Seven Stars Prefecture!
At the Heavenly Mist Sect's training grounds.
A group of boys and girls were swinging their fists with all their might, practicing the martial techniques they had painstakingly saved up enough points to exchange for at the sect's treasury.
Bang!
In the most conspicuous spot, a young man suddenly struck out with his palm, and the puppet opposite him, meant for sect disciples to test their martial techniques on, exploded with a bang!
"Hiss! Senior Brother Lingxuan, you've already achieved minor mastery of that Heaven-Penetrating Palm, haven't you?"
The moment the puppet shattered, several boys and girls immediately gathered around, their faces full of envy.
"Senior Brother Lingxuan truly deserves to be called the number one of our Heavenly Mist Sect's generation. He's only twenty, but his cultivation has already reached the ninth level of the Spirit Sea Realm. He can already rival some of the elders!"
In the crowd, several young women gazed at the young man surrounded like the moon by stars, peach blossoms flickering in their eyes as they stared at him, lovestruck!
An oval-faced young woman squeezed through the crowd and stood before the young man called Zhou Lingxuan. Her eyes were full of bashfulness. "Senior Brother Lingxuan, there are parts of the sword technique I was practicing that I don't understand. May I invite you to my place tonight to give me some pointers?"
"Hmph! There are things I don't understand either. Senior Brother, come give me pointers tonight!"
On the other side, a young woman in a red dress looked at Zhou Lingxuan and spoke, her face full of defiance.
Seeing this, the oval-faced young woman who had spoken first was displeased.
She pointed at the young woman in red and scolded her. "Guo Xiaofu, I invited Senior Brother first. Surely it should be first come, first served!"
The young woman in red hurriedly retorted, "Just because you invited Senior Brother Lingxuan, he has to go? Who do you think you are? Who doesn't know what little schemes you have in mind?"
The oval-faced young woman puffed up her cheeks. "Fine! Then let Senior Brother Lingxuan choose for himself!"
"Pfft!"
As soon as she finished, the young woman in red snickered, her expression haughty. "Is there even a choice to make?"
As she spoke, the young woman in red thrust out her chest. Her two soft, white jades slowly quivered at this display. One look was enough to tell they were no light burden-they were truly heavy!
"Your little lotus has barely shown its tip. How can you compare with me?"
The oval-faced young woman was indignant at that, but when she glanced down at her own flat chest, she found herself at a loss for words. "You... you..."
"All right, Junior Sisters, stop fighting!" Seeing that the two women had reached a stalemate, a delicate-featured young man with a feminine face stepped forward.
His voice was even softer and more seductive than those of the two young women who had just spoken. "Senior Brother! I want you to teach me swordplay too!"
At those words, Zhou Lingxuan, who had been smiling as he watched the two women grow jealous over him, went black in the face. He kicked the young man aside. "Get lost, I'm not into that!"
With that, he took the oval-faced young woman's hand and said gently, "Since Junior Sister Lingyue needs help, of course I must help her!"
"Senior Brother, you..." Seeing this, the young woman in red stared in disbelief, tears welling in her eyes. "In the end, Xiaofu misplaced her affections! I never should have come!"
With that, the young woman in red started to leave, but before she could turn around, a hand had already caught her, and her whole body collided with a warm chest.
"No! You came at just the right time!" Zhou Lingxuan embraced a woman on each side, his pair of peach blossom eyes exceptionally charming.
"What are you all doing? Get back to practicing! When the Devil Race emerges again someday, with your paltry cultivation, you won't even be enough to fill the gaps between their teeth!"
Just as the group was wrapped up in sweetness and affection, a rough voice rang out across the training grounds.
Immediately afterward, a broad, burly middle-aged man covered in muscle and fierce as a demon strode out.
A man with a moustache accompanied him.
"Disciple Zhou Lingxuan pays his respects to Elder Cheng Shan and Elder Gu Yu!"
Zhou Lingxuan tactfully let go of both women and bowed to the two newcomers.
The broad, burly elder glanced at Zhou Lingxuan and said with some displeasure, "Zhou Lingxuan, the Azure Cloud Challenge is approaching. You're the one most likely to shine in the Azure Cloud Challenge, catch the eye of a third-tier sect, and join it to cultivate. You should know what that means for you, shouldn't you?"
"Stop filling your head with this stuff all day!"
Clearly, they had seen everything that had just happened here!
Hearing this, Zhou Lingxuan's expression grew much more serious. "Yes! Thank you for the reminder, Elder Cheng Shan!"
Their Seven Stars Prefecture was governed by the Feng Imperial Clan, one of the twelve great imperial clans.
There were many sects like their Heavenly Mist Sect, which could basically be considered beneath notice.
From lowest to highest, sects could roughly be divided into third-tier, second-tier, first-tier, top-tier, and sects or factions affiliated with an imperial clan.
And in this region, there was a competition called the Azure Cloud Challenge.
It was held by the third-tier Mystic Heaven Sect. Disciples of sects below the third tier could all participate, and those who performed exceptionally could earn the right to join the Mystic Heaven Sect and cultivate.
And he, Zhou Lingxuan, was the Heavenly Mist Sect's disciple with the best chance in this Azure Cloud Challenge!
"But there is one thing this disciple disagrees with!"
Zhou Lingxuan raised his head and met the two elders' gazes. "The Devil Race was wiped out under the Nine Heavens Devil-Suppressing Mystic Firmament Grand Array tens of thousands of years ago. Where in the Black-Yellow Realm could there still be any of them?"
"That's right! We've all heard that the ones guarding the Devil Race were the Su Imperial Clan, one of the twelve great imperial clans. For that, the Liu Imperial Clan sent a huge batch of resources to the Realm Sea every ten thousand years as payment for guarding the Devil Race.
"But the Devil Race had already been completely wiped out tens of thousands of years ago, and the Su Imperial Clan actually failed to come back and report it. They let everyone believe they were still guarding the Realm Sea while accepting the Liu Imperial Clan's resources with an easy conscience.
"If someone from the Feng Imperial Clan of our Seven Stars Prefecture hadn't happened to visit the vicinity of the Realm Sea and discovered this secret, I reckon every living being in the Black-Yellow Realm would still be kept in the dark by the Su Imperial Clan!"
Once Zhou Lingxuan had spoken, the other disciples around him immediately chimed in.
"Exactly. The Su Imperial Clan's greed is just too ugly to look at!"
"My ancestor's ancestor's ancestor used to admire the Su Imperial Clan so much, thinking they were utterly selfless, willing to give up their ancestral homeland and go to the remote Realm Sea. If he knew what the Su Imperial Clan was really like now, he could come back to life and die of anger all over again!"
"The human heart!"
"Shut up! How can you talk about an imperial clan behind its back?" Elder Cheng Shan barked.
But although he said that, he took no real action, which showed that he actually agreed with them.
And he had only mentioned the Devil Race to scare these children.
"What's wrong with that? It's not as though we're the only ones saying it. The whole Black-Yellow Realm is talking about it now. Besides, the Liu Imperial Clan has supposedly already made a move and is preparing to punish the Su Imperial Clan. It seems they're going to strip them of their status as an imperial clan!"
Someone couldn't help muttering, "The Devil Race? Even if some of those disgusting things are still around, they're just dogs driven from their homes. I reckon even our sect master could slap them dead one by one!"
"Enough! Get back to cultivating. No more discussion!"
At that moment, Elder Gu Yu, who had been silent all along, cut in.
With that, the two men started to turn and leave.
Just then, a series of piercing screams suddenly came from outside.
"Aaaah! Elders! Sect Master, save us!"
"The Devil Race! It's the Devil Race!"
Boom! Boom! Boom!
As the Heavenly Mist Sect's mountain gate exploded, waves of incomparably dense Devil Qi instantly began sweeping across the entire sect.
Everyone turned to look. The sky was packed with Devil Creatures that had fleshy wings and looked like bats.
"Save... save me!"
The Devil at their head was tearing into a disciple dressed in Heavenly Mist Sect robes, the lower half of his body already devoured.
His upper body was still held in the Devil's mouth, his eyes filled with utter terror.
No sooner had he struggled to speak those last words than the rest of his body was swallowed in one gulp.
After completely devouring the Heavenly Mist Sect disciple, the Devil grinned, revealing two rows of razor-sharp teeth, and said with satisfaction, "Tsk, tsk, tsk! Human flesh and blood really is wonderful. I've missed this feeling so much!"
"Huh? Oh, right! Just now... who said our Devil Race were dogs driven from their homes?"
The next second, the Blood Bat Devil at the head of the group fixed a pair of scarlet eyes on the person who had spoken.