In the distance, Qin Xue and Hou Qinghai stood together atop a tree crown, channeling Emperor Yuan to resist the shockwaves from the battle. Their faces had gone slightly pale.
They had no way of knowing whether the Shadow Leopard could win this time, but what it had said moments ago confirmed one thing — tonight's affair was most likely orchestrated by the Bull-Headed Demon Emperor.
Not all demon race clans in the Myriad Demon Realm were willing to honor the Alliance Pact. There were always a few who believed the Realm was demon territory, that every last human should be slaughtered or reduced to fodder.
They could think it all they liked, but bound by the Alliance Pact, none dared make any overt moves.
The Bull-Headed Demon Emperor was the ringleader of this faction. On numerous occasions it had shown its hostility toward humans, and the handful of human sects that operated under its territory lived particularly wretched lives — disciples would sometimes vanish without explanation.
Though it had never openly moved against humans, those sects could hardly go about gathering herbs with the same freedom as the cultivators of Qinghong Pavilion.
The human sects within its territory kept their movements extremely limited, afraid that any disciple who ventured out might never return.
There were a few other Demon Emperors of a similar mind, though none so brazenly vocal about it.
After hearing the Shadow Leopard's words, Qin Xue and her husband immediately concluded that tonight's events bore the unmistakable hand of the Bull-Headed Demon Emperor pulling strings from the shadows.
Qin Xue's centuries-long bond with the Shadow Leopard was no secret. Tonight, during the Shadow Leopard's tribulation, its enemies the Panguan Stone Snake King and the White-Haired Ape King had launched their attack — and Qin Xue would certainly not stand idly by. If she intervened, she would be the one violating the Alliance Pact, and then the demon side could act without any moral issue.
It was hard to imagine a demon race member could devise such a malicious scheme — especially one who looked as stolid and honest as the Bull-Headed Demon Emperor. But in truth, at the level of a Demon Emperor, their intelligence was no lesser than that of humans.
In the darkness, across the Myriad Demon Realm, pairs of eyes seemed to fix upon the battlefield of the two Demon Emperors.
Those who watched were not mere Demon Kings peeking from afar — the clash between Demon Emperors had long since escalated beyond anything Demon Kings could interfere with. Those observing the battle from a distance were all Demon Emperors in their own right.
A single promotion had set the entire Myriad Demon Realm into turmoil. Qin Xue couldn't help but worry — if the Shadow Leopard lost this battle, the consequences for the Realm would be severe.
She didn't know if the Shadow Leopard could claim victory. Its aura was approaching the level of a Fourth-Rank Demon Emperor, but the Heavenly Tribulation had left it riddled with wounds, and having just broken through, how much of its true strength it could unleash was anyone's guess.
The Bull-Headed Demon Emperor, on the other hand, was only a Third-Rank, but it had achieved that rank three hundred years ago and had built a solid foundation. Combined with the bull's innate patience and stubbornness, it posed a deadly threat to the Shadow Leopard in its current state.
The Shadow Leopard's furious roars and the Bull-Headed Demon Emperor's deep bellows echoed back and forth, piercing through the clouds.
The two massive forms clashed from the heavens down to the earth, tearing apart a region ten thousand miles wide.
Tribulation lightning continued to fall without cease, leaving virtually no spot on the Shadow Leopard unscathed. Fighting heaven, fighting beasts — at this moment, it faced the greatest crisis of its life.
Yet the Bull-Headed Demon Emperor grew more alarmed with every exchange. The tribulation lightning struck not only the Shadow Leopard — the residual force from the Heavenly Tribulation was punishing it as well. Though as a Third-Rank Demon Emperor, the aftershocks were unlikely to prove fatal, accumulated over time they could not be ignored.
What alarmed it even more was that the Shadow Leopard's aura showed not the slightest hint of declining. It was climbing steadily upward.
"How are you not dead yet?!" the Shadow Leopard roared.
The Bull-Headed Demon Emperor was gripped by equal parts fear and fury, regretting deeply that it had chosen tonight's breakthrough to execute its plan against the humans. It had anticipated that the greatest variable would be the humans' Kaiyuan Realm experts, but it never imagined the plan would be cut short by the Shadow Leopard before it had even properly begun.
Another bolt of tribulation lightning crashed down, as if answering the Shadow Leopard's challenge.
The Bull-Headed Demon Emperor's eyes went wide — in that single instant, the Shadow Leopard's aura had surged to the level of a Fourth-Rank Demon Emperor!
Unheard of. Unseen.
When a Demon King ascended to become a Demon Emperor, whatever rank they broke through to was the rank they held. For the Shadow Leopard to have already achieved Demon Emperor status and then break through again during a Heavenly Tribulation was practically inconceivable.
Originally, both had been Third-Rank Demon Emperors, and the Bull-Headed Demon Emperor could rely on its extra centuries of cultivation to hold its ground. But the moment the Shadow Leopard broke through to Fourth-Rank, the Bull-Headed Demon Emperor knew it was likely finished.
What unsettled it further was that the grand momentum of the entire Myriad Demon Realm seemed to be converging upon the Shadow Leopard. In this moment, its Heavenly Tribulation was no longer an act of defiance against heaven — it was aligned with the very Heavenly Dao of the Realm!
A sudden flash of insight struck the Bull-Headed Demon Emperor: so this was the Dao of the demon race.
If it could survive today, it too would surely break through to Fourth-Rank before long. Given time, its future accomplishments might even be extraordinary.
But could it survive?
To gain such an insight at a moment like this was almost laughable.
"Wonderful! Wonderful!" The Shadow Leopard went wild with delight, its amber beast-eyes gleaming with elation. It suddenly pulled back and retreated at speed.
The Bull-Headed Demon Emperor, which had been battered by a relentless storm of attacks, finally caught its breath. Though it didn't know why the Shadow Leopard had withdrawn, it saw a glimmer of hope.
It gasped deeply and looked toward the Shadow Leopard, about to exchange a few words of bravado — but then it saw the Shadow Leopard lower its body slightly. Its sleek form grew even more taut and athletic, one forepaw forward, one forepaw back, both hind legs coiled like springs.
The massive leopard's body seemed to transform into a great bow drawn to its fullest.