Ye Chen was covered in blood, his heart like dead ashes.
To be demoted from Saint Heir to a mere mortal, and at the hands of the very people he trusted most...
The pain was simply heart-wrenching!
In the end, he could only watch, powerless, as Qin Ruotong was led away, left with no choice but to agree.
"Take him away too!"
The Grand Elder ordered coldly.
Ye Chen was dragged like a dead dog by two outer sect disciples and thrown into a small wooden cabin in the herb garden.
"Just a lowly mortal, and he had the audacity to dream of being the Saint Heir?"
"Whatever! The former Saint Heir has been knocked back down to being a mortal! We'll get to see his pathetic face as he's forced to toil in the fields. What a magnificent sight that'll be!"
The two outer sect disciples sneered, then slammed the door and left.
Ye Chen seemed oblivious, his eyes vacant.
Once upon a time, these outer sect disciples had revered him like a god.
But that was all just an act.
These people, who grew up in the world of cultivators, most likely knew the truth all along.
Now that they saw Ye Chen brought as low as a dog, they naturally dropped all pretense.
'No! I have to get a grip!'
'Tongtong... Tongtong is still in their hands!'
Ye Chen's eyes suddenly sharpened.
The thought of Qin Ruotong in the hands of the Luoyun Sect, her fate uncertain, caused a boundless, violent aura to erupt from Ye Chen!
'Luoyun Sect... for this grudge, this hatred, I, Ye Chen, will never forget it as long as I live!'
As if he had made a great resolve, Ye Chen fought through the excruciating pain wracking his body and pulled a thin booklet from his robes.
The booklet looked unremarkable, but five large words were inscribed on its cover in magnificent, flowing script.
The World-Astonishing Demon God Record!
Ye Chen had acquired this treasure on his last mission, where he had exterminated the remnants of a demon sect.
As was his custom, he had planned to offer everything he gained to the sect.
Especially this ancient manual, which he'd found hidden deep within the demon sect's most forbidden grounds, a text so precious its followers had given their lives to protect it.
At the time, a mere glance at its pages had made his eyes sting and stirred a surging demonic intent within his heart.
His spirit trembled. He knew this Secret Technique was of monumental importance and had only thought of reporting it to the sect at once.
He never imagined that the moment he returned to the Luoyun Sect, he would be suppressed by the Sect Protection Array.
Ye Chen was ambushed and grievously wounded. They even took his very blood and bone for Alchemy right then and there!
'And I called myself a member of a righteous sect.'
'Little did I know the Luoyun Sect is utterly unscrupulous and inhuman. All those years of loyalty... they mean less than dog shit in the face of profit…'
'They're a hundred, a thousand times crueler than the demon sects!'
'In that case, I might as well embrace the supreme Demon Dao! I'll rip the hypocritical masks off every last one of these so-called righteous sects!'
Ye Chen's eyes hardened with resolve. His decision was made.
The World-Astonishing Demon God Record had been sitting on an altar deep within the forbidden lands of the Demon Race.
In front of the altar lay three demon bones.
It was said that these bone fragments were taken from the corpses of Great Powers of the demon sects.
They were saturated with a boundless Evil Qi!
By offering these three demon bones according to a Secret Technique, one could truly awaken the World-Astonishing Demon God Record!
Doing so would allow an Ancient Demon God to manifest in the world once more!
Even a mere phantom of its power would be enough to plunge the world into chaos!
Ye Chen took out the three demon bones and laid them out one by one. At the same time, he spread the World-Astonishing Demon God Record open before him.
He didn't know the Secret Technique for offering the bones, but he was cornered. This was a desperate, last-ditch effort.
However, the moment Ye Chen finished taking out all the demon bones...
A monstrous wave of Evil Qi suddenly burst forth, flooding the entire cabin!
At the same time, Ye Chen felt his own body turning into a bottomless abyss, threatening to devour every last wisp of the Evil Qi!
'Wait... is this... the Chaos Five Elements Body?'
A look of shock crossed Ye Chen's face.
The Chaos Five Elements Body, as its name implied, was born from the primordial chaos between heaven and earth. Its capacity to absorb and contain was immense.
It could absorb any power in existence.
It seemed capable of swallowing the cosmic rivers of stars and reducing them back to primordial chaos.
Now, his mysterious constitution was forming a strange resonance with the demon bones before him!
In an instant, the monstrous Evil Qi surged forth, pouring into his body like a raging river!
The World-Astonishing Demon God Record itself transformed into a streak of golden light that rode the torrent of Evil Qi straight into Ye Chen's mind!
Countless complex and esoteric scriptures, seemingly from ancient times, flooded Ye Chen's mind.
An imposing phantom of an Ancient Demon God even materialized, crossing time and space to appear by Ye Chen's side and chant the scriptures for him.
Ye Chen listened, utterly entranced. Under the coalescing Evil Qi, his shattered meridians actually began to show signs of mending!
'My meridians... they're healing?'
Third Layer of Bone Forging...
...
Sixth Layer of Bone Forging...
Ninth Layer of Bone Forging...
First Layer of Blood Condensation... Third Layer of Blood Condensation... Sixth Layer of Blood Condensation...
An unknown amount of time passed before Ye Chen finally snapped out of his trance, the demonic whispers fading.
He was stunned to find his meridians completely healed.
His cultivation was now even greater than before!
In the Eastern Wilderness, the path of cultivation is divided into ten major realms: Bone Forging, Blood Condensation, Spiritual Sea, Primordial Mansion, Divinity Transformation, Divine Might, Void Realm, Nirvana, Heavenly Dipper, and Samsara.
Legend had it that even beyond Samsara, the Great Dao did not end.
But that was only a legend, far too remote to matter to the current Ye Chen.
Before, Ye Chen had only reached the Fourth Layer of the Blood Condensation realm.
Now, thanks to the World-Astonishing Demon God Record and his Chaos Five Elements Body, Ye Chen had been reborn from the ashes, his suffering finally giving way to triumph.
His power had already reached the Sixth Layer of the Blood Condensation realm!
Moreover, Ye Chen was now brimming with Evil Qi, and his meridians were several times thicker than they had been before!
The Spiritual Power surging through them was like a raging tide. Compared to other Cultivators at the same level, he was vastly more powerful!
'At this rate, I could probably even defeat a Cultivator at the Ninth Layer of Blood Condensation with ease.'
As Ye Chen sensed his newfound power, his face filled with wonder.
This World-Astonishing Demon God Record was truly worthy of its reputation as a divine technique from the ancient demon sects.
It was truly extraordinary!
The demon sect members had offered up the bones of their Great Powers for days on end, yet they had failed to awaken this divine technique.
Yet Ye Chen, with his Chaos Five Elements Body and the three demon bones, had mastered it directly through a stroke of sheer luck!
When the Demon God's phantom had appeared earlier, Ye Chen had felt as if heaven and earth were collapsing and the very stars were falling from the sky!
That vast, surging power filled Ye Chen's heart with a deep yearning.
'So this is the power of a Demon God...'
'Luoyun Sect, you just wait. Keep your necks clean for me!'
'I, Ye Chen, am back!'
Ye Chen rose to his feet. His aura of Evil Qi was staggering, his expression as cold as ice.
On this day, in the back mountains of the Luoyun Sect, it was as if a young Demon God had awakened from a long slumber.