“What’s wrong, thinking of me again? Eh, did you find the Yin-Yang Heavenly Seal?”
“This isn’t the time for jokes. Look at this beast—what do you think is wrong with it?”
Seeing that Jiang Li was serious, Bai Hongtu stopped joking and instead followed his cue, observing the demonic beast carefully. Bai Hongtu’s Divine Sense couldn’t pass through the Remote Communication Talisman, so he could only rely on sight. To let him see clearly, Jiang Li tapped the beast’s forehead.
The maddened creature’s fused body and form instantly split apart into countless particles, scattering across the air. Bai Hongtu’s projected image circled around, examining every trace.
“This is... a mark left behind by an Extraterrestrial Heavenly Demon?!”
His eyes widened, uncertain if his own guess could be right. However, several of those strange traces looked unmistakably like the handiwork of an Extraterrestrial Heavenly Demon. It was recorded once that an Extraterrestrial Heavenly Demon performed the art of Heavenly Demon Disintegration to corrupt an entire city.
Those tainted by it lost all reason, went mad, and bit anyone they met; those bitten would in turn lose reason and become the next source of infection. From its structure, this beast wouldn’t infect others, yet it had lost reason and only acted on instinct. That, too, was clearly a trace of a Heavenly Demon’s interference.
“So we’ve reached the same conclusion. Without a doubt, it’s the work of an Extraterrestrial Heavenly Demon.”
“This world is really that powerful? To have Extraterrestrial Heavenly Demons here and still remain uncorrupted?!”
Bai Hongtu was deeply shocked. The Nine Provinces had Human Emperors, Power of Faith, Immortal Artifacts, and experts at the Tribulation Transcendence Stage. Even then, they barely managed to hold the demons at bay by pouring every resource they had into the fight.
The Nine Provinces were among the strongest worlds below the Immortal Realm. Yet this world didn’t look anywhere near as strong, and still it was somehow resisting the Extraterrestrial Heavenly Demons? Bai Hongtu’s expression turned solemn; he dared not underestimate this world and even felt a vague sense of respect toward it.
When he saw Ming Zhong—the man of this world—his respect extended to him as well. But under the gaze of Bai Hongtu’s projection, Ming Zhong only grew more awkward. It seemed this person had completely misunderstood something about him.
“That’s exactly what’s strange,” Jiang Li said.
“The Extraterrestrial Heavenly Demon seems to have only tampered with the beasts, letting them attack humans, but didn’t directly wage war on them.”
He gestured to Ming Zhong.
“Let me make introductions. This is the leader of this world’s Human Race—President Number 506. You can call him Ming Zhong.”
“And this is Bai Hongtu, Master of the Dao Sect, a Tribulation Transcendence Stage cultivator.”
“Greetings.”
“Greetings, Sect Master Bai.”
Ming Zhong looked at Bai Hongtu with eyes full of admiration, which only left Bai Hongtu speechless and confused.
“According to Ming Zhong,” Jiang Li continued, “this beast they encountered was the strongest they’ve ever seen—apparently just having broken through. They’ve never encountered anything stronger, nor have they ever seen any sign of an Extraterrestrial Heavenly Demon.”
“What, a Union Stage beast—already the strongest?”
Bai Hongtu was dumbfounded. What was that Extraterrestrial Heavenly Demon trying to do? To think it could invade a world with only a Union Stage beast?
If such a thing appeared in the Nine Provinces, the Dao Sect would have eaten it for dinner that very day! Yet when he noticed the uneasy look on Ming Zhong’s face, he realized what was ordinary for the Nine Provinces was a mortal threat for this world.
“Oh—I mean, the Union Stage is quite strong indeed,” Bai Hongtu quickly corrected himself.
If Ming Zhong hadn’t known that this man was a Tribulation Transcendence expert, he might have believed it. Unfortunately, he already knew. A Tribulation Transcendence master saying that a Union Stage expert was “quite strong”?
Wasn’t that a joke?! The atmosphere only became more awkward. Ming Zhong suddenly wished he could discard all emotions—then at least he wouldn’t have to feel this embarrassment.
“There’s one more thing you should know,” Jiang Li said.
“The Yin-Yang Heavenly Seal told me it senses the karma of the Dao Ancestor here. It suspects the Ancestor himself is present in this world.”
“What—the Ancestor is here?!”
Bai Hongtu’s eyes lit up in surprise and joy. For the Dao Sect, this was an earth-shaking piece of good news.
“We haven’t found any direct traces yet, but the Yin-Yang Heavenly Seal’s perception shouldn’t be mistaken.”
“What do you think?”
Bai Hongtu asked after calming down. A Mahayana Realm being entering this world couldn’t go unnoticed by the Ancestor—yet there had been no contact. That could only mean something had gone wrong.
“I think the Dao Ancestor might be confronting the Extraterrestrial Heavenly Demons directly and has no time to care about us,” Jiang Li reasoned after discovering the demonic traces.
“Then I’ll trouble you with this matter,” Bai Hongtu said solemnly.
He couldn’t personally intervene through the Communication Talisman; all he could do was rely on Jiang Li. After they cut off the connection, Jiang Li turned to Ming Zhong, who was staring at his own toes.
“These demonic beasts—which you call ferocious beasts—are they only found in this region?”
“No,” Ming Zhong shook his head.
“This is only a portion. The rest roam their own territories.”
He pointed in the direction opposite of the human lands.
“It was from there that the beasts invaded.”
“But I’m not entirely sure about what lies deeper. Every machine we send to explore their territory gets destroyed. Hardly any data manages to return.”
He had already unconsciously switched to calling them “demonic beasts” instead of “ferocious beasts.” Jiang Li nodded.
“Let’s go there and take a look.”
The beasts’ domain was utterly different from the human side. Ancient trees hundreds of meters tall pierced the skies. Any of them might hide a lurking beast waiting to ambush its kin—and naturally, they also tried to ambush Jiang Li’s group.
Those demonic beasts died miserable deaths; even together, their remains couldn’t make up a single complete corpse. Every time Jiang Li casually slew one, Ming Zhong would laugh with pure glee. He hadn’t closed his mouth for half a day, and by now his throat had gone dry from laughing.
Along the way they encountered several beasts at the Union Stage. Only then did Ming Zhong realize just how frighteningly far the beasts had evolved beyond humanity’s reach. Had Jiang Li not appeared, perhaps in a few centuries every human would have been slaughtered.
Of course, Ming Zhong couldn’t distinguish what stage those beasts were—whether Spirit Transformation or Union Stage—it was the Yin-Yang Heavenly Seal that told him. He also came to understand one thing: there were far more species of demonic beasts in this world than humans had ever imagined. The ones his people had spent centuries studying were merely a tiny fraction.
“All of these demonic beasts have been tampered with by the Extraterrestrial Heavenly Demons,” Jiang Li said after dissecting many of them.
Every single one had lost reason, acting purely on instinct, and all bore traces of Heavenly Demon corruption within their bodies. The beasts’ territory was vast—so vast that most of them didn’t even know humans existed on the other side of the continent.
The humans had been fighting only the weaker ones, the outcasts driven to the outskirts by stronger beasts. Thankfully, none among them had broken through to the Tribulation Transcendence Stage. That stage wasn’t something that could be reached merely by bloodline—it required profound understanding of the Heavenly Dao and many other conditions.
Beasts deprived of reason could never attain such insight.
“Do you feel that the Spiritual Qi density here is growing stronger?” the Yin-Yang Heavenly Seal asked.
“Indeed.”
Jiang Li nodded. The density here already rivaled that of the Nine Provinces. If not for their lack of intellect, seeing a few Tribulation Transcendence beasts here wouldn’t have been surprising.
“Stop!”
Jiang Li suddenly shouted.
“What’s wrong?” the Yin-Yang Heavenly Seal paused.
“There might be danger ahead.”
Jiang Li frowned deeply. His Divine Sense detected, hundreds of kilometers away, a beast that seemed to have achieved Immortal Ascension! But that was utterly impossible—a beast without reason couldn’t even reach the Tribulation Stage, so how could it become an Immortal?
Moreover, where would an Immortal Ascension Heavenly Ladder come from? Could it be… this world actually possessed such a ladder? Thank you to readers Zhongsuolai, Mingmen Low-Intelligence One, and Moon Element for your monthly votes.
And thanks to readers 20210216134725018, Mingmen Low-Intelligence One, and Proud Easily-Flustered Beautiful Weak Man for your rewards.
(End of Chapter)