As the Celestial Wings fluttered, Tianming slammed into the sky above Taiji Peak Lake like a meteor, urgently sweeping his gaze across with his Plundering Eye. He had roughly determined the current situation.

“The Ninefold Formation is broken, and the four sects are rushing back to Xuanyuan Lake with the Nonahall Ghost Sect fiercely pursuing them. Because they aren’t being targeted by the enemy, the masses gathered in Taiji Peak Lake have begun making their escape.”

That meant there would be a big battle in the Nine Dragon Formation.

“How could the Ninefold Formation be so easily broken!"

According to Tianming's estimate, the formation should have had no problems lasting at least two weeks. In fact, the five divine realms might not even survive the battle.

“Investigating the cause is meaningless right now.”

Tianming flew to Xuanyuan Lake at lightning speed. Everyone was rushing into the Nine Dragon Formation.

It was the dusk of the early spring. The north wind howled in his ear as the chilly current blew south, cold enough to chill bones. It seemed it would snow again. Archaion Sect had yet to see the ice and snow melt.

“Li Tianming!”

He hadn’t gotten very far before he was noticed by a large group of people on the side. All at once, a group of powerhouses came to intercept him.

“Get him!”

At least forty third-origin tribulation elders and thousands of second-origin tribulation elders surrounded Tianming. Owing to their discovery, a group of tribulation elders with more than two hundred thousand troops had turned and led their lifebound beasts in encircling Tianming.

Tianming looked up and saw a middle-aged man in fiery red robes in front of him. Staring arrogantly at Tianming, he ordered, "Kill him!"

Upon his command, countless others made their move.

“Stop.”

A gentle voice sounded from behind the crowd. The speaker’s majesty overshadowed Solar Master Qin Fengyang; it was Li Caiwei. As soon as Tianming turned around, he caught sight of her slender, enchanting body. Surrounded by a group of elders, she was domineering, like a peerless queen. Her pink eyes stared condescendingly at Tianming as she exerted pressure on him. This was the biggest group of powerhouses among the five divine realms after the Nonahall Ghost Sect, the Yinyang Demon Sect.

“Lunar Master, catch him! We can’t let him escape! If we hold Li Tianming hostage, we’ll have greater leverage. We can fight for more territory!" Qin Fengyang loudly roared. Under his encouragement, many Yinyang Demon Sect powerhouses were thinking the same thing.

“I entered the five-colored star.”

The situation was urgent so Tianming went straight to the point.

He held up the specter crown prince’s head, placed it in front of them, and said, "Look at what this is."

“A severed head? What about it?” Li Caiwei warned, "Don't try to play tricks. You can’t escape from my hands."

“This is the specter race, that is, the demon race! They called this man their crown prince. I escaped after beheading him.” Tianming's gaze was fiery. "Li Caiwei, the Nonahall Ghost Sect are the remnants of the specter race. Their purpose here is to break Great Emperor Xuanyuan’s divine body along with the sealing formation of the five-colored star. The star is called the Ninefold Hell, and there’s countless members of the specter race slowly awakening, waiting to descend upon this world!”

The moment these words were spoken, the crowd fell silent, then burst into laughter.

"You randomly take a head, paint it, and say it’s the specter race? Do you think we’re idiots?" Qin Fengyang bent over laughing.

Li Caiwei was the only one who looked at Tianming solemnly.

“With your intelligence and wisdom, I’m sure you know what the truth is. I don’t have time. See for yourselves!”

Tianming pulled out four-meter-tall corpses from his spatial ring; they were all from the specter race. The ordinary members of the specter race were completely different in appearance from the human race. They weren’t beasts, either. They had green and blue blood, and were easy to identify.

Anyone with a bit of knowledge of historical records could see what these corpses were. Tianming had long expected that no one would believe him, so evidence was the most important. Whenever he had killed something in the Ninefold Hell, he put the bodies away if he had the chance.

“Do you believe me now?”

When the Yinyang Demon Sect saw these terrifying corpses, their laughter abruptly stopped. Their expressions were stiff and dazed. There were no words to describe how they felt. Then, they drew a cold breath.

“As long as the Nonahall Ghost Sect gets the keys and destroys Great Emperor Xuanyuan’s divine body, the specter race that enslaved the human race two hundred thousand years ago will return to this world!"

Tianming turned and looked at Li Caiwei as he articulated each word, "So what’s your decision? Will you personally hand over the entire Flameyellow Continent to the specter race and let the people of the Yinyang Divine Realm become Nonahall’s livestock, or will you join me in doing what a human being should do?"

Li Caiwei stared blankly at him for a long time.

“Hurry up! Stop wasting my time!” said Tianming.

Closing her eyes and taking a deep breath, Li Caiwei raised her hand and her voice trembled as she spoke. "Everyone, I have long harbored doubts about the sudden appearance of the star. In the Kilostar Domain, I suspected the Nonahall Ghost Sect’s impure purpose in breaking the star’s formation. Now, the truth is finally revealed! I’d like to ask all of you to look into the mirror and ask yourselves who you are. There’s no wrong in wanting to take Taiji Peak Lake and contending for a piece of this world. But we’ll be the real beasts if we end up being used by Nonahall and killing all of our compatriots. I don’t think I need to tell you what to do, do I?" she asked.

The news was too shocking. Upon hearing Tianming’s conjectures, many were still laughing. But now that the corpses of the specter race were right in front of them, the evidence was conclusive.

“Sect Master, we must live by our conscience!”

“As the human race, it doesn’t matter if we fight amongst ourselves. But if the specter race returns, we’ll all be finished.”

“This won’t just affect us for a short period of time, but for millions of years!”

“Sect Master, we must stop the specter race at once!”

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From the moment someone expressed their opinion, the entire Yinyang Demon Sect was quickly unified. Qin Fengyang couldn’t stop staring at the corpse in his hands with a dazed look upon his face.

When everyone had finally made a decision, he couldn't help but add, "Yes, this is a great matter! What is a Taiji Peak Lake, compared to the life and death of the human race? In the face of such matters, we’re all compatriots. There are no grievances between us!"

Tianming sighed in relief. He was afraid these people would continue this internal strife, so obsessed with the war that they would even ignore the specter race. Although Li Caiwei was from a different camp, she had always been very cautious. At present, there were no wounds or traces of battle on the Yinyang powerhouses. It was clear they hadn’t attacked the Ninefold Formation.

Li Caiwei finally declared, “Hear my command! Protect the Archaion Sect!”

“Yes!”

“How domineering!” Tianming commended.

With her long hair fluttering in the wind and a fierce force of personality, this woman was swift and decisive.

“Go!” She stared at Tianming.

With the Yinyang Demon Sect leading the way, Tianming and Li Caiwei rushed toward Xuanyuan Lake.

“So you do have a conscience. I’ll forget our past grievances,” said Tianming.

“Don't be happy just yet. After the specter race is dealt with, we’ll still try reclaiming Taiji Peak Lake." Li Caiwei rolled her eyes at him—a woman of various temperaments indeed.

“That’s fine. When this is over, you can be as much of a villain as you like,” said Tianming.

“You’re the villain, you little brat!”

Li Caiwei muttered an expletive, her gaze focused on the front, breath fluctuating and expression unreadable.

“By the way, how did they manage to break the Ninefold Formation?” asked Tianming.

“Your Human Branch sect master, who was in control of the formation nucleus, destroyed it himself.”

“Jian Wuyi? How could it be him? I’d believe it if you said Fang Taiqing!” Tianming said with an incredulous look.

“I don't know the details, but I heard that the Draconis House of Jian has joined Hexapath. Perhaps Jian Wuyi and Feng Qingyu are planning on merging the Jian clan and dividing up territory with the Nonahall Ghost Sect. But now that the situation’s changed, it looks like Feng Qingyu and Jian Wuyi will gain nothing," said Li Caiwei.

“Hopefully, Feng Qingyu regains his senses. Where’s Fang Taiqing?" Tianming had an ominous premonition. Could that man accept such a loss?

“I heard that he escaped with eighty thousand Sterling House of Fang tribulation elders and didn’t look back. We have some people monitoring them, we’re just waiting for the end of the battle to slay that group of traitors!” At the mention of Fang Taiqing, Li Caiwei was enraged and disgusted.

“You really can’t count on that fucking bastard!”

Of the three sect masters, one had defected, and the other fled. No wonder the Archaion Sect had fallen into such a dangerous situation.

“Sect Master Xuanyuan and Ouyang Jianwang should both be at Xuanyuan Lake. With two hundred thousand Yinyang Demon Sect powerhouses as reinforcements, we should be able to resolve this crisis!"

All that was left was to see on which side Feng Qingyu, Dugu Jin, and Changsun Shenqiong would stand.

……

East of Taiji Peak Lake, the formation was broken and the two Jian clans collided into each other. Of the Hexapath Sword Sect’s hundred and eighty thousand warriors, at least a hundred thousand were from the Tai'e House of Jian. There were more than forty thousand samsarans from the Draconis House of Jian marching up to Feng Qingyu, led by their third-origin tribulation elders.

“Welcome to the reunification of the Jian clan!”

The Jian clan had known about this for quite some time. Jian Wuyi’s rebellion against the Archaion Sect and letting go of his pride as the original clan to merge with the Tai'e House of Jian had already gained their respect. Thus, the Jian clan had expanded!