Chapter 135

Nie Chen seemed to sense something and glanced over in that direction.

His eyes could see ghosts, so he quickly noticed Xiao Ai at the front of the crowd, holding the Judge's Pen.

Xiao Ai's height wasn't considered tall in the north, at least not among a group of carefully selected idol candidates. But the group of people behind her kept their heads down, their faces fully concealed, making her stand out like a crane among chickens.

Of course, it wasn’t just her. Beside her was Xie Baiqiu, and behind her were Xie An, Ke Yuanbai, and An Heguang.

The few of them were struggling against the crowd pushing from behind, but it was futile, and they looked somewhat comical.

"They look like a bunch of ants," Zhu Qian, who had somehow detached from the crowd ahead, had arrived by Nie Chen's side. "When ants move, the taller ones are their food."

Nie Chen glanced at her in silence, but she didn’t mind his coldness. She casually tied her hair into a high ponytail, tossed it back, twisted her wrist, and then headed in that direction.

"Stinky men, if you want to live, take your hands off those sisters!"

Surprisingly, under the current circumstances, this threat had quite an effect.

The few who were secretly dragging people away immediately let go, and as they released the hostages, they fell to their knees in front of them.

"Female ghost, spare us... No, immortal, please spare us!"

Zhu Qian snorted coldly, grabbed one of them by the collar, lifted them up, and pushed them forward. "Move forward! Don't stop until I say so!"

The person had a face full of despair, feeling as if the sky was about to collapse. They moved forward step by step, as if walking towards death.

Nie Chen: "…"

Xiang Ting heard the noise and looked back, just in time to meet Nie Chen's complicated gaze, causing him to fall silent for a moment.

"...Do you believe I asked her to help get people out?"

Nie Chen: "…"

Oh.

Soon, loud sounds of a fierce battle came from the small courtyard ahead. Members of the Special Incident Handling Bureau and the Taoist priests immediately sped up their actions, grabbing a few of the imposters disguised as shamans and charging in.

A moment later, they saw Ke Xingzhou holding a bow and arrow, facing off against the demonic shadow in midair.

The demon god floated in the air, half of its body out of sight, extending its arm toward the direction where ordinary people were fleeing.

Everyone heard a sharp, high-pitched howl as a strangely shaped fiery red giant bird suddenly soared into the air, colliding with the giant hand of Poxun.However, Poxun's entire body was made of black clouds, existing between the real and the unreal. The fiery red giant beast's shadow failed to stop his approach. The pitch-black giant hand reached into the crowd and grabbed several photographers, who were then thrown back into the small courtyard in panic.

The wind carried Zhu Qian's angry shouting: "You purple-skinned old potato! Put everyone back!"

The photographers huddled together, trembling. They dared not lower the cameras on their shoulders, nor did they dare to stand there foolishly, waiting for death in front of the demon.

Gu Xicheng, who was also grabbed, said, "…???"

He was both furious and confused. "Why are you grabbing me?"

He wasn't even a photographer!

But who knew that with a flick of Poxun's finger, he lifted the hand holding the phone, glaring at him with contempt: "Human, use your tool to spread the news of the Demon King's arrival."

His expression seemed to say, "Don't try to fool me, I know your human technology inside and out," which made Gu Xicheng go silent, feeling completely defeated.

He should never have thought that the woman they were supposed to send looked familiar and pulled out his phone to check the contacts!

For a moment, Gu Xicheng regretted everything, his face darkened, but he could only tremble like the nearby photographers and lift his phone, aiming it at the scene.

The phone automatically connected to the live-streaming system, allowing Gu Xicheng to see the barrage of comments.

【6, my problem of feeling embarrassed for others is incurable.】

【This guy really thinks he knows human technology, huh? That expression just makes me want to laugh.】

【But seriously, well done! I never liked that Gu-whatever, with those CEO-like comments. They should have let the sister scold him a little more just now!】

Gu Xicheng: "?"

That Gu-whatever, wasn’t that about him?

--

Poxun quickly withdrew his gaze from the group of ordinary humans.

Just as everyone arrived, Ke Xingzhou loosened his fingers, and the light arrow shot toward the demon shadow in the sky at an unimaginable speed.

The arrow, trailing a stream of light, pierced the demon's body. But just before the arrow hit, the shadow suddenly became ethereal, and the arrow seemed to pass through it without any obstruction, emerging from the other side of the body.

The demon shadow looked down at the large hole in its body, quickly using the clouds to repair it. But its gaze towards Ke Xingzhou grew increasingly grim.

"How could someone from the Xiyu Sect have this bow?"

Ke Xingzhou: "?"

He didn't understand and drew his bow again, aiming at the shadow.

The familiar bow made the Special Incident Handling Bureau members' hearts skip a beat, and they couldn't help but glance toward Nie Chen.

Xiang Ting even showed a relieved expression.

Nie Chen: "?"

He furrowed his brow in suspicion, but Xiang Ting had already turned back to join the battle. After greeting Lu Zhi Dao and others, he looked up at the massive demon shadow forming in midair."Poxun!" he shouted firmly, "It’s actually you!"

The demon shadow, called Poxun, had two giant, black, curved demon horns on his forehead, white hair reaching down to his waist, and a pair of eyes bulging out, suspended like copper furnaces on his face, arrogantly looking over at the Daoist priests.

When Poxun saw Xiang Ting, his pupils trembled, and his voice thundered: "Hahaha! It’s me! Little White Tiger, why that expression? Are you disappointed that I didn’t die in the sealing formation?"

Poxun? White Tiger?!

Everyone was stunned for a moment. They didn’t know whether to be shocked that the demon before them was the Demon King Poxun, or that their contact from the Special Incident Handling Bureau, Director Xiang, was the divine beast White Tiger.

Zhu Chu also sneaked into the Daoist priests' group and, upon seeing the scene, couldn't help but exclaim, "Wait, does this guy have so much power?"

Before entering, he didn’t know what had happened. He just saw the situation on the live stream and thought it was a regular evil spirit causing trouble, planning to deliver supplies to his master.

Who knew that upon entering, he would encounter such a big "surprise."

Poxun heard his voice and glanced over with his bell-like eyes, the terrifying pressure almost crushing Zhu Chu to the ground.

He laughed loudly: "Not bad, you have a good eye. I’ve never liked humans, but there aren’t many humans like you who are self-aware. I like you. As it happens, I don’t have a human pet yet, how about it? Do you want to become my demon pet? I’ll spare your life."

Such words were extremely insulting no matter when they were spoken. The Daoist priests immediately glared at Poxun, looking up with fury in their eyes.

"How dare you, brat!"

"Just barely escaping from the formation, a defeated general dares to provoke us in the human realm?"

"Daoist Zhu is my Taoist disciple. A man may die, but not be humiliated!"

Just as they finished speaking, they heard Zhu Chu curiously ask, "What’s a demon pet? Do I have to become a demon?"

Everyone: "…???"

Daoist friend, do you really want to follow him?

Hearing this, Poxun laughed even more wildly: "Hahahaha! A person who knows when to be sensible is a true hero!"

After mocking the Daoists, he turned towards Zhu Chu and, looking down at him from above, seductively said: "As a demon pet, you naturally have to become a demon. Just so, I’ve never led anyone into demonhood since coming to the human realm, so I’ll bestow you this honor, becoming my first demon pet!"

He kept speaking on his own, but before he finished, he was interrupted.

Zhu Chu, with a disgusted look, changed his previously curious expression: "Do you think I’m stupid?"

Poxun: "?"

Zhu Chu: "I’ve seen others fall into demonhood before. When someone from your demon realm came to tempt people into demonhood near the Gate of Ghosts, I saw it. Demonhood involves lightning strikes! It hurts like hell, and I’m not going through that."

Poxun: "???"

He never expected his offer to be rejected, and for a moment, he couldn’t react.

When he finally regained his composure, he furrowed his brow: "What’s the big deal about the lightning tribulation? Once you become a demon, nothing in the world can bind you anymore, not even that false Heavenly Dao! Don’t you want freedom?"

Zhu Chu only felt like this demon was treating him like a fool.He looked at the other person warily: "Freedom with boundaries is what true freedom is! Besides, where am I not free? I don’t have to work a 9-to-5 job, no 007, no 996, and my salary is higher than most people's. When my master doesn't have assignments, I can go wherever I want, eat whatever I want. Isn’t that freedom?"

Poxun was completely confused, unable to understand the terms he was using.

But he understood the meaning of the whole sentence.

This little human dared to refuse him?

"How can that be called freedom?" Poxun said in disbelief, "You must have been deceived by the Heavenly Dao!"

Zhu Chu looked at him with disdain: "What kind of outdated scam language is that? The anti-scam app has been updated ages ago! You demons may have just come out, but before deceiving people, at least learn something modern, alright?"

Everyone: "…???"

Poxun: "…???"

Poxun was really baffled.

He had been the Demon King for countless years, having tempted countless beings into the demon realm, but he had never encountered someone like Zhu Chu.

How could there be someone who would turn around and educate him about outdated techniques?!

To be fair, the demon realm had been suffering setbacks recently. Apart from the evil organization they had painstakingly built over ten years being destroyed by that damned Xiaoyao Sect, even the followers they had developed among the common folk mysteriously broke away from their faith.

They still hadn’t figured out why.

Although the demon race’s power came from the negative emotions of living beings, they still needed faith.

The higher the faith, the stronger the demon’s abilities. For example, the most widely spread Demon Kings in myth and legend had far greater powers than ordinary demons.

Poxun was momentarily doubting himself.

Could it be that the demon race had been imprisoned for too long and used outdated methods, causing so many failures?

The members of the Special Incident Handling Bureau and the Daoist priests, seeing the obvious doubt in Poxun’s eyes, couldn’t help but fall silent.

If Poxun had a Dao heart, he might have been destroyed by Zhu Chu’s words at this moment.

The local Daoists couldn’t help but feel a sense of camaraderie and silently looked toward Ke Xingzhou, who was standing next to Zhu Chu.

Ke Xingzhou: "?"

Daoists: "…"

How did the Xiaoyao Sect manage to gather so many unconventional people…?

However, being the Demon King, Poxun didn’t doubt himself for long. He quickly regained his composure, a purple light flashing in his eyes, and he stared fixedly at Zhu Chu: "Don’t you want to live a better life?"

Zhu Chu’s eyes also flashed with a purple light, and his gaze immediately became entranced: "What’s better?"

Everyone thought, this is bad. Since Poxun couldn’t convince him with regular words, he’s resorting to his skills.

The Daoists immediately summoned their magical tools, setting up layers of magic arrays around Zhu Chu, trying to block Poxun’s voice.

But it was to no avail.Poxun’s voice thundered like a lightning strike: "Naturally, to become someone above others."

"Someone above others?" Zhu Chu furrowed his brow slightly.

Poxun couldn’t help but frown, thinking to himself, what's wrong with this human? Doesn’t he even know what ‘someone above others’ means?

Has the human world, under the control of the Heavenly Dao, really fallen this far?

That said, he continued his temptation with professionalism: "Others have wealth, power, and influence, why should you remain so insignificant? If I’m not mistaken, you’re currently the eldest disciple of your sect, yet you’re constantly suppressed by your junior brothers, spending every day learning talismans and handling sect chores, suffocating, but never receiving any attention. Don’t you want to make your junior brothers disappear, becoming the only successor of the sect? Don’t you want to take the next step and become the sect leader?"

His voice was like a bell, yet for some reason, his words carried an irresistible temptation.

Zhu Chu’s expression indeed wavered. When Poxun spoke about him being suppressed by his junior brothers, he almost couldn’t hold back tears.

However, the next sentence from Poxun made him furrow his brows.

"No, wait," his eyes suddenly cleared, and he raised his hand to stop the incessant chatter, "My junior brother is indeed very strong and scheming, but there's no need for him to disappear, right?"

Poxun: "?"

The skill to control hearts failed, and Poxun was momentarily stunned, not knowing how to respond.

"And do you know how important my junior brother is in our sect? If it weren’t for him, all the hundreds of people in our sect wouldn’t have had a place to stay for so long! Even the contracts were paid for by his assistant, who also printed them out for us!"

Though the sect's conditions had improved a lot now, the struggles they faced when they were first revived were still fresh in Zhu Chu’s mind. Just thinking about it made him want to cry.

Who could’ve imagined that the Xiaoyao Sect, now flourishing, couldn’t even afford the printing costs back then?

Zhu Chu wore an expression that seemed to say "stop trying to sow discord within our sect," and spoke with righteous indignation, "Our sect consists of me, my master, my junior brother, and my junior brother’s assistant Liu, none of us can be replaced. Stop making nonsense. As the eldest disciple, I’m loved by my master and respected by my junior brothers. What’s there to be dissatisfied about? My life’s going well!"

As he spoke, he truly managed to break free from Poxun’s control and ran to Ke Xingzhou’s side, holding the talisman paper and handing it over.

The magic that Poxun had placed on him was immediately broken.

Even the Demon King Poxun, when forcibly having his control broken, had to suffer a backlash.

He felt a warmth in his throat and suddenly spat out a mouthful of demon blood. His demon hand, which was about to grab the contestants again, lost all its strength and turned into dark clouds, dissipating into the sky.

Zhu Chu, seeing this, sneered, "You talk about the demon race being strong, yet we didn’t even lay a hand on you and you’re already spitting blood. With such a weak body, my master is way stronger than you… You should eat more goji berries to improve your health!"

Upon hearing mention of himself, Ke Xingzhou slowly nodded, frowning at Poxun: "If you keep spitting blood, don’t die on someone else’s turf. Are you still going to fight or not?"

Poxun: "…"

Poxun was too angry to speak.

Ke Xingzhou, seeing that Poxun was left speechless, felt even more proud of his eldest disciple’s sharp tongue, as he had made the opponent so furious they had lost composure without lifting a finger.

However, to be honest, what Poxun had said earlier did make him realize something.

He had indeed neglected his eldest disciple a bit lately. After thinking for a moment, Ke Xingzhou nodded in appreciation toward his disciple: "Well said, I’ll give you a raise when we get back."

Zhu Chu’s eyes immediately lit up: "Thank you, Master! You’re the best! I’ll work for you like a servant for the rest of my life!"Nie Chen: "......"

The crowd: "......"

For some reason, everyone’s gaze unconsciously turned to Poxun in mid-air, and even the cameramen had the courage to zoom out and point the cameras at Poxun's face.

This person had just said so much, but it wasn’t as direct and honest as what his master said about raising his salary...

Poxun: "............"

Poxun spat out another mouthful of old blood, glaring at Zhu Chu and Ke Xingzhou, so angry his hands were shaking.

He smiled fiercely, opening his mouth wide like a bloodthirsty beast, and reassembled his arm, reaching toward Zhu Chu and Ke Xingzhou.

The crowd immediately felt a chill and began summoning their magical tools to counter the attack.

Members of the Special Incident Handling Bureau no longer hid their identities. White Tiger, Chongming, Xuanwu, Qilin... various mythical beasts that could only be seen in legends appeared before everyone.

The Taoist priests had summoned their life’s work to assist the divine beasts. Zhu Chu, late to react, suddenly realized—

"So that giant bird earlier was Zhuque?! Zhu Xian is Zhuque?!"

The Taoist priests were too stunned by the endless array of divine beasts to focus on him.

Zhu Chu had no choice but to stay by his master’s side, pulling out a brush and cinnabar to help his master replenish talismans.

Turning his head, he saw the bow and arrows in Ke Xingzhou’s hand, and couldn’t help but say, "Isn’t that Liancheng’s bow and arrows?"

Nie Chen immediately looked over, his gaze heavy as it settled on the bow in Ke Xingzhou’s hand.

He had initially thought this was an illusion created by Ke Xingzhou’s Taoist magic, but upon closer inspection, he realized that while the bowstring and arrows were indeed an illusion, the bow itself was solid.

He didn’t know who Liancheng was, but instinctively felt a sense of rejection upon hearing Zhu Chu’s words.

Nie Chen, also holding a stack of talismans, silently handed them to Ke Xingzhou, his gaze fixed on him.

Ke Xingzhou: "......"

For some reason, with Nie Chen staring at him like that, Ke Xingzhou inexplicably felt a bit guilty.

After all, Old Chen had said that he would trade Nie’s family’s Wanli Group for this bow...

Ke Xingzhou coughed lightly, stopping Zhu Chu from continuing: "Focus on drawing your talismans."

Though he said this, his hands didn’t loosen from the bowstring, and the arrowtip was firmly aimed at Poxun in mid-air, the golden arrow formed by Taoist magic pointed directly at Poxun’s heart.

This time, the power of the arrow was even greater than before, and even the Taoist priests standing nearby could feel the overwhelming momentum contained in the arrow. Naturally, Poxun, targeted by the arrow, felt it too.

His expression showed uncertainty, as if he had seen something terrifying in Ke Xingzhou.

But moments later, this look of hesitation disappeared, replaced by intense mockery: "Humans, truly a pitiful race."

Ke Xingzhou couldn’t be bothered to listen to him anymore. He drew the bowstring as far as it could go, his eyes calm: "You talk too much, I’m still trying to eat."

As soon as the words left his mouth, an even faster light arrow shot out, flying directly toward Poxun in mid-air.Poxun's expression was full of disdain, probably thinking that this arrow was as weak as the previous one. He didn’t bother to dodge and only slightly phantasmalized the area around his heart, focusing on dealing with the approaching divine beasts.

He came from an ancient era rich in spiritual energy and had seen many prodigies of nature. To him, the current humans were like a group of ants, and even these divine beasts, which were at the peak of combat ability in the eyes of the Taoist priests, posed little threat to Poxun.

Poxun carefully dealt with a few attacks and soon couldn't help but laugh derisively: "What? The spiritual energy of heaven and earth is thin, and even the Heavenly Dao no longer protects you divine beasts? You’re so weak, not even as strong as my shattered body sealed for ten thousand years in the Demon Sealing Array!"

Zhongming, White Tiger, and the others ignored his mockery and only intensified their attacks, yet they still couldn't shake him in the slightest.

Poxun's gaze swept over these divine beasts, and not seeing the people he had expected, he relaxed slightly.

"Xuanwu, White Tiger, Zhuque, where's Qinglong? Could it be that in that great battle ten thousand years ago, you truly perished?" He laughed arrogantly, "When you all sealed my demon clan ten thousand years ago, did you ever think this day would come?"

No longer holding back, Poxun raised his hand and swatted White Tiger aside, grabbing Zhongming by the neck with one hand, lifting him up like a chick.

Zhongming crashed heavily to the ground, and the wounds from before burst open once more, with fresh blood staining his white fur.

His eyes nearly bulged out with rage: "The group of Mara you sent to cause chaos earlier, it really was you, wasn’t it! Demon clan, still as despicable as ever!"

Poxun didn’t care in the slightest: "Compared to you humans, what does it matter? Don’t you have a saying, ‘Warriors do not mind deceit’?"

He casually tossed Zhongming aside.

He had already figured out the abilities of these divine beasts, and now, in the mortal world, probably only the Heavenly Dao could pose any real threat to his demon clan. There was no need to worry about anything else.

As for the bow and arrow that was steadily growing more powerful with every moment, Poxun paid it even less attention.

His entire body was made of clouds, capable of transforming into mist at any time, impervious to any harm...

As he was thinking this, Ke Xingzhou loosened his fingers, and the fully charged bowstring released with a tremendous sound of breaking air, speeding toward Poxun before anyone could react.

In the next moment, a sharp, searing pain struck suddenly. Poxun incredulously looked down to see a large hole in his chest.

"How... is this possible?" He raised his head, staring in shock at Ke Xingzhou, "It’s you?"

Ke Xingzhou looked at him in confusion, wondering what the demon clan was talking about.

Before he could speak, Zhongming suddenly changed his expression and shouted, "Form the formation!"

Thin threads of golden light floated up from the entire royal palace’s ground. Poxun finally realized that those divine beasts, whom he thought he had reduced to the brink of death, had subtly formed a Demon Sealing Array. Blood flowed into the array’s center beneath their feet, merging with the remaining dragon vein underground to form a giant formation.

And Ke Xingzhou, after a moment of confusion, decisively strung his bow, sealing off Poxun's escape route.

Zhongming spat out a mouthful of blood-tainted saliva and grinned at Poxun, showing his sharp canine teeth: "Warriors do not mind deceit, as you said."

Ke Xingzhou shook his head regretfully: "It seems the demon clan’s learning ability is poor. You’d better not associate with them; it might affect your progress in learning Taoist magic."

Zhu Chu, nodding repeatedly like a little chick pecking at rice, chimed in: "Master is right! I listen to Master!"

"……" Poxun’s face immediately turned incredibly ugly.