Forty Millenniums of Cultivation

“The black-blood demons and the chaotic-blood demons till the most barren land and work in the most dangerous mines all the time. What we have been eating are the leftovers that they accidentally dropped. We live in fear all through our life, and if we die and rot in mud, we do not even have a tombstone. In the end, our earning is less than one percent of what they get!

“Even though we endure everything, they are still unwilling to let us go. They want us to go to the Heaven’s Origin Sector as cannon fodder to fulfil their ambition!”

“Stop it. That is the Great Dao for us!” Lei Chuang said coldly. “Everything in the world is part of your training. As chaotic-blood demons, all the pain and suffering are tests that the Primeval Lord of Heaven bestowed upon us!

“As long as we hold on to our belief and devote our everything loyally, when the glorious Pantheon of Demons appears, we will be able to get rid of the filthy blood and embark on the path to becoming immortal gods just like the silver-blood demons and the saint-blood demons!”

Lei Qi laughed so hard that his tears were almost dropping. “Ah Chuang, you are so naïve. Do you really believe in the glorious Pantheon of Demons and that the bloodlines of the high-level demons are different from ours?”

Lei Chuang sneered. “Of course, I do because… it was you who told me everything!

“Wasn’t it you who told me a long time ago about the stories of the Primeval Lord of Heaven, the three thousand rules of the Great Dao, the glorious Pantheon of Demons, Obliteration, rebirth, and immortality?

“Wasn’t it you who told me that we must train ourselves crazily so that we can rush to a brilliant obliteration on the battlefield and embrace a magnificent rebirth?

“Wasn’t it you who told me that, faced with the contempt of the silver-blood demons, the exploitation of the bronze-blood demons, and the bullying of the black-blood demons, we must bear in mind that we are walking on the path that the Primeval Lord of Heaven chose for us and that it is our most important training?

“Speak now!

“Wasn’t it you, my brother whom I admired and trusted most, who told me everything?

“Brother! What happened to you exactly? Why did you leave the village half a year ago with an uncanny letter stating that everything was false and you’d joined the Blade of Chaos?

“What did you run into exactly while we were lost in the Hundred Desolation Mountain during the hunting trip because of the heavy fog?

“Have you been enchanted by Chaos and lost your mind? Tell me, brother!”

Lei Qi took a deep breath and smiled, somewhat miserably. “I’m sorry, Ah Chuang. The things that I used to firmly believe in and taught you are all false.

“The saint-blood, silver-blood, bronze-blood, black-blood, and chaotic-blood demons are all the same. Nobody is born to be nobler, or humbler, than anybody else.”

“I don’t buy it!” Lei Chuang gnashed his teeth, anger all over his face. “The Feather Clan flies in the sky, the Claw Clan roars in the forest, the Insect Clan lurks below the ground, and the Sea Clan dominates the ocean!

“The high-level demons look magnificent, graceful, and inviolable, while the chaotic-blood demons carry the features of multiple demon species and could not be uglier!

“The differences are so obvious. How can our bloodlines be the same?”

“I knew that you wouldn’t believe it,” Lei Qi said. “I didn’t believe such an absurd theory in the beginning myself, either, until I saw it with my own eyes.

“Do you know why I left home to join the Blade of Chaos half a year ago?

“During our hunting trip in the Hundred Desolation Mountain, we were parted because of the heavy fog. Then, I discovered a heavily wounded demon below a cliff who was a member of the Blade of Chaos.”

“Then, he enthralled you,” Lei Chuang said coldly.

With an indescribable expression, Lei Qi said, “Maybe, but not in the way that you imagined, but—”

He struggled to stand to his feet on the branch.

Lei Chuang crouched in alert, ready to attack.

Lei Qi smiled and did not move. He simply touched the center of his eyebrow with his hairy fingers.

A weird scent spread out in the forest.

Gua! Gua!

Two bizarre birds soared to the sky with tails as long as whips toward the bloody moon.

Hu…

Lei Qi’s fingers seemed to have pierced deep into his head, because he was shaking and soaked in sweat while his bones emitted cracking noises.

The abrupt changes that happened next greatly surprised both Lei Chuang and Li Yao, who was lurking in darkness.

The few features of a demon in Lei Qi were absorbed into his body. His golden fur fell to the ground, his sharp canine teeth and claws all retreated, his fingers turned long and slim, and his skin could not have looked smoother. Judging from the appearance, he was an out-and-out young human being who was a bit hairy!

Lei Chuang was dazed. “You’ve grasped the ability of ‘polymorphing’ after just half a year?”

The so-called polymorphing was a technique with which the demons could conceal all the features of a demon and turn into human beings.

Many high-level demons could assume the appearance of human beings when they reached a certain level.

It was also a great ability for many demons to sneak into the Heaven’s Origin Sector for intelligence or sabotage purposes.

Therefore, the Star Glory Federation had particularly strict quarantine measures against the human-looking demons. Li Yao had experienced a high-level fully-enclosed medical inspection after the beast tide incident on the train.

Lei Qi seemed to be in his thirties at best. He was not a high-level demon in terms of bloodline, either. However, he had grasped the ability of polymorphing nonetheless, which made Li Yao frown.

Lei Qi managed a smile. Then, his eyes suddenly bulged, and he bellowed. Goosebumps appeared on over his skin and, after a while of terrifying sound of skin being torn apart, bright golden scales quickly grew.

In the center of every golden scale was a green, greasy round spot.

At first glance, Lei Qi had grown countless green eyes all over his body that were glittering in the dim forest with mysterious and enticing colors.

Li Yao and Lei Chuang were both shocked!

“Green Eye Dragon Scale?” Lei Chuang stammered. “That—That is the most distinctive feature of ‘Hundred-Eyed Dragon’, a type of silver-blood demon. Such a feature is unique. Only a Hundred-Eyed Dragon can possibly demonstrate such a pattern. How—how did you—”

Lei Qi seemed to be unable to maintain the new form for long. After a shudder, the golden scales were absorbed by his skin, and he resumed the appearance of a human being again.

The changes just now were apparently very exhausting for him. His face was paler, but he could not have been more excited. He laughed. “Do you see? This is how the member of the Blade of Chaos enthralled me!

“We are blood brothers. Nobody knows it better than you that, although we are chaotic-blood demons, we never had a Hundred-Eyed Dragon as our ancestor.

“We do not have the bloodline of the Hundred-Eyed Dragons, but after a while of training, we can trigger the features of the Hundred-Eyed Dragons. What does that mean?

“It means that the blood of all the demons is the same!

“Hundred-Eyed Dragons, Phantom Wolves, Thunderous Lions… The same blood flows in every demon’s brain, except that it is activated in a different way. Why are some of the demons nobler than the rest?”

“It’s impossible. It’s absolutely impossible!” Lei Chuang was so shocked that he almost bit his own tongue. “I—I was told that the members of the Blade of Chaos know the evil art that could change their appearances freely. Even though you look like a Hundred-Eyed Dragon, your blood is still different. It’s just a camouflage!”

“Believe me, Ah Chuang!” Lei Qi said earnestly. “I’m still incapable right now, and I can only reshape what I look like.

“But many experts in the Blade of Chaos boast the ability of ‘Thirty-six Changes’ or ‘Seventy-two Changes’. They can freely switch between different types of demons, and after they take each form, they will be able to utilize the naturally-endowed arts of the new form of demons!

“Since they are using the naturally-endowed arts of a different species, do you think their blood has changed or not?”

Lei Chuang was dumbfounded, unable to say anything for a long time.

Li Yao felt that thunder was echoing nonstop inside his brain. All his knowledge about the demon race had been blown apart by the few words.

Are you kidding me? Seventy-two Changes? Freely switching between seventy-two different species of demons? What—what kind of skill is this exactly?

It does not make any sense!

Lei Chuang stammered, “Can all the demons change their form freely?”

“Yes, they can.” Lei Qi nodded and said, “As long as you memorize the tricks and practice hard, every demon can change their form freely. A silver-blood can turn into a black-blood, and vice versa. The Feather Clan can turn into the Sea Clan, and the Sea Clan can turn into the Claw Clan.

“However, the chaotic-blood demons are better at the changing than other demons. With preliminary training, we will be able to change into several forms.

“How should I put it? It’s like there is a solid lock in the cells of every demon that fixes us to a certain form, but the ‘locks’ for the chaotic-blood demons are weaker than those of the other demons.

“This is why the high-level demons are scared of us!”

Lei Chuang was dumbfounded. “Scared?”

“Yes,” Lei Qi said coldly, “they are scared of us. The high and mighty silver-blood demons and bronze-blood demons fear the filthy, lowly bastards that are us!

“In the entire Blood Demon Sector, the silver-blood demons take up only five percent of the population, and the bronze-blood demons ten. But the black-blood demons and the chaotic-blood demons take up eighty-five percent!

“In the past, they claimed that they were born nobler than us and that it was a matter of course for them to reign us.

“But if everybody’s blood is the same except that it is displayed in different ways, is there any reason they should stay on the top of us?

“Therefore, they are scared of us, and they have been exploiting and diminishing us however possible!

“Isn’t the war between the Blood Demon Sector and the Heaven’s Origin Sector a method to weaken and moderate us, too?

“Why do you think they are allowing us to join the war? And why are they deceiving us with the lie of the ‘glorious Pantheon of Demons’?

“Because there are too many low-level demons in the Blood Demon Sector who can potentially threaten their reign. Organizations such as the Blade of Chaos are making them cold to the bones!

“That’s why they are resorting to all possible approaches to fool us into fighting human beings as cannon fodder!

“It will be excellent if we can take over the Heaven’s Origin Sector. But even if we fail to, it does not matter, either. At the very least, the steel sabers of human beings will have eradicated a lot of ‘potential threats’ for them!”