Chapter 245: Chapter 245 Demon Slayer
“Demon Emperor?”
Zhou Heng held the White Snake in his hand, his eyes slightly squinting as he lightly chuckled, “The power you feel, can the Demon Emperor feel it too?”
“Of course,” the White Snake thought Zhou Heng was afraid and snorted coldly, “It’s too late for you to be afraid now. The great mistake has already been made. However, if you release me, perhaps I can put in a few good words for you in front of the Demon Emperor and spare your life.”
“No, I’m just a bit curious.” Zhou Heng said with a beaming smile, “Since the Demon Emperor can feel the power that you feel, what did the Demon Emperor feel when you transformed into a human and were enjoying the bridal chamber with the third young master of the Yao Family?”
“You?!!” The White Snake was dumbstruck upon hearing this.
If she were still in human form, she certainly would have jumped in shock at this statement. She had practiced for over a hundred years and had never heard such audacious words. Was this human really not afraid of the Demon Emperor at all?
That was the Demon Emperor!
The sovereign of ten thousand monsters, a legend said to have lived for thousands of years, an invincible mighty being who once fought the Seven Lords Mountain demon slayers alone without falling out of favor!
The title of the Demon Emperor was known throughout the world—nobody was unaware, nobody was ignorant!
Where did this not-so-old human get such audacity?
To dare to be disrespectful towards the Demon Emperor.
Was it the power he possessed, similar to that of the Empress, that gave him such courage?
But that woman with the surname Cheng is already dead!
What made this kid think he could do it, could he possibly be stronger than the Empress?
No!
Impossible!
According to the Demon Emperor’s words, the woman with the surname Cheng’s strength had completely surpassed the human limit.
Her power was simply not attainable by humans.
This kid at best only possessed a similar nature of power and could not possibly have the same level of strength.
“This Demon Emperor you speak of, can he fly?” Zhou Heng lifted the White Snake by the neck and chuckled, “Can he fly or not?”
The most obvious difference between Martial Path Seventh Rank and Secret Sixth Rank was that the latter could fly, having the ability to enter Clear Abyss and soar through the heavens and earth, supremely towering over any at the Peak of the Seventh Rank.
It was precisely for this reason that Secret Sixth Rank was invincible compared to Seventh Rank.
Originally, the reason Zhou Heng was able to kill Ma Quan, who was at the Secret Sixth Rank level, was that at that time Ma Quan had been both physically and spiritually injured, in a semi-crippled state. He could not fly high or fast, and he underestimated his opponent, which led to his death at Zhou Heng’s hand.
Whether one could fly or not was indeed a vast divide between Seventh Rank and Secret Sixth Rank.
“Fly?” The White Snake laughed at these words, looking at Zhou Heng with disdain, “Humans will be humans. For you humans, flying into the sky is an unattainable dream, but for us demons, what’s so difficult about that?
“The Demon Emperor has six wings and supreme nobility, born in the heavens, raised in the heavens. This filthy earth is not worthy of the Demon Emperor’s presence. Do you think the Demon Emperor can fly or not?”
“So it’s just wing-flapping flight,” Zhou Heng’s smile grew thicker, he nodded lightly, and said, “Good answer, I’m satisfied. I’ll allow you to live a few more days. However, it seems like you’re a bit hot-tempered. You need to cool down.”
With that, he tossed the White Snake into the Extreme North of the Cave Sky world.
The place was frozen all year round, with extremely low temperatures.
And, there was only one day and one night in a year.
Now, the Extreme North was in the period of extreme night, which was just suitable for letting this white snake calm down, and the effects would probably be extraordinary.
…
He had thought that after getting a map from the Yao Family and having the white snake, an old monster, to guide him, he should be able to find the location of the Seven Lords Mountain.
But he soon realized that he had expected too much.
He had overestimated the standard of mapmaking in this world. Not to speak of the accuracy of terrain and routes, the scale was incorrect, and many places even had their relative positions wrong.
For instance, Zhou Heng was currently crossing a river.
The map showed a high mountain immediately to the north of the river, a forest to the south, and a road drawn through the middle of the forest, suggesting one could pass through the forest and reach a city on the other side.
However, in reality, looking north revealed a vast plain that stretched for miles with not even a small hill in sight. The south did indeed have a forest, but it was miasma-ridden and swampy, completely impassable,
And the mountain depicted on the map was in fact to the east and was a great distance away from the river, by his estimate at least a hundred miles, certainly not as close as drawn on the map.
“The changes in the forest I can still attribute to the passage of time, causing environmental shifts, but surely mountains can’t have shifted over just a decade or so,” Zhou Heng commented somewhat speechlessly.
Now it seemed that the accuracy of the map was truly concerning, probably not much better than if he had just charged in a random direction himself.
But he had no other options, so he could only try to find the city marked on the map at the other end of the forest, Changlin City, and ask for directions to Seven Lords Mountain there.
“Humans are foolish, can’t even remember roads, and need to use this so-called map, which isn’t even drawn accurately,” the white snake remarked disdainfully, having been taken out of the Cave Sky world by Zhou Heng.
Because when Zhou Heng found problems with the map earlier, he had brought her out to ask about directions, but this foolish snake was clueless.
Although it knew the terrain around the Seven Lords Mountain, this place was a long way from the mountain, and it was even struggling to figure out north, south, east, and west, let alone provide directions.
“One more word, and I’ll throw you back into that ice world,” Zhou Heng said with a cold laugh.
“…” The white snake instantly fell silent and couldn’t help but shiver.
Even though it had transformed into a monster and its constitution was completely different from a normal snake’s, being thrown into an extremely dark and cold world still made it feel like it could be frozen to death at any moment.
However, the white snake couldn’t understand how it had been thrown into that ice world.
How had Zhou Heng thrown it in, and where was this ice world? All of this was incredibly miraculous in the snake’s eyes, utterly beyond its understanding.
In the white snake’s knowledge, the concept of a Cave Sky world was simply non-existent.
Therefore, it was actually suspecting whether Zhou Heng had just cast an illusion, making it believe it had been thrown into an ice world, experiencing cold and darkness, whereas it might have just been ensnared by an illusion.
“Hmph, it’s just an illusion,” the white snake scoffed: “Go ahead and throw me in again if you like. The more you cast this illusion, the easier it will be for the Demon Sovereign to decipher and even master it.”
“Is that so?” Zhou Heng grinned and replied, “I’m actually quite curious about how he’s going to learn it.”
With that, he once again threw the white snake into the Cave Sky world.
…
Thousands of miles away from Zhou Heng, located within the three thousand giant mountains.
At the peak of the highest, Divine Feather Peak.
There was the palace of the Demon King.
Within the palace, a handsome young man with six wings was the Demon Emperor. He appeared to be in his early twenties, draped in gold regalia, his six wings red as blood, creating a distinctly sinister impression.
“Zhou Heng? This insignificant human could actually block the spiritual perception I placed on Xiao Bai for a time?”
The Demon Emperor’s eyebrows raised slightly, followed by a cold laugh, “I initially saw that your power bore some resemblance to that woman surnamed Cheng and thought to toy with you for a bit of fun.
“But now it seems there’s no need to keep you alive.
“Qing Hu, Xuan Bao, go find White Snake and bring back the human who captured her alive.
“If they cannot be captured alive, then… kill without mercy!”
…
For Zhou Heng at this moment, crossing a marshland was very simple.
However, after crossing it and reaching the other end of the forest, what he feared happened—the markings on the map relating to Changlin City seemed to be incorrect as well.
Because, after passing through the forest, Zhou Heng saw a large lake that was shimmering and picturesque, hardly the place where a city should be.
Still, fortunately, there was a road here.
Zhou Heng quickly determined by observing tracks on the road that Changlin City should be to the northeast from here. If he followed the road, he should be able to find it.
The road was fairly smooth, which probably meant that it was an official road built back when the central imperial court had not yet collapsed and could still suppress the threats from monsters.
But as he walked, Zhou Heng noticed something wasn’t quite right.
After crossing about ten miles,
The road extended into an area of uneven hills. Dense forests flanked the road, and occasionally, the cries of wild beasts could be heard.
None of this was worth concerning Zhou Heng, yet the closer he got to Changlin City, the more he felt something was off about this road.
Soon he discovered that on the surface of the road, as well as in the forests on both sides, a dense and ominous atmosphere had gathered.
These sinister atmospheres were entwined within the forest and condensed upon the road, giving off a very bad feeling.
And in Zhou Heng’s eyes, these ominous atmospheres had another name.
Demon Qi!
The Demon Qi was thick in this place.
In the forests on both sides, there were likely many demons lurking, and the road itself had been traveled by numerous demons.
“Haha, human, you’re about to witness quite a spectacle,” laughed White Snake. “If I’m not mistaken, after walking a bit further, you should encounter a human city.”
“Are the monsters lurking in this area planning to attack Changlin City?” Zhou Heng frowned. Monsters sieging cities was something he had heard about from White Snake along the journey, but he never expected to actually encounter it.
According to White Snake, monster sieges weren’t driven by necessity or survival, it was more akin to a ceremony. Typically, a newly-risen Demon King in an area would lead a group of demons to attack the nearest human city.
The more spoil they gained from their conquest, the deeper the demons’ reverence for their king would be, and the more secure the Demon King’s position would become.
However, since the Empress rose to power two years ago and suppressed the world under her might, forcing the Demon Kings into hiding, no monster sieges had occurred.
Now, with rumors spreading across the land that the Empress had fallen at Seven Lords Mountain, not just minor demons were showing themselves, even the Demon Kings dared to brazenly lead their forces to lay siege to cities.
“Do you still want to go?” the White Snake sneered, “Do you want to watch your own kind be slaughtered by our Demon Clan? Well, it might be good for you to see with your own eyes how fragile humans are in the face of demons.”
“I’m definitely going,” Zhou Heng replied, not angered but chuckling lightly, “However, I haven’t heard any silence from that mouth of yours along the way, even after being frozen. Do you really wish that I would kill you?”
“Then kill me!” the White Snake lifted its little head.
“Don’t worry, your time to die will come,” Zhou Heng pressed the White Snake’s head down with a smile and said, “Who knows, you might even witness your esteemed Demon Emperor being beaten to death by me.”
“You think you can?” the White Snake didn’t believe it and said disdainfully, “Dream on.”
“To be honest, if it wasn’t for the fact that I needed you to show me the way near Seven Lords Mountain, I would have killed you already,” Zhou Heng candidly threw the White Snake back into the deepest part of the Cave Sky world, The Extreme North.
Let her cool down a bit more.
…
Outside Changlin City, a chaotic battle was unfolding.
A row of soldiers on the city walls was defending the ramparts, some bending bows to shoot arrows, others waving torches, or pushing down the ladders that the enemy was setting up in preparation for scaling the walls.
In the middle of the city wall stood a middle-aged man holding a Golden Bell in his left hand and a Copper Coin Sword in his right. He swung the Golden Bell, brandished the Copper Coin Sword, radiated with brilliance, and was confronting the flying enemy.
Whether it was the soldiers or the middle-aged man, the enemies they were facing were not human.
They were monsters!
Crowds of countless monsters of all sorts of strange and different shapes gathered under Changlin City.
They ran and shouted, wielding their weapons.
So arrogant.
Some of these monsters were strong and ramming the city gates, some cleverly set up ladders trying to climb the walls, while certain special types of monsters, with their unique natural gifts, could climb directly up the walls without the need for ladders, using their hands and feet.
Flying in the air was a creature with wings on its ribs, a human body with a bird’s head, and blood-red eyes full of murderous intent—this was a Black Hawk turned demon, a newly risen Demon King.
He led the horde of demons to attack Changlin City for the sake of solidifying his position.
His power was immense.
Even though he was unable to break through the middle-aged man’s defense instantly, he maintained a fierce attack, slowly wearing down the man’s strength bit by bit.
The man defending at the center of the city walls was the manager of Changlin City, and also a demon slayer from the prestigious Wang Clan, named Wang He.
A demon slayer’s power comes from the heritage of their own bloodline, which usually produces a purifying qi that can be used for wielding magical instruments and performing various techniques.
This purifying qi recovers at a very slow rate, so during a fight, one is actually just consuming the stored qi. Once the purifying qi is exhausted, a demon slayer’s strength is greatly reduced.
The Black Hawk was waiting for the moment when Wang He’s purifying qi was depleted.
“Humans, why struggle in vain when your defeat is inevitable? Wouldn’t it be nice to die easily?”
The Black Hawk flew above, looking down condescendingly at Wang He, “Your strength will soon be exhausted, and when that time comes, it will take me no effort to kill you. You are destined to die, so why resist?”
“If defeat is inevitable, we shouldn’t resist?” Wang He suddenly looked up, his eyes seemingly aflame as he shouted fiercely, “If the weak willingly sink into the mire, there would be no such thing as demon slayers in this world!
“Demon, even if my purifying qi is used up, there is still this blood in my veins. Even if it means burning my bloodline and depleting everything, I will stop you. That is the very purpose of a demon slayer’s existence!”