What a Spectacle

"Lv Ying, daughter of the Green Demon, by order of the Green Demon Lord, invites Bai Mang to the palace for a talk!"

"The Great Commander of the Yellow Demon Guards, by order of His Eminence, invites Bai Mang to a feast."

"Huang Xiao, son of the Wind Demon, invites Bai Mang to the Wind Demon Palace."

"..."

"I am Lan Yan. An exquisite banquet has been prepared in the Blue Demon Palace. By order of the Blue Demon, I have come to invite my young friend, Bai Mang!"

Nine proclamations rang out in succession, their voices clear and resonant.

There were men, women, eighth-rank kings, divine sons, and goddesses. They were subtly competing with each other, yet their gazes converged on a single point.

In the entire slum, and even the adjacent outer city, the heads of everyone—whether they were the heavenly demon race, the earthly demon race, or ordinary demons, in the shadows or in the open—felt like they were about to explode.

They were dazed.

They were numb.

To say they were shell-shocked would be no exaggeration.

In the Demon Abyss, there were twelve ninth-rank powerholders: the two priests and the ten demon gods.

They were the Crimson Demon, the Orange Demon, the Yellow Demon, the Green Demon, the Blue Demon, the Azure Demon, the Purple Demon, the Wind Demon, the Water Demon, and the Frost Demon.

Today.

Aside from the carriages of the Crimson Demon, the other nine houses had gathered. Demon guards stood in formation, divine sons drove carriages, and goddesses rode horses. Such an earth-shattering display was arranged merely to pick up a demon named Bai Mang.

Furthermore, judging by their tone and positioning, there was a sense that they were about to fight over him.

If they hadn't seen it with their own eyes and heard it with their own ears, who would have dared to believe it?

Just what kind of sacred being was this Bai Mang?

What virtue or ability did he possess to deserve such an honor?

Was this still the slums?

Was this still the Nether Capital?

Were they even still in the Demon Abyss?

Countless questions, accompanied by a chaotic mess of thoughts, burned in people's minds. Even now, they hadn't figured out what was happening.

Either the world had gone mad, or they had.

They were lost in a fog, utterly bewildered.

And it was at this moment, before they could even recover from the initial shock, that a resonant dragon's roar suddenly descended from the peak of the heavens.

"Roar—"

The giant dragon bellowed, its voice echoing between heaven and earth.

The sound made every listener tremble. People huddled in corners and on the ground couldn't help but look up.

Terror instantly filled their eyes, their mouths hung open, and their pupils constricted.

Under the dark sky and amidst the curtain of rain, a massive black shadow was soaring across the heavens.

Rumble!

Before the sound of thunder came a bolt of lightning that tore through the sky.

In that flash of light, the people saw a pitch-black giant dragon.

Its sky-obscuring wings beat once, whipping up a gale that stretched for a hundred miles.

"It's... it's the Black Demon Dragon King!"

Someone in the crowd recognized the dragon and cried out in alarm.

In an instant, a wave of gasps and murmurs erupted.

Demon dragons were divine beasts of demon mythology; they had existed once and continued to exist. Legends about them occupied more than a few pages in books, but for these ordinary demons outside the outer city, they had never seen one.

Thus, the dragon was merely a legend.

Until today.

They saw it, looking exactly as it was described in the books.

It was even more majestic and domineering than they had imagined, especially on such a rainy day, accompanied by the dim sky and the sudden flashes of lightning. The pressure it exerted was overwhelming.

It felt as if a single breath could set the entire firmament ablaze.

The people on the ground prostrated themselves even lower, their hearts filled with increasing fear and unease.

Even in the air above the small courtyard, where the nine carriages of the demon god palaces were hovering, a commotion broke out.

The demon falcons beneath the demon guards flapped their wings nervously, letting out low whimpers from time to time, as if they were welcoming a king or fearing some unspeakable horror.

Even the seven-colored blazing horses—red, yellow, green, white, purple, azure—pulling the carriages became restless, neighing incessantly.

The demon dragon.

It was the king among demon beasts. Before being tamed, it fed on all other demon beasts.

At this moment, whether it was the demon falcons or the demon horses, they were both welcoming a king and fearing they might be eaten by him.

This was a panic etched into their bloodlines, just as ordinary demons felt the need to lower their heads when seeing the heavenly demon race.

Whether they were goddesses or divine sons, whether they were lesser demon king stage experts of the seventh stage or greater demon king stage experts of the eighth stage, their faces turned grim one by one.

They were forced to circulate their demonic power and release their cultivation to resist the pressure from the demon dragon and soothe their mounts.

Killing intent flickered in the eyes of a few, but they remained silent.

They knew very well why this dragon was here. Like them, it was here to pick someone up.

However.

This method made them very uncomfortable. We all came in carriages, but you came riding a dragon. What's that supposed to mean?

Gloating.

Grandstanding.

And she really had succeeded in grandstanding. The moment she appeared, she had stolen all the limelight. Where did that leave them?

Hatred flared shamelessly in the depths of their brooding eyes.

'Damn it.'

'She really knows how to put on a show.'

'What a Crimson Demon Palace.'

'Always showing off...'

The giant dragon finally hovered above everyone, its wings spread wide, shielding the nine carriages of the demon gods beneath it. Its massive body acted like an umbrella, blocking the rain.

The high-held dragon head looked down upon everything with disdain. If any insignificant being showed dissatisfaction, a single glance from those blood-red dragon eyes would send pressure cascading down like a waterfall. Many demon guards from the nine demon god palaces showed expressions of pain.

The Black Demon Dragon.

It was one of the only three remaining demon dragons. Rumors said this dragon was the weakest of the three, but even the weakest had strength comparable to a ninth-stage demon god.

Furthermore, it had always resided in the Nether Capital.

It could be said that it was the number one powerhouse in the Nether Capital besides the twelve demon gods. With the demon gods absent, it was undoubtedly the strongest entity present.

Although Chi Ji had the lowest cultivation among the divine sons and goddesses who had come to pick up the guest, there was no doubt that with the addition of the Black Demon Dragon, she had become the focus of attention.

She stood atop the dragon's head, her bright red clothes dazzling. She slowly lowered her gaze, her eyes containing a hint of joy and excitement, along with a trace of trepidation and anticipation. Amidst the gazes of the multitude, she proclaimed loudly:

"Chi Ji of the Crimson Demon Palace, by order of the Crimson Demon, has brought the Black Dragon King to invite Bai Mang into the palace for a talk..."

The rain pattered down...

The wind howled...

The world was restless; the sound of wind, rain, thunder, and the heavy breathing of the giant dragon intertwined.

The world was also silent; the people on the ground held their breath, not daring to speak loudly for fear of startling the heavenly demons in the sky.

The people in the sky were also silent; they waited quietly, waiting for the youth's decision.

Even though they already had an answer in their hearts.

In terms of spectacle, they couldn't match Chi Ji.

In terms of prior acquaintance, they couldn't match Chi Ji either.

Anyone would likely choose to go with the Crimson Demon Palace, but...

How he chose was one thing, and whose hands he finally ended up in was another.

The demon god lords only said to bring the person back; they didn't say they couldn't snatch him. They only said they wanted him alive; they didn't specify whether he should be carried back or tied up.

The Black Demon Dragon was strong, but so what? Would Chi Ji really dare to let it start a massacre here?

Don't forget.

There were still the High and Low Priests of the Nether Hall.

In the courtyard.

Xu Xian, the person at the center of it all, was utterly dazed. The situation seemed a bit more exaggerated than he had anticipated, and this spectacle was unexpectedly grand.

To some extent, he was actually quite flattered.

He had only just leaked the news that he could read the ancestral demon script.

Was this really necessary?

Either his eyes were playing tricks on him, or this group of people had lost their minds.

The little book spirit was the same, its small eyes wide as it commented sincerely, "Good heavens, what a spectacle. They're going crazy..."