Forty Millenniums of Cultivation

“You’ve got to be kidding me!”

Suo Chaolong slapped the table and rose up, his neck bulging suddenly like a cobra that was about to launch an attack. His fury almost burnt a hole through the ceiling while he shouted, “Everybody in the entire Blood Demon Sector knows the grudge between the refugees and the Star Glory Federation! The Star Glory Federation destroyed our home, murdered our ancestors, and drove us to the Blood Demon Sector. Never has one second gone by without us forgetting to march back to the Grand Desolate Plateau and our hometown! How in the world will I surrender to the greedy, shameless, and hypocritical Star Glory Federation?”

In an awkward position, Li Yao and Han Tuhu remained silent.

Suo Chaolong glanced at them, his chest was still fluctuating. “I am sorry. It’s nothing personal. I meant that everybody of the federation is—”

“It doesn’t matter. We totally got it.” Li Yao hurried to interrupt him.

“That being said, it is also universally known that the descendants of the refugees of the Heaven’s Origin Sector and the locals of the Star Glory Federation haven’t always been in the best relationship,” the Fire Ant King analyzed calmly. “Although your ancestors were driven out of the Heaven’s Origin Sector by the Star Glory Federation, and it seems to be a good reason to hate them, it is also evident enough that, same as Li Yao and Han Tuhu, you are also from the Heaven’s Origin Sector, if you change your mindset. You are also a native of the Heaven’s Origin Sector, of a sort.

“As the saying goes, water and people from the hometown are the sweetest. It is not out of the question for you to work with the Star Glory Federation, is it?”

Suo Chaolong felt that his brain was exploding. “Hey. Don’t just throw out random sayings. Who comes from the same hometown as those wretched Cultivators?”

The Fire Ant King casually said, “I am just trying to understand the event from the perspective of the leadership of the Blood Demon Sector.

“The war that we are faced with is both one between the demon race and mankind and one between the Blood Demon Sector and the Heaven’s Origin Sector. Then, since the Star Glory Federation and you are both rooted in the Heaven’s Origin Sector, is it really hard to imagine forming an alliance driven by the mutual benefits?”

Suo Chaolong gnashed his teeth. “What ‘mutual benefits’ are you talking about?”

“For example,” the Fire Ant King said, “the federal government could promise that, as long as you help the federation demolish the Pantheon of Demons, you will be allowed to come back to the Grand Desolate Plateau after the two worlds merge.”

Suo Chaolong sneered. “You are insulting not only my loyalty to the demon race but also my wisdom! Without the demon race behind me, it would be a miracle if the sordid Star Glory Federation abided by their promise!”

“However, what if your Blood Lion Battalion was indeed crushed and captured?” the Fire Ant King said. “You don’t have a choice. You either remain loyal to the Blood Demon Sector and die with all of your brothers, or you cooperate with the Star Glory Federation for the lives of your brothers!”

Suo Chaolong was lost for words. He grinded his teeth so hard that they were cracking.

The Fire Ant King sighed and pointed at his own arrest warrant. “Am I not the same?

“According to the arrest warrant, the Blade of Chaos has also surrendered to the Star Glory Federation and become the vanguard in the federation’s invasion.

“The reason is also very simple. Since I failed to enter the center of power of the Blood Demon Sector and become one of the twelve demon emperors, I had always been discontented. Therefore, I established the Blade of Chaos in secret to get more benefits for myself.

“Fearing that my ambitions would be exposed one day, I decided to go further and joined hands with the Star Glory Federation, turning into a dog of the federation willingly!

“Look. Even the liaisons that the Star Glory Federation sent to us have been listed clearly!”

The Fire Ant King glanced over the other warrants. “It is clearly stated that the Star Glory Federation has sent a lot of liaisons to sneak into the Blood Demon Sector with Suo Chaolong’s help for the purpose of a closer communication with me. The liaisons even include an expert in the Nascent Soul Stage!

“The Nascent Soul Stage expert obviously refers to Li Yao.

“As you can see, they have assigned the perfect roles for every one of us. Suo Chaolong turned traitor after being captured, I had been ambitious all the time, and Li Yao had snuck into the Blood Demon Sector on purpose to instigate trouble!

“Now that such arrest warrants have been published, how do we explain ourselves to others when they discover that we are hanging around together? Are we really going to tell them that we are a bunch of readers who love history and we only gather to share books or play sports?”

“This is too sordid!” Cold sweat coating his forehead, Suo Chaolong gnashed his teeth. “This must be Elder Nether Spring’s scheme! Elder Nether Spring was scared that we would tell the secrets of the Nether World, the Mausoleum of Chaos, and the Spore Stratagem. Therefore, he made a move first and dug an immaculate trap for us!

“Right now, a large basin of dirty water has been poured over us. Nobody is going to believe us whatever we say!

“But it doesn’t sound right. The Fire Ant King is Elder Nether Spring’s blood brother, and the two of you had a close relationship. If the Fire Ant King is proved to be the leader of the Blade of Chaos, even if Elder Nether Spring declares that he knew nothing about it, he will certainly be at least partially blamed.

“Isn’t this like a suicidal attack?

“Where is Elder Nether Spring right now?”

Yuchi Ba hesitated for a moment and said, “According to our latest intelligence, because of his relationship with the Fire Ant King, Elder Nether Spring was impeached by Master Hollow Wind in the headquarters of the Pantheon of Demons. Suppressed by the other eleven demon emperors, he had to submit all his power ‘willingly’ while the investigation is pending.

“His control over the Nether Spring Kingdom hit rock bottom, too!”

“What!”

Li Yao, Han Tuhu, Suo Chaolong and the Fire Ant King were all dazed.

Seeing the confusion on Li Yao’s and Han Tuhu’s faces, the Fire Ant King explained, “Master Hollow Wind is another demon emperor in the Nether Spring Kingdom. He is one of the traditional nobles. His family can be traced back to more than a thousand years ago. His personal capability is only lesser than that of Elder Nether Spring.

“Elder Nether Spring and I are only from a secondary branch of a middle-sized noble family of the Nether Spring Kingdom. It was with the legacies of Chaos that we slowly rose up from the mountains of dead bodies. Naturally, our rise harmed the interests of many traditional nobles.

“Therefore, many nobles are in fact not very satisfied about Elder Nether Spring’s reign over the Nether Spring Kingdom. They have been merely restraining themselves because of Elder Nether Spring’s formidability. Of course, it is nothing unusual in the Blood Demon Sector. Every kingdom has similar cases.

“Despite Elder Nether Spring’s remarkable strength, he rose up by himself, and he does not have many loyal subordinates. Often, he also has to concede to the old nobles and cannot uproot them completely.

“Over the past few years, Elder Nether Spring has summoned the forces of the Nether Spring Kingdom and attacked the Heaven’s Origin Sector crazily. In the Battle of Dawn, the troops of the Nether Spring Kingdom were the main force, too. As a result, they suffered heavy losses, which was a major strike on the kingdom.

“Of course, we know that Elder Nether Spring did not care about the cannon fodder at all. It was merely an approach to collect more test subjects.

“But the traditional nobles got more and more dissatisfied. They thought that Elder Nether Spring had gone mad. Why did the Gold Crow Kingdom, the Kingdom of Lion Butchers, and the Sea Dominator Kingdom barely make any contributions while the Nether Spring Kingdom was the only one fighting desperately on the frontline? That was too idiotic!

“As a result, their dissatisfaction was intensified.

“Master Hollow Wind is the leader of the traditional nobles, and he has always wanted to replace Elder Nether Spring. Therefore, it is not strange at all that he took the opportunity to denounce Elder Nether Spring.

“The only strange part is, why would my clever, crafty brother allow such a thing to happen?

“Why did he expose my identity and pour all the dirty water on my head when he knew that he would invite trouble to himself and get impeached?”

…

The meeting hall in the headquarters of the Pantheon of Demons in Heavenly Path City did not have any redundant adornments. The walls were piled up by the simplest green rocks.

At the center of the hall was a black desk fifty meters long.

Generally speaking, the twelve demon emperors would have their meeting on the two sides of the desk.

However, if one of the demon emperors did something that caused widespread indignation and discontent and hurt the interests of the demon race as a whole, to the point that the other eleven demon emperors agreed unanimously that he was no longer suitable to be a leader of the Blood Demon Sector, they would inform him of a wrong time for the meeting.

When he arrived at the hall, he would discover that there was no place for him on either side of the desk. There would only be a stool that was slightly lower than everybody else’s seat at the end of the long desk.

He would have two choices.

He could burst into fury and be burnt into ash under the suppression of the other eleven demon emperors, or he could sit on the low stool and lower his head, waiting for his punishment!

At this moment, Elder Nether Spring was walking toward the stool at the end of the long desk one step after another.

His eyes were deep, and his face was emotionless. Even the tiniest muscle on his face was not revealing any of his feelings at all.

He did not stop until he reached the stool.

The other eleven demon emperors all held their breath.

It was the most dangerous moment. They were all ready to attack.

However, Elder Nether Spring only halted for one second before he sat down on the stool obediently. He even put his hands on his knees, as if he had accepted the reality and was ready to face the repercussion.

The other eleven demon emperors all took a deep breath in relief.

Master Hollow Wind, another demon emperor from the Nether Spring Kingdom who had been dwarfed by Elder Nether Spring for decades, rose up.

Master Hollow Wind tried to remain tranquil like Elder Nether Spring did, but the delight deep inside his eyes that he failed to disguise made him look like a burning torch.

“I will now brief the key information that we have collected in the past few days to all the demon emperors here.”

Master Hollow Wind coughed and glanced at Elder Nether Spring again. He tried to hold back his smile and said solemnly, “Based on the latest intelligence, the Fire Ant King, master of Void Turmoil City, is the leader of the Blade of Chaos and the mastermind of the Riot of Bloody Blade!

“Also, we thought that the Blood Lion Battalion, allegedly wiped out in the Battle of Dawn, should have some survivors, but they have surrendered to the enemy with their commander, Suo Chaolong!

“What is more dreadful is that a Nascent Soul Stage Cultivator from the Heaven’s Origin Sector has snuck into the Blood Demon Sector with Suo Chaolong’s navigation!

“The Fire Ant King, who is the leader of the Blade of Chaos; Suo Chaolong, who is the commander of the Blood Lion Battalion; a mysterious Nascent Soul Stage Cultivator from the Heaven’s Origin Sector.

“One of them boasts tremendous influence among low-level demons!

“One of them is very familiar with the coalition army of demons!

“One of them represents the strength of the Star Glory Federation!

“A triangle of terror has taken shape with the conspiracy of the three forces. It is now lurking deep inside the Blood Demon Sector!”