A Lot of Enemies?

Deep within the White Emperor Palace. The baby-faced woman let out a sigh of relief. Looking at Yun He, she said slowly, "Eldest Martial Brother, your injuries are finally mostly healed." Gratitude showed in Yun He's eyes. "Thank you, Junior Sister." Years ago, he had left the White Emperor Palace and traveled to the City of No Return, only to encounter the Demonic Crocodile Ancestor. A great battle had ensued between them. He had been gravely injured. Then, in Great Compassion City, he had sensed a Grand Sovereign plotting against him. At the time, at least three Grand Sovereigns were lurking in Great Compassion City. Heavily wounded, he had cast a secret art taught by his master, the White Emperor, escaping Great Compassion City and returning to the White Emperor Palace. Upon his return, he had fallen unconscious, and his Second Junior Sister had spent all these years in seclusion deep within the White Emperor Palace tending to his wounds. Only now had his condition finally taken a turn for the better. "Hmph! To dare scheme against you, Eldest Martial Brother, using the City of No Return as bait—that City Lord of the City of No Return has colossal nerve!" the baby-faced woman said indignantly. All these years, she had been treating her Eldest Martial Brother, never once stepping outside the secret chamber. She was truly furious that the Eldest Martial Brother of the White Emperor Palace had been ambushed. Twenty years from now, Eldest Martial Brother was supposed to enter the Gate of Myriad Demons to assist the White Emperor in standing against the Venerable. Hearing her words, Yun He felt a lingering wave of dread. The other party had used the Slate of Fate as bait, nearly snaring and killing him. However, now was not the time to dwell on that. Worry filled Yun He's eyes. "More than ten years have passed. I wonder how the North-South Accord fares now, and how many cities in the Southern Lands still stand?" This had always weighed heavily on his mind. There was a battlefield within the Gate of Myriad Demons, and there was also a battlefield in the North-South Accord. Both battlefields were of vital importance. "Don't worry, Eldest Martial Brother. Senior White Crane is outside and will surely protect the Southern Lands from harm," the baby-faced woman comforted him. White Crane was a spirit pet under the White Emperor, whose cultivation had already reached the Grand Sovereign realm. "Yes." Yun He nodded. "I wonder how Master fares inside the Gate of Myriad Demons." Compared to the crisis within the Gate of Myriad Demons, the crisis in the Southern Lands paled in comparison. Yet right at that moment, a resounding voice suddenly soared into the clouds and penetrated into the secret chamber. "The Guardian of the City of No Return, Blood Lord of the Blood Palace, comes to visit the White Emperor Palace!" The ringing voice reached every corner of the White Emperor Palace. Hearing the voice, the two Sovereigns guarding the gates of the White Emperor Palace could not help trembling. "The Blood Lord?" Who had not heard of the Blood Lord's renown? He was a Sovereign killer! Rumor had it that three Grand Sovereigns had rallied one thousand seven hundred Sovereigns to besiege him. With an unyielding expression, the Blood Lord had an orchestra of one hundred playing the suona while he took them on alone! When his origin divine ability was unleashed, the inner demons of the one thousand seven hundred Sovereigns tore through their bodies, and they perished on the spot. That was one thousand seven hundred Sovereigns! The total number of Sovereigns in the Southern Lands was probably... only about that many? It was equivalent to the Sovereigns of the entire Southern Lands being slaughtered by him alone. The entire White Emperor Palace was fraught with anxiety, no one knowing why that terrifying Blood Lord had come here. Just then, an airy voice drifted over, carrying a faint trace of displeasure: "Guardian of the City of No Return, what business brings you to my White Emperor Palace? You plotted against my Eldest Martial Brother before, and now you dare come to my White Emperor Palace?" The baby-faced woman stepped out of the secret chamber and flew into the sky. Her Eldest Martial Brother had been schemed against back then, forcing her to spend years healing him, so she naturally held some resentment! Watching his junior sister standing up for him in the air, Yun He felt both helpless and touched. However, right then, a white crane fluttering its wings flew over, reached out a pale white hand, and slapped it over the baby-faced woman's mouth. "Aiya, Xiao Lian, how can you talk to the Blood Palace's Blood Lord like that!" The white crane transformed into a petite young girl and lectured Xiao Lian with pompous solemnity. "The Blood Lord of the Blood Palace is my godfather!" The baby-faced woman froze in astonishment. Yun He was utterly flabbergasted! It was true that White Crane was the White Emperor's spirit pet, but she had only agreed to follow him after being beaten into submission. This White Crane was proud by nature, always looking down her beak at others. How had she gained a godfather? And from that unheard-of Blood Lord, no less. "Hmph! The Blood Palace's Blood Lord is the Liufeng Realm's number one Sovereign! He has already unified the Hundred and Eight Thousand Cities, and the people of the Blood Palace have pushed all the way across to the Endless Sea of Blood! All of the Northern Lands is now under the Blood Palace's rule!" the White Crane girl declared proudly, gloating smugly. "Even the White Emperor has to be respectful upon meeting the Blood Lord! Why aren't you hurrying with me to welcome the Blood Lord?!" Yun He and the baby-faced young woman were dumbfounded. What had they just heard? The Northern Lands had been swept across and crushed by the Blood Palace? "Is that real or fake?" the baby-faced woman hurriedly asked through voice transmission. "Naturally it's true! Would I lie to you? Nowadays, all the Sovereigns of both the Southern and Northern Lands revere the Blood Lord as their master!" As they spoke, the three of them arrived outside the White Emperor Palace and saw that legendary Blood Lord. The dozen or so Sovereigns inside the White Emperor Palace stole glances at the Blood Lord, their eyes filled with awe as well as admiration. After all, a feat that even the White Emperor had failed to accomplish had been achieved by this recently risen Blood Lord. "Godfather, you're here!" The White Crane girl beamed obsequiously. "Just now, this fellow dared to speak sarcastically to you, but I already gave her a stern lecture! Godfather, you have a magnanimous heart, so please don't hold it against a mere child!" Calling a baby-faced woman over a thousand years old a child somehow did not feel out of place coming from her. Yun He looked toward Qi Yuan, still somewhat dazed. Seeing with his own eyes the White Crane girl calling this overly young Blood Lord 'godfather,' he knew that she had not lied to them earlier. Qi Yuan rolled his eyes at White Crane. "I'm not your godfather, and I don't have a daughter as old as you." He felt that Bai Ze's disciples were all rather shameless. More than one had already tried to claim him as their godfather. Having said that, Qi Yuan looked at Yun He with a calm gaze. "You are Bai Ze's disciple?" "I am!" Yun He answered earnestly, somewhat displeased that his master's name was uttered so casually. "Where is the Gate of Myriad Demons? I want to know everything about what's going on inside," Qi Yuan asked. He had come to the White Emperor Palace precisely to learn the situation regarding the Gate of Myriad Demons. Hearing this, Yun He hesitated, but then the White Crane girl cut in impatiently: "Stop dilly-dallying! Hurry up and tell Godfather everything about the Gate of Myriad Demons! If Godfather happens to be in a good mood, he might enter the Gate of Myriad Demons and help that fool of a... master of yours." Hearing that, Yun He finally spoke slowly: "The Gate of Myriad Demons is located at the Ends of the Earth." "It isn't at the Ends of the Earth," Qi Yuan said. He had already visited the Ends of the Earth once. "Twenty years from now, the Gate of Myriad Demons will open once more. Only then will it become visible!" Yun He said. Qi Yuan's expression tightened slightly. "No other way?" Twenty years was a bit too long. "None," Yun He shook his head. "Quick, tell my godfather about the situation inside the Gate of Myriad Demons!" the White Crane girl urged impatiently. Yun He had no choice but to explain quickly: "Inside the Gate of Myriad Demons, there is a spacetime rift that leads to the Myriad Demons Realm. The Venerable controls the passage to the Myriad Demons Realm and colludes with the powerhouses of the Myriad Demons Realm, coveting our Liufeng Realm." At the mention of this, the baby-faced woman looked furious as well. "To resist the invasion from the Myriad Demons Realm, Master's true body has been leading a hundred Grand Sovereigns, guarding the Gate of Myriad Demons without ceasing!" Yun He said, his expression somber. Over all these years, the battles fought within the Gate of Myriad Demons were in no way inferior to the North-South Accord. In the North-South Accord, those who fell were lower-tier combatants; within the Gate of Myriad Demons, those who fell were top-tier combatants. "What is the strength of the Myriad Demons Realm, and what about the Venerable?" Qi Yuan inquired. Now, another name had been added to his little blacklist—the Venerable, Shang Yanran. "The enemies from the Myriad Demons Realm are rather numerous..." Yun He said, his face tightening with bitterness. The baby-faced woman looked dejected as well. With the Venerable allied with the Myriad Demons Realm, whether in top-tier or mid-tier combat strength, they surpassed the White Emperor Palace. "Are there really that many?" Qi Yuan asked with a touch of wariness. "How many?" Yun He said with a heavy countenance, "There are over a hundred Grand Sovereigns... all from the Northern Lands." "Compared to the Southern Lands, that's not that many more," Qi Yuan remarked, though doubts lingered in his mind. The number of powerhouses in this world was truly... unbalanced. There was definitely something skewed about this ratio. It was as if the Heavenly Dao of this world was hastily churning out powerhouses. "However, the Myriad Demons Realm provided reinforcements to the Venerable... nearly ten thousand Sovereign-level powerhouses," Yun He said in a low voice. "How many did you say?" Qi Yuan raised an eyebrow. Hearing this, Yun He assumed that the Blood Lord had been intimidated by the sheer number. After all, when he first heard about that number of Sovereigns, he too had felt that the Liufeng Realm was doomed. Not to mention that the Southern and Northern Lands had been locked in endless strife. "Nearly ten thousand, perhaps even more," Yun He repeated. "Understood." Hearing this, Qi Yuan's heart settled. That was it? Just that? He had not even given his Grand Sermon yet! Thinking of something, he could not help asking, "With such a massive disparity between the Southern and Northern Lands, how have you managed to hold them off for so long?" "Because Master... received a heaven-bestowed supreme treasure known as the Heartless Lotus. When the Myriad Demons Realm invaded, Master led everyone in resistance and received a treasure bestowed by Heaven, which is how they managed to barely hold on." Qi Yuan's eyes lit up upon hearing this. "That fellow Heavenly Dao actually gives out treasures?" "About that... I do not know," Yun He stammered. After all, when it came to the Heavenly Dao, that was beyond what a mere Grand Sovereign could pry into. "Oh, wonderful!" Qi Yuan chuckled in amusement, hands on his hips as he looked up at the azure sky. "I worked my fingers to the bone building factories for demonic monstrosities, personally laboring away for you to clean up trash like demonic monstrosities. And you won't even pay me a single copper of wages, huh?" Yun He and the baby-faced woman exchanged bewildered glances, completely unable to fathom the Blood Lord. Gazing at the heavens, Qi Yuan grew angrier the more he looked. "If you hadn't kept dishing out wives to lure me in back then, would I have ever come to work for you? Fine, now that I've come to work, you decide to exploit me, don't you?" Inside the White Emperor Palace, an absolute silence reigned, broken only by the Blood Lord's cursing and grumbling. The Sovereigns looked at Qi Yuan, wanting to laugh yet not daring to. Their understanding of the Blood Lord's madness gained a whole new dimension. "You were so warm and attentive to me before, and now you give me the cold shoulder! Do you think you're the Bull Demon King and I'm Princess Iron Fan?" "My demand isn't high: give me a Golden Core, or else I'll refine you into my Golden Core!" "Oh, and my Golden Core must be... huge! At least... no smaller than you! Even if it is smaller, it can't be by much!" Qi Yuan demanded extortionately without hesitation. After all, he had worked diligently in the Liufeng Realm for so many years without receiving a shred of wages; how could he not shake it down a bit? He had already decided that he needed to form a massive Golden Core. Otherwise, he would not be able to take down the Palace of Light. "Stop playing dumb! You already gave Bai Ze a treasure—does it make any sense not to give me one?" Looking up at the sky, Qi Yuan delivered another fierce threat: "Don't force me to... swallow you whole!" At that very moment, this stretch of heaven and earth seemed to shudder. It was as though the world itself had been frightened by Qi Yuan's threat. Both Yun He and the White Crane girl froze. Because just now, they too had felt the world tremble for an instant. An illusion? The two exchanged a glance, a bizarre thought springing up in their hearts. Could this Blood Lord of the Blood Palace really be talking to Heaven? As the trembling subsided, the corners of Qi Yuan's lips curved into a smile. "Now that's a good boy." This time, he was brimming with high spirits. He felt as though the Great Dao of the Golden Core lay directly ahead. "Swallowing a single Golden Core into the belly, one realizes life is governed by oneself, not Heaven!" Qi Yuan was already fantasizing about swallowing the Golden Core and becoming an Origin Core True Person. When that time came, of the five peak chief disciples across the entire Divine Light Sect, who would not look up to him as their leader? He could also graduate from village-level cultivation and formally enter county-level high school. This time, he would skip township-level entirely! Such was the power of a World Golden Core! Yet, thinking of something, his face suddenly went pale. "If the Golden Core is too big and I can't swallow it, what do I do?" "Does lubricant work well?" An hour later. Inside the White Emperor Palace, a trembling cry pierced the sky! Yun He's eyes went wide. "What did you say?! The Blood Palace has thirty thousand Sovereigns?!" ... Inside the Gate of Myriad Demons. A complex look filled He Wu's eyes. "Dagou, do you think our revered master truly is the Archdemon?" Ling Yayi's expression soured. "My name is Ling Yayi now, not Nangong Dagou!" Back then, the Thirteen Northern Demon Fiends had all learned of their pasts. "Dagou rolls off the tongue better." Ling Yayi rolled his eyes at He Wu, his expression turning solemn. "The scenes within the illusion... truly were the Archdemon's past." Hearing this, He Wu fell silent inside. In the illusion, the figure in blood-red robes slaughtered living beings. In truth, those events had genuinely happened. However, the master of those acts was the Archdemon. Whereas Ning Tao dying alongside the Blood Lord had been false. The demoness... had accompanied the Archdemon all along, slaughtering by his side. One could say that the wretched state of the Liufeng Realm today was inextricably linked to the Archdemon and the demoness. "Blood Pearl is not the Archdemon!" Ning Tao's firm voice rang out. Clad in a black dress, the character for 'demon' remained carved into her left cheek. Hearing her words, He Wu's gaze wavered before turning resolute. "Master isn't. And even if he were... so what? Our enemies have always been Shang Yanran and the Myriad Demons Realm!" "Hmph, that nine-tailed fox Shang Yanran—in my eyes, she's the real Archdemon!" Ling Yayi added indignantly.