Chapter 201 - 147: Demon God
"Go back now. Don’t dally on the way. Once you’re back, focus on your cultivation," Lu Changfeng said.
The three of them stood up. Jueming hesitated for a moment before asking, "What about Ni Wei...?"
"Someone from the Soul Suppressing Demon Sect faked their death to lure her here and seize her body. Had I arrived a moment later, the three of you would have met the same fate."
Lu Changfeng didn’t hide the truth from them.
"Saint Master, please punish us!"
"Go," Lu Changfeng said with a wave of his hand. He wasn’t about to hold a grudge against three youngsters.
Lu Changfeng’s figure vanished from the temple, leaving behind the three young, guilt-ridden members of the Saint Demon Sect.
「A short while later, inside a mountain cave.」
Hua Chengyu set Xu Fan down.
"Go on and talk, Xu Fan," Lu Changfeng said slowly.
Xu Fan took a deep breath. After personally witnessing Lu Changfeng’s power today, he had lost all will to resist.
The arrogance he once had when he defected from the Xuanyuan Sword Sect had been completely worn away by one blow after another.
Xu Fan had come to a clear realization: in the grand scheme of things, he was merely a slightly more talented ordinary person.
Xu Fan slowly began his tale.
Back when the Moon Concealing Demon Sect was taken over by Lu Changfeng, who was leading the Heavenly Corpse Demon Sect, Lu Changfeng and Xuansha went to pursue the Fanyun Demon Monarch.
Xu Fan, who was still at the Bone Refining Fifth Layer, seized the opportunity and fled on the spot.
Terrified, Xu Fan believed the Saint Demon Sect would never let him go.
He disguised himself and traveled all the way to the Capital Region.
Who would have thought that with the Capital City’s numerous Martial Arts Powers and their intricate networks of eyes and ears, his true identity would be discovered not long after he entered the city.
Fortunately, in the vast Capital City, not many people paid attention to a mere Martial Artist at the Bone Refining Fifth Layer.
This gave him the chance to escape the Capital Region.
By then, Xu Fan was like a startled bird. He had once heard that north of the Capital City, beyond the Hundred Thousand Mountains, lay another nation’s capital.
Thus, with pursuers on his tail, Xu Fan plunged headlong into the Hundred Thousand Mountains.
The Hundred Thousand Mountains, ever since the Ancient Times, has been a land overrun by Demon Fiends.
After all these years, many powerful Demon Fiends still resided within the Hundred Thousand Mountains.
Xu Fan proceeded cautiously, hoping only to cross the Hundred Thousand Mountains safely.
But he was still targeted by a member of the Demon Race.
According to Hua Chengyu, Xu Fan had encountered a Demon Race member at Little Demon Peak.
Little Demon Peak corresponds to the Human Race’s Bone Refining Fifth Layer.
However, relying on its powerful physical body, the Demon Race member completely overwhelmed Xu Fan.
The two fought for many days. Xu Fan fought while retreating, and the Little Demon fought while pursuing.
Then, the luckiest thing that could have happened to Xu Fan occurred.
Another member of the Demon Race appeared, and the two began to fight over the right to deal with Xu Fan.
In the end, both members of the Demon Race were grievously injured, and Xu Fan reaped the rewards.
The Inner Cores of the two Demon Race members helped Xu Fan successfully break through to the Rebirth Realm.
As soon as he entered the Rebirth Realm, Xu Fan felt the change in the Heaven and Earth Primordial Energy and realized the difficulty of maintaining his current Realm.
He traveled through the Hundred Thousand Mountains, resting for a few days before journeying for a period of time.
However, his direction was no longer north, but south.
Xu Fan decided to return to the Song Country.
’After advancing to the Rebirth Realm,’ he reasoned, ’I should be able to have some say in the Song Country.’
Xu Fan traveled through the Hundred Thousand Mountains for several days when he suddenly sensed a place where the Heaven and Earth Primordial Energy was particularly dense.
Curiosity drove him to investigate, and he soon discovered a massive mountain piled high with countless skeletons.
At the base of the Bone Mountain was a pitch-black tunnel.
Xu Fan turned to flee, but a suction force emanated from within the tunnel.
Despite his Rebirth Realm cultivation, he couldn’t resist the immense force and was sucked inside.
Pausing for a moment, Xu Fan continued, "After that, I entered a pitch-black space."
"In that space, a headless man was floating in mid-air."
"I felt... like he was reading my memories."
"I immediately begged for mercy, hoping he would spare me."
"Then, I heard the headless man’s voice in my mind. He told me to go out and build a force for him, with the main task of gathering resources. He said he would soon emerge from seclusion to unify the world. He planted a fatal technique inside my body. If I haven’t completed my task when he emerges, the technique will be triggered, and I will die."
Xu Fan spoke, his expression bitter.
He had originally thought that advancing to the Rebirth Realm would be a good start.
He never expected to become fish on someone else’s chopping block.
"Do you know the headless man’s name? What resources did he tell you to collect?" Lu Changfeng asked.
Xu Fan shook his head. "I don’t know, but when he communicated with me, he liked to call himself ’this king.’ He wants me to gather a large quantity of items that can increase Spiritual Power, preferably Primordial Stones. I need to gather one hundred Primordial Stones within ten years."
’Primordial Stones?’ Lu Changfeng’s mouth twitched.
Primordial Stones were Heaven and Earth Spiritual Objects born in the Ancient Times and even earlier.
They contained a vast amount of Heaven and Earth Primordial Energy, capable of supporting the cultivation and prolonged battles of Rebirth Realm Martial Artists.
But several thousand years ago, the Primordial Stones were almost completely consumed by the Rebirth Realm Martial Artists of that era.
That’s why you basically never see Rebirth Realm experts using things like Primordial Stones anymore.
Forget Xu Fan; even he, the Saint Demon Sect Master, only had a dozen or so, and all of them were offerings from the Demon Sect’s Demon Generals.
’One hundred in ten years... that headless man sure has some nerve.’
It’s possible that a Primordial Stone mine might still exist somewhere in the Outer World.
But within the tiny Profound Realm, over tens of thousands of years, any place with Primordial Stones had long since been turned upside down by the Profound Realm’s Martial Artists.
’This headless man probably doesn’t understand how resources have changed over the ages. He’s given Xu Fan a completely impossible task.’