After the battle between Tianyi and the nine demons, City Lord Azure Leaf ended the banquet and sent the guest away. The guest, who had been shocked by the one-sided massacre dealt by Tianyi, had attained a new understanding of the power of immortals. They could understand why it was a calamity for the demons once every thousand years. Before, they harbored some suspicions on the veracity of the tales and legends, but not anymore.
Compared to the joyous and hope-filled emotions of the attendees that left, City Lord Azure Leaf was far more somber, despite the fact that he should be celebrating that nine great demons fell within his city’s territory. Such an event would no doubt boost the fame of his city and attracting more talents to immigrate. Yet, City Lord Azure Leaf couldn’t be happy at all.
After the guests left, City Lord Azure Left brought Tianyi, Daoyi, and Xi Ri into the main hall of his mansion once more. Only this time, he sent away all the servants and even his daughter, Ziye, away, which cast a gloomy atmosphere in the brightly lit hall.
“So tell me, why did the demons know of the matter of us killing three mere demons who have formed their cores?” Tianyi asked. His voice was light, but this just made City Lord Azure Leaf’s heartbeat quicken with apprehension.
“Grandmaster- Great Immortal, I really don’t know!” City Lord Azure Leaf began kowtowing before Tianyi as he explained while repeatedly banging his head on the floor, creating an audible sound with each bang. “When Di Gaoli returned, I ordered him not to speak of the matter. Perhaps he wanted to regale others of his story, so it leaked from his mouth and eventually became known throughout the city. The city is so big, I cannot control everything. The demons must have spies!”
“Is that so?” Tianyi lightly said once more. “But then, why did I not detect anyone suspicious? I already spread my spiritual sense and covered Azure Leaf City. Not once did I detect anyone within the city making or contacting anyone outside.”
City Lord Azure Leaf felt a great fright within his heart as sweat damped his back. Tianyi’s explanation was full of holes yet fear had blinded his thoughts. Furthermore, he recalled the first night where he felt something watching him, but after several days of nothing, he just thought it was his nerves thinking it up. However, after hearing Tianyi’s words, City Lord Azure Leaf realized he was not mistaken.
“Then it could be from the demon’s side! Humans had always been at a disadvantage against the demons. They have numerous means to scry upon us without us realizing it. Perhaps they left some method on those three demons Great Immortal killed!” City Lord Azure Leaf said, trying to find a reason, any reason.
“Perhaps for the native humans of this realm, such means are esoteric, but where do you think we come from? Even if a demon at the True Demon Realm were to scry personally, they would not be able to discover anything.”
After the experience with the Dragon Emperor, Tianyi had especially traded for immortal artifacts that helped conceal and defend him. Before, it was mostly immortal artifact swords for collection purposes because Tianyi didn’t think he’d actually need immortal artifacts. As long as he kept two or three, he would be fine, but now his thoughts had changed. When he set up the sealing formation, he had purposely used an immortal artifact to enhance the formation from prying eyes. He himself may not be able to detect it and defend against it, but his immortal artifact definitely could.
As a mortal, pathfinding or seamless immortal artifacts made no difference to him. Otherwise, he would have exchanged for a seamless immortal artifact to enhance his defensive means.
City Lord Azure Leaf opened his mouth, but no words came out. He honestly didn’t know if what Tianyi said was true, but seeing the confident expression on Tianyi melted away ninety percent of his doubts. City Lord Azure Leaf and the rest of the humans in the realm were frogs in a well, not knowing the means of cultivators of the Huang Realm, so they naturally couldn’t make an accurate judgment.
“Maybe it’s one of the three Demon Sages! I heard that there exist three great demons far beyond mere mortals!” City Lord Azure Leaf continued to deny any involvement. He knew that if he admitted, only certain death awaited him. And with his death, the other people of the city. How would an outsider who has to leave eventually be willing to protect the people of this realm?
“Demon Sages?” Tianyi snorted. “At most, they can be called demon lords. Those three don’t have the power and right to be called demon sages yet. I bet you don’t even know what kind of demons those three are.”
City Lord Azure Leaf looked at Tianyi with disbelief. He had only heard of the three great demons by chance. The humans of the realm only occupied a small portion of the land. They didn’t even qualify to know the existence of the three great demons. So for Tianyi to know even more than him was shocking to City Lord Azure Leaf. He had some arrogance believing he understood the realm better than an outsider like Tianyi, but he was wrong.
“Alright, I don’t want to waste any more time with you.” Tianyi snapped his fingers, and City Lord Azure Leaf was immediately immobilized by cuffed formed of lightning. “Why did you do such a thing, offering your fellow humans as tributes? To demons, the more promising a human’s potential is, the greater the benefits of eating them. You must have sacrificed a lot of talents to the demons this way.”
City Lord Azure Leaf’s face turned ashen. “How did you know?”
“It does not concern you how I found out.” Tianyi’s voice turned frosty, no longer hiding his displeasure. He didn’t consider himself a good person, but he despised those who would betray their own race.
Xi Ri’s face also turned frigid as he comprehended the meaning behind Tianyi’s words. Daoyi also frowned, but her expression was quickly schooled, not leaking her inner thoughts.
“No, it must have been the damn demons.” City Lord Azure Leaf chuckled to himself, despair tainting his voice. “How good could it have been if both of you calamities killed each other.”
“So you admit to offering human sacrifices?” Tianyi asked once more. He wanted to hear it directly from a so-called protector of the human race. Compared to this matter, the reason behind the city lord selling him out to the demons didn’t even show up on Tianyi’s radar. He hated those who vowed protection, only to turn back and hurt those he promised to protect.
“Human sacrifices?” City Lord Azure Leaf turned his head and looked directly at Tianyi. “No, they were heroes! Because of them, the humans of this city were able to survive!”
City Lord Azure Leaf’s eyes then turned sullen as he recalled the nine demons Tianyi had just slain. “But now, it’s all over. The demon general only allowed the city’s continued existence because we were not a threat, but now that you’ve killed nine of his demon commanders, the city will be wiped out. Over a century of existence all gone because of you! My life’s work!”
Tianyi looked on calmly as City Lord Azure Leaf continued his impassionate speech before saying, “A century of existence because of the people you sacrificed. I wonder, did the people sent as tribute know that they were tributes?”
City Lord Azure Leaf slowly closed his eyes. “It was a necessary sacrifice. Because of them, the people of the city were able to live in peace a bit longer. This is all because of you immortals.”
“Us?” Tianyi questioned.
“Yes! Because of your thousand years descent!” City Lord Azure Leaf’s emotion surged as if he had been agitated. “If it weren’t for you immortals, would the demons spend so much time suppressing us!? Because of you, we humans have been constantly hunted down. If you never appeared, we wouldn’t be in such a situation where we would need to sacrifice ourselves to stall the demons!”
“Because of us?” Tianyi sneered. “Because of us, you learned that you could cultivate and extend your lives. Had it not been for us, the people would still only live a short thirty to fifty years at most. And you would have long been turned to dust under the ground. What if I told you that I could make it as if the immortals never appeared. Of course, that would mean that the people of this realm never learn how to cultivate, unrefined as your cultivation method is, at least you could attain a higher state of life. Of course, I’m not saying that you won’t learn how to cultivate without us, but how long would that have taken? Hundreds of years, more like hundreds of thousands of years if you were lucky. So? Do you want to accept my deal?”
City Lord Azure Leaf opened his mouth, but no words came out. How should he answer? He really wished the immortal had never descended. Otherwise, the humans would have never become targets of being hunted. However, City Lord Azure Leaf couldn’t sacrifice the method to strengthen themselves.
“Hmpf,” Tianyi snorted. “Wishing to get benefits but not pay the price. What are you, a child? Besides, even if we never descended, humans and demons would never coexist here.” The realm was called the Demon Cage Realm, after all. It was a place the Buzhou Immortal Sect used to imprison demons they captured.
Seeing as that City Lord Azure Leaf became silent, Tianyi hummed and asked another question. “What about the other acupoint opening master of your city, or should I call him a demon that formed his demonic core?”
City Lord Azure Leaf blinked as he saw a snake-like man appear next to him, cuffed in lightning. “Dushe!”
“I captured him because I sensed that he was trying to escape. Originally, I had thought he was a secret elder, but upon closer inspection, he’s actually a demon. I couldn’t tell at first because of your cultivation methods that altered your body to become demons. So, I guess he was the one who contacted the demons.”
Seeing City Lord Azure Leaf still staying silent, Tianyi continued. “Actually, I lied earlier. There is one part that I couldn’t detect clearly, and had a chance of sending messages without me noticing.”
Tianyi looked at the dawning realization City Lord Azure Leaf’s face. “So are you going to tell me, or do I have to persuade you with other means?”
In the end, City Lord Azure Leaf confessed to everything. About how he groomed numerous students over the years and selected a few to be sent as tributes for the demons without the students’ awareness. Each tribute brought around ten years of time for the city and all the other secret actions he took.
Tianyi leaned back on the chair and closed his eyes, pondering on what action he should take. After a while, he opened them once more and looked at City Lord Azure Leaf. “Leave.”
“Leave?” City Lord Azure Leaf looked at Tianyi in confusion and repeated Tianyi’s words.
“Take everyone and leave the city. Otherwise, I can’t guarantee the people won’t get caught up in the battle and killed.”
Seeing as the City Lord Azure Leaf still didn’t get it, Tianyi continued. Oh right, it should be just Azure Leaf now. He would no longer be a city lord anymore.
“I sealed the information of the nine demon’s death. Although I’m not sure whether the one you called demon general has realized it or not, but such a thing can’t be hidden for long, even if the informant is killed.”
“Informant?” Azure Lead asked, but soon he found his answer as Dushe screamed in pain and died, his body charred from the lightning that struck.
Seeing this, Azure Leaf’s pupil shrunk. He understood how powerful Dushe was. The two were equal in combat power, but Dushe’s speed was at least five times greater than his, so Azure Leaf was powerless against this demon envoy.
“As for your future,” Tianyi waved his hands, and numerous silvery-white wisps materialized. The wisps flew out of the mansion towards all the cultivators in the city. The silvery wisps were created from Tianyi’s spiritual sense and contained his newly created martial cultivation method. Even Azure Leaf was got one.
Azure Leaf opened his eyes as he comprehended Tianyi’s martial method. His eyes widened in surprise and shock at Tianyi’s actions. His eyes began to tear up. Although Tianyi didn’t say anything, he knew that with Tianyi’s new method, humans would have a chance to enter the same realm as the demon commanders who attacked Azure Leaf City. It was something that could cause the strength of all humanity to rise to another level.
“Don’t thank me just yet. My method hasn’t been verified. There might be some problems. But it should be better than grasping in the dark as you’ve done before.” Tianyi said, his tone light.
Azure Leaf stood up, now that the cuffs had been released and kowtowed to Tianyi, this time with his full earnestly. “This is a gratitude that all of us humans can never repay.”
Tianyi laughed. “All of us humans? Don’t get over yourself. The humans of this realm are but a small percentage of all humans in the universe.” And perhaps beyond, Tianyi said to himself. He waved his hand. “You should hurry up and leave with the people. Who knows, the demon general might just rush over here in the next hour or so.”
Azure Leaf took one last look at Tianyi before bowing deeply and preparing to leave.
“Oh yeah, wait,” Tianyi said, causing Azure Leaf to turn around and look at Tianyi with confusion. “Although I can understand you doing this to protect your citizens, swallowing a betrayal isn’t my style.”
Before Azure Leaf could say anything, he crumpled onto the ground. So great was the pain that he felt his body would disintegrate from it. When the pain finally subsided, all his hair had grown white, and wrinkles covered his face. Azure Leaf went from a middle-aged man to an elderly-aged man in an instant.
“You have at most ten years left to live, that is, if you don’t battle,” Tianyi said. “Don’t worry, the three I gave pointers to should be able to ascend to the same realm as you as long as you pour resources into them. Even if you don’t, as long as you enter the next realm, your lifespan will increase. Those are my final words, take care.”
Without waiting for Azure Leaf to respond, Tianyi waved his hand and sent Azure Leaf out of the hall like a ragdoll. After all this was done, Tianyi melted in his chaired and released a sigh as he stared at the ceiling in a daze.
After a while, he turned his eyes towards Daoyi and Xi Ri, specifically Xi Ri, who had a complicated look on his face. “What’s wrong? Do you object to my actions?”
Xi Ri shook his head. “I just feel that the Buzhou Immortal Sect could do more. Couldn’t they have moved out the humans of this realm out instead of allowing them to suffer like this?”
Xi Ri remembered observing the harsh life that the people of the city lived. If this was the best possible life brought about by Azure Leaf sacrificing select humans every ten years, he couldn’t even imagine the lives of humans elsewhere.
As an outsider, it wasn’t the right of him to judge how Azure Leaf chose to protect the humans, although it didn’t stop him from disdaining Azure Leaf’s action. Xi Ri even had the urge to clap in agreement when Tianyi punished Azure Leaf.
“Who knows. Maybe they just don’t care.” Tianyi said. “In the whole Three Thousand Immortal Realms System, the number of humans is unaccountable. What do a few humans of the Demon Cage Realm matter?”
“It all comes down to the fact that we are too weak. Perhaps if you become an immortal, you can decide to migrate all the humans in the Demon Cage Realm out.” Tianyi said as he smiled at Xi Ri.
“I’m not that altruistic.” Xi Ri said with a hollow chuckle.