At that moment, in the Demon Realm, a light rain drifted across the clear sky, while the ground was parched and webbed with cracks of every size. Now and then, flames leaped from beneath the earth, forming a world where ice and fire mingled.
The raindrops turned to vapor, rising into the sky. Before long, they fell again, repeating the cycle. Fire-type demon plants grew across the ground, some with leaves red as flames, others in shades of blue and purple.
Fire-crowned snakes, fire lizards, flame-tailed rats, and other demon creatures lived in this region, along with swarms of monkey-faced folk.
The local demon creatures were busy with their own affairs when a bank of mist drifted through the sky. In no time, the low-ranking demons in the region fell into a panic, shrieking as they fled into the distance.
"Who dares trespass in this king's territory? Are you looking to die?" A booming shout rang out across this land where water and fire converged. A mantis demon several zhang tall came flying toward them, its body wreathed in intertwined currents of water and fire, its coloring a mix of crimson and blue. Swarms of mantis demons appeared behind it, numbering in the tens of thousands.
The clouds parted in the sky, and a vast, refined tide of demonic aura surged forth. Within it, a host of fearsome ox-headed, human-bodied demons let out long bellowing cries. Several of the most powerfully built among them each gripped a skull-headed warhammer and pounded a huge drum with all their might. Its mighty rumble rolled outward, as if it could set the blood in one's veins surging.
Then came a chorus of shouts. The clouds parted further, revealing an ornate palanquin borne aloft by a mass of clouds. Reclining atop it was someone