Translator: Nyoi-Bo Studio Editor: Nyoi-Bo Studio
The barren land of the Demon Realm was vast and boundless, with countless groups of demon beasts.
Similar to how the Verdant Gazelle Palace guarded its territory, several powerful demon beasts dominated the land around the White Tiger Castle.
Additionally, battles happened constantly between different demon clans. The strong devoured the weak, and the strong ultimately survived.
No matter how these monsters fought, they needed to obey the order of the Demon Emperor of the Celestial Demon City.
The Celestial Demon City was the largest in this boundless area, as well as the ruling regime of this territory. They guarded the territory closest to the world of human cultivators and attracted the most powerful demon beasts nearby.
At that moment, Ye Futian and his companions were steering their swords and flying in the air at the outskirt of Celestial Demon City.
The Verdant Gazelle Palace Lord and Qingyang He also accompanied them.
“The Celestial Demon City is ahead,” the Verdant Gazelle Palace Lord said, pointing forward. Ye Futian looked at the magnificent city. Compared to human cities, this demon city had a more primitive atmosphere; it was not very delicate but looked majestic, with buildings directly piled up by giant stones.
“The demon aura is so strong,” Ye Futian looked up at the sky above the Celestial Demon City. An appalling demon aura enveloped the boundless sky and earth as if nobody could cross the sky.
“As the main city of the Demon Realm closest to the Heavenly Mandate Realm of human cultivators, the Celestial Demon City is the most dangerous area during times of war. Since aristocrats of demon clans are unwilling to stay here, the Celestial Demon City is often regarded as an exile destination within the Demon Realm. Some powerful demon beasts who had committed crimes were exiled and guarded here,” said the Verdant Gazelle Palace Lord.
“So the four Demon Emperors who are now guarding the Celestial Demon City are all exiled?” Ye Futian asked. The Verdant Gazelle Palace Lord had introduced the four Demon Emperors of the Celestial Demon City to them.
This Celestial Demon City was different from what he expected, not because this main city on the edge of the Demon Realm was weak with only one Demon Emperor.
On the contrary, this demon city was as powerful as the Purple Underground Sect.
“The four Demon Emperors used to be in charge of different places, but their descendants all convened here. I’m not sure why they came here, but rumor says that the Taotie Demon Emperor with a fierce temperament disobeyed orders and committed crimes. The Demon Emperor of the Thunder Clan is said to be implicated in Emperor Ye Qing’s affairs at that time, so it is unclear who the Feather Men Clan offended. As for the overlord of the Celestial Demon City, he is believed to be extremely fierce,” the Verdant Gazelle Palace Lord said.
Ye Futian looked surprised. He looked at the Verdant Gazelle Palace Lord and asked, “What is the relationship between the Thunder Clan and Emperor Ye Qing?”
“It is rumored that one of Emperor Ye Qing’s mounts at that time was a Thunder Beast,” the Verdant Gazelle Palace Lord replied.
Suddenly, Ye Futian’s thoughts seemed to go back to many years ago, when the thunder dragon laid on the ground in front of the statue of Emperor Ye Qing in Qingzhou City. He remembered that his Thunder Dragon Spirit appeared in the Qingzhou Academy that year all because of a wisp of the Thunder Dragon’s soul.
“All the monsters that were directly related to Emperor Ye Qing met terrible fates, and other powerful Demon Clans were silenced afterward. The overlord of the Celestial Demon City, Zhu Tian the Demon Emperor, is said to have a great relationship with the Ape Clan. He might also be affected by this,” the Verdant Gazelle Palace Lord continued.
Ye Futian listened carefully. The overlord of this Celestial Demon City was Zhu Yan the Demon Emperor, and the three royal demon clans serving under his throne were the Taotie Clan, the Thunder Clan, and the Feather Men Clan.
“These four Demon Emperors’ descendants are all ill-tempered and domineering. The whole Celestial Demon City is under their orders. Once we enter the Celestial Demon City, try not to offend them,” The Verdant Gazelle Palace Lord reminded. Among the four Demon Emperors’ descendants, Zhu Yan the Demon Emperor was the most influential; ordinary demon beasts had shivers run up their spines upon hearing his name.
They continued chatting and soon reached the Celestial Demon City and entered.
Several demon beasts walked on the street of the Celestial Demon City amongst the horrifyingly demonic atmosphere. Many demon beasts that were walking resembled humans, while others were half-human half-beast; they had either a beast head and a human body or a human head and a beast body. For example, Ye Futian just saw a fair-looking middle-aged man whose upper body appeared human, but his lower body resembled a white horse. The weird scene looked like a human was riding on a horse.
Such scenes were common within the Celestial Demon City, and soon Ye Futian began to get used to it. Demon beasts also had their preferences and lived their lives in different forms that they liked.
Ye Futian and his companions were human cultivators, but most of the demon beasts ignored them. Although there were far fewer human beings than demon beasts in the Celestial Demon City, it was common to see humans; their presence was nothing special to demon beasts.
“Warriors of all forces should have reached the Celestial Demon City,” Ye Futian said. Although they set off directly after receiving the news, those influential figures shouldn’t have departed later than them.
“When people enter the Demon Realm, their usual first stop is by the Celestial Demon City to inquire information. With so many cities in the Demon Realm, it’s pointless to walk around aimlessly,” the Verdant Gazelle Palace Lord said with a nod, “I have old friends in the Celestial Demon City. I’ll take you there and ask if there is any news.”
“All right,” Ye Futian said, nodding. It was much easier for them to be led by the Verdant Gazelle Palace Lord.
They soon arrived at a demon residence of the Celestial Demon City. The one they visited was a powerful demon beast; it had a human body but also a beast’s head with two horns on top.
“Brother Qingyang, are these humans?” the bull-headed demon beast asked the Verdant Gazelle Palace Lord in a rough voice.
“Yes,” the Verdant Gazelle Palace Lord replied, nodding, “They saved Qingyang He’s life; otherwise my daughter He would have fallen into the hands of that white tiger. Sooner or later, I will get my revenge.”
“That tiger’s nature is ferocious and overbearing, so be careful,” the bull-headed demon beast reminded, nodding.
“You may ask him questions,” the Verdant Gazelle Palace Lord said to Ye Futian.
Ye Futian nodded and said, “Sir, you must have heard about human cultivators of the Heavenly Mandate Realm who had come here recently. Have you heard anything about Gu Tianxing in the Celestial Demon City?”
“Nowadays there are many human cultivators in the Celestial Demon City, and most of them should be gathering in the Celestial Demon Arena. Demon Crown Prince Zhu Yan set up three demon matrixes there for human cultivators to challenge. He will tell the news to those who succeed, but he’ll also ask those who fail to leave behind their belongings and cultivation method.”
The bull demon said to Ye Futian, “You can go there if you want your answer, but I advise you to be mentally prepared. The demon crown prince will personally go there and take charge, so you won’t have any chance. If you want to try, you must be mentally prepared to submit all your belongings.
“So far, many people have tried only to have met terrible fates. Some people refused to hand things over and were beaten to death. Despite this, this is totally voluntary, and the rules have been set to follow; the demon crown prince didn’t force them, so…”
“I see,” Ye Futian said, nodding. He had heard from the Verdant Gazelle Palace Lord before that the demon beasts of the Zhu Yan Demon Clan were all quite obstinate, which he could tell from how they did things.
“If that is the case, we shouldn’t stay here and bother you. We should go now.”
Ye Futian showed his intention to leave, and the bull demon nodded, looked at the Verdant Gazelle Palace Lord and said, “I’ll go with you.”
“Sure,” the Verdant Gazelle Palace Lord answered, and they together departed.
On their way, the Verdant Gazelle Palace Lord said, “The demon crown prince Zhu Yan and the other three demon princes, also known as the Four Tyrants of the Celestial Demon City, are often found together.”
“The Zhu Yan demon crown prince may be violent, but he is also sincere and principled. Otherwise, the other three Demon Emperors’ descendants wouldn’t be willing to follow or be around him. The Zhu Yan demon crown prince is also very talented. He probably set the rule so he could collect the top human cultivators’ cultivation abilities and learn the essence from them,” the bull demon said. He sounded as if he quite appreciated the Zhu Yan demon crown prince.
“We demon beasts’ abilities rely more on talents. From this perspective, there is much for us to learn from human cultivators,” said the bull beast. The Verdant Gazelle Palace Lord nodded. Had he not focused on acquisition, he would never have become as achieved as he currently was.
However, some top powerful demon beasts were born with unparalleled talent.
As they talked, they quickly headed straight to the central area of the Celestial Demon City.
The Celestial Demon City was the main demon city in the vast and boundless district.
The Celestial Demon Arena was located in the central area of the Celestial Demon City. At the moment, this area was full of human practitioners and demon beasts.
A person was soon shaken out from the Celestial Demon Arena and fell to the ground. Suddenly, appalling roars came from the area, from which one could tell the demon beasts were very excited.
His human companions were very embarrassed. These people were cultivators of Purple Underground Sect, one of the Eight Thunder Law Orthodox Sects in the Violet Heavenly Palace. Zhang Changqing was also in the crowd, his face sullen upon watching the scene unfold.
“Stupid animals,” Zhang Changqing whispered coldly. He raised his head and looked towards the Celestial Demon Arena. Three figures sat beside one another on the stairs in front of the Celestial Demon Arena. On the left side was a Taotie big monster, with a human head and Taotie’s body. His huge body leaned there lazily, but his eyes looked extremely fierce.
In the middle sat a beautiful woman with a pair of pure white wings behind her; she was the princess of the Feather Men Clan.
The demon beast hovering around to the right had a human head and a dragon’s body, with horns and long beards on his head that looked overbearing. He was the prince of the Thunder God Clan.
Right above them, a body in flames leaned lazily on a throne. He looked like an ape and appeared there in the form of his original body. His eyes seemed to contain golden fire; his lazy gaze swept down, making him look arrogant. He was the Zhu Yan demon crown prince.
“Can you do it or not?”
The Zhu Yan demon crown prince took a contemptuous glanced down at the human cultivators below and asked in a disdainful tone. The prince of the Thunder God Clan sitting below him said, “So far, I haven’t seen any qualified warriors yet. We haven’t even challenged you in person yet, but you still can’t do it?”
His voice was loud like thunder, his words resounding between the sky and earth like thunder. There were even wisps of Thunder Wills permeating in the air, emitting purple thunder aura.
The Taotie made a deep roar and opened his mouth wide; the sight of it looked awful. Demon beasts below them were thrilled to watch the scene unfold.
The faces of Zhang Changqing and other warriors turned even gloomier. In this case, only the top figures of the Violet Heavenly Palace could get rid of them!