Immortal-Exterminating Divine Venerable

"Elder Long, with a question like that, are you hoping I'll tell you the truth, or a lie?"

Yang Xiao looked at the figure before him and smiled faintly.

Elder Long was taken aback.

Then he couldn't help but smile as well.

Indeed. Although he had intervened to save Yang Xiao, he was also the Guardian of the Lu Family. As they say, some are closer than others. Yang Xiao understood perfectly well who weighed more in Elder Long's heart: him or the Lu Family.

For him to ask a question like that now…

It was clearly a foolish thing to do.

Would Yang Xiao tell the truth?

Not a chance.

"You little rascal. Still, you may not realize the predicament you're in. The truth is, their actions against you might not have been entirely their own idea."

Elder Long sighed.

But upon hearing this, Yang Xiao scoffed inwardly.

'Not their own idea?'

'If they didn't harbor any ill will toward me, would they have drawn out that Demonic Qi?'

'If Elder Long claimed that *killing* me wasn't their intention, I might have even believed it.'

'But targeting me?'

'That was absolutely their intention.'

'It was precisely because they were targeting me in their hearts that they drew out the Demonic Qi, lost control, and tried to kill me.'

Outwardly, however, Yang Xiao wore a bewildered expression and asked, "I don't understand what you mean, Elder Long. If it wasn't their intention, then could there be another reason?"

"Correct. It's because of you. If I'm not mistaken, you've fused with a Demon Pattern from the Void Dark Realm, haven't you?"

"I have. But what does that have to do with them trying to kill me?"

Yang Xiao maintained his look of confusion.

But inwardly, a sense of anticipation was already building.

He was hoping Elder Long could tell him more about these Demon Patterns and the Demonic Qi.

Originally, when he had seen Human Emperor Xuanyuan during the time regression, he had only recognized the Demonic Qi of the Dark Night Demon God and didn't know it was related to fusing with a Demon Pattern. Therefore, he hadn't held much hope for Elder Long.

But now, it seemed...

He had been mistaken.

'Cousin Xuanyuan may be the Human Emperor, but compared to Elder Long, who has lived for who knows how many tens of thousands of years, his knowledge is probably a bit shallow. Maybe Elder Long really can clear up my confusion. Still, he's ultimately on the Lu Family's side, so I'll have to carefully sift through his words.'

Yang Xiao's heart stirred.

Just then, Elder Long began to explain. "You young ones probably don't know that at the dawn of time, this world wasn't ruled by Martial Artists, but by the Ancient Divine Demons, right?"

"The Ancient Divine Demons were extremely powerful beings born from heaven and earth. Some Venerable Divine Demons could even shatter the heavens and earth themselves—they were terrifying. However, gods and demons cannot coexist, so during the Ancient Era, war was incessant. In the end, the gods were victorious and sealed the demons within the Void Dark Realm."

"But after the Seal, the gods also began to fall, having suffered grievous injuries. The All Heavens and Myriad Races are all descendants of the gods, including your Human Race. It's just that the bloodline of the Human Race is mixed, and you appeared rather late. When the first humans emerged, it was already the Ancient Era, and your foundations were weak. But it seems that precisely because your bloodline is so mixed, you have a great compatibility with the Divine Patterns of the gods. Unlike the other races, most of whom can only cultivate one type of Divine Pattern—a few at most—your potential is far less restricted."

"And ever since Celestial Emperor Yuan Shi established the destiny of the Human Race, it was on this basis that your people gradually became the protagonists of this world."

Elder Long lamented.

He recalled a time before the rise of the Human Race, when his Ancient Dragon Clan had reigned supreme over a part of the world, nearly becoming its protagonists. But in the end, who could have imagined that a mixed-blood race that only appeared in the Ancient Era, a pathetically weak people, would defeat the All Heavens and Myriad Races to become the world's protagonists?

"Now, those once-proud races have probably all gone into seclusion. The Five Human Emperors and dozens of Great Emperors have long since monopolized all the glory in the world. The other races, he feared, no longer had the strength to resist."

Elder Long sighed.

Yang Xiao, meanwhile, was lost in deep thought.

In his first life, he had been born very early, but his conscious memories began only in the Ancient Era.

That was the final period when the gods were falling and the Ten Thousand Races flourished. He had personally witnessed the rise of the Human Race, but he knew little about what came before them.

It was the same in his second life, when he was reborn as a Human Emperor's Son. The foundation of the Human Race was, after all, still too shallow in comparison.

"So you're saying that the Secret Patterns cultivated in the Martial Dao all originate from the Divine Race?"

Yang Xiao asked.

Elder Long nodded.

"But even if that's true, what does it have to do with them wanting to kill me?"

Yang Xiao feigned confusion.

In truth, he had already guessed some of the reasons.

He just wanted to confirm it.

Sure enough, Elder Long smiled faintly and began, "Do you know why the Ancient Divine Demons went to war back then?"

Before Yang Xiao could respond, he continued, "The Ancient Divine Demons were all born of heaven and earth. The gods were conceived from the world's life force and light, while the demons were conceived from its deathly energy and darkness. On the surface, they seemed to be natural opposites. But in reality, during the Early Stage of the Ancient Era, the Divine Demons, as the only life forms in the world, got along very well. To use an analogy, it was like the men and women of your Human Race. Though different, they shared the same roots and belonged to the same species."

"Because of this, despite their different habits and auras, they were able to coexist peacefully. That is, until the Emperor of the Divine Race and the Emperor of the Demon Race had an idea."

"What idea?"

Yang Xiao was very curious.

Elder Long chuckled softly. "The Emperor of the Divine Race and the Emperor of the Demon Race once discussed the Dao. They discovered that neither of their races, be it the Ancient Divine Race or the Ancient Demon Clan, was perfect in this world. But if they were to combine their own Daos, it seemed they could form a perfect Great Dao. And so, the two of them decided to use their respective Daos, merge them, and conceive a perfect life form."

"A perfect life form?"

Yang Xiao couldn't help but be inwardly shaken.

But Elder Long ignored his shock and continued, "After thirty million years, they succeeded!"

"However, this success brought utter annihilation to both the Ancient Divine Race and the Ancient Demon Clan! The moment this life form appeared, the Emperor of the Demon Race was consumed by jealousy and developed the intent to kill. But the Emperor of the Divine Race treated it as his own child, his most perfect descendant. The two of them immediately came to blows."

"The result was predictable. With even the Emperor of the Ancient Divine Race and the Emperor of the Ancient Demon Clan fighting, the entire Divine Race and Demon Race were naturally plunged into conflict. Originally, the two races were not far apart in strength; you could say they were evenly matched. In fact, because the Divine Race's habits made them far less ferocious than the Demon Race, the demons held the upper hand at the beginning of the great war and nearly crushed the gods! Even the Emperor of the Divine Race ultimately fell."

"But as that perfect Child of God-Demon grew up, the situation changed. He seemed to have a natural charisma for leadership. He led the remaining gods, slaughtering demons all the way, and displayed extremely powerful combat strength. In the end, he accomplished the great feat of sealing the Ancient Demon Clan. It was only then that the Divine Demons suddenly discovered something—the Child of God-Demon seemed to hold a great secret within him."

At this point, Elder Long looked at Yang Xiao.

It was as if the secret he spoke of was also related to Yang Xiao.

Yang Xiao's Heart Spirit couldn't help but tremble slightly.