The demonic energies exerted pressure like the heavens weighing down on his shoulders and Chu Yang could feel his entire body turning numb.
The Black Freeze Grand Sage was not even deliberating channeling the power of the Nine Nether Draught. Just by letting the aura of his demonic energies run amok, Chu Yang could already feel as if his whole body and soul was freezing up.
"This feeling… A demon in the undying demonic soul stage?" Chu Yang's heart sank as a shadow flickered in the deepest corners of his soul.
It seemed like a long sword when observed close-up, except half of it was material and the other was just a light shadow. It existed as both an illusion and in tangible form, its true physical form was not completely revealed, and it was just hovering in the middle of Chu Yang's soul.
The shadow of the sword was forty-five percent tangible and fifty-five percent light projection.
"It's a pity that I didn't have time to assimilate the Creation Heavenly Crystal. If I did, my chances would have been slightly greater…" Chu Yang was acutely aware that the gap between himself and his opponent was simply too big. Even if he unleashed his entire arsenal and did his best, he would still not be able to escape.
Still, Chu Yang was able to remain calm and search for a solution so that he stood a chance to survive.
There were just some doubts in his mind. The location where he had retrieved the Creation Heavenly Crystal and where he defeated the Nine Netherworld Ghost Monkey king was conspicuously far from the Nine Netherworld Peak. Was his luck that bad, that he encountered another Nine Netherworld Ghost Monkey in the undying demonic soul stage just like that?
Even if that demon was paying attention to him, unless the ghost monkey he just killed was a direct relative, it did not make sense for a grand sage-level Nine Netherworld Ghost Monkey to chase him down personally. This Grand Sage could have simply dispatched several other monkey kings who were more powerful than the one that came before, and that would have been a more natural response as well.
Was his luck really that bad?
He thought to himself with rather despondently as he prepared for the final struggle. He knew he had no hope of hurting his adversary. Instead, he wanted to channel all his energy on the Southwest You Heaven Sword in the hopes of being able to escape as quickly as he could.
Chu Yang could not be bothered about watching his back anymore. His consciousness no longer swept behind him, let alone his eyes - that would only waste his time and energy and reduced his chances of being able to get out alive.
Yet at this moment, there was another gigantic black ape looming behind him. He had a bronze face and terrifying-looking teeth as his gaping mouth huffed and puffed with chilly air - he was dangerously close to Chu Yang.
At this very instant, the void suddenly trembled and a human shadow stepped out from within and smiled as he sauntered forward towards Chu Yang and the Black Freeze Grand Sage.
It was a youth in a purple robe and a golden fur coat on the outside. He was tall, lanky and had an elegant demeanor that made him relatively handsome as long black hair extended below his shoulders and down his back.
He appeared in front of the Black Freeze Grand Sage the moment he arrived at the party. The Black Freeze Grand Sage felt a flash before his eyes and saw the purple-clothed youth reaching out with one hand and all five fingers extended as he made a grab at him.
The movement appeared slow and not too quick, but the Black Freeze Grand Sage found himself unable to dodge. In the next moment, his gargantuan physical body was immobilized by just one of the youth's hands!
The youth re-extended his fingers and the space around him started twisting out of proportion. He was not trying to reduce the size of the Black Freeze Grand Sage - instead, he was compressing the space all around him.
The Black Freeze Grand Sage was initially frozen by shock but grew furious immediately after and violent energy started surging around his body. The physical strengths of the Nine Netherworld Ghost Monkeys were not considered their forte amongst the other breeds of the Ancient Ape Demons. However, that was just relative to the other ape demons and the truth was that the physical strength of the Nine Netherworld Ghost Monkey was actually considered quite strong compared to the other demon races.
What he did not expect was that he was completely unable to move under the vice-grip of the youth. When the youth added some power to his grip and pinched a little, the Black Freeze Grand Sage could feel his skeleton crackling as if they were about to shatter.
"Who's this guy? What demon has a human form like this? Can humans have such a powerful physical body?" The Black Freeze Grand Sage was overcome with both terror and fury as he howled into the sky and voluminous gusts of Nine Nether Draught were unleashed into the sky, and the rolling winds immediately surged towards the youth with a blanketing effect.
When he howled into the air, his eyes flickered with insidious lights at the same time, and a strange hologram of a giant monkey roaring towards the sky seemed to appear in midair as well. The physical body of the Black Freeze Grand Sage himself appeared a little slow and a lethargic.
He had unleashed the trump card of his entire arsenal of abilities. The Nine Netherworld Ghost Monkeys unlocked a natural talent once they reached the undying demonic soul stage - the Nine Netherworld Soul-Splitting Roar!
This roar was targeted directly at the soul of the adversary, and integrated into the Nine Nether Draught to amplify its power. It was a powerful spell, and a single roar would instantly shatter the souls of almost every single human and demon below the immortal soul or the undying demonic soul stage all around.
Even humans in the immortal soul stage or great demons in the undying demonic soul stage ran the risk of sustaining heavy injuries to their respective immortal souls or their demonic souls.
This spell was channeled from the soul, and was therefore designed to target the soul as well. No matter how powerful the physical body, the protective capabilities against such a spell would be highly limited.
Spells of the soul were typically countered by the Yang energies of powerful martial way cultivators. However, at the level of the Black Freeze Grand Sage, the power of his natural talent was no longer something that could be dispelled purely by the Yang energies of martial cultivators.
Even when his own body was compromised, he was still able to pose a significant threat to his adversary's soul and could result in an outcome where both parties ended up heavily injured.
This ear-splitting roar was not simply meant for the youth in the purple robe - the Black Freeze Grand Sage wanted to take this opportunity to put Chu Yang down as well.
The purple-clothed youth in the golden fur coat chuckled with amusement as the hand grabbing on to the Black Freeze Grand Sage sparkled with uncountable strikes of purple lightning. In the middle of it all, a petrifying purple-green lightning snake slithered and meandered.
He swiftly increased the pressure on his palm and the sounds of bone cracking could be heard, and the Black Freeze Grand Sage's body immediately became twisted out of shape from the pulverizing force. The violent lightning strikes caused so much pain that the Black Freeze Grand Sage cried out agonizingly and there was no way he could proceed with the Nine Netherworld Soul-Splitting Roar.
A howl that would have left even immortal soul stage cultivators in consternation and terror was cut off right when it just started like scissors on a piece of string, and all that's left were sharp echoes that resonated between heaven and earth.
The strange light illusion of the giant monkey roaring towards the sky came into contact with the dancing lightning streaks and was dashed into pieces in an instant.
The purple-robed youth turned towards Chu Yang as he held on to a dying Black Freeze Grand Sage. "What are you doing here in the Barren Expanses? You're so deep into the region as well."
The youth was Shi Tianhao, and Chu Yang heaved a sigh of relief. However, a strange feeling shot up from the bottom of his heart, as if he was lost. This feeling came from nowhere, and even Chu Yang himself was perplexed and unable to fathom.
He shook his head and dispelled the irrelevant thoughts from his head as he clasped his hands together and paid his respects to Shi Tianhao. "Thank you, Elder Shi. I will never forget this favor."
When Xiao Yan, Shi Tianhao and the other two ascended into the immortal soul stage and after them grand display of their extraordinary powers during the great battle of Mount Yujing, the collective title of 'Four Heroes of the Celestial Sect' started going around and drew more and more respect from the entire world.
However, the four of them had no intention to flatter themselves with such titles, and there was no information being passed around regarding their Daoist Names within the Celestial Sect of Wonders.
This was the reason why there was a myriad of nicknames given by the outside world. Gradually, these names started tending towards the same popular one.
This wasn't something completely unheard of. The Xuan Lin Holy Man of the Great Void Sect was a title given by the outside world, and was not his Daoist name within the Great Void Sect.
There was still some discussion regarding Xiao Yan and Wang Lin's title, but Shi Tianhao's and Zhu Yi's were already widespread and everybody had come to a silent consensus as well.
When he participated in the state examinations while he was in the aurous core stage, he had been lauded by the sages and was even halfway there himself. When he reached the immortal soul stage and with the Higan Golden Bridge by his side, the title of 'Yi Zi' officially circulated the Divine Lands and became publicly recognized.
Due to the fact that Shi Tianhao's residence was called the Wasteland Valley as well as the fact that the Great Qin Empire had given him the title of 'Marquis of Huangtian', he was given the honorary title of 'Huangtian Supreme Master' after he ascended into the immortal soul stage. At times, he was also referred to as the 'Huangtian Holy Man'.
Outside of the Great Qin and the Great Zhou Empire, there were some people who referred to him as the Huangtian Emperor or simply as the Huang Emperor. However, those names were only popular for a short period of time and quickly died out.
However, many nosy individuals purported that it was only a matter of time before Shi Tianhao would be called the Huangtian Emperor. He was only in the Immortal Soul First Level, but he possessed immense and disproportionately powerful strength and this title was bound to come if he followed the current trajectory.
This was similar to the Sky Emperor and the Thunder Lord in the olden days, and that was still during the rule of the Human Emperors.
Shi Tianhao had never given his approval or his objection towards the names given to him by the outside world. This was the reason why people referred to him as the Huangtian Supreme Master in their private discussions, but addressed him as 'Shi Holy Man' or 'Elder Shi' in front of him as they were unsure of his attitude towards this matter.
It was also natural that there were many cultivators below the immortal soul stage who referred to him as their senior.
'Senior Shi' was only thirty years old, and the people that called him that included old-school nascent soul stage cultivators that were thousands of years old.
Chu Yang's place of birth, the Ethereal Mountain, was completely reliant upon the Celestial Sect of Wonders at this point. The people from the Ethereal Mountain therefore typically followed the habits of the other members of the Celestial Sect of Wonders and addressed Shi Tianhao as 'Elder Shi'.
"I am here in the area controlled by the Nine Netherworld Ghost Monkeys to search for a particular treasure. It's unfortunate that as I approached the outer regions of their circle of influence, I provoked an undying demon soul stage Nine Netherworld Ghost Monkey and he immediately lunged in pursuit." In front of Shi Tianhao, Chu Yang did not even attempt to hide anything and explained the matter to the best of his ability.
He could tell that Shi Tianhao was not just passing by, and it was very likely that Shi Tianhao had seen him unleash the Great Nine Heavens Holy Sword Technique, so he was very honest. "The immemorial Heaven's Gate Sect was laid to ruin at the hands of Shenyuan, the Emperor of Extremity, and some of their exotic treasures became the spoils of wars of the Ancient Ape Demons. I obtained a lead and followed it all the way to see if I could get lucky."
Shi Tianhao held onto the Black Freeze Grand Sage as he glanced towards the Nine Netherworld Peak on the edge of the far horizon and laughed. "Your lucky doesn't seem to good." Chu Yang laughed awkwardly as he heard these words.
In the sky beyond the horizon, a giant shadow of a Nine Netherworld Ghost Monkey that was far more powerful than the Black Freeze Grand Sage started to materialize. His eyes resembled the ghost lights inside the house of Hades, and were staring straight towards Shi Tianhao.
It was the Nine Netherworld Grand Sage.
The capture of the Black Freeze Grand Sage who was in the undying demon soul stage meant that the Nine Netherworld Grand Sage could no longer hold back anymore.
He was not too hasty to act, however, as he immediately recognized Shi Tianaho and he could already feel the bitter taste in his mouth. He was originally guarding against Lin Feng, and his disciples appeared before him in the end. It wasn't because he was afraid of Shi Tianhao, but engaging in a battle with Shi Tianhao would undoubtedly draw Lin Feng's attention.
However, his heart froze a little as he suddenly realized that even Lin Feng's disciples were already extremely difficult to deal with.
Another purple-robed youth stepped out from beside Shi Tianhao. He had a calm and plain expression, and a very normal demeanor; the salient characteristic that attracted people's attention was the white hair that stretched out behind him.
Wang Lin's eyes were calm as they pierced through the void and watched the Nine Netherworld Grand Sage who was located beneath the Nine Netherworld Peak - he wondered to himself: what was the secret hidden beneath this place?