Within Duzhen Hall, demonic aura hung thick and voices roared.
Figures sat or stood throughout the hall, loudly conversing, and all their talk concerned the present master of Duzhen Hall.
"The three halls of Mount Cangwu are the holy ground that governs the feathered clans—and indeed all the demon clans of the Eastern Desolation. Every hall master possesses peerless power; not one of them is weak."
"The Monarch rules Tongxuan Hall. She destroyed the Mingyuan Sect, laid waste to the Central Plains—among Spirit Transformation cultivators she has no equal."
"Qingshuang rules Zhoukong Hall, first among Nascent Soul cultivators, with a glorious battle record. There are even rumors that Hall Master Qingshuang has already advanced to Spirit Transformation and gained the right to ascend."
"The master of Duzhen Hall, who stands alongside those two, is surely no weakling, and cannot be some nameless nobody. So why does he still hide his head and tail, and never show himself?"
Someone said, "Perhaps he is busy with his cultivation?"
But the words had barely left his mouth before someone retorted, "If that were so, why bother summoning us all here to pay our respects?"
Everyone present resented the hall master's arrogant airs—a full year without showing his face, keeping them all dangling.
Thus his identity had become a matter of much speculation.
If he turned out to be someone who could not command respect, then this year of haughty silence would come back to bite him the moment they truly met.
"Could it be Lady Youquan? She has filled the vice master's seat all this while; her promotion to full master would be only natural." So guessed a woman in a black dress spangled with stars.
But Daoist Blood Vulture across from her waved his hand. "Ye Xingtong, you've guessed wrong."
Ye Xingtong said, "Oh?" and smiled. "Blood Vulture, you seem to know something."
Daoist Blood Vulture spread his hands helplessly. "What would this poor Daoist know? It's only that I thought the same as you at first, but once I reached Mount Cangwu, Daoist White Bone denied it."
Denied by the White Bone Mysterious Snake?
No one present doubted the truth of his words.
The White Bone Mysterious Snake had been among the first demon experts to attach himself to Mount Cangwu, and had even once guarded its teleportation formation that led straight to the Great Snow Mountain.
If anyone best knew the state of Mount Cangwu, it was the White Bone Mysterious Snake.
Since even he said so, the present master of Duzhen Hall could not be Youquan.
Then who could it be?
"Perhaps Lady Immortal Qinghe?"
Everyone paused, then nodded. If it were her, that would make sense.
Immortal Qinghe was not a demon expert in the ordinary sense, but as a plant that had gained sentience she too was counted among the demon clans of the Eastern Desolation.
Above all, Immortal Qinghe had deep ties with Mount Cangwu; rumor had it that even her breakthrough to Spirit Transformation had come in part from a pointer or two from Monarch Qixia.
If Immortal Qinghe, a Spirit Transformation existence, held Duzhen Hall, her realm and her strength alike would command belief.
Yet that guess was shattered in an instant by two women of the Qinghe clan.
"It is not our Ancestor."
"Since the great battle in the Central Plains, the Ancestor has done nothing but recover from her injuries. My sister and I came to Mount Cangwu this time on the Ancestor's orders, to pay our respects to the new master of Duzhen Hall."
So said the Qinghe Twin Beauties.
Everyone looked at one another. Not Youquan, not Immortal Qinghe—then who?
"Surely it can't be Lord Ao Kuang!"
Ao Kuang, lord of the wolf clan!
He had worn human form for over a thousand years, his battle prowess brilliant, and he had once fought Qingshuang to a standstill.
Even when the ancient demon Di Tian still lived, he had treated Ao Kuang with considerable courtesy.
But after Di Tian fell and Monarch Qixia unified the demon clans, Ao Kuang had not submitted to Mount Cangwu. How could he become master of Duzhen Hall?
By instinct, everyone turned their eyes to a ferocious-looking man seated in the front rows.
Once this man had been very close to Ao Kuang; together with the Great Demon Emperor Baizu, he had been Ao Kuang's right and left arm.
But after Baizu died for reasons no one knew, this man left Ao Kuang's command and joined Mount Cangwu.
If anyone knew Ao Kuang's movements, it was he.
Under all those eyes, Bi Zheng's eyelids half-lowered and he said coldly, "It is not Brother Ao!"
The crowd fell silent, and the hall sank into stillness.
The new master of Duzhen Hall was not the senior Youquan, nor the high-realm Immortal Qinghe, nor even the mighty Ao Kuang. Then who in the Eastern Desolation could still be fit to be master of Duzhen Hall and command the host of demons?
Understand that, though only twenty-odd Nascent Soul demon cultivators were present, the demon cultivators surviving in the Eastern Desolation were far more numerous than that.
And even among those present, who was not a lord in his own right?
Bi Zheng, Juan Kuang, and Niugui in particular stood at the Great Demon Emperor realm, existences comparable to the great late-Nascent Soul cultivators of the human race.
If he were merely some nameless nobody, then never mind commanding the host of demons—he likely could not even make these three Great Demon Emperors move.
Seated in the front chairs, the three of them exchanged a look of unspoken understanding.
Their submission to Mount Cangwu was the way of things, and no less a matter of having no choice.
Ao Kuang's power had waned, so Bi Zheng had gone over to the stronger Mount Cangwu.
Juan Kuang and Niugui had once served under Di Tian, but with Di Tian's fall the Demon Court split and Jinxiuxian took the remnants into hiding; they had to find somewhere to go.
Taking shelter in Duzhen Hall was a good choice.
If the new master of Duzhen Hall proved to be a mediocre sort, that would in fact be good for them. That way they could live more or less as they pleased, without being wholly at another's beck and call.
Just as everyone was guessing, heavy footsteps came from the rear of the great hall.
Everyone looked up and saw a majestic man in a purple robe step out.
"Thunder Prison?"
"You are the new master of Duzhen Hall?"
Amid the outcry was mixed no small amount of doubt.
The Thunder Prison Divine Peng gave a heavy snort but did not confirm it; he took his place on the steps of the great hall.
Everyone exchanged glances. So it was not Thunder Prison?
If it had been him, they could have swallowed their pride and accepted it.
After all, the Thunder Prison Divine Peng was the third figure of Mount Cangwu after Monarch Qixia and Qingshuang, his methods overbearing beyond compare, and word had it that in recent years his realm had advanced enormously.
But standing on the steps like a guard as he did made plain that he was not the new master of Duzhen Hall.
Then who could it be?
After the Thunder Prison Divine Peng appeared, the stir in the hall settled.
So when the White Bone Mysterious Snake, Heqingzi, and Huamei appeared one after another, no one stirred. Instead each held his breath and waited for the true master to appear.
Huamei and Heqingzi exchanged a glance and cried out in clear voices, "The master of Duzhen Hall has arrived! Why do you cultivators not rise and bow!"
Rustle, rustle, rustle!
The sound of sleeves turning, of chairs being pushed back, rose in a rush.
Figures rose one after another and bowed low toward the shape slowly emerging at the rear of the hall.
"We pay our respects to the master of Duzhen—"
That last word, "Hall," never came out.
The hall in an instant fell into a strange atmosphere.
The young man in feathered robes, the corners of his mouth slightly raised, sat down with a light laugh in that gorgeous and honored chair.
"Is this how you welcome your hall master?"
The response to those words was a chorus of incredulous exclamations.
"It's you!"
"The Alchemy Grandmaster of the Eastern Desolation!"
"The Demon-Slaying Zhenren!"
"Formless Mara!"
The young man waved his hand. "Enough, enough. This chair can't seat so many people. This hall master changes neither name nor surname: Luo Chen, that's me!"
The two words "Luo Chen" stunned the whole hall.
As for those titles before, they were the achievements one and the same man had won in different fields.
The Alchemy Grandmaster was Luo Chen's fine name in the Eastern Desolation; the Demon-Slaying Zhenren was the fearsome name he had earned among the demon clans in the two-hundred-year war between humans and demons; and Formless Mara was the new name he had made in the Western Desert Buddha Land, a symbol of the power that had subdued that land and rivaled Qingshuang.
But no number of fine names, fearsome names, or mighty names could change one fact.
Luo Chen was human!
How could such a being become the master of Duzhen Hall and command the host of demons?
Every demon straightened his back and lifted his head, staring coldly up at him.
The pressure of those gazes was so great that even the Thunder Prison Divine Peng and the White Bone Mysterious Snake could not bear it, and unconsciously shifted aside.
Luo Chen seemed not to notice at all; the corner of his mouth curved.
"You're not convinced?"
As he spoke, a vast pressure centered on him and in an instant covered the spacious hall of Duzhen.
A Nascent Soul domain!
In that instant everyone felt as though they had entered a prison built of flame.
Boundless, impossible to flee.
Blazing hot, their whole bodies on the verge of burning.
By instinct everyone released their mana, meaning to link with the heaven-and-earth spiritual qi and release their own Nascent Soul domains.
But within that terrifying Senluo Fire Hell, no matter how they reached for heaven and earth, they received not the slightest response.
With one man's strength, suppressing every demon emperor?
A blood-light flashed and shot skyward.
"The master of Duzhen Hall goes to the able—but there is still the matter of race!"
Luo Chen glanced at that man. Only a glance.
Thud!
Daoist Blood Vulture dropped to the ground, slumped in a heap, eyes vacant, face ashen. A single glance from the other had left him powerless to resist.
Just what kind of ability was this?
"The matter of race?" Luo Chen sneered and swept his gaze over them. "Every one of you here is a thing of scales and shells, born of moisture, hatched from eggs—are you all then of one clan? The so-called demon clans are merely the single name we humans gave you in one lump once we grew strong. And this hall of Duzhen—what it ferries across are zhenren and True Cultivators. You and I are all Nascent Soul zhenren; who ferries whom depends only on each one's ability. Is it my ability you are not convinced by?"
"Hmph!"
At Luo Chen's heavy snort, the vast Nascent Soul domain crashed down as if a whole heaven and earth had overturned, leaving no one able even to stir the thought of resistance.
The weaker ones dropped to their knees with a thud.
The stronger barely managed to stay standing, but the trembling of their bodies showed how close they were to falling.
His gaze swept across the hall and finally came to rest on the three Great Demon Emperors in front.
"Who is not convinced?"
"Is it you, Bi Zheng? Or you, Niugui?"
"Back then the three of you Great Demon Emperors together were no match for this hall master. Now, even if all of you come at once, I can put you down with a backhand!"
When Luo Chen appeared, Bi Zheng and Niugui had both changed color.
In the battle at Medicine King Domain, the three Great Demon Emperors had joined forces and not only failed to take Luo Chen—one had fled, one had been gravely wounded, and even Huang Man, son of Di Tian, had died miserably at Luo Chen's hands.
Now in a flash a hundred years had passed. Luo Chen's strength had soared, and he had become master of Duzhen Hall, standing over their heads. How could they accept it?
Yet under that domineering domain they felt the immense terror of their lives and deaths held in Luo Chen's palm.
It was a terror that even Qingshuang, once the greatest below Spirit Transformation, had never given them!
But to submit to Luo Chen—that barrier in their hearts they could not cross.
How could they bend the knee to a mortal enemy of old?
They could only muster their mana, clench their teeth, and endure within that overbearing domain.
Amid a creaking of strained joints,
Luo Chen grinned savagely. His primordial spirit abruptly condensed, his mana drew on the primal qi of heaven and earth, and the already overbearing Nascent Soul domain, now reinforced, seemed to become a divine realm.
"Kneel before me!"
Boom!
The divine realm was overbearing, blazing and flamboyant.
Every demon emperor still struggling could no longer withstand that wild power, and one after another they collapsed to the ground.
Even three Great Demon Emperors as strong as Bi Zheng, Niugui, and Juan Kuang could not hold out against Luo Chen's pressure.
Thud.
The three bent knee and waist and half-knelt on the ground, faces full of humiliation and unwillingness.
Watching this, the White Bone Mysterious Snake felt a chill of sorrow in his heart. Had he not felt the same?
A junior he had once looked down on had become someone who could take their lives or spare them at will.
Beside him the Thunder Prison Divine Peng had his eyes shut, as though he could not see it. He knew that in this life he would never catch up to Luo Chen's strength, and the thought of rivalry no longer stirred in him at all.
Heqingzi's beautiful eyes glimmered with layers of strange light. Suppressing one's peers, unmatched under heaven—so should a great man be!
Huamei, her heart stirred, stepped forward bearing a great seal in her hands.
"My master Luo Chen was appointed master of Duzhen Hall by the Monarch herself. He holds the demon cultivator register and commands the demons of ten thousand mountains. Does anyone still object?"
With the Duzhen Seal before them, Luo Chen wearing the Hundred Feathers Robe that symbolized the master of Duzhen Hall, and the shocking power he had just displayed—who would dare object?
In the silence, an aged voice spoke first.
"White-Brow pays his respects to the hall master!"
Everyone turned to look at the White-Browed Immortal Ape. The old fellow had been the first to switch sides.
But after him, clear voices of greeting rose in the hall as well.
"Hezhi pays her respects to the hall master!"
"Hexiang pays her respects to the hall master!"
The Qinghe Twin Beauties under Immortal Qinghe had acknowledged Luo Chen's position too.
Influenced by them—or perhaps unable to withstand the pressure—greetings rang out in the hall one after another.
The Red Demon Flood Dragon, the Phantom Fire Bird, the Eight-Legged Ape Demon... By the end, only the three Great Demon Emperors remained.
Under Luo Chen's gaze, Juan Kuang did not hesitate long.
"Juan Kuang pays his respects to the hall master!"
Luo Chen nodded slightly and looked at Bi Zheng and Niugui, with whom he had once been mortal enemies.
Seeing the way they struggled on, Luo Chen was helpless.
"Very well. You do have backbone. Since you will not submit to me, then your names come off the demon cultivator register!"
"Niugui pays his respects to the hall master!"
"Bi Zheng pays his respects to the hall master!"
One gruff voice, one sharp, rang out in that instant after the words "come off the register."
Truly, between life and death there is great terror!
Luo Chen was taken aback, and then he laughed softly.
At a thought, the Nascent Soul domain withdrew like a receding tide, and everyone felt as though a great weight had lifted.
But they remained kneeling on the ground, not daring to rise.
"All of you get up and take your seats. Since everyone has acknowledged my place as hall master, then next, let us discuss another matter."
Luo Chen put away his smile, and a thick, dangerous flavor radiated from his eyes.
...
Half a month later.
In Mount Cangwu, Luo Chen's figure vanished within the teleportation formation.
In Zhoukong Hall, Youquan stood beside Qingshuang, full of indignation.
"He just up and leaves, and now Duzhen Hall won't obey a word I say."
Qingshuang said mildly, "To begin with, you were only acting master of Duzhen Hall."
Youquan glared. "Acting master is still vice master! Now Luo Chen wants every expert in the hall to go attack the Tianyuan Dao Sect—soon I'll be a general with no army at all."
"In the battle to come, the demon cultivators of Mount Cangwu will not simply go and never return." Qingshuang's expression was cold and distant, and as the light of the teleportation formation slowly dimmed, her eyes dimmed a little as well. "And even if they all die, what of it?"
Youquan pursed her lips.
"You really don't care."
After muttering that, she seemed to remember something and asked suddenly,
"Will you go?"
Qingshuang said nothing, only lifted her head and looked up.
Her gaze seemed to pass through the high dome, toward Tongxuan Hall standing above Mount Cangwu.
Chapter 1062