Chapter 68: Demon Lord (13)

A vicious beast, now much cleaner but still ugly, lay sprawled on the ice, tilting its head upward and focusing intently on the fabric ball being tossed toward it. Then, using its head, it bounced the ball back.

At first, it was terrible at the game—often missing the ball or hitting it too hard, sending it flying out of reach. But after continuous adjustments, it had improved significantly. Now, it could rally dozens of times without letting the ball fall.

Naturally, the ball was made from the Demon Lord’s clothing. Qian had put in quite a bit of effort to shape it into a ball.

But it was all worth it. This cave was unbearably dull, and if not for this playmate and the toys she had made, she would have died of boredom!

After playing ball with the beast, Qian began stacking small stones she had collected, building tiny houses—on the beast’s face, because its face happened to be flat.

The massive beast lay obediently on the ground, its face upturned. Qian plopped onto its broad, flat nose and focused on stacking stones, all while warning it: “Don’t move! If the stones fall, you lose!”

The game was about seeing how long her partner could stay still while she built a stone house on its face.

But for a creature that rarely saw living beings and got overly excited whenever it did, keeping still was nearly impossible. So, as expected, it moved quickly every time and lost.

The big dog, however, had no competitive spirit. Losing was losing. Even in defeat, it happily accepted its punishment.

Qian jumped off its face. “You lost, so now you have to play ‘Statue.’”

She ran to the other side and called out, “Okay! You can only turn your head when I say so! No peeking!”

Unfortunately, this unreliable playmate wasn’t very bright. It either peeked too early or kept staring the whole time, requiring Qian to constantly correct it.

After playing for a while, they took a break.

From the darkness, the beast fished out a small creature—something that looked like a mouse or a bug. When it chewed, a crunching sound echoed.

That was the only food it could find in this place.

Qian pouted as she watched her friend eat a snack—because she had nothing to eat.

Just like before, the big dog tried to share its snack with her, only to be rejected again.

She didn’t like eating things that were still alive and bloody. More importantly, they smelled bad.

After their rest, they played a bit longer before Qian ran through the tunnel back to the secluded cave to rest.

By now, she had grown accustomed to this daily routine.

As she walked, she played with the glowing spots on the tunnel walls, scraping at them with her fingers and using small stones to scratch marks on the surface.

When she arrived, the first thing she did was check on Huai You Nong. Still asleep.

Next, she ran to the underground spring, tilting her head back to catch the falling water in her mouth. The sweet taste spread across her tongue, sending a warm feeling through her belly.

Then, she moved closer to Huai You Nong.

His clothing had become even more tattered, leaving only a few shredded strips hanging on his body.

Qian carefully picked one of the cleaner pieces and used it to wipe the water off her face.

After all this time experimenting, she was now bold enough to mess with him freely. Last time, she had even used a shell peeled from the beast’s armor to grind down one of Bad Dad’s sharp nails—and he hadn’t reacted at all.

In a way, the Demon Lord, currently busy breaking through, had become just another one of her “toys.”

Propping her chin on the stone platform, Qian stared at Huai You Nong, bored. Her gaze wandered until it landed on his chest.

A mischievous idea sparked in her mind.

She scraped some black ash from the wall, dipped her fingers in it, and drew a big mouth on Bad Dad’s firm abs. With the two points above, it looked just like a face.

But something was missing.

She added two nostrils above the mouth.

Still not enough. She finished it off with a pair of eyebrows.

“Hee hee hee hee!”

After a session of doodling, she beamed at her masterpiece.

Huai You Nong’s Demonic Ritual Codex was at a critical juncture—this was the hardest part of the process. Right now, unless the sky itself collapsed, nothing from the outside world could disturb him.

Even if this little menace escaped, tore up his clothes to make toys for a beast, filed down his nails, played with his hair, or even plucked out strands to stick on his belly for a fake mustache… none of it would wake him.

But then, the sky really did collapse.

A violent tremor rippled through the underground chamber, far more intense than when the Demon Palace had sealed and unsealed during his last retreat. Even their secluded cave had stones crumbling from the ceiling.

At that moment, Qian happened to be resting in the cave. The shaking stirred a distant memory—an earthquake drill at school.

The hazy memory made her instinctively look for a place to take cover. The sturdiest thing in the cave seemed to be Bad Dad, so she dove under Huai You Nong’s arm, pressing her head against his forearm.

As the world trembled and quaked, Huai You Nong furrowed his brows.

Heavy drumming sounds carried invisible shockwaves from the Demon City atop Zhu Ding Mountain, shaking the mountain’s core.

Then came the chime of a long-silent bell—an alarm signaling the city was under attack.

The rapid, ceaseless tolls and the relentless tremors finally wrenched Huai You Nong from his meditation.

His golden eyes snapped open, molten like thick, flowing lava.

Forcibly cutting off his cultivation caused the Demonic Ritual Codex to backlash. Huai You Nong coughed up a mouthful of blood.

With a dark, stormy expression, he looked upward. The fury in his gaze burned so hot it could almost ignite the air.

What were those useless fools in the Demon Palace doing? How had they let such a massive disturbance happen again while he was in seclusion? Again and again!

He shot to his feet, flicking his sleeve—wait.

Flicking his sleeve?

The raging Huai You Nong suddenly felt something was off. He looked down.

Even at a time like this, he was struck speechless.

Already wounded from backlash, Huai You Nong felt his injuries deepen instantly.

His gaze slowly shifted to the side.

The child, who had just been about to celebrate his awakening but then remembered to be afraid, had already silently scooted into the corner. Burying her face in her hands as if deceiving herself, she left one eye exposed, secretly peeking at him.

If not for the uncertain situation, Huai You Nong would have already given this little brat a harsh lesson.

With a face as cold as murder, he tore off the tattered cloth strips on his body, wiped his abdomen casually, and tossed them away. Then, he reached into his spatial dimension and pulled out a wide robe, draping it over himself.

Grabbing Qian by her clothes, he lifted her and strode out.

That lazy child had actually managed to break through his confinement array—something he hadn’t expected.

“Where’s my whip?” Huai You Nong asked, his face dark.

Qian shrank her head and limbs, responding with an innocent, bewildered look as if she knew nothing.

She genuinely had no recollection of where she had thrown that whip.

Huai You Nong took a deep breath and practically shot out of the tunnel in a flash.

Following his senses, he arrived at the cave where the ferocious beast resided. With a quick scan, he stretched out his right hand.

The whip, which had been trampled deep into the mud by the beast and covered by a layer of ice, responded to his summons and returned to his grasp—reeking of an unpleasant, fermented odor.

On the verge of erupting, Huai You Nong swiftly appeared inside the Demon Lord’s bedchamber.

The left and right guardians were nowhere to be seen. Only the medical cultivator, Han Qiu, leaned idly against the corridor, scratching his head as he looked at the billowing black clouds in the distance.

“Where are they?” came a suppressed voice.

Startled by the sudden appearance of the Demon Lord in such an unusual state, Han Qiu momentarily froze before quickly lowering his head. His gaze then fell to the bare feet and the living child gripped in the Demon Lord’s hand.

Closing his eyes for a brief moment, Han Qiu then answered with utmost respect, “Reporting to the Demon Lord, the Left and Right Guardians, along with the others, are defending the city against enemy forces. While you were in seclusion, eight Demon Generals from the western and northern regions of the Demon Realm led an army to lay siege to the city. They have already breached the outer city and reached the inner city.”

“Demon Generals from the west and north?” Huai You Nong immediately guessed that someone had manipulated events behind the scenes, luring these fools here to their deaths.

“It is said that they have come escorting a pureblood Heavenly Demon and intend to proclaim him as the new Demon Lord,” Han Qiu added, lowering his voice as if afraid of provoking him.

A Heavenly Demon bloodline? No wonder.

Huai You Nong’s lips curled into a bloodthirsty grin. Ignoring Han Qiu, he launched himself toward the inner city gate of the Demon Palace, where the dark clouds churned.

The Demon Realm had always revered strength, and the position of Demon Lord belonged to whoever had the power to seize it.

For millennia, the strength of the demon race had been closely tied to their bloodlines. Thus, every Demon Lord throughout history had been a member of the Heavenly Demon lineage—the most powerful bloodline in the Demon Realm.

That was, until the Heavenly Demon lineage began to decline. Internal strife worsened, and then an anomaly like Huai You Nong appeared. A hybrid, he defeated the last of the Heavenly Demons and devoured them completely.

His actions essentially ended the Demon Realm’s long history of pureblood Heavenly Demons ruling as Demon Lords. From then on, once he perished, the various demon clans would all have the chance to vie for the throne.

Many believed that if a mixed-blood like Huai You Nong, born of a Heavenly Demon and a Charm Demon, could become the Demon Lord, then why couldn’t they?

The Demon Realm had since been more restless than ever. On the surface, Huai You Nong still held supreme power, but beneath the facade, tensions were stretched to the breaking point, ready to snap at any moment.

Numerous figures lurked in the shadows, waiting for him to make a mistake—or show a moment of weakness.

Outside the city, an army of demon soldiers densely surrounded the walls. Inside, the Left and Right Guardians, the elders, and the Demon Generals defending the Demon City stood ready with their troops.

Judging by their state, they had already undergone several rounds of battle. Corpses littered both the inside and outside of the city.

The stench of blood from the mountains of bodies was overwhelming.

At the front of the enemy army, a Demon General stood atop the piled corpses, shouting his challenge:

“Your Demon Lord still doesn’t dare show himself? What, is he too ashamed to face the true Heavenly Demon bloodline? How long do you think you can hold out? Surrender to our King Jinhuang, and we can all serve the new Demon Lord together!”

“Think about it! That mongrel Huai You Nong—too cowardly to lead us to invade the Cultivation Realm and seize resources, too afraid to step out of the Demon Palace, hiding away like a rat. Is this the coward you’re willing to die for?”

The Demon General’s voice rang throughout the battlefield, amplified by the relentless pounding of a massive Earth-Shaking Drum—an artifact responsible for rousing Huai You Nong from his seclusion.

“How dare you slander the Demon Lord! You deserve death!” Luo Yeliusha stood atop the city gate, his voice not as booming as the Demon General’s, but the chilling intent to kill within it was equally terrifying.

Among those defending the city, only a handful were truly dedicated to its defense. Most remained there merely out of fear of Huai You Nong’s past might, putting on a show of loyalty.

After all, this was the Demon Realm. Few demons would be truly loyal to a Demon Lord—if one fell, the next, stronger one would simply take his place.

“The two Guardians are indeed loyal. But tell me, has your Demon Lord ever truly cared about your lives? If he did, he wouldn’t have hidden for so long while you died defending this place.”

Behind the enemy’s Demon Generals was a luxurious golden carriage. Inside it sat the so-called pureblood Heavenly Demon, King Jinhuang.

A scholarly-looking middle-aged man standing in front of the carriage addressed the defenders:

“If you seek to follow a stronger leader, my master, King Jinhuang, is the one who can offer you a greater future.”

“Oh? I thought I had devoured all the Heavenly Demon bloodlines before. So there was still one little fish that slipped through the net? I wonder—will he taste just as delicious as the ones I remember?”

As soon as Huai You Nong’s voice rang out, the battlefield fell into an eerie silence.

The previously arrogant Demon General and the middle-aged strategist, who had just been attempting to sow discord, involuntarily revealed a flicker of fear in their eyes upon hearing his voice.

Inside the Demon City, those in the Demon Palace, upon seeing the familiar figure land atop the city gate, immediately knelt in unison.

“Welcome, Demon Lord!” they chorused.

The middle-aged strategist standing before the golden carriage turned his gaze toward Huai You Nong, whose robe fluttered in the wind. His eyes froze for a moment before he cautiously asked,

“You are the Demon Lord, Huai You Nong?”

“You have the guts to come courting death, yet you don’t even recognize me?” Huai You Nong’s expression remained indifferent, but his eyes burned with murderous intent.

The middle-aged scholar’s gaze shifted away from the messy twin ponytails haphazardly tied behind Huai You Nong’s head, his expression growing even more serious.