61: After July

The remaining people in the gigantic city were struggling to survive. Ye Ming slightly raised his head and looked toward the direction outside the city, where black mist completely enveloped it. The entire city was surrounded by True Devilish Qi, and no one could escape.

He did not know if this was the real world. After the incident in the great hall, he no longer intended to investigate the authenticity of the stages.

He only wanted to clear the stage, obtain more five elements immortal fruit, and gamble on the chance of Awakening an Immortal Body.

Thus, the pity in his eyes vanished, replaced by cold determination as he searched for the True Devils, killing them one by one until all four were eliminated.

Not long after, he spotted a True Devil disguised as a woman in a residential house.

The identity it was impersonating included a husband and two children, but those three did not know that the real woman had died long ago.

The family of four was currently hiding in a cellar, eating a meal.

"Mom, Dad, when can we go out? I want to eat Uncle Lin's candied hawthorn!"

A seven-year-old girl had just finished eating. Her eyes were filled with longing as she looked at her parents; it had been a very long time since she had eaten candied hawthorn.

"Xin'er, be good. We'll go out and buy it for you when the weather outside gets better!" The father looked troubled, but he forced a smile to comfort his daughter.

The woman beside him also nodded. Just as she was about to speak, a figure suddenly appeared next to the True Devil. Five-colored light emanated from the figure's fingertips, striking swiftly and directly hitting its forehead.

Before the True Devil could react, the five-colored light had already extinguished its True Devilish Qi, causing it to collapse instantly, losing all signs of life.

Only after the woman's corpse fell did the family of three react. The husband tried to roar in anger, but Ye Ming sealed his mouth, preventing him from making a sound.

The other two children were also knocked unconscious by him. The man mistakenly believed Ye Ming had killed his wife and children and was about to fight desperately when—

"See for yourself!"

Ye Ming said expressionlessly. After turning around, his entire figure vanished from the cellar.

At that moment, the man witnessed a scene he would never forget: his wife instantly transformed into the corpse of a monster with disproportionate limbs.

"True... True, True Devil..."

The man's face was ashen, and his lips trembled violently. He never imagined that his wife had died long ago and that he had been living with a True Devil for a period without realizing it... Before the man could recover, he suddenly collapsed onto the ground, falling into a deep sleep. Meanwhile, the True Devil's corpse silently turned into ashes.

All this was merely a casual action by Ye Ming. Although the family of three had been affected by True Devilish Qi, once the True Devil was killed, that trace of True Devilish Qi became useless and would naturally dissipate over time.

Ye Ming left the residential house, executed the Divine Concealment Art, and flew high above the city. Five-colored light flashed in his eyes as he scanned the entire city.

After spending the time it takes to snap a finger, Ye Ming finally found the True Devils' hiding place—three of them at once, concealed in the City Lord's Mansion, all disguised as people close to the City Lord.

Ye Ming transformed into a streak of light invisible to others and flew into the City Lord's Mansion. In a short time, he located the positions of the three True Devils; they were separated.

Ye Ming flashed, instantly appearing inside an artificial rockery only dozens of meters away from him. A True Devil disguised as the City Lord's son was hiding there.

Reaching the True Devil, Ye Ming extended a finger condensed with Five Elements Power and delivered a thunderous strike, instantly killing the True Devil. He then knocked out the servants who witnessed the scene and turned to look for the other two True Devils.

After only a few steps, Ye Ming frowned slightly. He discovered that the two True Devils had gathered together, accompanied by the City Lord and over a thousand armored soldiers.

He didn't know if he had been discovered, but Ye Ming couldn't worry about that anymore. His figure flickered several times, and he appeared on a large stone platform.

The thousand-plus people on the stone platform stood silently in place, staring expressionlessly at the two women in front of them. The City Lord was clearly among the crowd, and a hint of green light flickered in their otherwise placid eyes.

Seeing this, Ye Ming knew that these thousands of people were beyond saving. They had become True Devil Puppets, commonly known as Lesser Devils, and their initial strength was all at the Qi Refinement Stage.

"Hmph, what's wrong with Devil Three? Why hasn't he arrived yet? And where is Devil Four messing around?" The younger woman among the two scoffed and asked the woman next to her.

"Devil Three is already rushing over and should be here soon. As for Devil Four..." the woman hesitated.

"What happened to Devil Four? Devil Two, why are you getting caught up in that person's memories again? Hurry up and change it, stop being so wishy-washy! We must devour this entire city today so we can be promoted to Heavenly Devils, understand? Do you know that?"

The woman put her hands on her hips and ranted fiercely at the woman next to her.

"I don't know!"

"What? You dare defy me?" The woman's face changed.

"I didn't say that!" The woman next to her looked bewildered; she hadn't said she didn't know.

The woman's expression changed again. Suddenly, a five-colored beam of light appeared next to her, accompanied by an overwhelming pressure that she could not resist.

The woman felt all strength drain from her body. Even the True Devilish Qi inside her was suppressed completely, making it impossible to utilize even a trace.

Under its horrified gaze, the five-colored beam of light ruthlessly pierced its head. The entire skull exploded instantly, scattering black blood everywhere. Strangely, there was no brain matter at all.

Next, the beam of light rapidly pierced Devil Two beside her, then spared none of the thousands of Lesser Devils. Wherever the light passed, dozens of Lesser Devils instantly turned into ashes.

Three breaths later, the entire stone platform had quieted down. As soon as Ye Ming's figure appeared, he was transported away by an invisible force, leaving behind the silent City Lord's Mansion... In the Void, as soon as Ye Ming opened his eyes, the Tower Spirit's voice sounded.

"Challenger, congratulations! You have killed all the True Devils and completed the challenge in an astonishing two minutes and one finger-snap! You have reached the top rank!"

"You are rewarded with a Rank Four Medium Grade Magical Artifact and seven more five elements immortal fruit!"

After collecting the rewards, Ye Ming entered the fifth stage.

Just like that, after clearing stages for a full seven months, he finally stopped at the Ninth Stage. Several people from different Immortal Cultivation Worlds were also stuck at this stage.

Starting from the Sixth Stage, it was no longer possible for ordinary Golden Core cultivators to pass, and the number of True Devils had doubled.

In the Ninth Stage, Ye Ming encountered thirty-eight True Devils, tens of thousands of Lesser Devils, and thousands of Human Devils whose strength was equivalent to Foundation Establishment.

There were no living people there; entering meant certain death. He only failed the Ninth Stage once, after which he entered seclusion for three months. He planned to wait for the annual check-in to attempt the Ninth Stage again.

That night, at midnight (Zi Shi).

[Ding! Host has completed another full year in the Immortal Cultivation Worlds. Would you like to check in?]