Chapter 222 - 220: Demon Realm

Chapter 222: Chapter 220: Demon Realm

The inn’s main hall was deserted.

The place was clean, with tables, chairs, and linens wiped spotless. A few floral arrangements added a touch of elegance.

An attendant was dozing off behind the counter. He jolted awake when he saw Chen Qingyang approach, rubbing his eyes and saying, "...Huh? If you’re looking for a meal, we have no food. If you need lodging, we have no rooms. Please try somewhere else, sir!"

Chen Qingyang glanced at him. The attendant had no Cultivation whatsoever; he was just an ordinary person. ’If the inn really does business this way, won’t it arouse suspicion?’

He ignored the attendant and sat down. "What if I just want a pot of tea?"

Seeing the sword on Chen Qingyang’s back and his don’t-mess-with-me demeanor, the attendant came over. He stooped slightly, forcing a smile. "Sir, if you want tea, why not go to a teahouse? They have the finest leaves. All we have here are the dregs!"

But Chen Qingyang was not so easily dismissed. "Then bring me a pot of the dregs. I’ll pay you for it."

They were open for business, after all. Though impatient, the attendant couldn’t just offend a customer. "Please wait a moment."

Before long, the tea was brewed. Chen Qingyang glanced at it. It was, indeed, full of dregs. He couldn’t very well complain to the attendant, who had, after all, warned him beforehand.

He resigned himself to it and took a shallow sip.

At least the flavor was strong.

’Master Qing He had only told him to come here; someone would inform him of what to do next. So I’ll just follow the Master’s instructions and wait patiently.’

He had just swept the area with his spiritual sense and discovered that all fourteen rooms on the inn’s second floor were occupied, housing twenty-one people in total.

’If they were all sent by the Tai Xu Sect, their objective can’t just be reconnaissance. You wouldn’t need this many people for that.’

After he had been sitting for a short while, a man came downstairs. He wore a Golden Robe, had a portly, prosperous look, and was laden with accessories. Outwardly, at least, he looked every bit a native of Heyang North City in the Western Continent Kingdom.

Chen Qingyang didn’t look at him, but the man approached. "You... where are you from?"

’I can’t gauge his Cultivation, but it’s higher than mine. I can faintly sense a Daoist Sect aura. He must be one of us.’

"I was sent by Qing He to handle a task."

Hearing the name Qing He, the man’s expression flickered, but he still needed to be sure. "Then... you’ve come from Nine Truths?"

Chen Qingyang nodded. "I have."

They kept their heads close and their voices extremely low, so the attendant didn’t hear what they were discussing. Not that he was interested, anyway.

His identity confirmed, the man burst out laughing. "Ah, so it’s you, my good brother! Please, come upstairs!"

As he led Chen Qingyang upstairs, he didn’t forget to call out an order to the attendant, "Bring up a pot of good tea! How can anyone drink this stuff?"

He was a valued guest, so the attendant naturally wouldn’t dare to be neglectful.

Once they were inside a room on the second floor, the man clasped his hands in a formal bow. "I am Ruan Chongli of Dingling Peak. And you are, Junior Brother?"

Chen Qingyang had never heard of Dingling Peak before, but that was normal. The Tai Xu Sect had so many peaks that it was impossible to know them all.

"Chen Qingyang of Cyan Bamboo Peak. I was sent by Master Qing He to deliver this letter to you."

As he spoke, he handed the letter over.

Ruan Chongli took the letter but wasn’t in a hurry to read it. Instead, he asked Chen Qingyang, "I don’t recall seeing you at the Nine True Temple, Junior Brother Chen. Did the Sect decide the situation was getting out of hand and send more people?"

Chen Qingyang shook his head. "No."

"So the Sect doesn’t intend to have a complete falling out with the Demon Sect. They still want to maintain the status quo."

Only then did he open the letter. He read the contents carefully before conjuring a small flame and burning it to nothing but ash.

"Junior Brother Chen, I’ll arrange a room for you. Rest for a day or two, and then you can head back. Be careful on the road. As long as you don’t go looking for trouble, you’re unlikely to be discovered by the Demon Sect. We will, of course, carry out the Master’s instructions."

Chen Qingyang recalled seeing the name "Netherworld Peak" in the letter. Combined with what he’d seen on his journey, his curiosity was piqued. "Senior Brother, could you tell me what this is all about with Netherworld Peak?"

Ruan Chongli slapped his forehead. "Ah, right. You have to report back to Master Qing He. I should explain the whole situation to you so the Master can rest assured."

Chen Qingyang didn’t reply. This meant he could report back to the Master or choose not to; either way, Senior Brother Ruan had offered the information of his own accord.

"Not long ago, Demon Sect Disciples infiltrated our Nine True Mountain and killed many of our sect-mates. So, the Sect dispatched us to infiltrate the Demon Sect Territory in turn, an eye for an eye. It’s been this way for hundreds of years."

"But before we could get started, we heard that disciples from the Demon Sect’s Netherworld Peak had ventured deep into the Yong Kingdom. We were ordered to stand down and instead secretly gather intelligence on Netherworld Peak."

"Everyone here has strictly followed Master Qing He’s orders. We captured two Demon Sect disciples from Netherworld Peak and investigated every Fuyuan Temple within a radius of thousands of miles, but we’ve had no substantial breakthroughs yet. When you return, Junior Brother, you can report this truthfully, so the Master knows we’ve been busy."

The Daoist and Demon Sects were both titans of Immortal Cultivation in the Cyan Nether Continent. The two sides were mutually wary, and even their conflicts were managed with extreme restraint.

For instance, after Demon Sect Disciples infiltrated Nine True Mountain to kill people and damage the Circulation of Stars Demon Suppression Array, the Daoist Sect would dispatch a team of its own to sneak in and retaliate in kind.

They couldn’t let the situation escalate, but they also couldn’t just suffer a loss in silence and be underestimated. With one less Golden Core True Monarch, the Tai Xu Sect was at a major disadvantage.

"So, Senior Brother, won’t you get caught doing these things in Demon Sect territory?"

Ruan Chongli replied, "And what if they do find out it was us? As long as we don’t stay in one place for too long, they can’t track us. Besides, if only one or two people die, the Demon Sect won’t even suspect us. They love their infighting."

’That actually made a lot of sense!’

Hearing this, Chen Qingyang suddenly felt he might have been overly cautious last time. ’Even though that place had an Array, a few more deaths probably wouldn’t have been noticed.’

"You said there’s unusual activity from Netherworld Peak. Senior Brother, do you have any idea what it might be?"

This wasn’t part of Master Qing He’s instructions; it was purely Chen Qingyang’s own curiosity.

"It must be related to the Saint Heir."

The mention of the Saint Heir immediately made Chen Qingyang think of the group of women at Fuyuan Temple.

"If it’s a Saint Heir, why is the Yong Kingdom involved?"

Seeing Chen Qingyang press the issue, Ruan Chongli hesitated. "This is just my own speculation, so don’t take it as fact. When you report to the Master, Junior Brother Chen, you must make that clear."

But Chen Qingyang said, "Don’t worry."

This Senior Brother Ruan glanced out the window, a look of reminiscence in his small, triangular eyes, which were squeezed by his plump cheeks.

"I’m just guessing based on snippets I’ve overheard. They say the Netherworld Peak Master’s time is almost up. If he can’t transfer his entire Cultivation with the Star Shifting technique, his life will end and his dao will scatter. The Demon Sect would then be short one Golden Core True Monarch..."

Senior Brother Ruan was a reasonable man. Seeing Chen Qingyang’s confused expression, he elaborated. "Junior Brother, you’ve just arrived, so you wouldn’t know. The Netherworld Peak Master is already over ten thousand years old. His Star Shifting skill allows him to borrow the power of the Nine Netherworld when he’s on the verge of death from the Celestial Human Five Declines and find a suitable body to be reborn in."

"If the technique succeeds, he gains another five hundred years of life. His Cultivation, True Skills, and even his past life’s memories will all be preserved without any loss. It’s far superior to the Bridge of Longevity. My guess is that the one who can extend the Netherworld Peak Master’s life this time is very likely the soon-to-be-born daughter of the Yong Kingdom’s Monarch."

After hearing all this, Chen Qingyang’s first reaction was disbelief. "Something this important... if there’s even one slip-up, they’d lose a Golden Core True Monarch. Why would they do it in our Daoist Sect Territory? It’s like walking right into a trap."

"Sigh!" Ruan Chongli shook his head. "I know. Who can make sense of it? Maybe the Demon Sect has other objectives, or maybe it’s just a feint. It’s hard to say. The situation is complicated. I’m just the one running errands; all the major decisions are up to the Masters and True Monarchs!"

’He certainly knows his place,’ Chen Qingyang thought. ’He does what he’s told and doesn’t overstep.’

Chen Qingyang nodded and bowed. "What Senior Brother Ruan says is very reasonable. If it’s convenient, I’d like to hear more about the Demon Sect Territory. It wasn’t easy for me to get here, so I’d like to learn as much as I can."

As he spoke, he offered Ruan Chongli a Qihuang Replenishing Truth Pill. Chen Qingyang had plenty of them, so he didn’t feel the loss at all. "Just a small token of my respect."

Ruan Chongli was not one for false modesty. He accepted it immediately, tucking it into his robes with a hearty laugh. "Wonderful! Thank you, Junior Brother. In that case, I’ll be happy to tell you all about it."

"To understand the Demon Sect Land, you just need to remember this: seven mansions, ten kingdoms, and one palace."

"The ’seven mansions’ are seven Immortal Mansions for cultivation within the Demon Sect Territory. They have their own unique lineages. Though they are considered demonic, their paths are fundamentally different. Of course, they must serve as a Lower Institute for the Demon Sect to survive."

"The ’ten kingdoms’ are easy enough to understand—they’re the mortal kingdoms. But the Demon Sect is the Demon Sect, a far cry from the compassionate nature of our Tai Xu Sect. The Demon Sect controls these ten kingdoms only to use their people as ’blood food.’ The citizens suffer unspeakably, a world away from the lives of the people governed by our Daoist Sect."

"Finally, the ’one palace’ is the Nine Nether Mechanic Divine Palace. Originally, like the other Six Sects of Cyan Nether, it held sway over the southeast of the Cyan Nether Continent. They were affiliated with neither the demonic nor the daoist path. With their own unique heritage and a Golden Core True Monarch of their own, their Sect was considered independent."

"Later, the Golden Core True Monarch of the Nine Nether Mechanic Divine Palace perished completely. Since their territory was close to the Yu Xiao Demon Sect, they gradually fell into alliance with them, and are now considered the second major power of the Demon Sect..."

Ruan Chongli’s explanation didn’t just give Chen Qingyang a full picture of the Demon Sect; it gave him his first truly comprehensive understanding of all the Immortal Sect powers in the Cyan Nether Continent. Everything he’d known before had just been scraps pieced together.

’The Daoist and Demon Sects, plus the Six Sects of Cyan Nether, made for eight major powers in total. Then there were all the other Immortal Mansions of various sizes, all affiliated with either the Daoist or Demon Sects. This place is quite lively.’

’If the Daoist and Demon Sects hadn’t risen and seized the majority of the resources, there would probably be even more sects, large and small.’

"Senior Brother Ruan, I don’t want to go back just yet. I’d like to get some experience in the Demon Sect Territory. Do you have any recommendations?"