Chapter 448 – Finally Meeting the Celestial Demon General, The First Trial!
by spirapira【In the six hundred and fortieth year, you became a mid-level force in the Celestial Demon Prison, with a privilege rank of Heaven Thirty-Nine.】
【That same year, due to your outstanding performance on the battlefield, you were transferred to a more central region of the Celestial Demon Domain.】
【You arrived at a Medium Chiliocosm called the Giant Que Realm. This world was quite peculiar—it seemed as if a colossal sword had split the entire world in two from north to south.】
【An endless abyss separated the cultivators of the Giant Que Realm’s north and south. Only those at the Immortal level and above could traverse it freely.】
【It was precisely because of the Giant Que Realm’s wondrous terrain that it had become the core stronghold for resisting the alien races in this region!】
【Numerous scattered aliens, as well as full alien armies, were active across the hundred-odd worlds nearby.】
【The Celestial Demon Prison’s department specializing in hunting aliens used the Giant Que Realm as its base to hunt the aliens in the surrounding area.】
【With the Giant Que Realm at its core, the region formed by the surrounding hundreds of worlds was clearly far more dangerous than the areas near the Demon Heart Realm and Stone Realm.】
【Aliens above the divine level were not few in number, and even alien True Gods and deities occasionally appeared.】
【The Celestial Demon Prison members in this region all had privilege ranks between Heaven Thirty and Heaven Thirty-Nine.】
【As long as one killed enough aliens and accumulated merit, one could advance to the next, more dangerous region…】
【For ordinary cultivators, advancing even a single rank in a century was difficult… but for you, advancing was effortless.】
【Another ten years passed…】
【In those ten years, you participated in over a dozen missions large and small, slaying thousands of alien deities, over a hundred alien True Gods, and even killing three alien god-level beings!】
【The rapid accumulation of merit allowed you to quickly reach higher ranks.】
【Finally, in the six hundred and fiftieth year, your merit rank reached Heaven Twenty-Nine… enabling you to advance to the next region.】
【As your privilege rank increased, advancing to the next level required more merit, but this barely slowed your rate of advancement.】
【Because reaching more dangerous regions meant you could face even more powerful aliens and earn even more merit.】
【Over the following decades, your privilege rank within the Celestial Demon Domain rose rapidly!】
【In the six hundred and sixtieth year, you advanced to Heaven Twenty-Three.】
【In the six hundred and seventieth year, you advanced to Heaven Nineteen… and moved on to the next region.】
【In the seven hundredth year… your privilege rank rose to Heaven Eleven!】
【At this point, you were already a truly high-ranking figure in the Celestial Demon Prison.】
【In the entire history of the Celestial Demon Prison spanning tens of millions of years, the number of cultivators who had reached this rank numbered only a few hundred.】
【And upon reaching this level, the speed of rank advancement slowed considerably…】
【But the good news was that with just one more rank, advancing to Heaven Ten, you would be able to freely choose which regions to hunt aliens in, and truly penetrate the core areas of the Celestial Demon Domain…】
In the Real World, Su Xing smacked his lips at the sight of this.
“Tsk tsk… wanting to meet the Celestial Demon General in person really isn’t easy!”
Su Xing sighed slightly.
But he also understood that the Celestial Demon Domain’s merit ranking system was actually a form of protection for lower-level cultivators.
It kept weaker cultivators in safer regions to hunt aliens, allowing them to continuously grow and become stronger cultivators.
“Sigh… it’s a shame I still have to climb rank by rank… but with just another decade or two of effort, I should be able to freely access the most core regions, right?”
“Those who can reach the Heaven Ten rank are at minimum Golden Immortal level and above… looking at it this way, the Celestial Demon Domain’s fighting force really can rank in the top two among the Five Great Domains!”
With that, Su Xing’s anticipation for meeting the Celestial Demon General in person grew even stronger.
“But, I remember from the previous simulation… around the two hundredth year, the Celestial Demon General’s main body encountered some trouble…”
“I wonder if that trouble has been resolved by now?”
Su Xing pondered thoughtfully, his gaze turning to the simulation panel.
【Time quickly arrived at the seven hundred and twentieth year. After a full twenty years of effort, you finally accumulated enough merit to advance to Heaven Ten privileges!】
【In a mere century, rising from the lowest rank of Heaven Forty-Nine to Heaven Ten, you shattered the all-time record in the history of the Celestial Demon Domain.】
【Through over a century of slaughter, your Body Tempering cultivation advanced further… the Primordial Energy Tree within your body grew to a height of five zhang (16.65 m).】
【Your strength, approaching that of a Supreme Unity Golden Immortal, drew the attention of the Celestial Demon General.】
【This year, you earned the right to enter the most core region of the Celestial Demon Domain.】
【Without the slightest hesitation, you headed toward the most core region.】
【Under the guidance of a high-ranking Celestial Demon Domain officer, you sailed at breakneck speed, passing through hundreds of void nodes and countless worlds before finally arriving at the core region of the Celestial Demon Domain.】
【The core region of the Celestial Demon Prison was centered on the Celestial Demon Realm, encompassing dozens of surrounding worlds.】
【But when you arrived in this region, you were struck with shock.】
【Because the Celestial Demon Realm and the dozens of surrounding worlds were not complete worlds at all… but world fragments, shattered as if by a cataclysmic battle!】
【Normally, even a Greater World was a spherical planet, merely much larger in volume.】
【But within the Three Thousand Worlds, there existed some worlds of unusual composition.】
【Such as what lay before you—resembling entire suspended continents, appearing as flat planes drifting through the void: “shattered worlds.”】
【These continents drifting in the void were called “world fragments” or half-planes.】
【Their appearance was identical to what you had seen in the Endless Sea—the Death Wasteland where countless red-eyed aliens dwelled!】
【The difference was that the world fragments here were more complete, and far more vast…】
【But upon seeing this region, you were still shocked.】
【What kind of devastatingly brutal battle could have transformed an entire world from its original complete form into this?】
【Carrying this doubt, you followed the Celestial Demon Domain officer to the most central world—the Celestial Demon Realm.】
【There, the Celestial Demon Prison’s upper echelon maintained a stronghold. Though it was a small outpost of merely ten thousand people, it gathered the absolute elite of the entire Celestial Demon Domain!】
【Over a hundred powerhouses ranked Heaven Ten and above were mostly stationed at this outpost, and even the personnel handling logistics and intelligence were all at True Immortal level or above!】
【The officer who escorted you noticed the doubt in your heart, merely smiled faintly, and indicated that you would learn the reason for all of this in time.】
【Soon, you arrived at the shattered Celestial Demon Realm. On a stretch of wasteland, you saw a rather crude outpost, like a makeshift shelter cobbled together in a post-apocalyptic wasteland.】
【Dozens of burly men whose auras made even you uneasy sat in a circle, with a massive bonfire blazing in the center. Each hulking man held a boning knife in hand.】
【They ate large chunks of meat, drank fine wine… and occasionally chatted and laughed merrily.】
【Seeing this, you felt a measure of surprise. These dozens of bare-armed, muscular brutes were, without exception, all cultivators at the Golden Immortal level or above!】
【So many powerhouses, all gathered in one place.】
【But upon closer inspection, you noticed that nearly half of them still bore traces of recent battle on their bodies, strikingly vivid.】
【You observed the scene, lost in thought.】
【Just then, your attention was drawn to the very center—a black-armored brute who was heartily eating meat and drinking wine.】
【A name immediately flashed through your mind—the Celestial Demon General!】
In the Real World, Su Xing’s heart jolted at the sight.
“Finally… I’m seeing the Celestial Demon General!”
“There are some things… that must be asked face to face!”
Without the slightest hesitation, Su Xing silently intoned:
“Activate immersive simulation, duration ten years…”
【Ding… remaining origin energy: 21,747,587 points…】
As the simulation Chime fell silent, Su Xing’s consciousness entered the simulated world.
…
When Su Xing opened his eyes again, he found himself in an unfamiliar space.
He instinctively looked up at the sky. There were no clouds—only the deep void.
On this world fragment, there was no blue sky, no clouds like in a complete world… Su Xing couldn’t even sense the presence of the Heavenly Dao within this world fragment.
The air held only thin spiritual energy, seemingly created by force through a powerful cultivator’s abilities.
Apart from being able to cultivate, this place was hardly different from the void itself.
Cultivators below the Immortal level probably couldn’t survive on this world fragment at all!
“So this… is the Celestial Demon Realm?”
Su Xing frowned slightly. Anyone who could survive here had to be a powerhouse, because this was no different from prolonged combat in the void.
Only the powerful Body Tempering cultivators of the Celestial Demon Domain could fight aliens in such a perilous environment.
“You… must be the newly promoted Heaven Ten ranker, Spirit Dragon True Master, yes?”
“I heard you have a mature Spirit Vein Dragon! How about bringing it out for everyone to see?”
Just then, a Body Tempering cultivator with a buzz cut, bare-chested and showing off his chiseled muscles, called out with a grin.
As he spoke, the cultivator carved off a large chunk of exotic beast meat from the bonfire and casually tossed it to Su Xing.
“Eat up! This is the blood essence of void aliens… eating it is the only way to last a while longer in this wretched environment!”
Su Xing caught the chunk of blood essence in one hand. It was extraordinarily heavy and gave off a faint aroma of roasted meat.
But the extraordinary, pure energy that surged straight to the heart made Su Xing raise an eyebrow.
“One of the Ten Emperor Clans… the void aliens? And this is actually… the blood essence of a first-tier deity!”
Su Xing didn’t stand on ceremony and dug right in with large bites.
The blood essence of a first-tier deity—now that was premium stuff! For Body Tempering cultivators, it was a priceless treasure!
Even a Supreme Unity Golden Immortal might not be able to get their hands on it.
The palm-sized chunk of blood essence was gone in no time. Su Xing felt the pure energy coursing through his body, as if his physical form had refined just a sliver.
Licking his lips, still craving more, Su Xing stared at the remaining roasted meat on the bonfire.
The burly cultivator who had tossed over the meat saw this and wasted no time, carving off another massive chunk—three times the size of the first.
Su Xing took it, produced some cumin seasoning he carried on his person, and sprinkled it evenly over the roast.
In no time at all, he had wolfed down this piece of roasted meat as well.
“*Burp*~ Not bad at all. Finally about seventy percent full…”
Su Xing mimicked the posture of these brutes and found a random rock to sit on.
Seeing how relaxed and at ease Su Xing was, at least half of the dozens of muscular men present widened their eyes, staring at Su Xing in disbelief.
The cultivator who had handed him the meat wore an expression of admiration and gave Su Xing a thumbs up, praising:
“Good lad! So young… yet your physique and spirit are no small matter!”
“Being able to devour that much blood essence in one sitting… you’ve already surpassed more than half the people here!”
“Hahahaha, looks like our Celestial Demon Prison is about to gain another fierce warrior!”
Then, the cultivator introduced himself:
“Name’s Shi Batian… just call me Third Brother. In the Celestial Demon Prison, I’m ranked third!”
“Everyone who makes it here is willing to kill aliens… from now on, we’re all brothers!”
A gleam of light flashed in Su Xing’s eyes upon hearing this.
He had spent five years in the Celestial Demon Domain before this, and those years hadn’t gone to waste. He had gathered quite a bit of intelligence about the domain, especially regarding its powerhouses!
And this Shi Batian… was known among the Celestial Demon Domain’s upper echelon as Third Brother Shi!
He was a genuine Peak Supreme Unity Golden Immortal cultivator!
A dual cultivator of both body and energy! His full strength was probably not far from half-step Great Firmament!
Moreover, he ranked extremely high on the Prodigy List’s Heaven Ranking, placing at… ninth on the Heaven Ranking!
Good heavens, this core region of the Celestial Demon Domain… truly was a den of hidden dragons and crouching tigers!
Su Xing smacked his lips, but his gaze involuntarily drifted toward… the black-armored man at the very center of the group!
Though the black-armored man hadn’t spoken a word since Su Xing’s arrival, merely shoveling roasted meat into his mouth…
In just a brief moment, he had likely consumed dozens of jin of blood essence.
But Su Xing could tell that all the surrounding cultivators subtly revolved around this black-armored brute as their center, with a hint of deference in their manner.
Coupled with that signature black armor…
The identity of the man before him was obvious!
So… could this be the Celestial Demon General?
Su Xing watched for a moment, and just then the black-armored brute raised his head. Their eyes met.
Hair wild and untamed like a mad demon’s, his face bearing several scars an inch long. Far from disfiguring him, they added a fierce, commanding air. He looked wild and unrestrained.
Eyes sharp as blades that pierced the soul, and a suffocating pressure in his every gesture that sent chills down one’s spine…
Even Su Xing’s breathing halted for an instant.
The only ones capable of exerting such immense pressure on Su Xing were… Great Firmament Golden Immortals!
Su Xing had encountered quite a few Great Firmament Golden Immortals by now.
But every single one gave Su Xing a different feeling.
Qingyunzi gave Su Xing the impression of an orthodox cultivator, matching the traditional image of a great master with that ethereal, immortal quality.
The Sword Immortal White Emperor was a bold, unrestrained Sword Immortal—the most approachable Great Firmament Golden Immortal Su Xing had ever met.
The Celestial Secrets Pavilion Master was deeply mysterious; Su Xing didn’t know much about him.
As for the Celestial Demon General before him…
Su Xing’s first impression was: domineering!
That’s right—the Celestial Demon General was perhaps the most domineering Great Firmament Golden Immortal Su Xing had ever seen!
Even just the avatar Su Xing had seen in the Lesser Azure Cloud Realm had left an extremely imposing impression.
And the Celestial Demon General’s true body before him was even more so!
A single glance, and Su Xing could perceive the Celestial Demon General’s aura of absolute supremacy.
Along with the battle intent and killing intent that clung to him, faint yet unmistakable, born of years upon years of warfare.
Su Xing understood all too well—in the eyes of such powerhouses, the thing they cared about most was strength!
Only by demonstrating sufficient power could one earn the favor of such beings.
Su Xing glanced at the Celestial Demon General. After a moment’s hesitation, he decided to ask his questions first.
After all, it was the Celestial Demon General’s avatar who had told Su Xing to come seek answers from the main body!
“The Celestial Demon General’s avatar technique should mean that the main body and the avatar each possess independent consciousness… The main body cannot fully know everything the avatar experiences, only sense it roughly…”
“That’s probably why the Celestial Demon General’s main body didn’t recognize me…”
Su Xing deliberated, thinking about whether he could find an opportunity to speak with the Celestial Demon General privately. After all, with so many cultivators nearby, it wasn’t appropriate to ask directly about the secrets of Luo Tian.
But just then, a junior officer rushed over from nearby and addressed the Celestial Demon General:
“My lord, at the seven o’clock position from the Celestial Demon Realm, thirty million li (15,000,000 km) out… new aliens have appeared.”
“It appears to be a Peak second-tier deity of the Shadow Tribe… a difficult opponent.”
Upon hearing the junior officer’s report, the Celestial Demon General merely nodded slightly without saying much, his gaze sweeping across the crowd.
At that moment, Shi Batian, who had just given Su Xing the roasted meat, stood up on his own initiative, took a hearty swig of wine, and said:
“Those shadow beasts are the hardest to track down. Ordinary people can’t handle them…”
“I’ll go personally this time, so that beast doesn’t get away…”
With that, Third Brother Shi prepared to set out and eliminate the Shadow Deity.
Though the Shadow Tribe excelled at fleeing, a Peak Supreme Unity Golden Immortal cultivator going personally would handle it with ease.
But the Celestial Demon General did not agree. Instead, his gaze fell upon Su Xing, and he slowly uttered a few words:
“That Shadow Deity excels in spatial techniques and the Dao of Speed, but is weak in direct combat and physical prowess… Do you have what it takes?”