The Seven Hates Demon Lord had two obvious ways to escape the fate of the Devil Ancestor's return.
One way, naturally, was to ensure that the Devil Ancestor could not return—to do everything possible to sabotage the Devil Ancestor's plan of return.
The second way was to have another demon art replace the Seven Hates Demon Merit once more, squeezing the Seven Hates Demon Lord out of the eight slots required for the Devil Ancestor's return.
When the Seven Hates Demon Lord gave Jiang Wang clues to the <Sea of Bitterness Eternal Damnation Desire Devil Art>, he may also have intended for Jiang Wang to replace him once again. From then on, he would regain true freedom and perhaps have the possibility of advancing further.
But no matter what, Jiang Wang would never become the Desire Demon Lord.
Today, seated in the law hall of the Three Punishments Palace and asking three Legalist School grandmasters to bear witness, he had not given himself a third choice—
Either succeed, or die for righteousness.
He had personally slain a True Demon, and he had personally witnessed the birth of a True Demon. He possessed a certain degree of understanding of demons.
A true fallen demon recognized from the depths of their heart that they were a demon. They no longer regarded themselves as human, measuring the world only through a demon's worldview.
Like the Ghost Dragon Devil Lord, Ao Kui. Though he was still as despicable and shameless, vicious and venomous as ever, still that same Ao Kui, and not even loyal to the Devil Race, he still saw himself as a demon. He would not regard himself as belonging to ghostkind or dragonkind—unless the circumstances required it, of course.
It was more like a fundamental change in one's self-perception.
In Jiang