"The undercover agents embedded within the human upper echelons have reported that a terrifying fiend will soon emerge in the Great West Xuan Desert," the sinister voice uttered slowly.

"A terrifying fiend? Is it one of our Yimo kind? What could possibly warrant the mobilization of so many powerful individuals?" another voice asked in confusion.

"It's unclear. From ancient times to the present, although we've suffered losses, it seems that none of our major Seat Kings have been affected. Moreover, our forces are most concentrated in the West Xuan Region. We've been trying to locate our kin for years, but there's been no response. It makes no sense that they could detect the emergence of a fiend without us noticing anything."

"Could it be a trap? Five years ago, a super strong practitioner appeared in the East Xuan Region, reclaimed the Great Desolation Tablet, and took the Dao Sect girl, who is believed to be the Reincarnation of the Ice Master, as his disciple. Five years is ample time for the Ice Master to regain her memories, not to mention the other Ancient Masters and those strong practitioners..." This voice carried a hint of apprehension.

"A trap? That's a possibility," the sinister voice replied.

"So, are we going to take action on this matter?" the hoarse voice asked.

"Of course, we must. It's not just us who have doubts; even the strong practitioners from the Tian Xuan Continent are skeptical. The number of mobilized strong practitioners isn't that many. If there's an opportunity, we might be able to eliminate them all in one fell swoop, keke."

"Then it's settled. Let's gather our forces."

...

Just as various factions were converging, a figure suddenly appeared in the sky above the center of the Great West Xuan Desert.

Dressed in a dark robe with long hair cascading over his shoulders, his eyes scanned the surroundings before emitting a light exclamation.

The person making the sound was Xiao Ming. He seemed surprised as he said, "These Yimo move swiftly indeed. It seems they've already received the news and arrived at the center of the Great West Xuan Desert."

In Xiao Ming's eyes, although the West Xuan Region appeared as a vast desert under the blazing sun, beneath this seemingly majestic scenery, there were actually numerous dark currents of Demonic Qi rising from the corners. This Demonic Qi was extremely subtle and concealed. Only someone with his strength could detect it.

Clearly, the Yimo had dispatched their experts as well.

After carefully sensing the surroundings with closed eyes, Xiao Ming slowly opened them and a smile formed at the corner of his mouth. 'Well, this works out nicely. With these Yimo gathering here, it'll be convenient to take care of them all at once later. For now, I'll release a pseudo-seal on the fiend. It might even attract more Yimo to come.'

With that, he waved his sleeve, and a demonic bead containing overwhelming Demonic Qi appeared in front of him.

"What exactly are you planning to do!" A furious voice emanated from within the demonic bead as soon as it appeared.

This bead naturally contained the Yimo King whom Xiao Ming had previously subdued and sealed within the Dao Sect. Subsequently, Xiao Ming forcefully propelled this Yimo to the 3rd Calamity Reincarnation Stage. Although this stage could be considered that of a powerful fiend, it still fell somewhat short of the earth-shattering one he had mentioned.

The preparations to transform this Yimo into that terrifying fiend had already been made by Xiao Ming within the Dragon Clan's Devil Suppressing Prison, but they had yet to be utilized. Now was clearly the right time to do it.

Therefore, in response to the Yimo King's question, Xiao Ming merely smiled in a friendly manner.

"Don't worry. I'm just assisting you in breaking through to the Half-Ancestor Stage. I will release your seal once you break through."

"Wh-what! You really want me to continue breaking through?" The Yimo King's expression turned pale with horror. Xiao Ming's handsome face could charm countless women with his smile, but to the Yimo King, he appeared even more sinister and terrifying than his own Yimo Tribe.

This was because the breakthrough process that Xiao Ming put him through was excruciatingly painful. Progressing one step within the Reincarnation Stage was incredibly difficult. Therefore, Xiao Ming would torment him to force his body to meet the breakthrough conditions and then forcibly infuse energy for the advancement.

The Yimo King had no choice but to passively cooperate if he wanted to survive, though it was futile to resist anyway because even in death, resurrection was possible.

So the Yimo King could only express his impotent rage, "What exactly is your scheme!"

"Do you really think I'd tell you if I had a scheme?" Xiao Ming chuckled and then ignored the screams of the Yimo King. He then opened a spatial channel with a wave of his hand. An even more turbulent and terrifying Demonic Qi burst forth from the other side of the channel. It immediately caused the clouds in the sky to disperse.

However, under Xiao Ming's casual seal, this Demonic Qi was firmly confined to this area, creating a sea of Demonic Qi with an extremely high concentration.

"Such Demonic Qi..."

The Yimo King's face inside the demonic bead turned somewhat green as he looked at this Demonic Qi. However, just as he was about to speak, Xiao Ming threw him into the middle of the Demonic Qi and said, "Just relax and grow stronger. This is a realm that countless beings have never been able to reach in their entire lives. Consider yourself lucky. Although you may have lost your mind by then, hehe."

As soon as his voice fell, a swirl began to form within the sea of Demonic Qi, accompanied by a hoarse scream.

After the swirl emerged, the Demonic Qi began to continuously recede as an aura grew stronger at an astonishing rate.

'Hmm, just as I expected, he can indeed reach the Half-Ancestor Stage. Now it's time to seal him. Once the allied forces of Tian Xuan Continent and the Yimo are almost all here, it will be just the right time to break the seal. Ah, I need to leave some gaps to leak out some Demonic Qi, thus creating an illusion. That will be even more perfect.'

Satisfied with the tumultuous sea of Demonic Qi, Xiao Ming ascended above the surface of the sea. As he appeared in the sky, the demonic sea below churned violently. Massive Demonic Qi coalesced into ferocious demonic pythons that hissed and charged towards him.

"This emperor has already exterminated your masters. How dare some remnant thoughts within the Demonic Qi behave in such a wild manner?"

Xiao Ming looked at the demonic pythons rushing towards him, a cold smile curling the corner of his mouth. Without any apparent movement from him, a flickering multi-colored light swept out. 

The Emperor Flame descended upon the world once again!

The multi-colored flames burst forth. Immediately, the ferocious demonic pythons let out shrill screams. The demonic thoughts within the demonic pythons dissipated at an astonishing speed as they resisted the Emperor Flame. In just a few breaths, the demonic thoughts completely dissolved into nothingness. Meanwhile, the Demonic Qi instantly scattered without the control of the demonic thoughts.

His actions seemed to have enraged something. Countless piercing screams suddenly filled the air around him. The entire sea of Demonic Qi erupted, with countless streams of Demonic Qi pouring out like tens of thousands of demonic waves rushing toward him.

Xiao Ming remained calm and enveloped the turbulent sea of Demonic Qi in a dazzling net of multicolored light that was constantly contracting.

Noise continuously erupted above the sea of Demonic Qi. Any Demonic Qi that came into contact with the multicolored light screen instantly dissipated as the net continued to contract. Eventually, even the space itself compressed and ultimately vanished above this desert.

However, if a strong practitioner were to arrive at this place, they would find faint dark Demonic Qi emerging from within the space…