Even the Martial Saints were scared stiff of the Devouring Demon Lord’s cultivation method. They tried for years to hunt it down and destroy it, but came up empty-handed and eventually had to give up.
This whole affair is a dark stain on human history. The top brass of the human race went out of their way to erase every trace of the Devouring Demon Lord, so now hardly anyone even knows he existed. Only the oldest factions have any records at all. The Pristine Way Sect fought in that war and lost its only Martial Saint, so their most precious ancient texts still mention the Devouring Demon Lord.
As luck would have it, Skyler Simons had read that ancient volume himself.
Even though the Devouring Demon Lord only reached peak Grandmaster level, his actions shook both the Human and Devil races to their core. So after Skyler Simons left the morgue, suspecting someone had inherited the Devouring Demon Lord’s legacy and snuck into the Pristine Way Sect, he didn’t spill the truth to Warren Lin. Instead, he rushed off to report to the sect master.
Easton Chen frowned in thought. "This is a huge deal. Keep it under wraps—if word gets out, we’ll never have peace in the Pristine Way Sect. And you need to find that person, fast. The sooner, the better."
"Don’t worry, Sect Master. I’ll put everything I’ve got into tracking this down!" Skyler Simons promised, face set in grim determination.
Inner Sect Arena.
Today’s the day: seventeen Inner Sect disciples, but only ten spots up for grabs.
Here’s how it works: everyone draws lots for match-ups. Eight winners go straight into the top ten. One lucky soul gets a bye and moves up without fighting.
The last slot? That’s a survival-of-the-fittest brawl between the eight first-round losers—winner takes the final top-ten spot.
Ian Song hadn’t planned to reveal he was number eleven, but since Darren Duanmu asked, he decided to mess with him. Ian held out his token and grinned, “You guessed right, Senior Brother! It’s me!”
Darren Duanmu’s eyes bulged in disbelief. He shouted, with a hint of jealousy, “No way! How do you get a bye every time?”
Ian shrugged, looking annoyingly smug. “What can I say? Guess I’m just lucky.”
I don’t believe it! You must be cheating!
Ian snorted. “Idiot, the draw was done by Zane Zong himself. If you think I cheated, you’re saying Zane cheated. Go ask him if you’ve got the guts!”
Darren Duanmu fell silent. He’d only blurted out the accusation in frustration, but he definitely didn’t have the guts to confront Zane Zong.
The first to take the stage were two ninth-layer Qi-Refining disciples.
With reputation and rich rewards at stake, neither dared hold back. Both unleashed their strongest techniques, and it took half an hour to decide the winner.
The male disciple won, but barely. His true qi was almost drained, and he immediately swallowed two third-grade Xuan Pills and sat down to recover.
The second group was Nate Moore versus another ninth-layer disciple.
Everyone thought Nate Moore, only eighth-layer, couldn’t possibly beat a ninth-layer.
But as soon as the match started, Nate Moore revealed his aura—he’d broken through to eighth-layer.
He’d actually broken through!
Ian watched Nate on stage, his eyes thoughtful.
Just a few months ago, Nate was an ordinary kid. Now, in less than three months, he’d reached eighth-layer. Ian remembered that even after getting his cheat ring, his own progress wasn’t this fast.
Because Nate had shown his terrifying three-strike sword technique yesterday, his opponent was on guard today.
The senior adopted a delay strategy, hoping to exhaust Nate’s true qi with his ninth-layer cultivation.
Nate seemed to fall into his trap. The two traded blows, flashy but not fierce.
After half an hour, the senior noticed something odd—he’d used up eighty percent of his qi and looked tired, but Nate still seemed relaxed.
He couldn’t let this go on!
Making up his mind, the senior changed tactics and unleashed powerful moves.
Boom! Boom!
The powerful attacks forced Nate back, but at the last moment, he barely held his ground.
Big moves burn through qi fast. After several, the senior was almost out of energy.
Seeing this, Nate’s eyes flashed coldly. He counterattacked, and in just a few moves, knocked the senior off the stage.
Everyone was surprised.
Ian focused and activated his Clairvoyant Vision, scanning Nate.
He found that Nate’s essence was abundant, and his bones, meridians, and muscles were several times stronger than a normal eighth-layer. His dantian and acupoints were also bigger and tougher.
The volume and purity of qi stored in his dantian and acupoints surpassed mid-stage ninth-layer.
But Ian also sensed a chilling, sinister aura in Nate’s qi.
Could his personality change be related to cultivating sinister qi? Ian wondered.
The third match was another eighth-layer versus ninth-layer.
After a stick of incense’s time, the ninth-layer won.
After two more matches, it was finally Harriet Gu’s turn. The crowd perked up.