Sensing Gu Tian’s surging demonic aura, the stone seemed to develop a consciousness of its own. With another shriek, a fissure tore open down its middle, like a gaping mouth. Even more bizarrely, inside that mouth were two rows of coiled and sinister sharp fangs.

The stone trembled incessantly as its mouth opened and closed, as if provoking and mocking everyone.

Gu Han’s scalp went numb looking at it. “Fatty, this thing is your family’s lifeline???”

Fatty was completely dumbfounded. “It is—wait, no! Back when the old ancestor found it, it was just a stone that could help people break through realms. So many people in our family have used it to break through. There was never a problem in all those years! I don’t know what’s going on!”

“Where did they find it?”

“In the forbidden zone!”

Everyone fell silent. Although there were many powerful cultivators within the five domains, their understanding of the forbidden zones was extremely limited. They only knew that the deeper one went, the more dangerous and bizarre the occurrences became. Even the few powerhouses had no idea how vast the forbidden zones truly were, let alone what lay at their deepest parts. The belief that they were several times larger than the five domains was merely an inference pieced together over the years.

On high alert, Zhou Ye’s expression was grave. “This thing is bizarre and dangerous!”

Wang Yong nodded. “Indeed! Even someone of my caliber feels threatened by it! It can move and smile like a living creature, but—”

Zhou Ye immediately interjected. “It’s dead! I can’t sense any life force from it at all!”

“It’s really strange!”

“It’s highly suspicious!”

“We must not let our guard down!”

“We absolutely cannot underestimate it!”

For a time, they took turns analyzing, as though they had long been acquainted and cooperated effortlessly.

Immediately, they both became aware of the situation. Huh? Ptooey!

They shot each other a nasty look. He is really my lifelong nemesis!

Just then, the stone moved. Yet rather than attacking Gu Tian, who had been hostile to it, it went for the nearby Zhao Mengyou. It screeched continuously and instantly arrived before her.

Zhao Mengyou turned deathly pale. Among the group, her cultivation base was the lowest, so of course she became the stone’s first target for attack.

With an angry roar, Zhou Ye and Wang Yong sprang into action!

“How dare you!”

“Bastard!”

However, they were ultimately a beat too slow. It wasn’t that their cultivation was low, but that most of their attention was on Gu Han. They simply weren’t as attentive to the others.

The stone spread its maw wider. Strands of cold, sinister aura scattered down, almost freezing Zhao Mengyou.

A sudden thought flashed across Zhao Mengyou’s mind, Am I going to die? What use is scheming all day? Won’t I still die?

The stone didn’t care what she thought. Its murderous fangs, wrapped in cold aura, lunged at her. Just then, the space between them lit up for an instant. A metallic ring echoed as a flash of light struck the stone, sending it flying.

Gu Han had used the Ultimate Sword! Because of Gu Tian, he had been watching the stone the entire time, not daring to be the least bit careless. When he noticed the stone’s unusual movement, he drew his sword in that very instant. Fortunately, he had cultivated the Ultimate Sword. Otherwise, who knew what would have happened to Zhao Mengyou?

In a daze, all Zhao Mengyou could think was, He saved me?

Two angry shouts rang out. Wang Yong and Zhou Ye couldn’t accept that they had almost been caught off guard by the stone!

“Unforgivable!”

“I won’t spare you!”

Feeling they had lost face, they immediately struck with full force. Two rays of light, one gray and one white, flashed instantly.

Although the stone hadn’t been damaged at all, it seemed extremely furious. Its two rows of sharp fangs ground together incessantly, emitting a series of piercing sounds, and it was about to charge at the two of them.

Suddenly, Gu Tian grabbed it firmly from the side. His demonic qi began to boil as if alive, engulfing the stone completely.

Zhou Ye and Wang Yong stopped in their tracks. Gu Tian seemed to handle the bizarre stone of unknown origin just fine.

Just as the two had guessed, the stone seemed to have encountered its natural enemy. It struggled desperately to escape, letting out sharp shrieks. However, faced with a great hand as strong as an iron clamp, it could not get away at all.

Zhou Ye offered a heartfelt compliment. “That’s impressive! It seems I underestimated him earlier.”

He was also a demonic path cultivator—one who hailed from a top-tier sect like the Holy Demon Sect, no less. Though he had read countless demonic path texts, he couldn’t discern Gu Tian’s technique at all. He only felt that Gu Tian’s demonic qi was pure and primitive, very much like the most orthodox demonic path cultivator from legends.

As time passed, the stone’s shrieks grew softer and softer, its struggles growing weaker. Perhaps aware of its impending doom, it let out a sharp, desperate shriek, far louder than any before. Immediately afterward, countless tiny fissures appeared on its surface. With just a light squeeze from Gu Tian, it crumbled into a handful of dust, sifting through his fingers and falling to the ground.

Yun Fan breathed a sigh of relief. “Good thing Uncle Gu was here, otherwise who knows what kind of chaos would have happened today. Brother Yu Lin, you really don’t know what that thing was?”

Fatty ignored him. “It’s over. It’s over, my most prized possession... gone...”

Having absorbed the stone, Gu Tian’s demonic qi grew even more ferocious and bizarre than before. With a subtle tremor, it spread outward from him, extending as if alive. Stranger still, it slowly transformed into a demonic shadow. Apart from its blurry face, its form and aura were identical to his in every way—violent, bizarre, and cruel. If Gu Tian still retained a trace of humanity, then the demonic shadow had none at all. It was a demon in the truest sense of the word!

Gu Han never expected such an aberrant change to occur on Gu Tian.

He was about to anxiously rush over. “What’s happening to you?”

Just then, the demonic shadow’s eyes turned red as it let out a howling roar. Overflowing with killing intent, it charged at Gu Han!