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If the humans of the Demon Era had really seen the Holy Lord as one of the cruelest demon rulers, he definitely wouldn't have specifically told the other Demon Lords not to slaughter them.
The truth is, he knew very well what they were planning.
They'd kill off countless humans, turning those lands into wastelands soaked in blood—but they'd still leave just enough humans alive to keep reproducing, raising their kids to continue serving the demons.
The Holy Lord had no intention of letting his own territory suffer a population crash because of reckless slaughter.
Once they agreed to his conditions, the other Demon Lords left one after another.
They sent word to their top demons back home, ordering them to hunt down the eight chosen ones—including Lü Dongbin.
Only one of them didn't move: Shendu's elder brother, Shendu.
Seeing this, the Holy Lord calmly asked, "Big bro, is there a problem?"
Zhu Lan (Shendu) clenched all four of his hands into fists and replied meaningfully, "Holy Lord… you're worshiped like a god, while we're treated like monsters."
"You're betting everything on those humans chosen by 'righteous energy'—and you think they won't turn on you?"
"You're being a little too naive, don't you think?"
The Holy Lord was stunned for a moment.
Then he gave a helpless shrug. "Even though humans worship me as a god, I still can't break my connection to dark chi. That link is for life—and you know that as well as I do."
"We're both Demon Lords, Zhu Lan!"
His voice echoed heavily.
Zhu Lan's expression turned serious. He met the Holy Lord's eyes for a few seconds, then turned and left without another word.
"Your Majesty," Ling'er said, dropping to one knee respectfully, "should we send people to track down those humans chosen by righteous energy?"
The Holy Lord waved it off. "Nah. Just keep an eye on the other Demon Lords' underlings. Don't let them mess with the rules of my territory."
Ling'er paused for a second, then nodded and left the hall.
"Wait," the Holy Lord added, just as she stepped outside. "Go find E Ming, the head of the dark chi wizards. I've got something for him to do."
Ling'er bowed slightly and replied, "Yes, Your Majesty."
Half an hour later…
A figure draped in a black wizard's robe entered. His face was wrinkled and aged with time. After giving a slight bow, he croaked, "You summoned me, my lord?"
The Holy Lord took a good look at E Ming. Though he looked like death itself, the blood still flowed in his body, and there was a faint aura of youth around him.
He could tell: this guy was keeping himself alive by draining life essence from living beings. Nothing new.
Instead of commenting, the Holy Lord casually tossed him a scroll, which floated right in front of him.
"This is…" E Ming examined the intricate magical patterns on it. Then it clicked.
"A magic formation diagram!"
"That's right," the Holy Lord said. "You're gonna use that to make a magic array plate."
E Ming quickly stored the scroll and bowed. "Understood, my lord! But… how soon do you need the plate ready?"
The Holy Lord noticed just how weak E Ming's life force had gotten. If he didn't get more life energy soon, he might drop dead right there.
"Within a hundred years," he said flatly.
E Ming frowned, his voice even raspier than before. "My lord… my time is almost up."
"You probably already noticed—I've been using life essence to keep myself going. But if I take on this job… I might not have enough time left to finish it. Cough!Cough!"
He suddenly doubled over and coughed up a mouthful of thick, dark blood.
The Holy Lord furrowed his brows. "Guards!"
In an instant, shadows stirred throughout the palace. They gathered and formed into soldiers made of pure darkness, kneeling in silence before the Holy Lord.
"The Soul-Draining Array can keep you alive. These shadow soldiers will take you to the magic library. They'll get you what you need."
E Ming looked confused. "Your Majesty… what level is this Soul-Draining Array?"
"You'll find out when you see it," the Holy Lord said mysteriously.
"But let me tell you this—this array works best on demons."
"Humans are way too fragile. They won't help you much."
"My demon underlings will help you with the array plate. Don't disappoint me."
"You've served me faithfully for countless years, E Ming. Don't screw this up."
There was more he wanted to ask, but when he saw the urging glint in the Holy Lord's eyes, he quickly turned and followed the shadow soldiers toward the magical vault.
As E Ming's figure faded into the distance, the Holy Lord let a faint smile curl across his lips.
"A magic array plate… something that lets you cast spells without even carving the runes by hand."
"With this little trump card, even the Eight Immortals won't be able to walk away unharmed. I might not even need to use the formation at all…"
"But better to be safe than sorry."
His spirit began drifting across the heavens as he continued studying the powers of the Fiery Authority granted by the world itself—hoping to break free from this world's limitations and rise even higher.
For now, there was nothing else for him to do—except wait for the return of the Eight Immortals and the start of the war between good and evil.
Let's see if they can really seal away someone like him, a Holy Lord far beyond the one in the original story…
Or if he'll continue to walk beyond the balance of yin and yang.
As for whether the Demon Lords could actually find the Eight Immortals? He wasn't holding his breath.
He'd just wait for righteous energy to awaken—then welcome the final battle.
Zhu Lan was the same way. He had no underlings.
He lived alone on the moon, staying far away from the world's conflicts.
But just because he was one of the Eight Demon Lords, on the dark chi side, he still had to face the Eight Immortals hunting him down. All this? Totally unfair to him.
After the meeting, Zhu Lan returned to the moon like always, waiting for the righteous energy to rise again. The Holy Lord focused fully on strengthening his control over the power of fire.
Meanwhile…
Across the entire planet, the storm was brewing.
The six other Demon Lords' underlings flooded into the Holy Lord's ancient Asia-like continent, tirelessly searching day and night for Lü Dongbin and the others.
And it wasn't just them—anyone with ties to dark chi or righteous energy was being hunted.
The scale of the operation shocked the human mages and wizards who had barely survived the last purge.
They knew exactly what this meant: the Demon Lords were coming to wipe them out again.
They barely had time to catch their breath—and now it was happening again.
Panic spread through the ranks of human mages. At best, the strongest among them could only take down a weaker high-level demon.
The truly strong ones? It took several top-tier mages just to hold one back.
And those top-tier mages—there were only 81 left among the righteous human side. That's not counting Lü Dongbin and the others—they were way beyond that level now.
The dark chi side also had 81 grand wizards. Those already loyal to the Demon Lords weren't even included in that number.
As for the high-level demons?
Thousands of years of growth had brought their numbers into the thousands.
Now, those thousands of powerful demons were pouring into the ancient continent under the Demon Lords' orders.
All of them had one goal: to find the eight chosen by righteous energy.
Above the skies and clouds of that continent, six Demon Lords watched silently, waiting to strike.
The moment the chosen ones were found—they'd descend personally, to wipe them out for good.
"....."