The Great King Is Missing

Only Void-Refining True Lords possessed the power to shatter the void. This was the consensus throughout the cultivation world.

For three thousand years, the spiritual energy of heaven and earth had been depleted, and no Void-Refining True Lord had appeared in the cultivation world during that long span. These demons had merely made this judgment in their panic based on vague fragments of information from their inherited memories.

In moments of extreme panic and terror, everyone instinctively believed the only person who spoke up. Demons were no different.

Once that first impression had taken root, more information gradually became clear in the demons' minds.

Why had a spiritual energy vortex covering most of the city appeared in the old district? Why had it vanished the instant this young man appeared? Why could he shatter the void with a casual wave of his hand?

Everything made sense as long as the identity of a Void-Refining True Lord was placed upon the young man before them.

The vast spiritual energy vortex was not the birth of some treasure at all. It was merely this Void-Refining True Lord's daily cultivation. Once he stopped cultivating, the vortex swiftly disappeared.

The spatial rifts that had wiped out the demons with a wave of his hand were merely a casual strike from a Void-Refining True Lord shattering the void.

And the ordinary human aura he gave off was only because his cultivation had reached the pinnacle, returning to simplicity and truth.

The demon who had first shouted "Void-Refining True Lord" had long since been swallowed by the spreading spatial rifts, but its words, born of extreme terror, had led all the other demons' thoughts astray.

In truth, the demons could not be blamed. Void-Refining True Lords were simply too distant from them; even in their inherited memories, there was only vague information about such beings.

The irresistible spatial rifts before their eyes, along with the instant deaths of dozens of demons, had already plunged them into terror.

Yet Shen Yuan gave them no chance. With a flip of his palm, he threw another specially made Space Grenade into the cluster of demons that had yet to scatter.

The internal space created by the Pot-Heaven Divine Ability continuously collided with the space outside, and as the explosion erupted, great swathes of spatial rifts began spreading once more.

These minor demons were only in the Refining Essence Realm. Before the spatial rifts, they had no chance of resistance whatsoever. Their flesh was torn apart in an instant, fur and blood scattering everywhere.

But before that filthy blood could even drip to the ground, the shattered space swallowed everything whole, leaving not the slightest trace behind.

Just two Space Grenades had wiped out every demon in the entire courtyard.

Only a few minor demons remained, those that had not squeezed into the courtyard in time, along with some demonized animals tainted by demonic aura.

Shen Yuan's calm gaze swept over the minor demons outside the courtyard. Terror spread rapidly, and great numbers of demonized animals immediately fled in all directions.

In the dark sky, in the lawns beside the roads, within the shadowy sewers, the remaining demons only regretted that their parents had not given them two more legs.

The Maine Coon guarding the entrance also joined the fleeing horde at once.

As a cat demon only a single step away from the Qi-Refining Realm, the Maine Coon understood better than anyone that the young man in the courtyard was far more terrifying than it had imagined.

Because in the course of clearing out those demons, he had not used the slightest bit of mana.

It was as though he had casually tossed out an ordinary object, yet it had unleashed vast spatial rifts that swallowed every demon.

Such power lay far beyond its understanding. As it fled madly, the Maine Coon did not dare look back for even an instant.

Using its innate talent to lurk within shadows, the night was the Maine Coon's finest shelter, yet it still could not grant it the slightest sense of safety.

So long as the young man in the courtyard was willing to act, even if it escaped Wen City, it would still die here in an instant.

Yet its instinct to survive continued driving it onward, sending it racing with all its strength in blind panic.

Who knew how much time had passed? When the scenery before it had completely turned into desolate wilderness, the Maine Coon finally could no longer maintain its stealth state.

It emerged from the shadow of a bush, sprawled in the grass, and panted heavily.

Looking back in the direction it had come from, there was no longer the faintest trace of human habitation. Even it could not say how far it had run in this desperate flight.

Fortunately, after leaving that old district far behind, the terrifying threat had finally vanished completely.

"Should... should it be over now?"

Feeling slightly relieved, the Maine Coon skillfully reached for the top of its head, preparing to soothe a certain little furball that should have been trembling.

"Great King, don't worry. I will definitely protect—"

The Maine Coon froze.

"THE GREAT KING IS GONE!!!"

"I only cultivated for a bit. How did I attract so many minor demons?"

Shen Yuan watched the demonized animals and the scattered few demons flee, but did not step forward to stop them.

At present, aside from Space Grenades, he had no other spell techniques at all. He might not have been able to keep every one of those demons here.

Rather than painstakingly clearing them out only for some to escape anyway, he might as well let these minor demons go. Judging by this, they certainly would not dare set foot here again anytime soon.

Looking around the yard, all Shen Yuan saw was a complete mess.

The spatial rifts had swallowed all the demons' flesh and blood, but the damage they had caused when barging into the courtyard could not be repaired.

Several pillars of the wooden corridor had collapsed. A huge hole had been dug into the middle of the ground by the demonized rats. The wooden gate at the entrance was reduced to a few rotten planks. The entire courtyard looked utterly dilapidated.

Stepping out through the cultivation room's door, Shen Yuan frowned as he inspected the damage throughout the courtyard. Repairing that large hole in the center alone would surely cost a fortune.

At the thought, Shen Yuan felt a stab of pain in his wallet.

"What a pity. The spatial rifts brought about by the Pot-Heaven Divine Ability are still too overbearing. They swallowed those minor demons whole, not even leaving scraps behind.

"If only a few demon corpses had been left behind, I could have made up for some of the losses."

Thinking this, Shen Yuan stepped over the ruined doorframe, which had only a few planks left, and wondered whether he should replace it with a sturdier door next time.

But when his gaze passed over the equally damaged courtyard wall, he suddenly felt that moving somewhere else would be more cost-effective.

Just then, Shen Yuan caught a flash of white from the corner of his eye.

Following the direction, Shen Yuan saw a tiny black-and-white furball cowering and trembling in the corner of a wall by the street.

Only when Shen Yuan walked over did he see that the little black-and-white furball was a kitten smaller than his palm. Its body was covered in pure jet-black fur without a single stray color, except for its four snow-white paws, like a pair of white gloves.

"What a fine Black Cloud Treading White Snow."

Shen Yuan's eyes lit up, and he skillfully reached out to grab the kitten.

Its fate seized by the scruff of its neck in Shen Yuan's large hand, the kitten was lifted in a humiliating pose. Its trembling limbs instantly stiffened.

A thousand words surged in its throat, desperate to be spoken, but before this handsome young man who looked so harmless, they could only become a soft cry.

"Meow~!"