Chapter Forty-Eight: The Demon from Beyond the Heavens

The Dragon Radiance Hall gleamed with golden splendor, its air suffused with exotic fragrances and dazzling brilliance soaring to the heavens. Candle Dragon sat high upon the Eight-Clawed Golden Dragon Throne, calmly observing Ao Run and Ao Yan below, who were gripped by panic and confusion.

Sudden calamities test the resolve of a dragon more than anything else. A dragon may possess little cultivation, but must not lack a mighty spirit. Cultivation determines one’s current achievements, but the strength of one’s resolve decides how far a dragon may go upon this defiant path of cultivation.

“Elder brother should have already informed all the Dragon Kings of the coming slaughter. The great waves will wash away the sand. The dragon race must eliminate weak kings, renew its blood, and be reborn to survive in these chaotic times! Perhaps even…”

“To dominate the world! To unify the primordial wilderness!”

Candle Dragon’s golden eyes suddenly burned with an unfathomable fire of ambition, as if set to ignite the heavens and earth, changing the very colors of the world.

While Candle Dragon indulged in visions of the dragon race reigning supreme, Ao Run and Ao Yan felt as though they were enduring the torment of the sun god’s flames.

Two wisps of dreamlike, illusory black smoke slowly appeared in the hall, entering Ao Run and Ao Yan’s bodies.

Candle Dragon naturally sensed these uninvited guests, glancing at them imperceptibly and letting them be, sighing inwardly, “When the slaughter begins, the devil arises!”

Spirit moves, illusion forms.

Shocked by news of the impending calamity, Ao Run and Ao Yan’s resolve wavered, illusions took hold, and heart demons invaded, ensnaring them deeply in visions from which they could not escape.

A world of fire, burning with endless flames, strewn with volcanoes.

Ao Run sat alone atop the tallest mountain of fire, suddenly opening his eyes to behold the world before him, bewildered and lost.

Gazing at the lofty blood-red sky, the boundless fields of molten lava, and the infinite volcanoes spewing endless fire, Ao Run felt a chill and irritation in his heart.

“Heart demon?” Ao Run looked to the blood-colored sky, speaking calmly.

As the chieftain of the water dragon clan, Ao Run naturally recognized that he had fallen into heart demon rebirth, deeply caught in illusion.

During the calamity that opened the heavens, countless chaotic demon gods fell, transforming into innumerable minor worlds, which attached themselves to the central world of the primordial wilderness, surrounding it in defense.

Among the fallen demon gods was one, the Demon God of the Heart.

After its death, the true body of the Demon God of the Heart became the Realm of Heart Demons, and its laws of the heart transformed into the heavenly laws governing that realm.

The Realm of Heart Demons attached itself to the central world, yet remained independent, its heavenly laws operating of their own accord, unaffected by the primordial wilderness.

Within the Realm of Heart Demons exists only one kind of being: the heart demon.

Heart demons are ranked as True Demon, Demon Lord, Demon King, and Demon Sovereign, corresponding to True God, Lord God, God King, and God Sovereign in the divine path.

The Demon God of the Heart was slain by Pangu, falling in the calamity that opened the heavens, holding boundless resentment toward Pangu and the central world of the primordial wilderness.

The realm shaped by its true body carried its hatred, profoundly loathing the central world.

Every moment, countless heart demons are born within this realm; once they grow into True Demons, they begin invading the central world, devouring its living beings.

However, compared to the central world itself, the realm of heart demons and its denizens are far too weak to threaten it.

Furthermore, heart demons can not only bewilder and consume living beings, but can themselves be devoured and absorbed.

If a living being is invaded by a heart demon and sees through its illusion, they may seize the opportunity to consume the demon, increasing their cultivation.

Those who live amid chaos within the primordial wilderness fear no heart demon.

Thus, not only do they not prevent the invasion, they allow it, so as to devour heart demons and improve their own power.

What later generations dread, the ancient beings of the primordial wilderness saw as mere food.

Such was the strength of the ancient era.

Candle Dragon observed the two heart demons; they were Demon Kings.

Though Candle Dragon did not know how they had penetrated the wards of Dragon Radiance Hall, he did not regard them as a threat.

For this reason, Candle Dragon was content to let the two Demon Kings invade Ao Run and Ao Yan, unconcerned for their safety.

Should the demons betray any intent to devour Ao Run or Ao Yan, Candle Dragon could draw his Heaven-Cleaving Sword and slay them in a single stroke.

Ao Yan, likewise invaded by a heart demon, became ensnared in an illusory world of water.

This world was unlike the fiery realm—not sky, nor earth, but boundless, omnipresent water.

Standing in the sea, Ao Yan gazed at the limitless expanse, feeling a surge of irritation and unrest.

Ao Run was trapped in the world of fire, Ao Yan in the world of water.

One water, one fire—utter opposites, driving both to agitation and confusion.

“Roar!”

As the leader of the fire dragon clan, Ao Yan’s temperament was even more volatile than Ao Run’s.

Confronted with the world of water, Ao Yan reverted at once to his true dragon form.

A colossal fire dragon, eight thousand nine hundred feet in length, glared with furious fiery eyes, his vast body thrashing through the endless sea, mouth wide open to spew forth infinite dragon flames.

The red flames burned ceaselessly, determined to evaporate the waters to the last drop.

Ao Run, facing the blood-red sky, lava fields, and flaming mountains, was no less agitated, yet did not resort to Ao Yan’s brute force. Instead, he calmed himself, scanning the world in search of the heart demon.

There are three ways to deal with heart demon invasion.

The first is by sheer force or supreme magic—overwhelming the illusion and slaying the demon with brute power.

The second is by great wisdom—finding the demon, striking it down in accordance with its nature, thus breaking the illusion.

The third is by external aid—relying on outside strength to shatter the illusion and destroy the demon, rescuing oneself.

Ao Yan chose the first method, overwhelming with force, fitting his straightforward, aggressive character.

Ao Run opted for the second, conquering by wisdom, his calm and astute nature guiding his actions.

Candle Dragon was the external force of the third method, ensuring Ao Run and Ao Yan’s safety.

Waterfire Mountain.

Though Nanluo agreed with the gods’ intentions, this did not mean he would let them manipulate him at will.

Nanluo sat once more upon the crystal throne atop Waterfire Mountain, quietly sending a thread of divine consciousness toward the Time Tower where the gods resided.

This message contained but a single sentence: “I await you atop Waterfire Mountain!”

Nanluo was at Waterfire Mountain, while the gods were within the Time Tower, outside the golden light barrier set by the great powers.

If the gods wished to reach Waterfire Mountain, they must break through the golden light barrier.

Would the great powers allow the gods to breach their barrier?

The answer, of course, was no.

The golden light barrier represented their honor; it would not be so easily broken.

The gods would have to battle the great powers, only then could they reach Waterfire Mountain and meet Nanluo.

This was the challenge Nanluo set before them.

At first, the gods avoided Nanluo, fearing to draw trouble upon themselves, but upon witnessing the might of his divine sovereign power, they became eager to join him and reap the rewards.

But tell me, in this world, are rewards so easily won?

The gods must pay the price for their hesitation.