Demon King

Above the ancient city, an illusory sea of cosmos hung suspended in the void, like a terrifying manifestation never before seen in the world, trapping the Ji Family's three Eminent Elders within it.

Lu Chen had unleashed Buddhism's supreme Divine Art-the heavenly sound of the syllable "Ba"-to suppress the Ji Family's many young disciples and leave Ji Hui and the other two Eminent Elders hovering between life and death.

To the many cultivators in the ancient city, this was undoubtedly shocking. Those were Eminent Elders and young disciples of the Ji Family. Whether in cultivation or status, they stood so far above ninety percent of the world's cultivators that those cultivators could only gaze up at them, unable to reach their heights.

"First came the Demon Race Great Power, the Peacock King. He stood up for the Demon Race's princess, smashed the gates of a Desolate Ancient Family in fury, then personally hunted down the Ji Family's Divine King Body, whose fate remains unknown even now. This youth named Lu Chen is probably cut from the same cloth!" an old cultivator sighed.

"He may not have the Peacock King's formidable cultivation, but anyone who can suppress so many Ji Family disciples and Eminent Elders is certainly no ordinary person."

"Lu Chen! A youth who can rival the Divine King Body-why have we never heard of him before?" someone wondered.

This ancient city was the capital of a great kingdom and home to many cultivators. They all discussed the origins of the astonishing youth who had suppressed the great family's Eminent Elders.

"Hahaha..." Suddenly, a long peal of laughter rang out from the sky, shaking the entire ancient city and leaving the cultivators aghast.

"Has another Ji Family expert arrived?" Lu Chen frowned. He sensed the terrifying might of whoever had laughed. This was certainly a figure beyond imagination.

Whoosh!

A figure arrived from the distant horizon in an instant, moving at an inconceivable speed. It seemed as though he had been standing in that patch of sky all along, rather than appearing abruptly.

It was another youth, astonishingly enough. He looked even younger than Lu Chen, no more than sixteen or seventeen, with delicate features, hair dancing in the wind, bright eyes, and an extraordinary bearing. He was as fresh and pure as snow heaped upon a flowering tree.

"The Peacock King!" Ye Fan murmured.

"He's the Demon Race Great Power, the Peacock King?" Lu Chen looked at the delicate-featured youth in surprise. Though he knew of this Demon King, hearing about him and seeing him in person, feeling that faintly perceptible yet terrifying aura, were two entirely different things.

"That's the terrifying Demon King himself." A trace of a wry smile crossed Ye Fan's face. When he first met the Peacock King, he had truly thought him a youth and had even wanted to pat his shoulder. Remembering it now still left him shuddering.

"Several veteran Eminent Elders of the Ji Family, suppressed by a mere youngster. It seems you really are in decline!" The Peacock King looked down upon the Southern Region and swept aside all opposition. A Demon King who stood at the very summit, he spoke without the slightest restraint.

"Pfft..." The elderly Ji Hui, who was already struggling to resist the Reincarnation Gate, spat out a mouthful of blood in fury. As an Eminent Elder of the Ji Family, she had never suffered a more humiliating day in her life. Rage had truly assailed her heart.

"Little brother, well done. You've beaten the Ji Family's Eminent Elders so badly they can't fight back." The Peacock King smiled at Lu Chen, then said, "But if you kill them today, I'm afraid you'll bring a mountain of trouble down on yourself. The Ji Family Holy Lord has already arrived in this region with many experts."

"This..." Before Lu Chen could respond, Ye Fan's face darkened beside him, his expression turning ugly. Just a few Ji Family Eminent Elders had already left him with no road into heaven and no gate into the earth, driving him to the brink of desperation. If the Ji Family Holy Lord descended upon them, the consequences were unimaginable.

"Ye Fan, what do you think?" Lu Chen looked at Ji Hui and the other two, who were about to be sucked into the Reincarnation Gate, and asked Ye Fan, "Killing these three old fossils and those Ji Family disciples wouldn't be difficult. But as the saying goes, beat the young and the old come running. The ones hunting you then will be even stronger Ji Family experts. Can you withstand them?"

Though he did not fear the Ji Family, he had no desire to lock horns with a behemoth like a Desolate Ancient Family in a fight to the death just yet.

Killing one or two Ji Family disciples and becoming their enemy was one thing. Fighting the Ji Family until one side was annihilated was quite another.

More importantly, with Ji Ziyue in the picture, Ye Fan and the Ji Family would eventually have a chance to reconcile. If Lu Chen ended up locked in a feud to the death with the Ji Family instead, what would that make of all this?

Hearing this, Ye Fan felt an indescribable bitterness, his expression shifting repeatedly. He knew he was far too weak, nowhere near an equal to a behemoth like the Ji Family.

The Ji Family could hunt him down without restraint, but if he killed their people, he would face retaliation from even more powerful experts. That was reality!

"When I have the strength, I'll kill that old witch myself," Ye Fan said heavily. He was not a mindless fool; he understood that circumstances could overpower a man.

"We won't kill them today, but we can't just let them go either."

Lu Chen chanted a mysterious incantation. The suction from the Reincarnation Gate within the river of stars dissipated, but the gate suddenly shuddered, spewing forth a burst of dazzling divine light that blasted Ji Hui and the other two Eminent Elders hundreds of yards away.

Pfft, pfft, pfft!

The three coughed up great mouthfuls of blood in midair. Their bones fractured in multiple places, and all their internal organs suffered grievous injuries. They would likely need a year or two to recover.

"You..." Old Ji Hui swayed, filled with shock and fury. Looking at the terrifying youth named Lu Chen, she did not dare utter another threat.

She understood that, if not for his wariness of the Ji Family, he had the strength to kill all three of them right then.

Within the river of stars, the vortex inside the Reincarnation Gate reversed, releasing the dozen or so suppressed Ji Family disciples. But Lu Chen did not let them leave so easily. Instead, he stripped them of every treasure they carried.

For a moment, divine light spilled across the sky from all manner of treasures, along with a considerable amount of pure source. The Ji Family disciples were no wandering cultivators; every one of them was wealthy. Their source alone totaled several thousand jin.

"This..."

"Is that youth robbing the Ji Family disciples?"

Every cultivator watching from across the city was dumbstruck.

This was the first time they had seen anyone dare to brazenly rob a Desolate Ancient Family. After all, this was the Southern Region, ruled by the Ji Family, not the Northern Region of the Eastern Wilderness, where chaos and slaughter went hand in hand.

"Get lost!" Ignoring everyone else's reactions, Lu Chen withdrew the illusory sea of cosmos formed by the Origin Heavenly Sound and waved the Ji Family members away.

"Ah..."

The Ji Family disciples howled in anguish, feeling they had suffered an immense humiliation that day. They wanted to fight to the death, but seeing that even the three elders of their family were grievously injured and dared not speak, they could only bottle up their grief, rage, and resentment.

"This little brother has already spared your lives. Why haven't you gotten lost yet?" The Peacock King's calm, indifferent voice rang out, leaving the Ji Family members trembling and afraid to utter a word.

After all, the Peacock King was a terrifying Demon King who could contend with their Holy Lord, powerful beyond measure!

"Let's go!" The Ji Family's three Eminent Elders, their faces livid and their bodies trembling, felt utterly miserable as they led the younger disciples away.

"Little Brother Ye, we meet again." The Peacock King approached and patted Ye Fan's shoulder. He seemed as pure and otherworldly as a lotus, without the slightest hint of a Demon King's imposing might.

Then he turned to Lu Chen and said, "This little brother is impressive. To defeat the Ji Family's Eminent Elders at such an age-you're no less formidable than the Eastern Wasteland Divine Body."

"Greetings, Senior!" Facing the Peacock King, who had already roamed unchallenged through the Southern Region eight hundred years ago, Lu Chen did not dare act presumptuously and bowed respectfully.

"He's my friend, Lu Chen," Ye Fan introduced him. Though he was not particularly close to the Peacock King, he could sense that the latter bore them no ill will.

Besides, the Peacock King was an enemy of the Ji Family. Wasn't an enemy's enemy a friend?

The many cultivators were astonished once again. Could those two youths named Lu Chen and Ye Fan also have some connection to the Peacock King? It seemed their backgrounds were far from ordinary.