In truth, if it were a war between the Glazed Glass Royal City and Pill Fire City, Jiang Chen would have felt absolutely no qualms about killing Emperor Yunlan, the Heavenly Sound Temple, and the Heavenly River Palace's Emperor-realm powerhouses.
But now, these people had been manipulated by the Heavenly Demon Lord—wearing a different identity. Killing them gave Jiang Chen a feeling of shared fate, like a rabbit mourning the fox's death.
The Zhuque Divine Bird seemed to read Jiang Chen's thoughts and counseled: "Jiang Chen, there's no need for sentimentality. Your human race has never lacked such traitors since ancient times. In the primordial era, the elites of the human race showed no mercy toward those who betrayed humanity and allied with the Demon Race. Since they've betrayed the human race, killing them isn't fratricide. Besides, if you don't kill them, they'll only wreak havoc on your human race once they escape."
Jiang Chen actually understood this logic perfectly. It was just that he felt a trace of melancholy—not because of killing these people, but for another reason entirely.
Just think: a single Heavenly Demon Lord had already created so many troubles.
The Demon Race across the Myriad Heavens comprised ten great branches. If all ten branches were to mobilize simultaneously, what kind of catastrophe would that unleash?
Jiang Chen couldn't even bear to think that far ahead.
Fortunately, the direction the Heavenly Demon Lord had fled toward was the territory of the Nan Dou Li race—not toward the human domain.
Otherwise, the Heavenly Demon Lord would have truly kept Jiang Chen restless night and day.
Jiang Chen gazed at the massive breach in the Boundary Stele Realm, his brow furrowed tightly. With such a huge gap in the Boundary Stele Realm, even if the Heavenly Demon Lord had gone to Nan Dou Li territory, he could sneak back in at any time.
"Don't lose heart. The Heavenly Demon Lord lost his Heavenly Demon avatar—his strength will be drastically diminished. Even if he successfully possesses a new body, using a Nan Dou Li physical form combined with a Heavenly Demon soul, without at least a hundred years he won't be able to adapt to that Nan Dou Li body."
The Zhuque Divine Bird was, after all, far more knowledgeable. It knew that the Heavenly Demon Lord wouldn't be able to emerge and harm the world again anytime soon.
Even if he did harm living beings, it would be within the Nan Dou Li race's own territory.
"Senior, can the breach in the Boundary Stele Realm be repaired?" Jiang Chen asked, staring at the gaping hole with deep frustration.
"It should be possible. The Boundary Stele Realm here was likely constructed by the Sacred One Sect. Connected to the Sacred One Sect's ancient holy land, if the spirit veins of the Sacred One Sect's holy ground can be restored and all the formation arrays brought back to their original state, repairing the Boundary Stele Realm shouldn't be difficult."
The Zhuque Divine Bird knew quite a bit about the Sacred One Sect's affairs.
Jiang Chen nodded.
Though he had killed these demon servants who had allied with the Heavenly Demon Lord, his heart was far from at ease. The Heavenly Demon Lord had escaped, the Boundary Stele Realm had been breached, and if Jiang Chen simply left now, he would be handing over the gateway to the human domain—to the Nan Dou Li race, to the Heavenly Demon Lord.
They could invade whenever they pleased.
"I didn't expect the Nan Dou Li race to suddenly produce three Heaven Rank experts. I'm quite curious—just how many Heaven Rank experts does the Nan Dou Li race actually have now?"
Jiang Chen found this genuinely puzzling.
In his understanding, the powerhouses of the Divine Abyss Continent should all have gathered at the Myriad Abyss Island. The various races of the Divine Abyss Continent should all be in decline by now.
But it seemed the reality was quite different.
The Nan Dou Li race, which in the ancient era had been inferior to the human race, had suddenly produced three Heaven Rank experts. By that logic, the Nan Dou Li race certainly didn't have only three.
This realization left Jiang Chen feeling thoroughly vexed.
Whether the human race was weak or not—you couldn't tell sitting in a well staring at the sky within the human domain. But placing things side by side, the gap became painfully obvious.
Even the Nan Dou Li race, which had once been beneath the human race, had now clearly surpassed humanity.
Just think: if these three hadn't attacked the barriers around the Sacred One Sect's palace, hadn't allowed the Heavenly Demon Lord to escape, and the Sacred One Sect's ancient divine bow hadn't been triggered as a result...
The battle might have unfolded in an entirely different way.
If those three had charged directly into the human domain, three Heaven Rank experts could very well have turned the entire human domain upside down.
Nothing in this world is constant; fortune and misfortune are intertwined.
In that previous moment, Jiang Chen had felt utterly helpless. If not for the Sacred One Sect's ancient sages having arranged the ancient divine bow as a hidden trump card, the human domain might have plunged into an inescapable catastrophe.
"The fortune of your human race really is something," the Zhuque Divine Bird remarked with feeling. "On the Divine Abyss Continent, where races are aplenty, in the ancient era, many looked down upon yours—thinking humans had frail bodies, lacked martial valor, were prone to infighting, and utterly hopeless. Yet, your human race's fortune never seems to run dry, and your vitality is extraordinarily tenacious. How many ancient races have turned to ash, while the human race always manages to survive like cockroaches that simply won't die."
In truth, in that very moment, the Zhuque Divine Bird had also entertained the thought that the human race might truly be finished this time.
But as it turned out, the ancient divine bow appeared at precisely that moment, turning the entire situation around in an instant. When all was said and done, this was all part of the human race's fortune!
If the ancient human race hadn't possessed so many powerful sects, if their legacy and heritage hadn't been so deep, if...