Chapter Thirty-Eight: The Drought Demon Breaks Free

White mist enveloped the air, and the bitter wind howled.

After the immortal radiance departed from the Demon Suppression Tower, Ji Feichen stepped out of his chamber, lantern in hand, traversing the silent corridor. On either side, not a soul was present; only the sound of his own footsteps and their echoes filled the space. Ji Feichen frowned. “It’s too quiet. Something feels off. Could this be the Earth Immortal’s ploy to lure out the snake?”

The drought demoness replied, her tone inscrutable, “You overthink. Remember, this is the Three Mountain Tower, and he is an Earth Immortal.”

As the administrative heart of the Supreme Palace, the Three Mountain Tower was a place few dared to stir trouble. Even the demon sect only acted when the killing tribulation began, never during such times as these.

Thus, though the Three Mountain Tower’s rules were strict, the immortals seldom abided by them wholeheartedly. After all, they were cultivators, not mortal jailers. Their chief pursuit was longevity and the Dao. Earth Immortals often ventured out, their Yang Spirits wandering, so long as the tower remained intact, no one in the Supreme Palace would complain.

The Earth Immortal overseeing the Demon Suppression Tower frequently left to gather celestial essence, and since other Earth Immortals resided in the Three Mountains, it posed no threat.

Midnight approached, and the chill seeped through the crystalline pillars into the layers of prison cells.

Ji Feichen and Tu Shan had agreed to attempt the rescue at midday. Yet before acting, Ji Feichen needed preparations. He entwined the Water Thunder he had refined with white threads, burying them at the crystalline pillars and throughout the Demon Suppression Tower.

“I used the Black Fiend Qi to refine the Water Thunder. This will surely make them suspect the Nether Sect, aiding my rescue.”

Once his task was done, Ji Feichen made his way to the third tier of the prison.

There, Ma Shixin stood at a distance, inspecting cell after cell, as if searching for something.

“Why are you out again, junior brother?”

“Isn’t senior brother outside as well?” Ji Feichen stepped forward, lantern raised. “Senior mentioned the Seven-Tailed Phoenix Grass and piqued my curiosity. I came to try my luck. What about you?”

“Just checking the cells... and hoping for luck myself.”

The Seven-Tailed Phoenix Grass meant little to the grand Supreme Palace, but for a minor disciple like Ma Shixin, possessing it would guarantee the Fruit of Immortal Dao. Thus, he was not surprised Ji Feichen had come.

“If senior finds it, please don’t forget to help your junior.” The two laughed as they searched the third tier.

“It’s at the end of the third white thread on your left,” the drought demoness suddenly whispered to Ji Feichen.

Ji Feichen blinked, then said to Ma Shixin, “Seems the third tier yields nothing. Shall we check the second? Perhaps Zhao Shaoming hid it there.”

“Agreed.” Ma Shixin moved over, and the two proceeded, candles in hand.

Ji Feichen appeared not to notice the white threads in the shadows. As the candlelight drew near, a thread almost touched his nose.

“Ah—!”

Startled, Ji Feichen retreated, nearly losing his balance. Steadying himself against the wall, he looked embarrassed. “Once bitten by a snake, ten years fearing a rope. The chill in these threads is fierce—please forgive me, senior.”

“No harm done. When I first patrolled, I ran into them several times myself, and the cold lingered.”

These white threads were the drought demoness’s corpse hair, stretching from the pillars of fire and water into every cell. Though they usually ran along the ceiling, some inevitably fell loose.

One purpose of the patrol was to clear away these stray threads.

Ma Shixin helped him up, while Ji Feichen discreetly slid his right hand into his sleeve. His fingers had picked up some moss from the wall.

Muttering under his breath, Ji Feichen frowned and wiped his hand on his robe. After searching the second tier for a long while, the two found “nothing at all.”

Returning to his chamber, Ji Feichen leaned against the stone door with a smile.

“Perfectly acquired!” He extended his hand—under the nail of his right middle finger was a patch of moss unlike any other.

“So this is the Seven-Tailed Phoenix Grass?” Even with its essence infused into the moss, Ji Feichen sensed a deadly threat. If he ingested this essence, death would be certain.

He placed the moss in his teacup, where it floated in amber liquid, a fragment of gold catching the eye. Upon closer inspection, seven tiny green leaves—each shaped like a phoenix feather—adorned the fragment.

“Indeed, this is the Seven-Tailed Phoenix Grass. Simply infuse its essence into any herb and it will become a genuine Seven-Leaf Phoenix Grass.”

Ji Feichen nodded, carefully storing the grass, then settled into meditation, waiting patiently for the moment.

Today was not his turn to lead anyone outside, so he used the excuse of secluded cultivation to remain in his chamber.

At midnight, the chill grew; at midday, the poisonous fire arose.

As the fire, carried by the white threads, burned into every cell, the Water Thunder Ji Feichen had left began to glow in shades of red.

Boom—rumble—

The Demon Suppression Tower shook violently; thunderous light erupted from every corner of the second and third tiers.

Water and fire know no mercy.

The yin energy of the Water Thunder clashed with the deadly fire. As yin and yang collided, thunder and flame resonated. Starting from the second tier, the dense white threads snapped under the assault, and a unique black fiendish aura associated with the Nether Sect spread through the corridor.

“Someone from our sect is rescuing prisoners?” The second and third tiers housed many Nether Sect demons. Some retained strength; two managed, gritting their teeth, to break their shackles with treasures bestowed by their elders.

The Heart-Piercing Lock and Divine Repression Chains shattered, and the two burst from their cells to free others. Yet as soon as they emerged, they appeared in the second tier of the Demon Suppression Tower. Though their companions were visible, none could be rescued.

All prisoners of the Three Mountain Tower were held in the underground palace; the seven upper tiers served only as a facade. Prisoners who escaped their cells would automatically emerge in the corresponding tier, but their true bodies remained below. Only the Supreme Palace could transfer anyone from above.

Looking at the cell doors, they saw many comrades, but their true forms lay beneath. The two realized rescue was impossible.

“It’s an illusion? Damn, we’ve been tricked!”

This spatial projection technique was a secret of the Supreme Palace.

Many prisoners died believing they were confined to the tower's upper tiers.

“Damn it. If we can’t rescue them, how do we distract them?” The demons cursed and searched for an escape. They sought not brotherhood, but reinforcements to share the burden of the Supreme Palace’s pursuit.

The two Nether Sect disciples, both of the Azure Lineage and skilled in Phosphorescent Poison Fire, joined forces. “If we can’t save them, let’s leave! We must escape first.”

“Escape? To where?” The other surveyed the Demon Suppression Tower, now encircled by poisonous flames, a sea of fire.

To confuse intruders, the tower drew out the drought demoness’s fire from below, weaving it through the upper tiers via her hair and into each cell, connecting back to the underground palace. Thus, even if the drought demoness acted, she could neither rescue nor harm the others.

The method for imprisoning the demoness differed entirely from that for others.

They saw every cell sealed, the spatial passages locked; the underground palace was now sealed. Immortal cultivators, startled from their meditations, emerged in the upper tiers, surrounding the two demons.

“Nether Sect again! How many have they sent?” The immortals, furious, subdued the two with ease.

“The demons above cause trouble, proving they know nothing of the underground palace. They deliberately stir chaos on the upper tiers. Now that the tower is sealed, they cannot escape. Let us search carefully—”

Bang—

Suddenly, the central pillar of fire and water in the Demon Suppression Tower trembled. Frost began to form along its crimson shaft. Ice crystals and flames surged together, thunderous light sweeping through the tower’s tiers.

The fire-water pillar blazed by day, chilled by night. Now, at the moment of blazing fire, Ji Feichen rushed inside, using the Profound Yin Ice Soul Thunder technique to disrupt its internal balance.

Ice and flame intertwined, countless sparks exploding across Ji Feichen’s body.

Gritting his teeth against the pain, Ji Feichen summoned profound light above his head. A majestic divine dragon appeared; its twin whiskers transformed into a Yin-Yang Cosmic Ruler in his hand.

The ruler measured heaven’s way, surveyed the mountains and rivers, divided sun and moon, ordered the cosmos.

As he swept the ruler, water and fire energies converged around Ji Feichen, forming a yin-yang fish within the pillar.

Yin and yang flowed, merging into the primordial unity. The ground vanished beneath Ji Feichen’s feet, and he plummeted from beneath the pillar into the depths of the underground palace.

“Not good! Someone’s intruded into the drought demoness’s domain!” An immortal realized, plunging through the pillar’s shattered ice and fire, in pursuit of Ji Feichen.

The method of imprisoning the drought demoness differed from that used for the others. The palace’s seal could prevent escapes, but not the demoness.

Ji Feichen fell through layers of structure resembling the upper tower, finally reaching the palace’s depths, where a sarcophagus awaited.

“This is clearly an underground tomb! The drought demoness is the tomb’s mistress, and the others are her grave goods.” Ji Feichen was shaken, following the source of the white threads to the sarcophagus.

Within the jade coffin, the beauty lay visible, talismans affixed to her brow, chest, and abdomen, while the coffin’s exterior was engraved with tens of thousands of demon-suppressing spells.

“Hurry, someone’s coming! Break the seal!” The drought demoness manipulated her hair, layers of white threads encircling Ji Feichen and the palace’s core like a spider’s web.

The immortals who followed were stopped by the white veil, unable to advance. Yet the drought demoness’s power was insufficient to resist their combined might.

“Time is short.” Ji Feichen quickly surveyed the jade coffin. Its unraveling was complex, but his aim was not to break it, rather to exchange places with the woman inside.

Ji Feichen touched his brow; Tu Shan’s Heavenly Deception Talisman emerged from his ancestral aperture. Within the jade coffin, a beetle stirred, the same talisman appearing on its back.

“Tu Shan is indeed impressive, managing to slip the talisman into the coffin.” Ji Feichen marveled, retreating a few steps.

The two talismans resonated, golden light responding—automatically, the demoness emerged from the coffin, while Ji Feichen’s talisman entered within.

Heavenly Deception turns the world, reversing yin and yang; this was the essence of deceiving the Dao.

The demoness lay atop the sarcophagus, hindered only by three talismans on her body.

“Hurry… help me break them!” At this final juncture, the drought demoness’s emotions surged, repeatedly urging Ji Feichen. “Quickly! Though the Demon Suppression Tower lacks an Earth Immortal, the other two towers still have them.”

“My apologies.” Ji Feichen approached, wielding the Yin-Yang ruler; its dragon whiskers transformed again into a precious sword.

Three swift strokes shattered the talismans.

As the seals broke, a unique, powerful aura belonging to an Earth Immortal erupted from the palace depths.

The immortals’ expressions changed. “No! Retreat! The drought demoness is freed—quickly, seek aid from the elders!”