Chapter 67

"Here's the reason I'm not willing to transform easily. Once I transform, everyone will treat me as a demon cultivator, and they will try to exterminate me at all costs!" Zheng Dongming sighed helplessly.

The three words "demon cultivator" were like an invisible ghost, hovering between the two, instantly freezing the air around them to zero degrees!

The smiles on Li Yao and Zheng Dongming's faces completely froze, and their eyes were filled with tangible killing intent.

A demon cultivator is a practitioner who has been tempted by the Outer Domain Demons and fallen, abandoning the cultivation of spiritual energy to instead cultivate the dark side of spiritual energy—known as "dark energy." They are the mortal enemies of human civilization, far more terrifying than the demon race!

According to legend, at the beginning of the Big Bang, from the initial "origin point," an endless amount of spiritual energy and dark energy surged forth. The spiritual energy gradually transformed into matter, forming the vast starry sea and giving birth to the first generation of life forms, the "Pangu Spirit Race."

The Pangu Spirit Race was passionate about creation. They opened the heavens and earth, shaping the Three Thousand Great Worlds and refining countless scorching star materials into planets suitable for life.

Therefore, in the records of human civilization, the Pangu Spirit Race is also known as the "Ancient Saints"!

However, the dark energy, which is the dark side of spiritual energy, did not transform into matter. Large masses of dark energy condensed into a mysterious world called the "Outer Demon Realm," transcending the three realms and the five elements, forming its own universe.

In the Outer Demon Realm, the dark energy continuously tore, collided, compressed, and condensed, gradually acquiring intelligence and evolving into the "Outer Domain Demons"!

The Outer Domain Demons are pure energy life forms that know only destruction, not creation!

Their greatest passion is to tear open the barrier between the Outer Demon Realm and the human universe, descending into the Three Thousand Great Worlds where humans live, invading human brains, polluting human spirits, and corrupting human wills, making humans indulge in the "dark energy" filled with slaughter, madness, deceit, and filth, turning them into terrifying "demon cultivators"!

As early as 40,000 years ago, during the ancient cultivation era, before the demon race was born, cultivators and demon cultivators were mortal enemies who fought to the death.

There were even rumors that the cultivator who created the "Demon God Virus" and gave birth to the demon race had long been polluted by the Outer Domain Demons and had already turned into a demon cultivator!

And 30,000 years later, at the end of the Great Dark Age, when the Emperor rose, human civilization was revived, and was about to eliminate the demon race and dominate the star sea, it was the Outer Domain Demons who orchestrated the "Doomsday Rebellion," sparking the second civil war in the cultivation world!

In the "Doomsday Rebellion," the Star Sea Empire founded by the Emperor collapsed, and the connections between the Three Thousand Great Worlds were severed, with the boundless star sea once again engulfed in raging flames of war!

Li Yao stood quietly five meters away from Zheng Dongming, his eyes sharp like a knife, scrutinizing Zheng Dongming's neck like a vulture.

Although the chubby man was limp and helpless, looking like a fish on the chopping block, Li Yao did not dare to be the slightest bit careless.

After all, the other party was an extremely terrifying demon cultivator. Who knew if he had any last-ditch counterattacks?

Zheng Dongming smiled bitterly and said, "Since you consider me a demon cultivator and are determined to slay demons, why did you save me just now? Wouldn't it have been better to let the Giant-Eyed Ape punch me to death?"

Li Yao shook his head and said, "You misunderstood. I didn't save you—I heard that demon cultivators are the best at close combat and have many techniques to devour flesh to heal their bodies! If the Giant-Eyed Ape had gotten close to you, and you had killed it and devoured its flesh, causing further changes, that would have been disastrous! I killed it just to prevent it from getting close to you, hoping you would remain in your weakest state."

He paused, then drew a line on the ground with his toe and said, "See, I've been standing five meters away from you, not daring to get any closer, just to prevent you from suddenly attacking!"

As Li Yao spoke, a passage from his history class about the "Doomsday Rebellion" flashed through his mind.

Ten thousand years ago, at the end of the Great Dark Age, the rule of the demon race over human civilization was like a candle in the wind, flickering and about to be extinguished.

At this time, human civilization was in turmoil, with many strong figures emerging.

In the southern part of the boundless star sea, in a great world called "Lietian Realm," a human strongman known as the "Heaven-Defying Martial Emperor" appeared in the "Underground Arena" established by the demon race.

He, as a lowly "gladiator," fought his way up, becoming a "War God" in just a few decades, rallying countless gladiators to rise up against the demon race.

Countless demon race experts were turned into meat paste and ashes under his great sword and iron fists!

In the northern part of the boundless star sea, in the "Chaotic Star Realm," another human hero known as the "Star Sea War Emperor" also emerged.

He started with a stolen demon race patrol ship, operating as a "space pirate" and plundering everywhere. In just a few decades, he developed a human fleet with a million crystal warships, transforming from guerrilla warfare to open battles against the demon race's regular army, defeating the enemy time and time again.

When the "Heaven-Defying Martial Emperor" and the "Star Sea War Emperor" met for the first time, people discovered...

They were actually two avatars of the same person!

From then on, the Heaven-Defying Martial Emperor and the Star Sea War Emperor officially merged, possessing unparalleled military strategy and unmatched combat power, and were revered by all humans as the "Emperor"!

The Emperor, with his own strength, led human civilization out of the darkness and back to glory. He led many strong figures to excavate countless ancient cultivation sects' ruins, founding twenty "Primordial Sects" based on ancient cultivation civilization, and dividing twenty avatars from his own soul to control the twenty Primordial Sects!

The strongest of these avatars inherited the Emperor's entire combat consciousness and killing intent, controlling the most powerful "Blood God Sect" and was bestowed the name "Blood God Son" by the Emperor!

The countless demons he slew, however, preferred to call him the "Doomsday War Madman"!

When the Emperor established the Star Sea Empire and was busy rebuilding human civilization, the Blood God Son led the twenty Primordial Sects and the crystal warship fleet, driving out the demon race from every great world in the boundless star sea.

In just a few decades, almost all the demon race in the great worlds were driven out, leaving only their stronghold, the "Myriad Demon Realm."

To completely conquer the demon race, the Blood God Son gathered the strongest cultivators from the twenty Primordial Sects, leading seventy percent of the Star Sea Empire's military forces to form an overwhelmingly powerful "Expeditionary Army"!

Even the Emperor divided one soul and one spirit from his own three souls and seven spirits, temporarily merging them into the Blood God Son, boosting his combat power to the limit, allowing him to contend with the demon race's kings!

The grand "Billion Light-Year Great Expedition" began!

When the expeditionary army set out, everyone believed it would be the final war, and the human race would permanently solve the demon race problem, with the Star Sea Empire's glory shining forever in the next billion years!

No one could have predicted that the Outer Domain Demons had long targeted the Blood God Son, continuously tempting, polluting, and corrupting this "Doomsday War Madman" in one battle after another!

When the war was not going well, and the Blood God Son was severely injured in a battle with three demon gods, and faced criticism from the rear, the "Doomsday War Madman" finally lost his mind, falling into the path of demons, transforming from the Emperor's avatar and the cultivator of cultivators into the most terrifying "demon cultivator"!

As a demon cultivator, the Doomsday War Madman immediately led the Blood God Sect to attack the other sects.

The Outer Domain Demons also took the opportunity to erode the other avatars of the Emperor!

In the end, nine of the Primordial Sects fell into the path of demons, becoming the "Demon Sects"!

Under the interference of the Outer Domain Demons, the Doomsday War Madman and the Myriad Demon Realm reached a temporary ceasefire and formed a temporary alliance, leading the nine Demon Sects to counterattack the Star Sea Empire!

Human civilization, which had not yet fully escaped the shadow of the Great Dark Age, was plunged into the second cultivation world civil war!

The intensity of this war was no less than the first cultivation world civil war 40,000 years ago, tearing apart the newly established Star Sea Empire. In the brutal battles, two Primordial Sects loyal to human civilization were completely destroyed and vanished from the boundless star sea!

In the most critical moment, the nine Demon Sects even attacked the capital of the Star Sea Empire, "Tianji Star," forcing the Emperor to personally appear and engage in a heaven-shaking battle with the Doomsday War Madman!

The Emperor, standing at the pinnacle of human evolution, was an immortal legend among cultivators!

The Doomsday War Madman, the embodiment of the Emperor's supreme martial power and strongest killing intent, possessed one soul and one spirit of the Emperor, and was blessed by the countless demon lords of the nine heavens and ten earths, with the Outer Domain Demons and demon kings pouring endless dark energy and demon power into him!

No one could describe how breathtaking the final battle was, but it is known that the entire "Tianji Star" was shattered by the two of them!

In the end, the Doomsday War Madman's physical body was completely shattered by the Emperor, leaving only a wisp of his soul, which fled with the remnants of the nine Demon Sects into the Outer Demon Realm.

The Emperor was also severely injured and had to retreat into the small world he created, falling into a mysterious, neither alive nor dead, long slumber.

The Star Sea Empire, severely damaged in the civil war and losing the incomparable leader, the Emperor, was completely destroyed, and the connections between the great worlds were severed.

The nine Primordial Sects still loyal to human civilization gradually split into thousands of small sects, scattered across different great worlds, continuing to defend human civilization and fight against evil and demons!

In some great worlds, like Tianyuan Realm, cultivation sects formed powerful nations, leading regular armies to fight against demon beasts and demon sects, allowing ordinary people to live peaceful lives.

In other great worlds, humans and demons were evenly matched, engaging in bloody battles for thousands of years, with ordinary people being drawn into the war from birth until death.

In a few great worlds, humans were completely ruled by the demon race and demon sects, living lives worse than death, in the utmost misery!

Human civilization still has a long, long way to go to completely end the war, dominate the star sea, and conquer the universe!

The great rebellion sparked by the "Doomsday War Madman" is historically known as the "Doomsday Rebellion," ultimately orchestrated by the Outer Domain Demons!

It's easy to imagine how profoundly Li Yao was shaken when he discovered that Zheng Dongming was a demon cultivator, tempted and corrupted by the Outer Domain Demons, capable of manipulating "dark energy"!