Mountain Venerable and Sea Immortal

On the misty, gray sea, the eerie, chilling aura suddenly solidified. One after another, ghostly black figures, almost blending into the mist, silently emerged from the waves, their movements light and ethereal, completely concealing even the fluctuations of spiritual energy around them, emanating only a strange, bone-chilling, and corrosive demonic aura capable of eroding a cultivator's spiritual foundation.

The leader of the Shadow Clan possessed a cultivation level that had reached the Great Perfection of Foundation Establishment, and was half a step into the Liquid Condensation Realm. His aura was so heavy that it was suffocating. He wore a dark-patterned black robe, with extremely faint Netherworld Shadow patterns embroidered on the robe, which could only be seen under the illumination of spiritual energy. His long hair was tied up, and he wore a hollowed-out cold jade mask on his face. The jade was bluish-green, and the patterns were as winding as deep-sea serpents. Only a pair of emotionless eyes with a cold, bluish-green light were visible. The Shadow Demonic Energy surrounding him caused even the air to feel slightly corroded wherever he passed.

He held neither a knife nor a sickle, but only a dark blue jade flute carved entirely from the cold jade of the deep sea abyss. The flute was covered with ancient forbidden patterns and was not an ordinary musical instrument, but a unique demonic artifact that could be driven by demonic energy to control shadow demons and sever the soul.

With a wave of his hand and a flick of his flute, no sharp edge is visible, yet he can silently conjure shadowy blades of energy that injure people invisibly.

Five Shadow Assassins followed closely behind him, all at the early Foundation Establishment stage. They wore tight-fitting black night clothes that did not reveal any skin. In their hands, they held the Netherworld Shadow Dagger, a short blade shaped like a deep-sea squid bone, completely black and without luster. The blade contained corrosive poison gas, which was used to target the major acupoints around the cultivator's body. Their attacks were ruthless and decisive, leaving no chance of survival.

Wherever they went, countless disciples from the five factions were killed or wounded.

This group of Shadow Demons, who have been hiding in the rifts of the Outer Sea for thousands of years, have been lurking in the East Sea region, nourishing themselves by devouring the spiritual veins of the sea. They have long coveted the Sea-Stabilizing Pearl, a supreme treasure for suppressing the sea. This time, they have taken advantage of the gap in the battle between the five sects and the turmoil of the spiritual veins to brazenly reveal themselves, attempting to reap the benefits.

"You brat from Laoshan, you've ruined my plans."

The Shadow Leader's voice was cold and hoarse, devoid of any human warmth. He lightly twirled the Jade Flute of the Netherworld at his fingertips, and an invisible shadow blade of energy shot straight toward Lin Yan. Its speed was so fast that it didn't even cut through the air, yet it carried an extremely strong spiritual corrosive power.

Lin Yan's expression changed drastically. The vast spiritual energy of Laoshan Mountain suddenly condensed around him, forming a thick spiritual shield in front of him. However, the shadowy blade of energy directly pierced through the spiritual energy barrier, grazing his shoulder. His clothes on his shoulder instantly tore, and his skin turned bluish-black. His spiritual energy circulation became sluggish, and he staggered back several steps, his heart filled with horror: the insidious poison of this shadowy demonic energy far surpassed the evil energy of the Blood Fiend Sect!

However, in the blink of an eye, the battle situation was completely reversed.

Just as Mo Tu of the Blood Fiend Sect was about to pounce on the Dingyuan Pearl in mid-air, a Shadow Assassin had already closed in. The Shadow Thorn of the Dark Sea pierced straight at his Qi Sea acupoint. Mo Tu hurriedly circulated his fiendish energy to resist, but the Shadow Thorn's poisonous gas invaded his meridians. He screamed, half of his body went numb, his spiritual energy became completely disordered, and he fell heavily onto the sand.

Lie Cang, the steward of the Burning Heaven Sect, roared and urged the Heavenly Blazing Flame to ignite the flames. However, the Heavenly Blazing Flame was quickly extinguished as if it were being devoured by the Shadow Demonic Qi. Several Shadow Qi Blades attacked, and he was unable to dodge in time. Several wounds were slashed open on his chest and abdomen. The demonic qi instantly invaded, and the flames around his body suddenly diminished. He fell to the ground in a sorry state.

Shen Qinghan of the Qingyun Sect unleashed the Qingyun Sword Intent with his sword, but the fierce sword energy was gradually dissolved as soon as it touched the Shadow Demon Qi. He was surrounded by several shadow spikes, and his arm was hit repeatedly. His sword energy became increasingly scattered, and he could no longer defend himself.

Su Wanli of Shuiyue Pavilion used her gentle water spirit energy to protect herself, but the spirit energy barrier was constantly corroded by the demonic energy and shattered layer by layer. Her face turned pale and a trace of blood spilled from the corner of her lips. She no longer had the strength to mediate the conflict.

In a short time, most of the disciples from the five factions were killed or wounded. The once fiercely competitive Golden Beach was now covered in blood and turned into a scene of carnage. The crowd lost all interest in seizing the treasures and was filled with fear.

"If we don't join forces now, we will all perish here!" Shen Qinghan shouted fiercely to the crowd around him, his sword held horizontally in front of him. "Fight the enemy first, then we can worry about everything else!"

In the face of life and death, there is no longer any distinction between good and evil, sects and factions. Lie Cang of the Burning Heaven Sect endured his injuries and ordered his disciples to activate the remaining fire energy to build a wall of fire to resist the demonic energy; Su Wanli of the Water Moon Pavilion swiftly formed a spiritual armor with water spiritual energy to protect the injured cultivators around her; the disciples of the Azure Cloud Sect quickly formed a sword formation to defend against the frontal attack; Lin Yan immediately led Yun Xi, Ye Qing, Chen Dagang, and Yi Azhu to stand on both sides, and the vast spiritual energy of Laoshan Mountain was inherently able to suppress evil spirits and demonic atmosphere, barely managing to resist the invasion of demonic energy.

The four righteous sects of the East Sea, along with the remaining disciples of the Blood Fiend Sect, temporarily put aside all differences and formed an offensive and defensive formation. Relying on complementary techniques and numbers, they barely managed to stabilize their position and deal with the fierce attacks of the Shadow Demon Clan. However, they were still retreating step by step and faced the desperate situation of their formation collapsing at any time.

The Shadow Leader coldly stared at the stubborn crowd before him. He slowly raised the Jade Flute of the Abyss, and his demonic energy gathered wildly around him, intending to launch a fatal attack and completely annihilate everyone present.

Just at this critical moment, a vast and clear bell tolled from the sky, its sound reverberating throughout the Guixu Sea Mouth, dispelling the gray fog on the sea surface. Golden spiritual light poured down from the sky, and the boundless immortal spiritual energy of Laoshan swept in from all directions.

In the distance, a large group of Laoshan disciples, dressed in Taoist robes, rode the clouds, their formation orderly and their aura magnificent. Leading them was Elder Xuanzhen of Laoshan, clad in a plain Taoist robe. His Nascent Soul stage aura surged forth, directly suppressing the demonic energy in the entire area, causing it to retreat continuously. Behind him followed several elite disciples, their arrival a powerful and overwhelming force.

"You wicked spirit, how dare you wreak havoc in the East Sea! How dare you!"

Elder Xuanzhen roared angrily, and with a wave of his long sleeves, the vast spiritual energy of the mountains and seas transformed into a giant palm print, which went straight towards the leader of the Shadow Sect to suppress him.

The leader of the Shadow Clan's expression changed drastically. Sensing the deadly pressure of the Nascent Soul cultivator, he knew there was no chance of victory and immediately shouted, "Retreat!"

Before the words were even finished, several dark figures instantly transformed into wisps of ghostly demonic energy, burrowing into the sea's fissures beneath the surface and vanishing without a trace, leaving only a mess and lingering faint demonic energy.

With the crisis averted, Lin Yan and the others breathed a sigh of relief and bowed respectfully to Elder Xuanzhen. Elder Xuanzhen's gaze swept over the ravaged Golden Beach, then turned to the radiant Inkstone and the Sea-Stabilizing Pearl in mid-air, his expression extremely grave: "The Shadow Demon Clan has reappeared, and the Guixu Spiritual Vein is in turmoil. Behind this, there must be something even greater..."