It was just as he’d predicted.

As Elder Demon Su finished speaking, the flowers absorbing the Demonic Qi began to show an abnormality.

Black spots began to creep up from the roots, spreading like a plague. Eventually, the entire flower dimmed and lost its luster, then slowly wilted and withered away. Finally, it turned to nothing, dissipating into Heaven and Earth.

In an instant, the entire sea of flowers withered away, and a massive amount of Demonic Qi flooded back to where Elder Demon Su had been.

After the sea of flowers vanished, Elder Gu appeared beside Elder He, his body also wreathed in Demonic Qi. His face was a deathly black—he had clearly been deeply corrupted by the Demonic Qi!

"Are you alright!?" Elder He exclaimed in alarm.

"I’m fine!" Elder Gu took a few Elixirs from his Storage Bag and popped them into his mouth. His complexion immediately improved.

"Damn it! This Elder Demon is so tenacious. Neither your Divine Power nor my Array can stop him!"

"Wait! Something isn’t right!" Elder Gu said suddenly.

"What isn’t right?" Elder He asked, confused.

"We’ve been the ones attacking Elder Demon Su from the very beginning, but why has he allowed us to besiege him without ever fighting back? Logically, when our attack failed, he should have pressed his advantage, not remained in place like a sitting duck."

Elder Gu realized something was amiss.

"There are only two possibilities for this," he continued.

Elder He’s eyes widened as he stared in Elder Demon Su’s direction.

"One, he’s incapable of attacking us. And two..."

They looked at each other, then cried out in unison:

"He’s stalling for time!"

But from within the demonic mist ahead, Elder Demon Su’s voice echoed out once more.

"No, no, no. There is a third possibility."

"And that is that I need you alive... to witness the historic moment of my ascension!"

Just as Elder Gu and Elder He stood there in shock, the Demonic Qi before them, which had previously weakened, suddenly swelled and billowed like a tidal wave.

Elder Demon Su’s figure reappeared. As his hands danced through the air, the shattered and reformed Array Patterns swirled around him, frantically drawing in the surrounding Heaven and Earth Spiritual Qi and Demonic Qi like a black hole.

Under Elder Demon Su’s meticulous control, the Supreme Yin and Yang Array began to slowly merge. In his hands, the two opposing forces miraculously achieved a subtle, delicate balance.

The newly fused Array radiated a suffocatingly powerful aura, aimed directly at the ancient and mighty seal at the heart of the Secret Realm.

At that moment, it all clicked for Elder He. He understood why Elder Demon Su had allowed them to destroy his Array and set up the Supreme Yang Array without any interference.

Everything had been part of Elder Demon Su’s plan. He had long anticipated that in order to break the original Array, Elder He would deploy a Supreme Yang Array against him.

He hadn’t killed them at the outset not because they were lucky enough to escape, but because he had intentionally let them go. It was all so Elder He would be the one to break the Array and create the Supreme Yang Array.

Elder Demon Su had used Elder He’s own Supreme Yang Array against him, turning his strength back on itself. He’d orchestrated a collision between the Power of Supreme Yang and the Power of Supreme Yin to generate a terrifying force, one powerful enough to shatter the seal.

’So that’s how it is!’

Elder He was shaken to his core. He keenly felt how utterly outmatched he was in this contest.

’Once Elder Demon Su realized it would be nearly impossible for him to break the core Tier Four Array alone, he planned to use my power. He would combine our efforts to form the Yin Yang Tai Chi Five Elements Array and break the seal.’

’I only saw the Array confrontation right in front of me, never imagining that Elder Demon Su had foreseen it all. His mastery of Arrays has likely reached the absolute peak for a Tier Three Array Master. I am no match for him!’

Elder He had thought he was on the second level, looking down on his opponent on the first.

He never imagined his opponent was actually in the stratosphere, looking down on them all!

In Elder Demon Su’s hands, the Yin Yang Tai Chi Five Elements Array transformed into an invisible millstone, grinding its way toward the core hall!

As the millstone turned, Yin Yang Fusion occurred and the Five Elements gave rise to one another. Endless waves of energy rippled across its surface, threatening to grind everything in its path to dust.

As this power advanced, the very air around it seemed to twist and blur.

The once-impenetrable core hall now looked fragile before this crushing force, as if it could be utterly pulverized at any moment.

"This is bad!"

As Elder He cried out in alarm, the Tier Four Array enveloping the core hall collapsed under the crushing power of the Yin-Yang and Five Elements!

The seal—was broken.

BOOM!

BOOM!

BOOM!

With the shattering of the seal, a wave of power so immense it was suffocating instantly swept across the entire Secret Realm. It was as if all the forces of Heaven and Earth had been awakened in that single moment.

Amidst the tremendous shockwave from the shattered seal, Elder Demon Su’s figure did not vanish. Instead, he appeared even more wild and arrogant.

He commanded the invisible millstone of the Yin Yang Tai Chi Five Elements Array, like a sovereign controlling the very forces of life and death, his eyes glinting with a frenzied, ecstatic light.

"The Demon Venerable is finally unleashed!!!"

After all the tremors subsided, the Demonic Qi was drawn into the shattered seal ahead, like a receding tide.

Gradually, every trace of Demonic Qi in the entire Secret Realm was drawn inside. Feeling the Demonic Qi vanish, Elder Demon Su stood stunned for a moment.

’So this is the Demon Venerable? He absorbed every last wisp of Demonic Qi in the entire Secret Realm... how can such a vast amount be contained in a single body? Truly, utterly terrifying!’

Elder Demon Su grew even more excited.

With the disappearance of the Demonic Qi, the being within the seal was finally revealed.

Inside the ruined hall, a majestic stone statue was revealed.

The statue was about six feet tall, sculpted with breathtaking realism. It depicted a handsome man in green robes.

The man wore a sorrowful expression, his arms crossed tightly over his chest as if he were carefully guarding a crucial Treasure.

The object was hidden between his hands. Though its exact form was concealed, his expression and posture conveyed its immense value and importance.

Elder Demon Su also saw clearly that all the vanishing Demonic Qi had been absorbed by that very stone statue.

After absorbing the very last wisp of Demonic Qi, the grayish-white stone statue suddenly began to change.

Tiny cracks began to form on its surface.

Starting from the top of its head, a crack as fine as a spider’s thread appeared and began to slowly creep downward. It traced a path down the statue’s face, over its broad shoulders, and all the way to its feet, until the entire surface was a web of fractures.

The moment the cracks appeared, both Elder He and Elder Gu felt an ancient and profound aura flow out from the statue.

In the eyes of the green-robed man’s statue, a faint light began to gleam within the once-empty sockets, as if they were coming to life.

As the cracks multiplied, the statue’s surface began to peel away. Pieces of stone fell with a soft RUSTLE, revealing skin beneath.