Zu Shan, the Hall of Deliberation.
The Demon Ancestor, clad in a long robe, sat at the head seat. The old Daoist, without politeness, sat directly beside him, almost putting his arm around the Demon Ancestor's shoulder as if they were sworn brothers. The Demon Ancestor did not mind; after all, the old Daoist indeed had the qualifications. While not a large number, there weren't many beings in the world at the Fourteenth Realm, and among them, few could master the teachings of various schools like the old Daoist.
Yu Zhi, Liu Bai, Fu Sheng, Ning Yuan Sheng, Nan Qing Feng, and the others could only sit in order, their brows furrowed. However, none of them could do anything about the old Daoist. In fact, if it came to a one-on-one fight within all of Zu Shan, no one would be the old Daoist's match, and perhaps even the Demon Ancestor wouldn't fare well.
Rows of demon attendants brought wine and dishes.
The old Daoist took a sip of wine, turned to look at the attendants, and said something that almost made the Demon Ancestor spit blood: "The demon girls here don't seem very good either."
"If you have something to say, say it. If not, eat and scram," the Demon Ancestor replied without pleasantries.
"Do you think I *really* want to be here?"
The old Daoist raised his eyebrows and said, "This place is overflowing with demonic energy, and all of you look fierce and ferocious, with grim faces. None of you seem like good people. Sitting here makes me feel like a needle in my back, like sitting on pins and needles!"
"Ahem..."
Yu Zhi narrowed her beautiful eyes. "Senior, do I, Yu Zhi, also look ferocious and grim?"
"A face like peach blossoms, a heart like a venomous snake – that describes people like Lord Yu Zhi. Don't you have any self-awareness?" the old Daoist said impolitely.
Yu Zhi immediately wanted to flip the table, but a glance from the Demon Ancestor stopped her.
Among the group, Fu Sheng looked the most like a scholar and was the most refined. He smiled and said, "Senior, be direct. Why have you come to our Demon Clan's Zu Shan? Are you trying to persuade us, or do you have a request?"
"No requests."
The old Daoist took a bite of a chicken leg and said, "Tan Xin and Qi Lian Dao are attacking the Nine Nether Dragon Court. You all know about this, right?"
"Naturally."
The Demon Ancestor smiled slightly. "Our Demon Clan's Zu Shan overlooks the world; we are not blind. The previous Ghost Emperor, Qi Lian Dao, after being stripped of his celestial enfeoffment hundreds of years ago, has been walking the world as a Daoist. Hmph, he forced the Matchmaker to arrange a marriage for him and Tan Xin, then used Tan Xin to unite the entire Ghost Realm, and finally attacked the Nine Nether Dragon Court. This is all for the remains of the True Dragon Zhao Ying buried there. Tan Xin, who is caught in the midst of it, doesn't understand, but we demons do."
"Then it's easy to talk about."
The old Daoist smiled. "The matter of Qi Lian Dao's possession has too many intertwined threads of karma; I am powerless to stop it. The only thing I can do is act as a facilitator for various factions. The Neon Dress World has already decided to dispatch its Upper Five Realms to the Nine Nether Dragon Court to slay the dragon. What do you demons say?"
"The Demon Clan?"
Yu Zhi narrowed her eyes and smiled. "What does it have to do with our Demon Clan?"
"Haha..."
The old Daoist chuckled. "Lord Yu Zhi's vision is so short-sighted. No wonder it's difficult for you to win a battle of strategy against Lin Bai Yi. You need to have a longer-term perspective. After Qi Lian Dao succeeds in possession, he himself is an ethereal spirit, and the remains of the True Dragon have been dead for ten thousand years, carrying a heavy corpse aura. How can a Fourteenth Realm body be imbalanced in Yin and Yang? Therefore, once Qi Lian Dao successfully possesses it and enters the Fourteenth Realm, it will inevitably trigger a sign of seawater backflow. The Yang energy and the vital energy of all living beings in the world will flow back towards the Nine Nether Dragon Court along the Yin-Yang ley lines. By then... the Yang energy of the Three Worlds will likely not be enough for one True Dragon to eat its fill. And you demons think you can remain aloof?"
"..."
The Demon Ancestor frowned. "Old Daoist, are you exaggerating?"
"All of you, look at the Yin-Yang ley lines of this world."
For a moment, the Demon Ancestor, Yu Zhi, Liu Bai, Fu Sheng, and other great demons used their divine abilities to probe the Yin-Yang ley lines of heaven and earth. It was indeed as the old Daoist said: the Yin-Yang ley lines of the Ghost Realm and the Demon Realm were connected, and there was already a sign of seawater backflow. If this continued, the Demon Realm would inevitably fall into a state of deathly stillness.
"How can this be?"
Yu Zhi was utterly perplexed.
"Hmph..."
The Demon Ancestor looked at Old Daoist Wang and instantly understood. How many people in the world had the ability to change the direction of the Yin-Yang ley lines? Even he himself couldn't do it. Only a peak cultivator of the Daoist school, who understood the principles of Yin and Yang, could achieve this. Dao Saint Lie Yun resided in the Ancestral Court and had no intention of descending. Therefore, there was only one answer: this old Daoist, full of tricks, had set up a scheme himself, ultimately drawing all three races into it!
However, despite his anger, there was nothing he could do.
"I understand."
The Demon Ancestor said faintly, "Fu Sheng, Ning Yuan Sheng, Nan Qing Feng, you three will lead twenty Upper Five Realm demons southward to the Nine Nether Dragon Court to dismantle the True Dragon's reincarnation scheme. Do not disappoint me."
"Yes, Demon Ancestor!"
A group of Upper Five Realms frowned and looked at the old Daoist.
"Don't all look at me," the old Daoist said, holding a roasted chicken. "It wasn't me who told Qi Lian Dao to revive the True Dragon's remains. What does it have to do with me? The scheme for the True Dragon's reincarnation has already begun. It's just that all of us have been slow to realize it."
The Demon Ancestor nodded. What the old Daoist said was quite reasonable. He looked at the old Daoist and asked, "Will you go personally?"
"Yes."
The old Daoist nodded, patted the green gourd on his waist, and smiled. "If I don't go, I'm afraid everyone will just be going to their deaths for nothing."
"Aren't you afraid of dying?"
The Demon Ancestor frowned.
"I am also afraid," the old Daoist smiled. "But I can't just not go because I'm afraid of death, right? After all, you and I are different. You can hide in Zu Shan, but I can't. I'm a thin-skinned old man and have to go."
"Alright, alright."
The Demon Ancestor was getting a bit annoyed. "It's still early. Shall we have some wine? Lest you go and never return, and never have another chance to drink this wine."
"Do you have good wine?"
"Purple Bamboo Wine from the Lord of Dongting Lake, two jars. I spent a great deal to acquire it back then. Will that do?"
"It's barely passable. Let's go, find a mountain peak to drink."
"Let's go."
...
The Demon Realm, under the bright moon.
On a green peak not far from Zu Shan, two Fourteenth Realm great cultivators sat on the ground, drinking. On a stone between them were two side dishes, nothing too special: stir-fried gizzards and braised chicken feet. The wine, however, was excellent: aged Dongting Purple Bamboo Wine, rarely found in the world. The old Daoist had smelled this wine before, at Lin Zhao's place, but that brat was so stingy he hadn't given him a single sip, only offering the much inferior Green Bamboo Wine as a substitute. Truly a disciple of Qin Sui Han, a scholar, both poor and pretentious.
Shoulder to shoulder, they drank and reminisced.
"What do you think of the scenery in our Demon Realm?" the Demon Ancestor asked.
"Utterly chaotic, a complete mess."
The old Daoist said.
"After so many years, you still can't speak properly," the Demon Ancestor smiled and said, "Actually, I don't want it to be this way. The Great Dao is like this. Our Demon Realm has no Confucianism, no Daoism, no Buddhism, and none of the other schools of thought. Our Demon Clan's Great Dao originates from the wilderness, from the survival of the fittest that you disdain. But this is the Dao of the Demon Clan. What can I, as the Demon Ancestor, change? Should we make our demon disciples all become seeds of learning? What's the point even if Fu Sheng, who studies the best among demons, does? Aren't human cultivators still calling him a monkey in a scholar's robe? To put it plainly, what do your human worlds want us demons to be? Tamed, to become mere playthings? Impossible. You can't even achieve that. Those so-called righteous paths merely want us demons to perish completely."
"You still hold quite a grudge."
The old Daoist chuckled. "Listening to you, it seems that leading the demons southward and slaughtering innocents indiscriminately is justified?"
"It's not justified."
The Demon Ancestor sighed with melancholy. "Even if it's not justified, what then?"
The old Daoist gave him a thumbs-up. "Unrepentant, stubbornly insisting on your point even when you're in the wrong."
The Demon Ancestor laughed heartily. "Let's not talk about this today. After all, you might really die in the Nine Nether Dragon Court. Let's drink to our hearts' content today and talk about the mountain fairies we admired in the past."
"Don't bring that up."
The old Daoist said with some helplessness. "I don't want to talk about those fairies."
"That's fine too."
The Demon Ancestor smiled. "Then let's talk about how things are going for you at the Daoist Ancestral Court?"
"You're bringing up sore points."
The old Daoist's eyes widened. "Then let's talk about Ding Mu Chen's sword. Did it hurt?"
The Demon Ancestor's head immediately drooped. "Of course it hurt..."
...
Ghost Realm, Nine Nether Dragon Court.
A dragon's shape was carved into a mountainside. At this moment, an army from the Ghost Realm was attacking the mountainside. Countless ghost cultivators hurled sword energy and spells into the air, continuously bombarding the mountainside. For a time, the mountainside was on the verge of collapse. Coupled with the attacks of several Upper Five Realm Ghost Kings, the entire mountainside suddenly crumbled, revealing the upper outline of a palace underground.
"Buzz buzz buzz~~~"
Inside the underground palace, a spectral warrior clenched his fists. Behind him stood a hundred thousand Yin soldiers. This warrior was Feng Ting, one of the three great generals under the True Dragon Zhao Ying. Although he was dead, his soul power had been cultivated to be extremely solid. This Rebirth Realm was no less than that of a living person. Feng Ting looked at the army outside, a sneer curving his lips. "You want to attack the Nine Nether Dragon Court? Come on, I'll see if you have the ability. A bunch of clowns, only good for a laugh!"
"Kill!"
Outside, a Ghost King led an army of thousands and charged in.
"Kill them for me!"
Feng Ting let out a low roar and led his hundred thousand Yin soldiers to resist. He leaped into the air, and as he descended, he punched directly towards the head of the Eleventh Realm Ghost King. The Ghost King was horrified, raised his battle saber to block, but the next second, the saber was split in two. Immediately after, his body began to dissipate under the opponent's punch, unable to withstand the dense fist energy. He was annihilated with a single punch!
"Pah pah pah!"
From a distance, applause sounded. A young Daoist was seen approaching, riding the wind. He smiled and said, "As expected of Feng Ting, a Rebirth Realm under Zhao Ying. Tsk tsk, this loyalty, this fist intent, truly shames all warriors in the world. It's a pity that while you have loyalty and strength, you lack a brain, merely a pitiful watchdog."
Feng Ting clenched his fists and said faintly, "Scoundrel, come and accept your death?"
...
Lower reaches of the Washing Sword River, border between the Human Realm and the Ghost Realm.
Lin Zhao flicked his hand and threw ten Flying Fish Coins. Immediately, Chen Xue led a group of players from the Crimson Moon Knights and rushed out at high speed, disappearing through a corner of the sky curtain. After they passed, Lin Zhao threw ten more Flying Fish Coins.
The more people who went to the Dragon Slaying battle, the better! The more, the merrier!