The sky was gloomy and the rain fell in sheets over the vast Nether Pool, which shimmered with a brilliant light, rippling occasionally as raindrops hit its surface.
It looked as if a galaxy were swaying within it, bubbles rising to the surface before the waters turned calm once more.
The surface of the pool was empty.
The Small Priest's brow furrowed as she lowered her altitude, her divine sense spreading out as her eyes darkened. "Where is he?"
A hundred miles away, the demon gods were also stunned.
"Where is he?"
Jin Qing's heart skipped a beat. Without a moment's hesitation, she dispersed the illusion and vanished into the void.
Seeing this, Chi Ming knew things had taken a turn for the worse and immediately followed her.
The other demon gods did the same.
A moment later,
Series of sharp sonic booms echoed in the air above the patch of water where Xu Xian had fallen.
One by one, familiar figures appeared around the Small Priest.
Jin Qing arrived first, followed by Chi Ming, the Wind Demon, the Yellow Demon, the Water Demon, the Purple Demon... no more, no less, exactly eleven of them.
They first stared at the surface of the lake, then spread their divine senses to search the surroundings, before finally turning their gazes toward the black-clad figure in the center.
The Yellow Demon called her by name, questioning her. "Jin Yu, where is he?"
Jin Yu looked up in a daze and removed her veil. Her gaze slowly swept over everyone before finally landing on the High Priest. She shook her head and said distractedly,
"I don't know."
"Did you hide him?" someone questioned.
"I did not," Jin Yu denied, looking toward Jin Qing for help as she explained. "I just threw him down and did nothing else. Then, he..."
Jin Yu hesitated, because the explanation sounded too ridiculous.
It lacked any credibility, even though it was the truth.
One of them pressed relentlessly, "He what?"
Jin Yu's throat moved. "He sank."
He could only have sunk, for where else could he have hidden?
But even an ordinary demon commoner falling into the nether water would at least splash and struggle a bit, even if they couldn't swim. Furthermore, Bai Mang was a solid sixth-rank demon general stage cultivator.
Back then, he had even killed a seventh-rank lesser demon king with a single spear strike.
How could he have sunk so silently? Unless he wasn't a demon at all, but rather a demon, human, or spirit from outside the Demon Abyss.
But...
How was that possible? He was clearly a demon, and he could even read the ancestral demon script. He could only be a demon.
"That's impossible!"
Chi Ming said bitterly, "And yet, it is the truth."
The group fell silent.
Yes, it was impossible, yet it had happened right before their eyes. Was it fake? One person might be hallucinating, but all twelve of them couldn't have been.
They couldn't refute it, but their emotions needed an outlet.
"High Priest, tell us, what should we do now?"
Jin Qing's thoughts were in disarray, and her sea of consciousness was in an uproar. Countless guesses and questions flashed through her mind, but every possible answer was unexpected.
Facing the questioning, she only uttered one word.
"Search!"
"Heh... how? Do you expect us to dive into the nether water?"
The High Priest glared at him coldly and barked, "Even so, we must search!"
The demon gods grumbled and their eyes were filled with resentment, but their actions were obedient.
They began flying close to the surface of the Nether Pool, not leaving a single patch of water unsearched.
With the place where Bai Mang fell as the center, they searched in all directions, their complaints never ceasing for a single moment.
...
Within the Nether Capital.
The chaos in the outer city had settled, but the unrest in the inner city was only intensifying.
The heavenly demon race members who attacked the inner city were simply lawless, and their actions had enraged the entire heavenly demon race population.
Only the Demon God Palace remained eerily quiet. The demon guards made no move. The complex situation became even more unpredictable on this rainy night.
Bai Mang's kidnapping left the descendants of the demon gods at a loss.
However, as they slowly calmed down, they began to analyze the problem rationally.
Only the twelve demon gods possessed the strength to mobilize so many experts and cause such a massive commotion to kidnap Bai Mang.
They scrutinized and suspected each other, attempting to deduce the truth on their own.
Chi Ji was worried and restless, but there was nothing she could do. She could only return home to beg her father to intervene, and the other descendants were much the same.
The situation had exceeded their expectations, and they could only seek help from above.
Huang Xiao had originally been in the inner city selling items on Bai Mang's behalf.
He had earned a lot. He was originally carrying the money back in high spirits, thinking he could gain some favor with Bai Mang again.
But as soon as he returned to the residence and heard that Bai Mang had been kidnapped, he felt as if his world had collapsed in that instant.
He had worked so hard to build a relationship and endured so much to pay his dues, yet before he could reap the rewards, the person was gone.
What was the point of everything he had done?
The person who should have been the most hostile toward Bai Mang had become the most worried.
"Who? Who was it?"
"I, Huang Xiao, will be your irreconcilable enemy!"
...
Deep within the Nether Pool, the demon gods' search was coming to an end. They had searched the surface of the lake for hundreds of miles but still found no sign of Bai Mang, and they couldn't even detect his aura.
It was as if he had truly sunk to the bottom, or perhaps he had simply vanished from the face of the earth.
The demon gods' complaints had never stopped from the beginning. Having found nothing, their complaints turned into fury, which they vented upon the instigator, Jin Qing.
"Jin Qing, look at what you've done!"
The Small Priest was displeased and snapped, "Old man Huang, how dare you speak to my sister like that? Is Jin Qing a name you're allowed to call?"
"Jin Yu, you can't escape this either. Neither of you sisters can. The Demon Abyss has been ruined by you."
The other demon gods were in a fit of rage and joined in the accusation.
"Exactly! If we can't find him, who is going to translate those primordial demon arts?"
"There isn't a single day of peace. You're always so self-righteous. First you wanted to open the Nether Gate, then you wanted to endure. Now look at this. You insisted on testing him, and now he's gone. And you won't even let people talk about it."
"We should never have let you two sisters take charge of the Nether Hall in the first place..."
They were pointed at by a thousand fingers. This group of demon gods turned hostile in an instant, hurling verbal abuse. The Azure Demon and the Blue Demon were slightly better, as they had always supported the High and Small Priests and stood by them.
At this moment, even though they were dissatisfied, they chose to remain silent.
But the demon gods who were originally at odds with the sisters no longer had any reservations, saying the nastiest things they could think of.
They were on the verge of coming to blows.
Jin Qing was fine, as she was long used to this and simply ignored them.
But Jin Yu did not have such a good temper. Driven to anger by the insults, she didn't waste words and summoned her artifact, saying directly, "Enough nonsense. If you're not satisfied, let's fight. If that's not enough, then let's make it a battle to the death. Don't say I'm bullying you. You can all come at me at once."
"Little brat, you've gone too far."
"Old fossil, you talk too much."
Both sides were at each other's throats, refusing to back down as the emotional conflict intensified.
Above the lake, the pressure of the demon gods clashed violently, like a powder keg that could explode at any second.
Just as they were about to fight and things were spiraling out of control, Jin Qing spoke.
"Enough!"
Rate on N.U.
