From the deep woods, where a solemn square stele stood watch, to the furtive movements of Ape Mengji and the enigmatic tone of his voice.

Chai Ah Si was startled, his own senses heightening in alert. He felt an unsettling presence lurking within the shadows of the forest, a feeling akin to the shadows cast by the Dragon Clan themselves.

The Demon Clan and the Dragon Clan were sworn enemies, irreconcilable foes! Though it was widely believed that discovering traces of the Dragon Clan demanded an immediate attack, Chai Ah Si knew his own strength was insufficient. To preserve his life, vital for the Demon Clan, the wisest course was to avoid such a confrontation.

Even amidst his deep-seated detestation for the Dragon Clan, he had to acknowledge their power. The Demon Clan, though a race of heaven’s favor with countless varieties, each possessing unique strengths, ultimately had their hierarchy. And no matter how one sorted them, the Dragon Clan occupied the highest echelon, an unreachable peak. Chai Ah Si harbored no confidence in facing them. Judging by Ape Mengji’s cowardly demeanor, he wasn’t capable either.

“Young Master Ape, perhaps we should quicken our pace?” Chai Ah Si suggested in a hushed tone.

Ape Mengji nodded, his voice equally low. “It’s not that I’m afraid of anything, primarily we are in a hurry.”

The two demons tiptoed cautiously, slipping quietly past the square stele. They also passed by a stretch of time.

The last Demon Emperor of the ancient era had sacrificed himself in the process of opening the Demon Realm, taking his kin with him. Thereafter, all traces vanished, leaving behind only one hundred and eight Demon Life Pearls and this newly established, stable world. That ancient Demon Emperor, though dead, had paved the way for his designated successor, the next Demon Emperor, with the blood of his kin.

The new Demon Emperor, having ascended amidst adversity, propped up the collapsing heavens and guided the Demon Clan through those precarious times. This was the ancient era as recorded by the Human Clan. From that time to the present, the lord of the Ancient Imperial City had seen four successions.

Yu Zhen, in those years, had vied for the position of the third Demon Emperor after the Demon Realm’s opening. He had ultimately lost to the figure who still stood in the Ancient Imperial City, the one who had presided over the “Centipede Ridge Blood War,” known as the strongest Demon Emperor since the new realm, Emperor Yuan Xi. That battle, the most boasted-about in the new realm’s history, had nearly driven the Human Clan back to the present world, shifting the entire racial war, turning the Demon Clan’s defense into offense. To contend with Emperor Yuan Xi, one had to possess immense vision and courage.

“Dragons were originally Demons,” was a historical truth and Yu Zhen’s political platform in those days. Emulating the history of world-igniting conflict and a hundred clans attacking the Demon Clan, it was a strategy to learn from the destruction of a glorious era and unite all possible forces to counterattack the Human Clan.

But ideals were always plump and moving, while reality was always skeletal and emaciated. Though the enemy of an enemy was a friend, specifically regarding the “Dragon Clan return,” it was far from simple. For the Demon Clan, both the Human Clan and the Dragon Clan were deadly enemies. To ask which side was more hateful was a rhetorical question! It was only because the Human Clan now dominated the present world and oppressed all realms that the Demon Clan and the Sea Clan, as the suppressed weaker parties, had a basis for cooperation.

To facilitate the Dragon Clan’s return, the primary issue to be resolved was the problem of mutual trust between the Demon Clan and the Dragon Clan. For the Demon Clan, having been betrayed by the Dragon Clan once in the past, how could they entrust vital matters to them again? For the Dragon Clan, they keenly understood the depth of the wound inflicted in the ancient era. How could they believe the Demon Clan genuinely harbored sincerity for cooperation and weren’t plotting to drive away the tiger to devour the wolf and settle scores later?

Yu Zhen’s daring infiltration into the present world, his personal journey to the Boundless Sea, and the life and death of a Demon Clan supreme powerhouse had pushed this matter forward significantly. It had to be said, this was an act of extraordinary courage. A common person might lightly regard life and death, acting out of temporary anger, but that didn’t count as great courage. One at the level of a thousand-gold son would not “sit under the hall.” One at the level of Yu Zhen in those years, needing to do nothing, already stood at the pinnacle of all realms, yet could still invest everything for his political ideal. It was no wonder he had wandered in the Chaos Sea for so many years, never to appear again, yet was still perpetually sung as a legend.

The matter of the Dragon Clan’s return to the Demon Clan, spearheaded by Yu Zhen, ultimately failed. Its specific details were not passed down in the world, the so-called historical truth perhaps only to be unearthed in the depths of time. Ape Mengji alone knew that history indeed held vague records; the Dragon Clan had truly been persuaded by Yu Zhen in those years. Several true dragons had even followed Yu Zhen back to the Demon Realm.

And now, the prevailing environment offered no possibility for the Dragon Clan’s return. If this place truly held Dragon Clan, a true encounter would likely afford no opportunity for greeting. That is to say, in today’s Divine Firmament Land, it was truly possible for the Dragon Clan to exist. So he followed his intuition, treading in Chai Ah Si’s footsteps with exceptional lightness.

Neither demon nor dragon, Jiang Wang, from the Human Clan’s perspective, viewed this history with a different, vast feeling. Whether it was Yu Zhen risking himself to enter the Boundless Sea, leading the charge for the Dragon Clan’s return, or the branch of the water clan led by the Dragon Clan retreating into the Boundless Sea, dragonizing into beasts, with the dragons of the East Sea never again seen in demon form – all of it filled him with a sense of history’s immense scale.

Segments of grand stories, floating and sinking in the river of time. Each segment, when picked up, held the heroic epics of that era. For thousands, tens of thousands, hundreds of thousands of years, the Human Clan had been battling such respectable opponents. It was precisely before such powerful enemies that the Human Clan’s ancestors had firmly controlled the present world, protected the Human Clan’s peace, and solidified their position as the lords of the present world. How could those who viewed the past today not admire them?

At this moment, Jiang Wang needed to contemplate his own situation further. From the path of Pig Dali and Snake Gu Yu to the path of Chai Ah Si and Ape Mengji. From the Not Old Spring to the Mirage Dragon. This so-called Divine Firmament Land was far more complex than imagined, not merely a place to preserve merit law inheritance; it must possess a grander design. This could also roughly explain why so many heavenly demons were drawn here, making their moves.

The dust of tens of thousands of years seemed never to have buried this place. It hadn’t become stagnant with the passage of time; instead, it gave Jiang Wang a feeling almost like the initial Mountain Sea Realm: enduring and new, growing freely. Stagnant water could not be like this; there had to be a living source within it. The “living source” of the Mountain Sea Realm was Huang Wei Zhen’s left-behind legend, the memories of the people of Chu, the natural evolution of all living beings in the Mountain Sea Realm, and Huang Wei Zhen’s eventual return at the absolute peak. What was the “living source” of the Divine Firmament Land?

Was there a possibility it was that legendary true self of the Feathered Clan? He who could contend with the Demon Emperor in the beginning, far from ordinary heavenly demons. Perhaps he was at the absolute pinnacle of heavenly demons, or already at the absolute peak. Was he truly content to vanish without a trace? Was he watching here from somewhere?

Jiang Wang repeatedly told himself, he must think more. Even if he was merely a pawn toyed with by the will of heaven, even if outside this chessboard were hands covering the sky, even if the outcome had long been predetermined by the players. He still had to look up. He already understood that the six paths were originally one, and he knew that several teams were effectively walking in the same place. He had already determined that the Divine Firmament Land must have a “living source.”

Then, what was the connection between these six paths? What was the living source of the Divine Firmament Land? Only by finding the answers to these two questions could he possibly, in the current dead situation, find an opportunity to escape! This was incredibly difficult. But compared to that moment of no clue and no hope, having an opportunity was always better than having none.

At this time, the sky was faintly illuminated, the forest deep and secluded. The Divine Firmament Land knew no sun, moon, or stars. Jiang Wang silently used his long sword to make a mark, recording that this was the fifth hour after the six teams had stepped onto the forest path. The deeper they went, the leaves gradually turned a blood-like red, and white flying catkins, resembling broken feathers, floated in the sky. Among them, broken feathers did indeed exist.

That was Yu Xin’s demon sign. Yu Xin’s already shattered corpse lay scattered meaninglessly in the forest. Bear San Si, his right hand gripping the dripping-blood knife, looked at his stirred-open left palm and murmured to himself, “Ten years. In this life, how many ten years are there?” Now, walking alone in the forest, for some unknown reason, Yu Xin’s voice always echoed in his ears.

‘If I don’t pass the message out, how can I compete with you by myself?’

“I truly treated you as a brother, shared everything with you. But what did you treat me as? What have you done behind my back, do you think I don’t know? Do you really think I’m stupid!?”

“That initial attack, was that also arranged by you? Just to stand out and save me, to gain my trust, right?”

“You led so many heavenly demon seeds here, what exactly do you want to do?”

“Bear San Si! From beginning to end, you only treated me as a chess piece!”

“You are unrighteous, don’t blame me for being unjust.”

“You probably didn’t think? I really have the bloodline of Great Ancestor Yu Zhen, my family already prepared for me, as soon as I entered the Divine Firmament Land, I got the response! Today, let me test my Hunhuan Jade Body on you!”

“Brother Bear, Brother Bear! Spare me! Forgive me this once!”

“Brother Bear, come, let’s drink. This was stolen from the old man.”

“Yu Xin has grown up, has no true heart friends. To know elder brother, my heart is truly very happy!”

Ten years. Ten years too long. But a long time finally has an end, just like the road beneath his feet. Bear San Si silently took out another black mask, covering his face once more, smoothing out all the ripples in his heart, then continued forward.

Gurgle gurgle.

The forest path reached its end, but the front was not open. Looking up revealed a rugged small path, a perilous high cliff. The road stretched far into the clouds, the mountain so high its peak was unseen. The dense forest they had just been in seemed inverted, only coiled around the mountain’s waist. And they had always been on this mountain. What lay outside the mountain? For a moment, they couldn’t see. But right now, before their eyes, they could see a living spring.

The upward mountain path here curved and wound around, as if encircling this spring in the crook of an arm, exuding a strong sense of protection. The spring eye gurgled, bubbling with water, that sound somewhat indescribably strange. The spring water was clear, and the water held mayfly larvae. Only, for some unknown reason, despite the water having a living source and living creatures, it still possessed a sense of dead silence.

The clear water surface reflected a peerless beauty, her jade hands pressing the strings, Spider Lan Ruo, simply sitting by the spring. Spider Ying stood behind her, silently guarding. The Divine Firmament Land was indeed more vast than imagined. It wasn’t like a treasure vault; instead, it was like a quite extensive world.

Bear San Si felt a slight emotion, but only silently gripped his knife. The wind didn’t move, the strings didn’t move, his body didn’t move. But killing intent already floated and sank.

“I say this Divine Firmament Land’s trial isn’t all that difficult! Coming this way, except for one instance of beauty seduction, there haven’t been any waves! The Divine Firmament great ancestor just uses this to test me? Am I a vulgar demon who can be captivated by beauty?”

“That cannot be! Your character is so noble, your will so firm!”

“Ah Si, Ah Si, you are good in every way, just one point, too honest! This character of yours, it’s very easy to be excluded!”

“Then am I not devoted to Young Master Ape? So-called wise ruler meets good minister, only you with an empty mind can tolerate me speaking straight from the heart!”

Chatting and laughing voices gradually approached. Chai Ah Si and Ape Mengji, one shamelessly flattering, one accepting all, just like this, chatting and laughing, as if on an outing and stroll, walked out of the forest. Thus, they saw the mountain path ahead, saw the spring water, and also saw Bear San Si confronting Spider Lan Ruo and Spider Ying, feeling the killing intent spreading in the air.

“Disturbing you! So sorry!” Chai Ah Si bowed. “We’ll go back first, you all continue!” Pulling Ape Mengji, he just walked back.

“What are you doing? What are you doing! Draw your sword!” Ape Mengji shouted. “Didn’t you see he’s bullying my Sister Lan Ruo? Can I tolerate this?”

Chai Ah Si held Ape Mengji’s arm, pushing him along. “Great cause not yet accomplished, my lord cannot be impulsive.”

“You don’t stop me!”

Chai Ah Si leaned in close, quietly reminding him, “Bear San Si is the eighth of the Heavenly List new kings.”

Ape Mengji angrily turned back. “Just on the road, wasn’t there still an evil ghost not killed? Cannot let it harm the common people, walk, let’s go back and see.”

Bear San Si pressed his knife and didn’t move. Spider Lan Ruo stopped the strings and didn’t speak. Spider Ying had a face of disdain. They quietly watched this pair of treasures.

They turned back, but turning back, they no longer saw the path they had come from. Only a piece of deep forest, dimly hidden, concealing who knew what. Thinking of the possibly existing Dragon Clan, Chai Ah Si and Ape Mengji both found it somewhat difficult to step forward.

“You say there’s a possibility,” Chai Ah Si turned back and smiled. “We just stand by the side, not disturb you all?”

“Not disturb who?”

In the forest at this time, a path lit up. The Taiping Ghost Messenger, carrying double straight knives, and Snake Gu Yu, holding eight chop knives, one in front and one behind, slowly walked over. This also eased Ape Mengji’s awkwardness. Looking at these two walking the same path, one calm of breath, one with injuries on his body. It was clear that the strength of the weak and the strong had already been divided. That is to say, this Taiping Ghost Messenger was indeed a demon king stronger than Snake Gu Yu, an existence worthy of the Heavenly List new kings.

It was precisely the Taiping Ghost Messenger who spoke, his tone deep, his eyes unfathomable. Chai Ah Si chuckled. “Hope not to disturb Brother Ghost Messenger’s interest!” Towards the monsters participating in the competition on the scene, Chai Ah Si’s attitude was still as cordial as before. Because previously, he couldn’t beat the upper echelon. Now, he couldn’t beat any of them. He didn’t think himself lowly. His vision was broad; in the future, when he stood at the absolute peak, this would all be called valuing talent!

Pig Dali deeply looked at Chai Ah Si, didn’t speak, and continued his profound, unfathomable walk forward, stopping before the spring water. Snake Gu Yu said even less, only silently adjusting his breath.

In the mirror world, Jiang Wang still didn’t respond to Chai Ah Si’s call, letting this boy be a bit more honest was better. He only silently observed his surroundings, guessing that the strange spring before him should be the Not Old Spring. He guessed who the next wave to arrive here would be. According to the theory of the six paths being originally one, if the connections between these paths necessarily existed, the arrival times of the various teams should not differ too much.

“Donor, please first!”

“Buddha, please first!”

“Still, Young Master Deer should walk in front.”

“Master Rat is too polite, the elder should go first.”

“Actually, our ages are about the same.”

In the forest, a new path appeared again, and on the path, two voices sounded once more. Rat Jia Lan and Deer Qi Lang, one in tattered Buddhist robes, one with disheveled hair. They maintained a great distance from each other, stopping at the end of the path. The path entrance was narrow, only one could pass. And neither was willing to turn back.

One could likely imagine that coming this way, they had encountered no less danger, nor had they been idle in playing dirty tricks on each other. At this moment, they pushed and yielded to each other, their humility endless.

“The noble name of God Fragrance Flower Sea is far-reaching, how can Young Master Deer follow behind?”

“Black Lotus Temple is a famous ancient temple, how can Master Rat not go first?”

“Still, you first, please!”

“No, no, no, still, you first!” Pig Dali listened, truly impatient, and said in a foul mood, “Otherwise, you all go back the way you came?”