Chapter 580 - 316: Deep Sea

In the mysterious, distant, and immeasurable Outer Heaven World.

Beneath a dark violet Celestial Vault, the pitch-black earth stretched out, vast and boundless, exuding an aura of bleak desolation.

On a low hill, a dozen crimson bushes surrounded a Sword-toothed Demon Elephant that was dozens of feet long. Their sharp tentacles had torn through its bony armor and were now voraciously devouring its flesh and blood.

The Demon Elephant was not yet dead. It let out periodic, agonized roars, its massive body thrashing desperately, but it could not break free from the uncanny shrubs’ collective grip.

Miles away on the Gobi Desert, a moose-like creature darted by, moving so quickly that it left a trail of afterimages in its wake.

However, it could not escape its fate as prey. Several long, whip-like, fleshy tentacles shot out from underground without warning, ensnaring it and dragging it into a pit that abruptly appeared.

A moment later, the ground was flat once more, as if nothing had happened at all.

Similar scenes played out endlessly across the wilderness. These fierce and savage beings were entirely different from living creatures in the conventional sense, more like tools of slaughter created for a single purpose.

Farther in the distance, one could occasionally glimpse cities built from massive, blood-colored rocks. Their architectural style was grotesque and twisted, a stark contrast to the cultivation civilizations of the Human Race.

This was the world that gave birth to the Outer Heaven Exotic clan. In their early years, the clan’s Great Powers waged war across the cosmos, conquering and destroying countless worlds, great and small. They carved the notorious name of the "Blood Demon Race" into the annals of all the heavens and myriad worlds.

But the Blood Demon Race’s luck was not to last. At the very height of their power, they were struck down by an alliance of several terrifyingly powerful beings and nearly faced complete annihilation.

Within a mere century, the Blood Demon Race had lost every world they had conquered. Their most powerful members suffered countless casualties, and even their own homeworld was almost utterly destroyed.

In the end, only a tiny number of the Blood Demon Race, hidden away in the forgotten corners of their world, were fortunate enough to survive the cataclysm and live on.

As long ages passed, the clan finally recovered its Primordial Qi, and its population gradually expanded. However, their world, whose very foundation had been grievously wounded, never healed.

Endless infighting, the unbridled plundering of resources, and a massive population that spread like a plague to every corner of the world had pushed this land to its breaking point.

The wisest Elders of the clan had already issued a warning: if they could not find a suitable new world within the next three thousand years, more than ninety-nine percent of their people would be annihilated along with their collapsing world.

This was why the rulers of the Blood Demon Race chose to take a desperate gamble and cooperate with the Primordial Demon Palace of the Qingyao Continent. The risks were enormous, but they could no longer afford to wait.

In the core region of this world, a colossal, crimson city stretched for millions of miles.

Within the great city, tens of thousands of slender, towering spiral spires, their entire surfaces covered in crimson patterns, pierced the clouds.

At the top of each spire, a terrifyingly powerful aura lay dormant. These belonged to the most renowned Great Powers of the Blood Demon Race.

In the center of the vast city stood a tower thousands of miles high, constructed from massive blocks of blood-red jade. Its surface was adorned with layers of intricate, exquisite patterns and shrouded in a thick, crimson curtain of light.

At the pinnacle of the tower, a grand and majestic hall was heavily guarded. Outside, ranks of burly figures stood in utter silence, shrouded in heavy black robes and exuding strange, powerful auras.

Deep within the great hall, twelve jet-black altars stood silently in a circular formation. Each was hundreds of yards in circumference, eighteen stories tall, and forged from the molten bones of some unknown behemoth.

Upon each altar, great plumes of crimson demonic flame blazed, radiating an invisible pressure.

Within the heart of the demonic flames, the twisted, spectral images of human faces would periodically appear, their features contorted in extreme agony as they let out silent screams.

Before each altar stood a tall, ornate throne, upon which sat a figure whose aura was terrifyingly, almost unfathomably deep.

A terrifying pressure filled the entire hall, creating a delicate state of equilibrium.

The Blood Demon Race did not have just one Wang Clan. By custom, as long as one’s Cultivation reached a certain threshold, they could receive the Elders’ acknowledgment and be granted the title and authority of a monarch.

The Blood Demon Race currently had twelve Wang Clan in total, and all of them were now present to discuss the grand strategy for their race’s future.

"How is the status... of the spatial arrival channel?"

A cold, sinister Divine Thought slowly inquired.

"The plan is proceeding smoothly. After a massive investment of resources, it has expanded nearly a hundredfold. It’s also stable enough to be maintained for a very long time!"

Another Divine Thought replied steadily.

"Excellent. It seems it won’t be long before we can send more of our elite legions down and establish a firm foothold on that side."

"Hmph! That Primordial Demon Palace of the Human Race is treacherous. They sacrifice our clan’s precious warriors so wantonly. In the future, we will make them pay the price they deserve!"

...

Since the shifting tides of the outside world had yet to affect his family’s territory, Ling Changqing cultivated peacefully at home, using a Dual Cultivation Secret Technique to help his many lovely Dao Companions raise their Cultivation.

Lately, whenever he tired of the quiet, he would take his companions out to sea to conduct a full survey of the waters under his family’s domain. He charted the topography of the undersea mountain ranges and, in particular, mapped out the distribution of various high-value resources on the seafloor.