Xing Ming was quite pleased with Li Yan's astonished expression.
Most foreign cultivators could not easily know about this matter. Only sects like theirs, which had been rooted here for generations, would have heard some whispers.
He then took another sip of tea before continuing slowly.
"Thus, after a long secret discussion with the other Spirit Transformation cultivators, Xiahou Shangxie, ultimately wary of the mysterious expert's terrifying strength, decided to withdraw his grand army. This resolved the cataclysm that was about to befall the Primitive Demon Clan. However, this incident became a thorn in Xiahou Shangxie's side. He continuously planted spies inside the Sacred Demon Palace. At that time, the Sacred Demon Palace was in a state of ruin, waiting to be rebuilt. Even if the defenses were extremely strict, they could not be completely watertight. Although many spies were killed, one person eventually managed to pass a message to Xiahou Shangxie. And the Sacred Demon Palace, only after performing a soul search, learned the content of the message the spy had delivered."
"'A powerful human expert is helping the Sacred Demon Palace reconstruct their clan-protecting grand formation!'"
"Although the content of this message was simple, with Xiahou Shangxie's almost demonic intellect, he immediately thought of many things. The Sacred Demon Palace was the foundation of the Primitive Demon Clan. Their clan-protecting grand formation was passed down from ancient times. Whether it was its defense, or the various traps and restrictions within, it had almost reached the limit of this realm's artifact refining grandmasters. Yet someone could still reconstruct the grand formation. What did this represent? What was the significance of reconstructing the clan-protecting grand formation? It was definitely to make the formation's power even stronger, its overall might far surpassing what it was before. Otherwise, there would be no point for the Sacred Demon Palace to reconstruct it. Furthermore, without a certain degree of confidence, the Sacred Demon Palace would definitely not dare to rashly change the original formation's restrictions. That would only result in a botched job, making things worse. All of this could only mean that the person who reconstructed the Sacred Demon Palace's clan-protecting grand formation possessed skills that had reached a level above that of an artifact refining grandmaster. To reach such a level, one would also need formidable cultivation to support their artifact refining. Xiahou Shangxie thus concluded that the mysterious expert who had ruined his plan to unify the entire demon clan was the same human cultivator who had reconstructed the Sacred Demon Palace's clan-protecting grand formation."
"There was another reason that made Xiahou Shangxie even more certain of his judgment. A clan-protecting grand formation like this, how could they casually let a foreign cultivator reconstruct it? Even if the other party's artifact refining skills were high, a sect or clan would normally be unwilling to do so. This would not only leak all the secrets of the clan-protecting grand formation, but also allow a foreign cultivator to leave behind any number of hidden hands. This was fatal for the Sacred Demon Palace. That was their clan-protecting grand formation, which held the lifeblood of an entire clan. But they did it anyway. From this, one could determine just how much the White Demon Clan trusted this person. Later, no matter how much he inquired, he could not find out this person's whereabouts or origin, as if such a person had never appeared on the Forsaken Continent, without a trace."
Xing Ming shook his head as he said this. He himself was only half-convinced by such news, but it was the best explanation for why the Black Demon Clan hated human cultivators.
"It is said that after searching fruitlessly, Xiahou Shangxie did indeed sneak into the Sacred Demon Palace later. But he was discovered by the clan-protecting grand formation when he was only a thousand li from the core area. At that time, he was also a powerful expert among Spirit Transformation cultivators, yet he still could not evade the restrictions of the clan-protecting grand formation. Perhaps the White Demon Clan was too confident in their own clan-protecting grand formation and did not fully activate it, or perhaps Xiahou Shangxie's cultivation had already reached the heavens. He actually managed to escape with injuries after destroying a clone. Junior Brother, this reason, do you think it can explain your previous question?"
Xing Ming's narration was not very long, but in just this short period, it had already made Li Yan's blood boil.
'So there was such an expert among our human race. With the strength of one person, he scared Nascent Soul and Spirit Transformation cultivators witless. Even with the strength of an entire clan, they did not dare to face him head-on and could only obey his command to withdraw their troops. No wonder the Black and White Demon Clans treat human cultivators so differently. Although this reason sounds more mysterious, it provides a clearer explanation for the different situations human cultivators face on the Forsaken Continent.'
Xing Ming then continued.
"Now let's explain your latter question. This is also the reason why you cannot speak of what you have heard, otherwise it might bring great trouble to the sect."
Li Yan had already regained his composure and spoke softly.
"Please enlighten me, Senior Brother!"
"Because of the special nature of the Forsaken Continent, although it is difficult to cross realms, there will still be powerful cultivators of different races who bring their disciples and followers across, resulting in a situation where sects are numerous and experts are as common as clouds. That powerful human expert had clearly considered this point long ago. So before leaving, he made an agreement with the White Demon Clan. They were not to reveal his information, not to say that it was the human race that had helped the White Demon Clan, and not to allow any divine sense recordings or records. Otherwise, he would personally destroy the White Demon Clan. A tree that stands out in the forest will be destroyed by the wind! His actions were, of course, to leave a way out for the human cultivators who remained on the Forsaken Continent, to prevent them from being targeted by other clans. He just didn't expect that Xiahou Shangxie, based on a single piece of news, had already guessed that a powerful human was helping the White Demon Clan. The human cultivators had become the enemy of the most powerful clan on this continent. However, this powerful human's actions did indeed protect the human cultivators to the greatest extent possible. After all, as long as the White Demon Clan did not admit it, and there were no related records, then it would all just be a rumor. From then on, the White Demon Clan's attitude towards human cultivators and sects did indeed become much better. This was still very subtle at the beginning. But as the White Demon Clan became more and more stable, and the Black Demon Clan began to slay human cultivators everywhere, the White Demon Clan simply made their attitude towards human cultivators clear. They hunted each other's experts with the Black Demon Clan. It's just that there were no related laws established for this matter. The White Demon Clan's outward reason was 'For any clan that the Black Demon Clan is hostile to, they will spare no effort to protect them!'. The Black Demon Clan did not respond to this, but instead, their pursuit of human cultivators became more and more cruel. This eventually led to the current situation, where human cultivators are concentrated in the western part of the Forsaken Continent."
"However, as the years passed, that generation of White Demon Clan experts either fell or successively ascended. There were fewer and fewer cultivators who were familiar with the human race, and new experts in the White Demon Clan continued to rise. In addition, the White Demon Clan had no previous laws or records regarding special treatment for human cultivators. So, three factions and two disagreements slowly formed within their ranks. One is the conservative faction. They believe that the news passed down from their ancestors is true, so they should still maintain a good relationship with human cultivators. The other is the opposition faction. They believe that these are all just rumors and that they should not provoke the Black Demon Clan over such meaningless words, which would lead to tense relations on the border between the two clans. The third is the neutral faction, which helps neither side and does not express an opinion. But these words are only their internal disputes. The White Demon Clan certainly cannot broadcast them. Therefore, the Sacred Demon Palace's current attitude towards the human race is uncertain. We only heard about these things through some channels and then made our own guesses. We don't know the specifics. I imagine the opposition faction in the Sacred Demon Palace is mainly worried about two points:"
"First, the White Demon Clan's power is now at its peak, and they have firmly ruled the western region of the Forsaken Continent. If they were to admit that it was a powerful human who helped the White Demon Clan overcome their calamity, it would be an embarrassment to the high-level cultivators of the White Demon Clan. A dispute between their own clans needed an outsider to resolve it. The image of the demon clan, which has always been powerful, would be damaged. Second, the Black Demon Clan would definitely use this as an excuse to hunt down human cultivators even more endlessly, and would continuously send people to infiltrate the west. They can't just directly expel the human cultivators from here. After all, the Sacred Demon Palace is not a one-party state. So they simply maintained their silence on the matter. Junior Brother, for us, all of this is just a rumor. The reason may not be so, but there is absolutely no need to bring any trouble to our own race."
After saying this, Xing Ming immediately changed the subject, as if he was afraid Zhang Ming would press further on the topic.
He would avoid this issue whenever possible. What's more, the White Demon Clan's attitude was now really difficult to discern. If his words were to reach certain ears, they might use it to stir up trouble.
At that time, it would not just be Falling Star Valley in trouble; it would implicate the entire human cultivator population on the Forsaken Continent. Falling Star Valley would surely be condemned to death.
Li Yan was also sensible. He immediately followed Xing Ming's lead, and the two of them moved on to discuss some cultivation matters. The atmosphere became much more harmonious again.
Half an incense stick of time later, Li Yan saw Xing Ming off. After closing the gate of his cave residence, Li Yan's originally calm face suddenly became gloomy.
Of course, it wasn't because of the matters between the demon clan and human cultivators, but because a huge discrepancy had appeared in his grand plan to return home. This had completely deviated from his previous thoughts.
Now, although he knew where the cross-realm grand formation was, the conditions for using it were so harsh!
Besides the massive amount of high-grade spirit stones, there was also an even more stringent condition. Not to mention Zhao Min, just with his own current cultivation, he would definitely need a Nascent Soul cultivator to protect him during the teleportation...
"If I could have a Nascent Soul cultivator to protect me, given that kind of relationship, the previous conditions might not even be a concern!"
Li Yan frowned and thought. The news he had received about the cross-realm teleportation grand formation had completely disrupted his previously formulated plan. At least for now, he was completely incapable of using the cross-realm teleportation formation.
As for when he would condense a Nascent Soul, Li Yan himself didn't know when that day would come. It could only be described as a distant future.
Perhaps he would never be able to take that step in his life. Nascent Soul cultivators... just thinking about the total number of Nascent Soul cultivators that had appeared on the Desolate Moon Continent due to the war between the two realms was enough to know how difficult it was to condense a Nascent Soul.
"I'll have to think of another way."
For a moment, Li Yan even thought of the barrier he and Zhao Min had crossed to get here, and the passage leading to the Devil's Cliff Crevice from the Black Demon Clan's side. He didn't know that Wei Zhongran's detonation that time had already completely sealed the passage between the two realms.
After thinking for a long time, Li Yan could only sigh deeply in his heart.
"I'll just have to take it one step at a time. First, find Senior Sister."
Immediately, he sat down cross-legged and slowly entered a state of cultivation.
The next morning, Li Yan left his cave residence and flew straight towards the Sect Master's main hall.
When he landed at the bottom of the hall's steps, the disciples on duty, seeing someone flying directly towards the Sect Master's hall, had already started to shout.
Normally, only the Sect Master was allowed to fly here. But the Sect Master had already gone in a long time ago today. Who was this person? He was simply audacious to the extreme.
"Who dares to trespass into the sect's main hall? You have violated the sect's..."
Of the four disciples on guard, one stepped forward and shouted loudly, while the other three moved up in a semi-encircling formation.
The light at the bottom of the steps faded, revealing an extremely ordinary face. He just glanced at the four of them before slowly stepping onto the stairs.
At the same time, a light flashed in his hand, and a light blue token with five stars on its corner appeared.