Since ancient times, many have believed that demons and beasts are one and the same, that the so-called “Demon Race” comprises beasts that have cultivated their way into existence.

Tales of thousand-year-old fox spirits and ten-thousand-year-old locust tree demons abound in the storytellers’ narratives and scattered legends. These figures, bearing malevolent intent, inevitably fall before the might of human warriors.

Some posit a shared origin for demons and beasts, claiming that demonic nature is inherently Yin, and that demon beasts are merely hybrids of the two. The saying that a dragon gives birth to nine distinct sons is often cited as strong evidence for this claim.

Such notions, of course, are a product of contemptuous imagination, or perhaps a deliberate historical guidance by human sages to liberate humanity from the fear of the Demon Race, thus swinging to another extreme.

In truth, demons are simply demons, and beasts are simply beasts.

The Demon Race is truly favored by heaven and earth, born inherently superior, their Dao veins connected, promising infinite potential.

The hundred races all dwell beneath them, under their dominion.

Even the Dragon Race, before retreating into the vast sea, did not manifest their dragon forms but walked the world in Dao bodies, bearing only certain demonic markings. It was only after their retreat into the vast sea, to withstand the harsh environment, that they underwent various mutations.

The so-called nine sons of the Dragon Emperor, born from demonic consorts of different Demon Race species and possessing varied demonic markings, were entirely normal.

As for the Human Emperor slaying the Dragon Emperor’s nine sons to forge the Nine Bridges, the deliberate portrayal of their beast forms was for political expediency, not because these nine powerful heirs of the Dragon Emperor were truly beast-bodied and beast-formed.

Those ancient era exotic beasts and desolate beasts were also products of heaven and earth, born with boundless power. The former excelled in innate exotic laws, the latter in innate physique.

Through the long river of history, some perished, some degenerated, some were domesticated, some enhanced their reproductive capacity while sacrificing extraordinary abilities, some had their wisdom erased and their potential for strength severed…

These are the various wild beasts and domestic animals of today.

In the current age, wild beasts and domestic animals proliferate everywhere, exotic beasts are still occasionally seen, but desolate beasts are almost nonexistent.

These matters are recorded in the “Jing Xu Xiang Er Ji,” and related descriptions can also be found in some Confucian and Legalist classics, all of which Jiang Wang had studied at the Ji Xia Academy.

Students capable of studying at the Ji Xia Academy are all exceptional cultivation talents and naturally possess a correct understanding of the Demon Race.

Respecting opponents, understanding opponents, only then can one truly defeat them.

The Demon Race from the outset is not some brute force entity, nor is it some inherently flawed, inferior species… they are true sentient races, truly born strong, possessing talents unmatched by the hundred races.

One could even say, they are the nobility decreed by heaven!

Of course, the Human Race, throughout its long history from ancient times to the present, can be described in four words—human will triumphs over heaven.

Wild beasts are the degenerated forms of exotic and desolate beasts, fierce beasts are wild beasts selectively bred by the Human Race to enhance ferocity and dilute spirituality, and demon beasts are entirely species created by the Human Race from nothing…

The appearance of demon beasts greatly increased the production of Meridian Opening Pills and elevated the overall strength of the Human Race. It is also the most profound illustration of the Demon Race’s situation.

And the evil beasts in the Heaven Prison world, which differed from Jiang Wang’s understanding and whose formation was unknown, presented a new enigma.

In Jiang Wang’s perception, this black giant bear possessed the habits and intelligence of wild beasts, while approaching the power of demon beasts. Its immense size also neared that of legendary desolate beasts.

Of course, having wandered these deep mountains and ancient forests for several days, he had already encountered quite a few evil beasts and was not overly surprised. He had even learned the term “evil beasts” from the mouths of those minor demons and had a certain understanding of them.

What alerted him to something amiss was the flicker of another will he detected within the black giant bear when he subdued it, though he quickly obliterated it.

In other words, this black giant bear’s “unexpected visit” was fundamentally a targeted action.

One could even say, it was merely to force him out!

And his prior instinctive reaction had exposed his tracks—when the giant bear came crashing down like a collapsing mountain, he couldn’t have remained hidden anyway.

To this moment, he still hadn’t figured out how he had been discovered. He only noticed that those several panicked and scattered demons were slowly gathering back.

Further away, several other teams of demons were also on the move… closing in rapidly with undisguised killing intent!

How could a Demon Race team, with the strongest only at the Outer Building realm, discover him, and how could they coordinate without his knowledge?

In that instant, every detail of his journey flooded his mind.

He recalled the complex thorn-like markings—during this trailing process, he had noticed several demons covertly leaving such marks on tree roots, under stones, and other inconspicuous places. He hadn’t understood their meaning then, guessing they were some form of route record.

Now it seemed they were their means of communication… a kind of cipher that didn’t involve power flow.

The Demon Race possessed ancient wisdom and a brilliant civilization, making them absolutely unique among humanity’s great enemies.

Of course, during the trailing, even though Jiang Wang didn’t understand the meaning of those marks, he had, out of caution, deliberately imitated the tracks of evil beasts and destroyed some.

Otherwise, the gathering forces now would likely be far more numerous.

One, two, five, ten…

The immense black bear sat like a fallen wall.

Jiang Wang had quietly moved to a position, hiding within a natural hollow of a rotten tree to the black bear’s left, using the Red Makeup Mirror to observe the surrounding fifty li, judging who had discovered him and what means the opponent had prepared.

And a rather handsome young demon, after the giant bear was subdued, walked lightly and skillfully from afar. His demonic marking was a long tail, hanging behind his buttocks, agile as a snake.

A slit had even twisted and cracked open in the center of his brow, revealing a hidden vertical red pupil. The edge of the vertical pupil was encircled with demonic patterns.

From his current outward signs, he possessed at least two innate divine abilities, an undisputed genius of the Demon Race. If Jiang Wang had known earlier that he possessed such an eye, he certainly wouldn’t have chosen to trail the bounty team he was with.

Not that he couldn’t deal with him, but a demon genius of this caliber would undoubtedly have more diverse means and be harder to deceive. He would also be of greater importance and receive more attention from powerful demons.

An ordinary minor demon disappearing might or might not trigger an investigation by the Demon Race. A demon genius disappearing unexpectedly, however, would certainly be investigated to the very end!

“You finally appeared.”

At this moment, the handsome demon’s voice was relaxed as he spoke in the language of the Demon Race: “I always suspected someone was following me, spying on me, but I couldn’t find anything.

“Is it necessary to send out assassins just to complete a simple task and gain the favor of the Little Princess of Mo Yun City?

His vertical pupil was tightly closed, but both his eyes were fixed on Jiang Wang’s hiding place: “Tell me, who sent you? Yu Xin? Yuan Meng Ji?”

Jiang Wang remained silent.

There were two reasons for his silence. One was that he was locking onto the positions of all the Demon Race warriors approaching the area, calculating the time he had; the second was… he didn’t understand this segment of the demonic language very well.

He only understood simple words like “you,” “task,” and “who.” At the same time, he roughly sensed that some misunderstanding seemed to have occurred. The opponent clearly didn’t know it was a Human Race cultivator who had killed several Demon Kings hiding here; otherwise, they shouldn’t have dispatched only this kind of lineup.

If it was purely accidental, his luck was truly abysmal…

Compared to Jiang Wang’s silence, this handsome demon was very excited. He was clearly already lost in his own assumed judgment and couldn’t extricate himself, quite satisfied with his own keenness.

In his view, the opponent’s silence was a form of acquiescence and guilt.

“Indeed.” He smiled in the direction of the assassin, fully displaying the composure of someone with the overall situation in hand: “Your body movement is very wonderful, and you’re very good at hiding. But you overlooked an important thing… did you not do your homework before coming to find me?”

Separated by the black bear, thorns, and tree hollow, although he still hadn’t seen the assassin’s appearance, the Demon Race warriors gathered through special markings had already surrounded the area.

Who would have thought that he, Quan Xi Zai, would undertake a bounty task while simultaneously arranging twenty teams doing the same task, scattered throughout this deep mountain and ancient forest? Combined, they were an army!

Using secret patterns to summon and contact, using various movements to pinpoint the assassin’s approximate location, driving evil beasts to directly force the assassin out of hiding… these were nothing to boast about.

He, Quan Xi Zai, was originally one of the top genius figures within Mo Yun City. Of course, he also possessed matching reputation and ability.

Seeing his subordinates gathering more and more, Quan Xi Zai used his slender index finger to gently stroke the vertical pupil on his brow, making the victor’s declaration: “Since I was very young, it has been warning me. Even today, it told me that danger was approaching nearby. Before this eye, no one can— um!”

Too fast!

Like a lightning bolt piercing the ancient forest. The dim forest brightened for a moment. Quan Xi Zai raised his head and fell.

An ordinary tree branch, upon which sword energy raged, pierced through his abdomen, firmly nailing him to the ground.

His long tail, which had just erected, already drooped.

And the vertical pupil in the center of his brow had been directly gouged out, presenting a red, diamond-shaped, crystal-like appearance, lying quietly in Jiang Wang’s palm.

“This eye, I will take.”

Jiang Wang, wearing a straw hat and wrapped in ragged clothes, flipped his palm to put away the vertical pupil, speaking in the Dao language.

He couldn’t fully understand the Demon Race’s language but grasped the rough meaning of some words, including “eye.” Thus, he responded in this manner.

Life is sometimes like this.

Even if you are more cautious and careful, you cannot necessarily pass through various natural and man-made disasters safely.

Who can foresee everything?

Who could know that there was such a demon, possessing such innate divine ability, that could allow him, whose cultivation was only equivalent to a Human Race Outer Building cultivator, to detect the threat of a Divine Manifestation realm Jiang Wang!

Jiang Wang was already very cautious, even when facing these demons whose strength was far inferior to his, he did not have a moment of negligence.

But he still lacked a bit of good fortune.

However, for him, although he had fallen into an extremely bad situation due to being discovered by this dog demon, the current situation was actually very simple—

He had now been discovered, so the demons who saw him, and the demons who would surround him… all must die.

The entire forest was silent, because the sound had already been controlled by him.

Struggling or escaping, shouting but unable to make a sound, trying to make noise…

All was useless.

Before making a move, Jiang Wang had already rehearsed every step, even calculating the time needed to kill each demon. And with two fingers drawing out sword energy, his body stacking afterimages, he moved through the forest like wind turning…

Sword energy raged between them, momentum like autumn wind sweeping fallen leaves, a ground of rotten branches and soil piled with demon corpses.

Dealing with demons of this level of strength was fundamentally without any accident, even dragging an injured body.

A total of forty demons. Except for the dog demon nailed to the ground, only two weakest and least likely to use means minor demons remained as interrogation targets. The rest were all dead.

The black giant bear was still sitting there honestly, not moving, even keeping its eyes tightly closed.

“Now, I only have one very simple request.”

Jiang Wang looked at the two trembling minor demons, not concealing his own fatigue, and said somewhat hoarsely in the Dao language: “Slowly squat down and draw a map for me.”

Behind him.

Almost at the same time, red flames ignited on the corpses of all the dead demons, silently burning them to nothingness.

幽林赤火残尸 (Ghastly Forest, Crimson Fire, Remains of Corpses), truly makes demons frightened.

The two weak minor demons picked up weapons and tremblingly drew on the ground.

And Jiang Wang just walked past them.

Forty demons, eight bounty teams, all lost in the mountain forest, would inevitably cause an investigation by the Demon Race. Especially since this dog demon was so talented and had so many subordinates following him while on a bounty task, his background was certainly not ordinary. News of his disappearance would definitely cause a violent reaction.

In other words, this ancient forest was no longer a place to hide. Going deeper and further would almost certainly lead to a head-on collision with some unknown battlefield. And with this injured body, how far could he run? Walking into the wilderness during the outbreak of a race war was equivalent to seeking death.

Therefore, after such an accident, re-examining the entire situation, for a time, even the possibility of struggle seemed nonexistent!

One against forty, although he won, he still lost. Killing them was the possibility of continuing to wander.

But Jiang Wang still performed very calmly.

He slowly walked back to the front of the dog demon nailed to the ground and said lightly: “Shall we chat?”

Quan Xi Zai’s brow center bore an ugly wound. Fresh blood smeared his handsome face.

That piercing through his abdomen, though only an ordinary tree branch, had roaring sword intent on it, completely crushing his body’s power of resistance.

He stared at Jiang Wang with wide eyes, gnashing his teeth fiercely and said: “Slave race!”

Jiang Wang didn’t understand this word but guessed it was not a good word.

He just said quite seriously in the Dao language: “If you can cooperate properly with me, I can let you die not so painfully.”

“Damn lowly evil beast!” Quan Xi Zai cursed angrily: “You can’t escape even if I die! I am Quan Xi Zai of Mo Yun City, my grandfather is— um! Um!”

He hurt so much that the veins in his neck bulged, struggling but unable to make a complete sound.

Jiang Wang understood the cursing part, so he directly used two fingers to cut off the dog demon’s tongue: “I don’t understand what you’re saying anyway, might as well not say anything for now.”

He recalled the interrogation techniques from the blue card, slowly applying pressure, tearing at the target’s mental defenses: “I ask, you answer, okay? Agree, blink once, disagree, blink twice.”

Quan Xi Zai stared with dead eyes, not moving at all. Even with the fresh blood flowing from his brow center into his eyes, he endured without blinking!

His backbone and courage were undoubtedly also directed at the enemy’s spear.

Jiang Wang then reached out to close his eyes and extinguish his last breath.

Then, with Samadhi True Fire, he ignited the corpse.

But at this moment, a brand new knife coin suddenly leaped out of his storage box on its own and jumped onto his head.

Very long ago, it was the knife coin gifted by Yu Bei Dou!

Jiang Wang’s heart moved. He had tried many times before to contact Yu Bei Dou through this knife coin, but there had been no response. He had thought it was due to the barrier between the two realms.

At this moment, the knife coin leaped on its own, perhaps Yu Bei Dou had arrived.

There was hope!

As the foremost expert in ancient fate divination, he was a powerful diviner who had once allowed him to briefly leap out of the river of fate.

At this moment, the knife coin leaped on its own, perhaps Yu Bei Dou had arrived.

There was hope!

As the foremost expert in ancient fate divination, he was a powerful diviner who had once allowed him to briefly leap out of the river of fate. If Yu Bei Dou knew his situation and was willing to help, he would certainly be able to.

Everyone had fought side by side against the blood demon, good or bad, they were close comrades!

At least send a message to Qi Ting, and he might still have a chance of salvation.

At this moment, Jiang Wang’s mind was filled with pleasant thoughts. He opened his mouth, just about to speak—

Suspended above him, this knife coin was already full of cracks. It shattered silently, turning into a pile of indistinguishable colored metal powder, falling rustling down!

In this幽林静山里 (Ghastly Forest, Quiet Mountain), in front of the silently burning dog demon corpse, Jiang Wang was silent for a time.

At this moment.

He felt a kind of immense malice! But it didn’t come from any specific enemy.

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