Winter’s grasp on the Tianxi Wasteland was a chilling reminder of its unwelcoming nature. The deeper one ventured, the closer to the Hundred Thousand Great Mountains and the Five Evils Basin, the more perilous the journey became. The Hundred Thousand Great Mountains themselves were a formidable and unwelcoming land, rife with noxious miasma and monstrous beasts. The climate, fluctuating between biting frost and scorching heat, made survival a constant struggle, even for the robust physique of the demon race.

Yet, the Five Evils Basin was a realm of even greater dread. The Five Evils, in the context of the mortal body, referred to the ailments of the five organs: heat afflicting the heart, cold the lungs, wind the liver, dampness the spleen, and dryness the kidneys.

But in the current age, the true evil was embodied in a single character: “Human.”

Humans, too, possessed their Five Evils: slaughter, theft, lust, falsehood, and ignorance. Born of impurity, they were inherently tainted by original sin. Their very presence was a blight upon the world, a catalyst for the ancient great calamity. Furthermore, through treacherous means, they forged alliances with various races, collectively bringing an end to the glorious reign of the Heavenly Court and the demon race, the true sovereigns of this world, driving them into the Heavenly Prison.

For over ten thousand years, the seal of the Heavenly Prison had endured, a testament to the wicked deeds of the human race. They sought to eradicate the demon race, the true favored children of this world, through this insidious method.

The Ancient Demon Emperor, through self-sacrifice, shattered the primordial chaos. Countless demon sages silently breathed life into existence. They separated good from evil, the clear from the turbid, fixed the earth, wind, water, and fire, hung the golden sun and the crimson moon, and ignited the Heavenly Demon Altar.

Through these impossible feats, they achieved a monumental task, transforming the chaos world into the Demon Realm.

It was only then that billions of miles of fertile land came into being, providing the demon race with the possibility of proliferation and revival. But the contemptible humans, once again, invaded this world, like a swarm of locusts leaving devastation in their wake. They destroyed the Heavenly Demon Altar, altering the laws of heaven and earth and polluting this realm.

Demon warriors, one after another, advanced and sacrificed themselves in countless numbers, only managing to trap the human invaders within the basin encircled by the Hundred Thousand Great Mountains. Complete expulsion remained an elusive goal.

The vast basin occupied by the human race was thus named the “Five Evils Basin,” signifying the place defiled by humanity. Centuries had passed in this manner, and everything within the “Five Evils Basin” seemed to have become an inherent part of its nature.

Just a few days prior, Mao Gan had overheard a fellow tribesman question why humans and demons, both born in the Demon Realm, could not coexist peacefully. Such ignorance! There were far too many unlearned souls!

That fellow actually believed the human race were also native inhabitants of this world! He actually felt that the world should naturally be this beautiful and its resources so abundant! He had forgotten the bloody sacrifices of the demon sages and the hatred stemming from the destruction of the demon race’s glorious era!

Jilei City was just over a thousand li from Nantian City. The Frost Wind Valley in the Nantian City region was renowned as a treacherous battlefield and a testing ground for warriors. There, demon warriors and human cultivators engaged in ceaseless, year-round slaughter.

Yet, many of the young demons in Jilei City were ignorant of this history. They knew the human race was their mortal enemy, but they did not know why!

Every month in Jilei City, powerful Demon Kings would ascend an altar to deliver lectures. Mao Gan attended each one, gaining much knowledge. But most young demons relied on their innate abilities for survival, too lazy to even listen.

This greatly displeased Mao Gan. One day, if he could achieve the rank of Demon King, he would issue a decree, forcing these lazy fellows to attend. He wouldn’t necessarily demand they cultivate arduously or become immensely strong, but at the very least, they should understand a bit of their clan’s history.

Of course, that was a very distant aspiration.

Today’s journey through the southern reaches of the Tianxi Wasteland was characterized by a biting wind and piercing frost that seemed to carve into one’s very being. The demon race, born with innate Dao meridians and possessing extraordinary physiques, were generally unconcerned with such hardships. As long as the climate wasn’t as extreme as that of the Frost Wind Valley, they could endure it.

Two demon warriors, one tall and one short, walked ahead, chatting and laughing. Mao Gan, the captain, was the taller of the two.

The other three demon warriors followed in a line, slowly trailing behind. This small team had no wartime mission. Those who hadn’t reached the level of Demon General fundamentally lacked the qualifications to participate in perilous regions like Frost Wind Valley. And there were no suitable battlefields for them nearby.

To engage in combat with the human race, one had to journey to more distant major cities. The reason they were in the Tianxi Wasteland in this harsh weather was that they, as a bounty hunter team, had accepted a task from the Fengshen Platform, venturing into the mountains to hunt a rare poisonous insect.

During the glorious era, the Heavenly Court, with the demon race as the lords of this world, unified all heavens and conferred divinity upon ten thousand realms.

The Fengshen Platform was a creation of that era.

Conferring divinity upon a mountain made it a mountain god; upon a river, a river god; upon a place, the ruler of that place.

The human race also once had a prosperous era of the god path, but in terms of the god path, the demon race were the pioneers who opened this road.

Of course, the Fengshen Platform of the glorious era was long shattered, and the Heavenly Court demon race remained only a legend. The current Fengshen Platform in the Demon Realm was merely a contemporary imitation of the ancients’ creation.

Even so, it still possessed irreplaceable value.

Its main body was located in the Primordial Imperial City, with branch platforms spread throughout the Demon Realm. One could even say that, besides the Primordial Alliance, it was an important link connecting the various parts of the demon race.

The top powerhouses of the demon race, through the sanctity of the Primordial Alliance, ruled the demon race of the world. The Fengshen Platform, on the other hand, allowed demons of any kind or attribute to have positive contact, offering them the possibility of fighting side by side. The Fengshen Platform had various tasks, ranging from large-scale wars to delivering messages. The task rewards were also varied, including bounties, reward items, and reward methods, unlimited in scope and capable of satisfying the needs of the vast majority of demons. It could even directly award merit and confer divinity, such as the task of beheading the human cultivator Jiang Mengxiong.

In addition to the corresponding task rewards, completing any task accumulated “divine merit.” When divine merit reached a certain level, one could also directly exchange it for a divine position.

Mao Gan had formed his own task team, encompassing assault, defense, and reconnaissance. Although their strength was not outstanding, among the small demon groups in Jilei City specializing in Fengshen Platform tasks, they were somewhat renowned. Or rather, they were known as the “Jilei City Little Whirlwind.”

This time, it was the little princess of the Celestial Mistress’s family. To practice a top-tier poison technique, she had offered a high price, urgently needing various rare poisonous insects as materials. The rewards were truly generous, and they weren’t the only team who had come to “rush this job.”

The task had been released yesterday, and the reason they had come out at dawn today was due to prior preparation.

Mao Gan was a scholarly ox demon, unlike those reckless sorts. He had thoroughly researched the task, finally locking onto a type of poisonous insect called the “Human-Face Gourd.”

The Human-Face Gourd was excessively active at night, and their small team lacked the absolute certainty of victory during that time. During the day, however, it was a different story. As long as they found the Human-Face Gourd’s burrow, a deep-sleeping Human-Face Gourd had virtually no ability to resist.

This poisonous insect, though rare and fierce, had a very obvious weakness, making it an extremely suitable target for the task. He had even spent several horns of wine just to hear about it from a toothless old demon. The demon race generally did not show much respect for elders, especially those who were old and weak, and increasingly powerless. Many tribes still retained the tradition of driving away weak old demons.

Mao Gan was different. He loved to chat with those old demons, listening to their wisdom forged through their demonic lives. He was often deceived out of a few horns of wine or two particles of gold for this, but he was never annoyed.

He was still young and strong, and he believed he possessed infinite possibilities. Although his bloodline was not noble, and his demon marks were very ordinary, who said an ordinary demon could not climb the peaks? There was a Stone Rhinoceros Demon King over in Nantian City, a being of the most ordinary bloodline imaginable, and he had not also achieved the majesty of a Demon King?

This path he had walked had been fraught with setbacks. For instance, one of his ox horns had been broken by enemies in his early years and had still not grown back properly. But the remaining one, he had refined to be exceptionally solid. Nowadays, his greatest source of pride was his pair of ox eyes.

Large as copper bells, he had cultivated a powerful pupil technique, capable of seeing extremely distant places. In this small team, he shouldered the roles of commander, scout, and assailant, making him the undisputed core demon.

While chatting and laughing with the nearby brother, his ox eyes reflected a naked human?

The reason for his doubt was that the demon race and the human race, apart from the demon marks, had no inherent difference in appearance. Ordinary humans who were not extraordinary cultivators could be seen as weak at a glance, but human cultivators who had transcended the ordinary were on par with the demon race in all aspects. Only the “demon marks” were the most noble mark bestowed by heaven upon the demon race, representing the sacred badge of the lords of this world.

They were innate, unchangeable, and could not be disguised. The step of a demon becoming a Demon General required reliance on the innate divine ability unlocked by their “demon marks.” Thus, to determine if someone was a demon, besides sensing the corresponding racial aura, one only needed to see if they had demon marks. Mao Gan carefully scrutinized the unexpected guest he encountered in the Tianxi Wasteland.

He saw that this fellow had a shiny bald head, refined features, and a very angular face.

To say he was effeminate seemed a bit harsh. To say he was masculine, his features were so clean and gentle.

This was truly a strange fellow, smooth all over, even lacking eyebrows.

Very much like that race from the west, perhaps?

His jawline had many curves, lending it a somewhat sharp appearance. His shoulder sockets were deep, as if they could hold some frost and snow.

His muscle lines were as clear as if carved with a knife, possessing a kind of beauty akin to wind and frost sculpting a glacier.

But what made Mao Gan even more vigilant were the terrifying, hideous scars crisscrossing this fellow’s chest and abdominal muscles, like the deep valleys on a continuous mountain range.

This strange fellow who didn’t like wearing clothes was absolutely a dangerous element. Did he have no demon marks?

Following the contour of those abdominal muscles, Mao Gan’s vigilant gaze lowered further…

Gulu gulu.

The huge head on the ground rolled a few times, the intact ox horn digging into the soil. The lifeless pair of copper-bell-sized eyes stared straight up at the sky.

This life had ended just like that, abruptly.

After a whole night of concealed travel, not knowing where he had arrived, Jiang Wang directly strode forward and killed three demon warriors with consecutive sword strikes before retracting his sword qi.

Only the remaining two demons…

…trembled with fear.

Jiang Wang unhurriedly squatted down and stripped the armor from one of the demons whose build was similar to his own—this was precisely why he had killed that one first. As he calmly put on the clothes, he addressed the remaining two demons: “I ask, you answer. Understand?”

At this moment, he spoke the Dao language, understanding its meaning simply by hearing it, so he wasn’t worried about communication.

Having mastered the Dao path and achieved flawless, leakless, perfect divine arrival, he already possessed the ability to expound upon the Dao. Writing Dao scripts and speaking the Dao language were not problems.

Of course, compared to ordinary human language, speaking the Dao language and writing Dao scripts was also a consumption. It wasn’t very friendly to his current physical state, but he performed it calmly, coldly, and with extreme pressure.

Still not knowing what had happened, simply walking on the road, their teammates had died one after another. The remaining two demons were a monkey demon and a horse demon. Both were terrified, their legs shaking uncontrollably. For a time, apart from nodding, they had no other reaction. “Very good.” Jiang Wang put on the clothes, not caring if they were dirty or smelly. His voice was cold as he instructed: “You two turn around, back to back. Each draw a map on the ground, clearly indicating the location of this place. If there is a single difference…”

He didn’t explicitly state the threat, only lightly flicked his finger, and with three wisps of flame, incinerated the corpses of the three demon warriors. How dared the monkey demon and horse demon object? They immediately squatted on the ground and began drawing. Although Jiang Wang had not studied divination, he had been in contact with Yu Beidou and Ruan Qu. The former was the highest achiever in fate divination, and the latter was a master of star divination, a true monarch of the divination Dao. He knew a little about how to avoid divination as much as possible—and this was precisely why he had just now put on the clothes.

Wearing the clothes of a demon warrior wasn’t just about covering his nakedness. Involving life and death, what shame was there to cover?

His primary goal was to utilize items carrying the aura of the demon race, minimizing his own “protrusion” in this world as much as possible, thereby avoiding being easily “expelled” by the powerful priests of the demon race.

His injuries, both internal and external, were still quite severe, but dealing with a few small demons didn’t require much energy. Jiang Wang carefully examined the “drawings” of the two demons, occasionally asking questions in a cold voice: “Frost Wind Valley, point it out for me. Where is Frost Wind Valley?”

He had no idea that Xiu Yuan had gone to Frost Wind Valley to find him last night. Of course, he had also successfully avoided a large team of demon warriors, including some Demon King powerhouses, who were rushing towards Frost Wind Valley.

He also had no idea that at this time today, Jiang Mengxiong had already broken through Frost Wind Valley and personally arrived at Nantian City.

He didn’t even know the name “Nantian City,” let alone where it was.

He was completely ignorant of the demon territory. He hadn’t even had time to supplement his basic intelligence in Yan Prison City, simply following Ji Zhaonan and killing his way to Frost Wind Valley.

Escaping was a technical endeavor; it required thought. Always blindly rushing would eventually lead to a very miserable death.

Therefore, seize every opportunity to increase knowledge.

Maps were the most important. Where he could go, where he could not go, he needed a rough understanding.

If he carelessly intruded into the territory of some Sky Demon, no matter how cautious he was, it would be useless.

In the Demon Realm, ten li meant a different domain, and a hundred li, a different sky. Here, even under the brilliant golden sun, he had seen a rainbow of light through the wind and snow.

Violent rain and thunder over there were common occurrences. Early this morning, the fighting in Nantian City was earth-shattering, and the golden sun was dim and uncertain. Here, where he was, the wind and snow still permeated, and heaven and earth were silent and cold. Jiang Mengxiong had his battle.

He had his battle.

He would not place his hopes on others; he always faced despair himself. Of course, he had once harbored fantasies, but Dong A had taught him a profound lesson. All young, unrealistic fantasies had vanished with the destruction of Fenglin City.

From then on, he supported himself, moving forward alone.

In the wind and snow of last night, he had once felt that on the boundary line between this wasteland and the great mountains, only he existed between heaven and earth, so cold and silent.

But he knew very clearly that as long as he made a single movement characteristic of a human extraordinary cultivator, this place would immediately become very “lively.”

The wounds both inside and outside his body continuously transmitted pain, and this pain made him more awake.

He desperately needed rest now, but where to rest was the problem.

The Demon Realm was vast, but it did not exist for the human race.

Last night, he had clung to the outer edge of the Hundred Thousand Great Mountains, traveling eastward all the way, not stopping his steps for an entire night.

He hadn’t calculated how far he had walked, only that he dared not leave traces of a human extraordinary cultivator, and he also dared not stop to rest. He didn’t know the arrangements of the demon race in the Hundred Thousand Great Mountains, so he dared not venture deep into the mountains. He was even more afraid to approach the large demon cities, carefully making his way forward.

He had discovered this team of lone demons early on, secretly tracking and observing them for a long time. He determined that they had no ability to resist, that they could not escape, and that it was impossible for them to quickly contact other demons. Only then did he step out of the wind and snow and strike decisively.

Furthermore, facing such a few weak small demons, he still killed the core member with one strike, which could be said to be extremely cautious.

In the Demon Realm, humans were against the world. One wrong step meant eternal perdition.

Then he would simply not take one wrong step.