ASER - Chapter 227
Chapter 227: Little Demon King
A'Diao was currently in a stealthy, hidden state. In fact, she had been invisible since she was over a thousand kilometers from the outskirts of the Huai Guang Mountain Range, cautious to her very core. Now, having approached the Huai Guang Mountain Range, she was contacting Chen Xun.
Chen Xun: "After you get the item, I've sent you the detailed instructions. Be careful."
A'Diao: "Mm, right, take this map and have a look. I found it under the old lady's bed."
Chen Xun seemed quite surprised and only replied after a moment.
"I didn't expect you to go rummaging under Grandmother's bed."
A'Diao didn't delve into the implications of his tone, instead replying: "Whose secrets in the Chen family haven't I dug up? I've even gone through your wardrobe. Spreading the love, you know."
Chen Xun chuckled softly.
Psycho, you're actually happy that I'm going through your things?
Chen Xun also brought up another matter, "Recently, the Empress Dowager has sensed an unusual presence of many energy-type resources within the palace. By her judgment, the quantity of these resources even exceeds the state's procurement specifications. But the aura of these resources quickly vanished, and the Ministry of Works has not purchased such a large batch of energy resources."
It was a private action by the Imperial Family.
Getting so many resources? Are they trying to summon an old ancestor? A'Diao raised an eyebrow, pondered for a moment, then asked instead: "You have a good relationship with the Empress Dowager?"
Chen Xun hadn't expected her to ask that. "We cooperate. After all, you're very busy, and we often can't reach you."
A'Diao didn't pursue the matter further.
This man was now a big shot in the Ministry of Works. She had learned from Lushan Academy's intelligence department that he had never actively colluded with the military or other departments. Instead, the military was very enthusiastic towards him due to their heavy reliance on the armaments he created. This led to several instances where the Imperial Family, wary of A'Diao, wanted to suppress Chen Xun's official position, but these attempts were all defused by high-ranking officials in the military.
Although the Imperial Family's internal power was supreme in the entire Tang Song Nation, they also knew that to control a country, the military and the court's ministries were indispensable. They had to give the military some face, and besides, these devices did indeed effectively enhance the nation's strength. The Imperial Family members were also greedy, which was why they hadn't moved against Chen Xun.
But A'Diao felt that what allowed Chen Xun to control the military wasn't the existing equipment, but some ongoing projects – ones that were even more powerful than the current devices.
This was dangling a carrot in front of a donkey, and also binding them with benefits.
Toilet: "Sometimes, you two are quite alike."
A'Diao didn't deny it. Then she hid in a hole in the ground and started tinkering with something.
Meanwhile, it wasn't long before Chen Xun received the item sent by the small teleportation array before him.
Impressive. This is long-range teleportation, the most awesome delivery method in the world.
But when Chen Xun saw this teleportation array that had opened directly in his bedroom, he raised an eyebrow and pondered. While thinking, he also bent down and picked up the cowhide map.
In the short time it took to pick it up, he had already figured out two points.
1. He often traveled for work, his location uncertain, yet she knew it so clearly. This indicated she controlled Lushan Academy's intelligence department, meaning Lushan Academy was definitely backing her. In the current turmoil, Lushan Academy's trust in her was absolute. But given Lushan's mechanisms, such trust could only stem from two reasons: either Lushan Academy had influential ancestors, besides Dean Yu Xuanji, supporting A'Diao, or A'Diao possessed terrifying technology crucial to Lushan Academy, thus earning the full support of Lushan's council of elders – similar to the military's favor towards him.
2. Sending him the map either meant she hoped he could help decipher it, or she had already deciphered it but specifically informed him. Regardless, it was built on her trust in him or a sharing of benefits and risks. This was unlikely. She wouldn't necessarily involve him in this matter, especially just for a map. If she couldn't decipher it, he couldn't either, and she surely knew this. So why give it to him? And why use such a lavish method as a long-range teleportation array?
Based on these two points, Chen Xun could also deduce two things.
First, Lushan Academy had completely sided with A'Diao. And A'Diao's current situation was a result of the Imperial Family's frantic machinations, indicating that the two strongest powers within Tang Song had split. If war broke out, casualties would be devastating; he needed to make preparations.
Second, she used a teleportation array to send him the map to expose it through him, because his place was definitely monitored by the Imperial Family. If it were just information exchange, it would be fine; the system he developed was currently unbreachable, so they could communicate freely. But a teleportation array... would the teleportation trajectory be exposed? If the trajectory was captured, some experts in spatial studies could even steal data from it to calculate the teleported item. So, she did it deliberately. Was she setting a trap, or was she testing if this was a trap set by others?
Well then... Chen Xun knew he just had to play along, so he actually looked at the map.
"Huai Guang? It seems to be a restricted area... And this drawing style, the handwriting, it seems to be..."
Chen Xun had an epiphany. Was it Chen Gui's map? It must contain a treasure that A'Diao was very interested in, and this treasure would undoubtedly interest the Imperial Family as well.
Then she was testing whether this was a trap set by the Dantai Imperial Family.
Meanwhile, on the other side, both the Imperial Family... and the Human-Demon Lord Dantai Ye had intercepted all of this. He didn't even need anyone's help; he analyzed the results himself.
The map.
"A map? A parchment map..."
The old eunuch beside him lowered his head. "Master... this servant feels something is strange."
Are Chen A'Diao and Chen Xun that close?
After all, this isn't the first time she has used Chen Xun.
Dantai Ye waved his hand and said calmly, "She is testing – afraid that this is a trap set by me or the Imperial Family."
The old eunuch was surprised. "Then the contents recorded on this map must be extraordinary. Could it be buried by those old fogeys from the Dantai Imperial Family in the past?"
Dantai Ye narrowed his eyes. "It's unknown. I'll first calculate the age of this map."
The spatial data would contain the composition of the parchment; a calculation could determine its age.
Dantai Ye calculated, and his expression flickered.
The old eunuch beside him was also startled when he saw the result. "301 years. The Imperial Family wouldn't have buried something like this for the Chen family back then to lure Chen Gui's descendants. After all, Chen Gui wasn't dead at that time. So, it's Chen Gui's own thing?"
Although Chen Gui was not comparable to Lord Changting or Kunlun, he made a comeback later on. He was profoundly cunning; who knew what good things he had hidden.
A flicker of interest passed through Dantai Ye's eyes. After a long silence, he said, "Since she wants to test, then give her a test result."
He had already calculated the origin of the teleportation trajectory.
The origin was... in the Northwest Great Wilderness, outside Tang Song territory, bordering Lie Qin Nation.
Old eunuch: "The treasure is located here?"
Dantai Ye said with a calm expression, "Let's assume it's here. You go take a look. Remember to avoid the Imperial Family's people and give her some reassurance."
The old eunuch nodded and agreed. After he left, Dantai Ye casually picked up a stack of calculation drafts, ignited them at his fingertips, and went to the adjacent Hall of Diligent Governance to handle official duties.
After both had left.
After the burnt ashes fell into the trash can, one of A'Diao's avatars, invisible, raised a hand over the trash can, spread her fingers, and beckoned.
The ashes silently flew up, virtually reassembling... each component reformed, quickly becoming the content of the calculations. A'Diao finished reading the calculation content she hadn't seen clearly before, raised an eyebrow, and smiled silently.
"Interesting, he could even calculate this... more awesome than me."
She withdrew her hand, and the ashes returned to the trash can as they were.
Toilet could share A'Diao's avatar's perspective. After seeing this, it was a bit confused: It had also seen those calculation contents, fragmented and without an end. So Dantai Ye had figured it out, he was better than A'Diao, was A'Diao angry? Otherwise, why was her smile so sinister, like an old schemer?
Damn, when these high-IQ people play tricks, it's like a playboy and playgirl cheating on each other and then battling wits... I can't figure out their methods, but clearly, our Diaodiao has discovered something.
Did the test yield a result?
It's not this Human-Demon's conspiracy, and it's not the Imperial Family's either, right? The monitoring results from the Imperial Family's side were safe.
Is that so?
Anyway, A'Diao glanced in the direction the old eunuch had left and thought: Interesting. This old eunuch also has a Human-Demon body, and his cultivation has improved. However, his Human-Demon body isn't as advanced as Dantai Ye's; it's a bit inferior.
This Dantai Ye treats him quite well.
Abnormally well.
A'Diao had already completely memorized the map's contents and made a copy. Looking relieved after confirming it wasn't a trap from either side, she began to confidently prepare for the exploration of the sun-form resource.
"The coordinates are here. It's quite hidden and has no name. I need to first confirm it's not next to a demon den. This Huai Guang demon den is so large-scale, it might be nurturing a demon king inside. Who the hell would dare provoke that?"
A'Diao was afraid of death and was extremely cautious about this. But just as she was using her equipment and her own methods to send out mental threads to explore, she received feedback from Yan Xi – he had found the place where the Lushan Academy people had gone missing.
That's right, this was also one of A'Diao's purposes for coming to Huai Guang.
Qing Zan had saved her, after all, and Lushan Academy was, in a way, her territory. Having her people go missing there – wasn't this undermining her foundation!
So A'Diao had arranged for Yan Xi, who was operating within the mountain range, to investigate.
"Jingyang Gang?"
A'Diao looked at the map. It was on the same path as her destination. She would go check Yan Xi's location first.
However, before entering the black fog, her Eyes of the Yellow Springs flashed mysteriously, directly penetrating most of the area ahead. In the dense black fog, she saw numerous small green dots.
Toilet: "Floating Spirit Specters? This demon den is high-grade. Even such high-quality, rare air-type demonic spirits have appeared. They are densely packed and everywhere, capable of spying on all humans entering the mountain range. With such methods, it's no wonder the human race has been repeatedly defeated and had their lairs wiped out."
It was also A'Diao's first time encountering such demonic spirits. She grew wary and cast a space-merging secret art on herself before entering the black fog.
And when the Floating Spirit Specters in the black fog flew past, they passed directly through her body.
After a short while, A'Diao met Yan Xi, who was hidden in the dense mountain forest. Yan Xi couldn't resist her but definitely disliked her. With a stern face, he pointed to a faintly visible deep pit in the dense black fog ahead.
A'Diao: "This is a pit, where's the 'Gang' (ridge/mound)?"
Yan Xi, still stern-faced, said: "Two days ago, their garrison in another area was ambushed, suffering heavy losses. Their communication system also seemed to have problems, making contact impossible. They were pursued all the way and finally managed to gather at this Jingyang Gang by using a secret art to send a message through the void. At that time, there were quite a few of them, enough to deal with most demonic spirit groups. But last night – they, along with the entire Jingyang Gang, disappeared. I just took a close look and think there might be a spatial tunnel below, connecting to a demon den."
Meaning this is a demon den entrance?
But A'Diao surveyed the spatial data here. "This isn't it, but below here is indeed a demon den."
Her expression was complicated.
"The source demon den of this mountain range can spawn smaller demon dens. Logically, unless there's a great demon king controlling it from below, such a method of opening space shouldn't be possible. But great demon kings have restrictions on entering and exiting world barriers. If he had such means and energy, he might as well focus on entering this world himself. Why bother with such a plan? After all, this group of people cannot dictate the fate of the human race."
The current situation is that not many Great Spirit Kings have reawakened on the human side. If a demon king on the demonic spirit side could awaken, wouldn't it be better to focus on overcoming the barrier issue, seize the initiative, enter this world, and go on a killing spree?
So, A'Diao guessed another possibility.
"There's a powerful demonic spirit in this source demon den that possesses a Spatial Cosmic Stone. That's why it can constantly change its spatial location, preventing the human race from finding it, and can even open small demon dens to unexpectedly swallow human garrisons."
Toilet: "..."
Oh god, then this Huai Guang demon den crisis is unusually tricky. Spatial Cosmic Stones are too hard to deal with.
Toilet: "Although the Spacetime Universal Stone also has some spatial properties, it mainly targets time. The Spatial Cosmic Stone is purely for space. Judging by its intensity, it might be even more powerful than your two Spacetime Universal Stones combined. This demonic spirit is formidable."
Actually, it's understandable. They were facing the measures taken by the entire demon den world targeting this breach, but these measures were concentrated on the Tang Song side, leading to a shortage of manpower for Tang Song.
Then the question arose: should A'Diao go down to rescue Qing Zan and the others?
A'Diao chose to inform Yu Xuanji about this and let him handle it. Then she told Yan Xi to continue hiding and developing.
Yan Xi: "You're not going to save them? That's consistent with your style."
Submitted, but that doesn't stop him from stabbing hearts, huh?
A'Diao: "Your wife died. Why didn't you die with her back then? After working hard for so many years, you still haven't obtained the Undead Sky Lantern, and you've even been enslaved by a bitch like me. Must be exhausting, right?"
【From Yan Xi +20 stars!】
Come on, let's hurt each other, you dog!
Still so stubborn even as a slave?
After roasting her slave, A'Diao snorted lightly and left haughtily.
Yan Xi stood there with a dark face, but soon he too disappeared into the black fog.
The source of Huai Guang's water was upstream. A'Diao arrived at a stream before her and found it was an underground river reservoir, neither too large nor too small. In the Huai Guang Mountain Range, where water sources were everywhere, it was indeed inconspicuous.
A'Diao observed her surroundings, almost to the point of scraping off the ground and licking it to test if anyone had tampered with it.
Fortunately, no one had.
Then, A'Diao entered the water.
After A'Diao entered the water, some Tang Song cultivators arrived outside the Huai Guang Mountain Range. They were all patriots; even knowing the danger and lacking official support, they still came.
Either die, or die for the country.
This was their choice. Among them were many elderly individuals, likely reawakened cultivators, with decent cultivation and experience. They were leading some contemporary cultivators who had joined them and were about to enter the black fog in an orderly manner when they heard a faint sentence.
"I advise you not to go in like this, or you'll just be sending yourselves to your deaths."
Everyone was startled. Turning around, they saw a group of people in exotic attire. The leading woman had picturesque features, but her words were cold.
"There are Floating Spirit Specters inside. Don't you old folks from the first generation know?"
One of the old men recognized her and immediately came over to greet her. He was also a Lesser Spirit King, but compared to the woman before him, he clearly knew he was inferior and was very respectful and polite.
"Greetings, Saintess of Wu Mountain."
Baiyue Lingxi raised an eyebrow. "You are a senior, no need to be so polite. I don't recommend you go in, but if you insist, take this. It can shield you from the Floating Spirit Specters, so you won't be directly tracked by them."
The old man saw a group of Wu Mountain people behind her. Recalling recent news, he hesitated for a moment but quickly made a decision – either trust Chen A'Diao, which meant winning over these people, or don't trust her and stay away.
He chose the former because he was a Lesser Spirit King, not one of those foolish netizens who were easily deceived.
So he decisively invited Baiyue Lingxi and the Wu Mountain experts she brought to enter the mountain range together.
Baiyue Lingxi: "I'm from Nan Jin. Aren't you afraid I'll play dirty?"
Old man: "Your Highness, if you wanted to play dirty, you simply wouldn't have warned us. Besides, I believe in the affection between you and Her Highness the Junior Sect Master."
Baiyue Lingxi initially thought these Tang Song people were quite sensible, not falsely accusing her or being suspicious.
After all, she truly felt that if the lips are gone, the teeth will be cold, and didn't want Tang Song to fall like this. No one wants their good intentions to be slandered...
Wait, what affection?
Baiyue Lingxi's face darkened slightly. She originally wanted to correct his statement, but thinking of her mother's admonitions, she told herself to remain calm and not take these things to heart. Detachment leads to loftiness, after all.
So she remained silent and led her people towards the black fog, unaware that the group of old men behind her were privately chatting in a group.
A: Wow, she didn't deny it!
B: So it's true! Junior Sect Master A'Diao is truly YYDS!
C: To be able to sweet-talk and "abduct" the saintess of a rival sect from another country on their first meeting... Junior Sect Master is my god!
D: So, she's unlikely to be a demon king's incarnation, right? With her skill in deceiving people, she could be a human trafficker and capture all our human race's top geniuses. She might even abduct Wu Mountain's Dean. Why would she go to so much trouble with the island and leave behind these suspicions? She's so smart, would she leave such a flaw?
Old Man: We see through it because we are involved in the battle. But those who are not involved won't think this way.
These words hit the nail on the head.
Many people fell silent. So, were they fighting for such a human race?
No, they were fighting for the many more who remained silent, unheard, yet strived to live in this world!
The group entered the dense mountain forest, unaware that Yan Xi was lurking mysteriously. He wanted to bite these people and turn them into a horde of corpses, especially those poison-immune experts from Wu Mountain. But as soon as the thought arose, his head throbbed with splitting pain – Chen A'Diao controlled all his actions.
Damn it!
Yan Xi could only resentfully go search for corpses.
After entering the water, A'Diao discovered that this underground reservoir was bottomless, and the pressure below grew increasingly terrifying. This was normal, however, as it connected to the underground water system.
At a depth of seven thousand meters underwater, the water below had become scorching hot, possibly approaching some magma layers in the lower strata.
A'Diao finally located a restriction.
"Impressive, a 38-layer composite restriction. Chen Gui's cultivation aptitude wasn't great, but at least he could cultivate. His brain, however, is truly brilliant. He's a master of restrictions."
One look at this restriction and A'Diao knew Chen Gui's skill in restrictions was no less than Lord Changting's.
This was terrifying; Lord Changting had been one of the human race's top experts back then.
A'Diao didn't directly disable it. Instead, she analyzed the settings of these 38 restriction rings and quickly deduced the content of the final ring. This was very difficult; A'Diao was acutely aware that if she hadn't mastered the 20 scrolls of Yu Fuzhong, she truly wouldn't have been able to handle it.
Confirming she could open the restriction, A'Diao then began to deal with it.
Toilet: "This Chen Gui is truly an oddball. He claimed it was for the rise of his family, but in reality, he's very cold-hearted. I thought he valued family ties and would set up a bloodline restriction ring to ensure his descendants would be the ones to obtain it in the end. Never expected this."
If it really required a bloodline, that would be problematic. A'Diao currently didn't possess Chen Gui's bloodline.
But in the current age, those who could undo this restriction were probably minuscule in number.
After all, it required both cultivation and this level of technical skill. Not many such people could be found in the entire Three Kingdoms. Even if they existed, they hadn't reawakened yet.
A flicker in A'Diao's eyes. "What's so strange? The higher the intelligence, the more extreme one becomes – either completely saintly or extremely self-centered. Because the smarter one is, the less one needs to rely on others, the need for others diminishes, and one is unwilling to entrust what's theirs to others, even bloodline descendants. I think he was unwilling to die. He never intended to give this thing to anyone else; he hid it for his own use. Speaking of which, is he actually dead or not?"
Toilet was surprised: "Didn't the Imperial Family use his body to curse you before?"
A'Diao: "This person's skill in restrictions is so high, his soul might have escaped."
Holy crap!
Toilet was shocked and uncertain, but A'Diao quickened her actions.
When there were seven rings left, A'Diao suddenly said to Toilet, "Something's wrong."
Toilet: "?"
A'Diao: "The water pressure here is off. Someone is approaching, and quite a few of them. Water pressure usually doesn't change because density is hard to alter. But when cultivators cast spells to become invisible in water, they change the water's density to hide themselves, similar to how they change air density on land. Although it's very faint, even I couldn't detect it from a single person, but there are many of them, and collectively they've changed the water pressure."
Mainly, her armor's testing equipment was always active, constantly measuring water pressure changes in real-time according to the algorithm she programmed. When she just saw the water pressure fluctuate, she knew someone had arrived.
Toilet: "Who is it? Weren't they led away by you?"
Just as it finished speaking, A'Diao decisively moved upwards. But at that moment, the old eunuch teleported over and, raising his hand, activated a spatial teleportation.
A'Diao raised her hand to block it but was a step too slow because this old eunuch was too skilled in spatial arts. Thus, the demonic spirits that were originally approaching via the underground water route were directly teleported over.
In total, three demonic spirit fiend kings were teleported over.
A'Diao immediately recognized the White Bone Fiend King, the strongest fiend king who had once appeared on Guixu Island. Back then, he was probably at the peak of a Lesser Spirit King; now, he was likely a Medial Spirit King.
But the strongest wasn't the White Bone Fiend King, wreathed in white bone demonic qi, nor the other bull-headed man with a ghost-scorched face. It was a fiend king whose form was identical to a human's, except for a fox-like face.
This fox face, with its pointed snout and furry cheeks, was ugly as sin. But as soon as A'Diao sensed the other's demonic qi and spiritual body, she knew this fellow was at the peak of a Medial Spirit King.
Adding the old eunuch, it was a "Human-Fiend F4" with an average combat power of Medial Spirit King or higher. How could she fight this?
A'Diao saw them, probably scared to death, and turned to flee.
She didn't even want the resources anymore.
Behind her, the old eunuch glanced at the restriction with seven rings remaining, then flicked his sleeve and led the three fiends in pursuit.
It was unknown what treasure lay within the restriction, but killing Chen A'Diao was clearly the top priority. Otherwise, such a large force wouldn't have been arranged just to kill her.
A'Diao frantically shot upwards, but she was in extreme depths, feeling like she couldn't even see the surface. After ascending only a thousand meters, she was caught up by the old eunuch from behind.
"Chen A'Diao, why run? Just stay in this underground grave today!"
As soon as the old eunuch attacked, he not only locked down the space but also specifically disrupted its properties, blocking spatial density to prevent teleportation and short-range blinks.
Of the three great fiend kings behind, the fastest was the White Bone Fiend King. Four bone wings sprouted from his back. Propelling through the water with immense power, he quickly caught up behind A'Diao, conjured a white bone spear, and hurled it viciously at her back.
The spear tore through the water, reaching A'Diao's back in an instant... mere inches away. A'Diao sidestepped, raised her hand to use a spatial secret art, rapidly repairing the spatial density while dodging.
The old eunuch observed her techniques and found that she had no intention of fighting them at all, solely focused on escaping. However, her speed was indeed much faster than during the Guixu Ruins incident.
If she were fighting them while trying to escape, that would be strange.
Because fighting consumes energy and slows one down, which is detrimental to escape. Only someone who truly felt they were no match would flee recklessly.
Evidently, her strength indeed hadn't exceeded his predictions. Then there shouldn't be any other surprises, right?
After all, even if she had comprehended the seven scrolls of the secret records, she hadn't obtained many treasures or resources.
After making his judgment, the old eunuch directly unleashed a dual mental and spiritual impact.
With this attack, A'Diao activated her mental domain to resist, but the casting delay created an opening for the White Bone Fiend King below.
Swish! The White Bone Fiend King had already caught up to A'Diao, his body transforming into countless white bone chains trying to entangle her. A'Diao dodged in all directions and actually managed to evade them perfectly.
Terrifying reaction speed!
If it were him alone against her, he would be annihilated in a single exchange within minutes.
Startled, the White Bone Fiend King unleashed even more chains and also seized an opportunity... Behind, the bull-headed man, carrying a large hammer, suddenly caught up and delivered a heavy blow to the surroundings – he wasn't striking A'Diao, but the water itself.
Dong!!!
The water vibrated. This ripple-like shockwave directly utilized the underwater high pressure, infinitely multiplying into an even more terrifying impact force, like mountains toppling and seas overturning.
A'Diao immediately retreated, but this retreat played right into the White Bone Fiend King's hands. Amidst the countless chains confusing A'Diao's judgment, he seized the chance to wrap a chain around her ankle.
At this moment, the old eunuch launched another impact to control A'Diao's state. Then, as A'Diao was forced to activate her mental domain to resist, the fox spirit suddenly appeared below, its fox pupils locking onto A'Diao.
Confusion!
"Abandon resistance, abandon resistance... abandon..."
This was a powerful innate ability with a dual effect similar to hypnosis and a curse. This fox spirit was the strongest of the four. Once this confusion technique was used, A'Diao's movements immediately became sluggish and contradictory, as if she were struggling.
At this time, the White Bone Fiend King frantically wrapped a large number of chains around A'Diao's body.
"Crush!"
The White Bone Fiend King exerted his full power. The terrifying white bone chains tightened around A'Diao's body, then snapped it...
It snapped!
Under the faint light, the crushed avatar segments dispersed into energy, while the main body barely managed to teleport away in the slightly restored spatial density...
The old eunuch and the fox fiend king jointly blocked it!
The teleportation distance was mostly blocked. Once locked on, she had only reached a distance of three to four thousand meters above.
Damn!
"This Chen A'Diao is indeed hard to deal with," the fox fiend king said sinisterly, while rapidly chasing upwards.
"Her teleportation was blocked by us; there's a backlash!"
"Quick!"
A'Diao, suffering from the backlash, was indeed a bit slower. So, even though she had created a distance of three to four thousand meters, the four pursuers below were constantly closing in...
This was an underwater escape.
After a splashing sound from the originally calm rift valley reservoir, a streak of light shot out in escape. Daylight pierced through the rift valley crevice, falling upon this drenched beauty. Was she a princess escaping from hell?
But there were villains behind her, weren't there?
Just as she flew out of the rift valley opening towards the sunlight, reaching above the dense forest and intending to teleport away, Buzz, a ring of spatial imprints spun around her, directly locking down her teleportation. The next second, the White Bone Fiend King, with enormous bone wings, let out a furious roar as he flew out whistling. His body transformed into countless chains that wrapped around A'Diao's legs, trying to drag her down. Then, the bull-headed man leaped out, delivering an air-shattering hammer blow from below!
Dong!!!
The tremendous noise startled a wide area and also deeply shocked Baiyue Lingxi and others far away on the other side of the mountain range.
"There's a situation! You all retreat outwards, don't come close!"
Baiyue Lingxi and another expert turned invisible and flew up. Using a secret art, she summoned a Gu-bug with clairvoyant abilities to parasitize her pupils. Her pupils immediately turned emerald green, her vision magnified a hundredfold. Instantly, she saw the drenched Junior Sect Master, a great beauty, looking like a pitiful escaping princess, entangled by a white bone demon. There was also a fox spirit and a bull-headed demon ferociously attacking, and an old man in a black robe...
That great beauty surrounded by them looked so pitiful, dripping wet, her robes clinging to her slender, graceful figure. There was blood on the corner of her delicate, crimson lips, her face pale and fragile... She was so beautiful that Baiyue Lingxi almost thought she had gone blind.
Who is this? Why does she look so familiar?
Is that the Poison King, Chen A'Diao?
Four Medial Spirit King experts, capable of easily besieging and killing a Dean, were actually ganging up on such a stunningly beautiful and pitiful princess?
Regardless of whether it was her or not, Baiyue Lingxi subconsciously wanted to go and save her but was held back by the expert beside her.
"Young Mistress, we can't handle those four! We'll be annihilated!"
Baiyue Lingxi then came to her senses and sent a voice transmission: "If she dies, it will be detrimental to our alliance with Lushan Academy. Right now, Tong Huang from Bronze Mountain is acting suspiciously. Mother suspects he's up to something."
The expert verbally agreed but was actually thinking: Are you really considering Wu Mountain's situation? Your eyes clearly lit up just now! Damn it, this look is exactly the same as when the previous generation's Saintess saw the devastatingly handsome Kunlun from Lushan. Especially when Kunlun was weaker and more haggard, she would feel even more distressed and fond... This can't be a hereditary trait of the Baiyue clan's Saintess lineage, can it?
All... all attracted to looks?
Perhaps Saintess Lingxi's usual hatred and disdain for Chen A'Diao are also feigned.
Anyway, the expert held Baiyue Lingxi back, urging her to calm down and ideally contact Yu Xuanji and their own Dean... But within this mountain range, it was impossible to send out signals. Even many modern devices were unusable, including cameras; optical image signals couldn't be converted into electrical signals. Only secret art voice transmissions were possible, but due to the fog density and the vast distance, she couldn't instantly convey the information back to Wu Mountain. However, a small emerald green bug appeared on Baiyue Lingxi's fingertip. She was about to release it to fly out and seek help.
But the bug hadn't yet left her fingertip.
The scene spied from afar changed. That delicate, besieged, weak princess... her aura suddenly became abnormal.
That's right, her aura became abnormal because her hidden power was released, like a tiger uncaged. Her mental domain instantly expanded tenfold, encompassing all three fiends and the old man attacking her, turning the tables. Then, the domain materialized two spiritual divine weapons.
Both simultaneously attacked the bull-headed man! Because the bull-headed man had the strongest physical attack and defense but the weakest spiritual body, the two spiritual divine weapons besieged him!
Simultaneously, she brought two fingers of her left hand together, her entire body's dragon armor transformed, and she forcibly endured everyone's attacks...
Her body didn't change, nor did she flee. Only while being bombarded, her joined left fingers swiped, and a dragon's breath, like the most beautiful rainbow in the sky, shot out.
So beautiful, so fast, and so ruthless, it directly traced a neat curve and blasted the White Bone Fiend King's true body.
As the White Bone Fiend King let out a pained roar.
Simultaneously, her right hand was open, as if summoning something, but her red lips moved slightly, and the attack was even faster – it locked onto the fox fiend king.
Curse, an elegant curse, 707!
The incantation was very gentle, but the effect startled even A'Diao herself because the commotion was too great.
The fox fiend king was the strongest and also the most sensitive. In fact, when the bull-headed man and the White Bone Fiend King met their misfortune, it had already instinctively wanted to flee. But before it could tear space and escape, the curse had already locked onto it.
And then?
Heaven and earth instantly darkened... this entire area for a hundred li around turned black.
After it turned black, the sky was like a black hole. Five things fell from the black hole, shuashua, arriving in an instant.
The fox spirit felt its body become paralyzed; the curse made it unable to move. It saw four hooks directly latch onto its four limbs, and then a dog collar-like thing was fastened around its neck. Both the hooks and the dog collar were attached to a lightning chain. At the other end of the lightning chains, five entities condensed from roiling dark clouds appeared.
Five enormous creatures, each tens of meters long.
Dragon head, dragon tail, but horse body.
"In the heavens, there are swift beings, riding clouds and mist, traveling a million li a day, surpassing the limits of time and space; they are the Longma (Dragon Horses)."
That's right, these were the legendary Longma.
When the five Longma appeared, a sound suddenly arose between heaven and earth.
A very elegant and moving background music, one could even call it festive. That's right, it was the classic wedding march of the Tang Song Nation.
It had arrived.
And the Longma grew excited. With a neigh, they galloped across the sky with frenzied steps. All the cultivators in the Huai Guang Mountain Range were stupefied, watching as, to the tune of the wedding march, the five Longma sprinted wildly in five different directions... dragging the chains behind them, forming a five-ring pattern...
"No!!!"
The fox fiend king's true body writhed with immense demonic qi, trying to struggle. But terrifyingly, while it could release demonic qi, its body couldn't move at all.
This scene was too horrifying.
The chains were straightening at a terrifying speed. The demonic qi gnawed at the lightning but was utterly helpless, because these chains had the resilience of a lightning tribulation, their lightning element density incomparable to ordinary lightning attacks.
At that moment, the old eunuch turned and fled.
A'Diao, also shaken by this scene, retracted her gaze. Her right hand moved, the summoned item appearing in her palm, and then she drained the energy from her body.
Her left hand also pulled back.
A pitch-black charcoal longbow was drawn to its fullest. Energy condensed into a pure silver, double-hooked, feathered arrow. Drawn, aimed.
Baiyue Lingxi could even see her mysterious eyes, deep as the Yellow Springs, seeing through everything, contemptuous yet indifferent, as if aiming at a stupid wild boar.
But she didn't waste time mocking or toying; she decisively released her slender fingers.
Swish!
It shot out, its tail like scissors, cutting through space as if it were paper... Then it struck the old eunuch who was just about to escape via spatial means.
The corner of her bloodstained, downturned mouth relaxed slightly after the arrow left the string, only curving up gently after it hit him.
At that curve.
As if in reflection, in the not-too-distant space, the five-horse dismemberment occurred.
A formidable peak Medial Spirit King fox spirit, dismembered by five horses... by her single curse.
Its body, along with its spiritual body, torn into five pieces.
Feigning weakness, feigning escape, then a counter-kill comeback – such a cliché tactic. She seemed to enjoy it tirelessly, yet it was still thrilling.
Because she only used her eyes, mouth, will, fingers, and brain... yet she remained motionless.
Seemingly calm and unruffled, but in reality, she had gone all out, emptying her spiritual body and energy, achieving a frenzied quadra-kill without batting an eyelid!
This scene easily reminded one of the purest martial combat era of ancient times.
"Hairpins like needles, iron steeds and golden hooks, long spears breaking ice; kill one in ten steps, leave no trace for a thousand li."
Any part of the body could become a deadly weapon; fierce instant kills, leaving no room for escape.
After finishing the killing, she muttered, "Damn dogs, there really was no one lying in wait to support them. I ran for nothing."
She clearly could have forcefully killed the four, why did she have to escape to the surface to kill them?
Because she was also testing – testing if the helpers brought by the old eunuch were only these three fiend kings; testing if others, like that Human-Demon, would secretly try to open the restriction after she left the water; testing if she could completely take them down without leaving any hidden dangers.
In the current situation, surrounded by powerful enemies, one had to be extremely cautious, scrutinizing details to the core.
The result was as she saw.
She also saw from the surveillance she had set up at the restriction that no one had approached.
Meaning, no one was now stopping her from obtaining that dog Chen Gui's sun-form resource.
A'Diao glanced around, then dematerialized and vanished.
No one knew she had gone to the underground reservoir below. However, Baiyue Lingxi and the others in the distance heard a faint voice drift over.
"Little Xixi, bugs are so scary, why are you pinching it?"
Everyone simultaneously looked at Baiyue Lingxi. Baiyue Lingxi blushed with anger.
The Wu Mountain experts were once again exasperated: Indeed, the Saintess is done for, truly done for! This damn Lushan Academy, producing such perverts generation after generation! And compared to Kunlun, this Chen A'Diao is much more shameless! Ptooey!
However... she truly is peerless.
Utterly terrifying.
After re-entering the water, A'Diao focused and quickly opened the seven-ring restriction. She and Toilet both seemed very excited, just waiting to obtain the sun-form resource. If she got it, she could soon take on a Great Spirit King!
Hehehe!
Kacha!
The last restriction was undone.
She saw before her... space unfurled, an ancient and icy aura surged forth, faintly mixed with the aura of sun-form elements. But the first thing A'Diao saw was a youth who looked no different from a living person.
This youth had earthy yellow pupils, looking demonic and unsettling, but he was indeed terrifying.
Because he was a Little Demon King.
What exactly is a Demon King?
Demon Kings were different from Fiend Kings. Fiend Kings were rulers of countless subdivided clans within the great Demonic Spirit race; the leader of a clan was called a Fiend King. But Demon Kings were the fixed leaders of the great Demonic Spirit race. To become a Demon King, there were generally no other requirements, just two.
1. Possess the karmic luck of the Demonic Spirit race.
2. Belong to the strongest bloodline system.
The bloodline itself defined the scope, and since the total amount of karmic luck was limited, after being divided, it was impossible for too many Demon Kings to be born.
For example, during the Primordial Era, based on the strength of the Demonic Spirit race's karmic luck at that time, a total of one Supreme Demon King, seven Great Demon Kings, and twenty-four Little Demon Kings were born.
It sounded like a lot, not particularly rare, but one must understand that the individual population of the Demonic Spirit race was a million times that of human beings. So, their probability of producing Demon Kings was far lower than the human race's probability of producing Spirit Kings... worlds apart.
The combat power of a Little Demon King was basically equivalent to a peak Medial Spirit King of the human race. Some of the strongest Little Demon Kings could even rival a human Great Spirit King.
However, even a peak Great Spirit King-level Fiend King wouldn't dare provoke even the weakest Little Demon King. This was because Little Demon Kings had a very high growth ceiling; given time and resources, they could grow into Demon Kings and become one of the core powerhouses of the Demonic Spirit race. Therefore, the Demon King group was a single lineage; provoke one Little Demon King, and you'd face all the Demon Kings, big and small, as well as the Supreme Demon King.
Moreover, because their karmic luck was interconnected, these Demon Kings could sense information whenever any Demon King was killed... This was also why, during the Primordial Era, human experts often had to trade the lives of a group of people for the life of a single Little Demon King – after successfully eliminating the target, they basically couldn't escape and were wiped out by other Demon Kings who rushed over.
This was stirring up a hornet's nest.
So now, when A'Diao saw this Little Demon King, and behind him, the masked man resembling a Human-Demon sitting on snow-white steps and smiling at her, her heart was in turmoil.
This damn Human-Demon Dantai Ye, he strikes ruthlessly!
Toilet: "!!!"
This is Dantai Ye's scheme again? Damn it, they fell for it again?
But back in the palace, he clearly... Could it be that he knew A'Diao already knew his identity and was monitoring him with an avatar, so he deliberately put on an act?
Anyway, before Toilet could figure it out, the Little Demon King and Dantai Ye attacked simultaneously.
Too terrifying!
This Little Demon King was Great Spirit King level!
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