The Withered-Leaf Cicada’s vitality was completely drained.

Old Devil Fang was reborn through the Starwing Cicada, yet it remained unknown what supernatural ability the Starwing Cicada possessed that allowed it to pierce through the blood-red crystalline wall.

How could the split soul of the ancient devil possibly allow Old Devil Fang to escape? His figure flickered repeatedly as he lunged forward.

Anxiety filled the eyes of the Starwing Cicada.

Old Devil Fang’s primordial spirit had suffered severe damage. Even after switching bodies and absorbing the Withered-Leaf Cicada’s essence, he only had the strength to break through the blood-red wall.

Old Devil Fang witnessed a sight he would never forget for the rest of his life. A delicate figure suddenly leapt up. It was the grand witch priest, standing firmly between him and the split soul of the ancient devil.

"The witch race cannot be without the grand witch priest!" The grand witch priest gave a sorrowful smile and left behind her parting words.

Boom! The phantom of the Spring Lightning Silkworm shattered, and a glimmer of silver light appeared on her forehead. It was the final light of her life.

In an instant, countless threads of lightning spread across the sky, surging toward the split soul of the ancient devil in retaliation. When the Spring Lightning Silkworm perished, the lightning threads finally dissipated.

Though she knew Old Devil Fang was not someone worthy of entrusting the future of the entire race to, she still chose to sacrifice herself, buying him a single chance at survival.

The witch race could not compare to the human race.

Even if Lingzhuzi and the others were all to die here, the human race still had deep foundations to rely on. But if the witch race were to lose its leaders, it was akin to taking away their vitality and leaving them without guidance.

The gains they had obtained from the divine-patterned ancient barrier needed someone to carry them out. Only then would there be hope to revive the witch race.

Countless streaks of lightning blocked the way. The split soul of the ancient devil gave a cold snort. His true devilish qi erupted as he attempted to forcefully disperse the lightning and capture Old Devil Fang.

He finally understood Devil Qingzhu’s earlier frustration.

Qingzhu’s true body trembled once again, shaking the spiritual sword fragments within him and fiercely resisting. Moreover, since the split soul of the ancient devil had weakened significantly after performing Spirit Slice, suppressing Qingzhu’s true body was becoming increasingly difficult.

Caught off guard, his true devilish qi rippled violently, and he was nearly swallowed by the lightning.

With an angry growl rising from his throat, he abandoned his advance and forcibly suppressed Qingzhu instead. His devilish qi spread like a great screen, shielding himself from the lightning at all costs. Amid the thunderous storm, he grabbed the grand witch priest, whose origin was nearly burned away.

The grand witch priest died with her eyes closed and was thrown into the blood coffin. By then, Old Devil Fang had already broken through the blood-red wall and disappeared from sight.

He was the second person to escape after the elder of the Four Saints Palace. His eyes flickered with complex emotion.

He had once believed that, having reached his level of cultivation, his heart was as hard as iron, immune to all external attachments. Yet the grand witch priest’s final expression and smile lingered endlessly in his mind.

In the past, Old Devil Fang had thought the grand witch priest used the excuse of reviving the witch race merely to seek power and resources. He had looked down on her. Now, he realized he had been wrong.

He had become the beneficiary of her unwavering faith. Old Devil Fang’s emotions churned. Beating his starry wings, he ultimately chose to fly toward the divine furnace’s location.

The grand witch priest was dead. Even if the ancient devil were to be sealed again, those rescued in the end would all be human experts.

But once the ancient devil broke free and the devilish catastrophe spread across the world, the witch race would be the first to face annihilation.

Old Devil Fang did not seize the opportunity to take the divine furnace for himself. Instead, he chose to help repair the divine-patterned ancient barrier, hoping there might still be a chance of survival left.

At that same time, the elder of the Four Saints Palace had already arrived at the ancient hall of the dragon corpse, racing against time to restore the demon race’s ancient barrier.

***

The split soul of the ancient devil’s face twisted in fury. His gaze swept across the battlefield and locked onto the Devil Lord.

Whoosh! In the next moment, the split soul appeared before the Devil Lord. With a single motion of his hand, his true devilish qi transformed into chains, ensnaring Fairy Nangui and yanking her violently forward.

Everyone present had become lambs to the slaughter, powerless beneath the ancient devil’s will.

Just as the split soul began his killing spree, Qin Sang secretly sent a voice transmission to Lingzhuzi.

"Senior, I still have the strength for one strike. It carries the might of a top-grade astra, but I’ll need your help to distract him so he won’t notice me..." Qin Sang had finally finished condensing his fire seed.

His head throbbed as if splitting apart, enduring pain no less severe than what Lingzhuzi and the others suffered. Without the Jade Buddha, he would have been obliterated long ago.

Despite the chaos around him, he had forced himself to cultivate this secret technique because of a conjecture he had after studying the Fire Seed Golden Lotus.

If his idea worked, he could unleash a single strike equivalent to that of a Spiritual Infant cultivator, perhaps enough to save his life at a critical moment.

The key to the devilish banner array lay in the Devilish Flames of Nine Hells. Each of the eighteen devilish banners sealed devilish flames. The array’s power depended on how many banners and flames he could control.

With Qin Sang’s current cultivation, he could at most control nine to form the array. The Devilish Flames of Nine Hells were wild and unyielding, making them extremely difficult to command.

But if he could tame a single strand of the flames and condense it into a devil seed, then merge with the Devilish Flames of Nine Hells, his spiritual consciousness would carry the aura of the devilish flames itself. Would this make the flames acknowledge him and lessen their resistance?

He had once tested this theory in Purple Mist End, where masterless devilish flames had not shown hostility toward each other and did not clash violently.

Back then, Qin Sang had wrapped himself in devilish flames to infiltrate the devilish barrier and enter the ghostly land beyond, where he met Bai.

If this worked, he could control ten or even more banners and form a stronger banner array!

Qin Sang had never before deployed more than nine banners, and he had no way of knowing how powerful the result might be but it was worth the risk. Even a single strike would be enough!

Focused solely on condensing the fire seed, Qin Sang finally succeeded. Within his upper dantian now floated a tiny fire seed, shaped like a black lotus seed.

The flames' aura was faint, as though a mere breath could extinguish it. This was Qin Sang’s limit.

He understood clearly that his cultivation was far from sufficient to control the devilish flames. Simply maintaining the stability of the fire seed was already a stroke of luck. To truly command spiritual fire as Old Devil Mou once did would likely be impossible even after reaching the Spiritual Infant Realm.

Even so, if Old Devil Mou were to see the speed at which Qin Sang had condensed the fire seed, he would have been utterly dumbfounded.

When Qin Sang finished the secret technique, he was horrified to find that the situation had already spiraled beyond recovery. After Lingzhuzi and the others died, the split soul of the ancient devil would certainly not hesitate to throw the rest of them into the blood coffin as well.

Qin Sang had no idea how much his strike would matter, but he refused to sit and wait for death.

Seeing that Lingzhuzi was not far away, Qin Sang immediately sent him a voice transmission, quickly explaining his plan.

Lingzhuzi, gravely wounded and on the verge of death, was taken completely by surprise upon hearing Qin Sang’s voice.

A lowly cultivator who had been dragged into this conflict by accident and ignored by both sides had somehow survived the devilish roar unscathed, and even claimed to have the strength to counterattack. How could that not astonish him?

At this point, they could not afford to overlook any possible aid. Both of them were seriously injured.

The split soul of the ancient devil, driven by impatience, had also paid a heavy price. His strength had fallen sharply, leaving both sides in a state of mutual exhaustion.

Lingzhuzi made his decision without hesitation and replied through voice transmission, "Set up your array. I’ll cover for you. Follow my lead when the time comes."

Gathering what remained of his strength, Lingzhuzi formed a layer of protective screen around Qin Sang to conceal the fluctuations of the array.

Qin Sang exhaled softly, sat cross-legged on the ground, and summoned his banners.

This time, he found them indeed easier to control. When his spiritual consciousness guided the Devilish Flames of Nine Hells within the banners, the resistance was noticeably weaker.

Without hesitation, Qin Sang drew out all eighteen devilish banners at once.