Zhang Ling's mind raced, and he also unleashed seven flying swords, solidifying into a golden-azure sword light. This sword light, accompanied by the sound of tearing wind, whooshed and fiercely slashed towards the left head of the Stygian Serpent.
However, the Xuan Turtle beside him did not launch an attack. Under his control, it released a patch of dark, heavy water, spewing black mist from its mouth, condensing into a thick layer of black ice crystals, reinforcing their defense.
Rumbling explosions echoed before them, as multi-colored spiritual lights transformed into a dazzling array of radiant glows, engulfing the three-headed Stygian Serpent.
Suddenly, two spirit birds with powerful spiritual energy, transformed into a red and a blue sword, circled in the air and slashed at the middle head of the three-headed Stygian Serpent.
This was naturally the attack of the Hundred Flowers Old Devil.
Zhang Ling saw that this old devil's expression was cold, seemingly unaffected by the Crimson Roar Drum.
At the same time, a chorus of ghostly laughter arose as a completely emerald-green evil ghost flew out from the Yama Sect Master's Ghost King Banner, wielding a long white bone fork in its ghostly hand, which it hurled fiercely.
A streak of green-white light flashed, and the right head of the three-headed Stygian Serpent was also pierced through.
Zhang Ling's own sword light also struck the left head, while the powerful attacks of the Heavenly Wind Old Ancestor, Stone Fellow Daoist, and others also landed on it.
After a burst of spiritual light, the left head of the three-headed Stygian Serpent also vanished without a trace.
This scene unfolded quickly, in just one or two breaths. The Stygian Serpent, which had just been overwhelming everyone, had all three heads destroyed in an instant.
Only half of its body, riddled with holes, remained, writhing wildly in the air, seemingly not truly dead. The surrounding red ghostly mist flowed rapidly, gathering towards the dilapidated snake body.
It seemed to want to repair the serpent's body.
At this point, everyone reacted from their excited emotions, and their faces turned somewhat unsightly.
Especially the several Nascent Soul old monsters who had inexplicably released their trump card techniques, turned their heads to look at High Priest Luo Ming, revealing expressions of anger. They all realized that their sudden excitement had been influenced by the Crimson Roar Drum.
The scene suddenly became silent, and the atmosphere became somewhat strange.
High Priest Luo Ming did not care about the gazes of the others, only staring intently at the dilapidated snake body, not knowing what he was thinking.
"Although the three-headed Stygian Serpent can revive using the Yin energy of this place, it is no longer a threat at this moment, haha." The Yama Sect Master shook the Ghost King Banner, and the ghostly mist released by this treasure once again coalesced into an emerald-green ghost claw, directly tearing the dilapidated body of the three-headed Stygian Serpent into pieces.
"The Stygian Palace is above us." The Yama Sect Master glanced at the top of the stone steps, and a gust of Yin wind enveloped the Ghost King Sect cultivators, directly rushing towards the sky.
High Priest Luo Ming pointed at the Crimson Roar Drum and put away this inherited spiritual treasure. Without hesitation, he also led the Other-Demon race cultivators to fly up.
"Fellow Daoists, let's go, we can't fall behind either." The Hundred Flowers Old Devil's eyes flickered a few times, and he also followed up. The other cultivators, although their faces were unsightly, could only snort coldly or sigh as they followed behind.
The influence of the Crimson Roar Drum, although only a few breaths long, had caused them to expend a lot of spiritual energy.
But in this kind of place, they could only swallow this hidden loss. After all, High Priest Luo Ming's actions just now could not be said to be good or bad.
Moreover, they did not have the courage to really offend this long-established great cultivator.
The Heavenly Wind Old Ancestor smiled helplessly at Zhang Ling, using voice transmission to tell him to be more careful. He also walked towards the top. Zhang Ling naturally followed behind.
He did not expect the Crimson Roar Drum to have such power. Under the influence of the drum sound, they had all become excited, involuntarily using some techniques.
This influence did not seem to have any harm to them, and seemed to even enhance their battle power.
But after all, they had been influenced.
The wariness in Zhang Ling's heart towards High Priest Luo Ming increased even more.
With the Crimson Roar Drum in this person's hands, he could stand in an invincible position. His strength was probably much higher than the Hundred Flowers Old Devil and the Yama Sect Master.
He had long heard of this Other-Demon race High Priest, who had once fought against two great cultivators alone. This person's cultivation could be said to be the strongest person in the current Northern Plains cultivation world.
Everyone ascended to the top. What they saw was a square plaza above, a thousand zhang wide.
But they could not see the ground. The plaza was covered with many crooked and twisted large willow trees. Countless willow branches emitting emerald-green condensed light obscured their vision.
They could also hear the sound of flowing water. Upon closer inspection, the willow leaves hanging down on the ground obscured a layer of muddy water flowing across a dim yellow surface.
Strangely, the muddy water did not flow outside the plaza. The periphery of the plaza was surrounded by a red glow, sealing the flow of water.
Everyone was a cultivator, soaring into the air. But none of them flew too high, because above their heads was still a large patch of intertwined leaves and branches.
Zhang Ling also noticed that some bright lights, either black or white, were floating between some of the leaves and branches. These were spatial rifts.
He could see some tree trunks and branches growing out from within several huge spatial rifts. Occasionally, some wandering spatial rifts brushed against the tree trunks, causing many green-glowing leaves and black wood chips to fall down.
These leaves and branches seemed to be branches of that ghost peach tree of unknown size.
"Eh, isn't that the ghost peach we're looking for?" Suddenly, the ugly-faced youth of the Other-Demon race seemed to have seen something, staring excitedly at a certain position above his head.
This person's voice attracted everyone's attention, and they all looked over there.
What he was looking at was the upper right, a hundred zhang away from them, between a patch of jet-black leaves, where there was a hidden red light constantly flickering.
That ball of red light was blocked by the leaves and tree trunks. If they didn't look carefully, they almost wouldn't have noticed it.
Everyone's divine sense was greatly suppressed in this place, but their strength was not weak. They were all Nascent Soul cultivators. When their divine sense swept over, they could still see clearly that the ball of red light was emitted by a black-red thing.
That thing was about the size of a head, and it really looked like a peach, but it was surrounded by red light, and its overall color was black-red. Upon closer inspection, they could also see a distorted strange face growing on the peach.
That strange face looked like a human face, but it was wrinkled, and its facial features were twisted and deformed. Moreover, it was looming and very unreal.
Such a strange black peach looked like a human-faced peach. When their divine sense swept over it, the black peach seemed to sense the fluctuations of their divine sense, and it actually swayed slightly, devouring everyone's divine sense.
This shocked everyone. This black peach was not only strange in appearance, but it could also devour the power of divine sense.
"This Fellow Daoist has good eyesight. That's right, this is the Ghost Wood Spirit Peach." The Yama Sect Master also revealed a hint of greed when he looked at the black peach, but he quickly hid it and said leisurely.
Hearing that this strangely shaped black peach was their target, everyone revealed expressions of joy.
Zhang Ling frowned slightly as he stared at the black peach. Could such a strange spirit fruit really increase one's lifespan by a thousand years? Instead, he felt doubtful in his heart.
However, at this time, someone could not restrain himself. An old man with a bald head laughed loudly and transformed into a streak of azure light, flying towards the location of the black peach.
Following closely behind, there were five or six other cultivators who flew towards that side at the same time. They seemed to want to directly pluck the black peach.
The Yama Sect Master sneered, without the slightest intention of stopping them.
Just as these people flew thirty or forty zhang into the air, the large willow trees on the plaza swayed on their own, and a rustling sound rang out. Countless emerald-green willow branches slashed through the sky like long whips.
Streaks of green light lashed towards the five or six people. With several crisp cracking sounds, those people were all knocked away.
The attack power of each willow branch was not weak, and dense willow branches entangled them.
"Fellow Daoists are too impatient. This Sect has long said that unless you obtain the Golden Chicken Hammer, don't even think about plucking the Ghost Wood Spirit Peach. Even if you avoid the attacks of these ghost willow trees, you won't be able to pluck the spirit peach, and instead, you will be devoured by the sealed demon ghosts above."
"If that's the case, where should we look for the treasure you mentioned for plucking the peach?" The ugly-faced youth flew back to his original position in a sorry state, his face somewhat unsightly.
This person was also one of those who wanted to directly pluck the black peach just now.
The Yama Sect Master swept his gaze around. "This Sect is also coming here for the first time. I have no idea where the Golden Chicken Hammer is. However, according to the information left by my Sect's predecessors, it must be within this palace area."
Hearing this, everyone looked at each other, some with unsightly faces, and some with expressions of disbelief.
"This palace complex is not large, and there are not many intact palaces. We can just search separately. Surely you all don't lack this bit of patience." The Yama Sect Master also snorted coldly when faced with everyone's questioning gazes.
The subsequent matter was simple. Regardless of whether the Yama Sect Master was hiding information, everyone was very interested in searching around.
Perhaps they could also find some other treasures.
Directly in front of the square plaza was a huge black palace, dark and towering, more than thirty zhang high, with a considerable area, surrounded by a red mist. Half of the area had already collapsed, but occasionally, they could see spiritual light flickering inside.
In the other directions, there were also many roads leading to some side halls, pavilions, and other buildings. They could vaguely sense that many places still had spiritual light restrictions.
These places were all worth exploring.
After a simple discussion, everyone split into six or seven small teams and searched in several different directions.
In order to prevent the Ghost King Sect from shaking them off. In the process of the discussion, several Nascent Soul old cultivators of the Ghost King Sect were also scattered.
The people of the Ghost King Sect naturally did not agree, but Zhang Ling and the others, as well as the Other-Demon people, would not let these people out of their sight.
The Yama Sect Master was even more of a focus. Forced by the situation, this great cultivator could only lead High Priest Luo Ming and the Hundred Flowers Old Devil to act together with a gloomy face.
The three great cultivators went directly to the left, flying out of the square plaza. They searched along a stone path filled with red mist.
Dongfang Ya, the ugly-faced youth, as well as Fire Old, Elder Qin, followed the black-robed female cultivator and the Ghost Mother of the Ghost King Sect, flying towards the main hall directly in front.
The other teams also chose a direction, and one by one, their figures flickered and disappeared into the surroundings.
As for the seventy or eighty Golden Core disciples of the Ghost King Sect, many of them were killed by ghosts when climbing the stone steps just now. Now, only forty or so remained.
These people stayed in place and did not wander around. Moreover, two Nascent Soul old monsters were specially left behind to guard them. This could also be considered as holding a handle on the Ghost King Sect.
"Fellow Daoist Wang, let's go too."
The Heavenly Wind Old Ancestor looked at a black-faced old man with a gloomy face and said with a smile.
The black-faced old man snorted and flew directly to the right front, where no team had yet searched. The Heavenly Wind Old Ancestor put away his smile and followed behind.
Zhang Ling and Xuan Turtle also fell behind. There was also a white-clothed female cultivator following beside them. This female cultivator was the fairy surnamed Leng.
As for the black-faced old man, he was naturally an elder of the Ghost King Sect. They only knew his surname was Wang, and his strength was comparable to the Heavenly Wind Old Ancestor's, a mid-Nascent Soul old monster.
They were exactly five people, flying out of the square plaza along the right side.
As for the ghost willow trees on the plaza, although their attack power was very strong, as long as they did not trigger any restrictions, these willow trees would stay in place like ordinary willow trees and would not attack them for no reason. This saved them trouble. Passing through the plaza, the right front was a ruined construction site.
Zhang Ling and the others searched through it, but did not find anything of value. Nor did they see the so-called Golden Chicken Hammer.
Then, they searched further afield. The group stepped into a patch of red ghost fog and disappeared.
Time passed little by little, and everyone searched this ruined palace complex separately.
After everyone left, only the Golden Core disciples of the Ghost King Sect, who were quietly staying in the corner of the square, and two Nascent Soul old monsters remained.
Of these two Nascent Soul cultivators, one was a middle-aged scholar. This person looked melancholy, standing in mid-air looking at the top of his head, not knowing what he was thinking.
The other was a short man with a green patch on his face. He looked unremarkable, but he was covered in a layer of black demonic energy.
This person was an Other-Demon race cultivator. He glanced at the Golden Core disciples of the Ghost King Sect and transmitted his voice with slightly moving lips. "If I am not mistaken, you are the Earth Fire True Man of the Crimson Firmament Sect. I have heard that your Three Yang Earth Fire is quite powerful, and I would like to ask for some pointers."
Hearing the voice transmission, the middle-aged scholar turned his head expressionlessly and looked at the green-patched man. "Since you recognize me, you should know that my Three Yang Earth Fire has quite a bit of restraint on your demonic cultivation methods."
"Hehe." The green-patched man licked his lips, revealing a cruel smile. "Is that so? If you are so confident, then I would like to ask for some pointers even more."
The green-patched man had obvious provocative intentions, and the Earth Fire True Man's face turned gloomy. He silently stared at this person, and a hint of killing intent also appeared in his eyes.
If it were not for the special circumstances now, he would not mind having a big fight with this Other-Demon race cultivator.
When the atmosphere between these two people was somewhat subtle, suddenly, a commotion came from below. The two people's gazes swept over.
They saw that the Golden Core cultivators of the Ghost King Sect, who had been staying obediently just now, had a commotion. Two cultivators suddenly erupted, attacking each other.
A pale-faced youth and a bald-headed burly man, one offering a sinister white bone banner, and the other offering a green long knife. Spiritual power fluctuations erupted.
"What are you juniors doing? Are you looking for death?" The green-patched man had a fiery temper and scolded with wide eyes. His loud voice immediately suppressed those Golden Core disciples.
