurs on its back broke through the ice!

With a single breath, it swallowed the miasma and poisonous water within a ten-mile radius. An ancient ferocious beast, Chaos!

"Hiss...the flesh and blood smell so good."

Chaos's eyes were bloodshot, saliva dripped from it, and blue smoke rose from the corrosive ground.

In the south, the most terrifying atmosphere descends.

From the depths of the swamp, a human-shaped figure slowly rose.

He was a middle-aged man dressed in a black robe, with a pale and effeminate face, and double pupils in his eyes, making it seem as if four pupils were moving at the same time when he looked at people.

He stood on a black lotus, and with each step he took, the swamp beneath his feet turned into pitch-black lava.

"Taotie..."

Taiqingzi's voice trembled, "The leader of the Four Ancient Fiends, the Taotie that devoured the heavens and the earth... you've actually awakened too?!"

Taotie smiled, a smile that was gentle and refined, yet chilling: "The young Taoist priest from Taiqing Temple has good eyesight."

"I have been asleep for three thousand years, and today I have awakened to find myself at such a grand feast."

"The Empress's flesh and blood, the Nascent Soul Dao Fruit, truly whet our appetites."

Encirclement from all sides!

Qiongqi, Taowu, Hundun, and Taotie—the four ancient fierce beasts—have all made their appearance!

What's even more terrifying is that the auras of these four ferocious beasts have all reached the half-step Nascent Soul stage!

The leading Taotie even faintly touched the threshold of the Nascent Soul stage!

"It was all a scheme from beginning to end."

Wu Minghuang finally understood.

The demon attack outside Zhennan Pass was bait, and Qiongqi's "severely injured escape" was an act. Everything was to lure her into the depths of the Blackwater Swamp.

This desolate land can suppress 30% of the strength of human cultivators!

"clever."

Taotie clapped his hands and chuckled, "That fool Zhu Jiuyin was scared out of his wits by Prime Minister Chen. He clearly has the cultivation of the peak of the Nascent Soul stage, but he doesn't dare to cross the line even half a step."

"In the end, you even burned the nation's fortune to forcibly kill him. What a piece of trash."

He looked at Wu Minghuang, a greedy glint in his double pupils: "But you are different."

"The potential you displayed when you killed Zhu Jiuyin... has piqued my curiosity."

"If I were to devour you and refine your Nirvana bloodline, I might be able to break through to the Nascent Soul stage and even reach the Divine Transformation stage in one fell swoop."

Taiqingzi gritted his teeth and transmitted his voice, "Your Majesty, this old Taoist priest will fight to the death to hold them off. You should find a chance to break through!"

"With these four villains joining forces, we have absolutely no chance of winning!"

"Break through?"

Qiongqi grinned maliciously, "This swamp has been sealed off by my 'Four Fiends Locking Heaven Formation,' cutting off all communication. You will have no chance of escape today!"

The Taotie roared to the sky, its voice echoing for miles: "My lords, show yourselves!"

"roar!!!"

Dozens of terrifying auras rose from all directions of the swamp!

They were all powerful demons at the Golden Core stage!

Even more, three old monsters of the demon race, whose auras were close to those of a half-step Nascent Soul cultivator, slowly emerged from the depths of the mud!

"Thirty-seven Golden Core demons, three half-step Nascent Soul old monsters..."

Taiqingzi's face turned deathly pale. "This is a complete and utter annihilation!"