Sovereign of the Three Realms

Mang Qi’s expression was extremely ugly. Its tone was unprecedentedly stern as it responded, “In ancient times, the desolate wildlands were invaded by the demon race. The nest of the demon race is precisely in the desolate wildlands. This place where we were sealed is the boundary of the desolate wildlands. Are you really thinking of charging straight into demon race territory?”

“Demon race territory? We’re in the Divine Abyss Continent. There aren’t any demons here.”

Mang Qi shook its head repeatedly, “There’s no way the demon race isn’t present. The bloodline of the demon race is not so easily extinguished. Their temporary absence may only be a sign that they are biding their time. Without the demon race, why have the desolate wildlands remained as desolate as ever even today? Because you human cultivators don’t even dare to occupy that place, because the bloodline of the demon race has not disappeared at all. Jiang Chen, if you… if you don’t know how terrifying the demon race is, it’s best that you don’t approach the desolate wildlands.” Mang Qi was clearly extremely agitated. It hated the idea of Jiang Chen risking his life.

“I’m sorry but I must go to the desolate wildlands. I have to obtain the Requiem Wood.” Jiang Chen will not let anyone stand in the way of his plans.

Mang Qi stared at Jiang Chen with eyes as wide as copper bells before it sighed softly, “Do you know that the Requiem Wood never existed in your Divine Abyss Continent? It’s a species the demon race brought with them.”

Jiang Chen laughed, “That doesn’t matter to me.”

He had seen Requiem Wood before in his previous life. It wasn’t necessarily a species that belonged solely to the demon race. There were many other races that could cultivate Requiem Wood as well. However, Requiem Wood was indeed a kind of plant favored by the demon race. Nonetheless, Jiang Chen needed to get his hands on the Requiem Wood. He would climb a mountain even if he knew it was infested with tigers.

Other people might be terrified of the demon race. But with the knowledge accrued from his previous life, Jiang Chen possessed no bone-chilling fear towards the demon race. To him, the demon race was nothing more than just another race in the heavenly realm. While they were strong, they weren’t powerful to the extent that other races would quake in their boots upon hearing their name.

When Mang Qi saw his stubbornness, it could tell that this youth had already matured. He had his own way of thinking now, to the degree that people around him had no way of changing his standpoint. Mang Qi felt shock but also a sense of gratification. Jiang Chen’s growth was music to his ears. The faster Jiang Chen matured, the brighter its hope of leaving this place became. Ultimately, this was a good thing.

“Mang Qi, I might be speaking out of turn, but what exactly is your cultivation?” Jiang Chen naturally did not believe that Mang Qi was truly only in the spirit realm.

Mang Qi smiled bashfully before saying in a somewhat embarrassed voice, “It’s true that I hid my true strength last time, but I didn’t want you to be scared. I was also worried that you wouldn’t understand, that you wouldn’t accept me.”

“Just tell me. I can handle it,” Jiang Chen smiled.

“That year, the ones who were chosen by the demon race to be leaders of the puppet army were all acknowledged by the heavenly law. Do you understand me when I put things this way?”

“Empyrean rank?” Jiang Chen’s pupils contracted rapidly in shock as he stared unwaveringly at Mang Qi.

“Indeed. There are at least a hundred others like me within the formation and countless others below empyrean rank. However, it’s almost impossible for anyone below empyrean rank to survive for so many years. Of course, each race differs from the others. But anyone able to make their way here, even those below empyrean rank, is certainly no poser. Although they haven’t been able to train, but if they managed to survive until now, they must undoubtedly be terrifying existences!”

Jiang Chen was speechless. He’s already given Mang Qi’s power the benefit of the doubt, but who’d have thought that even then, he had underestimated it. More than a hundred beings of empyrean potential were sealed within this formation! If a situation of this scale was unleashed, it would pose an unfathomable danger to the Divine Abyss Continent. He couldn’t guarantee that every one of the beings trapped here was like Mang Qi who did not harbor any hatred for the Continent. His expression instantly turned grave. A moment later, he asked, “Mang Qi, I hope you keep our agreement a secret. If I manage to get you out of here one day, I also hope that none of the others here will be released to wreak havoc on the Divine Abyss Continent as a result.”

Mang Qi fell silent for a second before it nodded. “I will take the secret to my grave. However, I feel that if you really manage to break this seal one day, it’d be most beneficial if you could use the others for your own goals.”

Jiang Chen pondered on this, but he still replied, “We’ll see when the time comes. If their personalities are all like yours then it wouldn’t be so bad. I’m just afraid that some will be overly stubborn in their ambitions.”

Mang Qi sighed, “If the edges of their personalities have not been worn out even after this amount of time, then something must be wrong with their brains.”

Things like personalities were difficult to predict. Some people’s stubbornness could be washed away by the tides of time but others might be naturally unbridled. No amount of years could change that.

“Wouldn’t an even larger number of demon race forces be needed to manipulate so many puppets of war to serve them?” Jiang Chen asked abruptly.

“Why would the demon race need so many troops to control puppets? But still, there were some troops of demons, consisting of quite a few members, that invaded the Divine Abyss Continent. However, they obviously underestimated the power of your continent. Those few troops failed to achieve anything. From the looks of it now, they should have been suppressed by the heavyweights of your Divine Abyss Continent. But don’t just assume that everything is over,” Mang Qi replied in a heavy voice. “When the orbital trajectory of the heavenly planes coincides once more with the demon race’s path of invasion, the demon race will be given another pathway into this place. That is when they will strike again.”

Jiang Chen was very clear on matters related to orbital trajectories. As the son of the Celestial Emperor in his previous life, he naturally knew the theory behind the movement of the heavenly planes. These realms contained countless secular realms and minor worlds. These worlds that fell within the umbrella of the heavenly planes were all governed by the laws of heavenly orbit. Every plane was interconnected through a heavenly path. Only, the heavenly paths were closed most of the time.

The overlap of heavenly paths signaled the time when interplanar wars was at its most active. Intersection meant that the heavenly paths were straightened out, and no obstacles were in between each other. The entrance of one plane into another was as simple as breaking into a neighbor’s backyard. Of course, the realms and minor worlds within the heavenly planes were as numerous as water droplets in the ocean and stars in the sky. There was no way to account for all of them.

The time until the heavenly paths into these countless planes overlapped again could be as short as ten thousand years, or as long as more than a few million years. Apart from the overlap of heavenly paths, the only other way for a plane to invade another was through interplanar hopping. That kind of dimensional travel required an extreme amount of time and effort, and was fraught with danger. Therefore, unless the heavenly paths overlapped, there was rarely any conflict between planes, unless they were close enough to each other to simplify interplanar travel. From the records of the Ancient Crimson Heavens Sect, the invasion of the demon race should have been because they accidentally discovered the Divine Abyss Continent during the overlap of heavenly paths.

When Mang Qi saw Jiang Chen’s skepticism, it emphasized very seriously, “Don’t doubt me. The demon race holds long grudges. The demon king will definitely not forget the defeat of his armies here. When the heavenly paths overlap again, they will definitely invade again in even greater numbers. Even more heavyweights of the demon race will descend upon this place. Mark my words!”

At least ten thousand years had passed since the ancient era. Who knew when the heavenly paths would overlap again? As of now, the Divine Abyss Continent, especially those in the know within the human domain, did not fear the invasion of the demon race from outside the continent. What they feared was kindling the embers of the demon race within the Continent.

The demon race had definitely not been completely exterminated during the ancient war. It was just that those that had been sealed were still in stasis and those in hibernation were still isolated. That war had only come to a temporary lull. It had not concluded, and the various races of the Divine Abyss Continent only buried their heads into the sand. Everyone was content to pretend that this matter had never happened. They were satisfied with simply deceiving themselves to get past each day. In particular, what had occurred with He Hongshu reinforced Jiang Chen’s belief that the demon race had already begun to stir again.

However, Jiang Chen was not that fearful of the demon race, nor did he desire to escape. “Mang Qi, I will keep what you’ve told me in mind. The movement of heavenly paths is governed by the laws of heavenly dao. No man can obstruct them. All I can do is to prepare myself to greet any unforeseen changes.” This was Jiang Chen’s truest mentality.

Mang Qi was somewhat astonished by Jiang Chen’s confidence. But as he thought about his judgment of Jiang Chen and the latter’s stunning progress in recent years, he began to relax. “In short, just be careful. You’ll definitely alert the demon race if you try to cross the desolate wildlands,” Mang Qi warned Jiang Chen again. “Even if they’re no longer running rampant in this world, even if they’ve already gone into hibernation, you must never underestimate the kindling ambitions of the demon race.”

Jiang Chen took Mang Qi’s painstaking advice to heart. He left the Boundless Catacombs in much higher spirits. At least, Mang Qi wasn’t part of the demon race and the contract they had formed would not be something that would come back to bite him. That was a preoccupation that he could finally lay to rest. When Huang’er saw Jiang Chen emerge with both relief and grimness on his face, she was also curious. “Brother Chen, Elder Shun once said that this Boundless Catacombs is a very unique place. Nothing happened to you down there, right?”

Jiang Chen didn’t have anything to hide from Huang’er. When she heard all that Jiang Chen had to say about the formation, she was greatly shocked. “Who’d have thought that there’d be so many mysteries surrounding the ancient era!”

“Heh, those heavyweights from the ancient era were such a courageous generation. Yet now, they’re all turtling themselves up in the Myriad Abyss Island with no balls to poke their heads out. What the heck is that?” Jiang Chen still looked down on the Myriad Abyss Island. Did they really think that foreign experts would be unable to detect the Divine Abyss Continent if they hid on the island? They were definitely burying their heads into the sand.

Perhaps the Myriad Abyss Island possessed some mysterious way to deceive prying eyes. Indeed, hiding on the island might help one evade those wandering interplanar adventurers. But, when the heavenly plans overlapped once more, when the vengeful demon race launched their large-scale invasion, it wouldn’t matter where they hid.

When Huang’er heard Jiang Chen’s dissatisfaction towards the Myriad Abyss Island, she also smiled, “Actually, Brother Chen, regarding the Myriad Abyss Island, hiding from other planes’ heavyweights is just one aspect. Another aspect is the geographical advantage of the island. Those people are not only hiding. In the ancient war, countless spirit veins were dispersed and destroyed. Many places are no longer suitable for the training of empyrean experts. It is difficult for those spirit veins to recover without at least a few tens of thousands of years. The Myriad Abyss Island is the only remaining place where empyrean experts can train easily. It is already incredibly difficult for this outside world to accommodate a large number of empyrean experts…”