"Charge deep into the Demon World! Old Freak Long, have you lost your mind? Even if you truly want to die, there's no need to drag the rest of us along!" the long-haired man demanded, his face a mask of shock and fury.
The feather-robed young woman, hearing this, seemed to recall something as well, her expression growing unsettled.
Han Li stroked his chin, a similar hint of alarm crossing his features.
"There's no need for Brother Lin to get angry. When this old man makes such a proposal, I naturally have a thorough plan — at least seventy to eighty percent confidence we can withdraw unscathed. I, Long, will be going along myself. Do you think I'd joke about my own life?" Long Jia said, his expression unchanged, his tone calm.
"Hmph, even so! The Demon World's Saint Ancestors are terrifying beyond measure. If we run into one, we won't stand a chance of keeping our lives. And that's not even counting the countless other high-ranking Ancient Devils in the Demon World. We can rely on formation arrays to stand against them in the human realm, but once we venture deep, there's no way I can see any chance of survival." The long-haired man glared at Patriarch Long Jia, speaking without any courtesy.
"What if I told you, fellow Daoists, that there is a way to temporarily transform our auras so they become indistinguishable from those of ordinary Ancient Devils — so that even Integration-stage Ancient Devils cannot see through them? What would Brother Lin think of that?" Patriarch Long Jia narrowed his eyes and said slowly.
"Such a thing exists? Brother Long, you can't be joking. Those high-ranking Ancient Devils of the Demon World are masters of all manner of inconceivable abilities — how could there be any way to deceive their senses?" The feather-robed young woman furrowed her dark brows and spoke as well.
Hearing this, Patriarch Long Jia chuckled, then suddenly turned to the Qianqiu Holy Maiden and said: "Fellow Daoist Qianqiu, could you demonstrate once more?"
"Of course, no problem." The yellow-robed young woman smiled elegantly, and with a flip of her palm, a black bead the size of a thumb appeared in her hand.
She parted her rosy lips and swallowed the bead directly into her belly.
The next moment, the Qianqiu Holy Maiden formed a one-handed seal, and a layer of black mist rose from her body, engulfing her form within moments.
The black mist churned restlessly, sometimes writhing in the air like tentacles, sometimes spinning rapidly — as if it were a living thing.
"True Devil Qi!" Han Li took one look, his pupils contracting, and murmured under his breath in a voice barely audible.
Yet despite his near-murmur, everyone in the hall possessed such formidable cultivation that they heard every word clearly.
The long-haired man and the feather-robed young woman's expressions shifted slightly. But Patriarch Long Jia gazed deeply at Han Li, then suddenly spoke: "Fellow Daoist Han can recognize True Devil Qi at a glance — it seems you must also cultivate some top-tier demonic technique. And the Dharma Image Golden Body you displayed during the day bears a certain resemblance to the true form of some Ancient Devil from the Demon World. This clears up a few of this old man's doubts."
"Brother Long truly has sharp eyes," Han Li said mildly, neither confirming nor denying anything, offering only a faint smile.
The others, hearing this exchange, naturally showed varying expressions.
Just then, a sharp cry from the Qianqiu Holy Maiden suddenly rang out from within the black demonic qi. The True Devil Qi surged inward toward the center, transforming in an instant into threads of black liquid, which the young woman forcibly drew entirely into her body.
Once the mist had fully dissipated, the yellow-robed young woman's figure was naturally revealed once more.
However, upon looking, Han Li and the others showed a trace of puzzlement.
At this moment, the Qianqiu Holy Maiden looked no different from before in the slightest, as if the earlier display of magic had had no effect whatsoever.
But under the astonished gazes of everyone present, the yellow-robed young woman let out a soft laugh. The aura about her body abruptly shifted, and a startling demonic qi that pierced the heavens erupted from her person. On her originally jade-pale face, several jet-black demonic patterns appeared without warning, while between her brows, a dark round bead surfaced with a flash.
Although the bead was half-embedded between the young woman's brows, its dark, lustrous appearance clearly identified it as the very one she had swallowed earlier.