Chapter 204 - "Road"

Night, in Archean Mountain.

Archean Mountain Lord carried dossiers to the Supremacy’s study and whispered, “Supremacy, this is today’s dossiers.”

Qin Wu glanced at Archean Mountain Lord. “I’m guessing it’s bad news from your weak tone?”

Archean Mountain Lord nodded gently. “The Godfiend team at Wu State’s East Harbor Prefecture were killed today.”

Qin Wu’s eyes narrowed. “They were all killed?” Qin Wu muttered to himself softly. After some time, he asked, “What about the murderer?”

“We didn’t manage to find out their identity. The bait didn’t work. The murderer is likely a new fourth Firmament demon monarch,” said Archean Mountain Lord in a low voice.

“You didn’t manage to discover anything?” Qin Wu looked at Archean Mountain Lord. “Isn’t it said that Earth Net has nine layers of surveillance. If even one is attacked, other Godfiends will support them. Weren’t Godfiend teams supposed to have bait that could tempt demon monarchs into appearing after being killed? Are you telling me that Earth Net failed to discover anything and that the bait was useless?”

Archean Mountain Lord wore a bitter expression as he respectfully said, “This fourth Firmament demon monarch was too cunning. He didn’t engage in melee; instead, he chose to kill the four Godfiends from afar. The bait carried by the Godfiend team failed to tempt him.”

The study fell silent.

After some time, Qin Wu said, “Are we certain that another fourth Firmament demon monarch has appeared?”

“Yes, it’s suspected that there are 12 fourth Firmament demon monarchs within the Great Zhou Dynasty,” replied Archean Mountain Lord respectfully. “In the past half-year, the scattered Marquis Godfiends managed to ambush and kill one fourth Firmament demon monarch. The Godfiend teams’ bait allowed us to discover another three fourth Firmament demon monarchs. Another Godfiend team utilized a treasure—that they were carrying—and also killed one fourth Firmament demon monarch. In total, us humans have killed five fourth Firmament demon monarchs.

“We captured three fourth Firmament demon monarchs alive after tracking them. The demons probably don’t know that they have landed in our hands,” said Archean Mountain Lord.

“Only five have been killed.” Qin Wu shook his head gently. “It’s far from enough.”

Archean Mountain Lord immediately said, “There aren’t many fourth Firmament demon monarchs in the Demon Realm. The number of third Firmament demon monarchs that can break through to the fourth Firmament at any given time probably doesn’t exceed a hundred. There are even fewer that can successfully infiltrate our world.”

“A fourth Firmament demon monarch is extremely cautious if they can survive in our human world,” said Qin Wu. “Furthermore, I’m truly worried about how many third Firmament demon monarchs are here. As time passes, a small number of third Firmament demon monarchs will reach the fourth Firmament during life-and-death battles. At least ten or even a hundred third Firmament demon monarchs will reach the fourth Firmament in the human world.”

Archean Mountain Lord’s heart tightened.

Qin Wu said coldly, “Therefore, we need to maintain our absolute advantage. We have to surround and kill them constantly, reducing their numbers in the human world. If they are few in number, it will be difficult for third Firmament demon monarchs to reach the fourth Firmament here. Their only advantage is in numbers. When they have few forces here, they will have no advantage.”

Archean Mountain Lord agreed.

Qin Wu flipped through the dossiers. Apart from the news about Wu State’s East Harbor Prefecture, the day was quite normal. Humans continued to pursue and kill the demons methodically. The demons had no choice but to hide underground. Even the slightest of clues left behind could lead to their discovery.

“By the way,” Qin Wu flipped through the dossier and said, “I heard that Black Sand Grotto-Heaven’s King White Treasure single-handedly captured two fourth Firmament demon monarchs and killed a large group of third Firmament demon monarchs. He’s responsible for nearly half of Black Sand Grotto-Heaven’s accomplishments in the war against the demons.”

“Yes.” Archean Mountain Lord nodded immediately. “King White Treasure cultivates the Samsara Divine Body. With the Samsara Divine Body as his foundation, he created a domain technique—Nine Heavens, Ten Earths. This ultimate technique is good for scanning the underground. It can be said to be the strongest ultimate technique when it comes to scanning the underground. This technique allowed him to capture two fourth Firmament demon monarchs and wipe out many third Firmament demon monarch lairs.

“Archean Mountain has obtained a copy of the “Nine Heavens, Ten Earths” technique after trading with Black Sand Grotto-Heaven,” Archean Mountain Lord explained. “However, one has to cultivate the Samsara Divine Body and become a Regis Godfiend before they can reach King White Treasure’s reconnaissance proficiency. Our Archean Mountain doesn’t have any Regis Godfiends who cultivate a Samsara Divine Body.”

Qin Wu nodded and said, “I have an idea. Discuss with Black Sand Grotto-Heaven about this. When King White Treasure’s scanning of Black Sand Dynasty’s territory no longer yields much result, he can come to our Great Zhou Dynasty’s territory. He can scan the places we are suspicious of. Let’s see what conditions Black Sand Grotto-Heaven will raise.”

“Alright, I’ll give it a try.” Archean Mountain Lord nodded. “However, Black Sand Grotto-Heaven will definitely make exorbitant demands.”

“He is single-handedly responsible for half of Black Sand Grotto-Heaven’s current war accomplishments when it comes to killing demons. It’ll be worth it to invite him here,” said Qin Wu.

Godfiends had their own areas of expertise. Some were very good at tracking demon monarchs.

Black Sand Grotto-Heaven’s King White Treasure could be said to be the best when it came to finding demons! He could scan up to 2.5 kilometers deep underground. This made him the best in the world when it came to locating demons.

Even Meng Chuan’s Essence Soul perception domain was greatly weakened when scanning the underground, much less ordinary domains. The effects of reconnaissance abilities were greatly weakened when obstructed by soil. It wouldn’t be surprising if the ability had only a hundredth of their original effectiveness.

It was inconceivable that King White Treasure’s technique could maintain such effectiveness when scanning the underground. Of course, others could also achieve such effectiveness with their own abilities. For example, Two World Island’s King Mist Illusion was most skilled at splitting into many embodiments. He could split into more than 10,000 fog bodies—which would then search the underground together.

Another example was Archean Mountain’s King True Martial could discern past events that acquire a short period of time ago. He had terrifying tracking abilities.

…

Meng Chuan had vaguely discerned the global situation after repeatedly rescuing others. He knew one thing: many ordinary Godfiends had sacrificed themselves for their current “peace.”

However, their sacrifices were necessary. Only by forming teams of Godfiends could the entire world be protected!

Whoosh! Whoosh! Whoosh!

The cold wind howled outside.

In his study, Meng Chuan finally finished the last stroke of his current painting. He placed the three long scrolls he had painted during the past year on the table.

The first scroll—from right to left—depicted North River Pass’s Godfiends and soldiers as they guarded the city pass against a demon invasion. It was followed by battle scenes from the invasion of Jiang State Capital; it included the scene of Meng Chuan and his senior brothers fighting Blackwater Palace Lord.

The second scroll had scenes of the demons’ first large scale probe. This large-scale probe caused blazing beacons—from all over the world—to emit smoke. It was the most tragic scene on the second scroll. One scene depicted fleeing Godfiends—who had betrayed their teammates’ trust. Another scene depicted Godfiends silently watching demon monarchs destroying village forts.

The third scroll focused on seven very tragic battles. In some battles, Godfiends were completely wiped out. In other scenes, one could see Godfiends annihilating all the demon monarchs.

When placed in order, the three scrolls formed a very long painting. Its total length reached 83 feet! At a glance, it was like a road. The battles and corpses formed a bloody road. Only by traversing this road, would the humans attain victory.

Bloodshed? Sacrifices? There was no way one could obtain victory without any of that!

Meng Chuan wrote one word on the rightmost edge of the first scroll. It was the name of the painting—Road.

He wrote a sentence line beside his name—”Personally seen and heard after four years off the mountain.”