It was said that the 99 Demon Lords of the Primordial Fog Domain jointly ruled it, but in reality, there was a hierarchy. Of the 99 Demon Lords, the 9 strongest were called Demon Sovereigns.
Thus, the title of Demon Sovereign was not used lightly.
For Whitebrow Shao to call the scholar a Demon Sovereign left everyone stunned.
Even the scholar himself gasped. “Old man, you’ve seen some things. Do you know who this sovereign is?”
Whitebrow Shao said in a trembling voice, “Whitebrow Shao, disciple of the Blood Stupa, pays respects to the Lord Primordial Heavenly Demon.”
Yan Beiqiu paled when she learned who this person was.
The Primordial Heavenly Demon was one of the most infamous demons of the Primordial Fog, his strength renowned and feared throughout the Great Stellar Chiliocosm.
The most terrifying thing about him was that he was an expert in inciting demonification.
He cultivated the Supreme Heavenly Demon Art, one of the foundational demonic energy cultivation techniques of the Primordial Fog, and those who fell victim to it would become demons. During the Primordial Fog Invasion, he had turned countless cultivators into demons to serve him. He thrived against groups, becoming more dangerous the more people he faced.
“‘The Blood Stupa’?” The Primordial Heavenly Demon cocked his head and seemed to realize something. “Are you talking about Tie Tufu (Iron Stupa), the Blood Hand True Lord, one of the 28 Star Lords?”
“That is my master!” Whitebrow Shao respectfully said.
The Primordial Heavenly Demon threw his head back and laughed. “I can’t believe an acquaintance from thirteen thousand years ago is still alive! It seems like not only did Tie Tufu survive, he even founded himself some Heaven’s Equal Sect. Putting himself on the level of the heavens? He has some big ambitions.”
Yan Beiqiu also stammered out, “The Longevity Hall’s Yan Beiqiu also pays respects to the Primordial Heavenly Demon.”
“‘The Longevity Hall’?” The Primordial Heavenly Demon shook his head. “I haven’t heard of that one before.”
Yan Beiqiu could only helplessly add, “This lowly sect is not as old as the court, but it has heard of the might of Lord Primordial Heavenly Demon.”
“You mean to say you’ve heard of this sovereign’s infamy, no?” the Primordial Heavenly Demon sinisterly said.
The demonic energy around him expanded to cover the entire area, and those cultivators under his control wailed as they began to take on savage and gruesome appearances, causing the two True Immortals to wince.
These were the elites of the sect, the sects having gone to great lengths to nurture every Violet Palace expert. But the Primordial Heavenly Demon had turned them all into demons, with no hope of redemption. This was even more infuriating than killing them. Moreover, the fact that these were former brothers, friends, and teachers filled them with immense sorrow.
Suppressing his rage, Whitebrow Shao said, “Since it is the honored Lord Primordial Heavenly Demon, how could we dare to try and stop you? This Immortal Emperor’s tomb belongs to you, and this lowly one will withdraw.”
He waved his hand, ordering the rest of his men to quickly retreat.
The Primordial Heavenly Demon had been a Boundless Gold Immortal more than ten thousand years ago. They were no match for him then, so they certainly wouldn’t be a match for him now.
“Did I let you leave?” the Primordial Heavenly Demon chuckled. “This old man just mentioned that forcing one’s way through the Immortal Emperor’s tomb would require sufficient lives and bait. Since you are all here, shouldn’t you all serve me with your very lives?”
The demons around him howled. Having been turned to demons by the Primordial Heavenly Demon, they were absolutely loyal to him.
The cultivators paled, and Yan Beiqiu shouted, “My lord, the Immortal Emperor’s tomb has already been plundered. There are no treasures up ahead, all of them with that thief.”
“What?” The Primordial Heavenly Demon was stunned.
As if in response to her words, there was a great rumbling as a piece of land appeared in the void: the place where the Immortal Emperor had proved his Dao. Now that Tang Jie had restarted the Heavenly Dao Hourglass, this land had finally begun to merge with the main world and show itself.
The Primordial Heavenly Demon could tell at a glance that this land was empty, and his face darkened. “The Dao Will remains awe-inspiring, and the power of the Dao still remains, but the two worlds are merging together. Sure enough, someone has gone inside, and there’s nothing in there!”
In truth, there had been nothing there from the very beginning, and the Immortal Emperor’s tomb had been an empty shell, so Tang Jie was unjustly taking the blame. But someone with many debts didn’t mind another, and since everyone was chasing him anyway, he probably wouldn’t think much about another pursuer.
As this piece of land appeared, giant ripples began to pulse through the space, like furious ocean waves.
The Primordial Heavenly Demon scowled. “Not good! This place is collapsing!”
This formation was meant to protect the place of Dao Proving, but now that this land was merging with the surrounding formation, all arrangements were thrown into disarray, and the formation had lost its purpose for existence. As a result, the Celestial Maze Formation was showing signs of collapse.
This was a formation that even Boundless Gold Immortals had to be careful around, and those ripples were now triggering all of the formation’s traps!
Listening to the roars in the distance, the Primordial Heavenly Demon knew that bad things were coming his way, and he immediately ordered, “Go!”
He immediately flew toward the exit.
Whitebrow Shao and Yan Beiqiu saw this and naturally sought to leave as well.
To their surprise, the Primordial Heavenly Demon turned back to them and laughed. “It’s better if the rest of you stay there.”
With a wave of his sleeve, he unleashed a torrent of power at the two groups.
The cultivators were stunned and furious, not having expected the Primordial Heavenly Demon to attack them in this situation.
As Whitebrow Shao blocked the attack, putting up layers of defenses around himself, he shouted, “Primordial Heavenly Demon, have you gone crazy? This formation is about to collapse, so you should hurry and flee for your life. What good does attacking us do?”
The Primordial Heavenly Demon laughed. “If we acted according to common sense for everything, why are we even demons? Demons act according to their desires, and that’s exactly what this old man intends to do! Arguments of justice and righteousness are useless against us, and so are arguments of reason and logic. I’ve been imprisoned for ten thousand years, so now that I’m finally out, I’m going to eat my fill. The opportunity has come, so how can I let it go? Regardless of whether the Immortal Emperor left a treasure or not, this old man is going to feast!”
With a howl, he turned into a black cloud from which a giant hand emerged and grabbed a cultivator. This cultivator was pulled into the black cloud, and there was a terrible scream, followed by silence.
A Violet Palace cultivator had been devoured, just like that.
Whitebrow Shao and Yan Beiqiu were enraged and shocked, while Yu Hualong threw out three Green Snake Nails. At the same time, the purple-clothed man unleashed a storm of staff blows. The sixteen Earth Immortals and several dozen Violet Palace experts also began to barrage the Primordial Heavenly Demon with attacks.
Anyone else might have been scared to death when surrounded by so many Immortals, but when against a Boundless Gold Immortal like the Primordial Heavenly Demon, they had little confidence. They knew well how terrifying Gold Immortals were, a single glance or thought being enough to shake the heavens. Even four True Immortals working together had little chance of winning.
The Primordial Heavenly Demon laughed as if he didn’t care. “All of you, come into this old man’s belly.”
A wave of demonic energy swept toward them.
Whitebrow Shao shouted in alarm, “Watch out! This is Origin demonic energy. If it invades your body, you’ll be turned into a demon!”
The jade tablets the Primordial Heavenly Demon had given out were made from this demonic energy, which was why he was able to easily take control of several dozen cultivators.
Since they naturally weren’t going to fall for his trick this time, he could only use force.
As the demonic energy roared toward them, all the cultivators put up barriers.
This demonic energy was like the Astral Winds, making their barriers flicker and shatter. While the Immortal Platform experts could hold on for a while, the Violet Palace cultivators could not. The gap between them and Gold Immortals was too great, and this wasn’t even an offensive kind of demonic energy. Otherwise, one strike could have killed them all. Even so, the cultivators gradually began to falter.
An Infant Tending cultivator was the first to fall, his barrier shattering and demonic energy flooding into his mind. His vision went dark, and when he next awoke, it was to a crimson world of blood…
Whitebrow Shao inwardly cried out in pain with each cultivator that was turned into a demon. Finally, he clenched his teeth and said, “Leave this place! Don’t try and fight!”
The cultivators accelerated toward the exit.
The Primordial Heavenly Demon was crazy, but they were not. They knew that if they fought here, only death awaited them, either at the hands of the Primordial Heavenly Demon or by the collapsing formation.
The Primordial Heavenly Demon laughed and continued to extend his giant black hand, grabbing cultivator after cultivator and devouring them. With each one he devoured, his demonic energy grew.
But he only grabbed Violet Palace cultivators, ignoring the Immortal Platform experts.
Thus, the twenty Immortals were able to make a mad rush for the exit, completely casting aside the Violet Palace experts.
At this moment, a voice called out.
“You idiots, you’ve fallen for his bluff!”
“What?” The cultivators looked around in shock, but they couldn’t find the speaker.
That voice, Tang Jie’s voice, continued to resound through the space.
Tang Jie said, “Use your heads. Demons might be crazy, but even the mad know to cherish their lives. Why is he attacking you now? Because he doesn’t want to give you time to think. In another place, in another form, you would definitely fight to the death with him, thus exposing his weak foundation.”
The Primordial Heavenly Demon was startled, and then he realized. “It’s you! That kid from the Unbounded Palace?”
Whitebrow Shao and the others looked questioningly at the Primordial Heavenly Demon.
Was this person really bluffing?
But his flood of demonic energy had been real, as had the cultivators he had converted and killed.