Chapter 404: The Ancient and Modern Recorder (15)

In Mu Ziqiang's pupils, a blade aura several thousand meters long tore across the sky. Then a middle-aged man in plain cloth robes stood proudly alone, blocking the path of a hundred-thousand-strong demonic army without the slightest trace of fear.

"The strongest of the Wooden Scenery Dynasty!"

Five figures emerged from within the demonic ranks. Each radiated an aura of extreme terror.

Five demon kings.

They intended to join forces against the Great Elder of the Heavenly Origin Sect.

The Heavenly Origin Sect stood on the brink of annihilation.

The Great Elder's cultivation had long reached the peak of the age. He had attained the eighth level of the Profound Connection Realm. Given another two hundred years, he might have challenged the Void Refining Realm.

He no longer had that time.

At the critical moment, a streak of crimson light flashed past, forcing one of the powerful demons back. A woman of elegant and noble bearing stepped forward to stand shoulder to shoulder with the Great Elder. She was Ruan Hongyao, the current sect master of the Heavenly Origin Sect.

The Great Elder gave a bitter smile.

"Why did you return?"

Ruan Hongyao answered, "If I left, we would have no chance at all. The sect has already preserved its final spark. Whatever comes next, we will face it together."

She moved closer to the Great Elder and looked at the silver-white blade in his hand.

"Do not hesitate. I know you cultivate the Emotionless Blade Path."

For the first time, struggle appeared in the Great Elder's eyes. He truly possessed a great opportunity: the incomplete inheritance of an ancient venerable that required one to sever all emotion and cut off the mortal path in order to reach perfection.

Yet throughout his life, he had been bound by emotion. The sect, friends, family, the one he loved…

"Do it."

This time, the Great Elder showed no hesitation. As the long blade descended, an even more terrifying aura erupted from his body, stirring the wind and clouds.

Mu Ziqiang could barely keep his eyes open. That dreadful blade aura split the dark clouds in the sky in two. When he opened his eyes again, screams rang out. In a single instant, the Great Elder of the Heavenly Origin Sect had slain three demon kings. Yet the one holding the blade was no longer a middle-aged man. He had become an elder with hair white as snow.

Just as the white-haired elder was about to continue his slaughter, a rift suddenly opened in space. As the crack widened, a demon whose body was covered in rock-like muscle stepped forth. Clear layers of texture marked those muscles.

The Li Demon Emperor, the chief culprit behind the invasion of the Wooden Scenery Dynasty.

The sharp blade's aura actually cut through the Demon Emperor's skin, drawing blood as black as ink.

The Li Demon Emperor raised a fist and smashed both space and earth. He struck the elder from the sky down to the ground, shattering an entire mountain peak.

The elder had not died. He drove his long blade into the earth. White hair flew wildly, covering his face and eyes.

The ground cracked apart. Countless demons of the army turned into blood mist in an instant, caught by the residual aura. Between heaven and earth, only a single blade aura remained, piercing from sky to ground and facing the Li Demon Emperor directly. With the power of the Profound Connection Realm, he sought to slay an emperor.

A knife wound appeared on the Li Demon Emperor's body. Flesh tore open from top to bottom, revealing stark white bone.

A laugh like rolling thunder echoed through heaven and earth.

"I did not expect a true warrior. You are just like the one who defeated this emperor centuries ago. Whenever the human race faces Scourge, people like you always appear to hold up the falling sky."

The Li Demon Emperor walked slowly forward. When he drew near the elder's body, the old man still gripped the hilt with all his strength. Yet he would never wake again.

"Had you been given another ten years, the power of that single strike might have been enough to kill this emperor."

The Li Demon Emperor's voice carried both regret and relief. He watched as the dead elder's body, from feet to head, slowly scattered like dust in the wind and returned to heaven and earth. The blade vanished with him.

The two highest-cultivation experts in the history of the Heavenly Origin Sect.

Current sect master Ruan Hongyao and current Great Elder Sun Ao had both fallen in battle.

Mu Ziqiang felt an indescribable sorrow in his heart. The human race of the Wooden Scenery Dynasty had suffered total defeat.

Ten years passed in the blink of an eye.

After the deaths of the Heavenly Origin Sect's master and Great Elder, a few disciples managed to escape, yet it no longer mattered. The Heavenly Origin Sect's orthodoxy had been extinguished, and the Wooden Scenery royal house stood alone in dominance.

The price was steep. Every year, the Wooden Scenery royal house was required to offer tribute to the Li Demon Clan. The tribute consisted not of treasures or pills, but of living people: either powerful cultivators or young prodigies of outstanding talent.

When the tribute fell short, even members of the royal house itself became part of the offering.

Whenever Mu Ziqiang thought of this, he felt only bitter irony. Rather than remain a true king, his father had chosen to become a dog. He did not choose death.

Mu Ziqiang joined the Li Demon Clan. His blood was replaced with that of the Li Demon Clan.

Through this, he learned of a far broader world.

Demonic races were many and varied. Though the Li Demon Clan was powerful, it ranked as nothing special among them. The truly mighty demonic races could contend with the human Sacred Mountains. It was only because the human race possessed those Sacred Mountains that it had survived to this day, clinging to a fragile existence.

Mu Ziqiang performed well. After obtaining the mask and wearing it, the talent that had already marked him as a once-in-a-century genius of the royal house advanced at a terrifying pace. He became the foremost genius of the Li Demon Clan. During a contest, he caught the eye of the Holy Son of the demonic sacred clan, the Demon Qilin, who took him as a retainer.

The Demon Qilin was the foremost genius of the demonic side in ten thousand years. Once he matured, he stood a real chance of completely destroying the human Sacred Mountains and claiming dominion over this world.

Mu Ziqiang earned the Demon Qilin's recognition through sheer ruthlessness.

The Demon Qilin despised any lingering connection between demons and humans. He demanded that Mu Ziqiang sever every last blood tie from his human past.

Mu Ziqiang slaughtered the entire Wooden Scenery Dynasty, including all his relatives and even his own parents. That ruthlessness won the Demon Qilin's approval. Even among demons, such merciless figures were rare.

Mu Ziqiang carried out many tasks for the Demon Qilin, infiltrating the human race and eliminating numerous human geniuses.

This deepened the Demon Qilin's trust.

"Mu Mo, when I one day become a Saint and rule the Sacred Mountains, whatever mountains and rivers you desire, I shall grant them to you!"

The Demon Qilin laughed heartily and kept Mu Ziqiang constantly at his side. When other demons mocked Mu Ziqiang for his human origins, the Demon Qilin killed them without mercy.

All of this continued until five hundred years later.

Sensing that his cultivation had reached a level sufficient for self-preservation, the Demon Qilin took Mu Ziqiang and slipped into human territory, intending to test the strength of human experts.

What should have been a flawless plan went awry.

After the Demon Qilin entered human lands and killed several powerful humans, he sensed that something was wrong.

In complete silence, a dagger slid into the Demon Qilin's chest. At the same time, Mu Ziqiang revealed strength far beyond what he had previously shown.

"Why… why would you betray me?"

The dagger contained the blood of a human Saint. It suppressed the Qilin soul within the Demon Qilin and severed his connection to the demonic Saints.

At that moment, human martial artists stood in the void on every side.

The Demon Qilin understood at once. He had been betrayed.