The Demon Kings all shook their heads. None of them knew why they had been summoned here. Each had answered the call of their respective Saint Lord, and while the reason remained unclear, one thing was certain — it had to involve Yang Kai, otherwise he wouldn't be sitting here.
But Yang Kai sat there in perfect composure, leisurely enjoying Du Mi'er's attentive service, making no move to rise. The Demon Kings all recognized him and knew what kind of power stood behind him, so naturally none of them wished to cause trouble for themselves.
Time trickled by. One Demon King after another arrived.
In less than two hours, all twenty-nine Demon Kings had assembled.
Luan Feng, Cang Gou, and Fan Wu appeared in quick succession. Upon seeing the three of them, the Demon Kings bowed in greeting.
Yang Kai finally opened his eyes, a sharp light flashing within them. He had to admit — Du Mi'er might carry herself with a somewhat flirtatious air, but she certainly knew how to attend to someone. A flower demon who had taken human form, she seemed to possess an innate divine ability that soothed the mind and put one at ease.
"Is everyone here?" Yang Kai glanced around.
Fan Wu's expression looked rather grim. Though he had already heard the general outline from Luan Feng, Yang Kai's manner of going about things left a bitter taste in his mouth. The Desolate Ancient Lands were, after all, demonkind's territory — since when did a human get to call the shots here? After a moment of silence, he gave a curt nod. "They're all here."
"Then let's move out." Yang Kai rose to his feet and was the first to streak toward the territory of the Stone Puppet Clan.
All twenty-nine Demon Kings gazed helplessly at the three Saint Lords. With things having come to this, what could Fan Wu and the others possibly say? They could only raise a hand, and in an instant, figures shot into the sky one after another, trailing behind Yang Kai.
Fan Wu and the other two caught up from behind and pulled abreast of Yang Kai, exchanging silent glances.
Yang Kai spoke up of his own accord. "The three of you are deeply principled. Your full support this time — Yang will remember it. In the future, you will be generously repaid."
Luan Feng gave a cold snort. "That wasn't your attitude before." She was still nursing a grudge over Yang Kai's earlier high-handed, arrogant demeanor. If he'd shown this attitude from the start, things would have been far less troublesome.
Yang Kai turned to glare at her. "You've got some nerve saying that."
"What's wrong? Can't I even say something?" Luan Feng's temper flared, and she glared right back, refusing to back down.
Yang Kai said, "If you hadn't destroyed my spatial formation back then, would we need to travel like this right now? We could have reached our destination directly through your Fengluo Palace. But now — the journey alone will take at least an hour. If this delay costs us something critical, just see what I'll do to you."
At the mention of that old incident, Luan Feng blinked, a flicker of guilt crossing her face. After all, destroying the spatial formation was an undeniable fact — but who could have predicted he'd be in such a rush today? She turned her head away. "Why are you shouting at me? I had no way of knowing this would happen."
"Enough. What's done is done. Arguing won't help." Fan Wu stepped in to smooth things over. Regardless of the circumstances, the Ancient Lands had no intention of falling out with Yang Kai — what needed to be maintained would be maintained. "Young Brother Yang, why don't you tell us what's really going on?"
Luan Feng had only told them that Yang Kai intended to mobilize all of the Ancient Lands' top fighting strength, and that it apparently involved the Demon Race. The details had been vague. Now that they had committed to helping, they naturally wanted to know more.
Yang Kai, hearing this, couldn't be bothered to keep bickering with Luan Feng. He pondered for a moment and began, "Over a decade ago, I was invited to explore an ancient cave dwelling in the Southern Swamps of the Southern Domain…"
Since there was time on the road, Yang Kai gave a brief account of that expedition to the ancient cave dwelling and everything that followed, then moved on to the current martial tournament in the Southern Domain.
When they heard that a demonic thought had awakened and the Southern Domain was facing a demonic tribulation, all three were startled. And when they learned that the Hall Master of Wuhua Hall in the Southern Domain had actually been possessed by a demonic thought, setting an elaborate trap to ensnare hundreds of Emperor Realm cultivators and tens of thousands of elite Disciples, their faces changed even further. They exchanged uneasy glances, each grasping the gravity of the situation.
"So you're saying that right now, those hundreds of Emperor Realm cultivators from the Southern Domain are still trapped inside Wuhua Hall?"
"That was how it was when I left. Without breaking the formation, there's no way for them to get out. I have no idea what the situation inside is like now."
Cang Gou stroked his chin thoughtfully. "Hundreds of Emperor Realm cultivators… it's hard to say how many haven't already been corrupted by demonic energy."
Since Yang Kai had been ambushed by over a dozen Emperor Realm cultivators who had fallen to the demonic corruption, it was a certainty that the number of the fallen was far greater than those dozen or more. The martial tournament had been going on for a month. If Wuhua Hall had been planning this in advance, they would have had ample time to corrupt even more people. In normal times, the taint would remain hidden — but once they struck, the resulting devastation could spread the demonic corruption to even more people. In a self-perpetuating cycle like that, everyone could end up as a demonic puppet.
"Let's hope the situation isn't too bleak," Cang Gou sighed.
Luan Feng frowned. "If Wuhua Hall had been plotting this for so long, why did they lure you away to ambush you? Wasn't that just shooting themselves in the foot?"
Yang Kai replied coldly, "They probably didn't expect to fail at killing me." And in truth, that was exactly the case. Looking back on the ambush, Yang Kai still felt a lingering chill. If the assassin hadn't been ignorant of his secrets — unaware that he possessed the Half-Dragon Body — he would have been dead already.
Luan Feng shook her head. "What I mean is, why not keep you trapped inside Wuhua Hall and let you sink into the quagmire? There was no need to take that extra step."
Cang Gou said, "Young Brother Yang's mastery of spatial arts is hardly a secret. I'd wager they were afraid he'd sense something wrong and slip away. Killing him outright was the safer play."