Chapter 479: Arrival

Donghai Longzi once again entered the Sacred Fire Grotto. Everything appeared exactly the same as when all the demons entered and left the Divine Beast Pseudo System. At least on the surface.

He had already noticed a lightness in his sleeve. Although not significant or noticeable, it was still a familiar weight, which accompanied him for thousands of years, that disappeared. His main body’s conduit had taken action.

A pair of pitch-black eyes gazed up.

“What’s wrong?” Honglin asked, noticing his abnormal movements.

Donghai Longzi didn’t say anything for a moment. Finally, he shook his head and said, “It’s nothing.”

Honglin didn’t believe him, and also looked up, but she couldn’t capture what drew his attention.

‘Silly girl, I couldn’t detect anything. The reason I looked up was because my intuition told me that something changed in the Sacred Fire Grotto,’ Donghai Longzi thought. Although he didn’t know what or how, Tianyi’s conduit definitely took action. Just look at Demon Empress Bluefeather.

Demon Empress Bluefeather appeared unfazed, with nary a change in her expression. Well, for the amount of expression a bird could have. Still, Donghai Longzi detected the wariness in her eyes, as well as the change in the flow of qi in the realm artifact.

That change soon settled down and the spiritual qi calmed down. It seemed that Demon Empress Bluefeather couldn’t discover anything, but that didn’t mean she wasn’t wary. Although Donghai Longzi couldn’t sense anything outside of the Sacred Fire Grotto, he got a vague sensation of extreme vigilance during their return.

Still, that had nothing to do with Donghai Longzi. Sooner or later, they would return to the Divine Beast Pseudo System. He wasn’t worried about the ambush that might occur when the Sacred Fire Grotto arrived outside the pseudo system. The time would be far too soon.

This was a war between the daoist path and the Demon Clan. Catching Demon Empress Bluefeather might sound good and all, but how could war preparation be done so fast? Even if they had already allied ahead of time, they couldn’t show too much because of the need for secrecy.

Donghai Longzi didn’t think the Demon Clan would be alerted, either. Because of their recent actions, both the Immortal Court and Numinous Sword Sect used this chance to clean up as many spies as possible. To prevent these two hegemonic forces from catching their tails, the Demon Clan would hide as much as possible to prevent any accidents.

Unfortunately, they didn’t account for one Xi Tianyi.

Donghai Longzi threw the information into the back of his mind and resumed his role as a rising star of the Demon Clan. Demon Empress Bluefeather delayed their return by a decade, but eventually, she returned to the Divine Beast Pseudo System.

“I have failed everyone’s expectations,” Demon Empress Bluefeather said when she saw the fellow members of the Four Divine Beast, Demon Emperor Redraco and Demon Emperor Blacktiger, with no intent on shirking her responsibility.

Demon Emperor Redraco didn’t admonish Demon Empress Bluefeather, but he didn’t comfort her either. He only sighed.

“It’s not your fault,” Demon Emperor Blacktiger said. “Who would have known that stinky dragon had long sold us out?”

“What do you mean by stinky dragon?” Demon Emperor Redraco asked. He felt like Demon Emperor Blacktiger was pointing at the mulberry tree, but cursing the locust.

“Exactly what I mean. Now that I know he’s a lackey of the baldies, no wonder he always reeked. I was just too polite to say anything.” Demon Emperor Redraco made an expression saying, ‘you, polite?’ However, Demon Emperor Blacktiger acted as if he didn’t see it and continued. “I always said that you should have observed him more, but you always protected him. If you had listened to me, this wouldn’t have happened.”

“Nonsense,” Demon Emperor Redraco snapped back. “Yujiao was approved by all of us back then. Why didn’t I see you bring up these oppositions back then? Right, Demon Empress Bluefeather?”

Demon Empress Bluefeather didn’t immediately respond. No matter what, the Phoenix Clan would suffer setbacks because of her. The Demon Clan was united against the humans, but that didn’t mean there wasn’t any internal fighting. She originally thought the Dragon Clan and Qilin Clan would use this chance to fleece some benefits from the Phoenix Clan, but judging by Demon Emperor Blacktiger, did the Qilin Clan want to unite with the Phoenix Clan to suppress the Dragon Clan?

As for staying neutral and becoming the oriole watching the mantis stalk the cicada? She had no thoughts. It was too obvious. If she did that, the Qilin Clan would immediately turn on the Phoenix Clan and join the Dragon Clan to fleece them.

“I also had some reservations back then, but because of your shining endorsement, I held them back,” Demon Empress Bluefeather said.

Demon Emperor Redraco’s eyes chilled. He focused on Demon Emperor Blacktiger, then back at Demon Empress Bluefeather. How could he not see the calculations? The fault that should have been held by Demon Empress Bluefeather transferred to him instead.

However, how could it be so easy? For this operation, the Dragon Clan even dispatched Jiaohu, someone everyone was optimistic about. But what happened in this war, Jiaohu died! Now, the only demon with comparable spatial talent belonged to the Qilin Clan.

“What about Donghai Longzi, do you think he is a spy?” Demon Emperor Redraco asked.

Demon Emperor Blacktiger snorted. “Who knows? We only knew that kid for a few thousand years. It’s not outside of the realm of possibility that he’s some contracted spirit beast. How could the humans allow a true dragon to roam free and flee back to us? No matter how you look at it, he’s suspicious.”

“Not necessarily,” Demon Empress said. Although she wanted to counterattack the Dragon Clan, it didn’t mean burning the bridge with Donghai Longzi.

He didn’t grow up in the Divine Beast Pseudo System, meaning that his sense of belonging wasn’t actually that deep. On average, demons lived far longer than their human counterparts, a short thousand years wasn’t enough to develop a sense of belonging, especially as a non-native. If she played her cards right, she could make the Phoenix Clan gain another Demon Emperor Realm expert.

“Donghai Longzi is someone with extremely noble blood. It wouldn’t be strange for him to have an inheritance that allowed him to hide while he was weak,” Demon Empress Bluefeather said. “We cannot give him the same level of trust we gave Yujiao, but we don’t have to be needlessly suspicious of him either. It would be a grave crime for us to push him onto the other side.”

“Alright, enough,” Demon Emperor Redraco said. “We can discuss this after we leave the void. For now, we should bring the demons out of the Sacred Fire Grotto. Although the operation failed, their efforts are undeniable. They should take a good rest. As for Donghai Longzi, I’ll send someone to monitor him and make sure he isn’t a spy.”

‘By monitor, you mean your granddaughter, right?’ Both Demon Emperor Blacktiger and Demon Empress Bluefeather thought. They both knew that Red Emperor Redraco was very optimistic about Donghai Longzi and wanted to have his granddaughter become his wife.

Demon Empress Bluefeather didn’t quibble and opened a portal. Donghai Longzi, Honglin, and the other demons walked out. A few, like Honglin, felt emotional, as if they had finally returned home. Donghai Longzi didn’t appear like them, but the demon emperors noticed that he seemed to have loosened his nerves.

Donghai Longzi returned to his residence in the True Dragon Realm and entered secluded cultivation. No one was allowed to disturb, unless it was a crisis of life-or-death, not even Honglin. It was as if the turbulent waves in the Divine Beast Pseudo System had nothing to do with him.

It was partly true. Although he was strong, he was not part of the decision makers, making him free and unrestrained.

Although he returned, the black palace Donghai Longzi lived in remained empty except for a few servants. It was not that the demons who received his guidance didn’t want to visit, but that the pressure emanating was too terrifying. The pressure intensified with each passing year, and even Honglin could barely resist the pressure after the tenth year. She couldn’t stand in front of the entrance to Donghai Longzi’s cultivation chamber.

Demon Emperor Redraco also came once. Once he felt the pressure, he could only sigh. “As expected of the bloodline that can rival the Nine-Clawed Golden Dragon. Soon, the Dragon Clan will have another dragon king.”

The negotiations between the three clans had finished. The Dragon Clan ceded some resource points because of Yujiao, but its strength was not affected much. Although the Phoenix Clan also gained a portion, the Qilin Clan swallowed most of the resource points. Still, at least they didn’t pay any price for Yujiao’s betrayal under Demon Empress Bluefeather’s watch.

Now, all the Demon Clan wanted to do was bide its time and regain their strength, watching for the next opportune time to relocate the Divine Beast Pseudo System.

“It took over ten years.”

“What did you say?” Daoyi asked, looking at Tianyi.

Tianyi shook his head. “It’s nothing.”

He, along with Daoyi, stood in the main hall of the control palace of Shangri-La. Although Shangri-La wasn’t sparse by any means during the Jade-and-Numinous Conference, the amount of resources in it at this time made Tianyi feel what it meant to be poor for the first time in his life.

There was even an inner voice telling him to snatch the resources and store it into his Nine Heavens Universe. Of course, he would not let this little greed control him. The Nine Heavens Universe had far more resources, but they haven’t been discovered or processed yet.

The Immortal Court and Numinous Sword Sect really went all out this time. If the Immortal Court had pulled out these cards during the Huang Realm unification war, Tianyi estimated that they would have steamrolled all opposition. Well, except the founder of the Saintly Scholar School. Yet, they only brought them out now. They really were careful.

Even without expanding his spiritual sense, Tianyi could sense over ten immortal emperors, two hundred immortal monarchs, and countless true immortals on Shangri-La. And that was just the advance force. He was sure that both sects kept reserves.

Granted, most of the immortal emperors were in stasis and emitted an aura of decay, meaning that their willpower was reaching its end. Still, over ten immortal emperors! That was a force that could easily conquer an immortal-rank realm back in the day.

His mother and Sovereign Yanxu stayed in their respective realms to hold the fort in case the Demon Clan attacked the Primordial or Numinous Realm with most of their fighting force gone. It would not be a wrong tactic, divide and conquer.

At this time, Minister Primewood stepped next to Tianyi. “How is it?”

“We’re almost there,” Tianyi said. “I didn’t expect it. The reason the Demon Clan was able to hide for so long was because they hid their location partly in another timeline. No wonder it’s so hard to find.”

“Well, it is the Demon Clan, mankind’s oldest nemesis,” Minister Primewood said. “But that’s even better. They’ll suffer a backlash once they’re dug out.”

Tianyi said nothing. He could feel Meng Tingfeng’s gaze on him, so he purposely kept conversing with Minister Primewood. Finally, Shangri-La stopped.

“Be careful. Although there’s a concealment formation on Shangri-La, and I haven’t sensed anything, the Demon Clan may have already noticed our presence,” Tianyi said.

At this point, the sleeping immortal emperors have awakened from their stasis. Each one stared at the empty void in front of them with frightening gazes.

“Like we planned before, the Immortal Court will shatter the Demon Clan’s barrier and expose them to the world,” Minister Primewood said. He, along with the eight other immortal emperors—Tianyi included—forty-nine immortal monarchs, and eighty-one true immortals flew out of Shangri-La’s protection and formed a formation with it at the core.

The war against the Demon Clan had officially commenced.