Chapter 180 - 180: Never In This Life
"What's wrong? Clan Master, did something major happen?" Chen Chen asked, feigning ignorance.
Chen Chen was lying on a hanging chair in the Little Carefree Immortal Palace.
"It's nothing, it's just that another Essence Soul realm Demon Emperor has arrived, so my Demon Clan might be overthrown."
Zhou Renlong seemed to have resigned to fate, as if it didn't matter whether he died or not.
Seeing this, Chen Chen hollered furiously, exclaiming, "Has the Demon Clan reached the critical point of being on the brink of death? Clan Master, at a time like this, you actually told me to continue to hide! What kind of person do you take me, Zhang Chen, for?!"
Zhou Renlong was obviously stunned.
Chen Chen continued, "I, Zhang Chen, will forever be a member of the Demon Clan, regardless of whether I'm dead or alive! Clan Master, please let me live and die with the Demon Clan!"
Zhou Renlong replied a long time after the message was sent.
"You're so thoughtful... I didn't expect you to be so loyal! Okay! Great! I didn't choose to trust the wrong person. If you really want to help, come back with me to the headquarters of the Demon Clan. Someone distracted me and steered me away. The headquarters should be in danger now!"
Hearing this, Chen Chen almost fell off his chair. Zhou Renlong was really generous, and the headquarters were already in danger. How could he be so free to talk to Chen Chen?
...
However, he did think of resolving the issues in the State of Zhou first.
On one hand, the State of Zhou and the State of Jin were connected. If the State of Zhou fell, the State of Jin would definitely be the next target.
On the other hand, if Zhou Renlong stopped the two Essence Soul realm powerhouses, the Tianyun Clan probably wouldn't be able to survive until Xia Xishuang came to provide aid.
Strictly speaking, the Demon Clan had already repaid the favor of guarding the second line of defense.
Of course, he still had some thoughts in his head.
If he did not appear again at this time, the Demon Clan would basically have nothing to do with him anymore. He had been lurking in the Demon Clan for such a long period of time, and all the influence created in the Demon Clan would disappear into thin air.
Chen Chen knew better than to allow that to happen.
Xia Xishuang had a superior identity, while he was just a successor of the Tianyun Clan. Even if Xia Xishuang didn't mind, there was no guarantee that the Haoran Sword Clan wouldn't care.
He didn't want to put on a corny act of a romance story between a poor scholar and a wealthy girl.
Instead of being disliked by her mother's family and making things difficult for Xia Xishuang, he might as well work hard now and build a force of his own.
If he wanted to build his own force, the easiest solution was to use the State of Zhou and the State of Jin.
Even if it was only a secret unification, his persuasive power among the entire human race would increase greatly as long as he had that power.
Having made up his mind, Chen Chen took out two masks from his storage ring and put them on.
After that, the Omni Divine Blade also emerged from his body, turning into a golden-red giant sword.
He gazed at the sword silently, as if they hadn't met for a long time.
...
A few moments later, Chen Chen came to the palace hall.
Lao Hei brought thousands of demons to a mountain that had relatively dense spiritual energy.
"Lord, where do we attack first?"
After opening the cave, the dog spirit was the first to come up to Lao Hei. He wished that there would be a huge battle soon, so that he could put his wit to use.
Lao Hei rubbed its dog head and seemed to be deep in thought. After a long time, he replied, "There's no need to hurry. Observe the situation first, so that we can make maximum gains."
"What gain?" the dog spirit asked with a dumbfounded expression. Given his wit, he actually couldn't understand what Lao Hei was talking about.
"Doggy, there's a lot for you to learn. You have to learn what this idiom means," Lao Hei explained seriously. At this point in time, there were several books in the Little Carefree Immortal Palace, all of which were written by Chen Chen in his free time.
For example, there were books about brainwashing, unifying fools, tips to lie without being exposed, and many others...
After reading these books, Lao Hei considered himself a cultured pig.
At least among these thousands of demons, he felt that he was the smartest of all.
The things that Chen Chen wrote were indeed very useful. According to the methods stated, Lao Hei had to divide the thousands of demons into several factions and make them restrain each other. This would allow him to relax, not worried that the demons would rebel.
Anyone who thought of rebelling would immediately face the wrath of the other factions.
After listening for a long time, the dog spirit still couldn't make sense of what he meant. However, that didn't stop him from feeling touched, because Lao Hei had bestowed him with a title.
That was a great honor!
He decided that he had to inform the other demons later, so that they would know that he was Lao Hei's true confidant.
While they were conversing, Chen Chen had already left the Little Carefree Immortal Palace.
...
In the headquarters of the Demon clan.
At this moment, the demons were all in disdain when they saw the harsh environment.
The seven or eight Nascent Soul realm demons were glowering at the vault with exasperation in their eyes.
It was the first time they had seen such a poor clan!
"Chase them! Hunt and kill those damned Demon Clan cultivators!"
With a command, hundreds of demons rose up in the air and chased in the direction where those Demon Clan cultivators had fled earlier.
As for those at the headquarters of the damaged Demon Clan, they naturally gave up.
Seeing that there were dark clouds behind them once again, that group of Demon Clan cultivators sped up.
While fighting within the State of Zhou, they wouldn't be so stupid as to persist without retreating. If they couldn't beat them, they would run away and use their familiarity with the terrain to fight the demons. That was their forte.
'Eight Nascent Soul realm demons? Must they do this? It's just the headquarters, they can just take it…' Yuan Qingtian cursed while flying wildly. His cultivation level was now already in the middle stage of the Core Formation realm.
All the other junior division masters of the Demon Clan had also reached the Core Formation realm.
Although the second line of defense of the Demon Clan had failed once, the Immortal Demonic Phoenix clan had been involved, so not much merit was deducted from them.
When the demons pretended to retreat, the Demon Clan also received a lot of bounties from the Haoran Sword Clan, which were all converted into combat power.
Not only did the cultivation levels of the junior division masters increase greatly, even that of the Nascent Soul realm division masters had increased greatly.
However, that was not considered much compared to the demon race.
Seeing the dark clouds in the back getting closer and closer, Yuan Qingtian couldn't help but think of his Senior Brother once again.
'If Senior Brother was here, he would have stayed behind to hold back the enemy and cover the other retreating disciples, right?'
At this moment, he realized what kind of huge psychological pressure Senior Brother was facing when he made such a decision.
Boom!
Just when he was thinking about all this mess, a strong burst of energy behind him had blasted over. They were obviously about to enter the attacking range of the demons.
Sensing this, Yuan Qingtian hollered at the group of Demon Clan cultivators in front of him, a look of determination on his face.
"You guys, leave quickly! I'll hold them back! No nonsense, or I'll kill you!"
While saying these words, Yuan Qingtian felt like he had soared very high.
In this moment, he felt like he had inherited his Senior Brother's will!
The willpower seemed to have filled his body with power.
"Senior Brother is dead, so I'm everyone's Senior Brother now. I am obliged to protect them."
After murmuring this to himself, Yuan Qingtian suddenly stopped in his tracks and faced the vast, dark clouds with a tinge of relief in his eyes.
He could imagine that the Junior Brothers behind him were looking at him with the same gaze as they had looked at their Senior Brother back then.
Their gazes were filled with reluctance and admiration.
"I wonder if anyone will cry for me after I die... Senior Brother, I'm here to accompany you!"
After hollering, Yuan Qingtian's black clothes fluttered and he started attacking the dark cloud aggressively.
A powerful energy emerged and blasted the dark cloud!
However, the dark cloud was unresponsive...
"Where did that stupid fool come from?" questioned a certain Nascent Soul realm diabolic cultivator who was in the dark cloud.
Immediately afterwards, a terrifying attack descended and blasted directly at Yuan Qingtian.
Yuan Qingtian was unable to resist it, and his whole body darted out like an arrow.
However, in an instant, he overtook the crowd of Demon Clan cultivators behind him and flew to the front.
He also saw the expressions on the faces of the Junior Brothers.
They were all astounded by his fast speed...
'I'm not... I'm not…'
Yuan Qingtian wanted to explain, but he kept vomiting blood. He wanted to say that he was not running away. However, he could not bring himself to do it.
At this point, he wanted to cry, but there were no tears left.
He had inherited his Senior Brother's will, but not his Senior Brother's power, and he could not stop that group of demons at all.
Bang!
Only when he crashed into the ground, did they stop looking dumbfounded.
Yuan Qingtian, who had face planted on the ground, was overwhelmed with sorrow and agony. At this moment, he had only one doubt in his mind.
'Why do I always not die?'
He wanted to just die in the mud.
'Indeed, I will never reach the heights that Senior Brother did in this lifetime. Even if I just want to mimic him for a moment, I can't.'
Just as he was waiting for death with his eyes closed, a shocking cry filled his ears!
"Senior Brother!"
"Senior Brother! Turns out you're actually not dead!"
...
"The Junior Clan Master is back."