After becoming demonified, Young Master Miao's combat power had consistently been in an explosive state. He had originally thought he could easily dispatch this mysterious half-step Sovereign realm cultivator.
Yet he hadn't expected his series of schemes to be so easily neutralized by his opponent.
And now, he found himself entirely under his opponent's control, like prey caught in a trap, utterly unable to break free.
In his panic, a lethal blow had already arrived.
That terrifying Vermilion Bird dharma idol pressed down from the heavens, and with a piercing cry, it lunged straight at his face.
"No!"
Young Master Miao barely had time to let out a scream before the mighty Vermilion Bird dharma idol swept across the void in an instant, engulfing him in a sea of flames.
As the Vermilion Bird dharma idol swept past, there was no trace left where Young Master Miao had stood.
Whoosh!
The Vermilion Bird dharma idol swept through the void, the vast sea of flames burning the entire horizon red!
Even Elder Kongyun and Silver Sand Guest, with their levels of cultivation, couldn't help but retreat several miles before narrowly escaping the terrifying power of the dharma idol.
"Tsk tsk, that's terrifying. This offensive power is completely comparable to a sixth or seventh-level Sovereign realm expert. This young man—who on earth is he?" Silver Sand Guest murmured in awe.
Jiang Chen's strike, if you set aside his other heaven-defying treasures, was absolutely one of the most devastating attacks among all his martial techniques.
The True Dragon dharma idol and the Vermilion Bird dharma idol—these two great dharma idols were among the most domineering offensive techniques in all of Jiang Chen's current martial arts repertoire.
Beyond these two dharma idol attacks, the Five-Colored Divine Light Sword's "Five Thunder Divine Sound Sword" was also comparable to these two dharma idols in power.
Elder Kongyun was now breaking into a cold sweat. Thank goodness he hadn't been so stubborn earlier—if he had insisted on opposing this young man...
Even if they had joined forces with Young Master Miao, plus the now-deceased Golden Needle Granny, four against one, they would have had a hard time gaining any advantage against this young man.
In the end, it might well have been them who met a bitter end.
Setting aside his terrifying attacks for the moment, even the binding force produced by that golden great mountain—if they had been the targets, they couldn't have devised any way to counter it.
To put it bluntly, the Sovereign realm domain that Sovereign realm experts were always so proud of was nothing special in the face of this young man's golden binding force.
Moreover, although this young man was only at the half-step Sovereign realm, when it came to domain power, he surpassed them by a wide margin.
They didn't know how this young man had cultivated, but one thing was clear: his martial arts level and martial arts realm were absolutely far beyond theirs.
Even though they were third and fourth-level Sovereign realm experts, their martial arts level was definitely inferior to this young man's.
Thinking of this, Elder Kongyun felt immensely relieved. Thank goodness he hadn't acted rashly before, and thank goodness Silver Sand Guest had kept his cool.
Silver Sand Guest watched as the Vermilion Bird dharma idol devoured Young Master Miao and was speechless for a long time. Only after the Vermilion Bird dharma idol dissipated into the void did he step forward.
He cupped his fists respectfully. "Impressive skills, sir. Silver Sand is grateful for your righteous intervention. Without you, we would likely have become sacrifices to the demon race by now."
Jiang Chen's impression of Silver Sand Guest was fairly good. He smiled faintly and waved his hand. "No need for thanks yet—we haven't escaped the danger."
Elder Kongyun also walked over, suppressing his inner embarrassment. He cupped his fists. "This old man has lived all these years in vain. Only today do I understand what it means to be young and accomplished, and that there is always someone beyond someone else. Sigh! How laughable that we actually..."
"You two, I'll spare the pleasantries." Jiang Chen cut Elder Kongyun off directly. "The Master of Cuihua Pavilion has defected to the demon race, and this Bengyun Mountain turns out to have a demon race stronghold—perhaps left over from ancient times. I find it hard to believe that in all these years, no one in the Red Cauldron Middle Domain knew there was an ancient demon race stronghold here?"
Silver Sand Guest smiled bitterly. "Life in the Red Cauldron Middle Domain hasn't been easy these years either."
Jiang Chen's tone was indifferent. "Perhaps their attention has all been focused on invading other places? They've neglected their own territory?"
Silver Sand Guest and Elder Kongyun weren't exactly natives of the Red Cauldron Middle Domain—they were wandering independent cultivators who drifted through the surrounding domains, so they felt no real sense of belonging to the Red Cauldron Middle Domain.
Therefore, they had no reaction to Jiang Chen's remarks about the Red Cauldron Middle Domain.
Jiang Chen didn't press the matter further. Instead, he asked, "You two should have been escorting another counterfeit Master of Cuihua Pavilion to a different location. Why did you end up here?"
"Sigh!" Silver Sand Guest let out a bitter sigh. "The ones escorting the counterfeit Master of Cuihua Pavilion were also counterfeit. All twelve of us guardians disguised ourselves as ordinary martial artists and joined the convoy to come here. We were among the first to enter Bengyun Mountain. However, the Master of Cuihua Pavilion didn't assign us to guard the formation—instead, he stationed us somewhere and told us to stand by at all times..."
Jiang Chen nodded thoughtfully.
That explained things.
As for these four people, Jiang Chen surmised that the Master of Cuihua Pavilion had lured them here with ulterior motives—surely planning to offer them to the Demon Emperor as blood sacrifice offerings.