Chapter 114: The Nine Demonic Lords

Inside the stronghold, hundreds of Devil Heads emitted a towering intent to kill.

Yet the moment they saw Lin Yuan, they uncontrollably knelt on the ground and kowtowed.

This was an unparalleled suppression, originating from the depths of the Soul. It was as if all Devil Heads in the world who Cultivate Demonic Techniques were "governed" by him.

"How is this possible?"

The eerie youth Bian Mao knelt prostrate on the ground, unable to move, yet monstrous waves churned in his heart.

With his strength, even if he encountered an existence at the Peak of the Ninth Realm, he might not be able to fight or run, but he wouldn't directly kneel.

Yet now, not only did Bian Mao kneel, but all the Demonic Path methods and forbidden techniques within his body had fallen silent.

It was simply unimaginable.

"This Xiahou Yuan…"

The eerie youth Bian Mao felt a chill in his heart.

At this moment, he finally understood why, upon learning that Xiahou Yuan had walked out of the Great Abyss,

those veteran Devil Heads who had lived through the era thirty years ago

were filled with panic. Not to mention hunting him down, they didn't even have the thought of hostility.

At that time, Bian Mao had been somewhat dismissive,

and even mocked those veteran Devil Heads for having their courage shattered by Xiahou Yuan, failing to walk out of it even after decades.

However, when truly facing Xiahou Yuan, the eerie youth Bian Mao deeply felt

just how terrifying Xiahou Yuan—who once ruled countless Devil Heads across the Five Regions and was known as the "Demon Sovereign"—truly was.

How ridiculous his ambitious thoughts of replacing Xiahou Yuan and becoming the new generation of legend were.

If Xiahou Yuan were truly that easy to deal with, after learning that he had walked out of the Great Abyss, the Nine Demonic Lords of the Five Regions would have already come to hunt him down.

How could they let someone like this "Little Demonic Lord" seize the initiative?

"So, we were being used."

Yin Shiliu, who was also kneeling prostrate on the ground, suddenly realized something.

Their operation this time was not top secret; several of the Nine Demonic Lords knew about it.

Yet from beginning to end, none of these people encountered any obstruction. Instead, it was exceptionally smooth, and they easily locked onto Xiahou Yuan's location.

Before this, Yin Shiliu only felt that the heavens were helping him.

But now, their group had clearly become the "blade" in the hands of those veteran Devil Heads.

Those veteran Devil Heads, including the Nine Demonic Lords, had experienced Xiahou Yuan's era and knew Xiahou Yuan's terror.

Precisely because of this, even upon learning that Xiahou Yuan had just walked out of the Great Abyss and could not possibly be in his Peak state, they still dared not take any action.

At this time, this younger generation jumped out, which came as an unexpected pleasant surprise to those veteran Devil Heads.

Under the instigation of several Demonic Lords, this group gathered together and discussed the matter of hunting down the legendary Devil Head Xiahou Yuan.

Little did they know, everything was under the watchful eyes of those veteran Devil Heads.

These veteran Devil Heads cautiously used them to test Xiahou Yuan.

If their group successfully killed Xiahou Yuan, it would be equivalent to helping those veteran Devil Heads completely resolve a great trouble in their hearts.

If they did not succeed, it had nothing to do with those veteran Devil Heads either. From start to finish, this group of young Devil Heads had never cooperated with those veteran Devil Heads; all actions were done by themselves.

"Master… Why hasn't Master come?"

"This Xiahou Yuan is too terrifying, wuwuwuwu…"

The young girl wearing a light green skirt crushed the jade pendant in her hand. According to the plan between her and her Master, as long as she crushed this jade pendant, her Ninth Realm Master would rush over at the fastest speed and end everything.

At that time, whether it was the Little Demonic Lord Bian Mao or Yin Shiliu, both could only kneel prostrate beneath the hem of her skirt.

Yet she had already ground the jade pendant into powder, and her Master still hadn't come over.

In front of the wooden house.

Lin Yuan looked toward all the Devil Heads kneeling prostrate on the ground.

His expression showed no surprise.

As early as when he first descended into this world, Lin Yuan knew that Xiahou Yuan possessed a near-terrifying suppression power over all the Devil Heads in the world.

Of course, this kind of suppression power was not without limits.

It had to be within the same realm.

For example, when Xiahou Yuan was in the Seventh Realm, all Devil Heads in the Seventh Realm and below

would be suppressed when facing Xiahou Yuan. Even those at the Peak of the Seventh Realm could not escape this suppression; upon seeing Xiahou Yuan, they could only kneel and kowtow on the ground.

If it were an Eighth Realm Devil Head, they could slow down this suppression, but it could only ensure that they didn't kneel and kowtow on the ground; they would never dare to attack Xiahou Yuan.

Decades ago, what did Xiahou Yuan rely on to rule the Devil Heads of the Five Regions? Strength?

The Righteous Path forces headed by the Heaven Sword Sect had not ruled the Demonic Path for so many years; how did Xiahou Yuan manage to do it?

No matter how strong his strength was, for those Devil Heads and Demonic Lords, at worst they could just hide far away.

If they couldn't beat him, couldn't they hide?

Facing those Righteous Path forces, even against Righteous Path Tenth Realm Experts, the Devil Heads could truly hide.

Over the past tens of thousands of years, the Heaven Sword Sect had birthed three Tenth Realm Experts.

Even so, it at most caused the Devil Heads of the Five Regions to go silent and vanish for several hundred years. Once the Tenth Realm Expert died, the Devil Heads would come out again.

However, Xiahou Yuan made all the Devil Heads of the Five Regions submissive and obedient. Relying solely on strength was definitely not enough for this.

Lin Yuan was suppressed in the eighteenth layer beneath the Great Abyss and chose the most torturous way to recover his strength, rather than directly separating his Primordial Spirit to find a host body.

It was out of worry that if he changed into another body, he would lose this suppression power.

Although even without this natural suppression method against Devil Heads, Lin Yuan was destined to be invincible across the world,

having it in advance would definitely allow him to avoid some detours.

Moreover, Lin Yuan was quite curious: what on earth was the principle behind this "suppression"?

"Stop crushing it, your Master ran away long ago."

Lin Yuan looked toward the numerous kneeling Devil Heads, glanced at the young girl wearing a light green skirt, and saw that she was trying to crush the jade pendant that had almost turned into powder.

As early as when this young girl appeared, Lin Yuan had sensed that a certain aura on her was connected to an aura a hundred miles away.

The aura a hundred miles away shared the same source as the young girl, and was vastly superior to her—it should be some Ninth Realm Devil Head.

Yet the moment the girl crushed the jade pendant, that aura a hundred miles away fled rapidly like a frightened bird, and by now it was probably already escaping a thousand miles away.

This caused Lin Yuan to instantly lose the desire to chase.

It wasn't that he couldn't catch up, but rather that there was no need.

His most important matter right now was to Breakthrough to Tier 5 as soon as possible; all other matters could be postponed.

In fact, Lin Yuan deduced that if the girl hadn't gone to crush the jade pendant, that Ninth Realm Devil Head a hundred miles away might have approached out of curiosity.

But once the jade pendant was crushed, it indicated that a variable had appeared, and the most likely source of this variable was Xiahou Yuan.

How could that aura a hundred miles away dare to come over?

"Xiahou… Lord… Lord Supreme…"

The young girl wearing the light green skirt said with a trembling voice, stammering.

Decades ago, Xiahou Yuan united the Demonic Path of the Five Regions and was called the "Demon Sovereign". The Devil Heads under his command respectfully addressed him as "Lord Supreme".

"Alright."

Lin Yuan looked toward the other Devil Heads, his gaze lingering briefly on the eerie youth Bian Mao and Yin Shiliu.

"Do you want to die or live?"

Lin Yuan's voice was not loud, yet it resounded in everyone's ears.

"Do you want to die or live?"

Hearing this, the eerie youth Bian Mao was slightly stunned.

Then an expression of wild joy surfaced.

Originally, he thought he was dead for sure, but judging by Lin Yuan's meaning, it seemed he could still live?

"Want to live?"

"Demon Sovereign, we want to live."

"Reporting to Lord Supreme, we want to live."

Numerous Devil Heads hurriedly said.

"Since you want to live, do not resist."

Lin Yuan raised his right hand, and hundreds of streaks of light flew out, landing between the eyebrows of every Devil Head.

Now that Lin Yuan had just walked out of the Great Abyss, the forces he established in the past had long since left or dispersed.

He was lacking a batch of subordinates to serve him.

Lin Yuan didn't have too many demands for his subordinates; as long as they could help him find some heaven-and-earth Spirit Medicine to quickly increase his Cultivate speed, that would suffice.

"Yes."

The eerie youth Bian Mao and other Devil Heads only felt a chill between their eyebrows, as if something had burrowed in. Daring not to check carefully, they quickly said.

"Hmph."

Nuan Protector stood on Lin Yuan's body, looking toward the eerie youth and other Devil Heads, a trace of smugness welling up on her face.

Told you to shout and holler, is Lord Supreme someone that juniors like you can provoke? Look at you now, all planted with the Life-Death Talisman, and your lives are controlled in the hands of Lord Supreme.

The Life-Death Talisman was the method Xiahou Yuan used to rule the Devil Heads back in the day.

It could simulate Xiahou Yuan's aura, hovering in the minds of all Devil Heads.

Once this aura erupted, even a Ninth Realm Peak Demonic Lord would find it hard to survive.

Of course, the Life-Death Talisman planted between the eyebrows needed to be reinforced by Xiahou Yuan every once in a while.

If it wasn't reinforced for a long time, it would quickly dissipate.

Of course, no Devil Head dared to drag out time in this aspect, such as hiding somewhere and refusing to come out while waiting for the Life-Death Talisman to dissipate.

Because before the Life-Death Talisman dissipated, Xiahou Yuan only needed a single thought to directly detonate it.

When Xiahou Yuan was first suppressed back then, it truly made those Devil Heads tremble with fear for a period of time.

It was only later that they realized Xiahou Yuan, who was situated in the eighteenth layer beneath the Great Abyss, had long since cut off contact with the outside world. Not to mention activating the Life-Death Talisman, he couldn't even perceive it.

Thus years passed, and the Life-Death Talisman deep within the minds of all Devil Heads completely dissipated, allowing their suspended hearts to finally settle down completely.

Several thousand miles away from the stronghold,

a streak of light sped over, faintly emanating a bloody scent.

Clearly, the master of the streak of light had used a forbidden technique that explosively increased speed, driving it to the ultimate limit.

A moment later,

the streak of light stopped.

A plump middle-aged beautiful woman stopped in mid-air.

"Chan'er."

The middle-aged beautiful woman's aura was somewhat unstable, but even so, her appearance plunged a radius of several miles into silence. Those ferocious beasts seemed to sense the aura of their natural enemy, curling up in some place and not daring to move.

Without a doubt, this middle-aged beautiful woman was a Ninth Realm Expert, and moreover a Ninth Realm Devil Head.

Yet at this moment, this Ninth Realm Devil Head, who was capable of traversing the Five Regions, still had lingering traces of terror on her face, as if she had escaped from some place of immense horror.

"What on earth happened?"

"Why would Chan'er crush the jade pendant?"

This middle-aged beautiful woman was one of the Devil Heads who wanted to encircle and kill Lin Yuan—

the Master of the young girl wearing the light green skirt.

Actually, calling her Master wasn't entirely accurate; outsiders simply didn't know their relationship.

Originally,

this middle-aged beautiful woman was watching from a hundred miles away.

However, even for a Ninth Realm Devil Head, separated by a hundred miles, it was very hard to perceive anything.

It was mainly because the middle-aged beautiful woman didn't dare to use any probing or perception secret techniques.

What if she was discovered by that Xiahou Yuan? Wouldn't that be telling on herself?

Yet,

when the middle-aged beautiful woman sensed the light-green-skirted girl crushing the jade pendant,

fear instinctively rose in her heart. Not only did she not approach,

instead, she headed in the opposite direction, sparing no effort to urge various secret techniques to run for her life.

There was no other way.

That was Xiahou Yuan.

Regardless of why the light-green-skirted girl crushed the jade pendant,

as long as there was even a shred of possibility that it was because of Xiahou Yuan,

she didn't dare to gamble.

"No."

"I still need to go and rendezvous with Mo Yang and the others."

The middle-aged beautiful woman steadied her mind, feeling that being alone was somewhat unsafe.

She wanted to find other Demonic Lords who were also in the Ninth Realm to huddle together for warmth.

Especially Demon Lord Mo Yang, who was already at the Peak of the Ninth Realm thirty years ago.

After Xiahou Yuan was suppressed back then, Demon Lord Mo Yang faintly had the momentum of becoming the new generation's Demonic Path leader.

And according to the middle-aged beautiful woman's knowledge, ever since Xiahou Yuan walked out of the Great Abyss, this Demon Lord Mo Yang had been plotting something.

If anyone else knew the middle-aged beautiful woman's thoughts, they would surely be dumbfounded.

You are a Ninth Realm Demonic Lord! Under the vast heaven, across the Five Regions and Four Seas, what else could you possibly feel unsafe about?

But once they learned that this person was Xiahou Yuan, they would find it immensely normal again.

That was Xiahou Yuan.

After subjugating Bian Mao, Yin Shiliu, and many other Devil Heads,

Lin Yuan returned to the wooden house once more and continued to Cultivate.

As for these Devil Heads, they guarded near the stronghold, forbidding outsiders from approaching.

"Tier 5."

The more he Cultivated, the deeper Lin Yuan's comprehension of Tier 5 became. Having spent twenty years in the eighteenth layer beneath the Great Abyss, Lin Yuan had long made countless predictions about breaking through to Tier 5.

"It's almost time."

Lin Yuan opened his eyes.

Right now, he had made all preparations for breaking through to Tier 5.

He was just missing the start of the Breakthrough.

"However,"

"it's best to change places for the Breakthrough."

Lin Yuan's expression moved slightly, and he glanced around.

First, breaking through to Tier 5 had quite high demands on the environment.

Actually, it wasn't really the environment; if Lin Yuan had a few pots of scarlet spirit liquid, he could break through anywhere.

Although the Origin Qi of heaven and earth near the stronghold was far superior to the Great Abyss,

it still couldn't reach Lin Yuan's minimum standard for breaking through.

Secondly,

in recent days, Lin Yuan clearly felt a faint sense of peeping.

Clearly, the news of him being here had already been known by many people.

These people didn't dare to come knocking, so they just kept observing from a distance.

Although Lin Yuan didn't care about being peeked at by others,

in order not to be disturbed during the upcoming Breakthrough, he clearly had to find a safe and secretive place.

"Nuan Shu."

Lin Yuan called Nuan Protector over and stated his requirements.

"Yes."

Nuan Protector immediately nodded.

She had wanted to leave this place for a long time. Not only did Lin Yuan sense the peeping,

Nuan Protector also felt that more than one person was observing them from a distance.

A few days later,

Nuan Protector quickly came to the front of the wooden house, and after receiving Lin Yuan's permission, she said excitedly, "Lord Supreme, I have found a place that definitely meets the requirements!"

"Oh?"

Lin Yuan opened his eyes, a look of mild surprise surfacing on his face.

The demands he gave to Nuan Shu were not low at all. Places that could compare were without exception the sect headquarters of major factions—could it be that easy to find?