Inner Demons

The events that followed in the next two days were exactly as Li Shan had expected.

Just as the demons in Dongting would not heed the likes of King Ao, the demons surrounding Dongting also disregarded any wishes of the “Wei River Dragon King.”

Many demons had occupied the Wei River for hundreds of years, and during those hundreds of years, that “Young Master Nine” had never caused any trouble. Now, he suddenly wanted to cause trouble, adopting the stance of a leader of all demons... who would pay attention to him?

Demons cared more about their own affairs. Compared to dog-shit things like the war between demons and Daoists, the great calamity of the world, being defeated one by one, or mutual dependency, they were more concerned about whether their territory would be coveted, whether their position was secure, where to catch a human for a good meal, and whether there were any Daoist Orthodoxy disciples walking around nearby—wishing they would hurry up and leave so they could continue their merry lives.

The section of the Wei River near Weicheng was previously under the actual control of Young Master Nine. Further out was the territory of those other demons.

And the areas controlled by demons were far larger than humans could imagine. Hunters who frequently entered the mountains knew that a pack of wolves might have a hunting ground as wide as several tens of miles, let alone demons. After all, the world was sparsely populated, and most of the “wilderness” was actually under the name of a certain Demon King.

However, Demon Kings only nominally had jurisdiction over a certain area... they would certainly not be so arrogant as to run into a large human city in that territory and declare ownership.

But this also meant one thing—very few demons knew that the Wei River Dragon King was no longer the former Wei River Dragon King.

That day, Li Yunxin created an anomaly in the sky above Weicheng that was clearly visible for several tens of li. But the problem was... the closest Demon King to Weicheng was several hundred li away.

The old demon Evil King had attained the Dao for over two thousand years. He had already occupied an area before the Divine Dragon enfeoffed the Wei River to his nine sons, Chiwen.

This place was the end of the Yeyuan Forest outside Weicheng, where the terrain suddenly rose sharply. Surrounding peaks stood tall, but there was very little vegetation, mostly coarse Gobi Desert and greenish stone mountains. The Wei River here made six or seven turns, the river channel narrowed, and the current became more rapid. Such a place had inconvenient water transport and difficult mountain roads, so it was sparsely populated. Within a radius of several hundred li, there was only one small city called “Dingyi City.” And this city was the western border city of the Great Qing Dynasty’s Wei River Prefecture.

Because of such “unique” conditions, even the people of the Daoist Orthodoxy were reluctant to deal with this demon—first, his cultivation was profound; he was at the Harmonious Integration Master Realm and was about to break through to the Profound Realm. Second, there was very little population here after all. As long as this demon did not devour all the people in Dingyi City, who would be willing to make a fuss over him?

In fact, when Kun Wuzi and his party came to Weicheng, they only operated in the vicinity of Weicheng, partly out of fear of this Evil King.

When the Wei River was nominally assigned to Young Master Nine, this Evil King didn't care at all. He was a True Realm great demon; the only one he feared in the world was the True Dragon. As for others—for example, if that Dragon's Son came to his territory to fight him, what advantage could he gain?

Fortunately, that Young Master Nine was also sensible and did not dare to seek trouble, only lurking obediently in the vicinity of Weicheng. Evil King knew that this was because there was an even more terrifying demon in Dongting, the Lord of Dongting—the Dragon's Son's dwelling place was surrounded by strong enemies, let alone matters several hundred li away.

Therefore, when he received the letter from the Dongting water creature sent by Li Yunxin, the old demon Evil King laughed loudly and casually tore up the messenger small demon. Then he said to the Demon General by his side, “What a Wei River Dragon King, hehe. We respected the True Dragon's reputation and didn't make things difficult for him, but he wants to order all the heroes around! Saying these incomprehensible words—”

As he spoke, he frowned and looked at a piece of fish skin in his hand—each messenger small demon carried this fish skin with them, which had Li Yunxin's personal letter on it. This was to prevent the small demon from being inarticulate and to allow the Demon Kings to see the words.

But in this day and age, few humans were literate, so how many Demon Kings could read?

It was only because this Evil King had lived for a very long time and had once been interested in learning some human knowledge that he was able to read and understand the meaning on it.

“What mutual dependency, sharing of fortunes and misfortunes... hmm...” Evil King frowned, scrutinizing Li Yunxin's writing, and sighed with every glance, as if every word pierced his heart and made him uncomfortable. “It’s all nonsense. We have been operating in Stone Forest Mountain and Nine Bends Gorge for two thousand years. Has any blind fool dared to invade? Even the Taoist Priests of the Daoist Orthodoxy and the Sword Cultivators of the Sword Sect have to land and walk honestly when they fly over this King’s territory—who dares to be disrespectful!”

“I think that Long Jiu (Nine) has provoked the people of the Daoist Orthodoxy and is now being attacked, so he wants to drag us into the muddy water!”

The Evil King had Demon Generals by his side, and Li Shan also had Demon Generals by his side before. But the Evil King was a great demon at the peak of the True Realm; how could the Demon Generals by his side be compared to those foolish ones by Li Shan’s side?

The one speaking to him now was a woman who called herself “Seven-Segment Brocade.” She had attained the Dao for over six hundred years, and was now at the peak cultivation of the Manifestation Realm. Her true form was a colorful venomous snake.

This Seven-Segment Brocade thought for a moment, looked at the fish skin letter in the Evil King's hand again, and frowned, “Great King, that Long Jiu said that the Lord of Dongting is currently absent, and the Daoist Orthodoxy intends to seize the Dragon Soul. This... this may not be false! Great King, think about it carefully. How many years has that old Dongting demon been guarding that place? Has anyone seen him leave Dongting? Why did he go now?”

Although the Evil King had lived for a very long time, he took the words of this Snake Spirit Seven-Segment Brocade seriously. He frowned and pondered for a while, then rolled his eyes, “What you said is reasonable—in your opinion, what should be done?”

Seven-Segment Brocade then stood up and said solemnly, “In my opinion, this matter must not be taken lightly. Even if Great King is not moved and doesn't want to deal with it, you cannot guarantee that the other Demon Kings will not make mistakes. Why doesn't Great King summon them all, listen to what they have to say, and then make a decision?”

As Seven-Segment Brocade spoke, the Evil King watched her intently. After she finished speaking, the Evil King clapped his hands, “Good! You have thought things through—send out the order immediately. Have my seven sons all come here, and we will discuss this thoroughly!”

These seven sons of the Evil King were actually his adopted sons—in the past, they were seven great demons who occupied the area near the Stone Forest Mountain and Nine Bends Gorge where the Evil King was located.

It was just that at that time, they were not seven Demon Kings, but seven Demon Generals, all serving another great demon. Later, the Evil King spent a lot of effort to kill that great demon, and then he enfeoffed his seven sons to various places to guard the territories near his own domain.

In this way, firstly, it could serve as a buffer zone against other great demons. Secondly, the Evil King also admired the style of the True Dragon enfeoffing his nine sons and felt that this also had the air of a Divine Dragon.

Thirdly... this Evil King was considered an anomaly among demons. And his anomaly lay in his "love for talent."

Ordinary demons were mostly brutal and would stifle any demon in their vicinity that became powerful, to prevent them from threatening their status in the future. But this Evil King was different—he had subdued many demons over the years, but he rarely killed them. As long as they said they would submit to him, he would spare their lives and allow them to serve as a Demon General under him.

As a result, he had many highly cultivated demons under his command, and they were loyal. He was also a person who loved to accept advice and readily followed good counsel. Just like today, listening to Seven-Segment Brocade speak—as long as he felt it made some sense, he would never be stubborn.

Seven-Segment Brocade the snake spirit also knew her Evil King's character, so she immediately accepted the order and went to summon the seven sons.

The Evil King's lair was on the tallest peak in Stone Forest Mountain—it was more like a stone pillar than a mountain. The stone pillar, which reached through the sky and earth, was exceptionally steep, and there was almost no vegetation on its surface. Let alone humans, even monkeys good at climbing could not reach the peak. Birds could fly over—but if any blind one actually flew over from here, they would surely be captured and eaten by the demons on the mountain.

This stone mountain was several hundred meters high and several tens of meters wide. The mountain body was almost hollowed out. Looking from a distance... it looked like a honeycomb. Dense holes were next to each other, hollowing out the entire mountain body. The Evil King and his two hundred demon subordinates lived in this nest. And this nest also had a name: “Trapped Sky Mountain.”

Summoning the seven sons was naturally Seven-Segment Brocade's task to carry out personally. But she also appointed many small demons to take the tokens of Trapped Sky Mountain to other minor Demon Kings. The two or three hundred demons sent by Li Yunxin to deliver the message had already run away halfway through. The remaining hundred or so people were not safe during their journey—some demons were bloodthirsty and, upon seeing transformed kin, regardless of their identity or background, would attack and eat them without question. As a result, only a few dozen families actually received the letter.

But this was within expectations. Those who could respond to the message were all those who could reason. Most of those who did not receive the letter were minor demons with low cultivation and were not of much use.

Now, Seven-Segment Brocade also sent people to deliver letters, which was to gather all the Demon Kings who had received Li Yunxin’s letter—to prevent anyone from actually going to meet up with Long Jiu.

The Evil King's reputation in this area was far superior to Long Jiu's. Who would dare to disobey him? Thus, Seven-Segment Brocade’s action actually helped Li Yunxin—those minor Demon Kings dared to ignore Long Jiu but did not dare to ignore the Evil King. Whether they knew it or not... they all came.

It was three days later that a total of one hundred and fifty Demon Kings from the Wei River section starting from Weicheng and ending at Nine Bends Gorge, within a radius of several thousand li, gathered in Trapped Sky Mountain.

If viewed on a map, that section of the Wei River was a thin line, or like the stem of a leaf. And the territories governed by these Demon Kings overlapped to form a huge leaf—encompassing five or six prefectures near Weicheng, which was almost a quarter of the Great Qing Dynasty's area.

If the demons also had historical records—this would indeed be a major event worthy of being recorded in history.

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