Hearing the command, the two fifth-rank Crimson Demon Guards instinctively stepped back to the sides.
As they lowered their blocking arms, Xu Xian’s gaze turned cold, and he spared them a sharp glance.
'Submissive now?'
A fifth stage blocking the path of a sixth stage—the demons in this Demon Abyss really lacked any sense of hierarchy.
Was it a collapse of morality? Or a distortion of humanity?
Xu Xian couldn't be bothered to stoop to the level of these two little red-haired guards and hurried to catch up with Chi Ji.
Money was still more important.
After the two left, several Crimson Demon Guards protected their flanks, while others dispersed in different directions, likely heading off to deliver reports.
An hour later...
Inside Black Sand Town.
In a certain open square, azure flames burned everywhere, illuminating the entire area.
In the surrounding houses, open spaces, and alleyways, dozens of Crimson Demon Guards stood on high alert.
In the very center stood a throne cast from pure gold, inlaid with crimson gemstones.
Chi Ji sat upon it like a queen.
Beside her, the red-haired maidservant from before attended to her every need, serving tea and water with meticulous care.
Standing before her was a man in black armor, built like a bear with a cold, stern face. He carried a heavy blade across his back, looking like the most loyal of bodyguards.
Unfortunately, Chi Ji was young and her mind was not yet mature. Even though she looked the part of a ruler now, she still lacked a bit of that overbearing, kingly aura.
In the open space before her, the area was packed with evil cultivators from the Twelve Immortal Demon Caves.
Each one was trembling with fear and unease. From time to time, Crimson Demon Guards and demon soldiers from the Blazing Fortress would drive more evil cultivators into the square like common criminals.
The area was a cacophony of noise, filled with constant whispers.
Demon falcons circled in the dark sky above.
Demon tigers crouched in the surroundings.
The atmosphere was thick with an indescribable killing intent and oppression.
Xu Xian huddled behind the throne, feeling as if he were sitting on pins and needles.
Things didn't look good. He had a feeling that many people were going to suffer today.
The large man before him was a greater demon king stage existence, the Prince Yan that Chi Ji had mentioned. With red hair and two horns, his bloodline was relatively high among these demons.
He belonged to the heavenly demon race.
However, his eyes had ordinary black and white pupils, so his status was a tier lower than Chi Ji’s.
Even as a king, he had to stand obediently and followed the girl’s every word.
Just now, after meeting up with him, Chi Ji had ordered this man to gather every human outside the Blazing Fortress, declaring that not a single one should be allowed to escape.
To go to such great lengths, she was definitely seeking revenge.
Of course, after suffering so much, revenge was only natural.
In the words of those merchants, these humans dared to kidnap a heavenly demon race member—a descendant of a demon god with one of the purest and noblest bloodlines in the entire Demon Abyss. Even if she killed them all, it wouldn't be surprising.
But...
Only Xu Xian knew that her making such a massive fuss wasn't just about revenge. If she truly just wanted to vent her anger, why bother bringing them back alive?
She could have just killed them on the spot.
It would have saved time and effort.
Doing this clearly meant she was looking for someone.
As for who?
Xu Xian wasn't saying.
As for whether she could find them?
Heh, Xu Xian still wasn't saying.
But this woman certainly held a grudge.
Xu Xian also secretly felt lucky that he was steady and clever enough. He hadn't believed her words from the start; given this display, if he had truly brought her back in his identity as Xu Xian...
A reward? He’d be lucky to keep his life.
Even if she didn't kill him, she’d probably make him her slave.
Xu Xian was happy to watch the show, thinking that once she was done making a scene, he’d take his reward and leave.
Furthermore, in his subconscious, he harbored a deep-seated hatred for these evil cultivators and wished they would all just die. Their misfortune was his entertainment.
After the incident in Yecheng, Xu Xian had specifically looked for intelligence regarding evil cultivators.
The existence of evil cultivators went back a very long time, traceable to ten thousand years ago.
Back then, the demon race had not yet retreated to the Demon Abyss. They were ambitious and refused to be confined to the abyss, leading the entire race into war and expansion.
However, it took a long time for demon qi to corrode the land.
The demons of that time thought it was too slow. Thus, they supported a group of humans to act as their vanguard, handling affairs for the demon race outside the dark demon lands.
Simply put, they were puppet forces.
Later...
The Sword Ancestor emerged, the demon race was defeated, and they promised never to encroach upon another inch of the Northern Borders.
At that point, these puppet forces were abandoned.
Having lost their masters, they became their own masters. Thanks to the unique cultivation methods of demonic cultivators, they quickly recruited many cultivators who had lost their way and expanded rapidly.
This led to the birth of the Twelve Immortal Demon Caves, the Thirty-Six Heavenly Demon Grottoes, and the Seventy-Two Earthly Demon Grottoes.
Furthermore, in a very short amount of time, they swallowed up and replaced the most primitive evil cultivator organizations.
As they grew stronger, they brought calamity to the world of men and frequently clashed with righteous cultivators.
Later still, the last demon sovereign of the demon race, upon learning that the Sword Ancestor had gone into seclusion and hadn't appeared for over five thousand years, grew ambitious once more and sought a comeback.
He secretly conspired with the demonic cultivators to plot treachery, even committing the atrocity of slaughtering an entire city.
Wendao Sect was enraged.
Thus, Senior Brother Lei took a single sword and rampaged through the Demon Abyss for thirty days, killing the demon sovereign and slaughtering demon gods.
At the same time, over ten halls of the Wendao Sect, including the Sword Suppression Hall, the Supervision Hall, and the Shadow Hall, acted simultaneously to purge all demonic cultivators from the Northern Borders.
They didn't ask about right or wrong. They didn't care if one was 'good' or 'bad.'
If you were a demonic cultivator, you were killed.
Several righteous sects in the Central Plains also responded, joining the hunt for demonic cultivators.
After that battle, the backbone of the demon race was completely broken. They retreated to the Blazing Fortress and promised never to leave again.
The demonic cultivators also suffered heavy losses.
The Twelve Immortal Demon Caves lost more than half their strength, the Thirty-Six Heavenly Demon Grottoes were nearly wiped out, and the Seventy-Two Earthly Demon Grottoes became history.
The stragglers fled to the Central Plains and only managed to survive by escaping into the mists of the South Sea.
From then on, demonic cultivators lived a life of hiding and struggling to survive.
In the years that followed, the Wendao Sect never gave up on purging and annihilating the demonic cultivators within their borders.
In the end, aside from parts of the Twelve Immortal Demon Caves that managed to endure, the rest were mostly slaughtered, leaving only a few remnants who refused to give up their wicked designs.
The demonic cultivators in Yecheng were the remnants of one such grotto.
If not for the secret protection of the Three Sects and Thousand Sects in the Central Plains and the saints forbidding crossing boundaries, even the Immortal Demon Caves would have likely become history long ago.
As for the conflicts of interest involved, it wasn't something that could be explained in a few sentences.
There are no absolute enemies, only eternal interests.
This saying was extremely applicable in Fanzhou as well.
In a way, these demonic cultivators were also screwed over by their own masters...
Time passed minute by minute.
The number of people gathered in the square grew. In a single small town, there were no fewer than several hundred evil cultivators, all at the nascent soul stage or higher.
After a while, the armored man, Prince Yan, said respectfully, "Your Highness, it is almost everyone."
Chi Ji, sitting on the throne, slowly scanned the field. Her divine sense swept through the crowd constantly, and a hint of disappointment was hard to hide in her eyes. She whispered, "Are there no more?"
"Within a hundred miles, everyone left alive is here. As for those who fled, I'm afraid we won't be able to catch them."
Chi Ji lowered her eyes and remained silent, her hand under her long sleeve constantly stroking a dark green wine gourd.
"How shall we deal with them?" Prince Yan asked again.
Chi Ji’s brow furrowed slightly. Her peripheral vision suddenly shifted toward the white-haired youth behind her, and she asked, "What do you think?"
Swish, swish, swish...
Almost simultaneously, several gazes landed on Xu Xian.
Xu Xian was stunned, pointing a finger at himself. "Me?"
Rate on N.U.
