At the edge of the Demon Marches, heavy demonic fog hung all year round. The light between heaven and earth bled with a dark, stifling red, and even the howling wind carried a biting demonic chill as it tore across jagged, misshapen rocks and dragged out a sound like ghosts crying in the dark.
Deep in that barren, dead-silent land, a towering palace stood on the summit of the surrounding mountains. Its whole body had been cast from pitch-black demonic stone, vast and crushing just from a glance.
Across the roof, countless reliefs of snarling Demon Dragons had been carved in savage detail. Every line gave off a vicious presence.
This was the Demon Dragon Hall—the place in the Demon Marches that made every major power think twice. Inside the great hall, the space felt empty and severe. The floor had been laid with smooth black jade, and it reflected the wavering dark-red candlelight burning through the hall. As the flames jumped, the shadows stretched long and then snapped short, making the whole place feel even colder and more sinister.
At the seat of honor sat a tall, upright figure. It was Darian, the Chieftain of the Demon Dragon Lineage. He wore a dark-gold robe embroidered with dragon patterns. Along the edges, dense and complicated demonic markings ran in layers, while a faint Demon Dragon pressure leaked from his body without ever fully flaring. His face usually stayed steady and cold.
But now the weight on it showed plain enough, and his brows had locked so tightly together that a deep crease had formed between them. The fingers of his right hand kept tapping the armrest beside him without meaning to; the rhythm was quick and tight.
That armrest had been forged from Ten-Thousand-Year Profound Ice demonic iron, and every tap sent out a faint sound that rang with startling clarity through the silent great hall, laying bare the unrest he still could not press down.
Ever since Senior Skylar had made his move and cut down the Grand Elder of the Celestial Palace along with several of its core elders in a single sword strike, a shadow had stayed over Darian the whole time. It pressed over him like a mountain hanging above his head—invisible but constant—leaving no room to breathe.
He knew the Celestial Palace’s foundation too well, and he knew exactly what kind of man Godric was. The Celestial Palace had stood in the Fourteenth Firmament for tens of thousands of years, and it had always been overbearing, ruthless, and quick to settle every score.
Now it had lost a pillar like the Grand Elder. That was humiliation the Celestial Palace could hardly bear, and Darian did not doubt for even a moment that it would never let the matter drop.
He had originally stayed on guard day and night, fully prepared for the Celestial Palace to come pouring in with everything it had. He had even ordered every warrior of the Demon Dragon Lineage into battle readiness, opened every defensive formation around the Demon Dragon Hall, and had all stockpiled demon crystal and war gear moved into place. He had been waiting for Godric to lead his forces here so they could fight to the death.
But what Darian had never expected was this: day after day passed, and Godric still did not move. Not only had he failed to immediately lead an army against the Demon Dragon Hall, there was no movement at all. That unnatural restraint only drove the unease in Darian deeper, and underneath it all, one thought kept hardening: Godric had to be brewing something even darker.
Darian was still turning Godric’s silence over and over in his head when a rush of footsteps suddenly broke out beyond the great hall. A panicked shout came with them and tore straight through the dead stillness inside. “Report!”
A Demon Dragon scout in black scout armor burst in despite the guards trying to stop him outside. Dust clung to him. So did faint streaks of blood. He rushed all the way to the middle of the great hall, then dropped to one knee with a heavy thud, his armor striking the floor hard enough to echo.
He kept his head lowered, chest heaving from the run, and when he spoke, the words came out fast and unsteady. “Reporting to Chieftain! Something terrible has happened! The Celestial Palace army has moved out in full force, but they didn’t come for the Demon Dragon Hall. They went straight to Cloudhaven City!”
“Godric is leading them himself. He has at least a thousand Basilica elites under him, and more than ten True Immortal Realm cultivators. The army has already reached outside Cloudhaven City and is locked in a bloody battle with the Sky Dragon Clan defending the city. The fighting is unbelievably brutal!”
“What?!” Darian shot to his feet from the seat of honor. Draconic energy burst from him in a rush, and cracks spread across the armrest under the force of his grip. His eyes tightened at once. That news had landed completely outside anything he had prepared for. Godric has not come to the Demon Dragon Hall for revenge. Instead, he has taken all of his main force and gone straight to Cloudhaven City?!
Darian stood there without moving, his mind racing. A moment later, the shock in his eyes faded. In its place came a look of sudden understanding, and then a cold, mocking curve touched his mouth. “Godric… so you really can stomach what most people can’t… you’re letting your blood feud wait and going to Cloudhaven City first.
So that’s the plan. You want to capture Jared alive, take the fortune on him, raise your own strength to the limit, and only then come back to settle things with our Demon Dragon Lineage… that’s a hell of a calculation.”
He flicked a hand, signaling the scout to withdraw, his tone flat. “Understood. Go back and keep watching the battle. If anything changes, report to me at once.”
“Yes!” The scout accepted the order at once, got up, and hurried out of the great hall. Darian did not waste another second. He turned and strode toward the rear court, pace quickening, because he knew this had to be reported to Senior Skylar immediately.
At this point, every decision made by the Demon Dragon Lineage had to follow Skylar’s will. That seemingly young Senior holds strength that can crush anything in his path. He is the Demon Dragon Lineage’s greatest support now…
In the courtyard of the rear court, the scene was completely different from the gloom of the front hall. Even so, it still carried that strange edge that belonged only to this demonic land. Several bloodroot trees stood planted in the middle of the courtyard, the kind that only grew in the Demon Marches.
Their branches and leaves carried a dark red cast. When the breeze moved through them, the leaves rustled softly. A few dark red petals drifted down and scattered across the flagstone.
Overhead hung the dark red demon sun of the Demon Marches. Its dim light washed over the whole courtyard and dyed everything in a murky red. Skylar stood in the center of the courtyard with his hands behind his back, straight as a pine.
His black clothes stirred lightly in the wind. He had his head tipped up toward the demon sun. His eyes were deep as a frostpool, and the air around him stayed flat and distant, as if he had already blended into this patch of heaven and earth and nothing in the world could touch him.
Josephine stood quietly at his side in a purple dress. Her sleeves and hem shifted in the breeze, and her dark hair lifted with it. Her face carried that cold, flawless beauty of someone who looked like she had no business standing in a place like this. She clashed with the demonic aura around them, yet beside Skylar, the two of them somehow fit together perfectly.
“Senior…” Darian hurried into the courtyard, but even then, he kept his steps from coming down too hard. He stopped a few paces behind Skylar, bent at the waist, and saluted. “We just received word from a scout on the front lines.
Godric, the Lord of the Basilica, has led all of the Celestial Palace elites out in full force to besiege Cloudhaven City! They’ve already begun a full war with the Sky Dragon Clan. The purpose couldn’t be clearer. He wants to use Jared’s secluded cultivation to seize him alive and take the fortune on him for himself!”
At that, a sharp light flashed through Skylar’s eyes. It came fast and cold. Something in it had been waiting a long time. Something in it met a powerful enemy head-on. And under all that stillness, something long buried had finally found the target it had been sitting on.
