The Master and His Wealthy Fiancée

Liu Ling explained, "The Demon Race respects strength above all else—the strong rule as kings. As long as I release my demonic aura to envelop us and we don't barge directly into a Great Demon's territory, no other demons will come looking for trouble!"

Chen Dong was stunned. "Why didn't you say so earlier? If we had done this right after leaving the Guardian Array, Kui Ran probably wouldn't have found us!"

Tears instantly welled in Liu Ling's eyes, her face a picture of pitiable beauty.

"I've just been following you, Master. I thought you wanted to keep a low profile. A demonic aura at the Golden Core level is useless. Only... only by pretending to be a Nascent Soul Great Demon could I deter other members of the Demon Race."

Chen Dong's head throbbed. Faced with such a delicate demoness, his anger instantly vanished. Besides, through the Beast Taming Contract, he knew Liu Ling held no ulterior motives; she genuinely thought he just wanted to keep a low profile, and that was it. Chen Dong felt deeply misunderstood. He did prefer to be low-key, but that depended on the situation. His discretion was a tool to avoid unnecessary trouble, not an innate part of his personality.

He thought about scolding Liu Ling, but found he couldn't bring himself to do it. 'Could the Beast Taming Contract affect the master's side as well?'

Pushing the suspicion aside, Chen Dong said to Liu Ling, "If that's the case, let's hurry!"

Instantly, Liu Ling's immense demonic aura washed over Chen Dong as a thick fog enveloped them both, obscuring them from view.

The fog immediately lifted into the air and sped toward Earth Sinking Mountain.

Along the way, they encountered two more Demon Race squads: one from the Peng Race, clad in Golden Armor with plumed helmets, and one from the Jiao Race, dressed in black robes. All of them were converging on Longyuan City. Longyuan City had been built atop a Tier Five Spirit Vein. It was originally a human city, but the Demon Race now occupied it, making it their closest stronghold with a High-tier Spirit Vein to the Tier Defense Array.

Just as Liu Ling had said, neither of these two demon squads questioned them, and one even deliberately altered its flight path to make way for their powerful demonic aura.

At this point, Liu Ling sent a mental message: "Master, it looks like the Demon Race is massing its forces. Could they be gathering to hunt us down?"

Chen Dong doubted it, but he couldn't think of another explanation. The demons were clearly massing. If the goal was to hunt the two of them, they would surely be stopping and questioning any suspicious individuals. But they weren't; they were simply rushing somewhere. 'Is the Demon Race preparing to attack the Guardian Array?'

Chen Dong's thoughts were with Murong Qing, so he didn't investigate further.

The two of them had just flown out of the Fire Pine Mountain Range, and Chen Dong breathed a sigh of relief. While they were over the mountains, he had clearly felt several waves of Divine Sense sweep across their fog. 'It seems this method really works,' he thought. 'It makes sense. Even in human territory, who would needlessly stop what looks like an official's transport?'

'At this rate,' he mused, 'as long as nothing happens to Murong Qing and her group, I can get to Earth Sinking Mountain before them. After all, they can't just fly out in the open like this.'

However, at that very moment, a barrier of light seemed to tear open in front of them. It appeared so suddenly before Chen Dong and Liu Ling that it caught them completely by surprise. At the same time, Chen Dong sensed a familiar Sword Intent emanating from within the ruptured barrier.

Chen Dong recognized it instantly. It was the Dubhe Sharp Sword from Sharp Sword Peak. He had become familiar with it over the past few days in Lexian City, as many disciples from the Cyan Sky Sect's Sharp Sword Peak were present there.

He didn't even have to guess. Peering into the barrier, Chen Dong could see heaps of corpses—humans, demons, and demonic beasts were piled everywhere. It was a gruesome massacre. Only three figures remained standing.

One was Ao Jun, completely enveloped in golden light and seemingly unharmed. The second was a black-robed demon of the Jiao Race, his body drenched in blood, a terrifying sword wound on his chest, and his right hand transformed into a draconic claw. The last person was someone Chen Dong never expected: Meng Yingluo. She held a broken sword, her body covered in claw marks so deep they exposed bone. Drenched in gore, she swayed on the verge of collapse.

The figures were extremely close to Chen Dong and Liu Ling, and they naturally sensed their presence.

A look of utter despair washed over Meng Yingluo's face.

The black-robed demon sneered. "A mere Ninth-Layer Foundation Establishment cultivator, impressive that you've lasted this long. But so what if you broke the barrier? With a great lord of my Demon Race here, where do you think you can run?"

The "great lord" he referred to was, of course, the fog concealing Chen Dong, which was emitting the Nascent Soul Demon Qi.

Meng Yingluo never could have imagined this. She had only asked a few friends to go to the Fire Pine Mountain Range to secretly mine some Spirit Stones. They had barely left the Guardian Array when they sensed a battle between humans and demons. As a disciple of the Cyan Sky Sect, she felt it was her duty to intervene and immediately joined the fray.

As more and more humans arrived to help, her confidence began to grow. But who could have known that the opposing black-robed demon was a Late-stage Nascent Soul expert? Or that the other demon, the one in golden robes, possessed numerous powerful treasures? Worse, they commanded a growing horde of demonic beasts. At this rate, her side would be completely surrounded and annihilated.

The humans tried to rush forward and capture the golden-robed demon, but he produced a single golden scale that erupted in a dazzling light, encasing him completely. None of their attacks could penetrate the golden radiance.

Left with no choice, Meng Yingluo used the life-saving Spiritual Treasure her master had given her. To her astonishment, the Nascent Soul-level Sword Intent Spiritual Treasure failed to kill all her enemies. The golden-robed demon remained unscathed, the black-robed one managed to survive the blow, and they were once again swarmed by demonic beasts.

Meng Yingluo then tried to use her other life-saving item, a Transmission Talisman, but the golden-robed demon tossed out another scale, which formed a barrier that trapped everyone inside.

The talisman activated, but instead of whisking them away, its power was twisted, creating an inescapable pocket dimension. The humans could only fight the demons to the death. Eventually, everyone else fell, and their final, desperate attacks shattered the barrier. She might have had a chance to use one last Teleportation Talisman, but the moment she was free, she ran straight into a Nascent Soul Great Demon.

Meng Yingluo took a deep breath, her face a mask of grim resolve. "I, Meng Yingluo, would rather die than fall into the hands of the Demon Race!" With that, she raised her broken sword to her throat, preparing to end her own life…