Chapter 465 - 240: Birth of the Heart Demon

After being swept by the storm, the white snow on Five Extremes Mountain danced in the air, plunging the entire outer sect of the mountain into the frosty Fog Vein.

The powerful gales picked up rocks and dead trees along the way, swirling them up into the sky, causing some of the weaker disciples to be swept into the air by the storm.

Silhouettes resembling fallen leaves floated within the hurricane.

The inner sect Foundation Establishment disciples hurriedly intervened, rescuing those outer sect disciples engulfed by the giant peaks. Zhao Zhuoran saw the situation spiraling out of control and had to shout to the nearby Foundation Establishment, "The power of the attacker is extraordinary beyond compare, beyond our ability to match. Quickly notify the Sect Leader."

The gaze returned to Xiang Mountain.

Liou Zhen had long detected the problem with the Mountain Protection Array, standing with sword in hand at the peak of Xiang Mountain, coldly staring in the direction of the Mist Array.

The Cold Wilderness Sword Intent emanated from his resolute stance, like a sharpened sword poised to strike at any moment.

As turmoil erupted on Five Extremes Mountain, the secluded chamber where Liou Yuan was closed off became enshrouded by a mysterious power.

Under the influence of this power, the Heart Demon’s fluctuations within Liou Yuan’s Qi Mansion resembled a cauldron added with fuel, as golden bubbles constantly emerged.

Within the illusion, Liou Yuan’s eyes with a Buddha-like calm sought to dispel the Heart Demon using the Calming Spell.

Yet, no matter how many times he tried, his steps towards the ghost ship never ceased.

This elicited anxiety in his gaze.

He had the feeling that once he boarded that ghost ship, this Heart Demon Tribulation would undoubtedly conclude in failure.

His soul would inevitably be crushed.

"How could it be this!" Liou Yuan had made countless predictions during Sinking Star, having anticipated all previous Heart Demon illusions.

Except for overlooking the ghost ship at Cyan Feather Gui Character Crossing.

The fear of death lingered heavily in Liou Yuan’s heart.

His only recourse now was to tirelessly recite the Calming Spell, hoping to slightly break free from the illusion’s grip.

Cyan Feather Gui Character Crossing.

Within the Radiant Heaven-breaking Array, three Foundation Establishment Star Evils appeared at the edge of the array, solemnly observing the sea beyond Cyan Feather Gui Character Crossing, shrouded in thick mist.

Seeing the sea once perpetually veiled by mist, the mist now began to retreat.

The black hull emerged from the mist, its ominous aura seemingly intent on dragging the world into an abyss.

Since their inception, the Three Foundation Establishment Star Erosions had never encountered such a scene, each of them looking at each other in disbelief, puzzled by what had caused such a change in the Dark Prison Ship today.

...

Klang! A thunderous sound erupted from the Mist Array of Five Extremes Mountain.

Right as Zhao Zhuoran’s words to notify the Sect Leader fell silent.

In that moment, the Mist Array of Five Extremes Mountain shattered under the mysterious power.

Zhao Zhuoran’s body shook at the explosion, casting an incredulous gaze towards the source of the sound.

"How is this possible!"

He had cultivated for over a century and had never witnessed anyone breaching the Mountain Protection Mist Array of Five Extremes Mountain.

Now that sound, all too familiar to the Foundation Establishment Array Master Zhao Zhuoran, was indeed the sound produced when an array was broken.

Following Zhao Zhuoran’s gaze, between the Heaven and earth outside Five Extremes Mountain, an invisible barrier crumbled violently, torn apart by a force.

Within the array yet to disperse its mist, a large dark shadow emerged from the void, moving slowly.

But wherever it passed, the ground within the Mist Array began to quake, deep gorges continuously cracked the earth.

Under the influence of that power, the mountain bodies of the outer sect’s five peaks swayed uncontrollably, seemingly on the verge of collapse.

All of Five Extremes Mountain was dragged into an apocalyptic scenario.

Throughout the history of Five Extremes Mountain, since the sealing of the Star Erosion, it had never experienced an invasion breaking through the mountain gate.

Today, this unexpected event arose without warning.

Not only did Zhao Zhuoran’s face contort dramatically, but the other Foundation Establishments also stared in terror at the looming black shadow in the mist.

"This is dire!"

With every move towards Five Extremes Mountain, the black shadow intensified with a dreadful aura, pressing down on Zhao Zhuoran and the dozen Foundation Establishments such that they could no longer fly in the sky, causing them to fall from the void.

Simultaneously affected was Liou Yuan, secluded within the chamber.

Within the illusion, every step he took towards the Dark Prison Ship advanced the shadow breaking through Five Extremes Mountain’s Mist Array towards Xiang Mountain.

Once he genuinely boarded the Dark Prison Ship, the invading black shadow would precisely enter Xiang Mountain.

During this process, Liou Yuan tried numerous methods to fend off the illusion.

All to no avail.

The Calming Spell was ineffective, the Cyan Nether Sword Qi was ineffective, the Geng Metal Refining Form Skill was ineffective.

All his ace techniques seemed powerless before the black ship in the mist.

"Heavens intend to end me!" Liou Yuan spoke with a face ashen as death.

He did not know the scenarios faced by other cultivators during a Heart Demon Tribulation, but his Heart Demon Tribulation was undoubtedly impassable, a deadlock.

Wow! Waves surged.

Liou Yuan’s body had already crossed the land of the crossing, stepping into the boundless sea, less than a third of the way from the Dark Prison Ship.

At this distance, Liou Yuan could see countless corpses of cultivators floating around the Dark Prison Ship.

They were submerged beneath the sea, distorted in death, their bodies incomplete, identical to what Liou Yuan first saw at the Dark Prison Ship.

Meanwhile, Liou Yuan’s pace towards the Dark Prison Ship quickened.

The black hull heading towards Five Extremes Mountain also accelerated.

It had already emerged from the array’s bounds, entering Five Extremes Mountain, Xiang Mountain was not far away.

Boom! A torrential Evil Qi erupted from within the inner sect.

That Qi was colder than the winter wind, freezing the tumultuous Five Extremes Mountain in an instant as if time had stopped.

The air became still.

Countless outer sect disciples and Foundation Establishments led by Zhao Zhuoran paused with an expression of ecstatic joy, turning to the source where the Evil Qi rose.

A pair of dignified eyes opened above the sky deep within Five Extremes Mountain, overseeing Heaven and earth.

Those eyes carried a dual sentiment, one eye calm and serene, the other ferociously as if harboring a mountain of corpses and a sea of blood.

"Sect Leader!" Clearly, the owner of those eyes was the Sect Leader of Five Extremes Mountain, Xuanyi.

Ever since Xuanyi withdrew from the world, among the disciples of Five Extremes Mountain, he was seen as a suave and gentle young Daoist.

The world seemed to have forgotten that Xuanyi, their Sect Leader, was once a God of Slaughter renowned throughout the Cyan Feather Realm.

Now, as Xuanyi’s eyes opened from above the sky, the intense Evil Qi that would stain the skies blood-red brought not oppression, but a substantial sense of safety to the people of Five Extremes Mountain.

"With the Sect Leader’s intervention, this crisis will be resolved!" was the thought shared by nearly everyone.

Boom! As the torrential Evil Qi surged forth, it collided with the black shadow that breached Five Extremes Mountain’s Mist Array.

One side surged with overwhelming Evil Qi, dyeing the sky above Five Extremes Mountain crimson.

The other side was fiercer, like a demon god from an ancient battlefield, unstoppable.

Without ostentation, the two forces clashed within the void.

The void trembled under both energies, as snow blanketing the mountains flew skywards, washed away into the air.