Translated by: Hypersheep325
Edited by: Michyrr
"Big Brother!" Yiyi's panicked voice rang out in Tang Jie's mind. "There's a problem!"
Looking up at the sky, Tang Jie replied, "I see it."
That Azure Dragon phantom was coiled up in the sky, hanging over fiend territory like the sun, spanning all five fiend empires and visible to all.
Each pillar of energy was obvious to see, and one of them was clearly coming from the direction of the Silver Eyes Imperial Palace.
If this weren't enough, his avatar was giving him a close-up view of everything going on in the Thunder Blade Fiend Emperor's secret chamber.
Those energy pillars were coming out of the demon caves.
Five pillars of energy, one for each fiend empire. Even an idiot could guess at what was going on.
It was clear that when the fiends discovered these demon caves, they realized the mysterious nature of the caves, so the five Fiend Emperors chose to found their empires around them.
For all these years, no one had been able to find the secret of the demon caves. Instead, it was the demon caves that erupted with activity first.
Recalling that furious cry of "Traitor" and then looking up at that Azure Dragon phantom in the sky, Tang Jie wondered, Could all of this be connected?
Had his actions been the trigger for these developments?
As he was thinking, those five pillars of energy began to withdraw, and the Azure Dragon phantom began to fade away.
Yiyi's voice rang out in his mind. "Big Brother, the energy pillar's going back."
"Has anything changed?" Tang Jie asked.
"The pressure from the demon cave has disappeared," Yiyi replied.
At the same time, in Thunder Blade's secret chamber, the avatar stood next to the demon cave. It also confirmed that the immense pressure radiating from the cave had disappeared. While there were still wisps of Yin energy, they posed no major problem.
The five Fiend Emperors had once gone to great lengths in an effort to suppress the demon caves and plumb their depths, never expecting that the pressure would one day disappear on its own.
This meant that the demon caves could now be explored.
"Big Brother!" Yiyi's voice came over again, this time brimming with anticipation.
"Wait there for me. I'll be back soon," Tang Jie replied.
As he spoke, he began to transform.
In his thirty years of life as a blacksmith, he had aged, his hair turning white, his face wrinkly, and his back hunched.
But now, as he straightened his back, his hair turned black and the wrinkles were smoothed out until nothing remained, revealing a young and vibrant face. At the same time, his body began to exude a formless pressure.
He turned to look back, and Er Hu, who had just advanced to Heart Demon, mentally trembled, a feeling of helplessness engulfing him, as if Tang Jie needed only a glance to crush him. He couldn't help but cry out, "Master!"
His entire body was caked in sweat!
He couldn't understand how the difference of a single tier would be so vast.
Tang Jie waved his hand, sending a stream of gentle energy into his heart, and the pressure vanished.
He then said, "It's time to leave."
Reluctantly looking over at the village, Tang Jie said, "I have made my house here for thirty years, and this destiny has run its course, so it is time to leave. I will leave this house behind in memory of this period."
With a wave of his sleeve, he swept up Er Hu and left.
The villagers down below were already stunned by the appearance of the Azure Dragon. Tang Jie's transformation and declaration made them realize that Tang Jie was about to leave, and they prostrated and shouted, "Farewell, Venerable Immortal!"
After Tang Jie left, the villagers, grateful for his kindness, preserved his house and treated it as a shrine, burning incense and offering prayers there in order to express their thanks.
Several years later, a fiend would enter the area, hunting for food, upon which a sword would fly out of the house and cut off the fiend's head, killing it on the spot.
The villagers only then would know that Tang Jie had left them a guardian treasure, which would cause them to treat the house with even greater piety. As time went on, the place would become a revered holy site.
Tang Jie flew with Er Hu toward the Inkcloud Abyss, where there was a teleportation formation leading to the imperial palace.
All three Fiend Emperors were bound to have sensed this phenomenon and were definitely going to mobilize. Tang Jie was always going to be slower because he wasn't on the scene, so he could only try his best to get back as soon as possible.
Fortunately, there were no problems on the avatar's side.
——————————
Thunder Blade's secret chamber.
Standing at the entrance to the cave, Tang Jie's avatar said, "The evil wind is gone and the pressure has dissipated, so now is the moment to explore the demon cave. I will go to take a look myself…"
"Your Majesty, be careful. This place is very strange," Elder Wind nervously said.
The avatar smiled. "You're still worried about my injuries? In truth, I've basically recovered. I was keeping my aura weak on purpose to draw out any hidden scoundrels."
As he spoke, an enormous aura began to rise from his body, filling the entire chamber.
Elder Wind hastily bowed. "Your Majesty, congratulations on the recovery of your draconic body."
A very subtle flush of red swept across Tang Jie's face for a moment.
Ten years ago, Tang Jie had finally broken through into Soul Transformation.
Although he still wasn't at the cultivation level of the Thunder Blade Fiend Emperor, if he unleashed his power, he could mimic the Thunder Blade Fiend Emperor's majesty for a time. But this put a great burden on him, and he almost collapsed. Fortunately, he rapidly took back his energy, and Elder Wind treated his sudden weakness as him continuing to act weak.
But Elder Wind cautioned, "The cave is unfathomable, so even Your Majesty must be careful. Why not call a few fiend kings to go with you? It will be safer."
After some thought, Tang Jie agreed. There was no telling what dangers lay within, so he could bring a few fiend kings and have them led the way for him. Even the mighty He Changan had needed fodder to lead the way, and there was no harm with being careful.
Elder Wind sent a message, quickly gathering four fiend kings and sixteen fiend generals, who joined Elder Wind and Tang Jie in entering the cave.
Similar scenes were playing out in the other empires.
The Blackwater Fiend Emperor was bringing five fiend kings and nineteen fiend generals, and the Iron Blood Fiend Emperor was bringing four fiend kings and twenty-two fiend generals.
In terms of combined strength including subordinates, Iron Blood was a little stronger than Blackwater, but thanks to Tang Jie, he had lost nine fiend kings in a row, so he didn't have many subordinates he could call upon. After all, for such a risky endeavor, he could only bring fiend kings that he absolutely trusted.
The Aurora Fiend Empire.
The Aurora Fiend Emperor stood on a raised platform. On top of his head was a crown adorned with Rainbow Phoenix Feathers, and his robe glowed with the light of sunset. Around his waist was a White Python Jade Belt, and he wore Incense Step Cloud Boots on his feet. He was also holding a mirror divided into Yin and Yang sides, which he spun around in his hands.
Two people stood behind him: a handsome young man in simple attire and with a long sword at his waist, and a gorgeous woman in colorful robes. This woman was none other than Aurora's daughter and the queen of the Silver Eyes Fiend Emperor, Lan Ling.
This queen had finally grown sick of Tang Jie's mistreatment and returned to her father's side. Tang Jie learned of this news on his travels, to which he simply said, "Understood."
Behind these three stood twelve fiend kings.
Beneath the platform were a thousand fiend guards in sky-blue armor—the Millepluma Guard.
They were fiends who had been personally selected by the Aurora Fiend Emperor and were utterly devoted to him. He had given each of them one of his one thousand feathers, and by absorbing the essence of a Divine Division fiend within these feathers, they were able to achieve Transformation. But as a price for this rapid advancement, they would be able to go no higher. The Aurora Fiend Emperor had also been greatly weakened by this act, slowing down his cultivation progress.
But a force of one thousand initial-phase Transformation fiends was an immense power that could intimidate any Fiend Emperor. They were a part of the Aurora Fiend Emperor's strength, and with him, they formed the peak faction of the Verdant Cloud Domain.
In addition, twenty-eight fiend generals stood in front of the one thousand fiend soldiers.
The 28 Star Generals.
These 28 fiend generals of Aurora were also known as the 28 Constellations. They were individually powerful, but they were also proficient in a combination formation that could hold down three to five fiend kings. They were also the commanders of the Millepluma Guard.
As the number one expert of the Verdant Cloud Domain, the Aurora Fiend Emperor possessed far more power than his peers.
With a wave of his hand, the fiend soldiers began to march into the demon cave.
Lan Ling asked, "Father, it's just an exploration. Do you need to send in so many fiend guards?"
"'Exploration'…" The Aurora Fiend Emperor chuckled and said in a raspy voice, "Perhaps the others still need to test the waters, but I don't."
Lan Ling was startled. "Father, do you know what's down there?"
The Aurora Fiend Emperor replied, "A thousand years ago, I found this demon cave. At the time, I was cultivating a spirit-seeing art, allowing me to trace this energy, and I found four other demon caves. Since then, I have always been probing the mysteries of this demon cave. I found that these five demon caves gather five energies and are distributed across five corners of the Verdant Cloud Domain, all of them resonating with each other. This is clearly a formation, a formation that covers the entire Verdant Cloud Domain!"
A formation covering the entire Verdant Cloud Domain?
Lan Ling gasped.
This was a massive undertaking!
Lan Ling asked, "Father, what's the purpose of this formation?"
The Aurora Fiend Emperor shook his head. "I'm not sure, nor do I dare to make any presumptions. If this is a formation, then the secret within is no minor matter. And based on my observations, the five demon caves might lead to the same place."
Lan Ling now understood why the Aurora Fiend Emperor had sent in all of the Millepluma Guard. It was because he knew that he would probably run into the other Fiend Emperors.
"What place is it?" Lan Ling asked.
Again, her father shook his head. "I do not know, but based on some telltale hints from the formation, I suspect that some powerful existence is sealed there."
Sealing a powerful existence?
What sort of existence would require such a massive formation?
Lan Ling was stunned.
A fire burned in the Aurora Fiend Emperor's eyes. "Although these are only speculations, they shouldn't be far from the truth. Alas, even though I discovered this secret, these five demon caves are too far apart, and some of them had even been in human territory at the time, so I couldn't occupy them all. All I could do was strengthen the fiend race and suppress the humans, even deceiving their three Violet Palace cultivators into swearing a Heavenly Dao Oath. Finally, I distributed the remaining four demon caves to the other Fiend Emperors."
Lan Ling suddenly understood why her father had worked so hard to unite the fiends, even sacrificing his own cultivation to raise the Millepluma Guard. All of this was to take the demon caves from the humans. Without the interference of Violet Palace cultivators, the Millepluma Guard was a terrifying force on the battlefield, swiftly routing the humans. One could say that humanity's defeat could largely be attributed to the Millepluma Guard.
After occupying the five demon caves, Aurora became much less aggressive. After all, humanity still had its three Violet Palace cultivators, and he didn't want to push them too far. At the same time, he also needed to take precautions against the other fiends. So he divided up the demon caves among the Fiend Emperors. While this seemed generous, he was actually using them to guard the secret of the demon caves, sowing discord among them so that they wouldn't work together to explore the caves, and ensuring that they wouldn't figure out that the caves were connected.
And in these years, the Five Fiend Emperors had trusted each other so little that the other Fiend Emperors didn't even know that their peers each had their own demon cave, let alone that the caves were linked.
Thus, while the other Fiend Emperors were still exploring, Aurora was boldly marching, preparing for all-out battle. No matter what was down there, the Aurora Fiend Emperor had been waiting for a thousand years. He refused to give this opportunity to anyone else.
"Once we're inside, anyone who tries to fight with me for this opportunity is my enemy, including Silver Eyes. Ling'er, you have to prepare yourself."
Lan Ling ruthlessly said, "While I'm nominally his wife, we've long ago become strangers to each other. If you run into him, you may kill him as you please."
In the Inkcloud Abyss, Tang Jie shivered for some reason.
"Big Brother, are you there yet? I've been waiting for ages," Yiyi urgently called out. Behind her were Lin Xin and five fiend kings, ready to move out.
"There's no need to worry. Just wait a little longer," Tang Jie replied, casting his gaze into the distance.
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