When the horned woman heard the Silver-winged Nightfiend mention the restriction medallions, her expression turned and her voice grew harsh, “The spiritual Qi here is perfect. Why would I want to leave? Although I don’t know what is happening to the outside world, I doubt I will find a better place for cultivation there. I will stay here until I ascend to the next realm.”

The Silver-winged Nightfiend frowned, “Fellow Daoist Gui, you should know that the seal is already shattered. You won’t be able to continue cultivating here peacefully, and there is no need to tolerate what will happen. Furthermore, we do have a friendship of some sort, so how about we face this crisis together?” 

The horned woman nodded with a more relaxed composure, “We do have some friendship. You were the refined corpse of a human, and those cultivators nurtured the Lion Hawk and I before sealing us in the Spirit Prison Formations.”

“Kunwu Hall has restrictions that are specially put in place to repel us and we aren’t normally capable of going near it. But now there are humans leading the way. So long as we quietly follow behind them, when the time comes, it will be easy for us to both acquire our restriction medallions and dispose of them.”

The horned woman’s heart stirred, but contrary to how to she felt, she snorted and coldly said, “You speak of it as if were as easy as that. There are many of them present, even some late-Nascent Soul cultivators. You even mentioned that there was a particularly troublesome cultivator who possessed a Divine Spirit Treasure. When the time comes, we might be putting our own head on the platter. I would loathe being imprisoned once more. Wouldn’t it be better to ignore those restriction medallions and sleep in the depths of the mountain’s spirit veins for a thousand years? By then, even if they acquired the medallions, they won’t be able to bother us.”

The nightfiend seemed to have lost his patience and sullenly said, “Don’t forget, Fellow Daoist Gui, I am quite skilled in earth movement techniques.”

The woman icily leered at the Silver-winged Nightfiend, “What do you mean?”

“It’s quite simple,” the nightfiend indifferently said, “If my restriction medallion is seized by the humans, they can ask me anything I know. Do you think that they will let go of the demon core of a grade-ten Vast Cliff Tortoise?”

The woman scowled in annoyance, “Fine, how about we hide together then?” 

The nightfiend bluntly spoke, “I cannot forgo a great opportunity like this one I cannot stay on this damnable mountain. Without Yin Moon Essence, I will eternally be unable to evolve into a Gold-clad Lunar Corpse.”

The woman snorted and suddenly jumped a meter into the air, shouting, “Are you threatening me?!”

With a wave of his wings, he chuckled and coldly said, “I’m not threatening you. Fellow Daoist Gui needs to come to a decision. Don’t forget that you owe me a favor as well. Don’t you remember when the ancient cultivators placed a berserker curse on us to seal our intelligence. Were it not for the Clear Void Pill I split with you, you would've become bloodthirsty and violent rather than take on the form you have today.”

“Of course, I remember.” When she was reminded of the berserker curse, her arrogance nearly disappeared.

After a moment of silence, she sighed once more, “We shouldn’t forget about the fourth guardian that should’ve teleported here too. We still haven’t seen it, nor do we know its form. If we can all join hands, I will consider it.”

The nightfiend shook his head and said, “I’ve already looked all over, but I haven’t found the location of the fourth Spirit Prison Formation, nor any trace of a demon or ghost. Perhaps the fourth guardian wasn’t very lucky and had already passed away. After all, it didn’t have a Clear Void Pill to hold back the curse. The possibility of surviving after running rampant for this many years doesn’t seem very likely. And even if it managed to survive, we don’t have any more time to look for them.”

When the woman heard this, her expression wavered.

A moment later, she let out one more sight, having come to a decision, and affirmed with a clear tone, “Since you raised the matter of the Clear Void Pill, I will assist you this one time. But, after we acquire our restriction medallions, we will immediately leave. I don’t want to stay on this cursed mountain; I want to find an uninhabited place where I can peacefully cultivate.”

“That will do. So long as we have freedom, we can cultivate anywhere in this world.” The nightfiend smiled. As the Vast Cliff Tortoise was a fraction stronger than he, she would prove to be of great assistance.

Maintaining a calm exterior, the horned woman then said, “But before we take action, we will need a plan. Since they know that two of you exist, we will need to be careful and not get caught into any of their traps.” 

“Naturally!” The nightfiend agreed without any hesitation.

As for the Lion Hawk, it raised its head and let out a caw.

The three beasts had a quiet discussion by the huge tree, and after the time it took to finish a meal, they soared into the sky and flew in the direction of the stone steps.

In the blink of an eye, they disappeared from sight and left only wind in their wake.

But not long after, another large tree nearby suddenly shook and quickly shrank. Green light shined in a barrier around it and protrusions emerged from its surface to reveal two large verdant eyes.

The eyes were as shiny as glass and looked around, emotionlessly glancing in the direction that the three had disappeared.

It was truly inconceivable. A beast was able to hide itself near three high-grade existances.

After its eyes looked at the sky for a long while, green flashed from around it along a gust of wind, and the tree disappeared into the ground.

...

After Han Li and company spotted the Lion Hawk, they quickly flew out of the stone hall.

After they emerged, they quickly noticed a restriction preventing flight and all fell to the ground.

Much like those before, they also rejoiced upon finding this as it meant they had finally arrived at an important place on Kunwu Mountain.

“What’s that?” Bai Yaoyi glanced at the stone stairways in the distance with complete shock.

The others quickly followed her gaze and discovered the winding stone stairs flanked by a huge verdant forest.

The forest was densely filled with huge purple bamboo stalks and covered an area as far as the eye could see, completely concealing the white jade plaza from view.

The bottom of the forest was filled with a faint purple Qi that emitted an astonishing spiritual pressure, enough to cause the cultivators’ hearts to tremble.

Hua Tianqi examined the scene and solemnly said, “The restriction seems to be vastly superior to the Absolute Ice-Fire Formation. This should be the last one. Once we break through, we’ll be able to pursue them without pause.” 

“In that case, what are we waiting for?” Old Devil Qian let out a wild cackle and the cinque devils shined before shooting into the forest.

Hua Tianqi hesitated for a moment before following after and leading the Sacred Poison Sect Elders into the purple forest.

“Let’s go as well. Yi! Brother Han, what are you doing?” Just as he was about to set off, he saw Han Li wear an unsightly expression and paused in alarm.

With a deep breath, his face returned to normal, “It’s nothing. Let’s go.” Then with a blur, he leaped ten meters into the air without another thought.

The old man stroked his chin. Although he felt somewhat doubtful, he that knew now wasn’t the time and quickly followed after him.

Unbeknownst to Old Man Fu, the Bamboo Cloudswarm Swords within his body had all trembled, signifying that the Elder Devil was present on this mountain. He wasn’t able to stop himself from grimacing afterwards.

‘Could it be that the Elder Devil is with the parties of cultivators ahead of us? How did that he onto this mountain? And what sinister designs does that devil have in coming here?’

As a string of thoughts rapidly flooded Han Li’s mind, he was thrown into turmoil. 

With the Triflame Fan and the late-Nascent Soul stage puppet, he wasn’t particularly fearful of the Elder Devil, but it was truly too strange of a coincidence for it to make an appearance here.

His encounters with the Elder Devil were still fresh in his mind, and he felt a deep sense of foreboding.

At that moment, Old Devil Qian arrived in front of the forest and released streams of grey glacial from the cinque devils hands.

In response, the bamboo forest let out a series of hums and seven pillars of purple light shot out from various areas into the sky. The purple Qi within seemed to have come to life and resisted the grey glacial Qi in a wave as if they were two beasts trying to rend each other apart.

Afterwards, the Sacred Poison Sect Elders and the group of vagrant cultivators quickly arrived and unleashed their own attacks to the formation without hesitation, brightly lighting up the air around them.

As for Han Li, he silently spat out several flying swords and joined in the assault as he wondered on other matters.