The little fox bawled and lifted the Fire Blocking Basket with her tiny paws, running away in a huff.

Smiling, Su Zimo sat down and laid backwards, using his arms as a pillow for his head. Closing his eyes, a faint demonic glint flickered as he fell into thought.

After crying for a little while, the little fox hid in a corner and drew circles on the ground, grinding her brain juices to insult Su Zimo.

“Stupid scholar, y-you really suck!”

“Stupid scholar, you’re a bad person!”

“You’re even badder than that stupid dead crocodile!”

The little fox spent her entire life in this underground cave and had never seen the outside world or come into contact with anyone. Although she was wary by nature, she was also innocent and naive like a virgin.

The most vicious words she could come up with were to compare Su Zimo as being worse than the crocodile.

Even though she had lived for dozens of years, it was a negligible amount of time compared to the long lifespans of demons and her mind was similar to a human child.

Before long, she was bored.

Turning around, the little fox looked at Su Zimo instinctively.

His eyes were closed and he was motionless except for his ears that were twitching.

“What is he doing?”

The little fox was curious and tiptoed over, completely forgetting that he made fun of her earlier on.

Because her cultivation realm was not high enough, she could not hear the sounds coming from the palace above the cave. However, Su Zimo possessed universal hearing.

Even thousands of feet underground, he could vaguely hear the sounds above in the palace.

The palace had not been peaceful for the past half a month.

Furthermore, the commotion was clearly getting bigger!

All the Golden Core paragons of the North Region might have gathered here with the birth of the Vermilion Fruit!

Although Su Zimo managed to defend against strong foes of the immortal, Buddhist and fiend sects singlehandedly when the Human Emperor’s Palace descended in the ancient battlefield, the current situation was not looking good for him.

At that time, he was a seven meridian Foundation Establishment Cultivator for his immortality cultivation and had attained greater mastery on his Orifice Clearing section for his demonic cultivation. He was almost at the peak and was a single step away from forming a core.

At that time, he was comparable to the paragons of the immortal, Buddhist and fiend sect paragons in terms of cultivation realm.

But now, he was at early-stage Golden Core and had yet to attain lesser mastery of his Inner Core.

The weakest of the paragons that gathered were at late-stage Golden Core and there might even be perfected Golden Cores!

There was a difference of up to three minor realms.

Of course, those three minor realms did not mean much to Su Zimo who had both immortality and demonic cultivation.

He was still confident that he could suppress everyone in a one on one battle.

However, there’s a high chance he might make enemies with all the paragons of the North Region by fighting for the Vermilion Fruit!

At that time, it would be hard to stand victorious against the combined attacks of countless paragons.

He managed to cultivate twin phenomenons and both of them were lost primordial phenomenons.

However, at the end of the day, he only had two.

At that time, there would be hundreds or thousands of Golden Core phenomenons by paragons and that was a destructive power that was unimaginable. He might not be able to handle everything with his spirit energy as an early-stage Golden Core…

Furthermore, there were Golden Core phenomenons stronger than the Soaring Serpent and Divine Turtle as well.

Glass Palace of the nine immortal sects and Malevolent Earth Sect of the seven fiend sects were located in the North Region. If the paragons of those two super sects were to head over, it would definitely be a threat for Su Zimo!

Of course, there was something else he was wary about.

Would any Nascent Souls appear for the appearance of this Vermilion Fruit?

How would things end if Nascent Souls interfered?

Su Zimo’s wild thoughts made his eyelids heavy.

He was truly way too tired and right now, the only thing he wanted was to have a good night’s rest.

His comprehension on weapon refinement had advanced again as he repaired the connate spirit weapons.

“There’s another 15 days left. That’s enough for me to refine a set of 27 supreme-grade flying swords.”

With that thought, Su Zimo drifted into sleep.

The little fox had just arrived beside Su Zimo when she saw that he had fallen asleep. Furthermore, there was a strange sound coming from his nose.

It sounded like tigers, leopards and thunder.

“Humph!”

Pouting, she thought to herself, “How dare this stupid scholar laugh at me when he snores so loudly!”

Even though those were her thoughts, she did not disturb Su Zimo.

She could tell that he was tuckered out.

The sound from Su Zimo’s nose was naturally due to the Marrow Cleansing section.

The breathing and expiration method of the Mystic Classic of the Twelve Demon Kings of the Great Wilderness was already infused in Su Zimo’s marrow and would activate instinctively even if he was asleep.

Body Tempering, Tendons Transformation, Bones Strengthening, Marrow Cleansing, Organs Refinement, Orifice Clearing, Core Formation…

The seven sutras reverberated within his body, forming a cycle.

His rich demonic qi rose and started spreading.

“Eh?”

The little fox watched everything with widened eyes in disbelief.

“Is this scholar a human or demon?”

She could not figure it out at all.

To her shock, she realized that her exposure to the demonic qi that was released from Su Zimo’s cultivation moved her cultivation that had been stagnant for a long time!

“Hehe!”

Delighted, the little fox inched forward again and stuck closely to Su Zimo’s arm before starting to cultivate.

…

There was a big pavilion five kilometers away from Great Qian Ruins.

Unlike the desolate ruins, this place was lush with greenery and willow trees stood in rows, filled with life.

There were four stone tables in the pavilion.

Beside each table sat three to four cultivators in weird attires. Some of them wore robes, some of them wore armor and others wore tight exercise attire…

More than ten people sat by sipping tea idly with relaxed expressions, discussing with soft voices.

Outside the pavilion, there were more than a hundred cultivators waiting.

Standing outside, all of their expressions were much worse as they looked at the people inside the pavilion with deep fear and wariness.

If Mu Dongqing were to see this, he would definitely be shocked.

Be it the ten odd people inside the pavilion or the hundred odd outside, all of them were Nascent Souls!

As he had expected, the Nascent Souls made their moves for the Vermilion Fruit!

In the pavilion, three people sat around one of the stone tables with badges on their waists that stated Murong, Yuwen and Taba!

They were from the four gentry clans!

There were emblems on the waists of the Nascent Souls sitting around the other three stone tables.

Stellar Luna Sect, Blaze Columbus Valley, Heavenly Piercing Sword Sect, Heaven Motion Sect, Seven Kills Sect, Blood Mist Sect, Mystic Firmament Divine Cult, Dragon Tiger Sect and Shadowless Sect…

Those were nine of the Ten Upper Sects other than Dark Ghost Sect!

The Nascent Souls in the pavilion were either from the Ten Upper Sects or the four gentry clans.

As for the Nascent Souls that stood obediently outside the pavilion, they were from ordinary sects and factions as well as some unknown itinerant cultivators.

Among them, the Nascent Souls of the Great Shang and Great Xia Dynasties stood outside as well, not daring to have any opinions.

Earlier on when the Golden Core army of the Great You Dynasty was murdered by the Taba clan, the Nascent Soul of Great You was enraged and wanted to head for the Great Qian Ruins.

However, a Nascent Soul of the Taba clan attacked and killed him in three moves!

Up till now, the blood of the Great You Nascent Soul’s corpse had yet to dry. Laying in front of the pavilion, his body was still warm from his indignant death.

That was not the only corpse around the pavilion.

In the North Region, the combined force of the Ten Upper Sects and four gentry clans was almost absolute!