The words were barely out of his mouth when Baili Qiu let out a strange laugh, dodged around Wang Guquan, and pounced on a Third Grade Martial Artist who had yet to react.

A First Grade powerhouse empowered by an "Immortal Venerable" against a Third Grade one—the outcome was a foregone conclusion.

Caught off guard, the man could only watch helplessly as Baili Qiu bit down on his neck.

"Aaargh—!"

Amidst the bloodcurdling scream, nearly half of the man’s neck was torn away, the flesh and blood rapidly devoured and undergoing Refinement by Baili Qiu.

"My friends, it’s time to feast!"

Baili Qiu roared, wiping a smear of blood from the corner of his mouth.

At his roar, it wasn’t just the two Immortal Slaves who had emerged with him. From within the gates of the Immortal Palace, several more figures dashed out in succession, pouncing on anyone they saw.

Zou Feng finally understood. ’No wonder I couldn’t find any Immortal Slaves to hunt around the Immortal Palace. So that’s it! These bastards have all gathered inside.’

However, these Immortal Slaves charging out like rabid dogs were clearly not all of them.

Furthermore, the other First Grade Powerhouses like Su Qingyu, Jing Huaisong, and Bai Chen were, for some reason, still nowhere to be seen.

And so, a chaotic battle between the normal Martial Artists and the Immortal Slaves erupted before the gates of the Glazed Immortal Palace.

Although the normal Martial Artists held a clear numerical advantage, they couldn’t withstand the onslaught. These Immortal Slaves were like rabid dogs; not only had their strength surged, but most troublingly, they were completely fearless of death.

Each one fought as if they had been starved for three days and nights, ignoring their own injuries and tanking attacks just to sink their teeth into the "food" before them.

After the fighting began, Zou Feng held back, melting silently into the crowd.

It wasn’t that he wanted to slack off; he was biding his time, looking for the perfect moment to launch a sneak attack.

The other Immortal Slaves were manageable. The real problem was Baili Qiu. As the only First Grade powerhouse to have succumbed, he was now leading the charge as a lapdog for the Glazed Immortal Palace, dealing a heavy blow to the morale of the normal Martial Artists.

And it was common knowledge that here in the Glazed Immortal Palace, if one’s mental state wavered and their willpower eroded, they could easily be corrupted by those false "Immortal Venerables" and turned into an Immortal Slave.

This theory was soon proven true.

A Sword Cultivator, though promptly rescued by those around him after being bitten by an Immortal Slave, wore an expression of utter despair.

A moment later, a look of sudden enlightenment crossed his face. He muttered to himself, "Destiny... so that’s how it is. Without finding our destined opportunity, we can never escape the Glazed Immortal Palace!"

"Everyone, don’t you understand? We must submit to our destiny! Otherwise, we’re doomed! We’re all doomed!"

With that roar, the whites of the Sword Cultivator’s eyes vanished, leaving them completely pitch-black.

In an instant, he had transformed into one of them, just like Baili Qiu and his pack of Immortal Slaves.

Clearly, although this Sword Cultivator had previously rejected the "Immortal Venerable’s" corruption, his resolve had not been firm.

His mental state shattered the moment he was injured, allowing the "Immortal Venerable" that had likely been lying dormant within him to seize the opportunity and take over.

Of course, it was also possible that an "Immortal Venerable" was injected into him at the moment of the bite.

This was not an isolated incident. Because Baili Qiu consistently avoided a head-on confrontation with Wang Guquan, instead specifically targeting the weaker Martial Artists, more and more people were suffering mental breakdowns.

With the ability to create more of their kind through a single bite, like viral zombies, it was no wonder Baili Qiu dared to challenge the entire group of normal Martial Artists with only a handful of followers.

If this continued, and if Wang Guquan didn’t quickly pin down or eliminate Baili Qiu... the numerical advantage would likely be reversed in no time at all.

Many of the normal Martial Artists realized this, but since they couldn’t count on Wang Guquan, all they could do was fret helplessly.

Meanwhile, Zou Feng remained in no hurry to act. He continued to channel his Spider Stance, doing his best to erase his presence.

The situation grew increasingly dire. When the fifth normal Martial Artist was converted, Baili Qiu’s wild laughter echoed incessantly across the entire plaza.

Wang Guquan roared in fury as he gave chase, but he was completely unable to do anything about Baili Qiu.

In a direct confrontation, Wang Guquan would have been more than a match for Baili Qiu.

The problem was Baili Qiu’s evasive movements. His Body Skill was so sharp that it far surpassed Wang Guquan’s, giving the latter no opportunity for a direct engagement.

Furthermore, because it was a chaotic melee, Wang Guquan couldn’t use any of his wide-ranging, destructive techniques.

In the next moment, Baili Qiu locked onto another target: a woman with a panicked expression.

He pounced with a savage grin, his bloody maw—laced with veins and shredded flesh—aiming for the woman’s shoulder from an incredibly awkward angle.

Screaming, the woman was caught off guard and could only watch in horror as Baili Qiu’s monstrous face drew closer and closer to her shoulder.

At the last possible second, the woman’s feet suddenly slipped, and she stumbled hard to the side.

Her fall caused her to narrowly avoid Baili Qiu’s bloody maw.

At the same time, from behind her, a faintly glowing palm abruptly slammed forward.

The palm radiated a comfortable, holy aura that was irresistibly entrancing, causing one’s mind to wander.

Even Baili Qiu, despite being an Immortal Slave, was no exception and was immediately affected.

An urgent desire to be caressed by this very palm welled up within him.

By the time Baili Qiu realized something was wrong, it was too late.

"PWAAARGH—"

Empowered by the Concealment of the Spider Stance and the Burst of the Toad Stance, Zou Feng’s fan-sized hand crashed into Baili Qiu’s face with the force of an avalanche.

Baili Qiu had been wreaking havoc among the crowd, and things had been going far too smoothly for him. Ultimately, he had grown careless.

The power of Zou Feng’s long-planned, successful sneak attack was immense. Combined with the ravages of various poisons on both body and mind, the blow was no less devastating than an attack from a true First Grade Poison Cultivator.

As a result, Baili Qiu’s teeth were smashed to pulp, and his nose caved in grotesquely, leaving him in a wretched state.

Of course, this was only the beginning. Once injured, he could no longer maintain his evasive maneuvers.

As expected, Wang Guquan, who was right behind him, caught up and landed another brutal Critical Strike.

Wang Guquan had been bursting with pent-up power, and now he finally had an outlet. He unleashed one Big Move after another on Baili Qiu.

Seeing that his strike had landed and that Wang Guquan wasn’t so clueless as to miss such a golden opportunity, Zou Feng felt at ease and turned his attention to cleaning up the other Immortal Slaves.

Those Martial Artists who had just been infected and turned into Immortal Slaves were easy to restore to normal with his Friendship Face-Breaking Fist, as the degree of their possession wasn’t yet deep.

And so, with a few quick movements and palm strikes, Zou Feng beat the "Immortal Venerables" right out of them. 𝒇𝒓𝒆𝒆𝙬𝒆𝒃𝓷𝒐𝓿𝙚𝙡.𝒄𝓸𝒎

He then, of course, showed no courtesy, absorbing and beginning the Refinement of all of them.

As for the other Immortal Slaves, without their most formidable ringleader, Baili Qiu, they could no longer cause any significant trouble and were quickly subdued.

Zou Feng had assumed that with so many "Immortal Venerables" available for Refinement, his Cultivation progress for the Great Universal Hand would easily jump to over ninety percent.

Unexpectedly, however, the quality of these "Immortal Venerables" was appallingly low, and they offered no benefit to his Great Universal Hand.

The Cultivation Skill that did benefit, surprisingly, was the Corpse Luo Heart Scripture.

The Refinement of the dozen or so "Immortal Venerables" that came with Baili Qiu increased the progress of this Skill by eight points.

Although he had long known that these "Immortal Venerables" came in different varieties, it was still a major pain in the ass to be on the verge of a breakthrough with his Great Universal Hand, only to receive a batch that wasn’t compatible.

’In that case, I can only hope the "Immortal Venerable" inside Baili Qiu is a bit more potent.’

Turning back, he saw that Baili Qiu, as expected, had been beaten to within an inch of his life by Wang Guquan and was lying motionless on the ground.

Surprisingly, Wang Guquan didn’t deliver the killing blow. Instead, he turned to Zou Feng and said solemnly, "Zou Feng... can you try to bring Baili Qiu back to his senses?"

As the Supreme Elder of the Xuanhuang Sect, Wang Guquan normally would have attacked Zou Feng without a second thought, as Zou Feng had once killed a prodigy from his sect.

But now, with everyone in peril and on the same side, Wang Guquan wasn’t so shortsighted as to ignore the bigger picture.

Therefore, even though Wang Guquan had recognized Zou Feng the moment they joined forces, he had pretended not to see him, deliberately ignoring his presence the entire time.

Only now was he forced to finally speak to him.

Zou Feng, of course, understood Wang Guquan’s reasoning perfectly.

’He’s clearly seen my ability to restore the Immortal Slaves,’ Zou Feng thought. ’Naturally, he hopes I can return Baili Qiu to normal to bolster our side’s strength.’