Yan Junyu promptly took care of those who had surrounded him, leaving only one alive.
"Where is this place?" he mimicked his beloved's accent.
The man understood him indeed, spitting out a mouthful of blood, and threatened, "This is the Thousand-Corpse Demon Pond, and we are all inner disciples of the Thousand-Corpse Demon Pond. You just killed many of my brothers-in-arms. Our Patriarch will soon find the shattered life tokens and will arrive in a jiffy to rescue me. If you release me right this instant, I can beg for mercy on your behalf before the Patriarch, to allow you a quick death!"
Yan Junyu had already used the life token to locate his beloved but was unfamiliar with the area he was in.
"Thousand-Corpse Demon Pond? What do you do there?" he asked casually.
"How dare you not have heard of the illustrious reputation of our Sect?" the demon showed an expression of disbelief. After all, the Thousand-Corpse Demon Pond was one of the four major sects in the demon realm, founded by the Demon Ancestor Thousand-Corpse, who had transcended the tribulation. The sect had tens of thousands of disciples and occupied a quarter of the demon realm's territory, making it a formidable behemoth. To survive in the demon realm, one must not offend powerful cultivators, nor the four major sects, which was common knowledge. However, observing the man's manner, it was evident that he was genuinely ignorant of the Thousand-Corpse Demon Pond, making his threats sound ridiculous.
"You, you little punk, don't think that being slightly stronger than me gives you the right to show off your power. Our sect is brimming with experts, with cultivators at the Fusion, Multiplication, and even Transcendence stages being plentiful. They could crush you with a mere finger! If you know what's good for you, release me promptly, or my Patriarch will toss you into the Thousand-Corpse Pond, to suffer the agony of being gnawed by a thousand corpses, ensuring you never attain rebirth!"
Yan Junyu followed his beloved's advice upon arrival, suppressing his cultivation to a level around the second or third stage to avoid being detected by the Heavenly Dao, which would have dragged him to the upper realms. Therefore, in the demon's eyes, he was merely a wandering cultivator who had just reached the nascent soul stage. The demon must have had some sort of reliance, hence he was unafraid and hurled insults at Yan Junyu for a while. Seeing a dark cloud drifting over the horizon, which was moving slowly but arrived instantly, he couldn't help but reveal a smug smile. "You little brat, you're courting death by killing here in the Thousand-Corpse Demon Pond. Wait for your doom!"
Yan Junyu also noticed the peculiar dark cloud but didn't flee, merely raising his eyes to glance at it.
The dark cloud transformed into a thick fog, enveloping the area. A thin, pale-skinned man emerged from the depths of the fog, strolling leisurely and saying, "Brother, you've caused trouble again in just a moment's absence."
"Brother, help me kill him!" the demon, tightly bound by purple vines, shouted loudly. It was no wonder he was so arrogant, for the person who had arrived was his biological brother, who had become a powerful cultivator at the division stage in just over three hundred years. He was truly a peerless genius. With his brother's assistance, this disrespectful little punk would surely meet his end promptly.
"Who dares to be so bold, to kill my sect's disciples in the Thousand-Corpse Demon Pond's territory? State your name, so I can settle the score," the man's tone wasn't urgent, rather indifferent, clearly not taking Yan Junyu seriously. The bound demon wriggled his body to jump next to him, pleading, "Brother, make him release me first!"
"Good artifact. It's not a loss to rescue you today," the man caressed the purple vine and sighed with a smile.
Yan Junyu hadn't spoken throughout, waiting until the brothers had performed their act sufficiently before stomping his foot. Suddenly, a dozen vines shot out from the sandy ground, piercing through the arriving demon from bottom to top, spraying blood and organs everywhere, drenching his brother from head to toe.
The black thick fog arrived mysteriously and vanished just as quickly. In a flash, the huge red sun hung overhead again, emitting a scorching light. The demon, thoroughly drenched in blood, stood motionless, only after several moments did he scream in terror, "You, you killed my brother! You actually killed my brother!"
What terrified him even more was that this person, clearly at the nascent soul stage, had killed his brother with a single move, in the blink of an eye!
"You concealed your cultivation!" the demon, his legs weak, knelt on the ground. Only at this moment did he realize what sort of existence he had provoked. To effortlessly kill a cultivator at the division stage, this person must be at least a great master at the fusion stage. With such cultivation, it wouldn't be a problem for them to become an elder of a sect, let alone found their own.
"You, you, being a great demon at the Soul Fusion stage, why did you conceal your cultivation? I'm blind, not recognizing the towering mountain, I bow to you, please, have mercy and let me off!" he discarded all his pride and reliance.
Yan Junyu lifted him up, speaking indifferently, "I heard that your major sects all have teleportation arrays that can instantly transport people to the cultivation world?"
"Not at all, not at all! They can only send people to the border between the demon realm and the cultivation world, where there's a barrier set up by immortals, preventing entry or exit!" the demon shook his head pitifully.
The cultivation world, with its abundant resources, abundant opportunities, and countless secret realms, was akin to paradise compared to the demon realm. Tens of thousands of years ago, those in the demon realm attempted to occupy the cultivation world, thus, gathering the power of dozens of demon ancestors in the transcending stage to attack the barrier. However, they only managed to tear a crack, which was quickly sealed by the great masters of the cultivation world, and since then, no demon had succeeded.
Seeing the expert not entirely convinced by his words, the demon immediately added, "If any demon sect had such a teleportation array, why would they stay in the barren demon realm? They would have relocated the entire sect to the cultivation world long ago!"
Yan Junyu still wasn't deterred, asking again, "Really not present?"
The demon pondered for a moment, hesitantly replying, "I've only heard of a few cracks that allow demons to pass into the cultivation world, but I've never seen them. Those cracks are never fixed in one place, and each appearance is separated by years, sometimes even decades, without any discernible pattern. If you want to go to the cultivation world, you could try to find those cracks, but it's all up to luck."
Yan Junyu never believed in luck, only in strength. He pondered for a moment, saying, "Then I'll borrow your Thousand-Corpse Demon Pond's teleportation array."
"But the teleportation array of our sect is managed by the Demon Ancestor. I'm insignificant and can't really help you! If you hadn't killed my brother, he could have spoken on your behalf," the demon hastily lowered his head when mentioning his biological brother, concealing his resentment.
"Then let's go find your Demon Ancestor." Just as Yan Junyu finished speaking, another person flew over from the horizon, slapping down a palm, enraged, "Who killed my disciple!"
"Ancestor Menghe, save me! He killed my brother!" the demon, who had just been cowering in fear, jumped up again at this moment.
"Where did this brat come from, daring to make a scene on the head of my Ancestor Menghe!" the arrival had white hair and a childlike appearance, a kind face, but his eyes were pitch-black, completely lacking whites, somewhat terrifying.
Yan Junyu inserted his right hand into his abdomen, pulling out a bloody long knife. With a light tap of his toe, he flew into the sky, continuously slicing through the giant palm and the Blood Pool Hell conjured by Ancestor Menghe's magic power, cleaving him in two. The neatly severed halves of the corpse fell to the ground in succession, splattering countless blood splatters, organs, and intestines, stunning the demon out of his wits.
Ancestor Menghe was one of the ten elders of the Thousand-Corpse Sect, his cultivation had reached the multiplication stage, making him a top-notch expert in the demon realm. Yet, he had never expected to die at the hands of an unknown young cultivator, who could tell if this news was spread? Yet it had indeed happened, just like before, still with one move, in the blink of an eye.
The demon looked at the scattered body parts, then at the man wiping the knife, too frightened to speak. To continuously kill cultivators at the division and multiplication stages, this person must be a demon ancestor at the transcending stage without a doubt! But why did he pretend to be at the nascent soul stage? Wasn't that just bullying people?
Thinking of this, the demon regretted it to the point of turning green. If he had seen through this person's strength earlier, would he have dared to ambush him? Wouldn't he have bowed three times and kowtowed nine times to send him away?
Yan Junyu returned the blood-drinking knife to his abdomen, as if remembering something, he smiled gently, "This place is indeed as Xiao Ze described it, after beating up the young ones, the older ones come, after beating up the older ones, the elders appear, one provocation after another." After his words fell, he looked at the demon, asking casually, "Will someone else come later?"
With the sect elders' life tokens shattered, how could no one come? The demon had a clear understanding in his heart, but he didn't dare to answer, secretly lamenting his misfortune.
"In my opinion, someone else should still come. Rather than missing each other along the way, I'll wait here for a moment." Yan Junyu said with a gentlemanly demeanor.
The demon closed his eyes, filled with despair.
Indeed, in less than a quarter of an hour, two people arrived together, they were the Eighth and Ninth Elders of the Thousand-Corpse Demon Pond. The two were identical twin brothers, one using the Yin Flame Palm, the other using the Yang Flame Palm. Their coordination was seamless, their power greatly increased. Even cultivators of the same level couldn't match them, let alone a colossus at the peak of the transcending stage, who would have to weigh their options carefully when facing them.
But Yan Junyu was completely unafraid. He activated the gu pearl, causing the vines hidden in the sandy ground to erupt in full force, transforming the place into a purple hell. The sky and the ground were filled with steel-like leaves and vines that meant instant death upon contact, almost blocking out all sunlight. The two elders arrived with great momentum, but were instantly drained of their essence.
The two mummies coincidentally fell right on top of the demon's head, nearly scaring him unconscious. When he thought that the sect would certainly send more elders to their deaths, Demon Ancestor Thousand-Corpse arrived in person, saying nothing but releasing his aura to test this person.
The demon's orifices bled, and he died on the spot, but Yan Junyu waved his hand to dispel the aura and simultaneously knocked Demon Ancestor Thousand-Corpse down from the sky. A dull thud echoed as Demon Ancestor Thousand-Corpse created a deep pit in the sandy ground, struggling to stand for a long time. The elders who had accompanied him were already terrified, quickly descending from the sky to bow respectfully to Yan Junyu, all thinking in unison: Where did this wandering immortal come from? Why not ascend to the upper realms, what's he doing in Qianyuan?
"I want to borrow your teleportation array for a moment, is that possible?" Yan Junyu didn't kill indiscriminately, but unfortunately, these people didn't want to have a proper conversation with him.
"Of course, it's possible! Please, Your Excellency!" the Thousand-Corpse Demon Ancestor, who had finally climbed out of the pit, hurriedly bent over to welcome him. His initial arrogance turned to deference, making others laugh. But looking at the ground littered with limbs, no elder could laugh.