Xiahou Zun grabbed his saber with both hands and slashed.

It looked like one slash, but it was really nine. When nine slashes merged into one, it boasted the strength to create heaven and earth and suppress the world itself.

Long-browed Divine Monk’s eyebrows swayed up and down before taking off into the sky, transforming into a black dragon and a white dragon. The two divine dragons then roared with the power to suppress the Five Phases and still yin and yang.

The woman raised a wine gourd and took a deep gulp of wine. Then, she looked up at the sky and slowly straightened her back, the laziness in her eyes replaced by a bright sharpness.

The next moment, the woman spat out the wine she just drank. A single drop of wine was a sword, so an entire cloud was tens of thousands of swords.

Wine towered the nine firmaments, ten thousand swords flew toward the Northern Dipper. How did it measure up to Spring and Autumn? It wasn’t bad, was it?

“My turn.”

Smiling, Ghost Taisui took one step forward and shot straight up as if an invisible flight of stairs was lifting him into the sky.

At the same time, what looked like a hell of myriad ghosts manifested underneath his feet.

Ghost Taisui took eighteen steps in a row, so eighteen hells had sprung to life beneath his feet. Ghastly figures overlapped each other inside the hells, and the yin qi was thick enough to touch the ninth firmament. At the same time, the ten King Yans of Ten Halls and the five Ghost Kings took form.

Boom!

The next moment, the Nine Nethers Demonic Qi in the sky was scattered and annihilated by the four warriors.

This was just the beginning, however. The four attacks hit each other after annihilating the Nine Nethers Demonic Qi, but surprisingly, it did not elicit an explosion or anything. Instead, they blended together into multiple restrictions that sealed the sky.

Thanks to the restriction, the cracks in the sky began to mend as well.

However, the battle between the two celestials was only growing fiercer by the second, and it wasn’t long before the sky showed signs of collapsing once more. The four warriors’ pallid complexions made it clear that they were fatiguing as well.

At a critical moment, the silhouette of a mountain suddenly appeared in the sky.

Tall and massive, the mountain was pitch black in color and looked somewhat flat. It had five peaks in total and looked a little like a human’s hand.

A black-robed figure was standing on the tallest, centermost peak of the five peaks. Their black robes covered them completely, making it impossible to distinguish their face or their gender. However, their presence was vast like the great firmament and enigmatic like the night sky, unfathomable and untouchable.

“Ancestor Black Robe!”

“Ancestor Black Robe…”

The woman, Xiahou Zun, Ghost Taisui and Long-browed Divine Monk all exclaimed in astonishment and solemnity when they saw the black-robed figure.

The four warriors were all Sages. They were champions on the Heavenly Champions Ranking as well.

The woman’s name was Wan Lingxiao. She was the vice head of Ling Xiao City, one of the Five Profound Sects. Although she was “just” the vice head, she was really the undisputed champion of Ling Xiao City. They called her the Myriad Sword Fairy whose jar of wine contained ten thousand swords that pierced the nine firmaments.

Xiahou Zun was the Martial Sovereign of Wei and the lord of the Martial Garrison. Empowered by the martial fortune of his nation, he was unrivaled among his peers and a top champion.

Long-browed Divine Monk was one of the two divine monks of Lanke Temple, one of the Two Temples of Buddha. His mastery of the Buddhist arts was said to be unparalleled, and his grasp of the Buddhist Magia immeasurable. He was a virtuous monk who had devoted his whole life to deliver the world, the people, and all living creatures from suffering. Some even praised him as the reincarnation of Siddhartha Gautama.

Ghost Taisui was one of the most infamous champions of the Dark Ways not just in Wei, but the entire world. A master of ghost refinement and control, his Magia was anomalous and devious, and methods enigmatic and unpredictable. He was scary to say the least.

Ghost Taisui was most famous for his Body Swapping Spell of Longevity. A Ghost Way spell that emphasized on the soul, he had reached the adept level and abandoned his original body several centuries ago. The spell allowed him to swap bodies anytime he wanted, and his favorite pastime was toying with the

jianghu

and its people with his body-swapping.

Not only that, Ghost Taisui could consume his victim’s yin lifespan to a certain degree after taking over their body to extend his own. That was why almost no one knew how long Ghost Taisui had lived, or how much longer he could live. That was why they came to call him the Ghost Taisui.

Because he lived for too long, no one knew exactly what skills or trump cards Ghost Taisui possessed. As a result, countless people were terribly afraid of him and unwilling to offend him if at all possible.

Right now though, all four of them were tensed up and staring at the black-robed figure with grave expressions.

The reason was simple. The black-robed figure was even stronger, scarier, and more enigmatic than they were.

The black-robed figure—the one they addressed as Ancestor Black Robe—was the Ancestor of Demonic Mountain, one of the Nine Dark Ways.

Legend had it that the Dao orthodoxy Rahu, the Progenitor Demon, left behind in the human world was the ancestral court of all demons and the progenitor of the Dark Ways. It was said that all demons hailed from the Demonic Mountain, which was why all sects of the Dark Ways revered the Demonic Mountain.

The Demonic Mountain was called the ancestral court of all demons, but it was a surprisingly mysterious and even low-key sect. Its members rarely involved themselves in the

jianghu

, choosing to remain in the Demonic Mountain and guard the Dark Pit most of the time.

Despite this, no one dared to underestimate the Demonic Mountain. Mysterious and low-key they might be, weak and easy to bully they were not. It was one thing if Demonic Mountain chose to remain silent, but when they took action, they acted loudly.

Ten thousand years ago, Demonic Mountain once reared its head and rallied all practitioners of the Dark Ways under its banner. Together, they crushed the orthodoxy, dominated the

jianghu

, and ruled the world for several hundred years.

A thousand years ago, when the world was in chaos, Demonic Mountain surfaced once more and supported the You Emperor in secret. With their aid, the You Emperor was able to end the endless strife, found the You Dynasty, and unite the world.

A hundred years ago, Heaven Tyranny Emperor passed away suddenly, and Wei plunged into a civil war. While the kings fought fiercely to claim the throne, Yan and Chu were gathering their armies at the borders. When an opportunity presented itself, they invaded Wei and threatened to take the Wei capital in one fell swoop.

When it looked like all hope was lost, Demonic Mountain intervened. Externally, the Ancestor of Demon Mountain split into two people, bested four Sages of Yan and Chu, and repelled an army of four hundred thousand strong all by himself. Internally, the Sun and Moon Sovereigns wiped out the traitors in one thunderous strike, ended the civil war, and helped a child emperor to the throne. Without exaggeration, Demonic Mountain had singlehandedly saved Wei from the brink of annihilation.

After that, Wei made Demonic Mountain the state religion and conferred the Ancestor of Demonic Mountain the title of Teacher. All under the heavens feared Demonic Mountain for a time.

These were just some of the many, many incredible achievements of Demonic Mountain, and the reason they managed to pull them off was simple: Demonic Mountain was powerful. Demonic Mountain was

very

powerful.

A sect of the Dark Ways, Demonic Mountain valued strength above all things. That was why the Ancestor of each generation was also the undisputed champion of Demonic Mountain.

Ancestor Black Robe was the current Ancestor of Demonic Mountain. They wore a black robe all year long and covered their face with a hat. Therefore, no one knew if he was male or female, old or young. One thing was certain, however. Ancestor Black Robe was terribly strong.

After all, Ancestral Black Robe was the one who singlehandedly bested four Sages and repelled a four hundred thousand strong army.

Ancestor Black Robe was already stupidly powerful a century ago. He could only be stronger today.

Unlike the Earth Champions Ranking and the Human Champions Ranking, the Sages on the Heavenly Champions Ranking weren’t ranked. There was no doubt that Ancestor Black Robe was one of the strongest Sages in this world, however. He was probably stronger than even the Chief Libationist.

Xiahou Zun, Wan Lingxiao, Ghost Taisui and Long-browed Divine Monk were powerful as a matter of course, but compared to Ancestor Black Robe? They were terribly behind to put it mildly. That was why they were so nervous.

The next moment, Ancestor Black Robe pointed a finger and swiped down. The struggling sky immediately split open in half.

“Ancestor Black Robe! What are you doing?!”

The four Sages blanched when they saw this. They couldn’t believe that Ancestor Black Robe would destroy their restriction of their own accord. Was he trying to draw the Nine Nethers Demonic Qi into the human world?

“Killing a pig!” Ancestor Black Robe replied coldly. Their voice was ephemeral, genderless and indistinct.

As if on cue, a figure fell out of the giant crack in the sky.

He was none other than Xuanyuan Kun.

Right now though, Xuanyuan Kun was looking way sorrier than he was before. For starters, his celestial body was in tatters. He looked so old and rotten that he could give Ghost Taisui a run for his money. Half of his head was also missing.

Even so, the aura and pressure he was giving off could not be underestimated.