When the three passed through the tunnel and arrived at a grand hall illuminated by luminous pearls, Xuanyuan Qingyu was already fighting a man in a Daoist robe.
"This is a fourth-order transformed demon. Disciple, you stay here and look after Xiao Li. I'll go help Qingyu."
After days and nights of interaction, Nangong Wan naturally realized that Zhou Fan's Body Refinement cultivation had reached the fourth order.
Although surprised by the speed of Zhou Fan's improvement, in Nangong Wan's mind, Zhou Fan was still the disciple who had not been in the Cultivation World for long. Even if his cultivation reached the fourth order, his strength might not be at that level.
Therefore, she did not intend to let Zhou Fan participate in the battle. That transformed demon could be handled by her and Xuanyuan Qingyu.
Zhou Fan readily agreed. He could tell that the Daoist demon's strength was ordinary, not much different from the Old Sword Master back then.
Even without his intervention, that Daoist demon was no match for Xuanyuan Empress.
"You Human Race Cultivators are truly persistent. Ever since I started Cultivating, I have lived deep in the sea, never stepping half a step out of this Void Abyss. Why do insolent humans come seeking death every hundred years?"
Xuanyuan Qingyu's expression was icy cold. Her Celestial Emperor Sword split into three, and her Moves became even more aggressive, saying, "Since you have no intention of being my enemy, then Move aside and let me inspect the Seal Formation behind you."
"This is my possession, why should I show it to you?"
The Daoist demon took out a steel trident, already struggling to parry.
Xuanyuan Qingyu no longer wasted words with this demon. Combining the information she had seen in the Royal Secret Records, Xuanyuan Qingyu could confirm that the Seal Formation deep in the seabed was the Seal Formation of that ancient great demon.
Recent frequent anomalies in the Void Abyss were most likely due to this demon being on the verge of breaking the Seal.
Xuanyuan Qingyu's purpose in coming this time was, first, to reinforce the Seal Formation, and second, to check the status of the demon within the Seal Formation. If its cultivation had severely declined after tens of thousands of years of torment, Xuanyuan Qingyu intended to completely eliminate this scourge.
Nangong Wan joined the battle at this moment, successively casting three fourth-order Spells from Yin Yang Peak. The Daoist demon, in its human form, could not withstand the fierce attacks of the two and roared, revealing its true form.
It was actually a blue-black Yaksha several zhang tall, with a green face and tusks, gills on its cheeks, a green fish tail dragging behind it, and long limbs with sharp fangs and claws.
It brandished its steel trident, ignoring Xuanyuan Qingyu's Celestial Emperor Sword attack, and charged towards Nangong Wan, who had been continuously releasing various Spells from the rear.
It was well known that Human Race Cultivators had weak physiques, while the Yao Race were naturally full of vigor. This patrolling Yaksha knew that it was no match for the two. Only by desperately killing one of them could this battle have a glimmer of hope.
Nangong Wan saw the ferocious-looking, grim-faced Yaksha charging at her. Instead of retreating, she advanced, summoning several Low Grade Magic Treasures of white silk from her Storage Pouch.
Her figure drifted, moving even faster than the Yaksha. The white silk, using softness to overcome hardness, bound the Yaksha's steel trident, hands, and feet.
The Yaksha exerted all its Qi to break free. With its Demonic Qi fully unleashed, it found that it could not out-wrestle the seemingly delicate and charming Human Race woman.
Xuanyuan Qingyu, who had been accumulating power for a long time, saw the Yaksha's back open, and the timing was perfect. The Celestial Emperor Sword, imbued with domineering imperial Qi, instantly appeared at the Yaksha's neck, beheading it with one strike.
The Yaksha's ferocious expression solidified on its falling head. Its eyes rolled, wanting to take one last look at the Seal Formation it had guarded for a thousand years.
It was just a little bit, just a little bit more, and the Demon Venerable would have been born, and I could have controlled the Demon Venerable's life and death with that life-and-death talisman.
In the past thousand years, some people had reached the bottom of the Void Abyss.
But at that time, it would still be a long time before the Demon Venerable broke free. This Seal Formation showed no Demonic Qi, hidden deeper in the Void Abyss, and no one could find this Seal Formation or the lineage of patrolling Yakshas who had guarded the Seal for generations.
Hundreds of years ago, as the Demon Venerable was about to break free, the Seal Formation was revealed. A Human Race swordsman came to the bottom of the Void Abyss and eliminated all the patrolling Yaksha lineage that had been exposed along with the Formation.
At the same time, he added a Sword Intent to the Seal Formation, making this sword art Seal firm again.
This patrolling Yaksha was catching fish in the shallow layers of the Void Abyss at the time and was not by the Seal Formation, thus escaping with its life.
Upon discovering that all its brothers and sisters had died by the sword, this Yaksha was terrified.
Every day, it hid in the re-concealed Seal space, guarding the reinforced Seal Formation, not daring to step out into the outside world again.
Decades ago, the Seal loosened, and a monk found it.
That monk did not kill it; instead, he gave it a co-existence talisman.
After the Demon Venerable was unsealed, using this talisman would connect it to the weakened Demon Venerable, and it could live and die with the Demon Venerable.
The Yaksha did not understand why the monk did this, but it could see that the talisman truly had the ability to connect lives.
So the Yaksha cowered in the Seal space every day, starting to anticipate, starting to fantasize about the day the Demon Venerable would be born.
To prevent accidents, the Yaksha even got a stone tablet to suppress the entrance of the Seal space, creating a mystique, hoping that no Human Race Cultivators would discover this place.
Now, it was dead, dead just as the Demon Venerable was about to be born.
The Yaksha was furious, yet powerless.
It suddenly remembered the lullaby its mother sang when it was a child.
The Yaksha's head rolled, making gurgling sounds, and began to sing in the demon language: "Yaksha Bloodline, Seal deeply hidden. All perished, Demon Venerable breaks boundaries."
As its song continued, the blood on the ground seemed to come alive, slowly flowing towards the Seal Formation.
With each drop of blood that flowed, the Seal Formation emitted a faint glow, and the already precarious Seal began to tremble violently.
Xuanyuan Qingyu and Nangong Wan noticed the Seal's anomaly, and their expressions instantly became extremely solemn.
"This nursery rhyme is strange!" Xuanyuan Qingyu shouted, wanting to prevent the blood from flowing to the Formation, but found that the blood seemed to be pulled by an invisible force, which even her fourth-order strength could not stop.
The Yaksha continued to sing: "A thousand years of guardianship, now in vain. Blood exhausted, Seal broken, humanity lost."
Its voice grew weaker and weaker, but the blood flowed faster and faster, and the Seal Formation's anomaly became more and more obvious, with rays of light penetrating through the cracks.
Zhou Fan also tried to block the blood, but the blood seemed to be in a different space from them, completely unblockable.
Xuanyuan Qingyu tried to replenish the damaged Seal Formation with Sword Intent, but to little avail.
Two breaths later, the Formation transformed into specks of light and disappeared into the river of time.
A lazy and hoarse voice came from beneath the Formation.
"Twenty thousand years, ha ha ha, twenty thousand years..."
It was a woman's laughter, hoarse with a unique charm.
Xuanyuan Qingyu and Nangong Wan stood ready, the Celestial Emperor Sword pointing at the place where the Seal Formation had disappeared.
"Are you the Demon Venerable? Do you dare to show yourself?"
"Demon Venerable? Heh heh, it's been a long time since anyone called me that."
A long leg, white as congealed fat, stepped out of the void. The Demon Venerable's voice was very casual.
"Now that I am in a very good mood, I shall grant you all death."
