Rolling waves of blood spread across the sky, revealing the six great pillars within them.

And at the centre sat the crimson figure, upright on a prayer mat with a horsetail whisk in hand, ringed by nine demons.

The roaring of savage beasts drifted up as though from the floor of an abyss.

But every eye there was fixed on the purple qi upon that crimson figure.

"A Heavenly Palace?"

The flood-dragon-headed great general's heart jumped, and wariness came into its expression.

Its eyes went to Shen Yi's young face without thinking… this did not look like a shape-transformation art. The man was only at the second layer of Return-to-Void; he was simply young.

Which house's young master was this, out seeing the world?

The Immortal Maiden Baohua was more astonished still, and stood frozen where she was. She could hardly credit it — this so-called rogue cultivator, who for twenty Baohua Pills had been willing to slay demons for her the whole way, had just casually sent out a single-storey Heavenly Palace.

Still…

Even a Heavenly Palace only signified extraordinary aptitude; it could not actually do any substantial harm to a fifth-layer Return-to-Void demon.

In any other affair the demon might have thought about what stood behind such a thing and given ground.

But this turtle demon had come with its mind set on dying.

Because it wanted to clear the trouble from the snake woman's path, a sight like this would only make it more savage, its killing intent rising.

Sure enough, the turtle demon was stunned for only an instant, and came to itself sooner than anyone.

The resolve in its eyes had not wavered in the least. "Kill!"

Shen Yi raised his eyes to the Dao Palace overhead and changed the sign in his hand. The next moment the crimson figure swept its horsetail whisk and sent the purple qi down.

In the instant the purple qi came fully down—

everyone felt at once that something was wrong, the Immortal Maiden Baohua and the flood-dragon-headed great general most of all; both had seen a Heavenly Palace…