Chapter 2

Panshi has written two books. Without commenting on their content, he has been diligent, never delayed updates, and always completed his works. He has never formally asked for votes or donations.

Now, with his third book, he humbly requests that everyone cast their valuable recommendation votes for the new book, *Chronicles of the Demon King*. For a new book, this is incredibly important! He also asks that all readers, regardless of how they access the book, support him on Qidian, as it is the best encouragement an author can receive.

---

After the few witch clansmen disappeared from sight, Zhaoming finally breathed a sigh of relief and hurriedly dragged Asura out from under the black bear demon's body. A quick glance made him gasp in shock; in just a moment, Asura had been burned to the point of his skin splitting and his body covered in wounds.

"Asura, how are you?"

He slapped Asura's face a few times, fearing that he might not respond.

Asura trembled slightly, enduring the intense pain, and said in a deep voice, "I... I'm fine!"

He sniffed hard a few times and pointed to a dead yellow ox demon nearby. "Drag... drag... drag me over."

Zhaoming's heart stirred, and he immediately dragged Asura over.

The yellow ox demon, like the black bear demon, was already dead, but the flames had extinguished upon hitting the ground, so it wasn't burned too badly. A small wound on its neck was still dripping blood.

Asura immediately leaned in and began to suck vigorously. The wound on the neck seemed to grow larger due to the sucking, and it was clear that the blood was flowing through the veins into Asura's mouth.

The innate ability of blood demons is that if they can obtain strong and fresh blood, they can rapidly heal their injuries.

Usually, Asura dared not suck blood for various reasons, and even when he did, it was only the dead blood of demons killed by the witch clansmen, which he did secretly. This had led to his weak physical condition.

But at this moment, he couldn't afford to be cautious. Although the yellow ox demon was also dead, it had just died, and the essence in its blood had not yet dissipated. Moreover, the yellow ox demon's cultivation was far higher than Asura's. As the blood entered his body, his injuries began to heal at a visible rate, and in a short while, he was completely recovered.

Asura, still unsatisfied, continued until he had drained the yellow ox demon of all its blood.

"Asura, you seem to have swollen!" Zhaoming hesitated, saying. The emaciated Asura now appeared slightly plump, and his blood-red skin seemed to have a luster.

"It's not swelling, it's getting fat!" Asura said with a smile, as the fresh blood he had just sucked had greatly improved his condition.

Regaining his strength, the two did not dare to linger and ran in the opposite direction of the witch clansmen, heading for another mountain range.

Once they no longer felt the sounds of battle or the presence of the witch clansmen, they finally breathed a sigh of relief. Facing these terrifying witch clansmen, even demons far stronger than them had died, so it was quite fortunate that the two had managed to escape.

"How will we explain this to Mother?" Zhaoming asked, hoping Asura could come up with a plan. Sneaking out like this would surely result in a scolding.

Asura shook his head. "I don't know, just let her scold and hit us, and it will be fine."

Zhaoming remained silent, but he recalled the feeling of being watched by the witch clansman, as if... or perhaps they had already discovered him and Asura. Why didn't they take action?

Puzzled but without an answer, he said to Asura, "The witch clansmen probably haven't gone far. Let's find a place to hide."

Some of the old demons in the demon garden had said that this place was used for the witch clansmen's disciples to train, allowing them to kill demons and gain practical combat experience. So, every so often, witch clansmen would come in, slaughter for a while, and then leave.

At this moment, they were still far from their home, and the witch clansmen were still wandering around. If they were not careful, they might die.

Asura nodded and was about to speak when he suddenly heard a strange laugh: "Hiding? Two little demons at the Core Formation stage, where do you think you can hide?"

The two were immediately alarmed, backed against a tree, and looked around. They finally saw a witch clansman with feathered attire squatting on a tree branch, grinning at them.

Although they did not know the witch clansman's strength, the fact that he had not been detected at all meant he was definitely more powerful than them.

Without hesitation, Zhaoming shouted, "Asura, run!"

He immediately spat out a line of flame to attract the witch clansman's attention, and Asura did the same, spitting out a blood sword before running in different directions.

Both were the lowest of the low among demons. Zhaoming had learned a bit of cultivation techniques, but Asura had nothing and only knew these most instinctive attack methods.

"Such trivial skills, and you dare to show them off!" the feathered witch clansman sneered, casually waving his hand to erase their attacks.

Just as he was about to touch them, Zhaoming's flame suddenly exploded with a "bang," spreading everywhere, the flames raging as if they were about to burn the entire mountain.

The feathered witch clansman clearly did not understand what had happened and immediately cried out, rolling to the ground. After rolling a long distance, he dared to look up and found that the flames and the two little demons had disappeared.

"Damn it!" the feathered witch clansman cursed and chased after Zhaoming's direction.

In a cave several ten thousand meters away, Zhaoming and Asura crouched, heads down, drawing random lines on the ground, not daring to make a sound.

A fox, hands on her hips, looked at the two angrily: "You two are quite capable, sneaking out without my notice!"

"It's not Big Brother's fault, I made him come out!" Asura immediately said.

The fox immediately hit him on the head. "Do you think I picked you up yesterday? When have you ever been in charge when you two are together?"

Zhaoming immediately stood up and said, "It was the flower snake who tricked us, saying we could see the sun at the edge of the demon garden. You didn't let us out, so we snuck out!"

"Did you see it?" the fox asked.

Zhaoming shook his head. "No!"

"Slap!" He was immediately hit on the head. "Idiot, you don't even know you've been sold. Reptiles and feathered creatures are all bad, untrustworthy, and ungrateful."

Zhaoming immediately crouched down again. "I understand."

With his abilities, he naturally couldn't make the flames so powerful. If not for the fox demon's secret assistance, the two would have been captured by the witch clansmen.

He shivered and his face turned pale. His cultivation was too low, not even reaching the basic stage of the demon race, and if not for his different background, he might not even have developed intelligence.

Spitting out flames like that had already depleted his true qi, making him very uncomfortable.

Seeing his state, the fox's heart softened, and she no longer scolded him. She took out a jade pendant carved in the shape of a fox and hung it around Zhaoming's neck.

This jade pendant was extremely magical, made of something called Heart Sound Red Jade, which contained a type of energy called Red Source Heart Fire, which had the effect of refining the mind.

Zhaoming liked the jade pendant very much. As a fire-swallowing demon, the jade pendant could not only refine his mind but also heal his injuries. If he could get this jade pendant, he wouldn't have to fear being injured.

However, the fox valued this jade pendant as much as her own life. No matter how much Zhaoming begged, she refused to give it to him.

"Thank you, Mother!" Zhaoming immediately said with a smile.

The fox's face turned serious. "I told you not to call me Mother. I'm not married. My name is Acao, remember that!"

"Okay, Acao!" Zhaoming nodded seriously and then examined the jade pendant, which had "Acao" carved on both sides.

The fox demon who had picked them up was named Acao, one of the strongest demons in the demon garden. With her cultivation, she could already transform into a human form, but due to a certain witchcraft, she could only maintain her original form.

She didn't like being called anything else, and whenever such a situation arose, she would seriously tell others her name was Acao. It was said that this name was given to her by a very powerful person, but she never revealed who that person was.

"Acao, why are we demons so weak?" Zhaoming asked sadly, unable to forget the witch clansmen's words. Hearing that demons were a weak race made him feel as if his heart was being cut.

"Who told you that?" Acao frowned.

"Previously, I heard a few witch clansmen say it, and it's true. Otherwise, why would we live in the demon garden without dignity, unable to even... see the sun." Zhaoming said.

Acao was taken aback, then shook her head. "That's not true. Our demon race is actually very strong, stronger than any other race."

She looked at the cave entrance, as if remembering something, and said with a wistful look, "Our demon race once had an emperor before Hongjun merged with the Dao, the first and only emperor. His strength made the entire world pale in comparison."

"He was a legend, a miracle, the supreme emperor of our demon race, leading us to achieve what no one else could."

"Even after he disappeared, our demon race remained strong, strong enough to dominate the world despite our internal conflicts."

"Really?" Zhaoming exclaimed, eyes wide. "Where is our emperor? Where did he go?"

Acao shook her head. "I don't know, but it's true. A very powerful person told me. He said that our demon race is not weak in strength, but in heart, a heart unwilling to unite, a heart that seeks to oppress other races and even our own kind."

"If we had united back then, if we hadn't fought among ourselves, the witch clansmen, and even the entire Honghuang continent, would not have dared to come, only hiding far away overseas."

Suddenly, she said wistfully, "Because the emperor disappeared, our demon race began to fight among ourselves and decline. If the emperor could return, our demon race would surely be as strong as before!"

"Acao, why don't you become the emperor?" Zhaoming said in surprise. In his eyes, Acao was the most powerful.

Acao smiled bitterly, looking melancholy. "How can I be the emperor? I just want to go home!"

She looked outside the cave, her eyes filled with longing. "The grass in Qingqiu should be green again, right?"

"Indeed, it's green, but I would rather see your blood stain it red!"

Suddenly, a laugh echoed, followed by a loud explosion, and the entire mountain crumbled like a watermelon.

Amidst the flying rocks, a tall witch clansman appeared before them. Zhaoming was shocked; it was the witch clansman named Zhuhong.