Chapter 292 - 291: Avoiding the Calamity

Blue Star, a remote and barren place. After Zuo Xuan had located over one hundred thousand prodigies and confined them all within the Eight-direction Teleportation Ship, he initiated the teleportation sequence once more. The massive vessel slowly tore open a rift in space, and a final command was transmitted into the mind of every person on Blue Star—

"In twenty years, I, Zuo Xuan, will visit Blue Star again. Cultivate your prodigies well and await my return."

As soon as the voice faded, the colossal vessel traversed the rift and departed, right before the eyes of everyone on Blue Star.

The purple halo gradually faded, and Blue Star was released from the suppression of the projected Realm, leaving only devastation in its wake.

The upper echelons of the Xia Country Capital and the various provincial districts had been all but wiped clean. The major factions had also suffered devastating blows, their strongest members all abducted.

Meanwhile, Kunlun City was also a scene of ruin, as if not a single blade of grass could grow. It was utterly dilapidated, just as it had been at the end of the college entrance exams.

A gecko scurried through a fissure-laced wall, shaking its head from side to side as it crawled deeper inside.

HUMMM...

Upon glimpsing a massive crater, the gecko froze. A strange ripple, like a screen refreshing, swept through the area. SWISH! The gecko and the ruins vanished, replaced by a wondrous ecosystem where steel and primeval forest coexisted. The figures of numerous Great Demons appeared—none of them had been taken!

DRIP...

A single, perfectly round droplet of water slid from the heart of a green leaf by Dragon Lake, creating endless ripples.

Barefoot and standing in the center of Dragon Lake, Chen wore a cold expression. He gazed in the direction Zuo Xuan had departed and snorted. "A mere Harmonization Realm cultivator, calling himself a Venerable. Which Great Realm would dare to make such an arrogant claim?"

’In my previous life, before my True Form perished, I traveled to many Great Realms and encountered numerous powerful races. Yet, it was rare to meet beings who surpassed the Harmonization Realm. Information about them was exceptionally scarce.’

’The Harmonization Realm is practically the limit of what a Great Realm can sustain, which is equivalent to the Demon Emperor Level.’

’As for the so-called Venerables, in his era, they existed only in legends...’

"Your Majesty, what just happened?"

The young man, Dream Demon, who had the image of a colorful butterfly on his forehead, asked with lingering fear. Even under the protection of the Dragon Lake domain, he could feel the probing gaze from before.

It was like playing hide-and-seek by covering yourself with a single sheet of paper. Getting caught meant death. The thrilling suspense was utterly terrifying.

They had relied entirely on Emperor Chen’s Dragon Lake to escape this calamity.

At this moment, they still didn’t realize what they had almost faced, nor were they aware of Blue Star’s situation. They only felt that an absurdly powerful being had passed by Blue Star and casually decided to snatch a few ants for amusement.

However, the one in control of everything, Emperor Chen, had long foreseen this great calamity with the help of Dragon Lake. He had gathered the many prodigies of the Kunlun Demon Clan to hide them from the search.

"It’s just the Emperor Blue Lizard Clan from the Nine Venerable Great Realm plundering geniuses. This is quite normal. Whenever they detect the fluctuations of a wild Fusion Realm cultivator, they will make a move to capture them."

Chen spoke in a calm, unhurried tone, but he was also searching his mind for related information. He couldn’t recall which realm the Nine Venerable Great Realm was.

’Perhaps it’s due to the different flows of time. The temporal flow varies between many Great Realms, making it difficult to establish equivalent connections. As a result, some powerful experts who step into a wild, smaller world for a short while find that a thousand years have passed by the time they return.’

The current Chen had no idea how much time had passed since the Era of Dragon Fall.

According to the temporal flow of the Celestial Profound Great Realm in the Northern Boundary, thirty thousand years had passed. However, other Great Realms didn’t necessarily follow this standard.

Of course, within interconnected Great World Communities, a standard timeline would exist. As long as he could find a way to locate a complete Great Realm, he could then determine which Great World Community he was in and confirm the time scale.

The Era of Dragon Fall referred to the epoch when the True Dragon fell—a Dragon Race expert who had transcended the Harmonization Realm and left footprints across countless Great World Communities.

It was no exaggeration to say that if the location of the True Dragon’s burial site were revealed, Blue Star would be instantly crushed to dust by experts from every Great Realm.

This world would know no peace ever again.

But how could information about the True Dragon be so easily exposed? After its death, it was subject to a cataclysmic information blockade. Now, many secrets could no longer be indirectly investigated. The Cyan Simurgh Palace, the peak of the Human Race, the nine great Ancient Demon Clans—all were things of the past. Even the beings who knew of them were unsure who was still alive...

Thinking of this, Chen swept his gaze over the crowd of Demon Marshals, Demon Generals, young Ancestral Great Demons, and specially cultivated demon clans surrounding Dragon Lake. He spoke calmly again, "There is no need to be so tense. As long as I am here, you will all be safe from disaster. A large-scale, cross-realm teleportation consumes immense energy. That man, Zuo Xuan, said he would return in twenty years, and so he will. This barren world cannot sustain his teleportation Spiritual Treasure for more frequent use."

As always, he began to impart knowledge far beyond the level of Blue Star to the demons of the Kunlun Demon Clan, a process he called "enlightenment."

The powerful bloodline of the Dragon Race could suppress all living beings, but it could also embrace them. Even with his supremely noble heritage, he would not abandon the demon clan that had been born because of him.

One’s perspective is defined by one’s knowledge. Only by showing Dream Demon, Wu Xuan, and Beiming that Blue Star was small and the world outside was vast could he nurture experts brave enough to venture into the deep cosmos.

It was a shame about Feng Li. As the most talented Great Demon of the Kunlun Demon Clan, he had also gone to the Northern Boundary to broaden his horizons but had never returned.

The ways of the world were fickle. The Dragon Race could foresee calamity, but they could not control the Celestial Secret.

But, no matter. With Xia Country now empty of experts, having found the Dragon Lake ruin—a Secret Realm he had refined in his previous life—he could still cross the void and travel to other Great Realms.

He would personally take Dream Demon, Beiming, and Wu Xuan out to see the worlds and, while he was at it, help them achieve Fusion!

...

After Sang Island experienced this great calamity, the Sakai Family and the Sang Island Demon Clan descended into utter chaos. Believing it was the end of the world, all manner of ugly behavior was exposed. Human on human, human on demon, demon on demon, groups of demons, groups with humans and demons... it was the height of perversion.

An unsettling idea to frantically reproduce took hold, as if they were trying to seize the initiative and birth a new generation of prodigies.

After all, there were no more Grandmasters on Blue Star. Even the Dharma Realm experts had been plundered, making the few remaining Dharma Realm cultivators the strongest, and their numbers were scarce.

If they didn’t cultivate the next generation now, their entire lineage could be broken.

Moreover, the earlier death of BaKi had been a massive shock to them. As an ecosystem that had existed in dependence on BaKi, they had to find a way to save themselves.

Many clan members entered the Sang Island Secret Realm, intending to claim BaKi’s inheritance and find even more powerful legacy treasures.

Within the ruins of BaKi’s palace stood a domineering statue of him. The new Patriarch of the Sakai Family knelt and paid his respects before daring to step inside to search for the inheritance.

The reason was simple: Lord BaKi had once said that death was a way to escape a great calamity, not the end of life.

How could a top-tier Demon Emperor who had cultivated to the Harmonization Realm and revived in the current era with his memories intact possibly have no contingency plans?

The humans who had bound themselves to BaKi’s bloodline could not muster the slightest thought of resistance. They obeyed like slaves. Even coming to the ruins to accept the inheritance after the great calamity was merely them following BaKi’s posthumous command...