The Succubus Madam from the Otherworld Demon clan brandished a black dagger, which split into more than a dozen beams of light, killing four or five black-armored Yin soldiers.
Dongfang Ya, the Ugly Youth, and other Otherworld Demon cultivators also attacked simultaneously. Various demonic lights swept across, clearing out most of the Yin soldiers on the bottom five or six stone steps.
However, it wasn't a complete clearing. Distinctly, the Otherworld Demon cultivators only cleared out the Yin soldiers on the right side.
The Yin soldiers on the left side of the stone steps were naturally left for Elder Qin, Elder Tian, and Zhang Ling's group.
As for the Ghost King Sect, they leisurely followed after the other two groups had ascended more than ten steps. These guys didn't even make a move.
This situation had been discussed at the foot of the mountain. The Ghost King Sect had initially led the way, but once they reached the destination, the roles would reverse, and the other two groups would bear the greatest risk.
This way, none of the three parties would suffer a loss, achieving a temporary balance.
Explosions, crimson flames, howling winds, and other spiritual lights erupted on the stone steps. The crowd quickly cleared out the Yin soldiers, advancing upwards. In a dozen or so breaths, they traversed fifty or sixty steps.
After all, they were all Nascent Soul cultivators. With their combined efforts, the Yin soldiers, though numerous, were no match.
After ascending another dozen steps, the red ghostly mist rapidly flowed and churned, forming eerie red vortexes. From within emerged thirty to forty flying skull ghosts with green faces, fangs, and wildly dancing hair.
They screeched and charged over. These ghost heads were already quite powerful, all reaching the fifth rank, belonging to high-level ghosts.
Another batch of Yin soldiers charged down from the stone steps, no longer the black-armored Yin soldiers, but a group of skeleton soldiers wreathed in Yin flames.
Judging by their aura, each one possessed the strength of a Foundation Establishment peak cultivator.
Zhang Ling's position was on the left edge. He manipulated his hand seals, and two flying swords merged into a beam of sword light several dozen feet long, instantly shattering a green-faced, fanged flying skull ghost.
The flying skull ghost, split in two, turned into wisps of black gas and dissipated, killed by him. To his surprise, this high-level ghost did not contain a ghost core.
Not only did he notice this, but other cultivators also discovered this.
It seemed that these ghosts were not real ghost spirits, but phantoms condensed using the red Yin energy of this place.
Although the aura was very real, it was formed by the power of the restriction.
Just after killing a flying skull ghost, several cold lights pierced towards him, sword lights unleashed by several skeletons or broken bronze swords.
Zhang Ling expressionlessly waved his hand, and a mass of Heavenly Star Sand suspended in front of him formed a barrier of sand and stone, shooting out huge stone cones. The stone cones blasted several skeleton soldiers into fragments.
However, the fragmented skeleton soldiers were not destroyed. Instead, they reassembled in the red mist into a white, bone giant claw that swatted over. The released energy was no weaker than a Golden Core cultivator's attack.
Zhang Ling coldly snorted, and two sword lights swept past from left and right, cutting the white bone giant claw into fragments again.
But countless bone shards still twitched, wanting to reassemble.
Zhang Ling flicked his fingers, sending out streams of yellow light that swept over the bone shards. The bone shards were all petrified. With a crash, they fell to the ground, losing their spirituality and transforming back into black gas, dissipating.
This was the Earth Spirit Petrification spiritual light from his cultivation technique. After years of practice, he could wield it with ease.
The Black Tortoise dealt with the skeleton soldiers even more easily. A black water ball the size of a foot floated in front of it, and under the enhancement of the Glacial demonic power, it condensed into countless black ice arrows. All the attacking skeleton soldiers were frozen.
With a wave of its hand, the skeleton soldiers were smashed into pieces, directly losing their activity under the suppression of the ice spiritual power.
Others also used their means to deal with the flying skull ghosts and skeleton soldiers. The speed of the group slowed down.
After dealing with the flying skull ghosts and skeleton soldiers, the red ghostly mist in front suddenly turned black-cyan. Amidst the wailing ghost laughter, more than a dozen ten-foot-tall green-faced and red-faced evil ghosts charged out.
Each green-faced and red-faced evil ghost overlapped, spitting out two balls of ghost fire from their mouths. The balls of fire merged into emerald green fireballs that rolled down.
Wherever they passed, the Yin cold energy intensified.
Many red-faced and green-faced evil ghosts charged out simultaneously from the thirty to forty stone steps.
This caused the expressions of the crowd to change slightly, because these emerald green Yin fires already had the attack intensity of a late-stage Golden Core cultivator.
Dense Yin fireballs rolled down. In an instant, it was equivalent to the attack of multiple Nascent Soul cultivators. If only one or two cultivators were here, they would have to retreat.
"Fellow Daoists, don't hold back. After a few more steps, you'll encounter ghost spirits at the Ghost King level. A slight carelessness could lead to your demise," Sect Master Yan's voice came from behind.
With a series of loud booms, the emerald green Yin fire rushed towards them, and everyone brought out their true strength to cope.
The Hundred Flowers Old Demon floated three feet off the ground, effortlessly moving forward. She waved a red maidservant fan in her hand, and a gust of pink fragrant wind blew forward, turning into a flurry of dancing flowers. The Yin fire collided with them and was completely absorbed into the flowers.
Countless flowers spun around, and the evil ghosts charged into them. The flowers bloomed, and those absorbed Yin fires turned into a sea of fire, burning more than a dozen evil ghosts into green smoke.
High Priest Luo Ming was even more direct, walking upwards step by step without even lifting a finger. The seven or eight Holy Demon Insects fluttered up and down in front of him, spitting out streams of blue demonic fire.
Wherever they passed, the evil ghosts were all refined.
Old Ancestor Tianfeng summoned a ball of cyan whirlwind. Amidst the wailing wind laughter, the whirlwind exploded into a large expanse of wind blades.
Old Man Huo chuckled, clapping his hands together. Spiritual light flashed in his hands, and a flame eagle several dozen feet in size flew out, with violent fire spiritual power shooting out.
Dongfang Ya held up a small blue jade bottle. Runes flickered on it, and cyan-blue water droplets emerged from it, gathering into a thick water dragon that charged forward.
In the following path, the cultivation of the ghosts that appeared every dozen steps increased greatly.
Fortunately, there were nearly forty Nascent Soul old monsters. Although the Ghost King Sect cultivators hiding in the back did not make a move, the ghosts could not stop them.
After half an hour, they had reached the final section of the path. The strength of the ghosts that appeared was already at the Nascent Soul level.
With their combined efforts, they spent some time killing more than a dozen Ghost Kings at the Nascent Soul level. "Haha, we're finally almost at the top, only a dozen steps left!" An old monster relievedly laughed.
However, amidst his laughter, the entire heavenly staircase suddenly shook, and the red ghostly mist gathered above frantically flowed. It gathered into a red cloud overhead, and the sounds of ghosts crying and wolves howling grew louder.
Within the red cloud, green light flickered, condensing into a giant monster. It no longer looked like a ghost, but a hundred-foot-long, one-eyed giant snake, radiating an aura of the ninth rank peak.
Everyone launched their attacks without hesitation. In a flash of lightning, various attacks rained down, engulfing the giant snake.
Judging by its aura, the giant snake had the strength of the ninth rank. If they faced it alone, even a Grand Cultivator would have to put in some effort. But with everyone attacking together, they should be able to kill this beast instantly before it fully solidified.
However, to everyone's surprise, the giant snake's aura did not dissipate, but instead let out a hiss.
The giant snake's body was hundreds of feet long, wandering in the sky. It raised its huge body, and its head swayed left and right.
Several phantom-like, blurred snake heads overlapped, and the giant snake grew three snake heads. Its aura instantly increased greatly, reaching the aura of a late-stage Nascent Soul cultivator.
Moreover, it was still climbing bit by bit.
Sensing the giant snake's aura, everyone's expressions became solemn.
Sect Master Yan's voice came again, "This monster is the guardian spirit beast on this heavenly staircase, the Three-Headed Underworld Serpent. It is said to possess true spirit bloodline, is extremely powerful, and has powerful divine abilities. Although this is just a phantom, not its true form,
but if we don't resolve the Three-Headed Underworld Serpent as soon as possible, this monster's aura will continue to increase. According to the records of this sect, this Underworld Serpent can stir up the surrounding heaven and earth spiritual energy, break through the level limit, and even unleash the strength of a Transformation God level. We must work together to rush to the top."
As Sect Master Yan spoke, he summoned the Ghost King Banner. This Ghost Banner instantly grew to several dozen feet in height, and a dark green Yin wind shook out from it. As the green light flickered, it turned into huge skull heads, launching the first attack.
The Ghost-Faced Youth, Ghost Mother, and several other Nascent Soul cultivators of the Ghost King Sect, as well as those Golden Core disciples, also took action together.
Zhang Ling and the others naturally did not dare to neglect. Although they harbored many misgivings about the people of the Ghost King Sect,
Sect Master Yan's words were indeed true at this time, because in the short span of a few breaths, the aura of the Three-Headed Underworld Serpent had increased a lot. The three heads all raised their heads, and the three one-eyed eyes on the huge snake heads scanned the people below.
This Underworld Serpent was jet black, and its huge body was no longer limited to the range of the heavenly staircase. It coiled in the sky like a giant dragon, and its body was covered with black scales the size of a zhang. Although it looked a bit transparent, its three heads had already launched an attack.
The middle, ink-black snake head opened its mouth and spat out a thick black pillar of water, charging towards the crowd.
This pillar of water covered the entire stone staircase, like a black wave crashing over. The Nascent Soul cultivators walking in the front immediately used their means to resist.
Unfortunately, Zhang Ling was in the first row at the front.
He quickly unleashed a dense yellow light, and at the same time, the Earth Yuan Gourd flowed out a large amount of Heavenly Star Sand in front of him, turning into a three-zhang-thick earth wall.
To the right was Old Ancestor Tianfeng, who also summoned a white hurricane.
On the left was Fire Spirit Old Man. This old man's face was gloomy. A red-black shield in front of him had spiritual power injected into it, and the shield swelled into a two-zhang-wide giant shield.
There was also Stone Fellow Daoist of the True Yang Sect. Golden light flashed on his body, immediately covering him with a layer of golden armor. At the same time, he slashed out a dazzling golden blade light with a golden saber in his hand, with extraordinary momentum.
There were also two cultivators that Zhang Ling didn't recognize, who released defensive means to resist. Further to the right were five Otherworld Demon cultivators, who stood in the first row with them.
Behind the second row were Elder Qin, Old Man Huo, and others. Behind them were also a few cultivators in the third row.
All the way up, these old monsters were very shrewd. They naturally knew that the most dangerous position was at the front.
So in the process of coming up, they simply allocated rotating personnel. There were many people on their side, and they were roughly divided into three rounds of rotating personnel. At this moment, it was Zhang Ling and the others' turn to stand in the first row.
This way, they could share the risk and save mana.
Of course, this was just Zhang Ling's strategy. They didn't consider the Otherworld Demons on the right.
With a series of loud booms, the black water with a strong impact force crashed down after Zhang Ling and the other cultivators in the first row had just created one or two layers of protection.
The water flow was violent and carried heavy pressure. The thick earth wall in front of Zhang Ling was instantly scattered for the most part, almost directly destroyed.
With the current strength of the Three-Headed Underworld Serpent, this water pillar attack, though seemingly casual, was no less powerful than a high-level spell.
Fortunately, he had prepared for it. The Black Tortoise behind him unhesitatingly spat out a piece of cold wind, condensing thick frost, and an ice shield protected them.
However, endless water still wrapped them up. Zhang Ling felt as if he had gone deep into the seabed, enduring the heavy pressure from all directions.
Old Ancestor Tianfeng and the others were the same.
This attack oppressed not only them in the first row, but also other cultivators were within the range of this attack.
Under the impact of the water pillar, everyone was pushed back seven or eight steps before they could offset the impact.
Suddenly, Zhang Ling heard a loud bang. It was High Priest Luo Ming who had summoned the Crimson Roar Drum.
In a certain position on the right, a crimson light wave exploded in the water, directly blasting a huge gap in the black water that impacted the Otherworld Demon cultivators.
It not only protected itself, but also protected five or six people in front of it.
At the same time, several Holy Demon Insects spat out a large amount of blue demonic fire, attacking the Three-Headed Underworld Serpent.
The Otherworld Demon cultivators also cooperated with each other, releasing their respective magic weapons and joining the attack. Various spiritual lights instantly submerged the Three-Headed Underworld Serpent, and most of the attacks rushed towards the middle, jet-black snake head.
Other cultivators also recovered from the impact of the water pillar. Streams of spiritual light surged from their bodies, releasing attacks.
Black light condensed on the body of the White-Clad Cold Fairy, and a cyan-blue ice ball shook, turning into balls of ice wind.
Elder Qin covered his body with three layers of spiritual light defense, pulled a longbow into a full moon, and shot out more than a dozen arrows carrying golden lightning.
Although Elder Qin's physical body was destroyed, his attack methods were not weak with the help of the puppet body.
The Three-Headed Underworld Serpent had a powerful aura. Sect Master Yan and High Priest Luo Ming had taken action.
The Hundred Flowers Old Demon was not idle either, and acted quickly. Countless petals flew around her body, forming a layer of colorful spiritual light, easily blocking the impact of the black water pillar.
Two slender and beautiful flying swords, one blue and one red, flashed in front of her and slashed out. They merged into a twenty-zhang-long blue and red sword light with extremely fast speed. With a flash of arc light, it reached the leftmost head of the Three-Headed Giant Serpent and slashed down fiercely.
The three heads of the Three-Headed Underworld Serpent were covered with jet-black scales, but the three single eyes were slightly different.
The single eye on the left head flickered with a strange cyan light. Seeing the sword light slashing over, the cyan single eye blinked and released a cyan glow.
