LGHTNOVELBOOK Chapter 72:
Chapter 072: Once Upon a Time (Part 1):
Living beings!
Lu Ye’s blood-red eyes stared at the weak demon clan creatures before him. Though the demon clan was fragile, its young members brimmed with vitality, like the rising sun at dawn. To extinguish them, to sever their flourishing life force, brought an unparalleled sense of completion to the act of slaughter.
All the weak demons looked at Lu Ye with faces full of eager smiles. To them, it was true—this human was a greater anomaly than they were.
Come, kill me!
Without a single wasted word, Lu Ye swung his sword horizontally.
Splatter…
Blood dyed the earth crimson. The thick stench of blood surged into the sky as one young demon after another was cleaved in two by the sword’s aura. Their faces, even in death, bore strange smiles. After their demise, crimson streams of energy flowed into Lu Ye.
Lu Ye paid no attention and continued killing.
More young demons streamed endlessly into the ancient battleground of prodigies, yet their arrival was far too slow to satisfy Lu Ye’s frenzy. His blood-red eyes glanced at a soot-covered firebird nearby, too filthy to even look at.
With a raised fist, he struck.
BOOM!
The firebird exploded into fragments, its feathers scattering across the sky.
“Huh?” Lu Ye let out a faint sound of surprise.
With another punch, the heavens seemed to lend him their strength, and a fierce gale erupted from the void.
Zhuque, engulfed by endless regret, felt her body shatter under Lu Ye’s punch.
Strangely, a sense of relief filled her heart.
Just let me die… It’s better this way.
Lu Ye had saved her twice. She owed him two lives.
In this moment, her memory seemed to drift back to the past.
“Zhuque? One of the Four Divine Beasts? Why are you such a tiny little thing?”
“Anyone who knows you’re Zhuque might believe it, but to those who don’t, you’re nothing more than a little chick.”
“Hey there, little chick, we meet again!”
“Look at you, all dirty and pitiful. Here, let me clean you up!”
“Cough, cough, cough! You little thing! I’m helping you bathe, and you repay me by dragging me into the water?”
“Little Zhuque, we meet again. What’s wrong with your demon clan? Why are they always hunting you? Seriously, you’re Zhuque! Don’t they know what you are? If they had any sense, they’d revere you like a deity, not chase you down!”
“Stick with me. If you don’t, you won’t last much longer.”
“This Myriad Spirit Demon Emperor is indeed terrifying! But don’t worry, Zhuque. Watch me handle him!”
…
Lu Ye and the Myriad Spirit Demon Emperor had fought the fiercest battle of the First Heaven.
The more he fought, the more silent Lu Ye became.
Until the end.
“Lu Ye, how could you kill so many demons?”
“I had no choice. If I didn’t kill them, they would’ve killed me.”
At that time, fatigue and murderous intent filled Lu Ye’s brows.
“How could such weak demons possibly kill you?”
“Weak demons? Do you even know that the so-called weak demon behind you is the Myriad Spirit Demon Emperor?”
“Impossible!”
“I’ve never lied to you!”
“Step aside!”
Zhuque believed Lu Ye. But there were so many… Too many had died. Those helpless, newborn creatures, barely out of the cradle, had all been slain by Lu Ye.
Tragic.
Yet she only saw the tragedy of the demon clan, not the torment in Lu Ye’s eyes.
For Lu Ye, slaughtering the weak was a torment in itself. But he had no choice. If he stopped, all his efforts would have been in vain. The demons he’d killed before would have died for nothing.
In the end, Zhuque risked her life to shield a newborn demon. It was so young, its eyes had barely opened.
Such a creature… How could it possibly be part of the Myriad Spirit Demon Emperor?
“Step aside!” Lu Ye’s face was filled with unrelenting killing intent. Pointing his stone sword at himself, he growled, “If you want to protect it, then kill me too. It’s just been born!”
“But it’s part of the Myriad Spirit Demon Emperor!”
“No, it’s not!”
Zhuque couldn’t fathom that the tiny creature she had shielded would reveal a hideous and venomous expression when her back was turned.
She never told Lu Ye that she had secretly hidden away a young demon—a firebird, resembling her in form, its feathers not yet fully grown. She wanted to see if it truly was part of the Myriad Spirit Demon Emperor.
Later, because of her repeated interference, Lu Ye knocked her unconscious. By the time she woke, Lu Ye had slaughtered nearly half of the demon realm, especially its young ones.
Lu Ye later tried to explain himself to her. Deep down, she knew he was right, but she couldn’t accept it at the time.
She waited for the young firebird to grow.
Under her protection, it lived for a long time. But one day, by chance, the firebird died. Even in death, it showed no signs of being the Myriad Spirit Demon Emperor.
Over time, though she couldn’t fully accept the truth, she gradually let go as she watched the ruined demon realm slowly recover its vitality.
Looking back now, she suddenly realized that the time she spent protecting the young firebird had been Lu Ye’s most challenging period. From the Second Heaven to the Fourth Heaven, the entire world seemed to stand against him. He even provoked the Eternal Sect.
Thinking back, so many coincidences felt unnatural.
Until, in the Seventh Heaven’s demon ancestral court, she found an ancient demon scripture:
The Myriad Spirit Blood Transformation Demon Scripture…
How ironic. She once believed the Myriad Spirit Demon Emperor practiced this scripture, yet the emperor likely didn’t even know its name.
The Myriad Spirit Demon Emperor was a parasitic celestial demon.
She thought she had saved a firebird, but she had unwittingly saved the most terrifying existence, one that could bring about the demon clan’s ultimate destruction.
She could not die. She absolutely could not die.
If she perished, Lu Ye might not have to kill the Myriad Spirit Demon Emperor in this lifetime. Lu Ye was far too strong now. He didn’t need any enemies; he only needed to cultivate with all his might, and he could leave all rivals in the dust.
She had to kill the Myriad Spirit Demon Emperor.
She had to experience the agony Lu Ye had endured while slaying the emperor.
Only after feeling his pain would she return to Lu Ye and let him kill her himself.
“Rebirth through flames!”
A sharp cry echoed through the heavens and earth as golden-red flames erupted, reaching dozens of meters high. A massive Zhuque emerged from the flames, its true form revealed, exuding the supreme aura of the Four Divine Beasts.
Blood-red chains suddenly wrapped around Lu Ye. The Myriad Spirit Demon Emperor had made his move. His chosen host could not be so easily destroyed by Lu Ye.
It didn’t matter how many ordinary hosts perished, but one like Zhuque was irreplaceable. Even with slim odds, the emperor would not let her go.
What if it succeeded?
But he underestimated Lu Ye.
The blood-red chains posed no hindrance to Lu Ye. With one punch, they shattered.
BOOM!
Zhuque’s divine flames were extinguished by sheer force. A faint red light fled into a teleportation vortex, vanishing without a trace.
A new wave of young demons surged forward.