Dispute

The continuous, high-intensity pressure made Chi Ji feel as tense as a rubber band, as if she might snap at any moment.

She braced herself and said, "I forgot!"

The High Priest’s voice dropped low. "Forgot?"

Chi Ji lowered her eyes, adjusting her composure, and gave a small, mocking laugh. "Heh... He was merely a lowly mortal demon. If the High Priest hadn't mentioned it, I really wouldn't have remembered."

The person who saved you?

The person who traveled with you?

You say you forgot?

This answer seemed utterly unreasonable.

Yet, the gathered demon gods accepted it as a matter of course.

This was because what Chi Ji said was very true: he was just a mortal demon—a lowly mortal demon.

In the eyes of the heavenly demon race, when had they ever cared about those lowly demons?

They were born to serve the heavenly demon race; even if they died, it was only right and proper.

Even the Small Priest readily accepted Chi Ji's explanation.

Only the High Priest had a flicker of gloom in her eyes as she said coldly, "But he saved you?"

Chi Ji was a noble of the heavenly demon race; she understood their nature all too well.

Similarly, she understood the system of the Demon Abyss. She met the High Priest’s gaze calmly and said softly, "So what?"

He saved me.

But he was still just a member of the mortal demon race.

In the shadows, the corners of various faces couldn't help but curl upward...

They were very satisfied with this answer.

The High Priest gave a self-mocking chuckle. "Heh..." There was helplessness in her laugh, along with a barely perceptible disgust.

"Good, very good!"

She shifted her gaze to the left, looking at Chi Ming in the shadows. "Truly the daughter of the Crimson Demon."

There was silence in the shadows; not a single word was returned.

"Then I suppose you didn't remember his name either?" the High Priest asked.

Chi Ji said calmly, "He is already dead."

"Oh?"

Chi Ji bowed her head, expressing a hint of sadness as she said wistfully, "All the demons in Ze Capital, along with my guards... they are all dead."

The High Priest narrowed her eyes. "Yet you alone survived?"

Chi Ji said with feigned devotion, "The Supreme Demon Lord's protection!"

"High Priest, that's enough. She is just a child," the Crimson Demon’s voice emerged from the shadows, filled with displeasure.

"Hehe, is Uncle Ming feeling protective already?" from another corner, a voice full of hostility and provocation immediately followed.

Then, a different voice responded, "She's not your child, so of course you don't care?"

"Heh... better than you, who doesn't even have an heir. What, do you really intend for the Huang surname to end with your generation?"

"Watch your mouth. The Huang family has more than just one lineage..."

"Enough!"

Sarcasm, mockery, and ridicule played out in this hall as if they were commonplace.

Chi Ji could not see their faces, but she could imagine their expressions.

They must be disgusting.

So she frowned.

The High Priest remained silent, seemingly allowing this mutual mockery to occur.

The Small Priest took over the conversation, speaking up to soften the mood. "Sister, perhaps she really doesn't know. Besides, he was just a mortal demon. That sword strike came from outside the abyss; it couldn't possibly be related to the person you mentioned."

The High Priest did not argue. she raised her hand and pressed down, signaling for silence.

The voices that were just clashing and refusing to yield fell silent instantly.

The great hall became quiet once more.

She gave Chi Ji a cold glance and said indifferently, "You may leave."

Chi Ji respectfully performed the demon race salutation.

"As you wish."

"Chi Ji takes her leave!"

She slowly backed away for several steps before turning to walk out of the great hall.

As if escaping the darkness, her steps unnaturally quickened until she had completely stepped out of that heavy palace.

The view before her suddenly opened up.

The world was bright and clear.

She let out a long sigh of relief, her expression that of someone granted a general amnesty.

She walked onto the square and looked up at the sky.

A sky vastly different from the one deeper in the Demon Abyss; it lacked the brilliance seen above the clouds, yet it was still very, very bright.

She had lied.

She had deceived the Demon Lord.

She had betrayed her faith.

If it were before, she would never have done such a thing, but now...

Demon Lord?

Heavenly demon race?

Heh...

Chi Ji only knew that when she was trapped and surrounded, the Demon Lord never appeared.

When the demons of an entire city were slaughtered, the Demon Lord never showed his face.

The members of the heavenly demon race—her own kind—wanted her dead, while a youth of the mortal demon race had shielded her behind his back.

Right?

Wrong?

Perhaps having experienced life and death, she had attained a sudden enlightenment; she saw many things clearly now.

The prosperity of the Demon Abyss,

The nobility of the heavenly demons,

These were essentially just lies fabricated by the heavenly demon race themselves. So why couldn't she lie as well?

...

After Chi Ji left, a debate and discussion commenced within the great hall as planned.

Having Chi Ji come was merely to investigate the truth behind that sword strike.

Imagine if an existence capable of delivering such a strike were inside the Demon Abyss, yet they, the rulers, knew nothing about it. Who wouldn't be afraid?

If the next strike were to fall on Nether Capital, what would happen to the Demon Abyss? What would happen to those in power like them?

At that point, the world would likely fall into chaos again.

The stability and systems they had worked so hard to establish could very well be overturned.

The implications were too vast to be settled in a few words.

In the hall, everyone voiced their opinions, analyzing and speculating.

"That youth used a sword; it is highly likely he's from the Wendao Sect..."

"When did the Wendao Sect get another young sword cultivator? Counting down from the Thunder Demon, there is Yao Xiqiao—rumor has it he's burly and coarse, larger than even I am. Then there's an old man. Tell me, who else? The only one who looked like a youth died in the Demon Suppression Abyss four years ago, didn't he?"

"Could it be that one named Ye Xianyu, dressed as a man?"

"It's not impossible."

"Perhaps it is the youth named Li Qingshan. The intelligence sent back from the Immortal Demon Caves has mentioned him many times. He is tall and elegant, like a banished immortal. Decades ago, he claimed to be invincible below the ninth stage."

"What you say isn't without reason..."

Li Qingshan, Ye Xianyu, Yao Xiqiao, Lin Fengmian, and even Xu Xian, who had just recently shown his talent.

These names were long-time regulars in their discussions.

Although the Demon Abyss had been in seclusion for four thousand years, as the supreme leaders of the abyss, they could still know the affairs of the world without leaving their homes.

Specifically, they knew the people and affairs of the Wendao Sect like the back of their hands.

They had specialized channels to obtain such vital information instantly.

The reason they were so sensitive was not just because someone had delivered a sword strike.

It was because the timing was far too coincidental.

Four years ago, during the war between humans and demons at the Demon Suppression Abyss, Yun Zheng of the Wendao Sect had fallen.

When the news returned, the East Desolation had become a ruin; its beast gods and beast sovereigns were nearly all dead.

Rumors outside claimed that five thousand years of the East Desolation's fortune had been severed, but in reality, it wouldn't rise again even in ten thousand years.

A brand new high city now stood on the banks of the Wild River.

Upon learning this, the entire Demon Abyss was shaken.

Who could guarantee that the Great Desolation of today wouldn't be the Demon Abyss of tomorrow?

It was from that time that the High Priest proposed the plan to break the stalemate: opening the Nether Gate and releasing the Nether Beasts.

Recently, the debate had grown more intense, with those in favor gaining the upper hand.

The opening of the Nether Gate seemed to be a settled matter.

Yet, right when their dispute over this matter was at its fiercest, such a sword strike appeared in the Demon Abyss.

The one killed was Chi Yan, who belonged to the faction supporting the opening of the Nether Gate.

It was hard for them not to link the two events.

Had word leaked out? Had the Wendao Sect discovered their intention to open the Nether Gate?

If that were the case, then the Demon Abyss was in danger; the demon race was in danger.

While this filled them with worry and fear, it also made them waver.

During the debate, Chi Ming, who had consistently opposed opening the Nether Gate, took the opportunity to say:

"Regardless of who it is, there is definitely such a person now, and they likely come from the Wendao Sect. We cannot take the risk. At the very least, until this matter is thoroughly investigated, the Nether Gate cannot be opened, nor should it be discussed further."