Chapter 280: The Demon King 'Monan' Arrives

By: I Eat Tomatoes

The night was hazy, and a crescent moon hung high.

Meng Chuan flew high above, gazing down at the vast land.

His vision allowed him to see people living in the wilderness; most hid during the day but emerged at night to work. Adults toiled, children played nearby, and some diligently practiced with blades and swords.

“Hiding by day, emerging by night?” Meng Chuan whispered. “At night, demon monarchs' visibility is greatly reduced. Night has ironically become a form of protection. What a joke.”

“City after city has been abandoned.”

Meng Chuan flew on, passing county towns and prefectural cities, all now engulfed in darkness. This pervasive darkness made Meng Chuan feel suffocated.

“The entire Great Zhou Dynasty is left with only large cities.” Meng Chuan finally spotted a major city, a bustling metropolis with over ten million inhabitants. Yet, even within its walls, panic was widespread. News of a million demon monarchs attacking the human world had long spread like wildfire.

“Including the seven major fortresses, Great Zhou has a total of sixty-one large cities,” Meng Chuan thought to himself.

Among the seven major fortresses, Luotang Pass alone boasted a population exceeding twenty million. Fortresses like Anhai Pass, Yanshan Pass, and Baixiang Pass, which initially had populations in the millions, also accommodated some of the migrating population, pushing their numbers past ten million.

“Countless people in the wilderness survive by congregating around these sixty-one large cities across various regions. Where there are major cities, there is hope. If they earn enough silver, they can migrate into the city. If their children are talented enough, they can even be sent to city academies for cultivation free of charge. Even if their talent is ordinary, they can still pay to send their children to these academies.”

“These major cities represent hope and must be defended.”

Meng Chuan continued flying, observing the scene below.

In an open space below, a child and a man were sparring with blades.

“Thump.” Their blades clashed.

The child was knocked back, landing on the ground. With a fierce glint in his eyes, he charged at his father again.

“My strength is greater than yours; you shouldn’t try to match me head-on. Combat is inherently about using your strengths against an enemy’s weaknesses!” the man reprimanded, then swung his blade, suppressing his son again.

“Thud.”

The child stumbled again, covered in sweat, with bloodstains on his face from scrapes.

The man watched and barked, “Again! If you can master the basic blade techniques this year, you’ll pass the academy’s assessment. Your father will sell everything we own and risk his life to send you into the city, to send you to the academy. But if you still can’t do it, you’ll spend your whole life with me out here in the wilderness, and don’t blame your father for not giving you hope.”

“Hmph.” The child gritted his teeth and charged forward once more.

High in the sky.

Meng Chuan observed this scene, then flew past. He saw many similar scenes every day, yet each time, it stirred something within him. How deeply he wished to fulfill his dream of ‘slaying all demons under heaven’! If he could achieve it, he would feel immense satisfaction, even if it cost him his life. But it was truly difficult! The more he cultivated, the more he realized just how formidable the task of ‘slaying all demons under heaven’ was.

“This is merely a dark period; dawn will eventually break,” Meng Chuan murmured to himself.

Flying back to Jiangzhou City.

His wife, Liu Qiyue, waited for him, and they had dinner together. Afterward, Meng Chuan entered secluded cultivation.

“Thump.”

The corpse of the Creation Realm otherworldly being was placed directly inside the meditation chamber. This chamber, designed for Godfiend cultivation, was quite spacious, easily accommodating a body ten meters tall.

“A Creation Realm otherworldly being, primarily cultivating its physical body?” Meng Chuan observed carefully. The entire corpse was covered in layers of black scales, even on its face. However, a large section of its chest had been cut away, the scales gone, and the flesh excised.

“At this level of cultivation, injuries should heal instantly,” Meng Chuan mused. “The chest being cut suggests that the scales were removed after this otherworldly being died, perhaps by the venerated ancestors of Yuanchu Mountain attempting to refine artifacts?”

The scales on the body of a deceased Creation Realm physical body cultivator would certainly be extraordinary. Even simply fashioned into armor, their value would be astonishingly high.

“Buzz.” Invisible aura fluctuations emanated from the corpse, but as it was merely a dead object, Meng Chuan’s Darkstar Domain could easily seal off these fluctuations.

“Clang.”

Meng Chuan drew his Demon-Slaying Blade.

“Hm?” Meng Chuan looked at the Demon-Slaying Blade in his hand in surprise. Immediately after being drawn, the blade began to tremble, seemingly eager to lunge at the corpse.

“Don’t rush,” Meng Chuan said with a smile, swinging his blade. With a lightning-fast strike, he cleaved at the scales on the otherworldly being’s body.

In fact, when it was about an inch from the scales, an invisible repelling force pushed the Demon-Slaying Blade away.

“Thankfully, the venerated ancestors of Yuanchu Mountain had already cut a piece away, otherwise I wouldn’t be able to harm this corpse at all,” Meng Chuan chuckled self-deprecatingly. He extended the Demon-Slaying Blade towards the large wound on the otherworldly being’s chest. As it drew near the wound, the Demon-Slaying Blade vibrated, struggling to absorb something. Finally, a single drop of golden blood slowly flew out of the wound. The golden blood seemed incredibly heavy, barely drawn to the blade by the Demon-Slaying Blade’s pull.

“Hiss, hiss, hiss.”

As soon as the golden blood touched the Demon-Slaying Blade’s surface, golden patterns slowly extended across the blade, which vibrated as it strenuously absorbed the drop of blood.

Meng Chuan himself cultivated the physical body lineage, reaching the ‘Divine Powers Realm’ and the ‘Undying Realm,’ both representing qualitative transformations. However, a single drop of blood from a Creation Realm ‘Saint Entry’ level being was likely stronger than his entire physical body.

The Demon-Slaying Blade struggled immensely to absorb this one drop of blood; it took a full half-hour to completely consume it.

“Even the Demon-Slaying Blade found it so difficult to absorb,” Meng Chuan mused inwardly. “Perhaps throughout history, it has never absorbed the corpse of a Creation Realm physical body cultivator before.” The Demon-Slaying Blade was originally a demonic blade. A ‘Creation Realm physical body otherworldly being’ was not a native powerful entity of this world; only the Three Great Sects could obtain such a corpse. In the past, the Three Great Sects had no need to cultivate a demonic blade.

The Demon-Slaying Blade continued to absorb, but after more than an hour, it stopped.

It seemed to be ‘full’ for the time being.

“The Demon-Slaying Blade also needs to slowly digest it. I’ll let it absorb more tomorrow.” Meng Chuan was very much looking forward to seeing how much the Demon-Slaying Blade would change after absorbing a Creation Realm otherworldly being’s corpse.

Days passed.

Another evening.

Meng Chuan returned to Lake Heart Pavilion and had dinner with his wife, Liu Qiyue.

“Hm?”

Meng Chuan and Liu Qiyue simultaneously turned their heads to look into the distance.

A translucent figure, clad in black robes, with a gaunt face and yellow eyes, walked across the lake from afar. It smiled as it stepped onto Lake Heart Pavilion.

Meng Chuan and his wife stood up and walked out.

“A demon monarch?” Meng Chuan asked.

“Greetings, Marquis Dongning and Marquis Ningyue,” the black-robed translucent figure said with a slight bow.

“This is my first time seeing a demon monarch’s avatar. May I ask which Great Demon Monarch you are?” Meng Chuan inquired. He had seen the avatars of Venerable Qin Wu and Venerable Luotang, abilities only possessed after reaching the fifth level of the Primordial Spirit. Avatars held no offensive power. However, demonic divine powers were varied and unpredictable; perhaps even a Fourth-Heaven Demon Monarch could possess an avatar.

The black-robed translucent figure smiled. “My name is Monan. I have come to invite Marquis Dongning and Marquis Ningyue to join our demon race.”

“Join the demon race?” Meng Chuan scoffed. “How could our human race possibly join the demon race?”

“Why is the Heavenly Demon Gate willing to fight for the demon race?” the black-robed translucent figure smiled. “It’s because our Demon Emperor descended the ‘Demon Sacred Stele’ from beyond the heavens to the Heavenly Demon Gate, inscribing upon it our demon race’s promise. Once our conquest of the human world is complete, ten percent of its territory will be permanently allocated for human survival. That ten percent will be governed by the Heavenly Demon Gate, and humans will abolish their Godfiend cultivation system, adopting only the Heavenly Demon cultivation system. From then on, humanity will become one of the hundred tribes of the demon race, a part of us.”

Meng Chuan and Liu Qiyue exchanged glances.

“In the war between humans and demons, humanity is bound to lose,” the black-robed translucent figure said with a smile. “Since defeat is inevitable, why choose to die needlessly? You can simply lead your clansmen and continue to live happily. Provided no new Godfiends are born. As for you Godfiends... the demon race can allow you to exist. Once you die of old age, there will naturally be no more Godfiends.”

“For you, wouldn’t it be wonderful to live a carefree life, with your wife, family, clansmen, and descendants all living happily and fulfilled?” the black-robed translucent figure smiled.