“Stand up!”

“Get the hell up already!”

In an arena-like environment, furious roars echoed all around.

A warrior lay on the ground covered in wounds, his exposed right shoulder carved with the four digits ‘9527’.

Who?

The Demon Ancestor.

Years ago, he had fled the universe as a soul form, only to be captured by Star Spirit Realm powerhouses, placed in a body, and became servant corpse number 9527. Then he invaded the Upper Realm with a squad.

Counting the time, it had been several years.

How was this guy doing?

Judging from his current black and blue condition, not well at all.

More than that—

It was a living hell!

The place he was in was the Star Spirit Realm.

Here, the heaven and earth attributes were extremely high, the tier even higher than Xuanyuan Realm and Crossing Heaven Realm, definitely ranking among the most elite of first-class realms.

When the Demon Ancestor first arrived here with his squad and felt the rich heaven and earth attributes, he was so excited he nearly jumped for joy. He even began wildly fantasizing about励精图治, making a comeback, returning to the Upper Realm to destroy the Eternal Sect!

However…

In this elite plane, the law of the jungle was even more severe.

The Demon Ancestor had just arrived in the Star Spirit Realm and, because he was classified as a low-grade servant corpse, was sent to a spirit stone mine. Every day was either mining labor or on the way to mining labor.

The boss of the Demon Illusion Clan—

How could he willingly be a miner?

The Demon Ancestor had rebelled once, only to be pinned to the ground and crushed by the mine soldiers.

In other words, this villain who belonged to the BOSS category like the Heavenly Demon Emperor couldn’t even beat a small soldier in the Star Spirit Realm.

Of course.

The spirit stone mine was an important resource.

The soldiers stationed there were definitely very strong.

At night.

The Demon Ancestor leaned in a corner like an injured cat, licking his wounds on one side while shedding tears on the other.

Since he couldn’t win by fighting, he could only submit.

From then on, the spirit stone mine gained a dejected hero who dragged his battered body and, like most ordinary servant corpses, worked early and returned late mining spirit stones.

If you thought he had lost his fighting spirit, you’d be dead wrong.

The Demon Ancestor was lying low, enduring hardships to build up strength.

Hadn’t he survived when the Ten Great Immortal Sects united to destroy him back then? Was there anything in this world more terrifying than death?

No!

I, the Demon Ancestor, will not be defeated!

With this conviction, he worked hard on one hand and cultivated diligently on the other. Where there’s a will, there’s a way—finally, after two years, his service period ended and he completely regained his freedom.

“Hah!”

After striding out of the mine, the Demon Ancestor clenched his fists and roared upward: “Two years of tempering have made this ancestor’s mental state stronger. From this moment on, neither heaven nor earth can cover my eyes again!”

To become stronger, to survive—

He began traveling through the vast Star Spirit Realm and truly realized the terror of this plane.

Peak Truth-Seeking Realm, half-step Heavenly Secret Realm cultivators were everywhere.

This greatly stimulated the Demon Ancestor’s desire to become stronger. For this reason, he began frequenting deep mountains and old forests, living a life of licking blood from the blade’s edge.

The compatibility between his soul and body grew higher and higher, and his strength steadily improved.

When Jun Changxiao was space traveling, the Demon Ancestor was cultivating hard. When Jun Changxiao led disciples to participate in the Universal Holy War, the Demon Ancestor was still cultivating hard.

Several years later—

He emerged from the valley.

Solid muscles, bulging temples—all represented significant improvements in strength.

However.

This still wasn’t enough.

To reach a higher level, he needed resources.

The Demon Ancestor came to a city and saw from the bulletin board that there was an arena here. Those who achieved the required number of victories would be rewarded with high-grade spirit stones, so he decisively signed up to participate.

Before the match began, he sat in a chair with a cold gaze, the corners of his mouth curling into a smile: “This ancestor needs to use blood to prove himself.”

“Boom—”

First battle, he was knocked to the ground with a single punch. This led to the opening scene of the audience furiously cursing him to stand up—after all, many people had placed bets on him. If he lost, their money would go down the drain.

“Stand up!”

“Stand up!”

The Demon Ancestor clenched his fists and slowly climbed up amid the angry shouts. But before he could fully rise, he was kicked in the face, his whole body instantly flying out magnificently and smashing into the outer wall. Then he spat out blood with a “blech.”

There was blood.

But he hadn’t proven himself.

“One, two, three…”

When the referee counted to ten, the Demon Ancestor’s first battle had ended in failure, and he was even carried off the stage on a stretcher.

“Damn it!”

“I misjudged!”

“I thought he was a fierce character, didn’t expect him to be such trash.”

On the spectator stand, warriors counting their money cursed loudly, their voices reaching the Demon Ancestor’s ears, making him clench his fists tightly.

“Not bad performance.”

At this time, a middle-aged man with a fat head and big ears walked over, casually tossing the Demon Ancestor a spatial ring, saying in the manner of a superior master: “This is your earned compensation.”

What compensation?

Compensation for throwing the match.

The Demon Ancestor’s spiritual sense merged into it and confirmed it was the previously agreed amount. Only then did he struggle down from the stretcher and drag his battered body away from the arena.

The mighty boss of the Demon Illusion Clan had fallen to the point of throwing matches—truly lamentable.

At that moment, walking under the setting sun, his back looked so miserable, so lonely. Couldn’t you all just put your tears in the chapter comments?

“Beep beep beep!”

“Beep beep beep!”

Before the Demon Ancestor could return to his dwelling, alarms suddenly sounded throughout the city.

Having lived here for a long time, he knew something special must have happened.

Sure enough.

A deep voice resonated through the city: “An unidentified flying object has invaded our Star Spirit Realm without permission. All cities, all warriors must intercept it.”

“Boom boom boom!”

“Boom boom boom!”

As soon as the words fell, artillery fire lit up the sky outside the city.

The Demon Ancestor looked up and vaguely saw a stream of light rapidly rushing out from the area of flashing fire, then quickly flying overhead. He could barely make out the characters ‘sixty-six’ on it.

“Catch that thing!”

“This is worth third-class merit!”

“Whoosh! Whoosh!”

In an instant, warriors in the city flew up one after another, chasing with burning gazes toward where the stream of light was heading.

“Third-class merit?”

The Demon Ancestor’s eyes lit up too.

The Star Spirit Realm had strict grade divisions. Although his service was complete, he was merely a lower-class resident. To move up, he either had to spend money or earn merit.

If he could catch the unidentified flying object that invaded the Star Spirit Realm and obtain third-class merit, he could completely shed his lower-class status and enter middle-class, enjoying more rights!

Chase!

“Whoosh—”

The Demon Ancestor flew at extreme speed, becoming part of the pursuit force.

Unfortunately.

The stream of light ran too fast.

In a short time, it lost its trail.

For the sake of third-class merit, the Star Spirit Realm warriors wouldn’t give up. They scattered separately to search, trying to find the target in the primitive mountain forest stretching tens of thousands of miles ahead.

“Sigh.”

The Demon Ancestor shook his head: “A bit naive.”

Earlier, he’d been blinded by third-class merit. Now thinking carefully, anyone who dared to enter the Star Spirit Realm without permission must be extremely powerful. With his injuries, even if he found them, he’d be no match.

Forget it.

Better go treat his injuries.

Thinking this, to conserve more strength, the Demon Ancestor landed in the mountain forest and chose to walk back.

“Hm?”

After just a few steps, he heard a “rustling” sound by his ear and instinctively turned his head to look. He saw in the dense forest ahead a big thing cast in steel, clearly carved with the… number sixty-six he’d seen earlier.

Suddenly!

The Demon Ancestor stood frozen in place!

A cold sword weapon pressed against the back of his neck from behind, accompanied by a familiar yet cold voice: “Don’t move.”

The camera panned over.

Jun Changxiao wore mech armor, holding the Xuanyuan Divine Sword.

Jing Zhixiao had been punished to continue sweeping latrines, so for this intelligence-gathering trip, he decided to come personally.

“Ptui!”

The System spat and cursed: “The host just wanted to pilot the mech. He secretly sabotaged Xiaotian Unit on the runway!”

—