Chapter 111: Thirty Years East of the River, Thirty Years West (Second Update)

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Over the course of thirty years, fifty-six Primordial Spirits had arisen within the world inside the pot: thirty-six among the human race, eleven among the barbarians, and nine among the demons.

The Primordial Spirit Method spread by Ancestor Luo was meant to reach every corner, with blessings shared among all. The human race merely obtained it somewhat earlier, while the barbarians lagged only a step behind. The demons received it last. Moreover, people discovered that the flesh and blood of demons was immensely beneficial to those seeking to cultivate a Primordial Spirit. Thus, the Initial State, which had long stagnated and been unwilling to expand its territory, actually took the initiative to invade the wilds, spreading civilization throughout them.

The demons consequently found themselves in increasingly dire straits. In the end, it was only when the first Primordial Spirit among them emerged that this disadvantage was somewhat relieved.

And that first Primordial Spirit was none other than Qing, who had passed through three incarnations of reincarnation.

He styled himself the Grand Marshal of the Demons, paid distant homage to the Demon Lord beneath the Divine Mountain as his king, and gathered a large host of demons, hoping to counterattack the Divine Mountain and rescue their lord.

He also raised the banner of the demon race, seeking to unite the hearts of all kinds of demons so that they might stand against the human race.

Yet his lofty ambitions were dealt their first blow by the humans ten years ago.

Seven human Primordial Spirits assembled in the wilds and surrounded the stronghold where Qing had gathered his sworn followers.

Qing was fierce, and his demonic arts were formidable. With his mighty demon body, he actually resisted the combined assault of seven human Primordial Spirits. But just as the battle reached its fiercest point, another contingent of human Primordial Spirits arrived. In an instant, ten Primordial Spirits were besieging him.

At that time, the human race possessed only twenty-eight Primordial Spirits in all, meaning that nearly half of them had been dispatched. This alone showed how seriously they regarded Qing.

Though Qing was formidable, he also wielded the Red-Gold Spear once used by the Great King Sun of the ancient human race, and he had refined it into an unparalleled divine weapon. Even so, faced with ten human Primordial Spirits, he could do nothing but retreat in defeat and flee into the distance.

After he escaped, gravely wounded, the demonic power he had painstakingly built was exterminated by the humans. From that point onward, the barbarians were the only obstacle remaining to the human race in the wilds.

The wilds, however, were vast beyond measure, and beasts grew there like weeds, endless and inexhaustible. The demons could therefore never be completely eradicated. After fleeing, Qing devoted himself to cultivation. He no longer raised banners or called for rebellion, but quietly developed his strength in the shadows, gradually building an immense enterprise.

There were also barbarians in the wilds, and their resistance was even more savage than that of the demons. They and the humans had long been mortal enemies.

Moreover, the heir of the Barbarian Venerable, Gu, had finally succeeded in seizing the Venerable’s Path and replacing him.

Using the Three Souls and Seven Spirits Primordial Spirit Method as his foundation, Gu endured countless trials and created the Myriad Hearts Seizing the Path and Transforming into Divinity Method.

When he finally achieved success, he severely wounded Tai, who had likewise refined a Primordial Spirit, forcing him to seek the aid of the Five Viscera True Lord in order to escape Gu’s pursuit.

The pursuer had instead become the pursued. It was a rare spectacle indeed.

Afterward, Tai’s prestige fell sharply. He abdicated of his own accord and passed his position to a successor, reclaiming his former title, Virtuous Speech. He then entered the mountain gate of the Five Viscera True Lord and became a guest elder.

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After accomplishing such a feat, Gu came to understand himself fully. He journeyed deep into the wilds, traveling to the desert at their heart, where he met the barbarian tribesmen of his own kind and brought the remaining followers of the Barbarian Venerable under his command.

Later, Gu led the barbarian race’s only three Primordial Spirits to the Initial State, where he met with the human Primordial Spirits and exchanged spells and doctrines with them.

In the end, a boundary was drawn: for a hundred years, the barbarians would not cross it, and the humans would not invade barbarian territory.

Nor did the barbarians occupy any fertile land. Their domain was merely the desert to which the barbarian race had fled in former times.

The humans therefore agreed readily.

The humans had never wished to fight the barbarians to the death. What they wanted was the demons. Whether demon flesh or demon souls, both were superb ingredients for refining medicinal pills.

The ten years following the peace between humans and barbarians became a decade of blood and tears for the demons.

Countless demons were hunted down and slaughtered by the humans. The barbarians soon joined in as well, having discovered that demon flesh could greatly strengthen their bodies.

Furthermore, after Gu became the supreme ruler of the barbarians, he brought them much human knowledge and opened channels of communication with the human race. The humans taught the barbarians about the uses of the various “treasures” found throughout a demon’s body, as well as methods for refining highly restorative pills.

All the barbarians had to do was serve as guides for the humans in the wilds and help them track down demons.

Yet while the humans and barbarians hunted demons, the demons hunted one another as well. After all, “demons” was merely a collective name imposed upon them by humans and barbarians. Among themselves, they belonged to different races, some of which preyed upon other demonic species.

Qing, however, remained hidden in the shadows, traveling everywhere to forge alliances and persuade countless demons to join him. He did not demand that they immediately acknowledge the demon race. Instead, following the example of the Great King Sun in former days, he first united the demons into an alliance, then led them in attacking and hunting humans.

To this end, they spread a rumor: human flesh was greatly beneficial to demonic cultivation, especially the flesh of powerful humans. As for intelligent humans and barbarians, consuming their brains or absorbing their spirits would greatly enhance a demon’s wisdom.

This was said to be especially true for the next generation of demons. If they consumed human brains, their offspring would surely be born intelligent—born as demons from the very moment they entered the world.

In short, the hatred between humans, barbarians, and demons deepened through this endless cycle of vengeance.

Yet under such circumstances, all three powers continued to grow stronger.

It was only natural for the human race to flourish. They guarded their borders without pause, refusing to allow barbarians or demons into the territory of the Initial State, while steadily expanding their own lands.

Places that had once been part of the wilds were now filled with cities, prefectures, and counties.

Thirty years earlier, the Initial State had possessed only thirteen prefectures. Now it had nineteen.

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The same was true of the barbarians. Gu abolished the old system of oasis tribes and established a vast desert kingdom, styling himself the Desert Emperor.

After thirty years of blood and fire, the demons finally raised Qing up in the far south of the wilds and established the demon race.

Qing still refused the title of Demon King, accepting only the name of Grand Marshal of the Demons.

“Let reverence be offered to our lord, and rebellion and ill omen be brought low. In this chaotic age of the wilds, we beseech our lord to descend, to destroy the unrighteous and lawless human race. We beseech our lord to descend, to slay the barbarian race that has defied its superiors and stirred rebellion.”

A heartfelt sacrificial proclamation was set alight before a multitude of demons in the far south of the wilds. Thus was the founding of the demon race formally proclaimed.

The first dynasty of the demons was established at the same time, under pressure from both the human and barbarian races.

This demonic dynasty was called the Invincible Dynasty.

Its ambition was to replace the human race and become the leading power beneath Heaven and Earth.

The true struggle between humans and demons had begun.

Yet Qing clearly understood the disparity in strength between the two races and did not dare confront the humans head-on. He scattered the demons he had gathered throughout the wilds, sending them to raid human settlements and recruit more demons into their ranks, thereby strengthening the demon race.

As the demons poured forth in full force, more and more of them were gathered beneath the banner of the demon race, and its power grew accordingly.

A foreboding tremor, like the hush before a storm, spread across the entire human world.

All living beings knew that calamity was at hand.

At the same time, however, the very culprit behind this calamity was himself facing disaster.

He had received word from the Blazing Witch Tribe that, within a radius of ten billion miles, a great witch tribe was preparing to fight a battle to the death against another great demon tribe.

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