Chapter 48: Xu Beichen’s True Purpose!

The sky in the direction of the volcano was already dyed a dark, ominous red, as if it could erupt at any moment. The branches of the towering ancient tree demon writhed like giant pythons, and the human faces on its trunk twisted and deformed, emitting a piercing, shrill shriek.

"Everyone!" Xu Beichen suddenly shouted, the immortal bone on his chest bursting with a dazzling white light. "Instead of exhausting ourselves here, we might as well join forces to slay this demon!"

Before his voice even faded, the long sword in his hand slashed out a three-zhang-long sword qi, heading straight for the tree demon's main trunk! This sword strike acted as a signal, and dozens of cultivators attacked simultaneously, the multicolored brilliance of their profound energy slamming into the tree demon like a torrential rain.

"Stick close to me!" Ye Xiao let out a low grunt, broken sword in hand, as the three of them advanced, blending into the crowd.

"Boom!"

The tree demon let out a heaven-shaking roar, and hundreds of branches thrust out like lances. A cultivator failed to dodge in time and was impaled through the chest on the spot. His blood was sucked into the trunk along the branches, and his corpse withered into a mummified husk in the blink of an eye.

"Watch out for those branches!" Du Mao smashed an incoming branch to pieces with a single punch, an earthy-yellow profound energy forming a protective barrier around his body.

Yet, the corner of Ye Xiao's eye remained fixed on Xu Beichen. Sure enough, while that fellow appeared to be attacking the tree demon on the surface, he was actually quietly closing in on them!

"Ye Xiao! Meet your death!" Xu Beichen suddenly burst forth, the light from his immortal bone flaring brilliantly as a streak of white light slashed down like lightning!

"Clang!"

Ye Xiao had been prepared for this and blocked with his horizontal broken sword, though the force drove him back several steps. Blood spilled from the corner of his mouth, but a flash of excitement crossed his eyes—under this pressure, the residual beast blood within his body had actually begun to refine at an accelerated rate!

"Xu Beichen! You're despicable!" Han Qi shouted angrily, her delicate hand waving as three ice daggers shot toward the center of Xu Beichen's face.

Xu Beichen sneered and dodged, just about to attack again when a thick, heavy branch suddenly swept horizontally toward him! He was forced to turn back and sever the branch, cursing angrily, "Damned beast!"

Taking the opportunity, Ye Xiao circulated the Blood Scripture, the vital qi and blood within him boiling like a cauldron. The previous impact had shifted his internal organs, but it had also revealed a startling truth—Xu Beichen's attacks could actually help him refine the beast blood!

"Come again!" Ye Xiao actively provoked, his broken sword pointing straight at Xu Beichen.

"Courting death!" Xu Beichen roared in fury, his immortal bone glowing once more. This time, wielding his sword with both hands, he unleashed a sword qi even fiercer than the last!

Ye Xiao did not dodge or evade, raising his sword to meet it. With a loud "boom," he was sent flying more than ten zhang through the air, crashing heavily against the rock wall. Blood gushed from his mouth, but he was smiling—most of the beast blood within his body had now been refined, and his cultivation realm instantly broke through to the fourth layer of the Mansion Establishment Realm!

"How is that possible?" Xu Beichen's eyes widened. That sword strike of his should have been enough to kill an ordinary third-layer Mansion Establishment cultivator, yet Ye Xiao had only suffered injuries?

The tree demon's frantic attacks interrupted their standoff. Dozens of branches thrust at Xu Beichen simultaneously, forcing him to retreat repeatedly. Taking advantage of the chaos, Ye Xiao leaped back to Han Qi's side and whispered, "I need to take a few more of his sword strikes!"

"Are you insane?" Du Mao stared, eyes wide.

"Trust me!" Ye Xiao wiped the blood from the corner of his mouth, a brilliant light flashing in his eyes.

The battle grew increasingly fierce. The tree demon's branches fell like rain, and more than twenty cultivators had already met tragic deaths. Xu Beichen dealt with the tree demon while searching for an opportunity to strike at Ye Xiao.

"Dragon Tooth Splitting the Heavens!" Deliberately leaving an opening, Ye Xiao slashed his broken sword toward the tree demon while leaving his entire back wide open.

"Die!" Xu Beichen fell right into the trap, his immortal bone erupting with full force as a beam of white light struck straight at Ye Xiao's back!

"Puff!"

Ye Xiao took the blow head-on, spitting a mouthful of blood into the air, but inside his body, it felt like a volcano erupting! All of his remaining residual blood was refined in an instant, and his cultivation broke through once more—reaching the fifth layer of the Mansion Establishment Realm!

"Hahaha!" Ye Xiao wiped away the blood, his aura surging exponentially, "Many thanks, Senior Brother Xu, for your gracious assistance!"

Xu Beichen's face turned ashen, and just as he was about to attack again, a disciple of the Profound Yellow Sect grabbed him urgently: "Young Sect Master! Never mind him! The volcano is shifting abnormally; we must arrive first!"

Glaring bitterly at Ye Xiao, Xu Beichen suddenly spun around and led the Profound Yellow Sect members in quietly breaking away from the battlefield, bypassing the tree demon and dashing rapidly toward the volcano.

"They're trying to run!" someone shouted upon noticing.

The tree demon immediately shifted its target, and the pressure on the remaining cultivators increased exponentially amid shrieks of agony, more than a dozen more were impaled by the branches.

"We're leaving too!" Ye Xiao made a prompt decision, and the three of them broke through, following closely behind Xu Beichen's route.

Angry curses echoed from behind: "Scum of the Profound Yellow Sect!"

"They deliberately used us as bait!"

The tree demon went completely berserk, its branches sweeping across the entire area like a tidal wave. Ye Xiao glanced back; of the nearly one-hundred-person vanguard, only a dozen or so wretched figures remained, struggling bitterly to hold on.

The three of them ran wildly for a quarter of an hour, only pausing to catch their breath after confirming they had shaken off the tree demon. Du Mao slammed his fist into a tree trunk: "That bastard Xu Beichen!"

"Forget about him," Han Qi said with a solemn expression, "we need to hurry on our way."

Suddenly, Ye Xiao raised a hand to signal silence. A faint rustling sound drifted from the dense forest ahead, and the three of them instantly tensed into battle readiness.

Parting the bushes, the sight before them made all three hold their breath simultaneously.

A giant ape, standing fully three zhang tall, lay on its side, snoring like thunder. Its entire body was covered in fur like steel needles, and with every breath it took, the airflow expelled from its nostrils was strong enough to bend small trees. Most terrifyingly, the aura it exuded far surpassed that of the previous tree demon!

"Could this be... an Ape Demon?" Du Mao's voice trembled, "Equivalent to the peak of the Core Formation Realm in humans!"

Ye Xiao narrowed his eyes and saw Xu Beichen and his group holding their breath and cautiously circling past the demon ape from a hundred meters away. One of them accidentally snapped a branch underfoot with a sharp "crack."

The ape's snoring stopped abruptly.

Everyone froze instantly, cold sweat pouring down their backs. The ape's nose twitched twice before it resumed its thunderous snoring.

Xu Beichen and the others felt as if granted a pardon, quickening their pace to leave. Ye Xiao and his companions exchanged glances and prepared to follow suit.

Right at that moment, the jade pendant at Han Qi's waist suddenly slipped loose with a crisp "ding" sound!

"Roar—!"

The ape snapped its eyes open, its crimson pupils glowing like a pair of lanterns! It flipped up and slammed its giant palms against the ground, causing the entire mountain forest to shudder violently!

"Run!" Ye Xiao grabbed Han Qi, and the three of them erupted with full force, sprinting toward the volcano.

A deafening roar echoed from behind as the ape leaped dozens of zhang in a single bound, smashing a massive crater into the earth upon landing.

Sniffing the scent of humans in the air, the ape suddenly beat its chest in excitement and gave chase in their direction!

"Split up!" Ye Xiao shouted. The three of them immediately scattered in different directions. Hesitating for a fraction of a second, the ape chose to pursue the largest group—Xu Beichen's faction.

"Ah!" A Profound Yellow Sect disciple was grabbed by the ape and instantly squeezed into a mist of blood!

Xu Beichen's face turned pale as he drove his immortal bone to its absolute limit, his speed surging as he fled for his life.

The others were not so fortunate; within the blink of an eye, three more people lost their lives beneath the ape's paws.

Taking advantage of the moment, Ye Xiao's group reunited and hid within a rock crevice. Listening to the distant, fading roars, Du Mao let out a long breath: "We finally shook it off..."

"No!" Ye Xiao's expression suddenly changed drastically, "It let us go on purpose!"

As if confirming his words, a terrified scream from Xu Beichen suddenly echoed from the direction of the volcano ahead, followed immediately by the ape's excited howl!

Han Qi's face turned pale: "It was... doing that on purpose?"

"Let's follow and take a look first," he said in a low voice. "Xu Beichen definitely knows something, otherwise he wouldn't have been in such a rush to reach the volcano."

The three of them moved forward cautiously, seeing numerous crushed corpses strewn along the path.

The incense stick's time later, they arrived at the edge of a cliff. Below lay a boiling lake of magma, at the center of which stood an ancient altar.

Xu Beichen stood there alone, and lying unconscious right before him was—Mu Bai!

At this moment, Xu Beichen bore no trace of the panic he had displayed earlier.

"Mu Bai!" Han Qi nearly cried out, but Ye Xiao covered her mouth just in time.

Surrounding the altar stood three figures: a red-tailed man, a horned woman, and a scaled brute.

They were currently setting up some sort of formation, and Mu Bai had been placed right at its center.

"The Demon Clan..." Ye Xiao's pupils contracted. What shocked him even more was that on the other side of the magma lake, the Vajra Demonic Ape was kneeling respectfully on the ground, completely devoid of its previous berserk demeanor!

Xu Beichen bowed deeply to the red-tailed man: "My lord, as per our agreement, I have brought enough human blood to activate the altar. Please honor your promise and bestow the immortal bone secret art upon me."

The red-tailed man grinned, revealing pearly white fangs: "Of course, we of the Demon Clan always keep our word."

In an instant, everything became clear to Ye Xiao: Xu Beichen had deliberately led everyone here to die precisely so he could use their blood to activate the altar!

And Mu Bai's Profound Spirit Physique was clearly the crucial key!

"We have to save Senior Brother Mu Bai!" Ye Xiao gritted his teeth, only to feel Han Qi suddenly grab his arm.

"Wait! Look over there!"

Within the shadows at the edge of the magma lake, a hunchaged figure had appeared from nowhere. Draped in a cloak and holding a twisted wooden staff, the figure was quietly creeping toward the altar.

"That is..."