Within the Demon Heart's headquarters, after Elder Nuxin had finished issuing his instructions, the Tier 3 Viscount Elder clad in pitch-black robes immediately began arranging their forces.
Meanwhile, the news of Shi Feng's appearance in Demon City spread as though it had grown wings, quickly reaching every corner. In an instant, all the superpowers keeping tabs on Demon City were stunned speechless.
"What's going on? Zero Wing just disappeared for a little while, and now they've shown up at Demon City?"
"Even the super guild War Wolf couldn't pull that off — and Zero Wing actually managed it?"
"Zero Wing's got some serious nerve. Now they're even provoking the Demon Heart, which nobody dares to cross. Don't they know that the Divine Realm has already started to change?"
……
When word broke that Zero Wing had appeared at the gates of Demon City, the great superpowers went from initial shock to profound disbelief.
The Divine Realm's continent was no longer what it once had been. More and more Dark Players were operating in the level-100 neutral zones, and the speed at which their strength was growing left the major superpowers deeply uneasy.
Among the fastest-developing Dark factions, the Demon Heart stood out. Not only was their roster packed with experts, but the advancement speed of their members was extraordinary. The moment someone became a Tier 3 Class and elevated their Demon Rank, they could instantly rival top-tier Tier 3 experts in the wild — and even surpass them in survivability.
Unlike ordinary players, Dark Players could earn quest rewards and advancement simply by killing other players. In terms of leveling and equipment progression, they held tremendous advantages over regular players. Even with smaller numbers, they could gradually challenge the established guilds in the level-100 neutral zones.
This reality had driven a growing number of Free Players to consider converting to Dark Players, causing the Dark Player population to swell — and, in turn, accelerating the growth of these Dark factions to an almost inconceivable pace.
Of course, this rapid advancement didn't come without a price. The death penalties for Dark Players were far harsher than for ordinary ones, which kept their numbers in check to some degree. But right now, Dark Players were still in their rapid growth phase, making them best left alone.
Yet Zero Wing had actually dared to provoke them — and not just that, they had marched right up to the gates of Demon City to do it……
At that moment, in a high-end restaurant in the Imperial Capital of the Ten Saints Empire, Huanyu was enjoying a meal when a Tier 3 Assassin burst into the private dining room, his expression tight with urgency.
"Vice Guild Leader, our people just received word. Zero Wing didn't just wipe out all three of Demon City's major adventurer teams on the way — they also killed tens of thousands of Demon City's experts. Right now, they're standing at the gates of Demon City. It looks like they really are planning to go after Zhutian Luanshi." The Tier 3 male Assassin stared at Huanyu, his voice thick with disbelief.
"That fast?" Huanyu's face filled with surprise the moment she heard.
She had been to Demon City once before and knew full well how treacherous the Burning Forest route was — not only were there large numbers of Demon patrol squads, but the area was swarming with Dark Players as well.
She had always recognized Shi Feng's group as formidable, but reaching the gates of Demon City seemed like it should have been far from easy. In fact, it was entirely possible that before Shi Feng and his people even arrived, the tracking mark on Zhutian Luanshi would have expired, rendering the entire trip pointless.
Yet now, less than a single day had passed, and Shi Feng's group had already made it to Demon City's gates — not by sneaking through, but by walking straight in……
"On our end, we did dig up some information about the relationship between Zhutian Luanshi and the Demon Heart," the Tier 3 male Assassin continued. "Zhutian Luanshi's Sentinel Shelter is one of the Demon Heart's most important assets in the Dark Cavern. The Demon Heart has even been considering developing the Sentinel Shelter into their main base. On top of that, Zhutian Luanshi had worked alongside the Demon Heart's Vice Guild Leader, Yanguang, in the early days. Although the two eventually went their separate ways, Zhutian Luanshi is powerful and highly capable in his own right — he's since become one of Yanguang's trusted confidants."
"One of Yanguang's confidants?" Huanyu's brows knitted together. "If that's the case, then it's going to be much harder for Zero Wing to hunt down Zhutian Luanshi. Yanguang is fiercely protective of his people, let alone someone as close as a confidant — and it's all happening inside Demon City. I just hope Guild Master Black Flame doesn't get too reckless."
When it came to Yanguang, the Demon Heart's Vice Guild Leader, he was currently one of the most prominent figures on the Divine Realm's Eastern Continent. A significant reason the Ten Saints Empire's major superpowers were so wary of the Demon Heart could be traced back to this man.
Even the super guild Sacred Temple, which called the Ten Saints Empire its home turf, had been forced to yield ground in terms of resources to the Demon Heart.
The fact that this was happening within the Ten Saints Empire itself — the Sacred Temple's own domain — and that they still had to back down in the face of the Demon Heart left the great superpowers deeply perplexed, only deepening their wariness toward the faction.
Now, putting aside whether Zero Wing could even touch Zhutian Luanshi inside Demon City, simply killing him out in the open would likely enrage the Demon Heart's Yanguang. When that happened, Zero Wing — which had only just managed to find some peace for development in the level-100 neutral zones — would surely be plunged into endless trouble.