As the golden crow spoke, he scattered a few drops of blood inside the cauldron to activate it, instantly triggering the spread of Demonic Qi while the cauldron began to rotate on its own. Before long, a scent that ordinary people couldn’t detect began to spread out in all directions. The beasts within the forest grew agitated, yet the golden crow was like an oracle as he shut his eyes tight and quietly spoke ancient spells that seemingly controlled the powerful scent.

　　After around seven breaths, the crow opened his eyes and swallowed the cauldron. “Nearly done, let’s go!” He spread his wings and prepared to fly towards the southeast.

　　Fang Xing considered it and smirked. “What’s the hurry? Let’s lead the others over first.” Then, he sent a message detailing his plan over to Wu Xiangtong while returning to circle the forest, without rushing over towards the beast at all.

　　After a burn of an incense later, he noticed the Shanhe and Shuwen disciples all rushing towards the southeast, and the airborne Xiao Jianming with his steel eagle had also taken off in that same direction after taking a look at Fang Xing. Since most people were headed there, Fang Xing soon began to leisurely follow atop his golden crow.

　　After Fang Xing had heard the beast’s whereabouts from the golden crow, he’d purposefully asked Wu Xiangtong to “leak” the information about the beast being in the southeast. Fang Xing believed that no matter whether the Qing-Yun disciples trusted his word, after this information had been “leaked”, everyone would nonetheless be lured in that direction to try to kill the Blue Centipede for themselves.

　　Fang Xing wasn’t stupid. If he were to try to fight the Blue Centipede by himself in secret, even if he were able to successfully kill it in the first place, the sound of combat would draw the attention of a great deal of people. It would truly be poor luck if Xiao Jianming came at that moment and stole his kill, so it was best to let Xiao Jianming fight against the beast first while he himself hid with the [Bow of Startled Dragon] to steal Xiao Jianming’s kill instead.

　　Everyone rushed in that direction and—a few miles later—they were all left dumbfounded.

　　They place they arrived at was covered by a three-hundred-foot-tall altar within the forest. The altar’s bottom was wide while the top was narrow, and it was hollow down the center. If seen from the sky above, the hollow hole was black, like the opened mouth of a giant monster attempting to swallow the heavens, and someone using [Mystic Eye] would be able to see that the black smoke rising from within was all an extremely concentrated amount of Demonic Qi.

　　Around the black hole were nine iron chains, and etched atop each of these chains were various seals and spells. No one here knew how many hundreds of years it had been, but the iron chains were still as black and shiny without any rust, as if they were brand new.

　　“The location of the seal….”

　　“We’ve actually arrived at the location of the seal!” a few disciples yelled out. They had not been expecting to find the seal while on their way towards the Blue Centipede.

　　This altar had been where the Golden Core Stage beast king had been sealed hundreds of years ago, and it was also the origin for all of Mount Desolation. Without this altar, none of the beasts within this mountain would have had the chance to obtain enough Demonic Qi to become spirit beasts and would have remained as ordinary animals. It was also because of this that the Qing-Yun disciples hadn’t immediately set off towards the seal location, as doing so would have enraged the beasts within the forest.

　　“I see. Since the Blue Centipede is so heavily wounded, it must have come here to recover using the help of the abundant Demonic Qi. Looks like your judgment was correct after all…” Fang Xing softly spoke after suddenly understanding the situation. Even he was in awe at the sight of such a giant, majestic altar.

　　Standing at three hundred feet tall, the altar was built for the sole purpose of trapping a beast king. Instead of calling it an altar, it might have been more accurate to call it a tomb—a tomb that had been built to suppress the beast king while it was still alive. Just suppressing it was one thing, but the seal also allowed its Demonic Qi to slowly leak out to the surroundings over hundreds of years. In this way, its cultivation level was forcibly reduced bit by bit, its Demonic Qi used to nurture spirit plants and beasts that would turn into resources for sect disciples.

　　Such a method was frightening and cruel. The methods of an ordinary bandits’ nest didn’t even compare!

　　Fang Xing felt a chill run up his spine at the thought of how the beast king could possibly be very much alive beneath this altar. A powerful Golden Core Stage beast king suppressed here for hundreds of years, a being that had gone from controlling the winds and rains to living as a prisoner. And this was all while it could feel its strength being sucked away little by little, without any hope to speak of—it would know the end only came when its soul had completely scattered from existence. Not even the world’s cruelest punishment would be worse than this.

　　‘Heh, oh well. I should keep this in mind, though: the winner gets everything while the loser loses everything. The feeling of losing sure isn’t good….’ Fang Xing was not someone who got emotional over things. He’d quickly cleared his mind and warned himself that this was the consequence of defeat.

　　If someone in the mortal realm were to be defeated, even if they lost their lives, they would still have the chance to be reborn. Even if their souls ended up scattered out of existence, they would not feel or understand it, as it would be absorbed by the heavens and earth. However, for a cultivator—be they man, beast, or demon—once they had control over extraordinary power and vitality, the sensation of losing that power would be more wretched than anyone in the mortal realm could even imagine.

　　Fang Xing had already stepped onto the path of cultivation. He naturally wanted to become the kind of person who puts his opponent inside the altar as opposed to the kind of person who gets sealed within. Should he wind up the latter, ending his own life as quickly as possible might make for an easier and more comfortable end.

　　“Found it…” someone yelled out while Fang Xing was thinking, and a talisman could soon be seen shooting into the sky.

　　Quickly snapping out of his daze, Fang Xing gestured for the golden crow to fly over.

　　A thousand feet away on the altar, a black dragon-like shadow suddenly made its way out from beneath the ground. It released a maddened roar and oriented itself towards four or five silhouettes on the ground that were as small as ants in comparison. These few “ants” were none other than Shuwen disciples, and they’d only just recently found the centipede before sending off a Flying Talisman with the message. This had also angered the Blue Centipede, and it began to attack them in a frenzy.

　　“Shixiong Xiao Jianming, help!” Pi Junzi and his Shuwen disciples screamed for help while activating a gold-colored talisman to try to block the Blue Centipede’s retaliation.

　　Farther away, Xiao Jianming sent a cold glare towards Fang Xing while the latter loudly laughed and held out the [Bow of Startled Dragon] while remaining airborne. It was all too clear what Fang Xing was planning: he was waiting for Xiao Jianming to go down first and planned on stealing the kill at the right moment.

　　Although Xiao Jianming felt annoyed by this, he could not just stand idly by because of it. It had been the Shuwen disciples who had sent the Flying Talisman directly to him, and they had been looking for the centipede under his commands; no matter the reason, he couldn’t behave like Fang Xing and pretend it was none of his business.

　　As Xiao Jianming looked at Fang Xing from afar, he suddenly spoke in a deep voice, “Shidi Fang, if you want this Blue Centipede, I can hand it to you!”

　　Fang Xing was stunned for a moment. He had not been expecting Xiao Jianming to say such a thing, but he soon returned to his normal self and laughed, “No need, you first!”

　　Xiao Jianming had suggested such a thing in an attempt to reconcile with Fang Xing, but—with Fang Xing’s reply—it was clear the boy did not bother taking his words seriously at all. As such, Xiao Jianming’s steeled his heart and calmly said, “There is one thing that I need to warn you about. While I may not have yet become someone of great power in the past twelve years I’ve practiced cultivation, everyone who knows me understands it’s always many times better to be my friend than my foe!”

　　Fang Xing could hear the threatening tone in Xiao Jianming’s voice, and he laughed while responding, “I’ve also practiced four years of cultivation….” Xiao Jianming looked at him calmly, and although Fang Xing wanted to say something flashy and awe-inspiring, growing up in a bandits’ nest had left him with a limited vocabulary. He thought for a few more seconds before finishing his sentence. “And I—your uncle—have never been scared of anything!”

　　Xiao Jianming released a cold laugh and spoke no more before pointing down below and commanding his eagle to fly in that direction. Had Xiao Jianming ever shown such patience and accommodation like this to anyone before? Since this boy was going to bite off more than he could chew and was determined to stand against him, he’d simply have to find a chance to get rid of the boy for good.

　　Swoosh….

　　The wounded centipede began its crazed attacks towards the group of disciples with Pi Junzi, and these disciples—under a strong tugging force—were nearly at their wit’s end. This was the moment that Xiao Jianming rushed downwards along with the loud cry of his eagle, and his iron sword split into numerous sword lights that encircled the Blue Centipede like a storm. These sword lights were as if alive, and they stabbed only between the centipede’s segments and where it had already been wounded.

　　The centipede released a pained cry soon after. It knew Xiao Jianming was not an easy opponent and turned in an attempt to flee.

　　Fang Xing’s gaze cooled when he saw Xiao Jianming’s battle prowess down below.

　　“You know, why do you always have to make it difficult for yourself? That guy is pretty strong…” the golden crow secretly sent his voice over to Fang Xing. He didn’t understand why Fang Xing wanted to make such a strong person into an enemy.

　　Fang Xing snickered. “Because he looks like someone easy to hate!”

　　To which the golden crow muttered to himself, “As if you look so likeable….”

　　The saber was immediately placed against the crow’s neck. “What, I—your grandpa—don’t look likeable?”

　　Embarrassed, the crow quickly replied, “So so so likeable! Anyone that sees you loves you, any flower that sees you blossoms….”

　　“Good taste,” Fang Xing praised.

　　As the two joked, Fang Xing was also scheming in his mind. ‘His Qing-Yun Nine Swords is indeed very powerful. That same skill was quite powerful when Shijie Linyun used it, but it seems Xiao Jianming has reached a level of skill that is much higher than hers; there has to be at least two tiers of difference in battle prowess. I still don’t have any chance of winning against him right now, so it’s best I come up with something else….’

　　“Skee, skee….”

　　Under a constant assault by Xiao Jianming’s sword lights, the Blue Centipede was unable to escape. With even more wounds than before, it had started to squeak out in desperation. Yet Xiao Jianming still did not land a fatal strike, and had instead been cautiously watching Fang Xing the entire time.

　　Sure enough, when the Blue Centipede’s life had finally been pushed to the edge, the boy sitting atop the golden crow suddenly aligned the bow in his hands. In a startled moment, Xiao Jianming immediately stopped his attacks and instead switched to a defensive posture against Fang Xing, yet Fang Xing had only held up the bow to check his aim before putting it back down again. This sent Xiao Jianming into a rage, and he knew deep down that he could not delay any longer—he had to kill the centipede as soon as possible.

　　“The sword of Qing-Yun shall slice open the nine heavens….”

　　With a lengthy shout, Xiao Jianming waved the iron sword high in the air and swung it down from above like a bolt of lightning.