A Max-Level Demon Lord Starts An Alt Account [Rebirth] - Chapter 4

The plump goose had already been prepared. Zhao Suian sent Xu Shang a voice transmission, telling her to bring Little Sister over to eat the goose.

The voice transmission had only just been sent when Xu Shang brought Ye Ming to the outside of Zhao Suian’s little wooden cottage.

“We’re eating big goose! Sister Zhao, look what I brought back.” Xu Shang handed over the honey.

When Zhao Suian saw the honey, she instinctively looked at Ye Ming with worry. Her tone carried reproach as she said, “Why did you go provoke those poisonous bees again? And you even dragged Ming’er along to make trouble with you. What would you do if she got hurt?”

“She won’t. The poisonous bees now are all the disciples and grand-disciples of the ones I played with when I was little. How could they possibly hurt me? Big goose has to be dipped in this to be fragrant.”

Zhao Suian packed a little away, then had Xu Shang send it to Xu Liang.

If it were delicious food meant for Eldest Sister, Xu Shang would have made every possible excuse and refused to make the trip.

But because it was for Second Sister, Xu Shang even picked through the iron pot, choosing pieces with both fat and lean meat, packed them properly, and personally delivered them to Xu Liang.

After Xu Shang left, Ye Ming and Zhao Suian were alone together. Ye Ming suddenly became somewhat restless.

“Many years ago, I was abandoned by my parents on the battlefield between immortals and demons,” Zhao Suian said. “It was Master who saved me, and Aunt Xu who took me in. Later, Master saw that I was pitiful and adopted me.”

Ye Ming lowered her head and ate the goose meat, not knowing why Zhao Suian had suddenly started telling her these things.

If ordinary people brought up the past, perhaps it would only be an elder suddenly reminiscing about old times. But things were different here.

She was a demon. A demon who had seized this body.

The moment Zhao Suian spoke, Ye Ming began guessing whether she had already exposed her identity.

“Look at me. Every time I eat something delicious, I always end up talking about the past.” Zhao Suian laughed at herself. “Ming’er, is the big goose tasty?”

Ye Ming thought carefully, unsure of Zhao Suian’s intentions. Cautiously, she continued pretending to be an ignorant, naive child and nodded. “Tasty.”

“Then eat more. In the future, if you want to eat it again, just tell me.” Zhao Suian stroked her head. “Here, you don’t need to be afraid. This is your home, and we are all your family.”

Ye Ming lowered her head. In her subconscious, she still believed that she had been exposed.

But Zhao Suian did not mention it directly, nor did she say another word about those matters.

Even so, the faint message hidden in her words gave Ye Ming a very clear feeling that she had already been found out.

Ye Ming had eaten her fill when Xu Shang happened to return.

“Stay with your junior sister. I’m going back into seclusion. After you finish eating, clean this place up properly.” Zhao Suian gave Xu Shang a few instructions. Xu Shang hurriedly nodded and promised, “Don’t worry, Sister Zhao. I’ll definitely clean everything up properly. You should go rest.”

Her face was filled with a smile, and with her good looks added on top of that, anyone who saw her could not help feeling their heart soften.

“All right. Do as you please.”

Zhao Suian left, and Xu Shang sat down beside Ye Ming. Seeing that Ye Ming’s bowl was already empty and that quite a lot of the goose meat in the pot was gone, she asked with a smile, “Junior Sister, was it tasty?”

Ye Ming nodded.

Xu Shang smiled very smugly. “When I was little, just for this one bite, I crawled out of bed in the middle of the night to secretly slaughter a big goose. I even accidentally fell into the water. Back then, I didn’t know how to swim, and there was a water-snake demon hiding in the pond too. It wrapped itself around me right away, and I almost lost my life because of my greed.”

Xu Shang told her own embarrassing story.

Ye Ming understood now. No wonder Xu Shang had wanted to eat the goose earlier but still used her as an excuse.

There had been no conspiracy or scheme. It was just that a disciple was too embarrassed to keep humiliating herself.

“Junior Sister, come eat more.” Xu Shang stared at her without blinking. As Ye Ming was forced to continue eating roast goose, Xu Shang could not help muttering, “Strange. Second Sister clearly said your condition is much better now, and Master also said your lost-soul illness would get better. Why does it look like there’s no change at all? Where exactly did something go wrong?”

Ye Ming nearly failed to hold her chopsticks steady.

She actually was not afraid of a mere Golden Core disciple, but there was also a Soul Transformation mighty expert here, and behind them stood a mysterious Master.

She did not know the depths of that Master, but anyone who could diagnose lost-soul illness, and even know how to treat it, was definitely not simple.

What Ye Ming feared was the Master who had never shown herself.

Based on what she had learned so far, that Master treated every person in this sect very well. If she found out that the disciple she had painstakingly raised had been seized by a demon, Ye Ming did not dare imagine what methods that Master would use to take revenge on her.

Most of those cultivators were hypocritical and vicious people. On the surface, they looked pure and untainted by the mortal world, but as for what they were truly like beneath that surface, who could know?

Back then, if spiritual cultivators had not pushed her step by step, why would she ever have needed to carve a path through mountains of corpses and seas of blood in the Demon Realm? She could have been an ordinary person and passed her entire life safe and sound.

“It’s all right, Little Sister. Even if you never get better for the rest of your life, Senior Sister will always protect you.” Xu Shang stroked her head. “Senior Sister will work hard at practicing the sword and search for immortal opportunities and secret arts. Even if you stay this pure and innocent forever, Senior Sister will still bring you with me to ascend and become a god.”

Ye Ming’s nose stung slightly. Yet at the same time, she found it rather funny. This unreliable senior sister had suddenly become sentimental, and it was actually somewhat moving.

Then she also felt that she, a dignified Demon Lord, had been moved by a little disciple. It was truly embarrassing.

Fortunately, right now, no one knew that she was the Demon Realm’s Sovereign.

While they were eating roast goose and exchanging deep sisterly affection, at the same time, inside the council hall of the Rogue Cultivators’ Alliance, the atmosphere was tense and hostile.

The woman in the main seat looked at the image projected through the spiritual screen before her. It showed the border between the Demon Race and the spiritual cultivation world.

“Back then, the Sword Venerable broke ten thousand arts with one strike of her sword and annihilated the Demon Lord. After that, the Demon Race withdrew to this place. We set up a barrier at the border in order to seal the Demon Race away, but now the barrier here has loosened. I fear the Demon Race is planning a major move.”

“As far as I know, the Demon Race’s left and right guardians have already escaped the barrier. At present, they are moving around various parts of the spiritual cultivation world. Their purpose is unknown.”

The people seated below all began talking at once, discussing this sealed region.

The woman in the main seat lightly tapped her fingertip against the table. After a long while, the discussion in the hall died down. Everyone looked at her with burning gazes, as though hoping she could come up with a plan.

Yet she looked toward the seat on the lower right and asked with a smile, “Sect Leader Xu, what brilliant insight do you have?”

The woman she had asked had a cool, aloof face, a straight back, and an aura as clean and bright as a clear breeze under a luminous moon.

“I am willing to follow the Rogue Cultivators’ Alliance’s arrangements. Alliance Leader Gu, what plans do you have?” She did not seem to want to involve herself too deeply in this matter.

Gu Jingjun was just about to ask further when someone interrupted her.

A burly, broad-shouldered man who did not look like a spiritual cultivator, but rather like a wrathful Vajra monk, slammed the table and stood up. “What the hell is there to be afraid of? According to me, we should just open the barrier directly, restart the battlefield between immortals and demons, and give them a proper beating. The Demon Race deserves to die cleanly, every last one of them, without leaving a single survivor.”

Gu Jingjun laughed. “That is not a bad idea. But how can the Demon Race be completely exterminated? In order to balance spiritual cultivators, the Heavenly Dao gave rise to the Demon Race. Demons and spiritual cultivators give birth to and restrain each other. As long as spiritual cultivators exist for a day, the Demon Race will exist for a day. So long as evil and demons remain in people’s hearts, the Demon Race naturally cannot be eliminated cleanly.”

The burly man slammed the table again and shouted, “Then let everyone enter my Buddhist sect. The Buddha saves and transforms all beings and naturally will not allow people to give birth to evil demons or lustful thoughts in their hearts. In that case, the world will naturally be peaceful and pure.”

Before Gu Jingjun could speak, that previously unobtrusive Sect Leader Xu suddenly let out a scoff.

The man turned his head to look at her and angrily asked, “What are you laughing at? You dare laugh at this poor monk!”

As soon as he finished speaking, he was about to roll up his sleeves.

Xu Xianqing, however, merely raised her hand slightly. The man had originally been standing, but he suddenly dropped back onto his seat. After that, he was pinned to the chair, unable to move even the slightest bit.

“Those who have left the secular world must not be so irritable.”

This one move of hers made everyone else afraid to speak too much. They simply remained silent, waiting for what she would say next.

Xu Xianqing subconsciously touched the red bead hanging from her neck. It was a small Golden Core, patterned with flames and extremely beautiful.

Feeling the scorching heat emanating from the Golden Core, Xu Xianqing’s mind steadied slightly. She slowly said, “The Demon Race’s territory has a harsh environment. This is also why they have constantly wanted to expand outward. If we can give them a place suitable for survival and development, perhaps we can achieve coexistence with the Demon Race. From then on, the slaughter between spiritual cultivators and the Demon Race would be greatly reduced.”

“Thieving woman! You want to sell off the territory of us spiritual cultivators. Even if the Buddha himself came today, this old monk still could not spare you.” That burly man suddenly used his bonded artifact, a golden alms bowl shining with Buddhist light, and broke free from Xu Xianqing’s restraint.

In his left hand was the golden alms bowl, and in his right was a Buddhist staff. Even the monk robe on his body began shining with Buddhist light.

This action made everyone in the hall feel uncomfortable.

Gu Jingjun suddenly raised her hand, and two envoys from the guardian team entered from outside the door. “Alliance Leader!”

Gu Jingjun looked at the Buddhist monk and said coldly, “The eminent monk of Wuwang Island must surely look down on my small Rogue Cultivators’ Alliance. Since that is the case, please leave.”

“So you people really are colluding with each other. Is there even such a thing as clarity and righteousness under heaven anymore? So long as the Demon Race remains unremoved, I, a Buddhist, will not go to the Land of Ultimate Bliss. Spiritual cultivators and the Demon Race have long been like water and fire. Coexistence is nothing more than the greatest joke under heaven! There is no path forward in it at all. You cowards, every single one of you spineless—I, this poor monk, disdain being associated with you. I shall leave on my own! There is no need to trouble your honored selves to throw me out.”

After leaving those harsh words, he departed without the slightest courtesy.

This council meeting was thus interrupted.

Gu Jingjun was displeased in her heart, but none of it showed on her face. She merely told everyone to go back and make more preparations.

“The Demon Race’s left and right guardians are extraordinarily powerful. In the great war back then, one of the Four Great Demon Kings fell, and the remaining three were sealed by us. But now that the barrier has loosened, I fear their seals are no longer stable either. The Demon Race may be released and driven into the Realm of the Void, but the three Great Demon Kings must absolutely not be released as well. We will discuss this again seven days from now. At that time, four people will be selected to enter the barrier and reinforce the seals on the three Great Demon Kings.”

Once these words came out, no one dared say another word.

This matter was far too grave.

Spiritual cultivators could not enter the Demon Realm. Spiritual cultivators also could not stay too long in regions filled with demonic energy. Once they were careless and became tainted by demonic energy, ruining their Dao heart, their path of immortal cultivation might be completely cut off.

In lighter cases, demonic energy would coil around the heart. In serious cases, the Dao heart would become unstable, and one’s body would perish and one’s Dao disappear.

But these four people still had to be chosen. For the stability of the spiritual cultivation world, and for the future survival of the spiritual cultivation world’s descendants, the Demon Kings had to be sealed, and the Demon Race’s left and right guardians had to be killed.

“All right. Everyone may go back. Sect Leader Xu, please stay for a while.”

The others all left.

Gu Jingjun relaxed slightly and looked at Xu Xianqing. “How did you lose control today? Fatian’s temperament has always been like this. Although he is a Buddhist cultivator, the path he entered is the Dao of Slaughter and Extermination. His attitude toward the Demon Race is known to everyone. Why were you suddenly unable to tolerate him today?”

“Fatian? I think he is more like Wufawutian—lawless beyond all restraint.” Xu Xianqing sneered. “Under the Heavenly Dao, all things possess spirit, and all living beings are equal. Every time he opens his mouth, all he speaks of is exterminating every member of the Demon Race. He does not ask what is right or wrong, does not investigate cause and effect, and only blindly slaughters. How is he any different from a demon?”

“Sigh.” Gu Jingjun also found this matter difficult to handle. “Since ancient times, demons have represented evil. Killing evil people is already considered perfectly justified, and killing the embodiment of evil is even more reasonable and proper. The coexistence you seek is truly too difficult.”

At least at the present stage, no spiritual cultivator would agree to it.

The war between the Demon Race and spiritual cultivators had lasted far too long. Ever since the two came into existence in this world, their struggle had begun.

The former Rogue Cultivators’ Alliance had been jointly formed by the Eight Great Families.

But now, the only one in charge of the Rogue Cultivators’ Alliance was the Gu family. As for the other seven families, aside from that married couple who had been Gu Jingjun’s old friends and had already ascended, the remaining six had all perished on the battlefield between immortals and demons.

“This is a blood feud as deep as the sea. No one hopes to see coexistence. Fighting until one side dies is our fate.” Gu Jingjun also felt that the hope of coexistence was slim. If they truly coexisted, how could they, the descendants, face those ancestors who had fought bloody battles on the battlefield between immortals and demons and sacrificed themselves for the spiritual cultivation world?

But she was also drawn in by Xu Xianqing’s vision. If it could truly be achieved, the battlefield between immortals and demons would cease to exist. From then on, this continent would never again have a living hell like the immortal-demon battlefield.

“The ancient gods created heaven and earth. Spiritual energy rose and formed the Upper Heaven Realm, nurturing gods and spirits. Turbid energy sank and seeped into the earth, evolving into demonic breath.”

“The ancient gods created humans. Some people received spiritual energy and nurtured spiritual roots, allowing them to seek immortality and inquire into the Dao. Some people were infected by demonic breath and gradually lost control, transforming into the Demon Race. At this point, there was still no distinction between good and evil. It was only a matter of fortune.”

“In ancient times, heaven and earth nurtured spiritual energy, which transformed into ancient gods, while demonic breath transformed into Heavenly Demons. Gods and demons could not coexist, so the great war between gods and demons began, and the ancient gods won. They drove the ancient Heavenly Demon Race down to the lower realm and sealed off the Upper Heaven Realm. From then on, mortals who cultivated immortality and sought the Dao had to rely on the Stairway to Heaven in order to enter the Upper Heaven Realm. The Demon Race was driven down to the lower realm, and the place where they landed is now the Demon Domain. The Demon Lord is one of the surviving Heavenly Demon Race.”

“Once the Upper Heaven Realm no longer had the Heavenly Demon Race, the god race stood alone and supreme. The laws of the Heavenly Dao began operating, and for the sake of balance, the god race came to suffer the Five Decays of Celestial Beings. In the human realm, because of the arrival of the Heavenly Demon Race, the original balance was broken. Evil gods took the opportunity to emerge and deceive the Heavenly Dao… Under the name of false gods, they helped mortals in the human realm in order to balance the Heavenly Demon Race.”

“The result is obvious.” Xu Xianqing spoke of that past which few in the spiritual cultivation world now knew. She asked Gu Jingjun, “You also know how terrifying evil gods are. They neither die nor perish. So long as people in this world harbor evil thoughts, evil gods can rise again from the ashes. Who can make every person in this world pure and clear of mind? The Buddha cannot. You and I cannot.”

Gu Jingjun naturally knew these things. She was the young master of the Gu family and also the current alliance leader of the Rogue Cultivators’ Alliance. Of course she knew this sealed-away past.

“Before we can completely exterminate the Demon Race, if the laws of the Heavenly Dao sense that the Heavenly Demon Race has suffered too great a loss and that the human realm is dominated solely by the spiritual cultivation world, perhaps that will be the moment the next evil god appears. When that time comes, how should we respond?” Xu Xianqing’s attitude today was extremely sharp, carrying the sense of pressing forward step by step.

Gu Jingjun rubbed her forehead. “Allow me to think it over some more.”