Chapter 204: Road

By: I Eat Tomatoes

Night fell upon Yuanchu Mountain.

The Yuanchu Mountain Lord arrived at the Venerable's study with another stack of documents, whispering, "Venerable, these are today's files."

"You sound exhausted. Is there bad news?" Venerable Qin Wu glanced at the Yuanchu Mountain Lord.

The Yuanchu Mountain Lord nodded slightly. "In Donggang Prefecture, Wuzhou, all four Great Solar Godfiends from the Godfiend team were killed today."

Venerable Qin Wu's eyes narrowed.

"All killed?" Venerable Qin Wu muttered to himself, taking a long time before asking, "What about the culprit?"

"We couldn't find them. The bait didn't work. The culprit might be a newly emerged Fourth-Heaven Demon Monarch," the Yuanchu Mountain Lord said quietly.

"Couldn't find them?"

Venerable Qin Wu looked at the Yuanchu Mountain Lord. "Didn't we establish that the land net has nine layers of detection, enabling four-sided encirclement if one area is attacked? And weren't we told that Godfiend teams carry 'bait' that, when ingested by the killer, allows for tracking? So, the current result is that the land net found nothing, and the bait was ineffective?"

The Yuanchu Mountain Lord replied bitterly but respectfully, "This Fourth-Heaven Demon Monarch is too cunning. They didn't engage in close combat but killed the four Godfiends from a long distance. The 'bait' carried by the Godfiends also failed to track them successfully."

The study fell silent.

After a long pause, Venerable Qin Wu finally spoke, "So, are we to conclude that another Fourth-Heaven Demon Monarch has emerged?"

"Yes, we suspect there are currently twelve Fourth-Heaven Demon Monarchs within the Great Zhou Dynasty's territory," the Yuanchu Mountain Lord replied respectfully. "Over the past six months, Marquis Godfiends, spread out, managed to ambush and kill one Fourth-Heaven Demon Monarch. The bait from Godfiend teams allowed us to successfully track three Fourth-Heaven Demon Monarchs. And the activation of a powerful treasure by a Godfiend team also eliminated one Fourth-Heaven Demon Monarch. So far, five Fourth-Heaven Demon Monarchs within our borders have been dealt with."

"The three Fourth-Heaven Demon Monarchs we tracked were all captured alive. The Demon Realm likely doesn't know they are in our hands yet," the Yuanchu Mountain Lord added.

"Only five dealt with."

Venerable Qin Wu shook his head slightly. "That's still far from enough."

The Yuanchu Mountain Lord quickly added, "There aren't many Fourth-Heaven Demon Monarchs in the entire Demon Realm. Those who remain at the Third-Heaven level but can break through to the Fourth-Heaven at any time are probably fewer than a hundred. Even fewer can successfully infiltrate our human world."

"The Fourth-Heaven Demon Monarchs that have survived in our human world are extremely cautious," Venerable Qin Wu stated. "What truly concerns me, however, is the large number of Third-Heaven Demon Monarchs. With time, through various life-and-death struggles, a very small number among them will eventually break through. They could give rise to ten, or even a hundred, Fourth-Heaven Demon Monarchs."

The Yuanchu Mountain Lord's heart tightened.

Venerable Qin Wu said coldly, "Therefore, we must maintain an absolute advantage, constantly surrounding and killing them to continuously reduce their numbers in our human world. Once their numbers dwindle, it will become difficult for them to produce even ten Fourth-Heaven Demon Monarchs."

"Their strength lies in their numbers, but once they lose that, they lose all advantages," Venerable Qin Wu concluded.

The Yuanchu Mountain Lord agreed.

Venerable Qin Wu reviewed the documents. Aside from the news from Donggang Prefecture, Wuzhou, the other reports for the day were relatively normal. Humanity continued its methodical pursuit of the demon race. The demons were now forced to hide underground, with even the slightest clue potentially leading to their discovery by humans.

"Oh, by the way," Venerable Qin Wu said, looking through the documents. "I heard that Black Sand Grotto-Heaven's 'King Baiyu' single-handedly captured two Fourth-Heaven Demon Monarchs alive and killed a large number of Third-Heaven Demon Monarchs. He alone is responsible for nearly half of Black Sand Grotto-Heaven's accomplishments in hunting down the demon race."

"That's correct."

The Yuanchu Mountain Lord nodded repeatedly. "King Baiyu cultivates the Samsara Divine Body. Based on this, he created a unique domain ultimate technique called 'Nine Heavens and Ten Lands,' which excels at large-scale underground detection. It's considered the strongest ultimate technique for underground exploration. It's through this extensive underground detection that he was able to capture two Fourth-Heaven Demon Monarchs alive and destroy many Third-Heaven Demon Monarchs' lairs."

"We at Yuanchu Mountain have already traded with Black Sand Grotto-Heaven and obtained a copy of the 'Nine Heavens and Ten Lands' technique," the Yuanchu Mountain Lord explained. "However, it requires possessing the Samsara Divine Body, cultivating to the King Godfiend realm, and diligently comprehending the technique to achieve detection capabilities comparable to King Baiyu's. Currently, Yuanchu Mountain doesn't have any King Godfiends with the Samsara Divine Body."

Venerable Qin Wu nodded. "I have an idea: let's discuss with Black Sand Grotto-Heaven. After King Baiyu completes his initial search within the Black Sand Dynasty's territory and his detection effectiveness wanes there, he could come and conduct searches within our Great Zhou Dynasty's territory. We can have him investigate areas we particularly suspect. Let's see what conditions Black Sand Grotto-Heaven proposes."

"Very well, I'll try," the Yuanchu Mountain Lord nodded. "However, Black Sand Grotto-Heaven will undoubtedly demand a steep price."

"He alone has achieved nearly half of Black Sand Grotto-Heaven's total demon-hunting accomplishments; he's worth inviting," Venerable Qin Wu said.

Godfiends each have their specialties; some are particularly adept at tracking Demon Monarchs.

King Baiyu of Black Sand Grotto-Heaven is unparalleled in tracking! Underground, he can detect within a five-mile radius centered on himself. This ability is enough to make him formidable across the world. For instance, Meng Chuan's Primordial Spirit domain is greatly weakened when sensing underground, let alone ordinary domains. In the face of earth obstruction, detection effectiveness is significantly reduced. It's normal for it to be only one percent, or even less, of its surface effectiveness.

Yet, King Baiyu's methods allow him to maintain such a large detection range underground. It's truly incredible.

Similarly, King Wuhuan of Two World Island is most skilled at creating avatars, able to manifest tens of thousands of mist avatars to move underground.

King Zhenwu of Yuanchu Mountain can glimpse events that occurred a short time in the past, another formidable tracking method.

From the various rescue missions he undertook, Meng Chuan also had a vague understanding of the world's overall situation.

He knew one thing: ordinary Godfiends were sacrificing a great deal.

However, this 'sacrifice' was necessary. Only by relying on ordinary Godfiends could teams be formed to protect the entire world!

Whoosh, whoosh, whoosh.

The cold wind howled outside the window.

Inside his study, Meng Chuan finally completed his last stroke.

He carefully arranged the three long scrolls he had painted over the past year.

Scroll One, starting from the right, depicted scenes of Godfiends at Beihe Pass leading soldiers to defend the city gates against demon invasions. This was followed by various battle scenes in Jiangzhou City, including the one where Meng Chuan and two companions fought the Blackwater Palace Lord...

Scroll Two showed scenes of large-scale probing attacks by the demon race. These widespread tests, with beacon fires lit across the land, were the most tragic. Then came the various scenes Meng Chuan encountered during his frequent rescue missions in different areas, including Godfiends who betrayed their comrades and fled, and those who allowed fortified villages to be attacked by Demon Monarchs...

Scroll Three focused on seven battle stories, even more tragic. Some depicted all Godfiends dying in battle, while others showed Godfiends successfully killing all the Demon Monarchs...

If the three scrolls were laid out in sequence, they would form an extremely long painting, totaling eight zhang and three chi in length! At a glance, it resembled a 'path'.

A path woven from battles.

A path paved with the bodies of Godfiends.

This was a bloody path, and only through such a path could ultimate victory in the war be achieved.

No bloodshed?

No desperate struggle?

And still expect final victory? Such a pleasant outcome doesn't exist!

Meng Chuan lifted his brush and wrote a single character on the far right of the first scroll, which also served as the title for this set of paintings: "The Path."

Beside the title, he wrote another line:

"Four years since descending the mountain; witnessed with my own eyes, heard with my own ears."