The two skeletons with bone wings were Saints of the bone race. Their bones had entered the Saint Realm, granting them a heaven-defying combat strength. For generations, they had guarded the stele. The two Bone Saints split up, determined to kill every single intruder.

One of the intruders shouted, "Everyone, work together and focus on getting to the stele first. We will be fine after reaching there."

The shout acted as a reminder for everyone to work together to approach the stele. 

As for Xiang Shaoyun, he found with great sadness that nobody was working with him. Furthermore, he had a Bone Saint charging at him. The bone runes on the Bone Saint pulsed as it flapped its wings, sending a rain of bone spikes toward Xiang Shaoyun.

The Bone Saint completely disregarded the other bone race members around Xiang Shaoyun as it unleashed an attack covering a wide area, as though their lives were worthless.

"Is there a need to place so much focus on me?" Xiang Shaoyun howled in grief as his soul clone appeared before him. A Yin Yang Shield was manifested by the clone to block the incoming bone spikes.

The soul clone had the strength of a peak Sovereign. With his ability to punch above his weight, he could fully protect himself against a Saint even if he couldn't go toe to toe with one.

Energies of yin and yang circled, forming a powerful shield that fully protected Xiang Shaoyun. Not even a peak Sovereign could hope to get through the shield. Alas, the shield was too weak before the Bone Saint. The numerous bone spikes pierced through the shield and filled it with holes.

The chakram appeared in Xiang Shaoyun's hand. He spun it relentlessly, forcefully blocking many of the incoming bone spikes. However, the cost was that his clone was sent flying away, and the chakram nearly flew out of his grip.

The spikes were only a casual attack. From the might of this one attack, one could see just how formidable the Bone Saint was. Xiang Shaoyun knew that with a Bone Saint guarding the stele, reaching the stele would be much harder.

The Bone Saint's second attack came for him. This time, the soul clone used the Nether Yin Gate. A black hole manifested in the air, unleashing a powerful suction force that pulled the Bone Saint's attack into the black hole.

When the Bone Saint saw it, traces of fear surfaced on its face as it exclaimed in alarm, "This looks like the Imperial Nether Clan's Nether Yin Gate!"

For a Saint to be so fearful of the Nether Yin Gate, could it be that the gate still had some other terrifying secrets? Xiang Shaoyun seemed to realize the same thing. An indescribable sensation overwhelmed him as some memories awakened in his bloodline. He channeled even more devilish energy into the Nether Yin Gate, further enhancing the gate's might.

Abruptly, a pair of black hands reached out from the Nether Yin Gate. Dense devilish energy accompanied the hands as they clawed at the Bone Saint. The black hands were akin to the hands of an enormous devil. An incredibly sinister aura accompanied them; the two hands' long devilish claws planted fear in all who looked at them.

A powerful sense of oppression descended as though a Devil Saint had appeared. Not even the Bone Saint could afford to underestimate the pair of hands. The Bone Saint brandished its bone saber and slashed at the two hands.

A powerful explosion ensued, causing the place to shake as a powerful energy wave rippled out, sending everyone nearby tumbling away. The bone race members outnumbered everyone present. As a destructive battle erupted, the skeletons hurriedly left the battleground. It was now all up to the Saints to deal with the intruders.

The Bone Saints were the final obstacle for Xiang Shaoyun and the other intruders to reach the stele. Even with his saint armor, Xiang Shaoyun's main body was sent tumbling away by the shockwave. He nearly left the stele's range. If that happened, he would once again lose access to his energy.

He remained close to the ground and watched on as the devil hands continued reaching out of the gate. As he watched, more memories surfaced from his bloodline.

The Nether Yin Gate was the gate to the Netherland, a place with extremely thick yin and death auras. Meanwhile, this grotto was filled with life force and had a thick yin aura under the soil. Otherwise, all these bone race members wouldn't be able to live and prosper here.

In the Netherland, nether yin devils could be found. They were extremely terrifying existences. Like human yin ghosts, yin devils wielded the dreadful nether yin energy. Generally speaking, an Imperial Nether Clan member would have to reach the Saint Realm before gaining the ability to summon nether yin devils from the Nether Yin Gate.

Since Xiang Shaoyun's clone only had the strength of a peak Sovereign, he hadn't been able to sense the nether yin devils through the Nether Yin Gate. However, the rich yin energy in the grotto had caught the nether yin devils' attention. This had allowed Xiang Shaoyun to summon them from the gate. Unfortunately, he was too weak to summon an entire nether yin devil. Otherwise, something more than a pair of hands would come through the gate.

When that pair of hands went through the gate, Xiang Shaoyun felt the pressure in his bloodline intensify as his energy drained at a rapid rate. He probably wouldn't be able to keep this up for long.

Fortunately, just the pair of hands was enough to give the Bone Saint a terrible time, giving him a complete advantage over the Bone Saint. If not even the devil hands worked, he would not know what to do.

As for the other intruders, they did not possess such an impressive combat strength. They suffered a great defeat under the hands of the other Bone Saint. Only a few were able to barely put on some fight, and they had only been able to do so thanks to the complete sets of saint equipment they wielded.

Xiang Shaoyun saw an opportunity. With the regular bone race members retreating, his main body was free. He could take this chance to reach the stele. Without any hesitation, he activated his saint armor and pushed his speed to the limits as he rushed toward the stele.

He no longer held anything back as he fully unleashed his wind star. He also used the Overlord's Nine Nether Steps and footwork intent. He even manifested his white tiger wings as he streaked toward the stele.

His main body moved as fast as any peak Sovereign. Meanwhile, his soul clone was trying his best to maintain the Nether Yin Gate's activation. The devil hands continued clawing at the Bone Saint, flooding their surroundings with a sinister energy that caused space itself to crack. The battle between those in the Saint Realm was incredibly destructive and far beyond an ordinary person's imagination.

"Come help me destroy this nether yin devil!" the Bone Saint finally called for help because it could barely handle the devil hands.

"You just need to get rid of that little devil. Why are you wasting so much effort on the hands?" replied the other Bone Saint before sending a saber energy attack toward Xiang Shaoyun's clone.

If the attack struck, the clone would probably be badly injured. Xiang Shaoyun hurriedly squeezed the final bit of strength he had left. With his mental power, he controlled the nether yin devil hands and had them split some of their strength to block the attack.

As the pressure on him doubled, Xiang Shaoyun's clone finally exhausted all his strength. The Nether Yin Gate started closing, and he lost the ability to deal with the Bone Saints. He was placed in a dangerous predicament.