Xuanzheng: I'll Give You One Incense Stick's Time-Either Hire Me for Engineering, or Treat Me to a Feast!

Demon Marshal Ying Zhao stepped forward, his voice booming like a great bell.

"Your Majesty, absolutely not! This is a scheme by the Wu Clan!"

"That Xuanzheng harbors sinister intentions. He wants to use this opportunity to lay hands on the Solar Star, the sacred land of our Demon Clan. His crimes deserve punishment!"

"Ying Zhao is right!" Bai Ze gently waved his feather fan, his expression grave. "When has the Wu Clan ever been so kindhearted? This report is likely a trick meant to shake our army's morale! We should immediately activate the Myriad Stars Array and drive them out!"

The Demon Clan hardliners chimed in one after another, killing intent filling the hall.

Di Jun remained expressionless, his fingers unconsciously tapping the armrest.

That report... was far too precise. So precise that even he, the master of the Solar Star, felt a chill rise from the depths of his heart.

How could Xuanzheng possibly know the exact locations of the core energy congestion points? Those were critical weak points that he and Taiyi had only barely stabilized after ten thousand years of painstaking effort!

Doubt was instinctive. Yet every simulation diagram in the report was like a heavy hammer smashing against his most vulnerable nerves.

Taiyi stepped forward and pressed down on the restless Eastern Emperor Bell, whispering to Di Jun, "Big Brother, Xuanzheng came prepared. We cannot throw ourselves into disorder. Let's send them away first, then discuss this at length!"

At that moment, Xuanzheng's infuriatingly earnest voice drifted over once more.

"Fellow Daoist Di Jun! Fellow Daoist Taiyi! Time waits for no one!"

"This report of mine was deduced by our Wu Clan after pouring in countless efforts, based on our profound understanding of the laws governing all things in the primordial world. There is not a single false word in it!"

Xuanzheng's voice was filled with the urgency of one grieving for all living beings.

"If this drags on, the Solar Star's core imbalance will worsen. By then, forget your ten sons—even the entire foundation of the Demon Clan, and indeed all living beings of this primordial world, will face utter destruction!"

Heh heh heh, hurry up. I charge by the hour, and Heavenly Dao Merit has a very expensive hourly rate!

"Utter nonsense!" Ying Zhao roared.

Boom—!

Before his words had faded, a violent explosion suddenly erupted from deep within the Heavenly Court!

A surge of Solar True Fire far beyond the ordinary, like an out-of-control golden fury dragon, brazenly burst through layer upon layer of seals laid down by Di Jun and Taiyi!

That pillar of flame skimmed past the edge of the Southern Heavenly Gate and instantly incinerated a floating side hall in the distance into ashes!

The entire Demon Clan Heavenly Court shook violently. Countless demon soldiers and generals were thrown into chaos by the sudden upheaval, their formations utterly disrupted.

In an instant, the pressure shifted from outside the hall to within it.

Xuanzheng let out a long sigh at just the right moment, his voice brimming with "regret" and "sorrow."

"Ah... do you see? This is the consequence of treating the symptoms but not the root cause."

"We are doing this for the sake of all living beings in the primordial world. We truly cannot bear to watch such a tragedy unfold!"

That sigh was like an invisible slap, striking Di Jun and Taiyi hard across the face.

Then something even more terrifying happened.

From the depths of distant Tang Valley, the cries of the ten little Golden Crows suddenly became incomparably shrill!

"Chirp—! Chirp chirp—!"

Their cries no longer contained mere pain; they were now mixed with extreme longing and agitation.

Driven by the most primitive instincts in their bloodline, they actually began desperately drawing upon the faint Origin Power within their bodies, trying to break free of their fathers' suppression and move toward Xuanzheng!

It was as though a life-saving spring capable of saving them lay there!

"What?!" Di Jun and Taiyi were both shocked out of their wits.

They hurriedly reinforced their divine senses, attempting to force the little Golden Crows back into the depths of Tang Valley.

Yet this time, they encountered resistance unlike anything before!

The little Golden Crows showed intense rejection toward their power, but toward that Wu Clan aura—the aura of their sworn enemies—they instead displayed closeness and dependence!

This... was betrayal by their own children!

Seeing that the moment was ripe, the guileless smile on Xuanzheng's face instantly vanished, replaced by an unquestionable majesty.

He spoke in a ringing voice that spread throughout the Heavenly Court.

"Fellow Daoist Di Jun, Fellow Daoist Taiyi!"

"I will give you one more incense stick's time to consider!"

"Will you cooperate sincerely with our Wu Clan and resolve the Solar Star's crisis together, or will you cling to this 'solar bomb' that could explode at any moment and seek your own destruction alongside the entire Demon Clan?"

"Do not say I failed to warn you!"

As his words fell, Xuanzheng slowly raised his left hand.

[Karma Scale] silently appeared.

With a flick of his finger, he precisely shifted a strand of calamitous karma representing "the Solar Star exploding out of control" onto the scale pan.

Buzz—!

The beam of the [Karma Scale] suddenly sank, dropping straight to the bottom!

The needle representing the outcome shook violently and madly as though it had gone insane, nearly shattering on its own!

That sight silently proclaimed the result: once the explosion occurred, the Demon Clan Destiny would face certain death, with absolutely no room for recovery!

Xuanzheng even "thoughtfully" cast a spell, clearly projecting the scene upon the [Karma Scale] into the Lingxiao Treasure Hall so every Demon Clan great power could see it perfectly!

A fatal threat!

Betrayal by their children!

And... the naked death sentence decreed by Karma Law!

Three unparalleled pressures crashed down like three Archaic Divine Mountains!

At that moment, Di Jun's pride and dignity as the Demon Emperor were ground to dust.

He stared at the wildly trembling needle in the projection and listened to his sons' shrill wails, the divine light in his eyes dimming inch by inch.

"Big Brother..." Taiyi's voice was dry and hoarse.

Inside the Lingxiao Treasure Hall, there was a deathly silence.

After a long while.

Di Jun slowly closed his eyes. When he opened them again, only coldness and humiliation remained within.

"Fine!"

"Xuanzheng!"

"This Emperor... agrees to 'cooperate' with your Wu Clan!"

He stared fixedly at the figures of the Wu Clan delegation and added each word with deliberate force.

"But if this Emperor discovers that you harbor any malicious intentions, my Demon Clan will fight you... to the death!"

That single word, "fine," from Di Jun weighed more than ten thousand jun.

The "gratified" smile on Xuanzheng's face instantly spread, as warm as a spring breeze.

"Fellow Daoist Di Jun truly understands the greater good. This is a blessing for the primordial world! We can discuss the details of our cooperation face-to-face."

With a wave of his hand, Zhurong carried the Fire God Staff over his shoulder while Gonggong carried the Black Water Pouch, and they swaggered through the Southern Heavenly Gate—the symbol of the Demon Clan's supreme glory—as though they were inspecting their own territory.