The Blue Demon Abyss was a most peculiar place — situated within a famously vast rift valley in the Northern Domain, where blue mist perpetually drifted upward.
This place held great renown, yet few dared approach it, for death came easily here. Even for cultivators, it was cursed land where one could lose oneself and perish. The Northern Domain was known for its vast emptiness — boundless and barren wasteland stretching endlessly in every direction, desolate and bleak.
Drawing near to this place, that desolation deepened tenfold. The abyss split the earth with uncanny precision, as though a divine axe had cleaved the ground in two, cutting straight down for a thousand miles into the depths below.
As one approached, countless white bones lay strewn about like pale stone formations — the accumulated remains of tens of thousands of years. Many had long since weathered away into bone dust.
Bleakness, desolation, terror, and demonic strangeness defined this place. Over the ages, untold numbers of living beings had perished here, their bleached bones a haunting sight.
A spatial gateway appeared above the barren earth. Ye Fan, the Elder Sage of the Extraordinary Scholar’s Manor, and Gai Jiuyou stepped through, emerging above the Blue Demon Abyss.
“This place is exactly as rumored — its effect on a cultivator’s divine soul is severe. The moment I drew near, my Primordial Spirit grew unstable, straining to break free of its flesh vessel,” Ye Fan murmured with a furrowed brow.
Whenever any living being entered this place, their soul would slip beyond their control and shed the constraints of their flesh, sinking into the Blue Demon Abyss below. The bones blanketing the earth were endless — a white expanse stretching like a sea of skeletons, all left behind through the long passage of time.
Every being died the same way — stripped of their Primordial Spirit, their flesh abandoned, slowly decaying where they fell.
“The Blue Demon Clan below awakened many years ago. This place became a land of malice entirely because of them — they have been consuming the divine soul energy of living beings,” said the Elder Manor Master of the Extraordinary Scholar’s Manor.
It was precisely for this reason that the Blue Demon Clan’s fearsome reputation had spread far and wide. They had built themselves within a kingdom of death, devouring divine souls no differently than devouring men whole. To weaker races, the harm they posed was immense — and so even many ancient clans had come to despise and oppose them.
Though Ye Fan felt a slight influence from the abyss, it posed no real threat to him. The golden figurine within his brow moved on its own accord and stepped forth. Opening its mouth, it let out a long, resonant cry, unleashing the sacred sound of the character “Om,” which shook the entire great abyss and scattered the blue mist.
“Someone below is waiting for me, though it matters little,” said Gai Jiuyou.
Both Ye Fan and the Elder Manor Master felt a stir in their hearts. Formidable figures from the ancient clans had surely come — after all, they had successively annihilated the Ancient Sages of four lineages: the Stone Clan, the Blue Ghost Clan, the Purple Lightning Clan, and the Divine Wheel Clan. This would certainly have alarmed formidable elder relics seeking to halt them.
At this moment, not only had the Eastern Wasteland and the Central Continent been shaken to their foundations, but cultivators even in the eastern seas had heard these rumors — for what had occurred was simply too momentous.
A peerless champion of the Human Race had struck, wiping out the Sages of four great royal clans one after another, leaving none to flee — all reduced to ash, shaking heaven and earth.
The name of Gai Jiuyou had shaken the world eight thousand years ago, known to all under heaven. After so many years of silence, he had erupted once more with overwhelming force — annihilating Ancient Sages with his first move. Who would not tremble?
On this day, the many ancient clans of the Northern Domain were struck cold with dread. Not a soul dared breathe loudly. Everyone feared calamity might fall upon their own heads, hearts pounding with terror.
The fierce winds howled, and the blue mist surged and boiled. From deep within the abyss, vast waves of mist surged upward, pulling at the Primordial Spirits of those above, urging their souls to depart their bodies.
Descending over a thousand miles, a great lake appeared at the bottom of the rift valley — vast as a sea, with water vapor swirling and waves shimmering with light.
It was not particularly dark here. Within the water bloomed clusters of demonic flowers, all of them blue, flickering with luminous light that made the place pulse with shifting radiance — the mist was what these flowers exhaled.
On the shore of the great lake, a massive cavern opened, and within it lay a world of brightness — a passage leading to the Blue Demon Clan’s dwelling grounds. That was the true demon lair.
“We are in grave danger — Gai Jiuyou of the Human Race has truly arrived!”
“Catastrophe is upon us — the Undefeatable Gai is here!”
A group of ancient clan members guarding the cave entrance saw the three descend and erupted into cries of alarm, scrambling to relay the news within, their expressions filled with terror and trembling dread.
These figures were cloaked in blue-green, covered in scales, fierce in appearance — yet now they were no different from helpless, frightened sheep facing a lion king, their bodies quaking uncontrollably.
Gai Jiuyou stepped onto the shore and climbed the white jade steps, advancing into the ancient cavern one step at a time. Ye Fan and the Elder Manor Master followed close behind as they stormed the nest of the primordial royal clan — a feat only the elder ahead of them could accomplish.
The formation markings and killing arrays left behind by primordial sages were all rendered utterly meaningless. Every lethal formation rune crumbled beneath Gai Jiuyou’s feet, reduced to chaotic scratches, powerless to do anything.
Among them, the Divine Wheel Clan’s array formation was the most terrifying — yet in the end it simply collapsed outright, unable to hinder the three by even the slightest degree. Gai Jiuyou kicked it straight into a ten-thousand-zhang abyss of darkness.
“The supreme existence of the Human Race has graced our Blue Demon Abyss — to what do we owe this honor?” The voice rang out from a vast underground world. Flickering lights moved in the dimness, revealing the faint outline of an ancient, enormous city in the distance, shrouded in blue mist.
An ancient city built in an underground world — enduring since the primordial age to the present day — this was the Blue Demon Clan’s home, where generation after generation of ferocious demon kings had been born.
“I have come to reason with you,” said Gai Jiuyou, his stride unhurried. Yet with each step he took, formation markings shattered across the ground in great swaths, countless veins of inscriptions disintegrating into powder.
The Elder Sage of the Extraordinary Scholar’s Manor changed expression and whispered, “This is a primordial killing array — refined generation after generation by many ancient sages. Even a Saint who entered this would likely perish, unable to advance far.”
Ye Fan’s heart surged with turbulent feeling. Such a fearsome ancient array, shattered step by step beneath Gai Jiuyou’s feet — destroyed simply and directly. What unfathomable depth of cultivation was this?
“Dao-friend Gai, you have come to my clan to speak of reason — yet why must you damage our protective grand array? What is the meaning of this?” A majestic silhouette appeared atop the ancient city ahead, gazing toward them, his eyes like two bolts of lightning.
“I have come to reason with my fists — naturally I must strike. Has it not been thus with you all these many years? Sweeping the world with battle, speaking reason through martial force.” Gai Jiuyou replied.
The ancient city fell silent. Those atop the city walls felt a surging, overwhelming presence wash over them, their bodies swaying.
“Senior Gai, you have wiped out the Ancient Sages of four great clans in a single day — do you intend to overturn the entire Northern Domain? To slaughter every ancient clan to the last?” a voice cried out from the city walls.
“The ten thousand races coexist; all clans under heaven are equal and can live in peace. Yet you have gone too far,” said the Elder Sage of the Extraordinary Scholar’s Manor, his gaze fixed ahead. “You treat the agreements of the Ten Thousand Races Assembly as nothing but wind in your ears, running rampant and killing without restraint for years. And now, seven Sages have stormed into our Human Race’s sacred ground, dealing death and taking life at will — do you seek to exterminate our people entirely?”
“There is… some misunderstanding in all this,” said the master of the Blue Demon Clan, standing atop the ancient city.
“A misunderstanding? Your ten great royal clans have issued a kill order against me, and dispatched seven Ancient Sages to the Central Continent to take my life. Just how great a ‘misunderstanding’ could that possibly be?” Ye Fan said with cold contempt.
Atop the ancient city, the Blue Demon Clan master’s expression turned icy. He paid Ye Fan’s words no heed — ordinarily, no one below the level of a Saint had ever dared show him disrespect.
For the Blue Demon Clan was not only one of the ten great fearsome clans, but also one of the ten greatest royal clans outside of the imperial lineage, with extraordinarily deep foundations — a clan that had once produced a Great Sage.
Moreover, the current Blue Demon Clan master was a supremely gifted talent in his generation, known as the Blue Demon Heavenly King. He had walked very far on the path toward achieving the Dao — only a single step remained, and he might yet become a Great Sage.
One could say this man was of stunning and peerless talent, his combat power terrifying, far surpassing the many ancient kings — a figure who occupied a place at the absolute pinnacle of the current generation of the mighty.
“You have gone too far. For so many years you have acted without restraint — just how far do you intend to go? Do you seek to annihilate our Human Race entirely?” Ye Fan continued.
The Blue Demon Clan master still said nothing. He held himself above such things and did not spare Ye Fan a glance, gazing only toward Gai Jiuyou and the Elder Sage of the Extraordinary Scholar’s Manor.
“Why have you gone silent? Senior Gai’s visit serves two purposes — first, to speak to you of the great principles governing the relationship between the Human Race and the ancient clans, and second, to demand justice on Ye Fan’s behalf,” said the Elder Manor Master of the Extraordinary Scholar’s Manor.
“Perhaps we have been at fault in some matters — but seven Ancient Sages have now perished in the Central Continent. Surely the anger of your Human Race should be sated by now?” the Blue Demon Clan master spoke at last.
“It is not enough. What are a handful of lives? Unless we have destroyed every last Ancient Sage among your ten great royal clans, how can the storm be calmed?” said Gai Jiuyou.
He who had stood peerless for eight thousand years — the words he spoke were inviolable edicts. And now that he had made this decision, his resolve could not be altered.
Boom!
A heaven-shaking presence surged outward. In a single step, Gai Jiuyou stood before the ancient city gates. Atop the walls, the Blue Demon Clan master’s face drained of all color. The bones of his entire body shattered, and he vomited blood in great mouthfuls, sent flying thousands of zhang away.
His heart was filled with absolute terror. He was only a single step away from becoming a Great Sage — yet before this ailing elder, he was less than a scarecrow. The overwhelming, heaven-flooding presence stirred by a single step forward — how had it reached this terrifying a degree?!
“You ignored Ye Fan and thought yourself of lofty station — but compared to Senior Gai, what is there for you to pride yourself on?” said the Elder Manor Master of the Extraordinary Scholar’s Manor with a cold laugh.
Within the ancient city stood an enormous tree that towered into the heavens — lush and full, its roots planted at the very center of the city, radiating blue light and swathed in swirling mist that made the Primordial Spirits of all who beheld it strain to fly free.
This was the Blue Demon Ancient Tree. It could devour the divine souls of countless living beings throughout the world, converting them into the most primordial life essence to fuel the Blue Demon Clan’s cultivation — the very foundation of their clan’s flourishing.
At this moment, two figures flew out, intercepting the Blue Demon Clan master who had been sent flying and catching him. They radiated twin halos of light like divine beings, striking him hundreds upon thousands of times in rapid succession across his body.
The bones of the Blue Demon Clan master rang throughout his body. His Primordial Spirit emitted beams of light — it had nearly been shattered inch by inch — but with this assistance, his injuries at last stabilized.
“He…”
The Blue Demon Clan master was overcome with dread. Had these two not intervened just then, he would have very likely died. In that instant, all hope within him had gone cold from head to toe.
He was called a peerless genius of his generation, with every expectation of becoming a Great Sage — yet the visitor had taken only a single step forward, and the sheer presence alone had nearly crushed him to pieces. The gap between them was immeasurable!
In that very moment, he had unmistakably sensed an indomitable will — something that even a Great Sage could not compare to. Those wisps of presence he had only ever felt once before, when he had been granted an audience with the Battle Saint Emperor in years past. This man clearly stood on the threshold of achieving the Dao!
The two figures who had flown forth from the Blue Demon Ancient Tree shone with an eternal radiance. Both faced this encounter as though facing a great and terrible enemy, their expressions solemn, gazing upon Gai Jiuyou.
“Brother Gai, do we not have an agreement — that neither of us would act? Why have you grown restless?” The speaker was none other than the Great Sage Huntuo, who had come to obstruct Gai Jiuyou.
“This is going a bit too far. Know that in this world, you are not necessarily the supreme existence — no one can truly claim to be undefeatable. It may well be that our ancient clans have an elder forefather who will step forward,” said the Golden King, his expression cold and indifferent, his entire body enveloped in ten thousand zhang of golden radiance.
The Great Sages of the ancient clans had appeared. What followed would inevitably be a great tempest sweeping across the nine heavens and ten lands!
“Is that so? If there truly is such a one, I would very much welcome him to come forth. After so many years, I have grown rather lonely,” said Gai Jiuyou with a long, drawn-out sigh.