The moment the people of Xuandan Gate began subduing the pill furnace, the massive artifact suddenly started spinning wildly.
"Saint-grade pill furnace really is extraordinary!" Qing Yun exclaimed, his voice full of awe.
The others followed suit, throwing themselves into the act as if they were truly fighting for control, making the performance look perfectly convincing.
Underground, the Demon Soul was also working hard to manipulate the furnace in resistance, playing his part with just as much effort.
With both sides giving their all, the "battle to subdue the pill furnace" turned into a thrilling, dramatic show.
Finally, when both sides decided they'd done enough, they began to ease up.
Just as Qing Yun reached out to grab the furnace, the pill furnace suddenly opened on its own. A single pill floated out from within.
"A Saint-grade pill! It's a Saint-grade pill!" someone shouted.
Instantly, the place erupted into chaos.
Then, one after another, more pills drifted out. The thick fragrance of medicine filled the air, rich and intoxicating.
Yun Jin narrowed her eyes. That scent… something was off. If someone inhaled too much of it, their body would go weak, leaving them like lambs waiting for slaughter. So, this Demon Soul was cautious after all.
As the pills kept floating, the scene grew even more chaotic.
Some cultivators went crazy fighting for the drifting pills, others scurried around picking up those scattered across the ground.
"Our target's not those floating pills," one of the disguised demons whispered. "It's the porcelain bottles beside the furnace. The pills inside might not be high-grade, but that's exactly why we might actually get them."
Everyone nodded and moved into action.
Yun Jin blended in, pretending to search through the mess for pills like everyone else.
Beneath the ground, the Demon Soul lit a stick of incense and pressed it into the soil.
"Hehehehe. Once this incense burns out, the Locking Spirit Incense will take effect. They'll soon realize something's wrong, but by then, it'll already be too late."
The incense slowly burned, ash falling grain by grain as his anticipation grew.
Above ground, chaos reigned.
The incense continued to burn, its smoke twisting in the air.
Finally, the last bit of ash fell.
The body controlled by the Demon Soul, Yang Yun, slowly opened his eyes.
The time… had come.
"I got it! I caught one! A Saint-grade pill, it's mine!" a cultivator shouted joyfully, clutching a pill in his hand.
But a heartbeat later, his expression froze.
Wait. Something wasn't right.
His spiritual power…
Why couldn't he use his spiritual power anymore?!
Those still fighting tooth and nail for the pills also stopped mid-action, their faces blank with confusion.
What the hell was happening? Why couldn't they circulate their spiritual power either?
Panic spread like wildfire.
The people of Xuandan Gate hadn't joined the pill rush. They were still pretending to subdue the furnace.
But when the time came, their spiritual power was suddenly locked too, sealed so completely they couldn't move a trace of it. The pill furnace crashed to the ground with a deafening boom, shaking the entire hall.
Before their stunned eyes, the furnace that had once gleamed with golden light turned pitch-black. A terrifying, evil aura burst free, flooding the area like a tidal wave.
"What's that…" someone whispered, voice trembling.
"It's demonic energy!"
"It's demonic energy! How's that possible?! Wasn't this furnace from the ancient era?!"
Before anyone could react, the furnace's opening became a yawning black vortex. A powerful suction force erupted outward, dragging everyone toward it from near to far.
By now, everyone knew something had gone horribly wrong. They struggled desperately, but their bodies refused to obey, pulled helplessly toward the furnace. The closer they were, the stronger the pull.
Xuan Feng and his group were the first to be caught, dragged in before anyone else. A wave of black qi burst from the furnace, lifting everyone into the air as it wrapped around them like a shroud.
"Sect Master Xuan! It's a trap! It's a demonic trap!" someone screamed in terror.
"Sect Master Xuan, think of something! If you don't, we're all gonna die here!"
It wasn't an exaggeration.
Their spiritual power had been sealed, leaving them completely defenseless before the demonic energy.
"Use the immortal artifact!" Qing Yun shouted urgently. "Sect Master, can you borrow its power?"
Everyone turned toward Xuan Feng, eyes full of desperate hope.
Xuan Feng's face twisted with frustration. "If I could use my spiritual power, I could summon the immortal artifact. But right now… I can't use it at all!"
Hopelessness spread through the crowd. They still didn't even know how they'd been tricked. Thinking back, maybe the pill fragrance had been poisoned, and they'd inhaled it without realizing.
As alchemists, they all carried antidotes in their storage bags. But again, without spiritual power, they couldn't even open their storage bags. They could only stand there and wait for death.
"It's over."
"We're doomed this time."
"Damn it, those demons! How dare they!"
Despair filled every voice around Yun Jin.
Then suddenly, several people in the crowd began smiling. They hadn't been affected at all. They stepped forward, knelt before the furnace, and bowed deeply.
"Welcome, Demon Sovereign!"
"Welcome, Demon Sovereign!"
Their voices rang out in eerie unison.
Everyone's faces went pale. The Demon Sovereign?
That Demon Sovereign—the one who'd been besieged by the strongest of the human race and barely escaped alive? He'd been hiding here all along?!
A cold, mocking laugh echoed through every mind as a black shadow burst out of the ground. It was him, the legendary Demon Sovereign. Yang Yun's eyes filled with despair as he looked at the crowd of immobilized cultivators.
Seriously? Were these human cultivators incapable of learning?
They'd walked straight into the trap again. How was he supposed to survive now?!
But under the Demon Soul's control, his face stayed blank as he raised a hand.
Everyone's pupils contracted in horror. Just moments ago, their spiritual power had only been sealed. Now, it was draining away. And all that power was flowing straight into Yang Yun.
"He's absorbing our spiritual power!" someone shouted in despair.
"No shit!" another snapped furiously. "You think saying that helps?!"
But it was too late for any of them to resist.
Yun Jin felt her spiritual power being pulled as well. Her eyes flickered, and a strange idea crossed her mind.
She closed her eyes, quietly sensing the flow.
At that moment, the Demon Sovereign was drawing everyone's power together.
Each cultivator's spiritual power carried different elemental attributes, but he was somehow able to absorb them all. In that swirling vortex of power, Yun Jin sensed the presence of every element.
The five elements—metal, wood, water, fire, and earth—all existed within it, though their proportions varied.
She began to think deeply.
The Law of Yin and Yang was known as one of the supreme Laws precisely because it embraced all things.
Everything in existence contained Yin and Yang.
Even the five elements were divided between them.