Lushu stared into the distance at the diminishing city walls of Azure Leaf City. A mix of emotions was reflected within his eyes; there was nostalgia, there was pain, and there was even a sense of loss.
For Lushu, his early years were just like everyone else. He was an orphan, a common occurrence for the people of the Demon Cage Realm, and he lived his life hoping for a better tomorrow. The best chance for orphans like him was the talent testing day that all children went through when they were ten.
To Lushu's disappointment, his talent was average at best. No, it was below average. Since that day, he had lived every day like a third-class citizen, not even knowing if he could have a full stomach before the end of the day. His former playmates all abandoned him, as their talents were greater, or they caught the eye of some patron despite having similar or worse talent than Lushu. It seemed that everyone else had found their place in the world, except Lushu.
Lushu was just another unfortunate human in this cruel world.
That all changed one day when Lushu was fifteen and stumbled upon the inheritance of a mysterious senior. That senior died due to his injuries from stealing the blood essence of a member of the Golden Crow Clan. Before he died, he created an inheritance site to pass on the fruits of his research to a successor.
Lushu just so happened to stumble into this inheritance site while running away from danger. The unnamed cultivation method didn't require the cultivator to have much talent, but they needed a firm will to withstand the pain, which Lushu just so happened to have. Using the blood essence left behind by the senior, Lushu reforged his body to increase its potential. It was just a pity that the blood essence had deteriorated due to so much time passing, and Lushu needed to hunt down a Golden Crow Clan member with a pure bloodline to extract its blood essence to perfect his martial body.
Nevertheless, even with the imperfect remodification of his body, Lushu rose to reach the peak of Azure Leaf City. He even had a chance to reach the same height as City Lord Azure Leaf, the most powerful person Lushu had ever heard of.
But now, that was all history.
Lushu had thought City Lord Azure Leaf was powerful, but he only now understood that he was a frog in a well after seeing those nine death-bringing demons that assaulted Azure Leaf City. That night, Lushu's worldview was refreshed twice.
First, due to the advent of the nine demons, and second, the display of Tianyi's divine might that surpassed the nine demons. It was as if Tianyi was the manifestation of a divinity, able to summon lightning at his will. Still, it seemed that even such a powerful cultivator wasn't invincible because City Lord Azure Leaf had to evacuate all the residents due to the nine demons' master coming to take revenge.
Lushu held out his hand so that the whole of Azure Leaf City seemed to rest upon his palm. Originally, Lushu was content succeeding and following City Lord Azure Leaf’s footsteps, but it seemed that he was still too naive. He would have to seek out a Golden Crow Clan member and extract their blood essence to perfect his martial cultivation, just as his deceased master had said.
Lushu glanced at the sea of people leaving the city, some with their expressions full of fear, others anger, but even more held sadness upon their faces. Lushu silently imprinted the memories into his heart and vowed that he would change all this. If the immortals couldn't reverse the situation of the Demon Cage Realm, then he would be the one to do so.
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Tianyi watched silently as the sea of people disappeared into the distance. How many of them would die, Tianyi didn't know, but there was a strange weight pressing down on his chest knowing that he would be responsible for the deaths of thousands of lives or even more. He hadn’t cared much about it with the Lei Clan since two sides had enmity, but it was different this time.
In his eyes, the normal mortals really were like ants. Any single decision from him could decide their fate. Nowhere else was Tianyi able to experience this change better than the Demon Cage Realm, where humans weren't as developed.
As for why Tianyi didn't just tell the residents to stay in the city while he went to go kill the Demon General?
Tianyi didn't know where the Demon General was, and while his spiritual sense was enormous, it wasn’t large enough to envelop such a vast space and discover the demon general. Even if he found a Unity Realm level demon, Tianyi could not be sure it was the same demon general spoken by the snake demon.
Thinking back, Tianyi really shouldn't have killed all nine of the demons so quickly. He should have at least left one to interrogate. Tianyi didn't have the power to rewind time, but even if he did, he would not use it for such an act.
What's done is done.
Tianyi was also ninety percent sure that the demon general would come seeking revenge. If the demon general didn't come on an off chance, Tianyi would just continue towards the Leviathan Clan's territory. The demon general wasn't so crucial that Tianyi would halt his plans to hunt him down. The one who betrayed his fellow humans was Azure Leaf, not the demon general. In fact, if the demon general aided the humans, Tianyi would have greater suspicions.
"So, do you think the demon general would bring his army with him?" Tianyi asked Daoyi and Xi Ri.
"I don't think so. Since you were able to kill his nine commanders, the demon general should be able to deduce that your realm is extremely high. I doubt he has the ability to bring a large amount of his army with him in a short amount of time. He wouldn't do that since you can easily escape with the time given." Xi Ri analyzed.
Daoyi nodded in agreement. "How long do you think it will take for the demon general to notice?"
Tianyi held his chin and thought. "The Demon Cage Realm is sealed from the outside world, and only the Buzhou Immortal Sect has the key, so the demon's heritage within it shouldn't be as thick as the demons that appeared during the Human-Divine Beast War. Perhaps, they might have gained some knowledge from the true demons sealed within the mountains, but it shouldn't be too powerful. I honestly don't know. It really depends on what demons are imprisoned under the mountains and whether they can communicate through their seals. At the very least, it shouldn't be a divine beast.”
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Daoyi and Xi Ri nodded in agreement. The information given by the sect didn't mention which and what kind of demons were sealed, only the area where the true demons were sealed.
"How long are you going to stay here?" Daoyi asked. If Tianyi stayed too long, she and Xi Ri might go their separate ways. They had entered the Demon Cage Realm to temper themselves, after all.
"Not long, three months at most," Tianyi said. Daoyi and Xi Ri nodded. Three months was still an acceptable amount of time to them.
While waiting for the demon general to appear, Tianyi, Daoyi, and Xi Ri stayed in the empty Azure Leaf City. Without the people living in it, there was a gloomy atmosphere that pervaded the streets, causing the trio to stay within Azure Leaf's mansion most of the time.
Daoyi spent the time absorbing the ghosts from her Hundred Ghost Dwelling Gourd. According to Mengfei, once she absorbed all hundred of the ghosts within, she would be at the peak of the Core Formation Realm and able to enter the Nascent Soul Realm at any moment.
As for Xi Ri, Tianyi aided him in perfecting the incomplete Spring Autumn Scripture. The sect had released a revised version for the disciples to learn, but that didn't mean there wasn't any room for improvements. Tianyi took this as a form of training and experimentation for himself as he aided Xi Ri, periodically bringing out his pseudo clone formed from the stars within his cosmos to experiment.
Like this, a month quickly passed.
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The demon general's true name and species were Earth Burning Venom Serpent. Reaching the Unity Realm equivalent, he was the only one of his species in all of the Demon Cage Realm. Perhaps, outside of the Demon Cage Realm, there would be others of the same species, just with different names.
For most demons, their strength came from their bloodline, so they increased the power of their blood with every realm they ascended before becoming more and more unique amongst the demons. The most common and easiest way to do so was to absorb the blood of a demon of higher rank. This was also the basis for the human cultivation method of the Demon Cage Realm.
The demon general had immediately noticed when his nine demon commanders had perished. Or, to be more specific, when his most valued descendant had been killed. Despite the anger he felt, the demon general didn't immediately rush to attack the perpetrator and instead observed them after arriving. From his investigations, there appeared to be only three cultivators within the empty city, one at the same realm as his demon commanders and two at a lower realm.
Demon General Earth Burning Serpent had suspected that it was a trap and that there was an expert hiding nearby. Only after a week of observation did the demon general finally believe that there wasn't a hidden expert. At the same time, this brought the question of how the three were able to defeat his nine demon commanders. In the end, the demon general could only conclude that it was due to them being descended from a higher world.
Did this mean that the demon general would let the culprits go?
No.
How could the demon general allow the culprits to leave after slaying his most promising descendant, whose blood contained trace amounts of the dragon bloodline? He simply had to be a bit more careful.
Having decided to attack, Demon General Earth Burning Venom Serpent immediately acted. His aura immediately surged and caused the surrounding environment to darken as the winds howled, the clouds darkened, and the land rumbled from his very presence.
"Foul human pests, come out!" Demon General Earth Burning Venom Serpent's roar sent shockwaves ringing through the surrounding area. His long serpentine body soared into the sky with a length of over ten kilometers.
After the demon general's roar, the environment turned strangely silent. The birds, small mammals, and insects had all died from the roar's aftershock. Just as the demon general thought that the three humans were frightened by his presence, his world was dyed yellow.
A lightning pillar shot out from the center of the city towards the sky. Once it reached the peak, it began to spread out like a net, encasing the surrounding hundred kilometers in a lightning cage. Watching this, the demon general discovered something weird.
The concept behind the technique was immature but full of potential. What was shocking was the immensely powerful energy source fueling the lightning cage. Rather from a single person, it seemed to come from something vaster, like heaven and earth.
He didn't have any more time to ponder as a single human stepped out of the city and flew towards him. The demon general found himself mystified. He even questioned whether the person in front of him was a living being at all.
The human's eyes were filled with countless motes of light like the night sky, causing the demon general to find himself mesmerized, but he soon contained his urges. He observed his foe once more. The human was obviously in front of him, but the demon general couldn't help but feel that the human was in a different plane and indistinct to his spiritual senses.
"Do you know what crimes you committed?" Nevertheless, Demon General Earth Burning Venom Serpent didn't allow the strangeness to dissuade him. No matter how strange his opponent was, he was still a realm above. Even if he couldn't win, he doubted his opponent would be able to trap him. The demon general didn't put the lightning cage sealing him in his eyes at all.
"Crimes? Demons and humans are natural enemies. There is no crime, only who survives in the end." The human said, his lips morphing into a smile.
Demon General Earth Burning Venom Serpent became silent as the human cultivator's words before saying, "Well said! Then die for me!"
Without warning, the demon general struck with its fangs bared. The human cultivator didn't move and instead reared his fist back before unleashing a fist. The demon general's fangs clashed head-on against the human's fist.
It was a comical scene of a black serpent kilometers long against a human's fist. The sheer difference in size made it appear as if a regular snake was striking a speck of dust. What occurred next, however, was even more comical.
Demon General Earth Burning Venom Serpent and the human were flung into opposite directions due to the force of the clash. The demon general's colossal body caused an earthquake as it crashed into the ground, while Tianyi created a super deep crater due to a large amount of force concentrated into his small size.
Flying back up into the sky, the demon general's eyes contained some shock. His realm was higher than his foes, and his body far more massive and powerful, yet they were only equal in a clash?
No wonder his nine demon commanders perished under the human cultivator's hands. It seemed that he underestimated the immortals. At once, the demon general's body began to shrink and shrink until it was only around a hundred meters long. Although his body had shrunk, his power was condensed, and his power amplified.
Suddenly a vast amount of chaotic black qi erupted from the crater the human was in. The black qi towered over the current demon general, seeming wanting to swallow the sky. A short moment later, the towering black qi formed into a giant.
The giant's body was pure darkness, but within its body, there existed countless little stars. And at the center of the giant's dantian existed a black sun orbited by eight golden orbs. What made the demon general speechless was that the giant's height was over ten kilometers tall.
Furthermore, he could no longer sense the human cultivator's presence or realm as if trillions of kilometers separated them. Then the giant spoke.
"You’ve become so tiny."
"..." Demon General Earth Burning Venom Serpent.