Tian Fan was stunned. He hadnât expected the cunning and devious lich of legend to actually suggest cooperationâto help him obtain the Wind Spirit Orb.
“You think I’d believe you?” Tian Fan frowned.
The lich stared at him coldly and said, “You have no choice. With your level of cultivation, if I wanted to, I could slap a hundred of you to death in an instant.”
“You really think youâve got me cornered?”
Tian Fan sneered, though inwardly he was uneasy. This lich could very well be a true demon, a being on the same level as the gods. Perhaps due to some unknown reason, its combat strength had drastically diminished.
“You’d better not doubt me. If I wanted to kill you, it wouldnât take the slightest effort,” the lich said proudly.
“Fine. Then weâll cooperateâfor now.”
Tian Fan calmed down and agreed to the lichâs proposal. Not only was this lich immensely powerful, making it impossible to defeat, but more importantly, it was a native of this place. That alone made him a valuable ally in helping find the Wind Spirit Orb.
Man and monster struck a temporary truce. The lich would help him reach the sacred mountain at the center of this placeâwhere the Wind Spirit Orb resided. Still, Tian Fan remained cautious, constantly on guard.
The lich was incredibly powerful, its physical body absurdly strongâTian Fan wasnât even a match. Both of them moved at high speed, and in a blink, they had traveled hundreds of miles. Before them stretched a desolate plain and towering ancient mountains. Tian Fan stared in a daze at the landscape. No one knew how vast this land truly wasâimmeasurable and endless.
Yet this vast expanse was utterly silent, devoid of the slightest hint of life. Tian Fan couldnât imagine what mightâve happened here in the past. From the lichâs fragmented words, this place had witnessed a divine-demonic war. The scale must have been apocalypticâperhaps even shaking the heavens.
Their destination lay within that ancient forest aheadâa towering mountain that pierced the clouds. The entire forest was shrouded in black mist, exuding a deathly, eerie aura.
Tian Fan felt as though tens of thousands of demons lurked within, ready to tear apart any intruder.
At the heart of the ancient forest, gray mist and black demonic energy filled the air as if concealing something terrible. Only the sacred mountain at the center shone with divine light, radiating multicolored rays and auspicious brilliance. Though dozens of miles away, it glimmered like a celestial palace, silver light flooding the sky, almost as if ascending to immortality.
“What a strange feeling…”
Tian Fan was intrigued. Two completely different energies coexisting so closelyâit was bizarre. Was this the miracle of nature?
Right now, Tian Fan and the lich were crossing a crimson-red wasteland that stretched to the horizon, devoid of even a single blade of grass. According to the lich, a devastating battle between gods and demons had occurred here, staining the ground with divine and demonic blood.
“Kid, be careful. The area ahead is extremely dangerous. One misstep and youâll be obliterated!” the lich warned grimly, eyes locked on the black-and-gray mist rolling over the ancient forest like smoke.
“Is it really that terrifying?” Tian Fan asked, surprised. “I donât sense any danger.”
“Hmph, thatâs only because the Wind Spirit Orb just emitted a pulse of light. Some of the threats here were temporarily suppressed. Normally, even I must be extremely cautious!”
They treaded carefully through the ancient forest. Everything Tian Fan saw was strangeâbizarre, otherworldly. These were things he would never see elsewhere. The trees were massive, their trunks impossibly thick, requiring several people to wrap around. Each one was different in size and shape, but they all shared one traitâthey were dark red. Trunks, branches, leavesâall soaked in a blood-red hue, like they had been steeped in blood. Yet, not a single trace of life could be felt from them.
“Stop!” the lich suddenly said, tense.
Tian Fan froze. He heard a strange sound and turned to ask what it was, but saw that the lich was already bracing for a fight.
“What is it?”
The sound began faintly but grew louderâlike galloping horses, then like an avalanche or tsunami. A thunderous rumble echoed as if a flood was crashing down from a mountain, sweeping everything away.
“This is bad! Run!” the lich shouted, spinning around and dashing off like lightning.
Hiss…
Tian Fan gasped. What he saw made his scalp tingleâa massive wave of black energy surged from the horizon, bringing with it a suffocating aura of death. Towering demon fire surged like a monstrous devil stirring up chaos.
Tian Fanâs hair stood on end. He pushed his Divine Cloud Steps to the limit, his body leaving streaks of afterimages in the air.
“D*mn it! Just got here and Iâm already running into this mess!” the lich cursed, speeding up again.
The boundless wave of black energy blanketed half the sky, swallowing everything in its path. In its depths, several colossal shadowy beasts roared and battled, their fierce energy shaking the land and tearing space apart like a spiderweb.
“What the hell is that?!”
Tian Fan yelled as he ran, the black tide looming behind him. His back felt icy cold.
The lich, like a bolt of black lightning, veered sharply to the right, moving so fast that Tian Fan struggled to keep up even with his Divine Cloud Steps.
Boom!
The torrent of black energy roared past them, barely missing. Several massive, grotesque souls battled within it like giants locked in fierce combat.
“Thatâs…” Tian Fan gasped.
At that moment, the dragon egg of the Violet-Gold Divine Dragon within him trembled slightly, as if trying to break free.
“Canât believe we ran into that kind of thing!”
The lichâs face was dark with worry.
“What is it?” Tian Fan asked. He could feel terrifying waves of energy in that tide, like two cultivators at the Immortal Ascension Realm clashing.
“Ancient demon souls,” the lich answered. According to him, they were remnants of divine and demonic souls left behind from the ancient warâbeyond terrifying. Though theyâd lost their reason, driven only by the instinct to fight, they could still tear apart any cultivator in the Primordial Unity Realm with ease.
Both of them watched as the black tide gradually receded. Only when it was far in the distance did the lich finally exhale in relief.
“With your current strength, you canât even handle those fragmented souls?” Tian Fan asked, confused. The lich clearly had a complete soulâhe shouldnât fear a few remnants.
“Hmph. Youâre underestimating this place. There are countless ancient demon souls here. Some fragments could kill you with a single breath!”
The lich replied coldly. The two of them moved forward cautiously. With the lich, a âlocal,â leading the way, they avoided the worst dangers.
Tian Fanâs scalp went numb. He saw a puff of black smoke flash past and collide with a towering tree, reducing it to ash. He saw two headless demon warriors battling mid-air, their roars shattering half the sky. He saw a powerful sacred soul devour hundreds of fragments in one breath, then casually burpâshattering the land beneath its feet and reducing hundreds of red trees to dust.
If the lich hadnât been guiding him, Tian Fan wouldâve been long dead.
Finally, a faint silver light appeared ahead, and Tian Fan was deeply shaken.
Was this really a mountain?
It stretched endlessly like an entire landmass stacked into the heavens. This towering sacred mountain dominated the entire horizon. If one had to describe itâit was boundless. Its peak had long pierced into the clouds.
A majestic, sacred aura rolled down from above, so overwhelming that even the lich felt uncomfortable.
Ahead, spiritual energy flourished and silver light filled the sky.
This was a true sacred mountain…