The Three Ancient Demon Cities

The Demon Plain was now utterly silent. Who could still remember that here, millions of soldier souls had once been buried, and that peerless divine steles had crushed several ancient caves beneath their weight? Fewer still would know that the Buddha's past incarnation had been nailed to death here, and that Laozi's past incarnation had been smashed to pulp in this very place.

Though new divine and demonic civilizations had risen and flourished, none would ever know that a man named Xiao Chen had once slaughtered the four quarters here, drenching the Paradise Lost in blood.

At the root of it all lay unfathomable secrets, all stemming from that Heavenly Stele. It had suppressed the four directions and gathered the wind and clouds of the eight extremes. The Heaven-Earth Furnace was long gone—originally a world refined by Suiren, it had been taken by Hongjun, but eventually Yan Huang had slain Hongjun and recaptured it.

Xiao Chen and his three companions descended deep underground, where they could no longer see the hell of old. Yet here, a strange, flickering spatial realm existed—an independent world of its own. Within it gaped three bottomless black holes, as if connected to the very edges of the cosmos, possessing an uncanny power that seemed capable of devouring the minds of all who gazed into them.

But the Heavenly Stele was no longer here. Only a few pitch-black, fathomless holes remained.

"In the past, no one knew where they led. Today, I know their destination," Xiao Chen said, standing before one of the black holes.

"The Death World?" the Nine-Headed Serpent asked.

"Before each hole sat a Primordial Demonic City," Xiao Chen replied. "But the beings within should have been nearly worn to dust by the Stele's suppression. Now we go to open one of those ancient cities."

He spoke calmly. After reaching a certain level of power, he finally dared to move against a Primordial Demonic City alone.

He stepped forward first, entering the black hole with composure. The Little Defiant Dragon, Sha Polang, and the Nine-Headed Serpent followed close behind.

Crossing the barrier between great worlds, they arrived at the Death World. Before them, the gray haze of a vast, deathly mist shrouded the land. A colossal city loomed indistinctly in the distance.

"There really is a Primordial Demonic City… Can we… attack it?" Sha Polang felt unreal.

"We can try," Xiao Chen said. What he could not do in the past, he might now have the power to accomplish.

Yet he was regretful: the Heavenly Stele was no longer here. He had come seeking the Heavenly Mark, but now could only start from the Primordial Demonic City to find clues.

"Today I will drag out the nearly decayed Stone Man and question him," Xiao Chen declared, filled with immense confidence. Ten thousand years of bitter cultivation—today was the moment to show its fruits.

The four walked forward. The gray mist stirred over the land, and faintly a vast white expanse could be seen, like snow covering the ground. But when they raised their feet and stepped, clouds of white powder billowed up, like surging waves—but upon closer examination, they were bone dust.

A chilling sight. The region around the Primordial Demonic City was vast, but entirely covered in bone dust, thick and deep beyond measure.

The Nine-Headed Serpent drew a sharp breath. "In the past, there must have been mountains of corpses and seas of bones here. Even though they have been ground to dust over the ages, the sheer volume remaining shows how terrifying the ancient scene was."

Xiao Chen had long known the secrets of fire seed beings. To advance, a sovereign needed vast amounts of white bones, and to become an Ancestral Lord, countless fire seed beings had to be sacrificed. Some Ancestral Lords, when condensing their demonic cities, delighted in using forbidden arts to refine ten million skeletons and reinforce the city's surrounding lands.

In ages past, the depths of the Death World had constantly summoned white bone creatures for precisely this reason.

But everything here, under the grinding of time and the suppression of the Heavenly Stele's might, had long since fallen from its peak. The Stone Man in this Primordial Demonic City was clearly a failure, now nearly completely decayed.

Xiao Chen's arrival had already gravely threatened him, but the Stone Man had not yet sensed it, still sunk in slumber.

Xiao Chen rose into the sky in a single bound, hovering directly above the Primordial Demonic City. Without using any war treasure, he reached down with his bare hand toward the city.

With a crack, the hard ground at the city's center shattered under his grip. He tore open the foundation.

A furious roar erupted. The sleeping Stone Man, awakened, burst forth from the deep underground.

This Stone Man was dilapidated—half stone, half bone—with many places already decayed, as if a gentle breath would crumble him to dust.

Yet Xiao Chen dared not underestimate him. After all, this was a Stone Man; if he truly fought with his life on the line, he might unleash power beyond all expectation.

Still, Xiao Chen did not deploy any treasure. He wanted to test his own combat strength with bare hands.

"Why do you disturb my slumber?" The dilapidated Stone Man seemed to sense the danger, his roar ceasing as two golden beams shot from his eyes.

"You refined millions of white bone creatures. You are clearly no kind soul. I would have no guilt in killing you. But I will give you a chance: tell me where the Heavenly Stele flew, and I will leave immediately."

"The Heavenly Stele! If not for it blocking my path, I would have long since descended upon the Nine Provinces, used the essence of billions of living beings to take my Final Step." The dilapidated Stone Man's voice was full of endless regret and unwillingness.

"To take your Final Step by using the essence of billions of beings—you yourself lacked confidence; it was fundamentally impossible." Xiao Chen's killing intent surged. This Stone Man would stop at nothing—even such a thought—truly deserving of death. He shouted, "Where did the Heavenly Stele fly?"

"I don't know. Even if I did, I would not tell you." The ruined Stone Man showed a cold smile. His life fire was about to go out; he was already a shattered jar that could not be pieced back together, unwilling to compromise on anything.

He was like an old bull in the wild—the most dangerous kind.

"What a pity. If I had met you a thousand years ago, I would have turned and fled. But now, your life fire is nearly extinguished. Your actual combat power is only at the Seventh Heaven of an Ancestral God. You can no longer be called a true Stone Man powerhouse."

Xiao Chen's eyes shot forth two golden beams, traveling backward against the river of time, penetrating the origin and seeing through everything.

"The Eye of Truth at the Ninth Heaven?" The dilapidated Stone Man's pupils suddenly contracted. Two golden beams also shot toward Xiao Chen.

With a light ring, Xiao Chen flicked his finger. Two streaks of flowing light met the beams, sending a brilliant spray of sparks cascading down like a meteor shower.

In an instant, the gray mist roiled, the death ground split into countless fissures, and white bone dust filled the sky.

"Speak, or not?" Xiao Chen demanded.

The half-stone, half-bone Stone Man answered with action. A half-petrified bone knife appeared, its blade pointing to the sky as a dazzling beam of light shot upward.

With a boom, Xiao Chen pointed a finger, sending forth a resplendent flash that shattered the beam. Then he descended toward the ancient city.

"How dare you despise me?!" The Stone Man's voice was icy. The other party was entering his Primordial Demonic City directly, as if he did not fear the city's control at all.

"Seal Heaven and Earth!" The ruined Stone Man's figure vanished like smoke, and the Primordial Demonic City sealed itself completely. Rolling demonic clouds covered the sky; he intended to refine Xiao Chen within the city.

"Very well. Let us see whether you refine me, or I refine you!" Xiao Chen sat cross-legged in the city, beginning to resist the might of the demonic city and test his own cultivation level.

Though the Stone Man had degraded and his combat power had fallen to the Seventh Heaven of an Ancestral God, within his Primordial Demonic City he could use the enormous city to amplify his potential, letting his life fire blaze brightly.

The Primordial Demonic City shook violently, black light shimmering as it enveloped the entire region.

"Om, Ke, Ah, Hou, Mou, Duo…"

At that moment, Xiao Chen suddenly blasted forth the Eight Origin Sounds. The vast heavenly tones shook heaven and earth, the entire Death Continent trembled, and the Primordial Demonic City rocked violently.

The two clashed at the peak, the heavenly sounds opposing the demonic city, rumbling without end.

The Little Defiant Dragon and the others retreated far into the sky to watch.

After a quarter of an hour, the Eight Origin Sounds grew even mightier, like the divine tones of creation, as if vibrating from the dawn of time before heaven and earth parted.

Crack, crack.

The Primordial Demonic City slowly split apart. The surging black mist gradually dissipated; the sky-filling dark light faded. The immense city body was covered in thousands of cracks, threatening to collapse at any moment.

With a thunderous crash, the ruined Stone Man shot into the sky, abandoning his city and attempting to flee into the distance. But soundlessly, an illusory figure appeared before him—Xiao Chen, seated cross-legged, blocking his path.

With a flicker, the dilapidated Stone Man shifted his form, tearing through space to escape in another direction. But Xiao Chen, commanding the Eight Aspect Worlds, was unmatched in escape arts. He silently tore through space and reappeared there, again blocking the Stone Man, sitting motionless like a stone statue.

After several attempts, the Stone Man could not break free. Under the fierce assault of the Eight Origin Sounds, cracks spread across his body. Finally, Xiao Chen reached out a great hand, and with a slap, sent him flying back into the city.

In the distance, Sha Polang and the Nine-Headed Serpent watched with blazing eyes. Such combat power was truly enviable.

Just then, Xiao Chen called out to the Little Defiant Dragon to enter the Primordial Demonic City.

"Though this Stone Man's life fire is about to die and his divine power has sunk to a low ebb, he still contains boundless potential. I will perform a living sacrifice on him to lay a foundation for you!"

Hearing Xiao Chen's telepathic message made Sha Polang and the Nine-Headed Serpent even more envious.

The Little Defiant Dragon hesitated briefly, then flew into the city. His cultivation had reached a bottleneck; perhaps external force was needed to push him forward.

In the next instant, the entire Primordial Demonic City suddenly blazed with light, like a colossal source of radiance. Xiao Chen performed a living sacrifice on the ruined Stone Man, directing all his life essence toward the Little Defiant Dragon.

The once pitch-black city now shone like a brilliant golden celestial palace, dazzling the land, then gradually turned translucent.

One could clearly see divine essences converging toward the Little Defiant Dragon. The dilapidated Stone Man melted like ice and snow, slowly dimming and finally crumbling.

Throughout the process, Xiao Chen used his great power to forcibly extract the Stone Man's memories.

"Thinking of obtaining my origin? Impossible!"

With a roar, the Stone Man self-destructed, his origin and spiritual sea voluntarily shattering. A vast tide of soul power exploded outward, shaking the entire Primordial Demonic City to the brink of collapse.

Xiao Chen rapidly vibrated the Eight Origin Sounds, suppressing the storm from the shattered spiritual sea. He continuously extracted fragments of consciousness while accelerating the sacrifice.

All the divine power did not disperse, though he could not read the Stone Man's complete memories. But luckily, he captured the "Stone Man Method"—another supreme technique stepping toward the highest realm was his to reference should he one day walk the path of the Stone Man.

Also, fragments of the Stone Man's memories indicated that the Heavenly Stele had flown away, and the Stone Man did not know where.

After three full hours, the Little Defiant Dragon let out a dragon roar, shooting into the sky as an Ancestral Dragon. His colossal dragon body stretched for dozens of miles—that was his true form. The weight of his presence was even heavier, like an endless ancient mountain range.

The Little Defiant Dragon had surged to the Seventh Heaven of the War Ancestor realm, his power rising a full tier. More importantly, his body was now far more solid, nearly indestructible, for most of the demonic city's power had also been refined into his frame by Xiao Chen.

As for the remaining half of the city, it crashed to the ground with a roar, raising clouds of dust that blotted out the sky.

Xiao Chen would not let it go to waste. He sat cross-legged in the void, and with a flicker of light between his fingers, a palm-sized ancient city appeared, descending instantly.

Black light shot skyward. The remnants of the Primordial Demonic City were entirely absorbed into the tiny city, which seemed to weigh billions of tons, possessing unfathomable might. In an instant, it refined the remaining half of the city, reinforcing its own body.

This palm-sized ancient city had already absorbed the essence of several Primordial Demonic Cities, and on top of that, had swallowed part of a Stone Man's city body in the Celestial Realm. It had reached a terrifying level, not far from a King's Divine City.

This was Xiao Chen's hidden hand for his own eventual path of the Stone Man.

Soon after, Xiao Chen and his party withdrew from this black hole and approached another cave.

Entering the second spatial realm, it too connected to the Death World, but in a different region. Black mist filled the air, the deathly aura extremely thick. Ribbons of black cloud drifted around the immense demonic city.

"This city's Stone Man is probably completely extinguished…" the Little Defiant Dragon concluded.

"Correct. The city is shrouded in deathly energy, yet within, only a faint life fluctuation remains. He is about to turn to yellow earth," Xiao Chen agreed.

"This time… are you going to help us sacrifice a Stone Man?" Sha Polang's eyes gleamed green, desperate for a breakthrough.

"Yes." Xiao Chen did not hesitate. It was indeed as he had guessed—this Stone Man slumbered without waking, unable to rouse himself. Only when Xiao Chen tried to read his memories did the Stone Man fly into a rage and shatter his own origin.

Everything went smoothly. Without a battle, Xiao Chen performed a Sacred Sacrifice on this Stone Man, granting immense benefit to both Sha Polang and the Nine-Headed Serpent.

"Ugh… I've only reached the Seventh Heaven of the Sovereign realm; the Ancestral Lord realm is still far away," Sha Polang lamented, both joyful and disappointed. He had ultimately failed to ascend a major realm.

The Nine-Headed Serpent fared slightly better, reaching the Eighth Heaven of the Half-Ancestor realm.

"You good-for-nothing waste—you refined all that essence and only climbed to the Seventh Heaven of the Sovereign level…" Xiao Chen was exasperated. Then he refined this Primordial Demonic City as well, absorbing it into his palm-sized city.

The tiny city, now like black jade, grew even more crystalline, as if carved from a rare treasure, irresistible to the touch. This would be a major asset for Xiao Chen in the future, and he poured his heart into refining it.

"Don't you need the Stone Man's essence yourself?" the Little Defiant Dragon asked. He saw that Xiao Chen had sacrificed both Stone Man remains for his companions, yet kept nothing for himself. He reminded him to improve his own strength.

"On the path of cultivation, I have now reached a natural moat. For the time being, Sacred Sacrifice will do me little good. What I need is an opportunity, not mere Stone Man essence."

Hearing this, Sha Polang was startled. "Just what level have you reached?"

Xiao Chen smiled without answering. "One demonic cave remains. If I still cannot learn where the Heavenly Stele flew, I will have to think of another way."

They entered the last cave. Before them stood a towering city on the horizon, utterly silent, without any sign of life.

"This is a completely dead city. Probably useless," Sha Polang and the Nine-Headed Serpent both judged.

But the Little Defiant Dragon seemed unsettled. Having advanced to the War Ancestor realm, his Ancestral Dragon bloodline was fully awakened, granting him spiritual perceptions far beyond other races. At this moment, he felt as if his own senses had been clouded, vaguely sensing something wrong.

"The city is indeed dead, but why does it make me uneasy?"

"You feel it too?" Xiao Chen frowned. His innate spiritual perception was extraordinary, and at his current level, it was unimaginably powerful. From the moment he entered, he had felt an indescribable strangeness.

The city before them appeared dead, and all signs indicated it was harmless, yet his intuition told him something was off.

In an instant, Xiao Chen deployed the Eight Aspect Worlds, draped himself in the ancient scroll, and offered up the Divine Diagram, concealing the auras of all four and vanishing from their original position.

With a roar, the Primordial Demonic City ahead shook, black light erupting skyward. An ocean of vast energy rocked the ages and pierced through ten thousand worlds. The place where they had stood was instantly annihilated.

The horrific sight made all four change color. If they had acted rashly, the consequences would have been unthinkable.

This demonic city was far from simple. Now that its surging life force had fully erupted, its oppressive might could be felt across heaven and earth, which seemed to pulse in rhythm with it.

Who was inside? Not the same as the True Mu Female Sage!

"Who are you?!" Xiao Chen shouted.

"The peerless king of the ages… Meng Degang." Such an authoritative voice emerged from the Primordial Demonic City. At the same time, a dazzling beam swept toward Xiao Chen again, clearly having tracked their traces once more.

He swept across three thousand worlds, rivaled the Ancestral God at his origin—the Female Sage and True Mu were already freakish enough. How could another similar figure appear now?

Xiao Chen deployed the Eight Aspect Worlds and dodged quickly, frowning as he recalled who this was. It truly was a figure equal to the Female Sage and True Mu—someone he had heard of in the Celestial Realm, also one of the strongest below the Ancestral God!

"I knew you would come seeking the Heavenly Stele. I have been waiting for you for many years." The overwhelming pressure shook the ten directions, quickly sealing the black hole and cutting off Xiao Chen's retreat.

"Go!" Xiao Chen did not linger. He had no desire to fight such an opponent now.

He rushed deep into the Death World, then reversed space and crossed the barrier of great worlds to return to the Nine Provinces. He still carried the remnants of the Ancestral Lord Warship, allowing him to freely enter and leave the Death World.

"Is there really no way to deal with someone like that?" the Little Defiant Dragon asked.

"I need two more Heavenly Marks to handle them," Xiao Chen replied. "With four Heavenly Marks sealing the four directions, the Divine Diagram cutting off the earth, the Ancient Scroll sealing the sky, and locking the eight extremities to annihilate their demonic city—cutting off their foundation and divine source—I can severely wound them."

What he lacked now were two Heavenly Marks.

To that end, Xiao Chen made a special trip to the Heavenly Burial Valley in the Cultivation World. But the Heavenly Stele there had also flown away.

Returning to the Nine Provinces, Xiao Chen frowned for days, unable to devise any plan.

In Yan Capital, under the night sky filled with neon lights, Xiao Chen and the Little Defiant Dragon stood atop a skyscraper, gazing at the brightly lit city. The night wind blew, and they conjectured for most of the night, yet still could not imagine where the Heavenly Stele had flown.

Sha Polang had gone off on his own, but his cultivation was sealed by Xiao Chen to prevent him from causing trouble among mortals.

In the following days, Xiao Chen and the Little Defiant Dragon stayed in Yan Capital. One day, Sha Polang suddenly appeared and said, "Today I saw a stone tablet that felt very strange. It had no divine power fluctuation, but when I tried to probe it with divine sense, it was like a clay oxen entering the sea…"

"You saw a strange stone tablet?" Xiao Chen was intrigued.

"Yes, but it's certainly not the Heavenly Stele. It's only about a meter long. I saw it in an auction house." The Nine-Headed Serpent answered.

Hearing this, Xiao Chen's heart stirred. "Let's go take a look."

Just then, Sha Polang appeared, his face full of misery as he cried, "Hurry, restore my divine power! Unseal me! Being a mortal is impossible! First I was run over by a gang at seventy kilometers per hour, and now I'm sick with all kinds of ailments!"

"What nonsense!" the Little Defiant Dragon frowned.

"I was hit seven times in one day by speed demons at three times the legal limit. Then over the next few days I caught gonorrhea, syphilis, AIDS, and all sorts of bizarre diseases…"

Xiao Chen and the others stared dumbfounded. They had lived in Yan Capital for a few days and naturally knew some of the strange things among mortals.

"You bastard—where the hell did you go whoring? Serves you right!"

"Help! As a mortal, I feel so much pressure to survive…" Sha Polang wailed, on the verge of madness.

"You brought this on yourself," even the Nine-Headed Serpent did not sympathize.

"Brother, I didn't do anything to anyone. I was just walking down the street, and in one day I was hit seven times by cars at three times the legal speed. Can you blame me? And as for the pleasure houses nowadays, they're too dedicated. I just couldn't resist—I went for a bit of fun—and caught a bunch of strange diseases. Compared to the old Sinking Fish and Falling Goose Palace and the Drunken Beauty Palace, it's just not the same."

Xiao Chen and the others listened in utter disbelief.

"Go sort yourself out first. We'll talk when you get back." Xiao Chen and the others turned and left the room.

"Brothers, save me! I'm just a mortal now, and the pressure to survive is enormous!" Sha Polang was nearly in tears.

Xiao Chen appeared at the auction house. When he saw the meter-long stone tablet, he was utterly shocked. It was truly… the Heavenly Stele! This was absolutely incredible. How had the Heavenly Stele shrunk and come into the possession of mortals?