Southern Frontier Demon Race! An unexpected surprise!

"All right, since you've been lying in ambush, show yourselves. Don't make me lose my patience."

"Senior, your cultivation is indeed unfathomable! We admire you, but you cannot take this Nine-Turn Soul-Returning Pill with you."

The one leading them was the masked man from the auction.

"You demons want such trash too?"

Ye Zichen took out the pill, his face full of disdain.

If he hadn't just seen a demon suddenly appear in the audience, he wouldn't have been interested in it.

The masked demon was alarmed at the sight.

"Y-you, how did you see through me? Brothers, attack!"

The higher-ups had ordered them not to start a conflict, but having his identity exposed had rattled this little demon, and he acted on impulse.

Ye Zichen glanced at them, and the several men who flew at him exploded into a bloody mist.

In less than ten breaths, the demon leading them went from arrogance to terror and fear.

"Y-you, just who are you? There's no way our Demon Race wouldn't know someone like you!"

All the Middle-stage Venerables present were dead, leaving him alone!

"Where are you from?"

Ye Zichen asked. He had kept him alive so he could pay his home a visit and bring him some warmth.

"The Southern Frontier. I belong to a branch of the Black Tortoise Clan. Word of this auction began spreading a month ago, and we came on our group leader's orders."

He looked weak and helpless now and didn't dare refuse to answer.

"Southern Frontier... Black Tortoise..." Ye Zichen murmured.

His Divine Sense reached the Southern Frontier, and before long, he saw where the Black Tortoise Clan was located.

Heh, these days, even turtles dare call themselves Black Tortoises.

Ye Zichen suddenly found it rather funny.

"Come with me to pay these Black Tortoises a visit."

Glancing at the little demon, Ye Zichen waved his hand, and a space opened up.

In less than a minute,

Southern Frontier, Black Tortoise territory.

"Th-this ability to reach the Southern Frontier in an instant, Peak Half-Immortal?! No, could it be...!"

The little demon didn't dare think any further. His worldview was about to collapse.

"Go and report to your master. Tell him you've brought a guest."

Ye Zichen gave the order. Before bringing them warmth, he still knew his manners.

"Yes, I'll go right away!" Not daring to waste a moment, the snake demon revealed his true form and flew inside.

A quarter of an hour later,

A tall, broad-shouldered, burly man-oh no, a turtle-walked out.

"Hahahaha, a guest has come from afar! Please, come in, come in!"

The snake demon had just reported that a human who might be a Peak Half-Immortal had come to visit, so he had hurried out to receive the guest.

He was only an Early-stage Half-Immortal, the weakest clan leader among the five major powers.

Ye Zichen didn't return his courtesy and walked in ahead of him, leaving him alone in embarrassment, a mess in the wind.

Inside the territory, in the great hall of the Black Tortoise Palace, Ye Zichen sat beside an exquisitely carved jade table.

"I am Xuanxiao, the current leader of the Black Tortoise Clan. May I ask what brings you here, Senior?"

Xuanxiao asked respectfully. Though he was displeased by this senior's cold manner, he also knew that someone like him was bound to be proud, and he had no complaints.

"Your subordinate tried to murder someone and steal a pill. Do you understand?"

Ye Zichen glanced at Xuanxiao. His words were soft, but his killing intent was already unmistakable.

Xuanxiao felt his whole body tremble! Was this really a Peak Half-Immortal?

Why do I feel like he could slap me to death? Xuanxiao lost his nerve and hurriedly knelt.

"I'm sorry, Senior. I know I was wrong. She Yi! Get over here!"

"My lord, what-" Before he could finish, there was a smack! The snake demon was slapped to death.

Xuanxiao had told She Yi from the start to disguise himself, act carefully, and avoid starting any conflicts.

He had only wanted to try bidding for the pill. As someone willing to establish relations with the human race, he didn't want a conflict with them.

"Senior, I have executed She Yi. Please show mercy and spare my life!"

Xuanxiao kowtowed repeatedly.

When Ye Zichen first noticed the demon, he had only thought it amusing and wanted to see what they were up to, so he had bid for that trash pill.

Now that he had come straight to the Demon Race's territory in the Southern Frontier, he suddenly felt there wasn't much fun to be had.

This turtle seemed to get along quite well with humans, but his subordinate had been less obedient, deciding on the spur of the moment to snatch the pill after failing to obtain it.

"You may be spared the death penalty, but you cannot escape punishment."

Then he struck with the edge of his palm. Xuanxiao spat blood and fell to the ground, his cultivation, which had only recently reached the Half-Immortal stage, actually dropping straight to the Nascent Soul Realm! It would probably take at least a thousand years to recover.

Xuanxiao's tense body finally relaxed. That the senior had spared his life was already an immense kindness. He no longer cared about his severed meridians or his fallen cultivation.

"Thank you for your mercy, Senior. From now on, I will certainly keep my subordinates under strict control!"

Xuanxiao struggled to rise and knelt to thank Ye Zichen.

"Oh? It seems you have a friend visiting."

Ye Zichen's lips curled. He had found something good.

"Brother Xiao, I've come to see you!"

A man who spoke humbly and was refined and courteous walked in.

"Brother Xiao, what happened to you?!"

Seeing Xuanxiao's fallen cultivation and the blood he kept coughing up, the demon with a pair of horns on his head spoke with concern.

"Brother Long Han, I'm fine. I won't die."

Xuanxiao struggled to his feet, forcing himself to stay calm.

The man named Long Han turned his gaze to Ye Zichen and said respectfully, "May I ask who you are, Senior?"

Ye Zichen didn't answer his question. Instead, he asked, "A mere flood dragon actually carries the Ancestral Dragon Bloodline. It seems there are still good things in this lower realm."

Ye Zichen stood up and came before Long Han.

"Ancestral Dragon Bloodline? Me?"

Long Han was astonished. After all, although the five major powers of the Demon Race called themselves divine beasts, they had no divine beast bloodlines and could not truly awaken as divine beasts.

Even if they ascended in the future, they would only be minor demons in the Immortal Realm. And now this senior was telling him that he actually had the bloodline of an Ancestral Dragon from High Antiquity?!

"Senior, how could you tell I have the Ancestral Dragon Bloodline?" Long Han pushed Xuanxiao aside and asked eagerly.

Xuanxiao: ?

"Although your bloodline is thin, you barely count as a dragon. Are you willing to follow me?"

Ye Zichen asked, with a hint of coercion.

What a joke. Helping him would give him an Ancestral Dragon. Riding a dragon in the future, one with the Ancestral Dragon Bloodline at that-wouldn't that be flashy?

If he refused, he would use force!

After thinking for a while, Long Han finally said solemnly, "Senior, I'm willing! But I have a request!"

Long Han figured that since this senior could see at a glance the power of a bloodline that even a Half-Immortal couldn't see through, he should have a way to help him!

"Speak."