"Dao Friend Shen, this place can't be lingered in long — what say you?"

Tang Yuan looked warily around, a measure of consultation in his tone. He truly regarded this young man as an existence of equal realm. After all, from the earlier clash of arts one could tell that abruptly-appearing golden dharma form wasn't simply protecting Shen Yi. The two coordinated seamlessly. Plainly old friends who'd fought side by side for years, not a relationship of elder and junior.

"Can't you get into that cave estate you found anymore?" Shen Yi glanced sidelong.

"There was a gap originally — it must have been mended by that Xu-family person just now." Tang Yuan gnashed his teeth, then sighed helplessly. "And there's no telling how many formation-masters the Thousand Demon Den has seized. If it's only this one, that's fine, but if there are others, then it's truly a disaster."

This was the Thousand Demon Den's turf; for those cave estates opening normally, the news they grasped was absolutely more comprehensive than the human cultivators'. If they used the formation-masters' hands to mend all the other gaps too, then hereafter the immortal sects and Great Qian could only contend head-on with the demons — the pressure multiplied several times over.

"..."

The several Great Qian Grandmasters exchanged a glance, all seeing the despair in one another's eyes.

The next moment, they heard Tang Yuan say with some apology, "In my current state, I've no strength left to take you looking for age-fruits. But I'll report this trip's ordeal truthfully to my teacher, and try to win Great Qian a little more time."

"Many thanks for Senior Tang's consideration."

Though they saluted with the utmost respect, the several Grandmasters' faces didn't improve. The portions of age-fruit lacking were fixed. They wouldn't change for any circumstance. Only these few were left doing Great Qian's bidding; even dragging it out a while longer was meaningless. On the contrary, because another demon emperor had fallen in the Thousand Demon Den, the next time they came in, it would likely be countless times more perilous than…