By now, Black Dragon’s heart was heavy. The information Gu Li just revealed was simply far too shocking.
A G.o.d incited Gu Li to occupy the demons’ territory?
What exactly did this G.o.d want? Could it be that he was also targeting the demons?
Sensing Black Dragon’s tension, Gu Li tried to rea.s.sure him.
“Your Excellency Black Dragon, please don’t worry. That grand deity had me take over demon race territory but that was only so we had a place to raise our blood zombies; we had no other choice. Once all of this is over, we’ll return it to you. We’ll even leave you the entire Three Realms to settle in.”
“You’ll give it all to me?”
Now that he knew Gu Li had such a grand backer, Black Dragon dared not be as arrogant as before.
“You’ll give our former territory back to me, then leave us the entire Three Realms to settle in? Then what exactly do you want? Rather, what does your backer want?”
This was an unfair deal, no matter who you looked at it. That said, the other party was a G.o.d. It was only natural that he’d have little interest in the t.i.tles and territory of the lower realms.
However, for him to have gone to such great lengths, he was definitely aiming for something important.
“His Excellency said the Three Realms is your compensation for lending us your territory. As for his goals: he wants the same thing I do, that is, Ye Zichen’s life.”
When Gu Li said this, Black Dragon froze briefly then arched his brows. “He’s even offended people in the G.o.d Realm?”
“You understand Ye Zichen’s temperament. Perhaps he himself doesn’t know he’s offended a certain senior from the G.o.d Realm, or rather, that he’s damaging this senior’s interests. But what’s even more important is his past life.”
“The Yellow Emperor!”
“That’s right.” Gu Li nodded slightly. “Back then, the Yellow Emperor blatantly provoked the G.o.ds. Black Dragon, you should know that some people have been nursing a grudge ever since.”
“He’s really brought this on himself.”
When the Yellow Emperor opposed the G.o.d Realm he caused an utterly enormous commotion.
At the time, the Underworld and Heavenly Court cut off all contact with the Immortal Region. Meanwhile, the Immortal Region itself cast away the Yellow Emperor, dooming him to the cycle of reincarnation and rebirth.
But by now, it had already been more than ten thousand years. Black Dragon never would have guessed that anyone in the G.o.d Realm still remembered it.
“That’s right, he brought it on himself,” Gu Li snorted darkly in agreement. “The Yellow Emperor thought himself a supreme figure and considered challenging the G.o.ds a heroic gesture. He didn’t change, not even after reincarnating, and hasn’t realized that the G.o.ds have always been watching him. Becoming a G.o.d will be all but impossible in this life, and the next…. No, no matter how many times he reincarnates!”
To the side, Black Dragon nodded along.
Then Gu Li spoke once more.
“I told you all of this so that we could treat each other openly and sincerely. I don’t want a rift to form between us and to hinder our cooperation. Once things are settled here, I’ll ascend to the Higher Realms and the Three Realms to you as the site of your future eternal dynasty.
“Brother Gu Li, you’ve been so sincere, I have nothing to complain about. All I’ll say for now is…. Ye Zichen must die!”
“Good!”
….
There was a canyon deep within the Beast Region. If the demons wanted to reach their inner sanctum, they’d have to pa.s.s through it.
The Shadow Mouse Clan was highly skilled at hiding, making them ideal scouts. Under the circ.u.mstances, using spiritual energy to scan the area risked startling the enemy and putting Black Dragon on the others on guard.
“How is it? How far have the demons gotten?”
“They’re three thousand meters away,” said the Mouse Clan scout. Ye Zichen nodded.
Soldiers of every clan lay in ambush around him. In order to force them to traverse the canyon on foot, Zhuge Hong had used her natal blood to lay a killing flame formation in the sky.
If the demons refused to go on foot, that was fine too. They’d just have to accept the full force of the raging flames.
Someone had already delivered all the explosives Zuo Mo manufactured. Each soldier present carried close to a hundred bombs.
If they tossed them all at the same time, the resulting blast’s killing power would be absolutely no less than a nuclear bomb’s.
There were intense flames above and exploding bombs below.
Even if the demons and zombies survived, they’d at least take some real damage.
“Stop.”
Black Dragon gestured for the troops to wait. Gu Li walked over, then narrowed his eyes as he examined the chasm before them.
“This is a prime location for an ambush.”
They stood by the entrance to the canyon, surrounded by endless mountain ranges as far as the eye could see. Walking around would take far too much time and they couldn’t afford to waste even a single second. There was no way for them to avoid the canyon.
“It really is a good spot for an ambush but only if you’re ambus.h.i.+ng ordinary people.” Black Dragon’s implication was that they had no need to go on foot. All of them were capable of flight, so they could just fly over the canyon.
“I’m just afraid there’s an ambush above as well.”
Black Dragon signaled to one of his soldiers. The man approached and greeted him. “Your Excellency.”
“Fly through there.”
Black Dragon pointed to the sky above the canyon. The warrior didn’t hesitate; he leaped into the air and flew towards the gorge.
A line of phoenix flames lit up the sky, accompanied by a phoenix’s resonant cry.
The flames burned furiously. Before long, the soldier Black Dragon sent to investigate was burnt to ash.
Once the soldier was completely incinerated, the flames disappeared. All was quiet once more.
“A Fire Phoenix’s natal flame,” said Gu Li after examining it briefly. “It seems they’re determined to force us to walk through the canyon on foot.”
“I don’t believe it. You… go test it out.”
He reached out and called forth yet another demon warrior. The solider had just witnessed the first soldier burn to death before his very eyes. He licked his lips nervously, visibly nervous.
“Go.”
Black Dragon’s urged him on with an angry roar. The demon soldier grit his teeth, steeled himself, and flew into the air.
When he was so high you practically couldn’t see him with the naked eye, the others reached out to investigate with their spiritual awarenesses.
Skree! Skree!
The resonant cry of a phoenix filled the air once more. Black Dragon couldn’t help but close his eyes.
They still couldn"t breakthrough.
“Did that phoenix really place a spiritual formation over the whole sky?”
They’d all predicted the canyon itself would inevitably contain an ambush but the raging flames above were a real headache.
“Let’s just walk through the canyon. We all know full well just how fearsome a phoenix’s true natal flame is. If we want to break through the formation, we’ll have to pay a hefty price.”
Black Dragon hesitated. Knowingly walking right into an ambush didn’t seem like the right decision.
“No matter how they intend to ambush us, it’s got to be much better than rus.h.i.+ng through a phoenix’s natal flames,” said Gu Li in an attempt to persuade him. “Besides, the most they can do is place some formations or throw rocks at us. That won’t amount to anything against us.”
Then he added,” we can’t waste time here. We only have so much time.”
“Fine.” As Gu Li urged him on, Black Dragon narrowed his eyes and snorted, “I’ll be curious to see just what they have in store for us.”