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Suddenly, darkness enveloped heaven and earth.

The sea of thunder and icy flames overhead dissipated, replaced by an army of yao so vast, they blotted out the sky.

As soon as they appeared, they sensed over a dozen presences just as strong, if not stronger, locking onto each of them. These new arrivals attached extra important to the three race's leaders, Jackdaw, Yin Hu, and Chen Jiannan .

Everyone's nerves were completely taught, even Jackdaw, who'd seemed lazy and unconcerned the whole time. A group of eight and ninth-stage sky supremes had locked onto him. A rare, serious look surfaced on his face.

"Yin Hu!" In but a breath of time, Chen Jiannan turned towards the yao leader and roared in fury.

The other humans and demons did the same. They glowered at the yao, their faces ashen.

All of these new arrivals were yao. The three races lived at close quarters and interacted frequently lately; of course they could tell that the entire army hovering overhead was comprised of yao!

Their numbers were enough to blot out the sun. There were well over a hundred, and even the weakest of them was at least a seventh-stage sky supreme.

"You yao are trustworthy indeed," roared Chen Jiannan. Before setting forth, the leaders of each faction came to an agreement.

Each race could only send up to fifteen sky supremes, including only one ninth-stage expert. The others were all representatives of different peak-level factions.

Yet now, the vast army of yao told them beyond a shadow of a doubt: they yao had broken their agreement.

"They aren't with us!" Yin Hu explained hurriedly.

"Well, they sure aren't with us, are they?" Chen Jiannan narrowed his eyes and shouted. By now, he was terrified to the core. Yao that could break though to the sky supreme level were almost universally divine beasts. Divine beasts had an innate advantage over humans in terms of physique.

Although humans who became gods by undergoing divine tribulation could contend with divine beasts, not just anyone could undergo divine tribulation.

Take him, for instance. Although he was a monstrously talented, proud son of heaven, famed far and wide, he'd never truly undergone divine tribulation or formed a godhead.

Furthermore, he'd exhausted most of his energy against Ye Zichen's thunder fire dragons. He had no chance at all against a ninth-stage yao supreme, especially with support from a group of eighth-stage yao supremes.

"Yin Hu, you yao win this round. We'll back out of the contest for the Xuan-Yuan Sword and Yao-Sealing Pagoda, so call off your troops and let us leave. As for breaking the terms of our agreement, well, we'll report this to the God Emperor and Lord of Thunder when we get back!"

This was no time to play hero. Right now, Chen Jiannan was most concerned with getting him and his subordinates out of here alive.

"This really isn't my doing!" Yin Hu had no idea what to say right now.

"Yin Hu!" Chen Jiannan's eyes were practically red by now. He clenched his divine sword. "Do you really want to kill us all here? Do you dare?"

Chen Jiannan gashed his teeth and glowered at Yin Hu, while over on the demons' side, Jackdaw looked up at the sky, then back at Yin Hu. His gaze flickered back and forth as he carefully examined their minute moments.

"Something's not right. These most likely aren't Yin Hu's subordinates. Chen Jiannan, you're mistaken."

"That's right! They aren't mine," said Yin Hu despite his surprise that Jackdaw would stick up for him. He frowned, then continued, "They've locked onto us, too. Besides, our leaders made an agreement with the Masters of the Laws to send us down here. How could we possible send so many people down without you knowing about it?"

"Then whose troops are they?" Chen Jiannan narrowed his eyes. "I know your two factions have reached some sort of agreement. At a time like this, do you really think I'd believe Jackdaw's words?"

"Don't forget; the Yao-Sealing Pagoda is right here!" In the face of Chen Jiannan's disbelief, Jackdaw merely laughed, then looked up at the grinning Ye Zichen.

The other supremes followed his gaze.

"So, you didn't start fighting amongst yourselves. What a pity!" said Ye Zichen. "And here I thought you'd take care of each other for me."

Ye Zichen pulled a chair out of nowhere and sat down, then crossed his legs and leisurely sipped at a cup of wine. Two eight-stage yao women stood beside him, attending to his every need.

When Chen Jiannan sensed their auras, his pupils constricted, and his veins bulged on his forehead. He pointed at Ye Zichen and roared, "So it was you!"

The instant he pointed at Ye Zichen, the two attendants' eyes frosted over, and they melted into the darkness.

Before he knew it, Chen Jiannan felt a chill seep into him from behind. He froze in place, and in less than half a second, cold light flashed across him. By the time the others realized what was happening, the finger he'd used to point at Ye Zichen had already departed from his hand and fallen to the ground.

Even more terrifyingly, Chen Jiannan still had yet to sense any pain in his hand. The wound didn't even bleed; ice had sealed off the blood vessels. It wasn't until the two enchanting women returned to Ye Zichen's side that he felt the first surge of heartrending pain.

"I'm very sorry; I couldn't keep a handle on my subordinates, and let them shop of your finger. It hurts, doesn't it?" Ye Zichen cocked his head to the side and smile faintly.

"Shade Devils!" One of the yao determined the women's' true forms. His pupils constricted as he yelled, "Didn't they go extinct back in the Great War of Demons and Gods? How can they still exist?"

Shade Devils weren't technically yao, but they were still lumped in with yao. Every single adult member of their race was a fully-qualified assassin.

Back in the War of Demons and Gods, their ancestor was a half-step ruler, and relied on their race's innate ability to hide themselves, along with his assassination arts, to kill several of the demon race's rulers. He hadn't let so much as a single target get away.

This infuriated the Demon Emperor, who personally wiped out the entire race. Ever since, the yao had never seen any trace of the Shade Devils.

Quite a few of the demons' eyes darted back and forth. Although they'd never experienced the Shade Devils' assassination arts, they'd left their mark on the demons' history.

"Ye Zichen! Ye Zichen!" Now fingerless, Chen Jiannan roared at Ye Zichen. He sealed off his broken finger's blood vessels and meridians. The next moment, his fury faded inexplicably, replaced by playful curiosity.

"If you have the Yao of the Yao-Sealing Pagoda, there's truly nothing I can do to you. But so what? Do you dare harm any of us? All of us are elites chosen by our respective races' peak-level factions. If you kill us, you'll infuriate the entire Three Realms! Under the weight of the Three Realms' combined fury, you'll never no peace so long as you live! Hmph! You're just bluffing and throwing your weight around. You're not really going to kill us… you wouldn't dare!"

"Did you know?" Ye Zichen's smile immediately faded. "Your junior apprentice brother, Xiao Zhan, said the exact same thing."

He turned to the yao filling the sky and shouted, "Kill them!"