Bai Qi had always relied on his senses and the advantage they gave him for fighting. Since his takeover of Wu Guang's body and the consequent awakening and fusions, he had relied on the enormous advantage of having a maximum allowed sensing capacity for his realm.

And while the advantage lessened as he started fighting more advanced opponents and even came to none for some of the latter, it was clear that even his current 5th level senses were of enormous help and a crucial element of his usual fighting manner.

A Warrior Lord's maximum level for any of their senses was the 6th, although close to none trained even one to that level, so Bai Qi's advantage had returned during the battles he fought in the [Void Palace] grounds.

He had lost this edge along with the usage of aura, thanks to the formation modified and activated by the besiegers, but now, it was time to get it back. And augmented to the maximum, considering that none of Bai Qi's current opponents were willing or capable to expand senses without their aura. The latter more probable with them never having spent even a day as low-level Spirit realm cultivators.

Or at least, such was the plan...

***

As Bai Qi defended against the glaive and saber pair, he increased his slowed down cultivation, infusing qi into his consciousness and preparing to expand his mind-power, using the latter as a conduit for his six senses.

*Clang* *Clang* *Swoosh*

And he did it without slowing down his movements or failing to block even one of the attacks from the front. Neither did he forget dodging the ones from range. Bai Qi thought, multitasking several things, not only limited to the preparations and battle but also keeping an eye on every movement near him.

But as a delay may be dangerous, it may be beneficial, as Bai Qi found out just a moment before he was ready to expand his senses.

*Step* *Swoosh*

Without even knowing why one of the opponents, the one with the glaive, suddenly froze on the spot, Bai Qi immediately took a step forward, avoiding one of the sabers, and slashed.

*Slash* *Splatter*

Surprisingly, his feint-like slash entered the enemy's body as it was nothing more than flesh, almost as if the opponent had suddenly stopped any reinforcement or defense, killing the latter.

Not the best exchange if one considered that there was only one Bai Qi and 29 intact, plus one wounded opponent remaining.

But, no attack happened. Even more, the techniques flying at him, ones that Bai Qi had been dodging, almost unconsciously by now, stopped as well.

If anyone of the cultivators present in the [Ice Phoenix Ravine] insides thought of the situation as anything but hellish, they would be taken as crazy.

And indeed, a qi-less, formation enclosed, constantly bombarded, and with hundreds of enemies, what else but a nightmare, or a picture of hell, could it be said to be?

After the initial panic, the fights resumed as before, even if the circumstances had changed.

For the besiegers, it was now a question of killing everyone for leaving. After all, the rumors about safe passage for a [Void Palace] member's head may have been fake, but with no enemy remaining, they would be able to leave.

As for the besieged, it was now a question of killing everyone to free the ravine. Only three people of the over six hundred were aware of the formation's core and other details. But everyone was sure that when the ravine was cleared, the situation would change.

Thus, the fighting restarted, and it was far more bloody than before.

[Void Palace] disciples fought to get towards the main Palace while the Elders, at least the ones that chose to risk, attempted to trade their remaining qi for the most vast number of enemies possible.

The minor powers' besiegers fought not only to belt a kill for the reward but also for this hell to end. Using all of their pills, they hoped to retain enough qi to survive and kill or, at least, outlive the enemies.

And the [Seven Souls Sect] members, while tasked with a different matter, still acted on their initial orders, destroying every member of the [Void Palace] they could.

But not even one of the thousand and a half cultivators in the ravine, be they Sages or Warrior Emperors, disciples or elders, rogues or authentic powers cultivators, besiegers or besieged, could have imagined that the so-called hell could become worse. And regretfully, they were wrong...

Already multitasking, it took Bai Qi several breaths to understand the reason behind the sudden freezing of his enemies. But different from them, he did not allow himself to be overtaken with despair.

Bai Qi did understand every single implication of his finding, but he also knew that these few minutes, when everyone was frozen in a mix of shock and despair, were a true gift from the heavens for him

Almost as a mantra or a command to himself, Bai Qi repeated dozens if not hundreds of times as he assaulted the defenseless enemies.

A cultivator's path was one that trodded on the corpses of their enemies, and at this moment, there would be no truer example for that words but Bai Qi. Not caring about them not fighting back, as they would not care if the tables turned, Bai Qi attacked, using the last of the qi he had.

It was only at the fifth downed enemy that the others reacted, but while half ran away, the other half attacked Bai Qi.

Blood, screams, curses, sparks of weapons clashing...

And from the sixteen people, a quarter of an hour later, a sole one walked away.

Tired, exhausted, wounded, but still alive. Bai Qi somehow managed to beat the sudden crazed attack and even walk away on his own.

He had tried to absorb a pill to restore at least some qi, mostly to close the bleeding wounds that covered his arms and back, but the attempt failed. The formation that had practically created a hell on earth was far scarier than he assumed initially.

***

His mind was slowed down, as even the quickness of one's mind depended on the consciousness being infused with qi. Still, Bai Qi tried to understand what happened. And most importantly, what to do.

*Shake*

Giving himself a shake, both physically and mentally, Bai Qi forced his thoughts and feelings of despair back.

And so, with uncertain steps, Bai Qi pushed himself onwards, towards the direction previously pointed to by Shen Kun.

What was a demon? No one could be sure of the answer.

For mortals, it was a monster and an evil one as well.

For lower-level cultivators, a demon was a demonic entity with what most considered evil intentions. Or not so evil, as in truth, demons tended to be honest. While their methods and asked prices could not pass for righteous, they did offer and complete deals, for the most part.

For higher-level ones, on the other hand, a demon was nothing more than a different type of cultivator. And indeed, while they assumed forms that were not alike to the one of a human, and did not depend on [Earth and Heavens] qi, it was true that demons cultivated. Even more, near what passed for their Sky Realm peak, a truly strong and talented demon would enter the Divine realm, turning into just one more cultivator of that god-like realm.

The [Sky Tear Plane] was limited to the Saint realm, as it was nothing more than a middle-tier plane. And from that, it should have been safe to assume that demons, even if they existed, would be limited to that realm as well. And judging from their low numbers would pose no more threat to cultivators than other hostile beings. But, it wasn't so, at least currently.

For some reason, dozens of demons trapped in the [Astral Road], unable to form a body and enter a plane by themselves, had started contacting the local cultivators just three hundred years ago. And while most cultivators, of fear or principles, shunned such contacts, some did not. Thus, giving rise to the demonic powers, that even evolved into an entire region worshipping them.

Usually, demons would try to entice cultivators into helping them, exchanging sacrifices, treasures, and other things for a promise of power. And indeed, a demon was a fearful helper. Be it by assuming their physical form or by sharing part of their essence, their allies, servants, or worshippers would truly gain power above their similars. But a single-person power would have been not enough to convince powers, and even a region to follow their ways. Thus, the demons offered a different thing, methods to cultivate. Methods that allowed even an untalented, if not mediocre, cultivator to achieve realms that they could only dream off.

One of the many methods shared was the [Soul Separation Path], which, several changes later, evolved into the [Seven Souls] path of the sect named after it.

The same thought that had crossed his father's mind, and not a single time, now floated in Linghun Gong's mind as his senses penetrated into the now absolutely sealed [Void Palace] grounds.

If any one of his men could hear the thoughts of the [Seven Souls Sect] master, they would be astonished. After all, what kind of sane person, and they did consider him sane, think about something like that after sending two and half thousand people to sure death? Not that they knew about the sure death either, as except for two people, no one knew about Linghun Gong's objectives here. Or the price he had agreed to pay for it.

Linghun Gong's jumped to the current situation, but he felt nothing for the agreed sacrifices, not even about the five hundred of his own power's members.

"Activate the [Soul Harvesting] cauldron."

"Yes, Sectmaster."

"And command everyone to prepare. In three hours, all the formations will deactivate, and we will enter the ravine."

***

Inside the now devoid of cultivators zone, as no cultivator could be said to be one without even a hint of qi in their dantian, one would not expect to see someone standing in the air. But, there was one person doing exactly that.

A simple black cloak, with it's hood thrown back and revealing a face that could be said to be good-loking if not for the enormous, beast-like maw that took the place of the mouth.

And that maw, open into a cackling laugh, revealed three rows of sharp fangs...