Dozens of days flew by as Hong Zhou continued his journey toward the Heavenly Emperor's inheritance.
While flying, he was often flabbergasted, as he had to stop every few days to replenish his True Qi. Qi was the essence of the world, the energy used for cultivation. When a cultivator begins to feel and absorb Qi, it transforms into True Qi, becoming part of the cultivator's own essence, known as Datian.
On a hot sunny afternoon, Hong Zhou was on his qi sword, unfazed by the air currents around him. Yet, he admitted to himself, "I'm actually bothered by a few things... No, I'm bothered by a lot of things."
He smiled bitterly and thought, "If I keep going like this, I might actually die. I keep taking risks, and the only reason I am not dead is because of my luck."
The cultivation world was dangerous; you might not even realize how you died. There were no established rules, and even if there were, they often favoured the strong and oppressed the weak.
"People say immortality is a curse," he mused. "But how can they know? They haven't experienced immortality themselves. I want to become immortal, to live forever in this world without ever facing death."
"Becoming the strongest is just one of the things I must achieve to gain my freedom, but eternal immortality is my true goal. In my past life, I died at the age of 23. Perhaps I could have lived a few more months if I hadn't performed that ritual, but I was always destined to die at 23. I'm not going to waste my second chance." He sped up the pace so that he could reach the Jing forest the next day.
It was now midnight, and Hong Zhou wanted to stop in a nearby village to rest for the night.
[Ding]
[You are now very close to your destination, the Jing Forest it's just after that village.]
"Finally! It's been twelve days since I started flying."
"That's good; I'm glad!"
However, the sky was filled with dark smoke, as if an entire forest were burning. "Hmm, what could possibly be burning? Let me check it out," he thought. He increased his flying speed toward the village from which the smoke was rising.
This village was near the Jing Mountain Forest.
When he arrived, he was shocked by the scene before him. "What… is this? How can an entire village burn?" Demons were feasting on dead bodies while toying with the living humans.
There was only one man and two teenagers left alive in the entire village. The man was an ordinary martial artist with no cultivation base because he lacked spirit roots.
Even when the man had chances to run, he still fought the demons with all his strength, so that his two children can escape, but in the end, his head was sliced in two.
[Ding]
[Notice: There are two survivors—two boys. There are five demons equivalent to Level 9 Golden Core and one demon lord in the Nascent Soul realm.]
"Where… where are the survivors?" Hong Zhou asked in a low voice.
As he slowly flew across the village, he heard the mocking laughter of the demons.
"Hahaha… look at that! I am intrigued by your bravery, boy," the demons taunted.
Suddenly, a loud teenage voice screamed. It wasn't a plea for help; it was a sad, angry voice that echoed throughout the village.
"You have slaughtered every single person in this village!"
As soon as Hong Zhou heard those sounds, he concealed his presence, ensuring he would go undetected by the powerful demons. He stopped using his True Qi and ceased flying to avoid detection, carefully hiding himself in nearby bushes. If any of them spotted him, he would surely die.
The demons continued laughing, mocking the boy's weakness. "Is that your father? I can see he was the only weak warrior this village had."
The boy gritted his teeth in anger and frustration. "Cowards! How dare you! How dare you kill a warrior like my fatheeeeeeer! I will kill you for that. I will become the last thing you demons ever see in this world. I will be your greatest fear!"
"Haaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa." The young boy's scream echoed throughout the village; there was no one to help him, only him and the demons.
All the demons laughed, except for the demon lord. The other demons had light red skin, wings, and small horns, dressed as if they were part of a military battalion. But the demon lord was different. He stood seven feet tall, dressed in a black warrior uniform, with an extraordinary physique that gave him a handsome, youthful appearance. Yet, despite this, he exuded cruelty and terror.
At that moment, the demon lord recognized the boy as a potential threat to his race. "What's your name, young warrior?" he asked.
As soon as the demon lord spoke, the mocking laughter stopped. "Your grace, that little boy is no warrior; he's not even a cultivator," one of the demons shouted.
The demon lord raised his hand and crushed the head of the demon with his True Qi. The demon's head exploded like a watermelon, and he fell to the ground with a loud thud. "You dare raise your voice at me? You're lucky you died early."
"Boy… I will not ask you again. What is your name?"
Silence fell upon the village as there was no response. A young teenage boy stood next to his younger brother who was on the floor, who had passed out from the smoke.
The boy was covered in blood, his clothes resembling those of a slave ready to be sold as merchandise. His gaze was fixed on the demons flying in the sky, and the word "fear" was non-existent in his eyes.
The demon lord laughed and said, "I can't believe it. It's impressive that you can hold on to your anger and eliminate your fear, but that's all there is to it. In reality, you're still weak. I wanted to at least give you a chance, but that will ultimately be my downfall. Goodbye, warrior. Even if you refuse to tell me your name, I will always remember you."
The demon lord raised his hand downward toward the boy and prepared to use his skill, "Hell Flare."
Hell Flare was an attack that took twelve seconds to activate—a purple flame from hell that only demon lords could wield. These flames were hot enough to reduce anything to dust, provided the caster was stronger than the enemy or object.
Hong Zhou, seeing this, didn't know what to do. These cultivators could travel ten thousand miles in seconds, and they were much stronger. "Alva, what should I do? I don't want those kids to die, and I definitely don't want to die either." His voice trembled; this was the first time he had encountered truly strong enemies who would not hesitate to kill him.
[There are two things you can do.]
"Damn, you're behaving like an AI—get to the point already, before that flame reaches the kid!"
[You have seven seconds to cast the Yin and Yang Fire Dragon skill. That will cause a big explosion, allowing you to escape with the two kids while being covered by smoke.]
"I wouldn't be able to see inside the forest, genius!"
[I will light up the path as a torch that's only visible to you.]
Hong Zhou silently began performing the Yin and Yang Fire Dragon technique.
However, as he quietly cast the fire dragon technique, the demons sensed his Qi from four meters away.
"Who's there?" one of the demons strolled toward the location where Hong Zhou was.
"Yin and Yang Fire Dragons!"
Illusionary dragons flew from Hong Zhou's direction, pushing the demon away and igniting with Hell Flare, resulting in a massive explosion.
BOOM!.
The massive explosion burned the young teenager who was standing and sent the other one flying to the wall.
Hong Zhou used his True Qi as a form of telekinesis and grabbed the two teenagers, creating a Qi sword as quickly as he could. He jumped onto it and flew into the depths of the Jing Forest while also holding them with telekinesis, running away while the two boys who were unconscious.
As Hong Zhou flew into the Jing Forest, the dense foliage seemed to close in around him, casting deep shadows that made it difficult to see. The trees loomed ahead, their branches reaching out like skeletal fingers, and Hong Zhou barely avoided a collision, his heart racing with adrenaline. He landed hard on the forest floor, the impact jolting through his body, but he quickly regained his footing and sprinted forward, the silence of the forest enveloping him like a shroud.
Some demons began to pursue, including the demon lord.
Though the demons were not using all their strength, they were toying with him from the back firing QI blasts at every turn making large explosions in the forest.
'If worst comes to worst, I will activate the domain, Alva get ready.' Hong Zhou thought.
[Yes master]
"Enough, let's stop here!" The demon lord said.
"Your Majesty, we can catch them! Let's pursue that thief who took the food!"
"No," the demon lord said, tilting his head sideways. "It's almost morning. If the human cultivators arrive, we will be done for. Let's return to the demon realm, besides we already have what we came for, though we did not expect two eternal bodies to exist, that dead warrior will be enough."
The demon lord activated a transversing talisman and teleported back to where he had come from.
Meanwhile, Hong Zhou flew into the Jing Forest as fast as he could. The trees of the Jing Forest knocked him down, and he fell to the ground with a loud thud.
He stood up again and ran with all his strength. He wasn't just protecting the teenagers from the demons; he was also running for his life.
"Ugh... I'm so tired... but I don't see them in the forest... they are not... pursuing me. Why?" He was out of breath and struggled to speak.
[Lights function turned on.]
Suddenly, he could see in the dark, ominous forest, as if it were bright as day.
"Thank you for the lights, Alva. Let's go deeper." As Hong Zhou ran, he suddenly asked Alva a question: "My disciple Yang Sen—his village was also slaughtered by demons, and this children's village was also destroyed by demons. Do you know why this is happening?"
[Yes, I'll make it brief since it's a long story.]
Five hundred years ago, the four known regions on the Asura continent were called the Four Great Kingdoms, home to four species: humans, demi-humans, elves, and dragons. However, something happened that caused the demons to start slaughtering every race they encountered. Dragons, half-dragons, elves, humans, and demi-humans all became prey to the demons.
After ten years of relentless slaughter, the humans developed a contingency plan and declared an all-out war, which became known as "The First Great Cultivation War."
Many lost their lives—mortals and cultivators alike—slaughtered with no mercy.
This war began because of the demons' insatiable hunger.
For the first fifty years, the entire continent was engulfed in bloodshed. Do you know how powerful one must be for three races to gang up on them and still lose for fifty years?
The demons possessed stronger bodies and larger Qi reserves than any normal cultivator.
Two hundred and fifty years later, an immortal from the upper realm intervened and eliminated several demons with a single sword strike.
When the demon lords heard of this, they retreated to the demon realm and commanded their soldiers to do the same. Since then, they have frequently emerged to prey on mortals, burning villages to the ground and consuming any humans they encounter.
Hmmm, so that's what happened. But if they were living in peace for a long time, why did they suddenly feel hunger? There must be more to this right?" Hong mummerd..
[ Yes, but_____]
"There's no need to tell me, I will make sure that I kill them all myself once I'm strong enough".
Hong Zhou's robes were only a fraction of what they once were, his body was heavily strained.
"Alva, please scan the area to see if any demons are still approaching. I'm exhausted."
[No, they have all returned to the demon realm.]
"Phew, I can finally rest peacefully."
"Who goes there?," Suddenly, a voice echoed through the forest, and Hong Zhou felt it was familiar.
"Yang Sen, is that you? Come out, boy. It's your master."
"Master! Where have you been? I've been waiting here for months, I thought you abandoned me!" Yang Sen exclaimed, hugging his master and bursting into tears.
"I was so bored that I ended up building a big house on that mountain over there!"
"Yang Sen?"
"Yes, master!"
"How can you see that far at night? And why are you out here? I thought I told you to stay in a safe village where you could rest."
"I'm sorry, master. You said you were going to run away, so I thought, what if you came back and didn't have a place to stay? We could use that money to rent a place and eat as much meat as you want."
"And how did you gain the ability to see at night?"
"It just happened one night a couple of months ago."
Hong Zhou was filled with happiness. Apart from his grandmother back on Earth, no one had ever cared for him openly, not even once. He was so overwhelmed with joy that he felt like bursting into tears.
"Take me to the house you built" he said.
"Okay, Master!"
"Master, who are these two boys?"
"Oh, them? They are your future youngest brothers. Let's go."
"Master, please who are these two boys?"
"Oh them? they are your future youngest brothers, let's go."
The real reason Yang Sen came out of the village was because of the noise he heard.
The teenager's body was half burnt due to the explosion and Hong Zhou's robes were only half of what they were.
"Tonight, it's truly a long night!" Hong Zhou exclaimed.