Chapter 739: Parting Ways

Chapter 739: Chapter 740: Parting Ways

Ye Xuan sneered. “What, does a servant like you actually want to attack me, the young master?”

‘That bastard!’ Hearing Ye Xuan call him a “servant,” Zhan Shang was about to explode with rage.

“Brat, don’t tell me you really thought I was afraid of you. The Blood Sword Martial Emperor was here just now, so I deliberately hid my strength. Now that he’s gone, you still dare to act so arrogantly before me? You’re really in a hurry to die!”

An astonishing killing intent erupted from Zhan Shang as a terrifying power instantly swept toward Ye Xuan.

“If you want to fight, then make your move. Stop putting on a show,” Ye Xuan taunted, completely unafraid. “Or is the so-called Soul-devouring Race just full of cowards?”

“You think I wouldn’t dare?!”

Zhan Shang was so angry the veins on his forehead bulged, and his eyes turned as red as blood.

‘He was a venerable of the great Soul-devouring Race. Since when could a mere Martial King from the Human Race look down on him like this?’

BOOM!

In a roar of fury, Zhan Shang unleashed a monstrous black mist from his body. It merged with the surrounding Demonic Evil Qi, making him look like a Demon God, appearing exceptionally cold and domineering. The streams of black mist he released were like agile tentacles, sweeping madly toward Ye Xuan.

“Hmph!” Ye Xuan’s eyes narrowed. The Vast Light Grand Thousand Mirror suddenly materialized in his hand. “Block it.”

The Vast Light Grand Thousand Mirror emitted a hazy glow and, with a BANG, blocked Zhan Shang’s attack. The tentacle-like streams of black mist writhed continuously on the light barrier formed by the mirror. CRACKLE! Fine cracks quickly spread across the barrier, threatening to shatter it at any moment.

‘Ye Xuan’s gaze sharpened. In this environment filled with Demonic Evil Qi, Zhan Shang’s strength seemed to have increased slightly.’

“Haha.” Seeing Ye Xuan’s grave expression, Zhan Shang immediately halted his attack and laughed smugly. His voice then turned chillingly cold, “Brat, you see now? In this environment, my strength is even more terrifying than before. Hand over the black Crystal Stone that the Blood Sword Martial Emperor found in the third stone chamber, and I’ll spare your life.”

Behind the light barrier, enveloped by the sky-filling, tentacle-like black mist, Ye Xuan showed not a hint of fear. Instead, a trace of disdain appeared on his face.

Seeing Ye Xuan’s disdainful look, Zhan Shang wasn’t flustered at all. He continued, “If you anger me, I’ll spread the news that you possess the Celestial Fire. And about your fake identity as the young master of Infinite Mountain… Tsk tsk, I imagine Infinite Mountain would be very interested in that. Also, what do you think the Blood Sword Martial Emperor would do if he found out everything you told him was a lie? Wouldn’t he want to tear you to shreds?! Hehe.”

Ye Xuan gave a cold smile and gestured outside. “Go on, tell them. I’ll be waiting.”

‘Zhan Shang’s eyes narrowed. He hadn’t expected Ye Xuan to be unafraid of him revealing his secrets. Didn’t he know how alluring the Celestial Fire was to those powerful humans?’

“You’re not afraid?”

Killing intent once again poured from Zhan Shang. The surrounding dark mist formed swirling vortexes, looking particularly sinister and terrifying.

“If you really dared, you wouldn’t be wasting your breath,” Ye Xuan said sarcastically. “You, a member of the Soul-devouring Race, are using this to threaten me? When it comes to hatred, Infinite Mountain hates you far more than they could ever hate me. As for the Blood Sword Martial Emperor… even if I did lie to him, I can genuinely heal the problem with his Martial Arts Origin. What do you think he’ll do to me?”

“You…”

Zhan Shang’s expression froze. He didn’t know how to retort.

“Make your move if you’re going to. If you won’t, then I’m going right now to tell those Martial Emperors that a member of the Soul-devouring Race has possessed Qi Cheng, a Core Disciple of Infinite Mountain, and is hiding among us humans. He’s come to this… Land of Ancient Demons… for some unknown purpose. Maybe he wants to destroy the Human Race, or maybe he wants to retrieve some heaven-defying treasure that belongs to his Soul-devouring Race,” Ye Xuan said nonchalantly.

“Shut up! This Land of Ancient Demons is the territory of the Spirit Demon Race! It has nothing to do with my Soul-devouring Race.”

Veins bulged on Zhan Shang’s forehead. His greatest fear was his identity as a member of the Soul-devouring Race being exposed. He hadn’t recovered much of his strength yet, and he knew exactly how those powerful humans would treat him if they found out who he was.

Especially in this mysterious Land of Ancient Demons. The human Martial Artists would surely assume he knew where the treasures were and would stop at nothing to capture him.

“Is that so? I think I’ll tell them anyway. Your peaceful days are numbered. It probably won’t be long before every human Martial Artist who has come to this Land of Ancient Demons knows there’s a mysterious member of the Soul-devouring Race here who knows where the treasures are.”

Ye Xuan laughed, paying no mind to Zhan Shang’s threats.

“Bastard! Fine! I won’t kill you, and I don’t want the black Crystal Stone anymore. From now on, we have nothing to do with each other. If you dare expose my identity, I’ll expose the fact that you have the Celestial Fire. At that point, we can just take each other down!”

Zhan Shang retracted his black mist and turned to leave. He knew he couldn’t do anything to Ye Xuan, nor could he intimidate him. Staying here was just inviting more humiliation.

Ye Xuan’s voice turned cold. “Stop right there.”

“Hmph.”

Zhan Shang snorted, completely ignoring Ye Xuan’s command. His figure began to fade into the Demonic Evil Qi. The thing he wanted most right now was to find a quiet place to absorb the Demonic Evil Qi, increase his strength, and then come back to kill Ye Xuan.

“Stop. If you dare take another step, I’ll crush the jade slip the Blood Sword Martial Emperor gave me. Let’s see how far you can run in that short amount of time,” Ye Xuan said coldly.

“What in the world do you want? Do you really want us to destroy each other?”

Zhan Shang was so furious he felt like his lungs would explode, but he had no choice but to stop.

“What do I want? You attack when you want, you stop when you want. Who do you think you are?” Ye Xuan said in a frosty voice.

“Then what do you propose?” Zhan Shang said coldly, suppressing the rage in his heart.

“Continue in your role, of course. Be my servant,” Ye Xuan said lightly.

“Bullshit!”

Zhan Shang said furiously, “Brat, don’t push your luck! Or else, I’ll risk exposing my identity just to kill you, believe it or not!”

He was on the verge of going insane. For him, a venerable of the Soul-devouring Race, to become the servant of a human Martial King… he would rather die.

“Heh. If you don’t want to, that’s fine too. But you have to tell me: what exactly is this place? What is that black Crystal Stone, and what use is it to you? What else do you know? What’s your real purpose here? If you tell me all of this, I don’t mind maintaining peace with you. We can leave each other alone for now.”

In truth, this was Ye Xuan’s real goal. He was certain that Zhan Shang knew something about this place.

“Is that really all it will take?”

“Why would I lie to you? However, what you tell me can’t be some made-up nonsense. If I find out you’ve deceived me in the slightest, don’t blame me for not keeping my word,” Ye Xuan snorted.

“Rest assured. We of the Soul-devouring Race are not as cunning as you humans.”

Zhan Shang sneered and continued, “This is the Land of Ancient Demons, the former home of the ancient Spirit Demon Race. The Spirit Demon Race was an incredibly terrifying race from the primordial era with astonishing strength. However, during that era, a great war of a hundred races occurred. The Spirit Demon Race’s Land of Ancient Demons was shattered into countless fragments and sank into the depths of spacetime. This land that has suddenly connected to the Celestial Yin Valley should be one of those fragments.”

“The black Crystal Stone you obtained is a Demon Stone. It’s the source of power for the Spirit Demon Race and contains potent Magic Power, equivalent to your Human Race’s Profound Stones. This Magic Power has a nourishing and strengthening effect on my physical body and soul, which is why I wanted to get it.”

“As for this Demonic Evil Qi, it’s what the Spirit Demon Race used to nourish their bodies. The Spirit Demon Race was powerful, and their physical bodies were especially terrifying, all because they were nourished by this Demonic Evil Qi. As long as one can resist the influence of the Evil Qi on their will, large amounts of Demonic Evil Qi can cause the physical body to undergo a transformation.”

“As for my purpose, there’s no harm in telling you now. The Land of Ancient Demons was once a battlefield in the great war of a hundred races. I came here hoping to find the body of an expert from that primordial era to possess, allowing me to recover my strength sooner. But now it seems that’s impossible. This place doesn’t seem like a main battlefield, more like a base for the Spirit Demon Race.”

“Alright, that’s all I know. If you dare to threaten me again, I’ll kill you even if it’s the last thing I do.”

Zhan Shang had no desire to linger with Ye Xuan. After saying this, he snorted coldly, transformed into a streak of light, and vanished into the depths of the mist.

‘So that’s how it is.’

Ye Xuan came to a sudden understanding and nodded slightly. In truth, he had only been trying to scare Zhan Shang. If a real fight had broken out, he was still quite wary of that guy.

‘After all, he couldn’t just expose his Celestial Fire recklessly.’

‘Seeing how hasty Zhan Shang was, and how he seemed to be absorbing the Demonic Evil Qi as he left… It seems this Demonic Evil Qi must be of great benefit to him.’

Watching Zhan Shang’s departing figure, Ye Xuan fell into deep thought, a sense of pressure building within him.

Now, more and more powerful experts were appearing in this mysterious land. Even a Nine Heavens Martial Emperor had shown up. With Ye Xuan’s current cultivation level, surviving would only become more and more difficult.

‘And given Zhan Shang’s personality, as soon as he had enough power to kill me, he would definitely come for me again.’

Ye Xuan silently resolved in his heart, ‘I have to raise my cultivation level as quickly as possible.’

WHOOSH!

The next moment, he transformed into a streak of light and shot upward.

Deep underground, the Demonic Evil Qi was too dense, and that terrifying power made Ye Xuan hesitant to investigate further for the time being. He wanted to see what was above this underground palace.

As he continued to ascend, Ye Xuan clearly saw a constant stream of tunnel entrances appearing on the rock walls beside him.

In the ruined great hall they had entered from, there had only been a few dozen entrances in total.

But now, Ye Xuan could see no fewer than a hundred entrances on these rock walls. It was clear that besides the ruin they had come through, there were definitely other passages leading to this place.