The moment this item appeared, chaos erupted across the sky.
Those who had already been on the verge of a ceasefire immediately transformed into streaks of multicolored light, shooting straight toward the five-colored sphere.
But halfway there, these streaks of fleeing light tangled together, and not a single one could advance a single step further.
In an instant, light flashed in every direction and demonic qi danced wildly. The intensity of the fighting far surpassed what had come before by several times!
Meanwhile, the five-colored sphere floated serenely above the cave entrance, motionless, as though it could be plucked right out of the air.
Everyone had gotten a clear look by now — a pill the size of an inch slowly rotated at the center of the sphere. With every full revolution, the sphere contracted and pulsed with light, as if it possessed a life of its own. The sight set both Righteous and Demonic cultivators' hearts burning with greed.
Wu Chou and Xuan Gu seemed dazed, staring blankly at the battle in the sky.
"You fool! What are you standing there for? Go retrieve the Heaven-Mending Pill at once!" Ji Yin's icy voice suddenly echoed in Wu Chou's ear.
Wu Chou shuddered and instantly snapped to his senses. He immediately transformed into a wisp of black qi and shot toward the five-colored sphere.
But just then, Xuan Gu made his move as well. This time, however, he wasn't reaching for the Heaven-Mending Pill — instead, he flicked both sleeves, and two green serpents of strange energy shot from within, hurtling straight for Wu Chou's back.
Wu Chou was quick-witted enough; though the green serpents attacked silently, he still detected them in time.
He immediately abandoned his forward dash, whirling around in alarm and fury to parry the strike.
"You're courting death! How dare you attack me!" Wu Chou could no longer contain his rage. Profound Yin Demonic Qi howled forth, blanketing the surroundings as he surged to meet Xuan Gu head-on.
Xuan Gu let out a few cold chuckles and said nothing, similarly conjuring green ghostly qi that rose to meet the assault with an eerie chill.
"Barbarian Beard! What is your nephew doing?!" Ji Yin had naturally witnessed Wu Chou being blocked and flew into a towering rage, roaring at Barbarian Beard.
"What's he doing? Why, stopping you from swallowing the Heaven-Mending Pill all by yourself, of course. Did you really think that just because we're both on the Demonic side, I'd hand it over to you?" Barbarian Beard conjured a colossal golden hand that hammered down on Wan Tianming from afar, all while laughing uproariously.
"You—" Ancestor Ji Yin's face went white with fury at these words.
Barber Beard's declaration was tantamount to announcing the collapse of the Demonic faction's alliance — from here on, the Heaven-Mending Pill was fair game for whoever could seize it.
Still, this had been bound to happen sooner or later.
The Void Heaven Cauldron had not been retrieved, and only this single Heaven-Mending Pill had appeared. Naturally, everyone wanted it for themselves. Never mind the Demonic cultivators — even the three Righteous cultivators on the other side were each harboring schemes of their own!
Ji Yin knew full well that bickering with Barbarian Beard was nothing but a waste of time. Resigned to that fact, he tried to send his Tiandu Demonic Corpse flying out to claim the Heaven-Mending Pill.
But the black, gaunt elder's technique was impossibly devious — the moment the corpse was released on this side, the other man's green threads seemed to anticipate it beforehand, immediately entangling it so it couldn't break free at all. This made Ji Yin seethe with equal hatred toward both the black, gaunt elder and Barbarian Beard.
In truth, it wasn't only Ji Yin who found himself in such a predicament — most of the others were in the same boat.
On one hand, they did everything they could to keep their opponents pinned down. On the other, they racked their brains trying to find some other way to claim the treasure.
But every old monster here was cunning and resourceful beyond measure, and not a single one could get what they wanted.
After all, keeping an opponent occupied was far easier than breaking free from one.
While the Nascent Soul cultivators fought in a chaotic melee above, no one noticed that Han Li, who had been standing in front of the protective barrier, wore a complicated expression on his face.
He hadn't died from that piercing sword strike the Star Palace Elder had landed through his heart just moments ago. Even he himself found this enormously surprising.
After all, he had taken a direct hit from a Nascent Soul cultivator's treasure head-on.
But when he recovered enough to look down at his chest, he realized it was the "Imperial Scale Armor" that Barbarian Beard had temporarily lent him that had saved his life.
The outer layer of his clothing had been scorched black with only half of it remaining, but beneath it, silver scales gleamed — the treasure armor had only dented slightly at the point of impact.
Seeing this, Han Li secretly breathed a sigh of relief. Fortunately, he had known the Void Heaven Palace would be fraught with danger, and after inspecting the armor with his spiritual sense and finding nothing wrong with it, he had promptly put it on underneath his robes.
It had indeed saved his life this time.
However, Han Li also understood clearly that the greatest credit for surviving that white beam's strike should go to that two-colored red and yellow jade ruyi.