A Mortal's Journey: Starting as the Young Master of Demonic Cultivation

Half a day later.

Wen Tianren stepped across the scorching black sand, and suddenly a desolate desert appeared before him.

Before a sand dune stood a solitary crystal pillar, about thirty feet tall.

This crystal pillar is completely translucent and extremely cold, with a faint white light flowing across its surface, as if it were cast from ancient ice.

Strangely, a similarly tall black giant was also encased inside the crystal pillar.

This giant was incredibly ugly, with wide-open, angry eyes and a completely bald head. He remained motionless inside the crystal pillar, looking extremely strange.

The surroundings looked like they had just been through a major battle; the ground was cratered, covered with scorch marks and ice cracks.

When Wen Tianren examined it closely with his divine sense, his pupils constricted slightly.

This giant was not an ordinary flesh and blood body, but was formed by the aggregation of tens of thousands of iron fire ants.

Each one was frozen in place, their ant carapaces gleaming with a dark red metallic sheen, densely packed, their fate unknown, whether dead or alive.

Wen Tianren thought to himself, "As expected of Wan Tianming, who possesses the cultivation of a mid-stage Nascent Soul cultivator, his methods are truly extraordinary. He was able to use the ancient treasure, the Xuanhuang Mirror, to freeze this Ironfire Ant Giant!"

Wen Tianren had witnessed the methods of the fire ants before; the number he had just dealt with was less than one-tenth of this giant fire ant.

If Wen Tianren were to encounter this number of fire ants, he would have no choice but to temporarily avoid them and try to evade them.

Even if the righteous path members could handle so many fire ants, it would still take them quite a while.

Wan Tianming brought with him the Xuanhuang Mirror, a supreme treasure of the Wanfa Sect, which is famous throughout the Chaotic Star Sea.

Wen Tianren's lips curled slightly as he gazed at the giant iron fire ant ice sculpture before him and said, "Since that's the case, I'll take it!"

Wen Tianren released the Void Heaven Heart Demon Bees and instructed them to extract the refining crystals from the Iron Fire Ants.

The number of Heart Demon Bees was too small, and it took them a while to devour a considerable number of Iron Fire Ants. Now, these hundred Void Heaven Heart Demon Bees don't even amount to a fraction of the Iron Fire Ants in front of them, so how could they possibly devour so many Iron Fire Ants?

Upon receiving the order, the Demon Bee's wings trembled, and it swiftly thrust its stinger into the body of each Ironfire Ant, precisely extracting the tiny yet precious black crystal.

A moment later, a crystal ball the size of a fist, with a faint, dim light, condensed in the palm of the hand, several times larger than the one obtained before.

……

Meanwhile, in a dark, secluded stone palace somewhere in the Grand Canyon, Elder Jin Kui and the Black-Robed Elder were observing the overall situation of the second level, the Ice and Fire Path, through a protective barrier.

Dozens of blurry images appeared on the stone wall, showing various cultivators struggling to survive in the Black Desert and Blood Ice Forest.

"The use of Ironfire Ants and Silverlight Rats this time has indeed been very effective, eliminating more than a dozen people, all of whom were late-stage talents in both the righteous and demonic paths. However, some people have managed to survive," the black-robed elder said with some regret.

Jin Kui sneered, "Don't worry about it. This is nothing. How could the righteous and demonic paths know that the two Holy Lords have already mastered part of the restrictions of this Void Heaven Palace? Their every move is under the surveillance of my Star Palace. If they want to take the treasure, humph, they'll have to be lucky."

The black-robed elder looked slightly worried: "The restrictions on the Black Desert and Blood Ice Forest are powerful, but they have little effect on Nascent Soul cultivators. If those people discover that our Star Palace is manipulating things behind the scenes... wouldn't they break ties with us?"

"Hmph, so what?" Jin Kui scoffed. "The Star Palace's sacred authority is beyond question. Besides, these Nascent Soul stage monsters' target is the inner palace of the Void Heaven Palace. That's their battlefield; these minor troubles in the outer palace aren't enough to embolden them."

After Jin Kui finished speaking, darkness fell again.

This was an extremely simple stone hall, about fifty or sixty zhang in area and about seven or eight zhang in height. In addition to a teleportation array in the center, there was a huge blue stone gate several zhang high on each of the four sides.

The room was now tightly sealed off, like a large prison cell. Inside the stone hall were dozens of different stone tables and benches.

On these stone benches sat a dozen or so cultivators with varying expressions.

Ji Yin, Qing Yi, and Madam Wen, all Nascent Soul cultivators, were present. The rest of the cultivators were all in the late Core Formation stage, and there wasn't a single weak cultivator among them.

Clearly, the weak had already perished in the Path of Ice and Fire.

Wen Tianren also stood not far behind Madam Wen's seat, with his hands at his sides, his expression calm, his gaze sweeping across the room, taking in every subtle expression of each person.

At this moment, apart from Wen Tianren and Madam Wen, everyone else had a gloomy expression and no one was interested in saying anything. The stone hall was filled with an extremely oppressive atmosphere!

Ji Yin and the others were even more gloomy, their faces completely ashen, staring at the teleportation array in the middle, their eyes flashing with ferocity!

The Black Desert and Blood Ice Forest pose little threat to Nascent Soul stage cultivators like Ji Yin, but even late-stage Core Formation cultivators will suffer greatly to escape. As for weaker cultivators, their chances of survival are slim.

Ji Yin and the others were naturally worried about Han Li's life. If Han Li were to perish on the Lava Road, the Blood Jade Spider would not escape unscathed either, and their joy would have been in vain.

Wan Tianming thought that Ji Yin and the others were also so angry because of the Star Palace's scheme. Although he did not lose his composure like Ji Yin, he still looked cold and his eyes flashed with killing intent, clearly indicating that he was not calm inside.

These Nascent Soul stage cultivators naturally knew that the changes in the Ice and Fire Path were definitely related to the Star Palace Elder who had not yet appeared, and they were also greatly wary.

I wonder what the Star Palace's intentions are! Do they really intend to break ties with both the righteous and demonic factions right here in the Void Heaven Palace?

In this eerie atmosphere, time passed slowly.

With only half a day left before the Ice and Fire Path closed, Ji Yin grew increasingly frustrated as Han Li still hadn't appeared. He was already weighing his options: what should he do next if he didn't have the Blood Jade Spider?

Just as everyone in the stone hall was lost in thought, each harboring their own secrets, the two elders from the Star Palace appeared in the teleportation array. Instantly, all sorts of unfriendly gazes, like swords, were fixed on the two men, as if they wanted to tear them to pieces.

The black-robed elder seemed oblivious, ignoring the chilling gazes of the crowd. After looking around, he sighed and said, "Ahem! I wonder which reckless fellow Daoist triggered some powerful restrictions while passing through the Ice and Fire Path, causing changes to the restrictions of the second level. The Grand Elder and I have checked repeatedly, but unfortunately, we haven't found a way to remove them. I wonder how many promising talents have perished here this time. It's truly heartbreaking, and I feel ashamed."

This made it seem as if he truly grieved for those fallen cultivators.

Upon hearing this, people from both the righteous and demonic paths cursed this person in their hearts for being shameless.

With just a few casual words, they tried to wash their hands of the matter completely, as if it had nothing to do with the Star Palace.

Wen Tianren was also impressed by the two actors' acting skills; he still had to learn how to be shameless.

However, just as Jin Kui had predicted, although everyone in the hall watched the two of them coldly, no one actually stepped forward to question them.

After glaring at them a few times, the Nascent Soul stage monsters, including Manhuzi and Wan Tianming, withdrew their gazes and went back to doing their own thing.

After all, it wouldn't benefit anyone to break off relations at this point.

Jin Kui and the black-robed elder beside him exchanged a smile, then sat down leisurely and closed their eyes to rest.