Chapter 205: The Demon Realm? The Sub-Heavenly Realm?

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In the heart of the Savage Forest stood a colossal peak that vanished into a sea of clouds. The forest’s demons called it Great Demon Peak, and its summit was known as the Summit of Ten Thousand Demons.

As for what lay beyond the summit, scarcely anyone knew. The section of the mountain swallowed by the clouds was sealed behind a barrier.

Even one whose cultivation reached the heavens would be unable to enter the summit without knowing how to open that barrier. Thus, only those who had reached the peak knew what truly lay there.

Of all the cultivators in the world who had ever climbed to the summit, only the Black Lotus Great Vanguard, who had descended upon the world from there, knew what it contained. No one else had ever learned the truth.

Though no one knew what lay atop the Summit of Ten Thousand Demons, and Black Lotus had never revealed its secrets, two rumors nevertheless circulated about the place—though no one knew where they had originated.

One claimed that the summit connected directly to the Demon Realm.

Another held that it led to the Lesser Heavenly Realm.

Whether it was the Demon Realm or the Lesser Heavenly Realm, no one could say. After Black Lotus climbed the mountain eight years ago, he never came back down. Apart from him, no one knew what truly lay at the summit.

When Zhou Qing arrived at the foot of Great Demon Peak, he raised his head and glanced toward its summit. The mountain was truly enormous. From below, his gaze reached only halfway up before the peak disappeared into the clouds.

No one could say how much farther the mountain rose beyond them.

“Gone for eight years? The Demon Realm or the Lesser Heavenly Realm? And that Black Lotus Great Vanguard was sealed in Wild Lake back then… What connection could there be between all these things?”

Filled with questions, Zhou Qing moved at once, leaping straight toward the summit.

His speed was astonishing. Before long, a crimson figure like a wraith appeared halfway up the mountain, at the section disappearing into the clouds.

When he reached the cloud-wreathed mountainside, he discovered something extraordinarily strange: this was not the middle of the mountain at all. It was the summit.

Looking down from there, he could see the foot of the mountain far below. Yet when he had looked up from the foot, he had seen only the mountainside.

It was as though, when viewed from below, this was a towering giant peak—but once one reached this place and looked down, the mountain was not large at all.

The summit was quite small. Zhou Qing circled it once and discovered that Great Demon Peak was nothing like the vast mountain he had seen from below. He immediately turned and descended.

When he reached the foot, he looked up at Great Demon Peak once more. It remained an immense mountain. Where it joined the clouds, the mountainside was certainly not as small as the summit he had just seen.

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“Is this the barrier?”

Gazing into the mountainside swallowed by mist, Zhou Qing once again made his way upward. When he reached the summit, the scene before him was exactly the same as before: only a small peak lay before his eyes.

Unable to accept this frustrating reality, Zhou Qing went up and down several times. In the end, he gave up. If there truly was a barrier on this mountain, then there was no way he could break through it.

“Black Lotus, heh. If you really have returned to that so-called Demon Realm or Lesser Heavenly Realm, then you had better never appear in this world again. If the day ever comes when you set foot in the mortal realm, I, Zhou Qing, will never forgive you.”

Sitting alone atop the mist-wreathed mountain, Zhou Qing muttered to himself in a bitter voice. At that moment, his heart was filled with helplessness.

Watching Lin Yunxi die with his own eyes had been the greatest pain of his life. After cultivating bitterly for so many years, he had intended to return and avenge the woman he loved.

Yet he had never imagined that the man called Black Lotus would already have gone somewhere beyond his reach.

Unwilling to accept this, Zhou Qing remained on Great Demon Peak for an entire day before finally descending with his hands clasped behind his back.

He walked to a small river at the foot of the mountain. Then, with a single movement, he rose onto the surface of the water and began traveling upstream.

In that untouched primeval forest, he did not sink into the river. Instead, he stood upright upon its surface, gliding forward.

No one knew how long he drifted along the water. At last, when he reached the foot of a gorge several dozen yards high, he stopped.

He remembered this place. Years ago, he and Lin Yunxi had been pursued by a snake half-demon and had leaped down from the top of the gorge.

Zhou Qing had not originally intended to seek out that snake half-demon when he entered the forest. After all, considering what had happened back then, one could hardly blame the snake demons for devouring humans.

But his hatred remained unquenched, and now that he had returned to this place, he immediately remembered the serpent that had once chased him.

As he thought of it, he moved and leaped toward the top of the gorge. Before long, he was standing above it.

The woods beyond the bank were extraordinarily dense. Zhou Qing walked through the forest, and before long, a rustling sound arose from the trees not far away.

Hearing the sudden noise, he knew that he had been targeted.

Soon, a massive black python emerged from the forest, lunging at Zhou Qing with its enormous jaws wide open.

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Zhou Qing did not strike the black python with lethal force. He merely flicked his sleeve, sending an invisible gale condensed from spiritual energy crashing into the attacking serpent and hurling it against a great tree.

After being struck by Zhou Qing’s unseen force, the black python shook its head where it lay against the ancient tree. It then flicked its tongue and let out a hissing sound before lunging at Zhou Qing once more.

He still held back against its second attack, again using the gale to push it away.

After being repelled twice, the black python no longer dared to attack. It shook its dizzy head and prepared to slither into the forest.

Seeing the serpent attempt to flee, Zhou Qing drew Ruthless from the treasure pouch at his waist. With a single leap, he landed upon the python’s body and carved a wound across its enormous form.

Once he had left the gash, Zhou Qing sheathed Ruthless again. He had never intended to kill the serpent.

Though the great black python had been wounded by his blade, it still did not dare remain and fight him. Carrying its injury, it vanished into the forest and began fleeing wildly.

The python moved through the woods with astonishing speed. Had this happened more than a decade ago, Zhou Qing might have struggled to catch it. But things were different now.

He clasped his hands behind his back, pressed one foot lightly against the ground, and sprang three or four yards through the air before landing lightly and bounding forward again.

Thus, Zhou Qing pursued the black python at an unhurried pace. Before long, he followed it to the foot of a mountain.

Standing there, he watched the python disappear into the mountain forest but did not continue after it, for a powerful demonic aura emanated from the foot of the mountain.

Not long after Zhou Qing appeared there, a woman in white emerged from a cave at the base of the mountain.

Her white robes fluttered in the breeze, and her beauty was breathtaking. Zhou Qing was not unfamiliar with her, for he had seen this woman the first time he entered the Savage Forest.

After the woman in white appeared from the cave, the black python that had earlier vanished into the woods slithered out once more. It coiled around a branch not far from the woman and emitted several strange hissing sounds.

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