Submit, or the City Will Be Slaughtered

The description read: The cultivation technique "Demon" was a wondrous book spontaneously generated by a world when an unknown greater world shattered.

Yes, that was the only sentence, but it was enough to shock Zhou Qiong. Although he did not know how powerful that greater world had been, the Villain Points required alone told him how extraordinary it was. Zhou Qiong thought to himself that if this cultivation technique were taken out into the world, it could probably serve as the golden finger of a world's protagonist.

"System, exchange my remaining hundred thousand Villain Points for some cultivation spirit medicines."

"Understood, host!"

Time flowed, the years flying like a shuttle, and two years soon passed. In truth, for someone in the True Martial Realm, two years were merely the time it took to doze off, because their lifespans were simply too long.

At that moment, inside the great hall on Heavenly Demon Peak, the many senior members stood on either side, excitement on their faces. These two years could be called the fastest period of growth in the Demon Sect's history. With the resources of the entire Black King City supporting the Demon Sect alone, along with the cultivation techniques and secret manuals bestowed by the sect master, the strength of the entire Demon Sect had risen several levels in succession.

Seated at the head of the hall, Zhou Qiong slowly opened his eyes as well. His gains over these two years had also been considerable. He had changed his primary cultivation technique to "Demon" and, in just two years, broken through two cultivation layers in succession, reaching the seventh layer of the Eternal Realm. Unfortunately, his presence was still only at the first layer of the True Martial Realm.

A light cough escaped Liansheng's lips, and the hall instantly fell silent. Liansheng bowed to Zhou Qiong. "Reporting to the sect master, our sect's strength has advanced by leaps and bounds over these two years. We now have five people in the Eternal Realm, over thirty at the peak of Profound Understanding, and more than four thousand others in Profound Understanding."

Zhou Qiong nodded inwardly. Their strength was indeed improving rapidly. Given a few more years to develop, the Demon Sect would probably have over a hundred Eternal Realm cultivators alone.

Unfortunately, Zhou Qiong had no intention of waiting that long. Feeding war with war should be the Demon Sect's method of nurturing talent. As for whether some of those talents would die along the way, Zhou Qiong did not take that to heart.

"Liansheng!"

"Your subordinate is here!"

"Go deliver a notice to Heavenly Sea City. Tell them that our Demon Sect gives them three days to consider. If they submit to our Demon Sect, the matter ends there. If they refuse, slaughter the city and exterminate their clan!"

"As you command!"

Zhou Qiong believed that if he wanted to expand his territory quickly, he had to let others know the Demon Sect's ruthlessness. Thus, his first official move had to cow everyone else.

At the gates of Heavenly Sea City, two rows of guards stood on either side as usual, watching the constant stream of people coming and going. Every guard actually possessed a high-stage Profound Understanding cultivation base, showing just how powerful Heavenly Sea City's Hong Family was.

Although the two rows of guards stood ramrod straight, their thoughts had long since wandered off somewhere. They did not believe anyone would dare cause trouble. After all, how long had it been since someone last caused trouble at Heavenly Sea City's gates? It must have been over a thousand years. That person had been killed outright by a single palm strike from the Hong Family and seemed to have even been an Eternal Realm expert.

Suddenly, a heavens-shaking streak of sword light shot toward the city gates.

The longsword seemed to cleave through space. Before the guards could react, it had already embedded itself in the city wall. The guard captain hurriedly looked around but saw not a single figure. Turning toward the longsword embedded in the wall, his gaze abruptly sharpened. A blood-red declaration of war was attached to it.

The captain hurriedly pulled out the longsword, examined the declaration of war, and raced toward the city lord's residence.

The people entering the city all looked astonished at the sight.

"What's going on? Someone actually dared to pin a longsword to Heavenly Sea City's wall. Aren't they afraid of the Hong Family?"

"I think I saw the guard captain take a red letter off the longsword and run toward the city lord's residence!"

"Who cares what's going on? With the Hong Family here in Heavenly Sea City, can the heavens possibly change?"

"True enough..."

At the city lord's residence, the guard captain rushed inside and handed the letter to the steward on duty. After reading it, the steward's face filled with anger, and he quickly headed for the main hall.

The person currently at the helm of the Hong Family was not Hong Tu. Hong Tu was the Hong Family's ancestor and remained in seclusion cultivating. Apart from major matters, he did not involve himself in their affairs at all. The one managing things now was his son, Hong Biao.

Hong Biao was drinking tea in the main hall, looking over the account books submitted by his subordinates and considering how to increase the Hong Family's sources of income.

Knock, knock, knock. A series of knocks interrupted his thoughts. "Come in."

The steward on duty trotted inside in his steward's robes and quickly handed the blood-red letter to Hong Biao. "Family head, the Demon Sect of Black King City has sent us a declaration of war!"

"Huh?" Hong Biao felt as though he had misheard. A declaration of war? Someone actually dared send his Hong Family a declaration of war? He quickly picked up the letter and read it.

The more he read, the angrier he became, until veins bulged on his forehead.

With a crack, Hong Biao smashed the table with a furious palm strike.

The steward had been flattering it by calling it a declaration of war. This was clearly a letter of humiliation. It actually demanded that his Hong Family surrender within three days, or they would slaughter the city and exterminate the clan. They did not think anything of his Hong Family at all! What did they take his Hong Family for?

"Go, summon all the senior members to a meeting in the council hall!" Hong Biao told the steward, his face livid.

An hour later, the Hong Family's many senior members sat inside their council hall, with a grim-faced Hong Biao seated at the head.

"Big Brother, why did you call us here?"

"Yes, I still have to inspect a project in the southern part of the city in a bit!"

Hong Biao opened the letter with a wave of his hand and tossed it to them. "Take a look. Someone has sent our Hong Family a declaration of war!"

"What? A declaration of war!" The others looked at the letter in disbelief.

"This is going too far! Has the Demon Sect gone mad?"

"Exactly. Do they think they're so impressive just because they subdued Elder Mu? Doesn't he know that Elder Mu isn't even fit to carry our ancestor's shoes?"

"How is this a declaration of war? They're humiliating our Hong Family! No, even if their Demon Sect doesn't come, our Hong Family cannot let them off!"

For a time, roars rang out incessantly in the council hall. What was written on the letter was simply too infuriating, too full of swagger.

That evening, Heavenly Sea City remained as bustling as ever, but a piece of news slowly began spreading through the city.

"Have you heard? Black King City's Demon Sect has declared war on our Heavenly Sea City. They delivered the declaration just this morning!"

"No, I heard they directly demanded that the Hong Family surrender, or they'd slaughter every living creature in the entire city!"

"Really? How come I heard that the Demon Sect intends to make all the Hong Family's senior members kill themselves, or else they'll kill everyone?"

For a time, all sorts of stories seemed to circulate, but the final conclusion was that Black King City was going to war with Heavenly Sea City. The news that the Demon Sect intended to slaughter the city also spread throughout Heavenly Sea City.

Yet few people believed the Demon Sect could succeed. The Hong Family had ruled Heavenly Sea City for far too long, so long that they no longer believed anyone could threaten the Hong Family's position, much less a newly risen Demon Sect.