The next day, very early in the morning, in Magic Fire City, Core Formation cultivators, who were originally rarely seen, suddenly appeared – eight of them.
The eight Core Formation old monsters appeared together in the city and issued an order to summon the Golden Core cultivators in the city. In just the time it takes to drink a cup of tea, more than a hundred Golden Core cultivators in the city were all gathered in a plaza.
In the sky above the plaza, eight Core Formation old monsters stood expressionlessly, emitting a powerful aura. One of them, a black-faced old man wearing a flame-patterned robe, was loudly announcing the purpose of gathering everyone.
“The demonic beasts in the Flame Devil Valley are running rampant. I believe you all know this news to some extent. Not long ago, two Core Formation elders in the city were injured while fighting the demonic beasts. That group of demonic beasts has become a threat, and our Magic Fire City is close to Flame Devil Valley, so we cannot ignore this matter. If the demonic beasts break out of Flame Devil Valley, it will inevitably cause great chaos and bring disaster to the people. Today, we have specially summoned you fellow cultivators to jointly exterminate the demonic beasts. This time, our Fire Devil Tribe will take the lead, and we must wipe out the demonic beasts in one fell swoop…”
Due to the deterrence of the eight Core Formation old monsters, the Golden Core cultivators in the plaza were very quiet, except for occasional small exchanges. However, as the black-faced old man said these words, many people began to whisper to each other.
“Exterminate the demonic beasts? Are they talking about that group of Fire Devil Beasts?”
“I heard that there is a Rank Nine demonic beast among them, with powerful strength.”
Some of the bolder ones even exclaimed directly, and the numerous cultivators in the plaza became chaotic for a while.
Apart from the eight Core Formation cultivators in the sky, there was also a team of thirty to forty Golden Core cultivators who remained calmly in the eastern part of the plaza. These people all had cultivation bases above the mid-stage of the Golden Core realm.
In this team of cultivators, there was a middle-aged man wearing a short blue shirt with a pale face. It was Zhang Ling disguised as a cultivator. He had suppressed his strength to the late stage of the Golden Core realm.
The two middle-aged cultivators and the gray-haired old man beside him were the three people he had exchanged information with in the teahouse yesterday. He had used some small tricks to get in touch with these three and joined this demonic beast extermination operation.
Although he didn’t know if the Rank Nine demonic beast was the Wind-Fire attributed ancient beast he was looking for, since he had already come here, he had to enter the Flame Devil Valley and explore it.
Since this group of Other-Demon race cultivators was also entering the Flame Devil Valley to exterminate demonic beasts, he could blend in to stir up trouble.
With so many cultivators acting together, it wouldn't take a few days to search the entire Flame Devil Valley.
As for the eight Core Formation cultivators acting together in the sky, Zhang Ling didn’t pay too much attention to them. Only two of them had the strength of the mid-stage of the Core Formation realm like him, and the others were all in the early stage.
With the black-faced old man's impassioned words, this mighty demonic beast extermination operation was officially decided.
“For the sake of this peace, we must work together to exterminate the demonic beasts. The Magic Fire City will not be stingy with those fellow cultivators who are willing to participate. Afterwards, you can all choose a treasure from the city's treasure vault. Alright, fellow cultivators who are willing to participate can now collect a token from the City Lord's Mansion next door. Of course, if anyone is unwilling to participate, they can leave now.” The black-faced old man's voice was calm. At the end, he directly unleashed his powerful mid-stage Core Formation cultivation, instantly shocking everyone below who was noisy.
The other seven Core Formation cultivators also released their powerful spiritual pressure at the same time. “Let’s all move. We will set off in an hour.” The black-faced old man snorted and disappeared into the horizon with the seven Core Formation cultivators, turning into streaks of light.
The crowd in the plaza looked at each other for a while. Although many people looked bitter, they seemed unwilling to participate in this operation.
However, apart from a dozen or so cultivators who left, most of the cultivators remained in place.
At this time, a bell rang from the City Lord's Mansion, awakening the people who were still considering. The gate of the City Lord's Mansion in front of the square creaked open, and eight more Golden Core cultivators walked out.
One of the red-robed old men glanced at everyone, laughed loudly, and cupped his hands. “Greetings, fellow Daoists. I am Fire Jade, the Law Enforcement Elder of Magic Fire City. I welcome everyone to join this operation.”
As he spoke, he waved his hand, and a long table and a redwood chair appeared in front of him. He flickered and sat down on the chair, tapping the table, and many black tokens appeared on it.
“This is made by the City Lord specifically using the demonic blood of that Rank Nine demon beast. It is a breath jade token. Fellow Daoists, please take one, so that you can sense the traces of that group of demon beasts.”
As he spoke, several cultivators instantly arrived in front of him and received the tokens. It was the team of cultivators that Zhang Ling was following.
The token was the size of a palm, and the whole body was made of black jade, engraved with some spiritual patterns. The middle part had a dim little red dot, which was a drop of blood.
Zhang Ling took the token and sensed it. The blood sealed inside could indeed sense some aura and a faint demonic energy.
Seeing this, the other cultivators also stepped forward to collect the tokens.
An hour later, the Core Formation cultivators led a hundred or so Golden Core cultivators and set off towards the Flame Devil Valley in the south.
The Flame Devil Valley was not far from here, only three thousand miles away. With the speed of the Golden Core cultivators, they could arrive in half a day.
As they approached the Flame Devil Valley, the ground became even more dilapidated. The ground was a crisscross of ravines, and occasional wisps of firelight emerged from those crevices.
A gust of hot air blew on their bodies, immediately giving people a sense of heat. A wisp of black smoke also floated in the high altitude, which was very pungent.
This was the environment of the Flame Devil Valley. Apart from a few kinds of fire-attributed vegetation that could grow here, only those demonic beasts with strong bodies could survive here.
After entering the Flame Devil Valley, the crowd dispersed in small teams to search the entire Flame Devil Valley.
The eight Core Formation elders also led a dozen or so Golden Core cultivators each, and would search a larger area.
Of the eight Core Formation cultivators, including the black-faced old man, only three were elders of the Fire Devil Tribe. The other five were cultivators from other small and medium-sized tribes attached to the Fire Devil Tribe.
Zhang Ling followed the three Golden Core cultivators, so their small team had a Core Formation elder leading them, a red-faced man wearing a yellow robe. This man was from the Fire Devil Tribe, Elder Black Fire.
However, what Zhang Ling didn't expect was that he originally thought that with so many cultivators, they would be able to search the entire Flame Devil Valley in a few days and find the traces of the group of demonic beasts.
But as time passed, more than a month had passed in a blink of an eye. Although the Flame Devil Valley was not small, they had searched it two or three times.
However, apart from the first few days, when they would encounter high-level demonic beasts every day, after a month, even high-level demonic beasts were hard to find.
Not to mention finding a group of demonic beasts with a Rank Nine demonic beast.
This made Zhang Ling very depressed. It wasn't that they weren't searching carefully. They had already searched several times. Even if the spiritual sense of the Golden Core cultivators couldn't detect the aura of the Rank Nine demonic beast,
they were all carrying the sensing token made from the blood of that demon beast, so it was impossible not to find any aura at all.
Zhang Ling even suspected whether a Rank Nine demonic beast had ever appeared here. But with eight Core Formation cultivators dispatched, the news should not be wrong.
If there was no more news, he would have to leave here first. He couldn't keep wasting time here.
This day, Zhang Ling and his team passed by a lava area and carefully searched the surrounding thousands of miles. After most of the day, they still gained nothing.
Zhang Ling shook his head. It seemed that the Rank Nine demonic beast was either proficient in concealment techniques, or had hidden after the previous battle with the two Other-Demon race Core Formation old monsters. It was very likely that it had already left the Flame Devil Valley.
Although he heard that it was a Rank Nine demonic beast with powerful strength, demonic beasts were different from demon beasts. Because the demonic energy was very violent, demonic beasts with Rank Nine strength might not be able to transform into human form.
Their intelligence would be weaker. In fact, even among demon beasts, there were some special ones that might not have the ability to transform into human form even if their strength reached Rank Eight. These were often some strange beasts of heaven and earth.
At this time, the leading Elder Black Fire also didn't look good. After flying over a volcano, he stopped his escape light and ordered Zhang Ling and the others. “Alright, you guys go to the cliff below to rest first. I will contact the other elders to see how things are on their side.”
“Yes.”
Zhang Ling and the others responded and landed on the cliff below. Only Elder Black Fire remained in the sky, holding a special golden token in his hand. He cast a spell on it and communicated with the Core Formation cultivators scattered in other areas.
Zhang Ling landed on a large rock, sat cross-legged, pretending to be recovering his consumed spiritual power, but secretly released his spiritual sense to probe the information transmitted from the token in Elder Black Fire's hand.
For more than a month, whenever this person took out this special contact jade slip to contact other Core Formation old monsters, he would secretly check the information on it.
In this way, he could also learn about the movements of the other seven Core Formation old monsters as soon as possible. Of course, he could do this because his spiritual sense was much stronger than this person's, so he dared to do so.
In fact, he could easily probe the information on this person's token because this Elder Black Fire didn't use any restrictions like soundproof barriers.
“What, that demonic beast may have entered there?”
Suddenly, Elder Black Fire seemed to have received some incredible information and whispered.
Although his voice was not loud, Zhang Ling and the others below were all Golden Core cultivators, so they naturally heard it clearly and looked up.
Although Zhang Ling was the same as the others, he was a little puzzled. The token in this person's hand had just displayed a sentence from that black-faced old man, saying that the Rank Nine demonic beast might have gone to the Demon Sealing Altar.
Zhang Ling didn't know what the Demon Sealing Altar was. But looking at Elder Black Fire's surprised expression, it didn't seem like a good place.
Elder Black Fire put away the token with a gloomy expression, turned to look at Zhang Ling and the others, and ordered with a serious expression. “Listen, that demonic beast may be hiding in an extremely dangerous place. I have to go now and meet up with the other elders. All of you give me, withdraw from the Flame Devil Valley first and wait outside the valley.”
After saying this, the person turned into a black light and flew quickly to the southwest.
“What's wrong with Senior Black Fire? He's suddenly so serious. Could it be that he has discovered that Rank Nine demonic beast?” The white-faced scholar surnamed Sun in the team asked suspiciously.
“Hehe, regardless of whether he has discovered the demonic beast or not. Our mission seems to be completed.” Another person showed a happy expression.
“Alright, don't speculate.” The white-haired old man's face sank, and he glanced at the man who showed joy. “Go, find the order to withdraw…” Before he could finish his words, his face suddenly stiffened, and his gaze swept over these people, finding how one person was missing.
The missing person was naturally Zhang Ling.
Zhang Ling had already concealed his figure and followed behind Elder Black Fire. As for the matter of exposure, he didn't care.
Judging from the information he had obtained, it seemed that they had already found that Rank Nine demonic beast. Following this person behind to take a look over there, if it was really the target he was looking for, then that would be the best.
If it was other demonic beasts, he wouldn't need to stay here any longer and would just leave directly.
Exposure was no longer important to him. These people couldn't keep him, so Zhang Ling naturally had nothing to worry about.
Elder Black Fire was only focused on hurrying on his way and didn't notice that someone was following him at all.
This person's escape speed wasn't slow either. He flew for a full hour, flew over five or six thousand miles, and arrived at a lava area full of firelight. This was the central area of the Flame Devil Valley.
They had just explored this area a day ago and hadn't found anything.
Rumbling loud noises and fluttering firelight burst out from the ground from time to time, mixed with thick black smoke, as if they were in a sea of fire.
Such a harsh environment didn't have much impact on Core Formation cultivators. In the endless heat and black smoke, they traveled another thousand miles, and Elder Black Fire arrived at a volcano that was a thousand feet high. Four Core Formation cultivators had already gathered here.
The four cultivators were all staring at this volcano with serious expressions, discussing something in low voices. When they saw Elder Black Fire arrive, they only greeted him casually.
“Fire Cloud, what did you guys discover?” Elder Black Fire immediately asked before he could get close. His gaze fell on the black-faced old man in the mid-stage of the Core Formation realm.
Speaking of which, according to seniority, this Fire Cloud was actually his granduncle.
The black-faced old man then glanced at him, “Black Fire, have you forgotten what this place is?”
“Could it be that this volcano is the Demon Sealing Altar that was resealed ten thousand years ago?”
“That's right. Before the Flame Devil Valley was formed in ancient times, this was a magic spring sealed in ancient times. You all know this, so I don't need to say more. At that time, the Human race fought a great battle with us, and we opened the magic spring, which changed the topography of this place. Ten thousand years ago, the demonic energy had weakened, so our race regained control and sealed it. At that time, the Holy Palace used the Demon Sealing Altar to seal it. But just now, the Demon Sealing Disk in my hand sensed that the seal here has loosened. So, I speculate that the demonic beast may have accidentally broken into it.” As Fire Cloud said, a purple-black copper disk appeared in his hand.
This copper disk was shaking slightly, and it emitted a flickering spiritual light.
Zhang Ling, who was following and hiding not far away, glanced at the copper disk in the old man's hand and was secretly shocked. He recognized at a glance that this copper disk was the Demon Sealing Disk of the Other-Demon race.
The Other-Demon race had seven Demon Sealing Disks, which were all array disks left over from the ancient times to seal the magic spring. The main function was to strengthen the magic spring seal and prevent the eruption of the true demon energy inside.
Although the Other-Demon race was a human race that had been alienated by demonic energy, they could not withstand a large eruption of demonic energy, especially the release of true demon energy.
True demon energy was not something that ordinary cultivators could refine. Core Formation cultivators could only refine a small amount. Other cultivators didn't need to say more. Once they fell into the true demon energy, they might be directly transformed into demon.
Therefore, the Otherworld Demon race reinforces the Demon Spring seal with the Demon Sealing Disc every once in a while.
"How is that possible? The Demon Sealing Altar was a seal specifically set up by our race's Deity Transformation Ancestor, Old Ancestor Ziguang, ten thousand years ago. How could it possibly loosen?" At this moment, another ray of light flew over from the north, a purple-robed female cultivator.
This woman was also the only female cultivator among the eight Nascent Soul old monsters.
"Humph, how is it impossible? Have you forgotten the Demon Spring in the Outer Northern Sea a few decades ago? Didn't Old Demon Bloodlight accidentally release an ancient demon, causing havoc everywhere? Even a Grand Cultivator from the Holy Demon Hall fell because of it. In the end, it took a great price to capture the ancient demon. This old man also heard that it wasn't until a dozen years ago that the ancient demon, along with the human race cultivator, was schemed against by the Ghost King Sect on that ghost island overseas by Grand Priest Luo Ming and unintentionally perished in a spatial rift."
Old Man Firecloud's expression was not very good.
Old Man Firecloud's words made the faces of several companions sink. "The changes in the seal here are not a good thing. Our Flame Demon Tribe has a responsibility to guard the seal in this area. This old man called you here to check the seal here."
"Regardless of whether it is that demon beast that broke into the bottom, we must investigate it clearly."
