“Lure the Azure Supreme Thearch away?”

Jiang Yi’s expression turned somber, and he immediately shook his head. “Lord Qing Ling, if you’re not sure you can protect yourself, don’t bother about me. If you get hurt because of me—even if I can escape, I will be plagued by my conscience for the rest of my life. You already saved me once at the Lava Wasteland. You even gave me your divine tree leaf. I will never be able to repay you even if I spent the rest of my life trying.”

“Keke, you really do have a conscience, lad.”

The divine root kept pulling Jiang Yi along as Qing Ling’s voice sounded. However, she did sound a bit stricter. “Little fella, you should know your own identity. You cannot give up so easily. All the human and demon races are depending on you. If you cannot defeat the Netherworld Race beings, the human and demon race will forever be oppressed by them.”

“Uh—”

Jiang Yi looked astonished. He did not expect that Qing Ling would know about his relationship with the Nine Yang Heavenly Thearch. He pondered for a moment and asked in a confused manner, “Lord, how… did you know?”

“Keke!”

Qing Ling sent another voice transmission: “The arts in which you are trained in are very mystical and amazing. You also have a mini divine core next to your own divine core. In addition… you have that sword! The only person in the world who could come up with such mysterious and amazing arts is that Heavenly Thearch of yours.

“Of course, I still can’t tell what’s so special about your body. What’s more, you have a very strong killing intent. However, since the Heavenly Thearch chose you, I will naturally protect you. After all, once the human race falls, the demon race will perish next.”

“Now I see!”

A realization dawned on Jiang Yi. It was no wonder that this divine tree treated him so well and gave him that leaf; it was all because of the Nine Yang Heavenly Thearch.

“But…”

He pondered for several seconds and asked again, “Even if I escape, where can I go? The Azure Supreme Thearch is so powerful. If he wanted to hunt me down—even if I run to the ends of the earth, he would be able to find me. That’s right… Lord, if I make my own identity known, do you think the Azure Supreme Thearch would let me go?”

Jiang Yi harbored hope that if he exposed his relationship with the Nine Yang Heavenly Thearch, the Azure Supreme Thearch would be subdued. However, he did not dare to hold too much hope. Instead, he wanted to see what Qing Ling thought.

“Keke!”

Qing Ling laughed again, but this time, she sounded cold. In a mocking tone, she sent another voice transmission: “Whether you expose your identity or not, the Azure Supreme Thearch will hunt you down and kill you. Actually, I’ve always suspected that the traitor of the human race was Azure Supreme Thearch.

“He might have been the one who killed the Demon-Killing Supreme Thearch. What’s more, I suspect that the previous Azure Supreme Thearch—the master of the current one—was heavily involved in the death of the Heavenly Thearch!”

“What?”

Jiang Yi’s soul shook. The Demon-Killing Supreme Thearch was killed by the Azure Supreme Thearch? The Azure Supreme Thearch was the traitor of the human race? The most powerful man in the world—the sovereign and guardian of the human race—turned out to be a traitor? This news was too shocking. Jiang Yi could not find it in himself to accept it.

“Don’t bother too much about it.”

Qing Ling’s tone sounded a bit heavier as she instructed: “I’m going to emerge into the void soon. Later on, I will activate a mystical ability to take you away. Then, I will lure the Azure Supreme Thearch away. Don’t worry about me. The Azure Supreme Thearch may be strong, but even the Netherworld Thearch could not kill me back then.

“The Azure Supreme Thearch doesn’t have what it takes. Cherish the time and escape as far as you can. As long as you can get to the Poison Devil Wasteland before the Azure Supreme Thearch catches you, you have a chance of surviving.”

“Poison Devil Wasteland?”

Jiang Yi was shocked once again. He had just teleported out of the Poison Devil Wasteland not long ago. Was he supposed to go back there now? How could the Poison Devil Wasteland protect him from the Azure Supreme Thearch?

“Could it be…?”

Jiang Yi recalled that his divine senses could not see clearly in the Poison Devil Wasteland. He even had the divine tree leaf with him so that he did not need to fear the poisonous fog. Did Qing Ling want him to hide in the Poison Devil Wasteland so that the Azure Supreme Thearch would not be able to find him?

“Jiang Yi!”

Qing Ling sent another serious voice transmission, which disrupted Jiang Yi’s train of thought. After he heard what she had to say, he became even more frightened: “Once you find the Poison Devil Wasteland, hold on to the leaf that I gave to you. The poisonous fog won’t be able to hurt you. Then, go to the abyss right in the middle of the wasteland. That abyss contains a spatial whirlpool. Don’t be afraid; just jump into it. That spatial whirlpool is not a dead end. It can bring you to a strange space called the Heavenly Demonic Realm!”

“The Heavenly Demonic Realm?”

This was the first time Jiang Yi was hearing of this realm. However, he did not ask too many questions. Almost immediately, Qing Ling sent another voice transmission to answer the questions which surfaced in his head: “The Heavenly Demonic Realm is special. No one knows about it. That is the base camp of our demon race. You are the first human to find out about this demonic realm. However… once you go in, you must not let anyone know that you know me. You can only say that you stumbled in.

“What’s more, you cannot tell anyone that you are the successor of the Nine Yang Heavenly Thearch. Otherwise, you will surely perish. I have a mystical ability here; once you refine it, you will have a demonic aura around you. Go into that realm and hide. Cultivate in secret. Don’t let the three sovereigns of the Demonic Realm know that you exist. Do you understand?”

This matter concerned his life and death. Jiang Yi quickly straightened and etched Qing Ling’s words into his brain. Although he had many questions, he did not dare to ask a single one of them. All he could do was listen in silence.

Buzz!

The tree root lit up as a mysterious message was transmitted down the roots and into his brain. Jiang Yi immediately organized the message and found that it really was a mystical ability. Without paying attention to anything else, he entered the State of the Union of Heaven and Man and began to realize this mystical ability.

Tsk! Tsk!

Qing Ling did not speak again. The tree root kept pulling Jiang Yi through the underground passage. Five minutes later, the tree root finally emerged. Jiang Yi was jolted away by the cool breeze on his skin.

They were in a desolate wilderness. All around them were tall trees. Jiang Yi found himself standing atop a divine tree. The divine tree flashed and turned into a seductive woman. This woman did not spout a single word of nonsense. Both of her hands shot out streams of light, causing a disturbance in the space. A crack appeared in midair, and she led Jiang Yi into the void.

“Qing Ling, Jiang Yi, you will not be able to get away!”

A loud roar echoed from the west. The Azure Supreme Thearch was following closely behind them this entire time. Three minutes later, the Azure Supreme Thearch’s body appeared. With a single hand, he grabbed thin air with one hand and shot through space in the blink of an eye. He was going to hunt Jiang Yi down.

…

“Jiang Yi, I am going to send you away now. However, I can only send you about fifty million kilometers away at most. You would still have a long way to go before you reach the Poison Devil Wasteland; you’d need at least half a day to get there. I think I can only distract the Azure Supreme Thearch for half a day. So… whether you will be able to survive or not depends on your luck and skills.”

Jiang Yi saw a flash of light, and both of them appeared in the void. Qing Ling quickly sent a voice transmission to him. He watched as mixed emotions surfaced in Qing Ling’s eyes. Finally, she sent him off with two words: “Take care!”

Buzz!

A tree branch suddenly appeared in Qing Ling’s hand. The tree branch became bigger and bigger. All of a sudden, Qing Ling shouted, “Get up! Hold on tight!”

Jiang Yi flew up and grabbed onto the branch with his four limbs like an octopus. Qing Ling shot out streams of light which caused the tree branch to glow even brighter. It then flew towards the north at a frightening speed. In fact, it was traveling so quickly that Jiang Yi could not even bear to open his eyes. He guessed that this was at least a hundred times of the mummy’s speed.

Hoo-Hoo!

Qing Ling watched Jiang Yi disappear into the horizon and then let out a long sigh. Her own body turned into a stream of light that headed towards the west. All that remained was the sound of her murmurs: “Jiang Yi, that’s all I can do to help you. Whether you will get to the Heavenly Demonic Realm and survive or not there depends on your fate.”

Tsk! Tsk!

Three minutes later, the Azure Supreme Thearch appeared. He closed his eyes and sensed around. Without any hesitation, he turned towards the west and flew at top speed. His roar echoed throughout five hundred thousand kilometers as he shouted, “Qing Ling, you cannot run! Today, you will die for sure!”