It now appeared that Qiang Liang’s decision had been correct.
All of the connate demon gods that’d allied with the humans had ultimately perished; there was no trace of them to be found anywhere in the world. Instead, the ones that Qiang Liang had led into the chaos, the final vestiges of the celestial court’s fortunes, had avoided disaster and were still alive.
Though the little fox was quite irritated by his rejection, she didn’t take him to task for it. Everyone had the right to make their own decisions, connate demon gods included.
“What are you doing here, Qiang Liang?” She jumped back onto Qing Yu’s shoulder and addressed the demon god with visible annoyance. She normally took her usual form of a nine-tailed fox and very rarely maintained her human form.
“Ah…” Qiang Liang looked at Lu Yun and heaved a sigh. “The chaos creatures have come.”
“What?!” Lu Yun and Qing Yu looked at each other in alarm. They both thought of what Tianqi was guarding in the chaos. Had the creatures come to claim that treasure?
“The chaos creatures have come?” Hongjun and Fuxi were also taken aback. The chaos creatures had existed for far longer than this realm. If one of their kind could evade the power of a realm and slip inside, they would be able to destroy everything of the known world.
Even though Hongjun was a creator, he was still insufficient to fight against these heavyweights. They were simply too strong, the true overlords of space.
“They’ve obtained the third connate chaos treasure and the one to do so was the most legendary and terrifying existence among them—the chaos dragon!” Qiang Liang elaborated solemnly.
Expressions froze and struggled to maintain themselves on everyone’s faces. Those present were the only ones who knew the truth of the matter, apart from the demon god addressing them. Even though Lu Yun had already used Quietus a few times and even employed it to hack apart a dao palace once, very few people knew of its existence. Anyone who saw it thought it simply to be a powerful connate treasure.
Up until now, very few knew that a third treasure had been born in the chaos.
The chaos dragon that their visitor dreaded was the unusual phenomena and form that Lu Yun took after calling upon the Dragonquake Scripture. After the demon god that’d wanted to take the treasure saw it, word had gotten around the connate demon gods in the chaos.
Failing to take note of the group’s expressions, Qiang Liang continued, “If the chaos creatures really force their way inside, their first targets will be us. Therefore, returning to the realm is our only hope for survival.”
“Ahem!” Lu Yun coughed softly. He didn’t intend on enlightening Qiang Liang about the true nature of things. This demon god had absolutely rivaled Leize back in the day and had surely improved by leaps and bounds after so many years. There were no weaklings among anyone who could survive in the chaos.
“You’ve endured a difficult life all these years, yet none of you defected to the chaos creatures,” Lu Yun smiled easily. Though his personal cultivation was currently lacking, his status and identity were incontrovertible. Many connate demon gods still turned jittery at the mention of the Flame Emperor.
“The Flame Emperor jests.” Qiang Liang reddened before continuing haltingly, “To be honest, more than half of the demon gods who departed from the realm have sworn allegiance to the chaos creatures. The remaining three thousand refuse to turn traitor because we all owe great debts of gratitude to the celestial emperor.”
Lu Yun rubbed his nose and didn’t have a response.
“Three thousand connate demon gods? Three thousand chaos realm masters wish to return to the world?” Qing Yu frowned, easily speculating what the consequences of this action would be.
Though the world of immortals had improved in spades, its greatest powerhouse was but one or two chaos realm masters. They wouldn’t be able to keep three thousand demon gods in check, so allowing this group to enter the realm… would be injecting a force with the power to rewrite the world.
Although the demon gods possessed enormous battle strength, it was far from promising that they’d decided to return at this crucial moment. Most of them were fiercely proud and unyielding to authority. When they had fallen short against the human race, they’d rather exile themselves to the chaos than bend the knee.
Would they keep to their place when they faced immortals weaker than them?
“Of course, not right now!” Qiang Liang quickly added when he noted Qing Yu’s hesitation. “Forty years later when the World Gates open… that’s when we’ll return to the realm and help the world of immortals defend against the yin spirits.”
He was aware of Qing Yu’s identity—the first person in all of history to grasp the great dao!
Whether it was the primitive great dao or human dao, or the current immortal dao, no living being had ever held it within their hands. Qing Yu was the only one to ever do so. Though she was very weak at present, her potential was enormous and it was only a matter of time before she became a creator.
“That could work…” Qing Yu sat down cross legged and quietly called upon the formula dao. “We can have them enter the Dao Academy and create three thousand more great daos. They’ll be the deans of the three thousand schools!”
Her eyes shot open and she looked at Qiang Liang. “We can start with you. You’ll be the first dean of the three thousand daos!”
Once the demon gods reentered the world, they would become living beings beneath the immortal dao. Since each of them grasped their own great dao, those would be required to assimilate into the immortal dao.
“Ah…” Qiang Liang frowned slightly. They’d entered the chaos in pursuit of freedom and an unwillingness to have anything to do with the humans. Who would’ve thought that interacting with the humans would be required after the chaos creatures forced them back to the realm? What made things worse was that they had to liaise with the Flame Emperor, the culprit behind destroying their foundations!
“Don’t bother coming back if you aren’t willing to do this. You can wander the chaos or swear loyalty to the chaos creatures. Do whatever you want other than set foot back in the realm again!” said Lu Yun. “There will be those who take care of you if you dare come back.”
Qiang Liang raised an eyebrow, ire setting in. He was a connate demon god of the great wilderness and the leader of three thousand demon gods! He possessed his own dignity and self respect.
“Have you two already become the masters of the world?” his tone took an unfriendly edge.
“Not yet, but just about,” responded the little fox. She looked meaningfully at Qiang Liang. “Three thousand connate demon gods means three thousand chaos realm masters. We can’t take the risk. You said so yourself as well that more than half have turned traitor. Who knows how many spies exist in the remaining three thousand?”
His brow rightly furrowed, Qiang Liang didn’t say anything.
Off to the side, Hongjun and Fuxi abstained from the conversation. Keeping strictly to themselves, none of the proceedings had anything to do with them.
“If we don’t agree to this… who is it that will meet us in battle? Hongjun, or Fuxi?” Qiang Liang suddenly smiled and looked at the two standing apart from the group.
“Daoist Hongjun and Holy Emperor Fuxi safeguard Mount Buzhou. They naturally don’t have time to spare for inconsequential matters like these.” Lu Yun nodded. “Fellow daoists, I let some stragglers survive on that fateful day due to a fleeting thought of mercy. If they dare cause any trouble, I would request that you exterminate this threat for me.”
“But of course,” responded a resonant voice in the air.
“If they dare enter the realm, I will completely eradicate the connate demon god bloodline,” swiftly followed a second voice.
“Pangu! God! You’re still alive!” Qiang Liang jumped with shock.
