At dawn, the sea surface was shrouded in thin mist. Tang Xiaoqi alone rode a small boat, seemingly leisurely sailing toward the direction of Solitary Star Island mentioned in the jade slip. Halfway through the journey, the surrounding seawater suddenly turned pitch black as ink. Twelve black flags emitting sinister ghost qi rose from the seabed, instantly forming a Yin Sha Array.
"Tang Xiaoqi, today is your day of death!" Accompanying the hoarse roar, seven black shadows emerged from all directions. The leader wore afierce silver snake mask, precisely one of the surviving Silver Mask Elders of Shadow Snake Pavilion. Behind him, six others each held demonic artifacts, their cultivationsastonishingly all at mid-Nascent Soul or above.
Xiaoqi's expression unchanged, he gently put down the oar: "Just relying on you hidden rats who dare not show your faces?"
The Silver Mask Elderwildly laughed: "Still mouthing off when death is near! This Twelve Heavenly Demon Sha Array makes even Spirit Transformation cultivators wary. Not to mention..." His words suddenly stopped.
It wasjust seeing Xiaoqi's hand suddenly holding an ancient plain wok. The wok body lightly trembled, the taiji pattern at the wok's bottom slowly rotated. Those flags emitting towering demonic qi actually trembled violently as if meeting their nemesis. In merely three breaths, all the demonic qi from the entire array was absorbed clean, and the twelve flags turned to flying ash and scattered.
"This is impossible!" One evil cultivator cried out in alarm.
Xiaoqi gave them no chance to react. The Nirvana Crimson Flame Sword unsheathed with a sound. Sword lightlike the rising sun, instantly illuminating the entire sea area. The two evil cultivators at the front, who had just raised their demonic artifacts to block, were cut in two along with their artifacts in one sword strike. Where the blade passed, even their souls were burned to nothing by the Nirvana True Fire contained within the sword.
"Form the array! Quick, form the array!" The Silver Mask Elderboth shocked and furious, urgently ordering the remaining five to form a joint attack formation. Five demonic artifacts simultaneouslybloomed ghostly light, transforming into a hundred-zhang demonic flood dragon pouncing toward Xiaoqi.
Xiaoqi did not dodge or evade. The Creation Universe Wok flew up into the sky. The wok body rapidly expanded during flight, turning in an instant to a hundred zhang in diameter. The taiji pattern at the wok's bottomprojected a Chaos light pillar, firmly fixing that demonic flood dragon in mid-air. No matter how the flood dragon struggled, it could not break free at all.
"Collect." Xiaoqi lightly shouted. The Universe Wok inverted and descended, actually collecting the entire demonic flood dragon into the wok. The taiji pattern at the wok's bottom rotated rapidly. In merely a moment, that flood dragon formed from five demonic artifacts and five cultivators' spiritual power was refined into a clump of pure primordial qi.
"Puff—" Five evil cultivators simultaneously spat blood. Their natal artifacts being destroyed caused them severe damage.
The Silver Mask Elder saw the situation turning bad. His body blurred as he attempted to flee. However, the moment he transformed into black smoke, a wok appeared at his escape route. The wok body lightly vibrated, and the surrounding space seemed to freeze, causing him to be forcibly shaken out of his escape technique.
"Want to run?" Xiaoqi's voice was like cold wind from the nine netherworlds. "Tell me Xu Zhan's whereabouts, perhaps I can give you a quick death."
The Silver Mask Elder showed a grim smile: "You will never know..." Before he finished speaking, he suddenly crushed a black jade talisman in his arms. The moment the talisman shattered, a terrifying demonic qi shot into the sky, condensing into a huge demonic head phantom in mid-air.
"Demon Lord Avatar!" The surviving evil cultivators showedwild joy.
That demonic head phantom was a thousand zhang tall. Its two demonic eyes were like two black holes, emanating a suffocating might. It opened its enormous mouth, and a destructive demonic lightshot directly at Xiaoqi.
Xiaoqi's expression was grave, yet he was not flustered. His left hand held the wok, his right hand grasped the sword. With his heart communicating with the two divine artifacts, the Nirvana Crimson Flame Sword let out a clear chime. The dragon and phoenix shadows on the sword blade seemed to come alive. A crimson-gold sword radiancerushed up against the heavens; the Creation Universe Wok floated above his head, dropping countless strands of Chaos airflow, firmly protecting him.
The sword radiance and demonic light collided in mid-air, erupting in earth-shaking thunderous roar. To everyone's shock, that seemingly terrifying demonic light was actually cleaved open from the middle by the crimson-gold sword radiance. Its remaining force undiminished continued to slash toward the demonic head phantom.
"Roar!" The demonic head phantom let out a pained howl. The part struck by the sword radiance began to disintegrate. It glaringly stared at Xiaoqi indiscontent, finally turning into black smoke and dissipating.
The Silver Mask Elder and others were dumbfounded. Their biggest reliance was actually broken just like that?
Xiaoqi gave them no breathing room. The Nirvana Crimson Flame Sword transformed into countless sword shadows, like a rainstorm pouring down. Where the sword shadows passed, evil cultivators fell one after another, unable even to let out a scream. In merely a moment, only the Silver Mask Elder remained on the sea surface, still barely holding on.
"Now, can you speak?" Xiaoqi held his sword upright, the sword tip pointing at the Silver Mask Elder's throat.
The Silver Mask Elder's face was ashen. He suddenlylaughed miserably: "You will never find him... The Demon Lord is about to descend, you will all die..." Saying this, he prepared to self-detonate his Nascent Soul.
Cold light flashed in Xiaoqi's eyes. The Creation Universe Wok descended over his head. The Chaos airflow within the wok actually forcibly suppressed the Silver Mask Elder's self-detonation. At the same time, he pointed like a sword, and a sword intent directly pierced into the other's sea of consciousness, forcibly conducting a soul search.
After a moment, Xiaoqi withdrew his finger, his expression becoming extremely ugly. From the Silver Mask Elder's memories, he learned that his father Xu Zhan was indeed still alive, but was imprisoned in a secret realm whose exact location even these evil cultivators did not know. What shocked him more was that the Shadow Snake Pavilion remnants were actually planning a shocking conspiracy—they intended to sacrifice one hundred thousand living beings to forcibly open a passage to the Demon Realm.
"It seems this turmoil is far from over." Xiaoqi gazing at the distant sea horizon, murmured to himself. He waved his hand to collect the Creation Universe Wok, and the Nirvana Crimson Flame Sword returned to its sheath. He continued sailing toward Solitary Star Island. The sea wind blew against his robes, yet could not disperse the solemnity between his brows.
This battle showed the power of the two quasi-immortal artifacts far exceeded expectations. But the intelligence the evil cultivator revealed before dying made him realize that what he was about to face might be a catastrophe sweeping across the entire cultivation world.