Outside the Thousand Demon Den.

Perfected Master Qingfeng held a blue-white porcelain bowl, with only a shallow layer of clear water left in it.

And above his head, a surging curtain of water shielded him entirely.

The Rainbow-Iris Demon Emperor's expression was grim and cold; it had long since reverted to its true form, its arms become sky-blotting great wings, and every beat of them pared the water-curtain down a little further.

Wounds covered its body.

They looked rather horrifying, but were nearly all superficial.

To make up for being crushed on realm required an enormous depth of foundation.

And plainly, Perfected Master Qingfeng's spirit-treasures were neither numerous enough nor strong enough.

"..."

Li Qingfeng looked silently in the direction of the Thousand Demon Den.

This porcelain bowl was already his last resort.

Once the clear water was spent, he would have no strength left to resist the demon emperor before him.

By rights, for a mid-stage Spirit-Transformation cultivator to have pinned the Rainbow-Iris Demon Emperor down for this long — in both conception and execution, it could already be counted as perfect.

But the problem lay with his two senior brothers.

They still hadn't come out.

Could that lion truly be ferocious enough to take on both of them at once?

"We're done for..."

Li Qingfeng grumbled inwardly, using it to hold down the worry in his heart.

In his present state he was a clay bodhisattva fording a river — unable even to save himself. Where would he find the spare strength to worry about his senior brothers?

Yet think as he might, he couldn't come up with any ability left to him that might serve. Was he really to simply stand here and wait for death?

Just then, as though he'd seen something, his eyes suddenly went wide.

The Rainbow-Iris Demon Emperor, looking at the water-curtain now barely a chi thick, said mockingly, "A grown man, still playing tricks like this — trying to fool This Emperor into looking behind—"

Before the words were finished.

A thick, dark-gold arm abruptly locked around its neck.

Its throat seized…