“Mm!” Yiyi vigorously nodded. “But Bao’er became a big person. If he hadn’t told me that he was Bao’er, I wouldn’t have known.”

“He ‘became a big person’?” Tang Jie’s pupils constricted. “You’re saying he became a human?”

“Yes, a very handsome big brother!” Yiyi shouted. “But he was surrounded by blood, a lot of blood. It was all flowing into his body, and he seemed to be in a lot of pain.”

“Blood… Anything else?”

“There was a very, very big white-colored tiger. Bao’er was sitting inside this tiger. There was also some sort of crystal. Bao’er said that it was the Divine Time Crystal, a treasure that can control time that was made from his ancestor’s eye.”

After hearing this, Tang Jie was certain that Bao’er had intentionally communicated with Yiyi. He quickly asked, “Did he say anything else?”

Yiyi replied, “He said that there were two divine sources. One is the Time Crystal, which controls time, and the other is the Space Crystal that controls space. But the Space Crystal is with the Basking Moon Sect.”

“‘With the Basking Moon Sect’?” Tang Jie was shocked.

He suddenly remembered something.

The tiger fiend of ages past had once tried to steal a treasure from the Basking Moon Sect and flee, but it was ultimately imprisoned in Tiger Roar Peak, where it and its progeny were imprisoned for generations.

He finally understood what the tiger fiend had wanted to steal.

The Divine Space Crystal!

Sure enough, Yiyi continued, “Bao’er said that when his ancestor died in battle in Rosecloud, the Divine Space Crystal ended up in the hands of the Basking Moon Sect while the Time Crystal and his ancestor’s corpse were stolen away by the Beast Refining Gate, thus resulting in the thousand-year enmity between the two sects. The white tiger’s descendants wanted to steal back their ancestor’s body and the two divine sources, so they decided to steal the Basking Moon Sect’s Space Crystal first. This was because only the Space Crystal would allow them to break through the seal on the Beast Garden. For this reason, the white tiger’s descendant pretended to pledge fealty to the Basking Moon Sect, in the hopes that it would come across a chance to steal back the Space Crystal while serving it. But the Basking Moon Sect was more cunning than expected, having suspected it long ago. They had done something to the Space Crystal, preventing the white tiger’s descendant from using the Space Crystal to escape. In the end, the Basking Moon Sect captured it. In its rage, the white tiger’s descendant made one last desperate attempt, using its blood to operate the Space Crystal and forcibly splitting it apart.”

“‘Splitting it apart’?” Tang Jie said in shock.

Yiyi nodded. “Mm, to be more precise, it broke off a piece from the Space Crystal and implanted that piece in its bloodline. Now, that piece of the Space Crystal is in Bao’er’s body, while the larger crystal is in the Basking Moon Sect. That small piece of the Space Crystal doesn’t allow Bao’er to use any sort of spatial power, but it does allow him to sense the Time Crystal and influence it. He spent two years meticulously probing and making his plan. He learned from you, Big Brother, understanding his opponent rather than acting impulsively, ultimately using Lin Baicang to break the seal. He then used the Space Crystal to influence the Time Crystal and take control of the Beast Garden, causing it to fly toward Horizon Ocean Pavilion.”

“Why fly it toward Horizon Ocean Pavilion?”

“Because Bao’er wanted to absorb his ancestor’s blood, but this takes time. Thus, he set up his defenses in the Beast Garden so that nobody would use this opportunity to hurt him.”

Tang Jie and Xu Miaoran finally understood what was going on.

The attack on Joymount Island, the numerous deaths, the large number of fiends, the existence of the hidden realm, and the formation’s interference with space that prevented teleportation and other such things were all defenses that Bao’er had set up.

When the Beast Garden was activated, Bao’er entered to absorb the blood, and these methods had bought Bao’er valuable time, allowing him to absorb the ancestral blood to empower himself. He had chosen Joymount Island because this area provided the best conditions for the Eight Gates Heavenseal Formation, and he had chosen Endsea for defensive purposes. In summary, his plan was to use fiends as his fighting force, his formation to obstruct, and the spirit fruits as a distracting temptation. Bao’er did not like the Basking Moon Sect, and he also did not like the Beast Refining Gate. As for which people to tempt, after thinking things over, Bao’er had ultimately decided on Horizon Ocean Pavilion. After all, he had somewhat liked Xu Miaoran.

Of course, he hadn’t expected that Tang Jie would come, much to his pleasant surprise.

After hearing Yiyi’s explanation, Tang Jie couldn’t help but emotionally sigh.

After some thought, Tang Jie said, “What else did Bao’er say?”

Yiyi cocked her head and began to think. She finally thought of something and clapped her hands. “I almost forgot! Bao’er said that he was in a critical moment of absorbing the ancestral blood and couldn’t help Big Brother. Moreover, there’s also a black-robed Heart Demon True Person coming up. As he controls the hidden realm, he can hear conversations going on throughout the hidden realm, so he knows that this bad guy has a teleportation formation diagram that he’s going to use to bring over some wolf lord who will seal the divine source and take away the Beast Garden.”

“‘Bring over the wolf lord’?” Tang Jie felt his hairs stand on end.

Blue Wolf True Lord Feng Muyuan was a name that every Basking Moon disciple was familiar with.

Yiyi firmly nodded. “Mm, he said that he’s at the critical moment and can’t stop it. Although he also took in three Transformation fiends, they probably won’t hold, so he hopes for Big Brother to go and help.”

“What!?” Tang Jie grabbed Yiyi and shouted, “Why didn’t you say that earlier!?”

This was the first time he had ever shouted at Yiyi.

Yiyi started crying. “I didn’t know either, and you didn’t ask. I just thought I was dreaming…”

Tang Jie couldn’t bring himself to scold her any more. He simply carried Yiyi and started running. “Hurry!”

He charged up the summit.

As soon as he set off, a voice shouted, “Tang Jie, wait!”

The familiar voice made Tang Jie freeze. He looked back and saw a chubby face down below, running toward him. Who else could it be but Wei Tianchong?

How is it that he’s gotten even fatter?

Next to him was the puppet, and he was holding the fox, Luo Yue. All in all, he appeared rather impressive.

There were a few other people behind him, all disciples of the Basking Moon Sect. Tang Jie even recognized one of them as Su Xinyue.

“How are you here?” Tang Jie shouted in surprise.

Wei Tianchong shouted, “Did you forget that you had Lady Xu send back a message? The sect sent us as soon as they got word.”

“They sent you over?” Tang Jie gave Wei Tianchong a strange look. “Are you saying that you’re my reinforcements?”

“Yeah, we were rushing all the way here and finally managed to make it.” Wei Tianchong fiercely nodded. Looking at Tang Jie’s expression, he realized what was happening and said, “Hey, hey, what do you mean by that? Are you looking down on us?”

“Not at all. At least it’s better than nothing. Let’s talk while we’re running. To the summit!” Tang Jie didn’t have the time to talk, running off to the summit.

The disordered space of the hidden realm meant that they couldn’t fly. Fortunately, Feng Buzhi had broken most of the seals on the mountain, so there was nothing impeding their way up.

“What do you mean, ‘better than nothing’? Tang Jie, give me an explanation!” Wei Tianchong angrily gave pursuit. “I even came prepared…”

———————————

The battle on the summit continued, but the three Transformation great fiends were slowly losing.

The Beast Refining Gate excelled in dealing with fiends, and Feng Buzhi was around. Even if the three Transformation fiends worked together, they were still no match.

The first to be in danger wasn’t one of the two fiends attacking Feng Buzhi, but the eagle fiend that was being suppressed by the twenty-some Beast Refining Gate disciples.

While these disciples were of average strength, when they were working together, they were as strong as a True Person and able to slowly bring the eagle fiend down to earth.

With the suppression of the twenty-some Fiend-Suppressing Pagodas, the eagle fiend could only beat its wings in vain, unable to summon a single wisp of wind.

Helian Hu savagely laughed as he walked over. “Fiend beasts are hard to obtain, and those at Transformation are even more difficult to obtain. If you’re willing to submit, I’ll spare your life!”

The eagle fiend angrily glared at Helian Hu and roared, “Your Beast Refining Gate refines fiend beasts, making it a mortal enemy of all fiends! Don’t even dream about making me submit to you!”

Helian Hu laughed. “Such familiar words. Grandpa Tiger says that to me several dozen times a year. But what does it matter how stubborn you are? Silly bird, you had best get it clear. Whether you agree or not, you will become a servant of my Beast Refining Gate. The only difference is whether you’re refined or not. If you obediently surrender, you can maintain your rationality, and you will have the chance to get stronger. But if you’re not willing, it will be refined away.”

“Don’t even think about it!” the eagle fiend bellowed.

But no matter how it struggled, it couldn’t move under the suppression of the pagodas.

Helian Hu snorted, “Since you fail to appreciate this kindness, I’ll refine you and offer you to Seventh Master!”

Transformation great fiends weren’t something they could use. No matter how favored Helian Hu and company were, they could only watch and hope that Feng Buzhi would be a little more generous when all was said and done and gift them some extra contribution points.

Ever since Feng Buzhi had cultivated his avatar, he had been focused on researching his self-created art, stabilizing and cultivating it. This meant that he didn’t have the time to get any additional Transformation great fiends, but now, it seemed like he could get three at once. This was a pleasant surprise for Feng Buzhi. After all, such opportunities were few and far between.

Transformation fiends weren’t fools. When they couldn’t win, they would often run away. It was only because they couldn’t escape this hidden realm that they had ended up thoroughly restrained like this.

The other Beast Refining Gate disciples agreed and began to attack the eagle fiend. Rays of light struck the eagle fiend. The eagle fiend felt as if its mind was being choked and twisted, and knew that these disciples were forcibly refining away its intelligence.

The eagle fiend felt like thousands of ants were gnawing at its brain, and let out a heart-wrenching scream.

The lion and boar were both stunned by this sight.

They were under considerable pressure from just facing Feng Buzhi. They knew that if the eagle fiend were refined, they would find it even more difficult to escape this vicious foe. The boar fiend had a proud personality, and he roared, “Za Mao, you have to stand firm! Don’t let them succeed!”

His thunderous roar exploded through the air, shaking the hearts of the Beast Refining Gate disciples and making them unconsciously relax their offensive.

The eagle fiend felt its pain fade, and with its mind released, it gave the Beast Refining Gate disciples a venomous look oozing with hatred. “Even if I die, I won’t become your puppet!”

It gathered all the power in its body, fiend energy surging up in a frenzied swell.

Helian Hu paled. “This fiend is going to shatter its pellet and self-detonate!”

True Persons could detonate their Celestial Hearts, and fiends could shatter their pellets. In both instances, they used their lives to unleash a heaven-shaking strike.

The Beast Refining Gate had tamed countless fiends in its one thousand years of history, and it was precisely because it knew about this ability that its refining methods used pain to distract the mind, preventing fiends from gathering the focus to shatter their pellets.

But the boar fiend’s roar had given the eagle fiend a chance—a chance which it knew was its last. If it didn’t shatter its pellet now, it would never get another opportunity.

Struggling with all its might, the eagle fiend exuded large amounts of fiend energy. Even Feng Buzhi couldn’t help but grimace, shouting, “This is bad!”

His sleeve flew out, sweeping up the eagle fiend and tossing it into the air.

With a tremendous boom, waves of fiend energy bloomed outward.

Feng Buzhi’s reaction had been rather fast, but he still wasn’t able to completely avoid this furious tide of energy.

While Feng Buzhi’s defensive barrier flashed with a rainbow of colors, those Beast Refining Gate disciples threw up blood. While they had managed to take protective measures at the moment of the explosion, protecting their lives, more than half of the Fiend-Suppressing Pagodas were destroyed.

Their success had mostly been due to the pagodas, and this advantage had now been lost. But in terms of strength, it was still the Beast Refining Gate that gained the upper hand.

“Za Mao!” The lion and boar howled in pain at the death of the eagle fiend.

Feng Buzhi was also angry, cursing, “Bastard!”

He thrust a palm at the boar, pushing it toward Helian Hu’s group. Though they had lost more than half of the pagodas and would find it very hard to suppress the boar, they could at least keep it occupied.

Feng Buzhi used the opportunity to attack the lion fiend.

Without the boar fiend’s help, the lion fiend couldn’t possibly stand against Feng Buzhi. It wasn’t long before Feng Buzhi had struck it down with a palm.

Grabbing the lion by the throat, Feng Buzhi said, “Servitude or refinement! Make your choice!”

“You… keep dreaming!” the lion spat out.

As it spoke, fiend energy radiated from its body. It had also chosen to shatter its pellet.

The lion fiend was very decisive. He knew that he wouldn’t have the chance once Feng Buzhi started using refining light on him, so he immediately used this opportunity to shatter his pellet.

Feng Buzhi fiercely smiled. “I knew you would do this.”

As the lion fiend swelled with power, Feng Buzhi threw it into the sky.

It was a powerful throw that sent it high into the heavens.

At that moment, the swelling fiend energy on the lion fiend erupted.

But this time, it wasn’t able to hurt anyone. Savage waves of fiend energy swept out, setting the heavens aflame. Once they had dissipated, cracks had appeared in the sky of the hidden realm, like those of a broken mirror.

“Hahahaha!” Feng Buzhi threw his head back and crazily laughed.

Although he wasn’t able to subdue this lion fiend, he had used the lion fiend’s pellet shattering to strike a blow against the hidden realm. Though this hadn’t destroyed it, it had heavily damaged the seal.

Once the hidden realm was destroyed, the spatial disturbances would cease, the teleportation formation could activate, and the Wolf Lord would come. Once he was here, who could vie for supremacy with him?

“Big Brother!” The boar fiend howled in pain at the lion fiend’s tragic death, and it charged at the teleportation formation.

It had finally realized!

In truth, the teleportation formation had always been there. If the three fiends had focused all their attacks on the teleportation formation, Feng Buzhi and the others would have to focus entirely on defending it, producing a situation where they would have few opportunities to counterattack. At that point, the outcome of the battle would be hard to determine.

Alas, while these three fiends had been able to take human form, they lacked experience.

Wisdom was the accumulation of knowledge, the manifestation of experience. If they lacked these, it did not matter how intelligent they were.

The three fiends had failed to understand this, causing two of them to die and even the hidden realm to be damaged.

As the boar fiend attacked the teleportation formation, Feng Buzhi laughed and said, “It’s a bit too late to realize that!”

He thrust out a palm, pushing the boar fiend back.

The boar fiend bellowed, summoning a sandstorm that swept toward the teleportation formation.

“Stop it!” Helian Hu shouted. The Beast Refining Gate disciples threw out their art relics and spell arts, pushing back the boar fiend’s attack.

“A last-ditch struggle!” Feng Buzhi shouted, grabbing the boar fiend. Holding it in hand, he sent a ray of refining light that barged into its brain. The boar’s wails of pain resounded through the heavens.

This time, Feng Buzhi didn’t give it the chance to self-detonate. The hidden realm was already heavily damaged, so there was no need to waste a second Transformation fiend.

As he focused fully on refining the boar, a fierce and cruel look appeared on Feng Buzhi’s face.

The boar fiend howled and weakly struggled in his hand.

But while it had been able to awaken the eagle fiend from the refining light, it couldn’t wake itself up.

The struggles and howls faded away, and finally, the boar fiend stopped moving, bowing its head to Feng Buzhi.

Whew!

Having finally succeeded, Feng Buzhi exhaled.

Refining the boar fiend had been quite tiring for him.

But for another helper, it was all worth it.

He looked at the boar fiend and sneered, “As a fiend, you’ve never known what the correct choice is.”

“So you’re saying that, as a human, you have?” a voice abruptly said.

Feng Buzhi suddenly turned his head and saw Tang Jie and the ghost guard approaching.

With the Celestial Eye of Insight, Tang Jie had noticed what was going on long before his arrival. He loudly said, “They missed their opportunity, but haven’t you lost your chance as well? If you hadn’t chosen to refine the boar fiend, instead activating the teleportation formation, the esteemed Wolf Lord would have already arrived, no?”

Feng Buzhi’s expression sank. “Tang Jie, you still dare to come? You managed to survive that battle on the mountain slope, but do you really think you’re able to stop me?”

In the battle on the slope, Tang Jie had relied on the ghost guard and the lives of several dozen people to overcome Feng Buzhi. Now, however, Feng Buzhi had the boar fiend and twenty-some Beast Refining Gate disciples. His side was much stronger than before, but Tang Jie only had one Yiyi. With an even greater difference in power, how could Tang Jie possibly defeat Feng Buzhi?

Tang Jie chuckled. “True Person Feng, you’ve forgotten something. Stopping you doesn’t require defeating you. I only need to destroy the teleportation formation.”

Tang Jie’s expression suddenly turned cold and callous. “The Beast Refining Gate’s worst mistake was sending someone who didn’t understand formations to oversee this operation. Did you know that there are ways of destroying formations without even touching them?”

As Feng Buzhi paled, Tang Jie turned and punched into the distance.

Well, the Transformation fiends weren’t particularly smart, but they bought enough time for Tang Jie to arrive.