The streets and alleys, and the houses on either side, were filled with mournful, helpless wails.
With the demon spirits gone, the living gathered around the bodies of the dead, pouring out their anguish through their tears.
All of Heavenly Shield City was steeped in grief.
Listening to those sounds, Zhao Changfeng watched Chen Jian and Cui Pinyuan. Neither showed much emotional turmoil, and he realized that they did not truly care whether ordinary mortals lived or died.
The protection of mortal lives by the Demon Dao Great Sects was a rule observed throughout every human realm in the Ruinlands, but it was merely a rational decision the great sects had made for their own development.
Formal disciples like Chen Jian and rogue cultivators like Cui Pinyuan only wanted to survive and gain the strength to stand firm between heaven and earth as quickly as possible.
They had not yet reached the heights of those above them, so for now, they were indifferent to the concerns of the higher ranks.
"Senior Teng cultivates the Insect-Grass Demon Art. Those two utterly different kinds of vitality need to be suppressed and stabilized after battle. We should wait until he deals with the backlash from his demonic cultivation art."
Chen Jian returned to the house, his head lowered as he pondered his future.
Zhao Changfeng nodded, took the Ice-Ridge Serpent's corpse out of the wooden chest, and said to Cui Pinyuan, "Let's continue."
Toward evening, Ruan Meizhen returned.
Looking haggard, she quietly sat down beside Zhao Changfeng. Grief enveloped her, and her slightly reddened eyes suggested that she had been crying.
Everyone immediately realized that she had loved ones in Heavenly Shield City, and they had most likely fallen victim to the demon spirits.
"Senior Sister, are you all right?"
Zhao Changfeng asked softly.
Ruan Meizhen feigned composure, but her voice trembled. "My mother, my brother, and my sister-in-law hid at the bottom of the well in their courtyard. They submerged themselves in the water, but still..."
She had found the three bodies at the bottom of the well and had a rough idea of what had happened.
Cui Pinyuan sighed softly. "Demon spirits can sense the flesh-and-blood aura of living beings. Once they arrive, it doesn't matter where you hide."
Ruan Meizhen lowered her head and murmured, "When I heard that demon spirits had overrun Heavenly Shield City, I knew they probably wouldn't survive. But when I actually saw their bodies, I still..."
She said no more, her alluring face filled with anguish.
After today, she had no family left in the world.
Day gave way to night, and three days passed in the blink of an eye.
Chen Jian sent his Yin Ghost roaming to investigate the situation in different areas and learned that one-fifth of Heavenly Shield City's hundreds of thousands of ordinary mortals had died that night.
In a single night, nearly a hundred thousand people had perished at the hands of demon spirits.
The City Guard Army, rogue cultivators, demonic cultivators from the various lineages, and disciples of the White Bone Dao and the Yin-Yang Joyous Union Tower-sects as renowned as the Crippled Demon Sect and the Ghost-Controlling Sect-had also suffered heavy casualties.
The city lord, Qi Donglin, who had reached the great perfection of the three calamities realm, had likewise been gravely injured and nearly died.
"Tong Yi really is still alive."
Chen Jian frowned slightly. Through his Yin Ghost, he saw Tong Yi and his two companions enter the city and said coldly, "With his temperament, he's bound to complain to Senior Teng!"
"Just as I thought!"
He noticed that Tong Yi and the others headed straight for the city lord's residence as soon as they entered the city.
At the city lord's residence in central Heavenly Shield City.
"Chen Jian of the Ghost-Controlling Sect, and Zhao Changfeng and Ruan Meizhen, named disciples of the Crippled Demon Sect, fled Tamu Town when the situation was at its most critical."
Standing before Qi Donglin, Tong Yi still carried himself like a superior. "If those three hadn't fled and had joined us to resist the demon spirits instead, we wouldn't have lost so many fellow disciples!"
Before setting out for Tamu Town, the nine of them had informed Qi Donglin so that he could report their efforts to his superiors and have their merit recorded.
Who could have imagined that only three would return alive just a few days later?
"Senior Teng is still suppressing the backlash within his body. Once he leaves Demon Mountain, I will report this to him."
Qi Donglin had a square face and a tall, thin frame. He had yet to recover, and added, "There are many matters to attend to in the city lately, so I won't be entertaining you."
He had just learned from Tong Yi that Qin Hui was the sole survivor among the City Guard Army dispatched to Tamu Town.
That worsened his mood further.
The others were one thing, but Shen Yanrong had come from the Shen lineage of the Demon Kingdom.
When Shen Yanrong was assigned to serve in Heavenly Shield City, the Shen lineage had specifically approached him with instructions, hoping that he would help her grow quickly while giving her experience.
They had done so because they recognized that Shen Yanrong was simple-hearted and not yet suited to joining a Demon Dao Great Sect.
Their greatest hope in sending Shen Yanrong to Heavenly Shield City was that hardship would temper her into someone with an unyielding will, capable of adapting to the brutal competition within a Demon Dao Great Sect.
Now that Shen Yanrong was dead, he had no idea how to answer to the Shen lineage, and his manner was hardly warm.
Tong Yi looked displeased and asked again, "My lord, are Chen Jian and the others currently in Heavenly Shield City?"
Qi Donglin shook his head. "I don't know."
"Senior Teng has come out!"
"Elder Teng has left Demon Mountain!"
A clamor rose outside.
The moment he heard the news, Qi Donglin dragged his injured body out of the city lord's residence.
Tong Yi and his two companions immediately followed, hoping to demand justice from Teng Kun in person and tell him how Zhao Changfeng and the others had fled in the face of battle.
Before long, the group gathered outside the house where Zhao Changfeng and the others were staying and saw the four of them open the door to welcome Teng Kun.
"Master."
"Elder Teng."
"Senior Teng."
The four bowed in greeting.
Uneasy, Zhao Changfeng kept his head lowered and behaved with utmost caution, afraid that Teng Kun would release his primordial spirit and see through everything inside his body.
Over the past two days, he had quietly drawn information out of the others and learned that even a powerful six tribulations realm cultivator like Teng Kun could not search memories buried deep in someone's mind, even with his primordial spirit.
But if Teng Kun's primordial spirit left his body and entered Zhao Changfeng's to investigate, he would see the abnormalities in his middle and lower dantians.
In other words, if Teng Kun wished, he could see the two Little Bronze Cauldrons floating above the sea of spiritual qi in Zhao Changfeng's lower dantian, and the ceaseless enactment of the heart-demon obsessions originating from Ruan Meizhen and Cui Pinyuan within them.
His willpower would likewise have nowhere to hide.
He had already prepared an explanation, but he still hoped Teng Kun would not do that.
"Senior Teng!"
The city lord's residence was close to their house. Almost the instant Teng Kun landed, Tong Yi and Qi Donglin arrived as well.
"Zhao Changfeng, Chen Jian, and Ruan Meizhen are disciples of Devil Dao Sects, yet they abandoned their duties and fled in the face of battle, causing grievous losses to our Primal Demon Temple!"
"Heavenly Shield City and Tamu Town are both territories under your Crippled Demon Sect's jurisdiction."
"When we heard that demon spirits had overrun Tamu Town, we rushed there immediately to hold the line, intending to lend your Crippled Demon Sect our strength. Who would have thought..."
Not only had Tong Yi failed to obtain the earth yin cold spring, he had also lost several fellow disciples who followed his lead. Naturally, he would not let the matter rest.
Zhao Changfeng and the others thought, Here it comes, just as expected.
Members of the White Bone Dao and the Yin-Yang Joyous Union Tower, along with many surviving demonic cultivators in the city, had gathered there to learn the details. They had not expected to encounter Tong Yi lodging a complaint.
Qi Donglin also had many questions and wanted to vent his grievances, but since Tong Yi had spoken first, he could only hold them back.
"How many fellow disciples did you lose, exactly?"
An unsettling light shone in Old Devil Teng's differently shaped eyes. Clearly, the conflict within his body had not fully subsided; he had merely suppressed it for the time being.
"Two of my formal disciples died at the world membrane. Of nearly a hundred named disciples, only Zhao Changfeng and Ruan Meizhen remain."
"Whose losses were more grievous?"
Tong Yi was about to speak when Teng Kun snorted and continued without heed. "Those two didn't flee in the face of battle. They received my orders to head to Heavenly Shield City."
"Once I escaped and learned that demon spirits were about to overrun Heavenly Shield City, I immediately headed here to relieve the siege."
"Passing through Tamu Town, I could crush all the low-rank demon spirits with a single hand. What point was there in having those two continue holding Tamu Town?"
"I knew Heavenly Shield City was in urgent danger. I didn't dare linger on Demon Mountain for even a moment, and I didn't even have time to bring those two along. That was why I ordered them to make their way here on foot as quickly as possible."
"How is that fleeing in the face of battle?"
Teng Kun was twisting the facts to deliberately shield them.
Zhao Changfeng's heart immediately settled.
"So that's what happened. I misunderstood Brother Zhao."
Tong Yi knew when to take up a matter and when to put it down. Despite having nowhere to vent his seething resentment, he still cupped his hands toward Zhao Changfeng in apology. "Please don't hold it against me, Brother Zhao!"
Zhao Changfeng smiled easily and said lightly, "There's no blame in an honest mistake."
With Tong Yi left speechless, Qi Donglin stepped forward, grief in his eyes. "Senior Teng, Heavenly Shield City is under the Crippled Demon Sect's jurisdiction, and nearly a hundred thousand of its people have died. If those above us demand answers, I..."
Afraid of bearing responsibility, he was laying the blame for failing to avert the catastrophe at Teng Kun's feet.
"Those above us?"
Teng Kun bared his teeth in a cold smile and said unhappily, "Since when has the Demon Kingdom dared to hold our Demon Dao Great Sects accountable?"
Qi Donglin's expression shifted slightly, and he hurriedly said, "That isn't what I meant. I meant..."
The Demon Kingdom had always been subordinate to the great sects, and even its imperial family obeyed the Primal Demon Temple completely. Although those of the Demon Dao had a duty to protect mortal lives, they held the imperial court and the great lineages in contempt.
"I will report this matter to my sect myself. As for how my actions are judged, that is for the sect master of my Crippled Demon Sect to decide."
Teng Kun waved a hand, signaling that Qi Donglin need not say more. "The Beichen Demon Kingdom has no right to meddle in the affairs of our Demon Dao Great Sects!"
That was simply the truth.
It was always the Demon Dao Great Sects that interfered in the Demon Kingdom's internal affairs. The Demon Kingdom had no authority whatsoever to intervene in sect matters.
"Disperse."
Teng Kun frowned at the onlookers. Seeing that he had no intention of saying more, they obediently withdrew one by one.
Whoosh!
He casually tossed out a brand-new Demon Token, which landed squarely in Ruan Meizhen's hands. "Not bad. I never expected you to break through to the primordial spirit realm. That was quite a surprise."
A trace of joy finally appeared on Ruan Meizhen's beautiful face, which had been bleak for so long. She hurriedly said, "Thank you for your gift, Master."
From that moment on, she was a formal disciple of the Crippled Demon Sect, truly entitled to benefit from its immense reserves.
A silver ring flashed on Teng Kun's withered arm, and another Demon Token of the same design appeared.
He hesitated briefly, then said to Zhao Changfeng, "Strictly speaking, you have yet to advance to the primordial spirit realm and do not meet the sect's requirements for admission as a formal disciple."
"Still, I can give you the token first. Once we return to the sect, I'll try to secure approval for you."
"If the other elders refuse, you'll have to return the token to me. I'll give it back once you enter the primordial spirit realm."