Looking at the ring on Fu Wanyan's hand, her fellow disciples were concerned, "How much can it swallow? If such a large amount of ghost energy overloads it, won't it all be in vain?"
"We'll know if we try, but my cultivation is too low, so I can't use the Heaven Swallowing Ring. I'll leave it to someone to wear it," Fu Wanyan said calmly.
Yan Tianjiao, Lu Ziyin, and Ru Lan exchanged glances.
Ru Lan thought it was a moment to show her loyalty. Just as she was about to reach out, she heard Yan Tianjiao speak first, "Give it to me."
Fu Wanyan glanced at him. Yan Tianjiao was indeed a suitable candidate.
"The way to use it is to inject spiritual energy into it. When it has spiritual energy, it will open a vortex to absorb things. Once you stop injecting spiritual energy, it will stop. However, as it is a spiritual artifact, its demand for spiritual energy is quite high. Therefore, you must constantly infuse it and not let it deplete your energy."
After Fu Wanyan's instructions, she wrapped the "Heaven Swallowing" ring with spiritual energy and handed it to Yan Tianjiao.
"Why don't we do it instead? You should conserve your strength. What if you encounter danger..."
Among the group, Yan Tianjiao had the highest cultivation. If he conserved his strength, he would be more useful than others at critical moments. With this consideration, Lu Ziyin suggested a change.
"I know what I'm doing. You all step aside first."
However, Yan Tianjiao had his reasons for choosing to go first.
He considered that the ring was of a high grade. Even for an Nascent Soul stage cultivator, it would be a struggle to utilize even forty to fifty percent of its power. For it to be able to absorb ghost energy like this, the spiritual artifact was likely to consume a considerable amount of spiritual energy.
If someone else used it, they might be accidentally injured due to improper operation, which was why he decided to do it himself.
Upon hearing his words, everyone spread out a bit, but they didn't dare to stray too far, thinking they could intervene quickly if anything unexpected happened.
"Be careful."
Ru Lan called out.
"Mmm."
Yan Tianjiao wore the "Heaven Swallowing" ring on his index finger. Rings with spiritual consciousness could sense finger size and fit, but without a master, they couldn't establish a telepathic connection.
He bent his finger and aimed the black crystal on the piece of metal forward, slowly injecting spiritual energy into it while carefully observing the situation.
Whoosh—
First, a gentle breeze blew, causing the almost solidified black energy to ripple outward. As the expanding range grew larger, a fierce wind howled, striking people's faces like needles. Simultaneously, a powerful suction force directed towards Yan Tianjiao.
The ring emitted a clear light in front of him, followed by a person-sized black hole, which was the vortex.
The black energy, compressed into a hurricane, was sucked into the ring one after another. With the vortex opened, the obstructing ghost energy gradually lessened, and the black river, which had always been unclear, finally revealed some blurry scenes.
They squinted and looked inside. As their vision gradually cleared, the scene that unfolded before them sent a chill down their spines.
Within the expanse of black mist, they saw a person floating in mid-air. She was dressed in black, but the exposed skin was a ghastly pale. One of her arms was grotesquely mutated into something like a monster's claw, and behind her…
Their necks craned back little by little until they could no longer tilt back, and only then did they clearly see the terrifying demon that connected heaven and earth.
Its entire being was shrouded in a terrifying will that could traverse time and space, breaking the shackles of the three realms. A dreadful destructive power directly pierced through the void, projecting onto this plane.
Ah—
My eyes hurt!
Staring for too long due to extreme shock, their eyeballs were pricked by a power, causing them to bleed. Only then did they belatedly turn their gazes away, not daring to look at the demon with its rampant aura again.
In this world, besides gods, there was another terrifying existence that could not be looked at directly… and that was a true demon.
Fortunately, their reaction was timely; had their cultivation been even slightly weaker, their eyes could have been blinded on the spot.
But what was strange was that Fu Wanyan was also watching, yet her eyes did not bleed.
She simply stared at the advent of the true demon, her expression filled with disbelief.
Why… why did it appear so early?!
Everything had changed. At this time, Liu Jiang Fusheng had not yet grown strong enough to contend with a true demon. Why had it appeared so many years earlier than expected?
No one could understand what Fu Wanyan was feeling at this moment. It was a sense of powerlessness that stemmed from a shattered certainty, leaving her utterly lost and unsure of how to proceed.
Her premonitions, her assumptions, her future – all had changed and been altered again and again…
Why was this happening?
This was not the first time she had asked herself this question, but she had yet to find an answer.
The "Heaven Swallowing" ring continued to absorb the ghost energy. As the visible range widened, revealing things both near and far, the irony was that they were now half-blind.
"..."
Grief welled up within them. It was only then that they realized that besides the朔方鬼王 (Shuòfāng Guǐwáng -朔方 Ghost King), there was an even more formidable demon by the Black River.
Without a doubt, these two demons were responsible for the pervasive ghost energy that plagued the area.
The truth was clear to them, and they knew how to solve the problem without much thought.
Defeat this demon and restore everything to its original state would naturally resolve the issue perfectly.
But the only trouble at the moment was… a true demon, equivalent to a half-step Tribulation Stage cultivator. How could they possibly defeat it?
Lu Ziyin's face turned green, Ru Lan's turned deathly pale, and the faces of the others, after a myriad of colors, turned completely black.
Yan Tianjiao's hand trembled as he stopped injecting spiritual energy into the "Heaven Swallowing" ring. Although he maintained his usual expression, his fixed gaze revealed that he, too, was shocked by this absurd scene.
They had initially estimated that the entity already knew they were here but simply disdained to acknowledge them. Yet, they had foolishly insisted on lifting this "veil," and now they had courted death by appearing before a true demon.
Having learned the truth, they were nearly in tears.
Yan Tianjiao withdrew the "Heaven Swallowing" ring and was already halfway to escaping.
"Run!"
Fight?
They feared that even if they all attacked together, they wouldn't even be enough to fill its teeth.
Now, their only hope was to escape from under its gaze.
Damn it—Yan Tianjiao, you beast, running off and leaving them alone!
Ru Lan cursed as she also turned to flee. The remaining people, though a beat slower, reacted and unleashed their full running speed, desperately trying to escape this land.
But no matter how fast they ran, once they were locked onto by the hunter, all their struggles were in vain.
The woman in black in the sky turned her head. Zi Ying had now changed so drastically from her original self that even the people from the Great Yan Sect would not recognize her.
With a heavy gaze and demonic eyes looking down, she observed the immortal sect disciples attempting to flee, a malicious grin spreading across her lips. "You saw me, why are you running?"