In the secret chamber, Shendu felt several wisps of divine power merge into his body. He was pleased.
"Now it's all up to you, Qian Daoliu. Let's see just how loyal you are to your Angel God!"
He extinguished the red glow in the statue's eyes and waited in silence.
A few days later, at Pope Palace.
Bibi Dong gathered everyone together for a meeting. Just as it began, a familiar, stern-faced man walked over from the rear.
"Grand Pontiff!"
"Isn't that the Grand Pontiff? We haven't seen him in over a decade. Why would he suddenly appear today?"
The people below burst into exclamations, unable to help imagining all sorts of possibilities.
Why had the Grand Pontiff come?
Ghost Douluo furrowed his brow, suddenly gripped by a bad feeling. Could he be here to seize power from His Holiness the Pope?
If so, whose side should he take?
"Old Ghost!" Chrysanthemum Douluo looked at him anxiously. They exchanged glances, confirming what they both suspected.
His Holiness the Pope had shown them immense kindness, and they had never forgotten it. So they decided to side with the Grand Pontiff.
After all, what was a debt of gratitude compared to their lives?
"Your Holiness the Pope, in my heart, you will always be the one and only Pope!" Chrysanthemum Douluo gazed at her from the front, reluctant to let go.
Qian Daoliu climbed the steps and stood beside Bibi Dong. He swept his gaze over the crowd, his expression stern, and said:
"Today, I'm here to announce one important matter: the incident some time ago, when a Hundred-Thousand-Year Soul Beast attacked Spirit Hall!"
At those words, everyone below froze.
"So it's about that!"
"I knew we'd get our revenge! No one can insult Spirit Hall and get away with it. Even the Grand Pontiff has come out to uphold justice."
"Is the Grand Pontiff going to use this opportunity to depose His Holiness the Pope?" Chrysanthemum Douluo thought anxiously.
But Qian Daoliu's next words left them even more astonished.
"Next, I want to clear something up. The thing that attacked Spirit Hall wasn't a Soul Beast. It was a demon!"
Qian Daoliu shouted, his voice seemingly brimming with fury.
"A demon? What's that?"
"What is the Grand Pontiff talking about?"
His words clearly caught everyone off guard and left them bewildered. Even the many Titled Douluo looked utterly dumbfounded.
"Demons are a kind of creature that existed in ancient times. They are the sworn enemies of humanity!"
"If you see a demon, you must..."
Qian Daoliu passionately denounced the demons' evil, as though raising the banner of vengeance on behalf of generations of the Qian Clan.
The people below went from bewildered to astonished, then from astonished to completely dumbfounded.
Demons were humanity's enemies, and Soul Beasts were humanity's enemies too. They were all monsters, so why go on and on about it? Anyone who didn't know better would think he wanted to join forces with the Soul Beasts to punish the demons!
So, were they going to fight or not?
"Fight! Everyone, search everywhere for the demon's trail. Whoever finds Sky Demon Hsoi will be promoted straight to Cardinal! Capture the demon, and I'll make you Second Worship and reward you with a Hundred Thousand Year Soul Bone!"
Qian Daoliu made the promise outright, instantly stirring up the crowd below.
"Great!"
"Cardinal, huh? Now that you put it that way, I'm not confused anymore. Demons really are different from Soul Beasts."
Everyone was thrilled.
"Isn't Second Worship me? Then what am I?" Golden Crocodile Douluo was baffled.
Standing atop the lofty steps, Bibi Dong looked noble and graceful. As she listened to Qian Daoliu's furious denunciation of the demons, a rush of delight welled up inside her.
The demons the old man feared and loathed—she had one hidden in her secret chamber. She was the only one who knew.
"Hmph~"
Thinking of this, Bibi Dong smiled faintly, and her feelings toward Shendu warmed.
Spirit Hall's massive undertaking naturally couldn't be kept secret. Soon, the whole continent knew what had happened.
The existence of demons spread through the various factions as well.
At the Seven Treasure Glazed Tile Sect's meeting room.
Ning Fengzhi discussed the matter with Sword Douluo and Bone Douluo.
"Demons? Fengzhi, do you believe such a thing exists?" Sword Douluo couldn't help asking him.
Ning Fengzhi frowned and shook his head, indicating that he had never seen one.
He considered himself well-read and widely knowledgeable, yet he had never heard of such a strange creature as a demon. Could anything like that truly exist?
"Perhaps Spirit Hall made the whole thing up," Bone Douluo suddenly said.
But all three knew that the one who had announced it was Spirit Hall's old fossil, Angel Douluo Qian Daoliu. How could a Peerless Douluo like him possibly make something like that up?
Ning Fengzhi turned the matter over in his mind from every angle but still couldn't figure out whether demons existed. He sent the other two back and went to the Library Pavilion to search through its books.
Inside the ten-story Library Pavilion, Ning Fengzhi went straight to a particular section and began browsing.
These were books left behind when the clan had moved here. If there were any books he hadn't read, they could only be those from hundreds, or even a thousand, years ago.
Among the dusty books, Ning Fengzhi read through one after another, but still found nothing—until he came across a journal titled Ning Xiaoyao's Adventure Diary.
Did demons really exist?
Puzzled, he opened the book. He hadn't read far before his pupils contracted in shock.
"This—this is..." Ning Fengzhi's hands trembled as he stared fixedly at the words on the page.
"In the 348th year of the Continental Calendar, I traveled five hundred li north of Heaven Mountain. There, I discovered a secret realm. Driven by curiosity, I entered it and found the ruins of a god. There was a stone statue of a man holding a cane, his arms open in welcome toward a huge stone book. Curious, I went up to take a look. The stone book was covered in many ancient words, but I couldn't read them."
"Although I was young at the time, I could sense that the statue was important. So I went to great lengths to tie it to my back and carry it out. As for the stone book, it was simply too large for me to move. I could only copy down the words. When I returned later, the secret realm had vanished."
"I spent my life traveling to all sorts of ruins, searching for ancient writing and trying to translate it. By the time my life was drawing to a close, I had finally figured out what the stone book said. It was truly terrifying!"
"I don't know whether it's true, so I never told anyone. But if anyone ever searches for the word 'demon,' please read on!"
"Demons!" Ning Fengzhi's heart jolted. He clenched his teeth and continued reading.
"I translated the words recorded in the stone book. They read as follows: The all-powerful, immortal demon is watching you..."
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