The Grey-clothed Young Master immediately raised his hand to signal, taking the four people beside him to retreat slightly to avoid interference.

The old man's cloak started to sway slowly, bulging as if inflating, his white beard fluttering, lips murmuring and buzzing, seeming to be talking to himself or chanting some incantation, with echoes rising in the quietly enclosed chamber.

The fingers of the comatose Zhener suddenly moved, drawing the attention of the four beside her.

After a brief silence, Zhener's entire head was enveloped in increasingly dense Demonic Qi, and her fingers moved again, then twice, thrice, gradually leading to twitches and convulsions in her unconscious body.

Soft murmurs accompanied, "Su..."

The others couldn't make out what she was saying, all perking their ears to listen intently.

However, their attention gradually turned to the white-bearded old man as they noticed he seemed to be in a nightmare, his whole body shivering as if in convulsions, appearing tormented.

The four exchanged glances, sensing something was off with the elder, but without understanding why, they could only watch.

Yet soon, they noticed the elder's hands trembling violently while manipulating the Demonic Qi, and something dripping from his white beard, which they couldn't discern due to the hue of Flame Energy.

Upon closer inspection, they found that the liquid dripped from the elder's nose, onto the beard, and from the beard, it fell—it was a nosebleed.

The four were slightly startled; how could his reaction be so intense just at the beginning?

The Grey-clothed Young Master couldn't help but interrupt, "Elder, are you alright?"

With these words, the cloak on the elder's body almost burst open, the hood covering his head was flipped, stirring a gust in the entire chamber, revealing a bald, shiny head, and a wrinkled hooked nose, eyes showing sheer and rigid agony.

The nostrils blatantly leaked blood, bloodstains reddening his mouth corners. He sharply choked out a response, "This girl is peculiar; after Demonic Qi entered her body, she bizarrely began absorbing my Demonic Qi. Her spiritual resistance fluctuates, sometimes as deep as an abyss, sometimes as fragile as sand, unfathomable like never heard or seen before."

Beside him, the four exchanged glances filled with doubt and uncertainty; they seemed to understand, yet perhaps not, as this profound path was rare, understood by few, leaving them rather confused.

The Grey-clothed Young Master said, "Elder, if it really doesn't work, why not pause and discuss further before proceeding."

The bald elder, however, displayed a grim look as if stubbornness took hold, "With this meager Fire Spirit cultivation, I'm not convinced I can't subdue her. Yet indeed uncanny, fire and Demonic Qi are opposing; how could the Fire Spirit absorb Demonic Qi? Initially worried about damaging her mind, now it seems I must intensify. I'll make you absorb it!"

After speaking, he closed his eyes, and the Demonic Qi gushed out even more vigorously from his hands, swirling the surrounding Flame Energy unpredictably.

"Su..." Zhener's murmurs intensified, her body restlessly twisting in discomfort.

The four watching beside her stared wide-eyed, unblinking, involuntarily tensing up.

It wasn't Zhener's reaction causing their tension, but rather the elder's behavior seeming particularly abnormal. Nosebleed continuously trickling down the beard, and his hands relentlessly emitting Demonic Qi, yet the Qi covering Zhener's head didn't get denser; rather, it thinned, revealing Zhener's features faintly.

Zhener's trapped-in-a-nightmare visage was not as critical; the problem laid with the elder also seeming trapped in a nightmare, his eyeballs underneath the eyelids rapidly fluttering restlessly.

"Elder, are you alright? Elder, elder..." The Grey-clothed Young Master tried calling a few times, receiving no response, causing him to reveal anxiety and glance towards the other three, who also showed helplessness.

Involving spiritual struggle, they dared not act rashly, as a single misstep might render someone intellectually impaired.

Just then, a crisp, calming woman's voice softly resonated, gently calling, "Zhener."

The four observers' gazes all focused on Zhener's faintly discernible face amidst the Demonic Qi, seeing Zhener abruptly open her eyes and mouthed words, the voice emanating from Zhener's mouth while seemingly calling her own name, leaving an uncanny feeling.

Ju Shihong hesitated suddenly, "This doesn't sound like Zhener's tone."

Not only he, but the two skill masters who assisted in capturing Zhener at Two Hills, having heard Zhener speak there, also felt it unlike her.

However, at that moment, a faint glow emerged from Zhener's body, her form swaying like Xubo, exhibiting Water Flames characteristics, simultaneously casting a faint phantom on Zhener's opposite side.

Like a mirror reflecting Zhener, inside and outside, bodies' postures perfectly symmetrical and identical.

With the apparition's emergence, Zhener's nightmare-like movements ceased abruptly, her whole self became serenely peaceful, silently observing the phantom Zhener amid the Demonic Qi mist.

Yet their reactions were vastly different, the real Zhener serene and gentle, while the phantom Zhener's eyes showed astonishment and delight, as if reunited with a long-time acquaintance, seemingly joyfully chattering at the real Zhener.

The bald elder continued insanely channeling Demonic Qi, but with the separation of the phantom from Zhener, it seemed he found a gap for mental disengagement, suddenly opened his eyes, nosebleed dripping with halting startled gasps, "No, she has two intelligences inside her body, not one person, two separate intelligences,"

With this revelation, the fours' gazes collectively fell on the reclining Zhener's body and the mirrored apparition.

"Zhener..." The real Zhener softly called the opposite phantom while raising a hand, extending a finger lightly towards the phantom's brow.

The phantom Zhener could no longer maintain joy, as if detecting something from the other's deep abyssal gaze, displaying dread, visibly mouthing repeatedly the words "Su I'm scared."

But Zhener's hand-raising movement showed no sign of stopping. In the instant her fingertip touched the shadow's brow, the entire shadow blurred like ripples in water. The ripples rebounded, condensed into a weak point of light, and vanished into Zhener's fingertip, disappearing without a trace in an instant.

At that moment, Zhener's restrained body floated upright from the stone couch, with her toes slowly lifting off the couch surface, as if the surging Demonic Qi was supporting her in the air.

Zhener now seemed like a completely different person, floating amid the rolling Demonic Qi, with cold and indifferent eyes like an abyss looking down at the few people below, as if she was gazing down at ants, her long hair flowing with the Demonic Qi, like a descended deity.

The four onlookers, witnessing this scene, were utterly bewildered.

The bald elder, nose bleeding profusely, yet still channeling Demonic Qi onto Zhener, was unsure how long he could endure.

The Grey-clothed Young Master couldn't help but advise, "Elder, if it's not feasible, we should pause."

Upon hearing this, the bald elder seemed somewhat agitated, his trembling body shaking even more violently, and his nearly bulging eyes rapidly shifted, suddenly spewing a mouthful of blood. Taking this moment to catch his breath, he urgently shouted, "Cut her down quickly, I've been backfired by her spirit, she's too powerful, quick, I'm losing control!"

Blood was also flowing from his mouth, as if he was desperately crying out.

In other words, he wasn't the one channeling Demonic Qi to support this Fire Spirit, but rather the Fire Spirit had seized control of his output.

The four onlookers were shocked, yet hesitant. Demon Path had gone to great lengths to capture this woman, and now to cut her down? How could that be?

The Grey-clothed Young Master abruptly waved his hand, ordering, "Capture her!"

The other three exchanged a glance and immediately dashed forward, all of them Heavenly Immortal Realm experts, moving with unimaginable speed.

However, the floating Zhener vanished into thin air, transforming into a beam of light, which, following the rolling Demonic Qi, instantly struck the bald elder.

The bald elder's eyes widened, mouth agape, as the possessing beam of light instantly retracted into his body, and the surging external Demonic Qi was swiftly absorbed back into him.

Zhener had disappeared into thin air, leaving the three who made a move stunned, all floating and turning to face him.

The bald elder's expression had shifted as if he was a different person, coldly sweeping a glance over the people present, suddenly floating away like a wisp of blue smoke, ignoring them, and directly drifting out through the exit.

Bewildered, the few individuals heard the sound of the secret chamber door being violently broken open, and quickly chased after him one after another.

The four emerged from a room and stopped, only to see the cloaked bald elder not having escaped, nor showing any intention to do so.

He stood among the colorful and lush garden, arms spread, face upturned, bathing in the sunlight, slowly turning in circles and murmuring, "Gone, truly gone, back, finally back..."

The voice was still that of the bald elder, causing the four who were cautiously approaching to exchange puzzled glances.

Just with this nonsensical talk, and the previous transformation and possession by Zhener, they could determine that the bald elder's body was no longer under his control.

The four exchanged glances, then moved to encircle him from four directions, when suddenly the bald elder lowered his arms, coldly swept his gaze over them, and said, "Since you're all Demon Path people, quickly take me to see the master."

The four exchanged glances, aware that the speaker wasn't the elder himself, but an outsider using his body to impersonate a Demon Path member, thinking they could deceive them. Did they think they were fools?

But they hesitated to act rashly, as they were in Beijulu Royal City, attracting the Royal Court's forces would cause trouble.

Therefore, the Grey-clothed Young Master pointed at the elder and shouted, "We can discuss this. First, come out from his body."

The bald elder coldly squinted, seeming unwilling to waste words with them, directly asking, "Where is this place?"

As if trying to ascertain the location to find it himself.

The four were once again puzzled by his words, initially thinking this was someone posing as a Demon Path elder. Now hearing this, it didn't seem like it.

The Grey-clothed Young Master tried pointing towards the distant shadows of the grand and imposing buildings in the sky, "Isn't it obvious? This is Beijulu Royal City."

"Beijulu Royal City..." The bald elder looked as directed, gradually showing confusion, "Never heard of it. How is it related to the Northern Continent?"

The four surrounding individuals exchanged another glance, confirming that he wasn't impersonating their elder.

The Grey-clothed Young Master attempted to respond, "Beijulu Royal City is naturally the capital of the Northern Continent, the central hub of the Beijulu Royal Court. You frequently travel to the Refining Heaven Sect; surely this isn't your first time here? How could you not know this?"

After pondering for a while, the bald elder slowly asked, "Where is the master?"

The Grey-clothed Young Master asked confusedly, "Which master?"

The bald elder said haughtily, "Naturally, the master who founded the Demon Path! As Demon Path people, how could you not know the master? Whose division are you from?"

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