Chapter 136

The Demon Sealing Array was completed, and the massive illusion of Poxun dissipated. A demon, only slightly taller than an ordinary human, appeared in the clouds, crashing heavily to the ground!

The complete Demon Sealing Array could seal the abilities of demons. Even if it were the Demon King Poxun, he could no longer use the demonic power within his body, and would be reduced to an ordinary human with a strong constitution.

After Poxun lost his demonic powers, he could no longer stir up trouble, and the dark clouds that had covered the royal palace quickly dissipated.

The group hurriedly rushed to the place where Poxun had fallen.

Earlier, since the filming location was in the inner courtyard, they had focused on rescuing people and went straight to the inner courtyard. However, Poxun had fallen in the garden ahead, a considerable distance away.

That was an area open to the public. If he had crashed into any famous scenic spots, the next time the area was opened to tourists, it would be disastrous if something seemed wrong.

Even if no policemen were harmed, if valuable ornaments or plants were damaged, the Taoist Association couldn’t afford to compensate!

Under the pressure of money, the Taoist priests moved quickly, almost faster than the divine beasts.

This made the divine beasts question their lives. Were their injuries truly this severe?

A group of elderly Taoist priests, with crane-like hair and youthful faces, ran ahead of the crowd. Upon reaching the location, they saw Poxun, head-first, stuck in a large water jar. Having lost his demonic powers, he could only struggle in the water with his limbs.

It was unclear whether the bottom of the jar was too slippery or what, but even after the group had been there for a while, he hadn’t managed to climb out.

They couldn’t help but feel that the purple on Poxun’s skin seemed even darker than before.

Zhu Chu, after undergoing some training, finally managed to catch up to the group, gasping for breath. Seeing the scene, he paused for a moment before asking the most crucial question: “…Can demons drown?”

The group: "..."

Probably, yes.

Twenty minutes later, the group finally fished the purple-faced Poxun out of the water jar.

To be honest, they hadn’t really wanted to pull him out.

The demon clan had done countless evil deeds, promoting indulgence, and used this to deceive innocent beings into falling into the demon realm, becoming their subordinates or even their food. They could truly be said to be enemies of all.

However, after Poxun lost his demonic powers, he was no different from an ordinary person. After being trapped in the Demon Sealing Array for a long time, without the support of his demonic powers, his body had become emaciated, and his struggles in the water were truly pitiful.

Moreover, they still had to take him to negotiate with the demon clan.

The demon clan was a very peculiar group. The gap in status between high-ranking and low-ranking demons was enormous. For high-ranking demons, low-ranking demons were both subordinates and food. They could be killed if they were displeasing in any way.However, among the high-ranking demons, there was a sense of family atmosphere.

It is said that the reproductive ability of demons is similar to that of humans, but in reality, only low-ranking demons reproduce without restraint, able to produce a large number of offspring at any time and place.

The reproduction rate of true high-ranking demons is extremely low, even lower than the probability of divine beasts giving birth. Additionally, cultivating their powers is not easy, and tens of thousands of years may pass without a single high-ranking demon being born naturally.

Every high-ranking demon is a precious existence to the demon realm. Whether a demon god or a demon king, once captured, they become an important bargaining chip for negotiations with the human realm.

Therefore, before the Demon King Poxun could be drowned by an ordinary water jar, Xuanwu still went up to fish him out.

At this moment, Poxun had drunk his fill of water and felt that if he drank any more, his belly would explode. After being pulled out, he looked like a malnourished frog, constantly burping, spitting out water as he did.

Occasionally, there were also clumps of mud, plant roots, and duckweed from the bottom of the jar, sticking to his body in a sticky mess.

"..." The group looked at the scene in disgust.

The local Taoist priests from the capital, however, looked at the jar, feeling inexplicably familiar with it.

Zhu Chu exclaimed, "Master, isn't this the water jar that Boss Ke placed in the villa? It looks exactly the same! Could this be an antique?"

Gu Xicheng and the photographers were dragged over by the divine beasts, nearly vomiting from the bumpy ride. They stood aside for a long time, trying to steady themselves.

Upon hearing this, Gu Xicheng finally regained a bit of energy, stood up straight, and glanced at the water jar they were talking about, casually muttering a number: "Six million."

This jar was indeed an antique, and it was something he had personally bought at a Christie's auction. However, for the Lu family, such an antique wasn't considered particularly rare. Once the novelty wore off, they simply placed it there for tourists to see.

Many tourists came here every day, and some of them were knowledgeable. They checked the Christie's auction records when they returned and were immediately shocked, sharing it online.

This kind of information is easily found online; he didn't believe that these people didn’t know.

Gu Xicheng adjusted his tie, waiting proudly for someone to ask why such an expensive item was left out in the open to be exposed to the elements, wondering if they were afraid that tourists might break it.

His classmates and friends who hadn't seen much of the world had always asked him such questions.

However, after waiting for a while, the talkative guy did finally speak up, but what he said was: "Oh, you paid too much. My master's father bought one for only four million. It's two hundred thousand cheaper than yours!"

Gu Xicheng: "?"

Zhu Chu continued, "And this jar is so dirty. Even if it's in a scenic spot, it shouldn't be left uncleaned like this. It's such a waste."

Gu Xicheng thought, here it comes. This guy was just pretending to be tough. No ordinary person could stay indifferent upon seeing a six-million-dollar jar casually placed in a public area for everyone to admire.

As for the "master's father" he mentioned, he probably just made it sound impressive. In reality, he definitely wouldn't be willing to place such an expensive item outside to be exposed to the sun and rain.

Then Zhu Chu added, "My master's father left the jar outside the villa, and people specially go there to clean it."

He grimaced, clearly expressing his "disdain for the poor maintenance in this scenic spot."

Gu Xicheng was stunned. After a brief shock, he finally regained his composure and said, "What... did you say? Left it outside the door?"

"Yes. If you search for 'Xiaoyao Sect' on a map, the second location with fewer check-ins is it. It's in a villa area, so ordinary tourists can't get in, but the ducks and geese raised by the old folks nearby often come over to play in the water jar. I even have some photos taken by photography enthusiasts. Want to see them?"

Ducks... geese...

Gu Xicheng felt dazed, and facing Zhu Chu's sincere invitation, he opened his mouth: "No... It's fine."What are you looking at? It's already on the "Xie De" map with the check-in count.

If the water jar he left here hadn’t been recognized as a genuine antique from Christie's auction, it might have been smashed by some mischievous kid imitating Sima Guang breaking a jar.

He secretly searched the keyword "Xiaoyao Sect's jar" online, and the images that popped up showed that their jar was indeed placed at the entrance, but it was in better condition, with an even smoother glaze.

In comparison, the jar placed in the scenic area here was much dirtier, with mud at the bottom, green algae that hadn’t been cleaned, and the plants inside were wilted.

The edge of the jar even had bird droppings.

Xiaoyao Sect's jar was only four million...

Gu Xicheng couldn’t help but let out a long, suppressed sigh. No wonder the old man scolded him for wasting money...

At the same time, Boshun also regained consciousness.

As a Demon King, he certainly wouldn’t be knocked out just by such a height, but he had drunk too much dirty water, which made him feel a little dazed and nauseated by the foul smell.

He opened his eyes and saw so many people surrounding him. When he didn’t feel any demonic energy flowing within him, he knew that the situation was dire and irreversible.

He staggered to his feet, tightly gripping the edge of the jar behind him. He slipped but managed to stabilize himself and snorted, "You think this will defeat me? Hmph, the ancient Demon Sealing Formation is no longer effective, and the demons will return to the human world. Sooner or later, you will all become the defeated underlings of our demon race!"

When he said this, he faced the photographers, speaking in a heroic and majestic tone.

The photographers were very supportive. Even though they had been jolted on their way here and were feeling dizzy, they didn’t abandon their professional duties. Now, facing Boshun looking for a shot, they all professionally raised their cameras.

Ke Xingzhou’s expression slightly changed, and he subconsciously looked at Nie Chen.

Nie Chen had barely spoken since Ke Xingzhou had avoided his gaze earlier. Noticing his change in expression, Nie Chen didn’t actively speak up, which made Ke Xingzhou feel even more uneasy.

He remained silent for a moment, wanting to say something, when he heard Zhu Chu say, "Hey, bro, don’t look for the lens. The lens cap is on. Didn’t you notice?"

Ke Xingzhou: "!"

Boshun: "?"

The Demon Sealing Formation’s restraint on high-level demon gods was the strongest. He had just escaped from the formation, and in reality, he knew less about the human world than the demons below him.

To be honest, he had been given the task to target the Xiaoyao Sect, and had hastily learned some things about modern society. He hadn’t studied many of the uncommon things.

—In the end, everything would belong to their demon race.

At that moment, hearing the words "lens cap," Boshun didn’t even know where to look.

Then, a photographer seemed to come to his senses, reached in front of his camera, and twisted a small cap on the front of the device.

He didn’t take it off, but twisted it tighter.

—Since Boshun had been knocked out of the sky, they had already turned off the live stream and hadn’t been filming for a long time!

Boshun was so furious upon realizing this that he almost spat blood. What made him even more frustrated was when Zhu Chu glanced downward, pointed at his hand, and said, "You’d better not get too close... I just saw a swallow demon poop on it."

Boshun looked down at the edge of the jar, and indeed, a transformed swallow was hopping around on it.Different from the courtship dance he previously performed for Ke Xingzhou, the Swallow Demon at this moment danced without any rhythm or aesthetic sense, shouting, "So dirty! Ah, ah, ah, so dirty, so dirty!"

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

Thinking about how he drank a lot of dirty water when he fell earlier, including some of the sludge at the bottom of the barrel, Poxun's face completely changed.

"Ugh! What's wrong with the creatures of your human world? How can... how can you be so unhygienic... ugh, ugh, ugh!!"

He vomited uncontrollably, making it difficult for everyone to continue their animosity.

The crowd exchanged glances, and finally, only a few special event handling bureau's divine beasts remained to guard Poxun. After he finished vomiting, they would take him to be imprisoned alongside Asura.

The others all went back to their respective places.

The local Taoist priests cupped their hands to bid farewell to Ke Xingzhou and Nie Chen, walking away with unsteady steps.

Assistant Liu would later transfer the remuneration for the ritual to their temple's account, and they didn't need to worry about other matters. But today, seeing so many divine beasts, some of which even had frequent interactions with them, they were sure to brag about this big event to their sect back home!

After such a huge incident, the program could no longer continue.

Even though Ke Xingzhou kept emphasizing "believe in science," in the end, Poxun appeared, and people like Xiang Ting transformed into divine beasts and used various talismans and formations. The audience wasn’t stupid, and they couldn’t pretend not to understand anymore.

So, as soon as the signal was restored, the live broadcast was cut off, and the chief director was called for a talk. The fourth episode of the program was indefinitely delayed, with no set date for resumption.

However, even if the relevant departments didn't take action, the program would likely not continue—

The contestants' performances when escaping in the semi-finals were too realistic, so real that it was uncomfortable.

At that time, a large number of viewers in the live stream couldn’t accept it and even unfollowed and criticized. Some viewers living nearby even rushed over to throw rotten eggs at them.

If this episode were to continue, no one knew what might happen.

One could only say that, although the Demon Clan's goal of targeting the Xiaoyao Sect wasn't achieved, their plan had succeeded beyond expectation.

"All-round Idol" was no longer the same "All-round Idol" it had been before. The current show's popularity had reached such a level that even foreigners were watching the live stream. What happened in this episode could almost be compared to triggering a seven-point earthquake.

In no time, everyone knew that the fourth episode of "All-round Idol" had gone big, and the online discussion had almost exploded.

Even though Xiang Ting contacted the cybersecurity department immediately and mobilized all forces to urgently manage the online public opinion about this incident, words like "Demon Clan," "Divine Beasts," and "Cultivation" still spread like a virus across the internet.

Zhong Ming reported the situation with a face like the sky had fallen.

"This is the end," he wailed in despair. "Those damn demons are going to be so smug now."

Zhu Chu didn't understand: "Why can't we just tell people the truth? When our sect first started, many people didn't believe, and some even insulted us without caring about whether it was true or not. Now, aren’t they all coming to share and pray for us?"

Those former haters thought they were secretly sharing, and the Xiaoyao Sect definitely didn't know. In reality, Zhu Chu held grudges and had been keeping an eye on them.

"This is different," Zhong Ming shook his head. "If this kind of thing had happened ten thousand years ago, there would have been no need to hide it. But now, after people have lived peaceful lives for so long and never encountered other intelligent beings beyond humans, suddenly exposing so much information to them will definitely cause great chaos."

Humans are always filled with fear about things they don't understand.

If the panic was simply caused by ignorance, it would be easy to resolve. The problem, however, was that the Demon Clan had slipped out of the Magic Sealing Formation and blended into the crowd. For a while, they couldn't even be found.If the other party takes advantage of this opportunity to do something, they would be completely defenseless.

Zhong Ming couldn't help but curse as he spoke, "Those damn demons, always causing chaos. If I had known, I wouldn’t have bothered with the Magic Sealing Formation ten thousand years ago. It would have been better to put more effort into just exterminating their entire race."

Zhu Chu looked surprised: "So it was possible to exterminate them?"

Zhong Ming: "..."

It was naturally possible to exterminate them.

Although the Demon Clan was strong, at that time they were up against a unified front of all the other races in the world.

At that time, the spiritual energy of heaven and earth was abundant, giving birth to countless intelligent beings. Among humans, there were countless cultivators in the Great Ascension stage, and other races also had many geniuses, creating a prosperous era.

Faced with the united siege of all the other races, the Demon Clan suffered heavy casualties in the end, and they were just stubbornly resisting.

However, the other races were also severely weakened, and if they had pursued it to the end, the Demon Clan could indeed have been wiped out, but the other races might also have been left in a state of collapse.

Therefore, after weighing the pros and cons, the final decision was made to suppress the entire Demon Clan with the Magic Sealing Formation.

The reasoning behind this decision couldn’t be explained to the people of today, so Zhong Ming could only sigh deeply.

Zhu Chu assumed he was regretting not choosing a more permanent solution and, glancing at Poxun, who appeared unrepentant after being caught and even seemed a bit smug, muttered softly, "If we had just wiped them out ten thousand years ago, we wouldn’t have so many problems now…"

Ke Xingzhou nodded heavily: "Indeed."

He was someone who disliked trouble, and learning that there had been a chance ten thousand years ago to ensure the Demon Clan would never rise again but that opportunity was missed made him feel quite regretful.

The Taoist priests: "..."

To be honest, they had the same thought.

But on second thought, such a killing intent was too heavy, so they recited a calming incantation to suppress the thought.

So this was what it meant to be from the Xiaoyao Sect? The master and disciple casually said such things out loud…

Poxun’s expression also changed.

Previously, he had been fearless, thinking that after the Demon Clan’s return, they would be able to crush the current weaker races and reign over modern society.

But now, after he himself had fallen, he realized that his previous thoughts had been overly complacent.

Especially regarding the sect leader of the Xiaoyao Sect—

Poxun’s gaze fell on Ke Xingzhou, his eyes flashing with extremely complex emotions.

Ke Xingzhou noticed his gaze and turned around to look at him strangely. But before he could ask anything, he heard his disciple say, "Eh?"

Zhu Chu, the one most familiar with the internet in the room, upon learning that the Demon Clan’s goal was to create a public opinion crisis, immediately logged onto his social media account.

He handed his phone to Ke Xingzhou: "I don’t think the situation online is as bad as you guys said!"

Zhong Ming thought to himself, how could that be possible? The news of the Demon Clan’s return would surely drive the public crazy. He had already received several calls from leaders about it.He thought that perhaps ordinary people couldn’t understand the situation, but when he leaned over to take a look, he couldn’t help but: "......"

On the hot search, there were indeed many topics related to the live broadcast of the fourth episode of "All-Round Idol," almost occupying the entire page. The topics, as they expected, were highly provocative—

"All-Round Idol" Live Stream Features Demon King Poxun

Ghost Hunting Live at the Show, Various Divine Beasts Appear!

Is the "Classic of Mountains and Seas" an Ancient Animal Encyclopedia?

Did anyone have a moment where they realized the world is fake?

...

When Zhong Ming saw the headlines, his heart nearly stopped, but when he clicked on it, all he saw were netizens laughing [hahaha].

[Watched the live broadcast, just want to say, even variety show technology can be this impressive, why are they still showing that kind of nonsense to audiences in cinemas?]

[No way, does anyone really believe that there's a demon king in this world?]

[The divine beasts, I believe them, after all, they are recorded in our country's texts (in the "Classic of Mountains and Seas"). Taoists shouting "believe in science" while flying to the ground I've already seen. But that demon king Poxun, forget it, the news came from abroad. If they're going to stir trouble, they should do it in their own country! What’s the deal with bringing it to ours?]

[How did they get in with visa exemptions? Immigration Bureau, come out and take the blame!]

Zhong Ming: "......"

Zhong Ming was really curious about these people's mental state.

He even saw posts obviously made by the Demon Clan stirring up trouble, like "The Demon Clan is invincible, modern technology can’t stop us, the Demon Clan will eventually rule the world" and "Ordinary people should not resist, prepare to submit."

Zhong Ming’s heart skipped a beat, and when he opened the comment section, he couldn’t help but laugh in anger.

Netizens could play along with anything. Immediately, they were shouting "Long live the Demon King!" and then started asking about salaries for working in the Demon Realm.

[What? The 007 work schedule has no personal time, and now I have to be eaten by you? How are you demons worse than the greediest human capitalists!]

[Four days on, three days off, I’ll bring my whole family to join! Seven days on, zero off? Screw you, Demon King, you’re out of tune, I’d be a better Demon King than you!]

[Still calling it freedom? Working every day is freedom, huh? Damn capitalist, I’m calling the police to have you arrested!]

[You haven’t even spread compulsory education, and you still talk about progress? I think your company’s level doesn’t match my skills, I respectfully decline.]

Demon Clan Poster: "?????"

What is all this nonsense!?

Zhong Ming took a deep breath after reading this and decisively turned off his phone screen.

Seeing how calm everyone was at work, he was relieved.