In the void, the decree that had originally been filled with sacred radiance was now stained by black ink, mottled and ugly, making it impossible for anyone to feel even a shred of reverence toward it anymore. Upon careful inspection, the stains even resembled a huge, glaring cross!

Across the vast Immortal Rock City, not a single sound could be heard. Whether cultivators or mortals, everyone had already sensed that something was terribly wrong.

Meng Suikong's once-calm expression was no longer calm. A flicker of shock passed through his placid eyes. It was only after a few seconds that his face turned incomparably gloomy. His jet-black hair, like a cascading waterfall, stirred without wind. Immortal essence surged around him like raging waves. His sharp gaze swept across the surroundings as he spoke through clenched teeth, "Which despicable rat dares use such underhanded means to defile my path to becoming an Ancient Immortal?!"

His voice thundered like a great bell, shaking the souls of everyone watching.

"How could this happen?"

"Could someone really dare to sabotage Chief Meng's breakthrough at such a moment!?"

Cultivators from all sides stared at one another in disbelief. The Meng Clan, both younger and older generations, also snapped back to their senses at this moment. Many were enraged, but others felt a sense of gloating. Of course, those who did didn't dare to show it openly.

Suddenly, two streaks of light shot out from the Meng Clan, transforming into two elderly men, one fat, one thin. There was scarcely any visible fluctuation of immortal essence around them, as if they were ordinary mortal old men. If not for the fact that they were standing in midair, one might not even recognize them as cultivators. That was the mark of an Ancient Immortal.

These two were the Meng Clan's Ancient Immortals!

"Seal off Immortal Rock City. Thoroughly investigate this matter," one of the Ancient Immortals ordered.

Meng Clan cultivators immediately surged into the air, joining forces with cultivators from all sides to seal off Immortal Rock City.

During this period, any cultivator who attempted to forcefully leave would be taken down as a suspect.

The other Ancient Immortal looked at Meng Suikong, his gaze uncertain and shifting.

"Two honored ancestors, the immortal register has been defiled. My path to becoming an Ancient Immortal... must be delayed," Meng Suikong said calmly.

One of the Ancient Immortals sighed. "Ancient Immortal registers are rare. The Meng family went to tremendous lengths to obtain one for you. Now that it has been defiled, who knows when you'll be able to make another breakthrough?"

As he spoke, the decree stained by black ink suddenly exploded. The two Ancient Immortals were caught off guard and were splashed by some of the black ink. In an instant, their aura plummeted at a visible rate. Before they knew it, they actually became weaker than Meng Suikong himself!

This scene completely stunned the Meng Clan cultivators who were enforcing the lockdown. Cultivators throughout Immortal Rock City, upon witnessing what happened, all gasped in shock.

"How could this be?!"

The cultivation of these two Ancient Immortals had fallen to the sixth transformation! There was only one explanation for this: their immortal registers had been contaminated as well.

The decree in the void had already vanished, and the black ink seemed as though it had never appeared at all. Yet everything before their eyes told them that what had just happened was no illusion.

"The Meng Clan... has no Ancient Immortals left," a sixth-transformation immortal living in Immortal Rock City muttered.

Not only him. Every sixth-transformation immortal in Immortal Rock City instantly imagined what the Meng Clan would become without Ancient Immortals.

Although the head of the Mysterious Immortal Division also bore the surname Meng, the vast Immortal Rock City was not something he could dominate single-handedly. In the past, with Meng Tianshu presiding, no one dared harbor disloyal thoughts. But perhaps resources could be redistributed now!

Meng Suikong finally snapped out of his shock. He looked at the two Ancient Immortals with an extremely grave expression. "Your cultivations..."

The two Ancient Immortals had yet to recover from their shock. Upon hearing him, they immediately checked their cultivation. What they found caused their faces to turn unbearably ugly.

"What kind of method is this? Who is targeting the Meng Clan so viciously...?" one of the Ancient Immortals muttered to himself. Suddenly, his tone turned fierce. "It's the Enlightenment God Palace! It must be the Enlightenment God Palace! They want to exterminate our entire lineage!"

His furious voice echoed throughout Immortal Rock City.

Meng Suikong's expression was a storm of shifting emotions. If their lineage no longer had any Ancient Immortals, what right did they have to compete for immortal registers? Hadn't his own path to Ancient Immortality essentially been cut off?

Fang Chen could not help but sigh to himself as he watched all this through Fang Renjian's perspective. He was also very curious. What exactly had Xie Aman refined that could destroy someone's breakthrough to Ancient Immortal and even contaminate the immortal registers of nearby Ancient Immortals?

With this single move, the Meng Clan lost three Ancient Immortals in succession. If one counted Meng Tianshu as well, that was four Ancient Immortals gone. What fate awaited a great clan that had relied on Ancient Immortals to govern Immortal Rock City, once it lost all its Ancient Immortals?

Even with the Mysterious Immortal Division backing them, their lineage was at least ninety-nine percent ruined.

***

Fang Chen returned to his true body's point of view. He immediately noticed that Little Immortal Honglian was standing right in front of him, looking at him thoughtfully.

He smiled and asked, "Daoist Hong, what's wrong?"

Little Immortal Honglian glanced behind Fang Chen, toward Chen Enxue's room, then curiously asked, "Daoist Fang, what were you thinking about just now that you were so absorbed? You didn't even notice me approaching."

"I was thinking about whether tomorrow's negotiations will go smoothly," Fang Chen replied.

"There probably won't be any major changes. The Enlightenment God Palace still carries some weight in the Lesser Immortal Realm. I imagine the Fire Virtue Immortal Division will give them some face," Little Immortal Honglian said casually to comfort him.

Fang Chen nodded. "That's what I think as well."

After chatting briefly, the two returned to their respective quarters.

That night, it was likely that no one would be able to sleep.

***

Early the next morning, Fang Chen stepped out of his chamber and saw Ji Chunmei and the others once again going out to greet an Immortal Boat.

All the core disciples gathered together, smiling faintly as they looked at the approaching Immortal Boat.

"The people from the Fire Virtue Immortal Division have arrived."

Chen Enxue was the last to come out. She glanced at the boat and suddenly smiled. "The Fire Virtue Immortal Division really does take this matter seriously. They've even sent an Ancient Immortal."

The core disciples exchanged looks.

An Ancient Immortal?

Now that they could not use Immortal Boat Formations, they would have no chance of winning against an Ancient Immortal.

Ji Tianjun had been following behind Ji Sheng the entire time. His gaze slipped through the gaps between shoulders, landing on Fang Chen in the distance.

Seeing that Fang Chen was completely unharmed, Ji Tianjun's expression darkened.

Chen Enxue waited until the people from the Fire Virtue Immortal Division had been led into the hall, then said, "They've already entered the reception hall. Let's go over as well."

She led everyone inside.

Inside the vast reception hall, two camps had now formed. On one side were cultivators from the Fire Virtue Immortal Division. On the other were cultivators of the Ji Family. The leading figures on both sides were seventh-transformation Ancient Immortals.

The seventh-transformation Ancient Immortal from the Fire Virtue Immortal Division was a short old man, barely around 1.3 meters tall, his feet not even touching the ground as he sat on the chair.

Even so, no one dared underestimate him. Every Ancient Immortal possessed unfathomable divine abilities and methods.

Even among Ancient Immortals, it was difficult to know an opponent's true trump cards or methods, making it nearly impossible to accurately judge the gap in strength. Because of this, Ancient Immortals almost never treated each other lightly.

"Didn't you say the core disciples of the Enlightenment God Palace would come to plead on your behalf?" the Fire Virtue Immortal Division's Ancient Immortal said slowly, his voice somewhat sharp, enough to confirm that his stature was due to dwarfism.