After the ancient war of sealing the demons, over a hundred thousand years of silence had passed. The Vermilion Bird Divine Beast had done everything in its power to restrain its life energy, avoiding the use of its Divine Abilities and martial might as much as possible, lest its life force be consumed too quickly and its lifespan shortened.
Yet, after more than a hundred thousand years, its life cycle had inevitably entered a period of decline.
Had this been the ancient era, its bloodline power would have granted it a chance at another rebirth from flames — a gamble with roughly fifty-fifty odds.
But in the current state of affairs, things were nothing like they had been in the ancient age.
The probability of successfully completing a rebirth from flames was now less than one in a thousand.
And so, in its heart, the Vermilion Bird Divine Beast had already, to some extent, given up. The only reason it still held on was a promise made to the Holy Unity Sect during the ancient era.
As long as its life had not yet ended, it had to honor that vow and stand guard over the Heavenly Demon Lord.
But deep down, it had abandoned all hope.
From this moment onward, however, the stagnant, lifeless pool of emotion within the Vermilion Bird's heart suddenly sprouted a single blossom of hope.
…
Within the Heavenly Demon Lord's domain of Heavenly Demons, the Demon Lord's series of maneuvers had consumed a tremendous amount of his demonic consciousness.
After all, he was still within the seal. Through his demonic consciousness, he had created the eerie fragrance at the entrance of Sinking Fragrance Valley, conjured all manner of wondrous illusions, and even used his demonic consciousness to disrupt the Vermilion Bird Divine Beast's restriction array, allowing those warriors to pass through unimpeded. In short, he had used his demonic consciousness to lure these cultivators into his domain step by step — a masterfully calculated scheme that had cost him dearly.
Now, with the eruption of Shao Yang the Great Emperor, Long Baxiang, and the others inside his domain, his demonic consciousness had been pushed to its limits. After implanting demonic consciousness imprints in the minds of Yunlan the Great Emperor and the rest, his reserves had been nearly drained dry.
At this very moment, the Heavenly Demon Lord was, in truth, gravely weakened.
However, now that these people were all under his control, teaching them demonic techniques cost him virtually no further expenditure of demonic consciousness. This gave him a window to slowly recover.
The human cultivators, branded with his demonic consciousness seals, had been thoroughly reduced to his demon servants.
The Heavenly Demon Lord was immensely satisfied with this outcome.
He had carefully selected a variety of demonic techniques, categorized into different tiers, and bestowed them upon these demon servants. Watching them clutch the techniques as though they had found priceless treasures, the Heavenly Demon Lord felt a surge of great pleasure. "Humans truly are a bizarre race — covetous of life and afraid of death, greedy for the pettiest of gains. And yet this race persists across the ages, never fading. Still, as demon servants, humans are certainly prime candidates."
In truth, the demon race held the humans in contempt. But their fervent desire for human territory stemmed primarily from humanity's remarkable reproductive capacity, their chronic disunity that made them easy to conquer, and — most crucially — the fact that many human warriors lacked conviction, lacking that iron will to die before submitting.
Yet the Heavenly Demon Lord also knew that the human race was, at the same time, a terrifyingly resilient one. No matter how catastrophic the calamity, they always managed to endure, sprouting tenaciously like blades of grass pushing through the cracks. This was something truly few other races could match.
In the primordial age of desolation, during the great war of races, countless species had been reduced to ash amid endless warfare. But the humans, despite suffering one calamity after another, always managed to have the last laugh.
They might not have been the victors of those wars, but as the losing side, this race possessed an extraordinary capacity to endure humiliation and bear heavy burdens, to eke out survival in the narrowest of crevices, and ultimately — through their formidable reproductive prowess — to outlast and outgrow countless races that had once seemed invincible.
In summary, the human race was a mysterious and deeply complex one.
Every time catastrophe struck, humanity would be suppressed to the point of utter helplessness, looking for all the world like a guttering candle in the wind, liable to be snuffed out at any moment.
And yet, after every storm, this race invariably welcomed a new dawn.
No matter how wretched their existence, they always eventually found their way back to glory.
Humans were disunited, lacked conviction, feared death…
All those flaws made them appear to be an utterly inferior race.
And yet, in moments of dire peril, great heroes would invariably emerge among them — figures of legendary strength who would turn the tide against all odds.
Say they feared death, and yet warriors who feared nothing would frequently rise up among them.
Say they were disunited, and in times of crisis they would somehow band together to accomplish deeds that shook the heavens.
Say they lacked conviction, and when defending their homeland they could unleash a terrifying fighting spirit.
The Heavenly Demon Lord gazed upon his crowd of demon servants, his mind filled with a thousand emotions. In that ancient war, the demon race's invasion of human territory had, without question, been far from a success.
In the beginning of that war, the demons had looked down upon humanity entirely, believing that such a scattered, disorganized race could be swept aside like dead leaves.
That arrogance had exacted a terrible price. Though humanity had been gravely weakened in that war — with many powerful sects and factions wiped out entirely, vanishing like smoke — the demons had paid dearly for their contempt.