Chapter 1260: Self-Inflicted Trap

Pure Nine-Lotus Treasure Lamp

After the Haotian Mirror refined the fragments of the Heavenly Phoenix Mirror, it ascended to the sixth tier, but its potential was not yet exhausted.

As Daoist Dandian's natal magical artifact, the Heavenly Phoenix Mirror's raw materials possessed innate properties. If fully refined, there would be no problem for the Haotian Mirror to reach the peak of the sixth tier.

However, Chen Mobai was not capable of achieving this step.

After all, he was only at the Spirit Transformation stage; creating a sixth-tier magical artifact was already his limit.

The Hunyuan Bell's advancement was also due to its previously laid foundation; he merely served to open up resources and provide the power of the four Great Daos.

Therefore, if the Haotian Mirror was to advance further, it would primarily need to rely on its own refinement. Under these circumstances, Chen Mobai, due to his lower cultivation, could assist it using array formations.

The Sky Veil Earth Net Grand Array was a sixth-tier array. Placing the Haotian Mirror into its core hub allowed it to be refined as the central piece.

This was equivalent to using the essence of the sun and moon and the spiritual energy of mountains and rivers absorbed by the Sky Veil Earth Net Grand Array to help the Haotian Mirror accelerate its digestion of the Heavenly Phoenix Mirror fragments.

In the Purple Cloud Universe, this was a relatively uncommon artifact refining method, known as "Array Refining."

Initially, after an artifact refiner completed the embryo of a natal magical artifact, they would place it into the core of a star imbued with the Dao rhymes of heaven and earth. This way, the artifact would integrate these Dao rhymes during its formation, and even at its birth, achieve a degree of innate profundity, laying the foundation for the seventh tier.

Later, it gradually evolved so that any hub with a spiritual vein could be used to place artifact embryos for refinement, saving cultivators time, only needing to retrieve them once they matured.

After all, for cultivators, the energy and resources required to refine a natal magical artifact to match their cultivation level would be almost as much as for their own cultivation.

This array refining method, however, could free up cultivators.

Even if it failed, at worst, they could just refine a new natal magical artifact embryo.

After all, for excellent artifact refiners like Chen Mobai, as long as they had materials, artifact embryos could be easily crafted.

They could even place several artifact embryos together for array refining at once, then choose the one that developed best.

Although Mount Panghuang's spiritual veins couldn't compare to star cores containing innate Dao rhymes, under the augmentation of the Sky Veil Earth Net Grand Array, supporting the Haotian Mirror to the peak of the sixth tier was still not an issue.

Moreover, with the Haotian Mirror placed here, it was like being at home, and Chen Mobai felt at ease.

It also allowed him to utilize the grand array to amplify the artifact's ability to illuminate the great realm and dispel evil inner demons.

This was killing two birds with one stone.

For the next period, Chen Mobai remained at Mount Panghuang, calibrating the integration of the Haotian Mirror's light with the Sky Veil Earth Net Grand Array, while simultaneously directing his second primordial spirit to seek out the remaining inner demon avatars across Eastern Continent.

Although he wished to let them grow stronger before eradicating them, Eastern Continent was, after all, his territory. Even if it meant revealing something, he had to cleanse the interior first, to prevent the Lord of Central Demonic Dao from poisoning the living beings of Eastern Continent should a true conflict arise later.

The second primordial spirit revealed the inner demon avatars in the Eastern Lands to the other three Great Sacred Lands. This was because there were many here, and his continuous slayings, which caused one avatar after another to lose contact, made the Lord of Central Demonic Dao realize something, prompting him to control these avatars to act and escape.

Of the five inner demon avatars in the Eastern Lands, three were within the subordinate forces of the three Great Sacred Lands. This was because the sects of the three Great Sacred Lands all cultivated Purification Bamboos, and newly admitted disciples generally could not bypass the test of walking through the bamboo forest. Thus, the Lord of Central Demonic Dao only dared to possess disciples from branch sects or insignificant low-cultivation chore disciples.

The other two were Nascent Soul stage cultivators from other myriad nations of the Eastern Lands.

After Chen Mobai communicated with the three Great Sacred Lands, he showed no politeness whatsoever. He directly wielded the Yuanyang Sword, tracked them using the positioning of the Primordial Demonic Talismans, and killed them all, one sword per target.

These two inner demon avatars had been cultivated by the Lord of Central Demonic Dao for a long time, and their cultivation was even higher than Du Mengyun's.

After they were slain, two more faces on the World-Destroying Great Mill lit up within the Sea of Consciousness in the Purple Mansion of Chen Mobai's true body, who was seated on Mount Panghuang.

Chen Mobai wasn't particularly concerned about these two new demonic inheritances, but the emergence of two substantial streams of Doom power caused his accumulation on this Great Dao to reach half of what he had on the Sacred Virtue Great Dao.

It must be known that after his Spirit Transformation, eight-tenths of his arduous efforts had been dedicated to the Sacred Virtue Great Dao. Yet, through the Primordial Demonic Talisman, after slaying just a few inner demon avatars, he effortlessly caught up to a century of arduous cultivation from the Pure Yang Scroll.

If this continued, wouldn't the Doom Great Dao quickly surpass the Sacred Virtue Great Dao and reach the Spirit Transformation Grand Completion stage first!

Upon realizing this, Chen Mobai felt no joy; instead, he was filled with apprehension.

The cultivation speed of this Primordial Demonic Dao was somewhat too fast!

The cautionary tale of the Lord of Central Demonic Dao becoming his own meal was right before his eyes. He was now certain that as soon as he made any significant progress in the Primordial Demonic Dao, he would likely become the Demonic Lord's blood-food.

Therefore, after thoroughly cleansing all inner demon avatars in Eastern Continent, he decisively recalled his second primordial spirit and ceased his demon-hunting activities.

Even so, the Lord of Central Demonic Dao was greatly startled.

He had just planned to start with the Five Elements Sect to investigate the whereabouts of the Malevolent Ghost Disk, and had barely taken one step when all inner demon avatars buried in Eastern Continent for over a century lost contact within just half a month.

The Lord of Central Demonic Dao was very familiar with this situation: it meant his avatars had been slain.

Earlier, when his strongest inner demon avatars faced Tai Xu Immortal, this was the outcome.

And through the images transmitted by these inner demon avatars just before their demise, the Lord of Central Demonic Dao saw Chen Mobai, his body shimmering with golden flames, wielding a golden longsword.

“Azure Emperor of the Eastern Wilderness!”

The Lord of Central Demonic Dao stood upon the sea surface, gazing in the direction of Eastern Continent, and couldn't help but mutter to himself.

When he had first heard this title, he had thought it was due to a lack of capable individuals in Eastern Continent since Yuan Qingque's ascension, allowing this junior to be called the foremost.

Even when White Bone Dharma King died at Chen Mobai's hands, the Lord of Central Demonic Dao still thought this.

After all, although the Lords of the Five Directions Demonic Dao were named together, the other four combined were only fit to carry his shoes.

Moreover, White Bone Dharma King had already been slain once by Yuan Qingque, and after returning through body possession, his cultivation was certainly not at his previous peak.

Chen Mobai slaying him was of ordinary significance.

However, the subsequent slaying of the Old Flood Dragon made the Lord of Central Demonic Dao slightly change his mind.

He understood the power of the Dingyuan Sea-Quelling Pearl. Even if he went to the Profound Sea with a demonic treasure in hand, he would not be able to do anything to the Old Flood Dragon in a direct confrontation.

Yet Chen Mobai had accomplished this in the Profound Sea. This level of power was somewhat excessive in the Heavenly River Realm.

The Lord of Central Demonic Dao had initially speculated that there might be hidden circumstances, for instance, that the Nine Heavens Demon Eradication Sect had borrowed the Primeval Water-Controlling Banner from the Heavenly Sea Jellyfish Palace. With this innate magical treasure suppressing the Dingyuan Sea-Quelling Pearl, the Old Flood Dragon was only slain after losing its geographical advantage.

However, after he possessed a flood dragon of the Profound Flood Dragon Royal Court with an inner demon, he discovered that this was not the case.

Chen Mobai had, in the Profound Sea, right before the Profound Flood Dragon Royal Court, swept his sleeve and taken the Old Flood Dragon away. When it reappeared, the Old Flood Dragon had already been slain.

Given the Lord of Central Demonic Dao's knowledge, he naturally thought of a method similar to a Dharma Realm.

However, that was a divine ability of the Tai Xu Misty Palace, and he did not believe Chen Mobai had mastered it.

He only thought that Chen Mobai might possess a Grotto-Heaven magical treasure, which he used to collect the Old Flood Dragon, severing the connection between the Dingyuan Sea-Quelling Pearl and the Profound Sea.

Among the Eighteen Demonic Sects, there was one more secretive than the Avatar Demonic Sect, named the Pot Heaven Demonic Sect.

The founder of this sect was a former disciple of the Tai Xu Misty Palace, named Hutian, and even a Dao Son. However, he fell in love with a Demonic Sect Saintess. When the sect was about to execute the Saintess, he stole the Qiankun Pot, a Grotto-Heaven treasure of the Tai Xu Misty Palace, to save his beloved.

The Qiankun Pot, it was said, was the Dharma Realm of True King Tai Xu, containing infinitely vast space, forming a great realm of its own.

After this rebellious Dao Son of the Tai Xu Misty Palace escaped, he and his lover hid within the Qiankun Pot, undiscoverable by anyone. However, every few centuries, cultivators claiming to be from the Hutian lineage would appear in the Heavenly River Realm, naturally condemned by the Tai Xu Misty Palace as demonic rebels.

Over time, this Hutian lineage became one of the Eighteen Demonic Sects.

The Lord of Central Demonic Dao suspected that someone from the Hutian lineage was involved in the Old Flood Dragon's death.

Therefore, although the Old Flood Dragon nominally died at Chen Mobai's hands, no one knew how many Spirit Transformation cultivators it had faced in an encirclement after being taken away. Thus, in the Lord of Central Demonic Dao's view, the true value of Chen Mobai's achievement was still insufficient.

However, the truth of the matter still needed to be seen to be believed.

Therefore, when the Lord of Central Demonic Dao was preparing to come to Eastern Continent to retrieve the Six Paths Sub-Disk, he dispatched an inner demon avatar to specifically investigate Chen Mobai.

He had just refined Du Mengyun's inner demon, intending to use her as an entry point to gradually infiltrate the Five Elements Sect, when it was like stirring up a shark's nest in the ocean. Not only was the newly planted inner demon gone, but the disruption instantly spread to all inner demon avatars across the entire Eastern Continent.

If one avatar was exposed, or even all avatars within the Five Elements Sect, the Lord of Central Demonic Dao could still accept it. After all, the world was vast, with countless profound and wondrous methods. Perhaps the Five Elements Sect possessed a specific foundation for detecting the Demonic Dao of inner demons, and he would simply chalk it up to bad luck and accept his loss.

But when all ten avatars across the entire Eastern Continent vanished within a short period, even the highly rational Lord of Central Demonic Dao realized something was amiss.

Could that Azure Emperor of the Eastern Wilderness possess secret techniques or treasures capable of tracing other inner demons of the same origin based on a single inner demon?

The Lord of Central Demonic Dao made the most plausible guess given the current circumstances.

After all, he was also a very confident individual, with cultivation profound enough to already transcend into the Void stage. He didn't believe Chen Mobai possessed the means to covertly contaminate and locate all of his inner demons.

In that case, in the future, weaker inner demon avatars could not be sent to Eastern Continent.

At this thought, the Lord of Central Demonic Dao decided to act quickly and flatten all the righteous sacred lands in Eastern Continent.

Besides the Life-Death Disk, it was also because that place contained the bane of his Avatar Demonic Arts.

“Although all inner demon avatars in Eastern Continent have been slain, the general situation has been largely gathered…”

The Lord of Central Demonic Dao muttered to himself as he took out a communication talisman and began to notify Tuming and True Monarch Tianling.

Previously, he had rejected Tuming's suggestion of starting with the easier tasks first, wanting to flatten the Nine Heavens Demon Eradication Sect first and obtain the primary Reincarnation Disk before considering seizing other sub-disks.

But now, he only thought of annihilating the Five Elements Sect and killing the Azure Emperor of the Eastern Wilderness.

Before that, however, he still needed to test them out again.

The Lord of Central Demonic Dao could become the supreme leader of the Demonic Dao in the Heavenly River Realm not only because of his powerful cultivation but also due to his cautious nature.

Soon after, Tuming, having received the news, returned to the long-unvisited Profound Sea.

He gazed at the Eastern Continent landmass, now within reach, his eyes subtly flickering.

One hundred and twenty years ago, he was slain by Yuan Qingque. The ghost child primordial fetus hidden in Eastern Continent was also captured by True Monarch Wuchen at Five Emperors Mountain. If he hadn't had this spare one in Western Continent, he would likely have fallen into reincarnation and been unable to transcend.

Now, however, he had not only devoured the Lord of Western Demonic Dao, returning to the Spirit Transformation stage, but also cultivated the Black Rope Heavenly Demon avatar with the help of the Hell Disk, allowing him to draw upon some power from the Black Rope Demon God from beyond the heavens. His strength was even greater than at his peak.

It was time to reclaim everything he had lost.

At this thought, Tuming's gaze turned chillingly towards the coast of Eastern Continent.

According to the intelligence from the Lord of Central Demonic Dao, that place was now the territory of the Five Elements Sect, and the Malevolent Ghost Disk was located there. Furthermore, Su Zilu, who had once served as his primordial chaos physique vessel for nurturing the ghost embryo, was currently one of the Five Elements Sect's elders.

All these clues combined pointed to the truth behind that headless case from back then.

Clearly, Su Zilu had betrayed him. When she encountered the Azure Emperor of the Eastern Wilderness, who shared a similar origin, she offered up the Malevolent Ghost Disk, and then, together with the Azure Emperor, they slew his ghost embryo.

You despicable pair, I must settle this score with you properly!

After Tuming reviewed the intelligence provided by the Lord of Central Demonic Dao once more, he still did not act impulsively.

He decided to exact his revenge one by one.

First, he would slowly dismember Su Zilu, who had betrayed him, then use her corpse to instill fear in the Azure Emperor of the Eastern Wilderness. After that, he would slowly torture and kill the Nascent Soul cultivators of the One Yuan Dao Palace and the Five Elements Sect, and finally, send the despairing Azure Emperor of the Eastern Wilderness into reincarnation.

As he thought this, a dim, gloomy opening appeared before Tuming.

This was the supreme absolute technique of the Netherworld Scripture, the Gate of the Underworld. It allowed one to traverse distances in the human world through the netherworld, achieving an effect akin to alternative void traversal.

Chen Mobai, who was meditating on Mount Panghuang, opened his eyes with a strange expression.

He felt someone had opened a door using a method unknown to him and entered the Sky Veil Earth Net Grand Array.

He extended his hand in a gesture, and a bronze mirror immediately appeared in the sky.

Within the mirror, Tuming appeared, emerging from the dim, gloomy opening.

Was this, then, walking into a trap?

As Chen Mobai watched this scene, this thought arose in his mind.