Chapter 390: Keeping a Low Profile

In the blink of an eye, Li Musheng's body was already wreathed in surging demonic energy and fiendish light blazing to the sky.

The assembled elders from the seven major sects went wide-eyed and blank. Every one of them, who had just moments ago been doing their utmost to persuade Li Musheng to help, was struck immediately dumb.

They had all assumed Li Musheng was a person of the righteous path, on their side. None of them had imagined he would turn out to be in league with the demons.

In an instant, every one of them felt their hearts sink in despair.

With one great demon in the vortex and another standing right before them, these people had no chance whatsoever. Their deaths were all but certain.

At the same time, the Inviting Moon Palace's First Palace Mistress, who had been watching the situation in the air above from below, showed an expression of shock.

She had faced Li Musheng's attack herself before. At the time, there had been not the faintest trace of demonic energy on him, not the slightest sign that he was a person of the demonic path.

And yet the increasingly terrifying demonic aura now radiating from him was making it absolutely clear that he was indeed a demonic figure, and moreover a demon lord of unimaginable proportions.

"Daoist Qingyu is a demon lord, and this person before us is also a demon lord, both of them unfathomably powerful. Can this truly be the end for the righteous martial world?"

The expression in Wenyue's eyes shifted rapidly, though in her current state under Daoist Qingyu's Soul-Searching Technique, there was nothing she could do.

And she did not dare do anything either. She still needed Daoist Qingyu to tell her where her younger sister was.

"What in the world, this young man is actually a great demon lord?"

At the same moment, Theft Saint Bai Wuying caught sight of this from the foot of the mountain, and his expression changed dramatically.

"No, wait. He was perfectly fine a moment ago. How did he suddenly become a demon lord?"

Bai Wuying's brow creased deeply as he stared at Li Musheng's figure above.

The demonic energy roaring to the heavens, the blazing and overwhelming demonic light, and the aura that kept climbing, growing more and more terrifying, all of it was declaring without question that Li Musheng was a true and thorough demon lord of the first order.

After all, everyone in the martial world knew that once a person entered the demonic path, there was no turning back short of death. There had never been anyone in the world who had cultivated demonic arts and still managed to completely extinguish the demonic nature within themselves.

"Dammit, this young man really is a great demon lord."

Bai Wuying's complexion darkened, and his expression became increasingly unpleasant. As a person of the righteous path, encountering a demonic cultivator meant there was naturally no justification for standing by and watching.

But the situation was extremely tricky. Not only was his movement technique inferior to Li Musheng's, his martial cultivation likely was not a match for the man either.

Charging in rashly would probably mean not surviving the night.

Back at the Treasure Assembly Trading House, he had sworn to Bai Xiaotang with absolute certainty that he would bring Li Musheng back and string him up for a beating.

The reality now was not a question of him beating Li Musheng or Li Musheng beating him. The reality was that the moment he acted, given the way demonic cultivators operated, Li Musheng might just kill him tonight.

And just as Theft Saint Bai Wuying was in extreme indecision about whether to act, laughter rang out freely from within the demonic vortex above the Qingxuan Temple, the Sun and Moon Demonic Empress's voice carrying down.

"Eighth Prince of Great Li, for all that your martial talent is without peer in this age, what does it matter? In the end you are no different from me, unable to control the demonic nature within you, and you have fallen into the demonic path."

At those words, everyone present, from the seven major sects' experts to the Inviting Moon Palace's First Palace Mistress, all went momentarily still.

Every pair of eyes fixed on Li Musheng's figure wreathed in swirling demonic light with expressions of complete disbelief.

The Sun and Moon Demonic Empress's words were clearly addressed to Li Musheng, and what shocked everyone even more was the revelation of his identity as the Eighth Prince of Great Li.

This was just as stunning as Li Musheng suddenly transforming into a demon lord. After all, Li Musheng's name had spread throughout the martial world, and everyone was saying that he was destined to become the fourth Martial God.

"There must be some mistake. How could a demon lord become a Martial God?"

One of the seven major sects' experts shook their head with great difficulty, and Theft Saint Bai Wuying in the distance was thoroughly bewildered as well.

He had already guessed at Li Musheng's identity before, and having it confirmed from the Sun and Moon Demonic Empress's own mouth was not particularly surprising to him.

But when he thought about it, something felt deeply wrong. How could a prince of the Great Li dynasty be a demon lord? And on top of that, Li Musheng had openly clashed with the Assassination Saint of the Hidden Kill Pavilion in full view of the martial world.

If he had truly been a demon lord, there was no way no one would have known.

"Could he have entered the demonic path recently?"

Bai Wuying's brow furrowed in thought, then he shook his head with a deep sigh of regret, "What a waste. A martial talent like that, and he went and made the wrong turn into the demonic path. Simply unforgivable."

A figure like Li Musheng, who had a genuine shot at becoming a Martial God, and at such a young age, walking a path of no return. Even as an outsider, Bai Wuying found it deeply regrettable, an incalculable loss for the righteous martial world.

After all, Bai Wuying himself had once been considered a supreme martial prodigy, and had traveled far along the martial path in his time.

Even so, the level of a Martial God had always felt impossibly distant to him. He had long since given up hope of ever reaching it in this lifetime.

And here was a genius rare enough to actually have that shot, someone who made even Bai Wuying feel envy, and he had gone and thrown it all away by entering the demonic path.

"What is wrong with this young man's head? Entering the demonic path? If he had given me even a fraction of that talent, how wonderful that would have been."

Theft Saint Bai Wuying watched Li Musheng, whose demonic energy was blazing to the heavens, with a deeply complicated expression.

Li Musheng's face throughout remained completely composed. He stood in the air, the demonic aura around him still rising continuously, growing more and more terrifying by the moment.

He paid no attention whatsoever to the Sun and Moon Demonic Empress's words, only gave a casual wave of his hand. A surge of ferocious demonic energy swept outward, sending every one of the seven major sects' experts who had been resisting the Sun and Moon Demonic Empress's pressure flying in all directions.

In an instant, the experts from the seven major sects dropped from the sky like dumplings tumbling into a pot, landing one after another at the foot of the Qingxuan Temple's mountain.

A series of muffled groans rang out, and the assembled experts from the seven major sects crawled out of the craters their impacts had left in the rock and earth, looking thoroughly disheveled.

Though they had taken some injury from the fall, they had also been freed from the Sun and Moon Demonic Empress's pressure, making it a lucky escape.

"It seems you still have not fully entered the demonic path. You still have an absurdly soft heart left."

The Sun and Moon Demonic Empress's cold and killing-intent-laden voice drifted from the demonic vortex. Li Musheng glanced toward the vortex and said with a meaningful tone, "If you have attention to spare for talking to me, you would be better off absorbing that demonic cultivation while you can. Careful someone else takes it all."

At those words, one side of the demonic vortex suddenly shuddered.

"Wait where you are. Once my demonic arts are complete, I will come for your life."

Killing intent flooded from the demonic vortex. The Sun and Moon Demonic Empress seemed unable to contain the murderous demonic nature surging within her.

The seven major sects' experts who had landed at the foot of the mountain, having narrowly escaped for the time being, did not dare go anywhere near the demonic vortex overhead.

"What do we do now? This is already beyond anything we can handle. Should we simply withdraw first?"

One of the sect elders spoke with a pale face, but the Heaven Blood Palace elder shook his head, his gaze moving between Li Musheng and the demonic vortex, "There is no rush yet. That demon lord who is the Eighth Prince of Great Li is clearly at odds with the three demonic sects. Perhaps the dogs will tear each other apart..."

But before he could even finish the thought, the demonic vortex above suddenly imploded, and the two concentrations of demonic light it had contained poured entirely into two demonic-energy-wreathed figures.

The assembled seven major sects' experts looked over, and in the next instant every one of them changed expression sharply.

"What is happening? Why is Daoist Qingyu here, and... she seems to have become a demon lord as well..."

In everyone's line of sight, Daoist Qingyu was seated in the air with eyes closed, dressed in her gray robes, and a thread after thread of utterly terrifying demonic aura was emanating from her body.

The assembled experts from the seven major sects were all somewhat stupefied. There had been too many unexpected developments tonight, and not a single one of them was welcome.

And taken all together, it was almost surprising that none of them had already been done for by this point.

"Is it too late to run now?"

Someone was already speaking in panic. But the aura from Daoist Qingyu and the Sun and Moon Demonic Empress above the Qingxuan Temple was simply too overwhelming. The terrifying demonic pressure covered a range of several li in every direction around the Qingxuan Temple.

Even if they wanted to flee, under this demonic pressure that could not be resisted in any way, it was simply beyond them.

At the same moment, Theft Saint Bai Wuying, witnessing this scene, did not hesitate any longer and immediately prepared to conceal himself and go into hiding.

But at that moment, the Sun and Moon Demonic Empress, with nine black devouring demonic vortices suspended at her back, let her eyes, blazing with the eerie light of a demonic god, fall directly on the spot where Bai Wuying was, "Bai Wuying, I have been aware of your presence all along. The score between us is overdue for settlement tonight."

At those words, Theft Saint Bai Wuying's figure paused. Even so, he did not immediately slip away and vanish.

After a brief silence, Bai Wuying raised his eyes to meet the Sun and Moon Demonic Empress's gaze. He naturally understood that the person inside the Sun and Moon Demonic Empress's body was the Great Xuan emperor.

"Before Yuanqing died, I had already promised her I would let go of all grievances, retire from the martial world, and would not seek revenge against you."

Bai Wuying's true appearance emerged from the night, his face more serious than it had ever been, killing intent slowly building in his eyes, "But looking at things now, there is no peaceful outcome for us tonight. Whether it is for the sake of eliminating evil and upholding the righteous path, or for giving Yuanqing justice, I have no reason not to act."

At those words, the Sun and Moon Demonic Empress, blazing with demonic energy, gave a cold laugh. Nine devouring demonic vortices swirled at her back, her demonic aura sweeping through heaven and earth like a raging storm, "Insolent. You common thief of the martial world, you took my beloved Consort Yuan, and you dare seek revenge against me? Tonight I will drain you dry and grind your bones to dust, to vent the hatred I have carried in my heart for over a decade."

The unimaginable surge in power she had obtained had given the Sun and Moon Demonic Empress complete and overwhelming confidence. She no longer regarded Theft Saint Bai Wuying, the peerless Theft Saint of the martial world, as any kind of threat whatsoever.

And her blazing demonic eyes suddenly turned, fixing on Li Musheng hovering in the air opposite her, equally wreathed in demonic energy. She said with cold malice, "How convenient. Come at me together, both of you. I want to take you both on at once."

"Once I have devoured the martial cultivation from both of you, then I will..."

Here the Sun and Moon Demonic Empress paused, then with an almost imperceptible movement glanced at Daoist Qingyu, who was still seated in the air with eyes closed.

Clearly, at this moment she was burning with ambition and murderous intent, planning to kill Li Musheng and Bai Wuying first and then deal with Daoist Qingyu, making herself the night's undisputed winner.

But the words had barely left the Sun and Moon Demonic Empress's mouth when Li Musheng's voice drifted over, entirely light and casual, "You are getting ahead of yourself with this little bit of power? If you had my level of martial cultivation, you would probably be insufferable."

Li Musheng narrowed his eyes at the Sun and Moon Demonic Empress, and despite the overwhelming and terrifying demonic energy wreathing his body, he calmly shook his head with an expression of mild wonder, "I keep saying I am too modest a person, and really, only someone like me could manage it. Anyone else with this level of cultivation, how could they possibly hold themselves in check?"

At those words, whether the Sun and Moon Demonic Empress, or Bai Wuying, or the assembled seven major sects' experts at the foot of the mountain, every one of them went momentarily blank.

Because at that moment everyone present felt that Li Musheng's words were even more self-aggrandizing than anything the Sun and Moon Demonic Empress had said.

And this was with the Sun and Moon Demonic Empress having just obtained the Demonic Patriarch's legacy, her demonic power having surged enormously, to the point where even Bai Wuying was deeply wary of her with almost no confidence of winning.

But before anyone had fully processed this, Li Musheng's voice came again, "I am not going to say I did not give you a chance. Come at me together."

At those words, Daoist Qingyu, who had been seated in the air with eyes closed, suddenly snapped her eyes open, as though sensing Li Musheng's gaze.

In the next instant, a torrent of terrifying and immense demonic energy swept through heaven and earth. In a single moment, the sky was filled with swirling demonic shadows, and an enormous spectral demonic god manifested from behind Daoist Qingyu's figure, the demonic and fiendish energy surging like a rising storm to blot out the sky.

At the same time, the Sun and Moon Demonic Empress snapped her eyes open and stared at Daoist Qingyu's surroundings.

In the night sky, ten devouring demonic vortices revolved at Daoist Qingyu's sides, each one deep and dark as a void, like black holes of the cosmos, merged with heaven and earth itself, endlessly consuming everything around them.

"Ten devouring vortices? Impossible. How could you possibly have cultivated the Heaven-Devouring Demonic Art to the tenth level that only the Demonic Patriarch himself ever reached, and in such a short time?"

The demonic light around the Sun and Moon Demonic Empress churned with unsteady intensity, her disbelief plain.

Compared to Daoist Qingyu's ten vortices, the nine that the Sun and Moon Demonic Empress had been so proud of fell short not only in number, but in the sheer devouring power each one released.

At those words, Daoist Qingyu did not answer the Sun and Moon Demonic Empress's question. Instead, she looked toward Li Musheng across from her, then rose to her feet and stood in the air, pressing her palms together in a Daoist salute, "You came to the Great Xuan imperial palace at great risk to rescue this poor nun. I am unwilling to raise a hand against you. I ask that you withdraw."

At those words, the Sun and Moon Demonic Empress's expression shifted rapidly, and the murderous demonic intent in her eyes became nearly impossible to suppress.

She clearly had no desire to let Li Musheng go, but she also lacked sufficient confidence in her ability to defeat Daoist Qingyu. With a darkened expression, she could only appeal to her, "This person must die. Letting them go would be releasing a tiger back into the hills, and they will become a great threat in the future."