Evan Yang entered the Demon Tomb Grounds. Selena Water, struggling with the overwhelming demonic miasma here, could only stay in a small area and couldn't move freely. Meanwhile, Evan's Phantom Spirit Birds had recovered, and seeing them, he was deeply surprised.
He discovered that the entire area was saturated with heavy demonic miasma, shrouded in darkness like a dim, oppressive place. Besides that, there were four bizarre ferocious beasts lying in the four cardinal directions, and one of them was not far to the east of Evan and Selena.
Three legs, two horns atop its head, a single eye, and three tails—if not for the intense miasma, Evan would have seen the demon beast much earlier.
But the miasma here was too dense; Evan only knew there was a demon beast in that direction. Without knowing its strength, he had no intention of disturbing it for now.
Evan turned to Selena and said, "There are four demon beasts here. They look pretty powerful—let's let them come in later."
"Who do you mean?" Selena asked suspiciously.
"Of course, the three outside," Evan replied with a smile.
Selena was confused—since they hadn't found the Sky-Flooding Demon Sovereign yet, why let them in? Seeing her dazed look, Evan said, "Do you want to go into the Space Ring for a bit?"
"I do. It's unbearable here. Do you have a Space Ring?" Selena asked.
"Yeah," Evan nodded.
"Let me in, it's too unbearable here," Selena said.
Evan smiled, then sent Selena into the Sky-Piercing Tower inside the Strange Spiral Shell. Seeing the familiar scene, Selena was shocked: "Isn't this Evan's Space Ring?"
"That's right, looks like you recognized it. Just stay here for now, I'll handle everything outside," Evan said with a smile. He ignored Selena's protests and began planning how to bring the others in to test the demon beasts' strength.
"Let's bring them in first," Evan thought. He sent a message to the three outside. When Terry received Evan's signal, he told the other two, "Let's go, there's news inside."
Linus and Quinn were overjoyed and hurried in with Terry. When they arrived, they saw Evan standing there, but Selena was nowhere to be seen.
"Where's Miss Selena?" Terry asked curiously.
"As soon as she came in, she rushed ahead—seemed like she sensed the Sky-Flooding Demon Sovereign. I stayed here to wait for you guys," Evan explained.
"I see, then hurry up and take us to him—where exactly is the Sky-Flooding Demon Sovereign?" Terry said excitedly.
Evan replied, "Yeah," then led the three forward. The group had no idea there were four demon beasts in the tomb grounds. Since they hadn't entered the beasts' attack ranges yet, the monsters didn't attack. With the heavy miasma blocking their vision and divine sense, they couldn't detect the beasts and could only follow Evan's lead.
After a while, Evan slowed down. The three were curious—why had Evan slowed? "Why aren't we moving?" they asked.
"We stopped around here earlier—she should be nearby. Let's search, maybe we'll find the Demon Sovereign too," Evan said.
The three exchanged glances and agreed not to exceed ten meters between each person—so everyone could stay within sight.
Evan avoided the beast's area, but Terry headed right toward it. When the beast sensed someone approaching, it opened its sharp eye, seeming to see right through Terry, then rose up.
Just as Evan was about to assess the beast's strength, it suddenly leapt—so lightly it was almost as if nothing happened—but it landed right in front of Terry.
Terry was gathering his divine sense to search, when a massive beast suddenly appeared before him. He was startled, barely had time to react, and was sent flying dozens of meters by the beast's tail, coughing blood from a single blow. Just one encounter showed how terrifying these beasts were.
Linus and Quinn hurried over to help Terry up, then stared at the huge beast before them.
Terry struggled to his feet and asked, 'What is this thing?'
"No idea," Evan replied, feigning surprise.
"Looks like the tomb grounds have demon beasts too—and they're terrifying. Damn it," Linus said angrily.
"Is this a demon beast?" Evan asked deliberately.
"That's right, it's a demon beast," Terry replied.
"Can we handle it?" Evan asked skeptically.
"It's tough. Someone has to lure the beast away; otherwise, if we find the Demon Sovereign later, it'll be even harder to deal with," Terry said after thinking.
"Who should do it?" Evan asked curiously.
After exchanging glances, Terry said, "I'm already seriously injured, can't launch big attacks, and with this miasma it's hard to recover. I have to go out anyway—so I'll do it."
"Try to keep it occupied as long as possible," Evan said after thinking.
"Don't worry, I can handle it," Terry said confidently.
"Alright, it's up to you," Evan said.
Terry nodded, then unleashed flame at the demon beast, provoking it. The beast, enraged, charged at Terry, while Evan and the others moved to the other side.
The demon beast chased Terry, who slowly led it toward the entrance, planning to find a way to trap it. Evan and the others, seeing the beast gone, breathed a sigh of relief.
"Let's keep searching," Evan said. Linus and Quinn nodded. With their experience from the first beast, Evan already had a plan. He led the two toward another demon beast, and, unaware, Linus and Quinn followed him.
After a while, another beast suddenly appeared in front of Linus, startling him. At first he thought it was the same beast returning, but realized it was a different one. The group decided Linus would lure it away, and he suffered several attacks, gaining wounds on his back.
With only Quinn left, Evan didn't hesitate to lead him toward another beast. The same solution worked—Quinn lured the beast away.
With three companions and three beasts drawn away, only one beast remained. Evan had no intention of provoking it, and instead began searching for anything unusual in the tomb grounds.
With three beasts gone, Evan's range of activity expanded. He'd also taught the three companions a lesson—if they realized he'd orchestrated all this, they'd curse him for sure.
Now, the three companions had regrouped, each bearing wounds. In front of them, the three demon beasts glared fiercely, as if their sleep had been disturbed.
"How did you all end up here? Where's Evan?" Terry asked, leaning on his comrades.
"Don't even ask. Look at what's in front of us—we were forced here. As for Evan, he's probably still searching for Miss Selena and the Demon Sovereign inside," Linus replied.
"Yeah, it's ridiculous. Why are there so many powerful demon beasts here?" Quinn complained.
"Talking won't help. We need to figure out how to trap these three beasts—otherwise, if they attack or return, all our effort will be wasted," Terry said after a moment.
Linus and Quinn agreed, nodding. After thinking for a while, Quinn produced an artifact and said, "This is the Twinlight Barrier. If the three of us pour in our energy, it can last two hours. Evan and the others should be done by then."
"Twinlight Barrier? Is this your Lynn Family's ninth-tier Immortal artifact?" Terry asked. As Quinn infused power, two layers of light appeared: one shielding them and letting them pour in energy, the other keeping the beasts trapped inside.
The beasts crashed around inside the barrier, clearly furious.
"That's right, this is our Lynn Family's ninth-tier Immortal artifact—the Spirit Halo Ring," Quinn said, holding the ring-like artifact.
Terry and Linus were delighted and quickly poured their energy in, making the two layers even stronger and preventing the beasts from breaking out.
On the other side, Evan hadn't expected them to have such an artifact. Still, as long as they didn't come back, their injuries weren't his concern. He focused on searching for the Sky-Flooding Demon Sovereign.
"The Demon Sovereign needs to feed on blood every day—there should be a strong bloody stench nearby, along with bloodstains," Evan muttered to himself.
With this in mind, Evan combined the information returned by the Phantom Spirit Birds and found a small mountain top surrounded by blood.
Without hesitation, Evan headed for the mountain top. After a while, he arrived and saw a cave, its entrance occasionally spraying blood, staining the area.
"The Demon Sovereign must be below. Time to use some concealment," Evan thought, and slipped inside.
The cave extended downward. Evan followed the bloodstains and soon reached a blood pool. The blood here was changing color—from red to pale, and even turning transparent.
Seeing this strange sight, Evan realized someone was cultivating in the blood. He checked carefully and noticed bubbles rising in one spot.
"Is the Demon Sovereign under these bubbles?" Evan wondered.
Even Evan didn't know how much strength the Demon Sovereign had recovered, so he didn't dare act rashly. He grabbed a nearby stone and controlled it to drop quickly onto the bubbling spot.
Splash—the sound was loud. The bubbling spot grew larger, and soon a figure slowly emerged from beneath.