"Lan Huang, what else do you have to say?" Jiang Chen's tone was flat. He had no interest in engaging in a war of words with Lan Huang.
If he was going to destroy someone, he needed to provide a convincing reason.
Lan Huang carried the bloodline of the Demon race and was one of Elder Guangdu's most prized subjects. That alone was enough to warrant his death ten times over.
Lan Huang's expression was twisted, his eyes bulging as he glared at Jiang Chen with hatred. "The victor becomes king, the loser a bandit. What is there for me to say? Jiang Chen, you were simply born lucky — you have the backing and resources of the Ten Great Holy Lands. You are the favored children of heaven. We, the disciples of second- and third-rate forces, are born a head shorter than you from the very start. We have to curry favor everywhere, read your moods, and when we hold an event like the Ancient Jade Grand Gathering, we have to humbly invite you to attend, terrified that you won't come. And even then, once you've had your fun and enjoyed yourselves, you just dust off your hands and leave. When have you ever shown us a kind face? On what basis? You people from the Ten Great Holy Lands get to swagger around however you please, getting to throw your weight around at anyone?"
"Furthermore, your Eternal Holy Land's Yan family — after the Ancient Jade Grand Gathering, we were holding a perfectly good martial arts tournament for a bride, but you lot ruined it outright. That Yan Qinghuang is your woman, isn't she? She barged in, made a scene, and snatched away the princess of our Blue Smoke Island Domain's royal family. To this day, her whereabouts are unknown. Is this how you treat people?"
"Why should all the benefits under heaven belong to your Ten Great Holy Lands?"
"Why should we, the disciples of second- and third-rate forces, have to survive at your beck and call?"
"I refuse to accept this! I will surpass you, stand above you, and return the humiliation you brought upon Blue Smoke Island Domain tenfold! I want to grow stronger. Someone is offering me a chance to grow stronger — why shouldn't I take it?"
"What about you? If there were a chance to grow stronger on the path of martial arts, would you hesitate? You keep saying we're colluding with the Demon race. But let me ask you this — the heavens created ten thousand races. Who decreed that the Divine Abyss Continent, that Myriad Abyss Island, must belong to the human race? Why can't it belong to the Demon race? Natural selection, survival of the fittest. The Demon race is powerful. Why can't I join them, become one of them?"
Lan Huang's voice was hoarse from screaming, his tone and expression bordering on madness.
Jiang Chen regarded Lan Huang with a measure of pity. He knew that this man had been completely brainwashed by Elder Guangdu, thoroughly corrupted by demonic influence. Even his thinking had swung entirely toward the Demon race.
For someone like this, even reading scriptures to him every single day would never bring him back to the right path.
"Lan Huang, everything you've just said sounds righteous and indignant, but it's all fallacy. You say I was born lucky, born in a Holy Land, with Holy Land resources and backing. Isn't that a joke? Anyone who knows me knows my origins. My birthplace, my background — you could say they are lower than any single person standing here today. A person's birth can determine many things, but it can never determine how high they can rise."
"You say Qinghuang stole the royal princess, but ask yourself — was that princess truly of your royal bloodline? That princess was Qinghuang's sister, my fellow disciple. Tell me, when a fellow disciple falls, when a friend falls, don't we have an obligation to rescue her from suffering? Your royal family exploited her beauty, auctioned her off to the highest bidder — did you ever treat her like a real princess?"
"There is one thing you said that's actually correct — natural selection. In any plane, what survives is what has endured the trial of natural selection. The Demon race you place your faith in is indeed powerful, but they are not invincible. They are like locusts, ravaging wherever they go, but wherever they set foot, all they leave behind is destruction. They never establish Demon race dominion in those places. Do you know why? Because the greatest trait of the Demon race is destruction. They do not possess the ability to build a homeland or bring prosperity to a plane!"
"Lan Huang, you won't live to see it, but whether it's Myriad Abyss Island or the Divine Abyss Continent, the Demon race will never be allowed to succeed. If they do, the future of the Divine Abyss Continent will not become something more beautiful — it will become a hell on earth!"
Lan Huang's face had turned deathly pale, but contempt and defiance still filled every inch of it.
Clearly, Jiang Chen's words had done nothing to sway him.
"Jiang Chen… just you wait. The Grand Ancestor said the Demon race will return before long. The Divine Abyss Continent will ultimately belong to the Demon race, and you pathetic creatures will only be fit to be their slaves! Hahaha! I won't live to see that day, but it will surely come!"
"Insolent!"
One of the Holy Land Masters from the Hundred Holy Lands could no longer bear it. He stepped forward and smashed a palm down. Lan Huang was instantly reduced to a pulp of blood and flesh.