Chapter 1970: Death of the Black Cloud

The limited space for the battle, coupled with one against three, meant that unless Black Cloud possessed strength like Ma Bin's, he was no match.

How many Ma Bins could there be in this world?

So the ultimate outcome of this battle was already predetermined.

After less than half a day, Black Cloud's massive demonic body was battered and torn, his aura extremely weak, on the verge of death.

But a breath remained.

This wasn't due to Su Yuqing and the others showing mercy, but because Lu Ye had specifically ordered it.

He had some questions he wanted to ask Black Cloud.

The three Sun-drenched cultivators of the Pixie race surrounded him, and even at this moment, they hadn't lowered their guard, fearing Black Cloud might suddenly make a desperate last stand, which was a real possibility.

Lu Ye, keeping his distance and not approaching, simply called out, "Demon Venerable, can you answer a few questions for me?"

Black Cloud, prostrate on the ground, disdained Lu Ye's caution but had to admit that the young man was truly meticulous.

He had saved a final bit of strength; though it wasn't a major threat to a Sun-drenched cultivator, if Lu Ye came close enough, he might be able to drag him down as a companion in death.

Who knew this kid would be so cautious!

"Victors and vanquished. Just kill me if you want to. Why all the talk?" Black Cloud scoffed, not showing any weakness even now.

Lu Ye nodded, "Killing you is certain, but how you're killed depends on you, Demon Venerable."

Black Cloud's voice was cold, "What do you mean?"

Lu Ye said, "It means if you're willing to cooperate, I can grant you a quick end!"

"And if I don't cooperate?"

"Hehe..." Lu Ye chuckled, explaining nothing further. His smile alone made it clear that nothing good would come of it.

Black Cloud's expression changed. His massive demonic body quickly shrunk, reverting to human form, looking utterly disheartened. "Ask away."

Dismissing his demonic form undoubtedly signaled his abandonment of his original plan. To him, death wasn't terrifying; what was terrifying were certain methods of torture.

Although the Pixie race wasn't an inherently evil race, their Sun-drenched cultivators might be adept at such methods. Moreover, Black Cloud knew that the Pixie race possessed a spiritual talisman specifically designed for torture, which, once inflicted, would truly make life worse than death.

Now, he only wished for a swift death.

Seeing this, Lu Ye then asked, "How did you find this place? Who gave you the route?"

Coming to Kyushu from the Myriad Worlds Sea was no easy feat. Back then, Lu Ye had only obtained a specific route through the guidance of the Reincarnation Tree, overcoming numerous difficulties along the way before finally returning to Kyushu.

So Black Cloud finding his way here was definitely not a coincidence; someone must have guided him.

"Don't you know who you've made enemies with?" Black Cloud retorted with a sneer.

Lu Ye blinked, "It seems Demon Venerable isn't very cooperative? Brother Wu, please help curb Demon Venerable's temper."

Wu Qimo stepped forward, "No problem!"

Black Cloud's expression changed. "No need!" He looked back at Lu Ye and said, "Yuan Du gave me a route, and I followed the map to find my way here!"

As expected, it was that old man.

"How did Yuan Du know the route from the Myriad Worlds Sea to here?" Lu Ye asked again.

Black Cloud sneered, instinctively wanting to mock, but then quickly reacted, holding back and saying, "Didn't many people from your Three Realms Island go missing before? Most of them were secretly captured by Yuan Du. What information couldn't he get through soul-searching?"

Just as I thought... Lu Ye had already suspected this, and Black Cloud's words merely confirmed his guess.

Indeed, some cultivators from Three Realms Island had gone missing before, though not in large numbers, which was normal. Luan Xiao'e had specifically reported this to him before the great battle with Zixuan erupted.

These were all cold cases that couldn't be traced. In the chaotic Myriad Worlds Sea, conflicts and battles between cultivators were common, with killing or being killed happening every moment.

Let alone Three Realms Island, even cultivators from renowned major powers mysteriously disappeared or died.

So Lu Ye hadn't taken it too seriously at the time, with only Wei Po ultimately triggering the great battle between Three Realms Island and Zixuan.

However, it now appeared that some of the missing cultivators from Three Realms Island had fallen victim to Yuan Du, who used soul-searching techniques to extract the route from their memories.

"So you followed the route all the way here, intending to avenge your Zixuan demon cultivators?" Lu Ye asked.

"Exactly! You killed so many of my Zixuan demon cultivators; is it too much for me to kill the beings from your homeland?"

Lu Ye offered no comment.

Black Cloud, however, suddenly became furious: "That Yuan Du, that scoundrel, is useless and causes more trouble than he solves! His soul-searching technique is utter garbage! He had no idea that your realm has three Sun-drenched cultivators guarding it. It's ridiculous that he even tried to use me to kill you!"

Lu Ye blinked, looking at Black Cloud with sympathy.

There's no way Yuan Du could have known. When Lu Ye first brought the Kyushu cultivators to the Myriad Worlds Sea, there was no Fangcun Mountain, and certainly no Sun-drenched cultivators in Kyushu.

Therefore, the information Yuan Du obtained through soul-searching was long outdated. He thought this was just an ordinary large realm and secretly guided Black Cloud here for revenge. As a result, Black Cloud foolishly came, blundering into a den of dragons and tigers, now finding his life no longer his own.

"And the route he gave was incomplete! I wasted a lot of time finding the correct path!" Black Cloud fumed, clearly very displeased with Yuan Du.

No wonder this guy, despite being a Sun-drenched cultivator, took several years to travel from the Myriad Worlds Sea to Kyushu; there was a reason for it.

However, Yuan Du couldn't really be blamed for this, as soul-searching was an extremely malevolent technique that caused immense damage to the target's spirit. Thus, the information obtained through it was limited and mostly incomplete.

"Besides guiding you here, what else did he tell you?" Lu Ye asked.

Kyushu was a significant matter. Since Yuan Du had soul-searched the cultivators from Three Realms Island, he might have known Kyushu's true name. Yet, he still allowed Black Cloud to come, which undoubtedly showed that even if Yuan Du knew about Kyushu, he hadn't given it much thought.

Also, cultivators from Three Realms Island all knew about the Merfolk race and their underwater territory. Did Yuan Du know about this?

Even if his knowledge was incomplete, it was highly probable he knew something, but he kept it secret, for unknown reasons.

However, Lu Ye wasn't too concerned about the Merfolk issue; even if Yuan Du found out, he couldn't do much with that information.

"He didn't say anything else." Black Cloud sat in a cross-legged position, trying to make himself more comfortable, and said with his head lowered, "You offended him, and you also have a grudge with my Zixuan. He's stationed in the Myriad Worlds Sea and can't easily leave, which is why he instigated me to come. As long as I succeed here, he'll be much happier."

"That's not right, is it?" Lu Ye gazed deeply at him. "I heard you've been in this realm for a while. What were you secretly searching for?"

Black Cloud's expression remained unchanged. "As a newcomer, I was just being careful. What could I be looking for? If I were looking for anything, it would be people connected to you."

Lu Ye silently watched him for a moment, then slowly asked, "Demon Venerable, have you heard of... the Dao Tree?"

Black Cloud, sitting upright, remained expressionless, showing no hint of a flaw.

But showing no flaw was the biggest flaw. How could a demon Sun-drenched cultivator like him, with such a long lifespan, not know about the Dao Tree? If Black Cloud were in perfect condition, he might have been able to maintain a more convincing disguise, but now, severely wounded and near death, he couldn't achieve a flawless pretense.

Lu Ye already had his answer and pressed on, "Does Yuan Du know about Kyushu and the Dao Tree?"

Black Cloud raised his eyes to look at Lu Ye, then said, "Yuan Du was puzzled as to why you call yourselves Jiutian when you are clearly Kyushu, but that's all. If he knew this Kyushu was the famous Kyushu of old, he wouldn't have sent me; he would have come himself!"

A plausible explanation.

"However... just because he doesn't understand it now doesn't mean he'll never understand it. When it concerns the Dao Tree, even the slightest possibility would compel him to investigate thoroughly."

Lu Ye smiled, "Then we shall give him a warm welcome when he arrives."

Black Cloud's eye twitched. He could almost foresee Yuan Du's fate if he truly came to Kyushu; it would undoubtedly be as tragic as his own current predicament.

"Anything else you want to ask?" Black Cloud looked at Lu Ye.

Lu Ye slowly shook his head. There was nothing more to ask; everything he needed to clarify had been clarified.

He turned to Chen Xuanhai. "Brother Chen, please grant the Demon Venerable a quick end."

No sooner had he finished speaking than a flash of sword light appeared. When Lu Ye turned to look, he saw Black Cloud's body separated, his life force rapidly dissipating.

"Xiao Jiu, let us out," Lu Ye called out, then instructed, "Also, keep this formation active for now, and only dismiss it after ensuring Black Cloud is completely dead."

A vortex slowly appeared, and Lu Ye along with the three Sun-drenched cultivators of the Pixie race departed.

Somewhere in the starry sky, a colossal planet lay stretched out. Surrounding this planet was a ring-shaped nebula, which, seen from a distance under the sun's radiance, glowed with a miraculous purple light.

This was how Zixuan got its name, famous throughout the starry sky.

On this demon planet, countless demon races lived and thrived, with powerful cultivators everywhere.

The entire Zixuan Demon Star was overseen by five Great Demon Venerables and eighteen Minor Demon Venerables, a total of twenty-three Demon Venerable-level powerhouses stationed across various parts of the realm. Consequently, the vast Zixuan Demon Star was divided into twenty-three regions, each belonging to a Demon Venerable.

Both Great and Minor Demon Venerables were Sun-drenched realm cultivators. A single realm having twenty-three Sun-drenched cultivators demonstrated Zixuan's profound power, and this didn't even account for Sun-drenched cultivators in other realms within the star system.

At this very moment, within the territory belonging to Demon Venerable Black Cloud, on Black Cloud Peak, an enraged roar echoed from the grand hall, causing the entire spiritual peak to tremble!

"Who, who killed my Dharmakaya!"

Inside the grand hall, Demon Venerable Black Cloud's face was wreathed in fury. It was crucial to understand that the deceased Dharmakaya was no ordinary clone; it was a manifestation of his power, prepared meticulously over three millennia for a potential great tribulation.

Although the Dharmakaya's power was not equal to his main body's, it was still at the Sun-drenched level, just slightly weaker than his true strength. Now that it had suddenly died, his three millennia of preparation had gone to waste. How could he not be enraged?