Chapter 157: A Conspiracy?

How could this be? The heavenly fire has just descended; why would a dragon-shaped black wind follow right after?

Many monster beasts instantly changed their expressions in terror.

The fox-faced monster beast lord shouted at the top of his lungs, Run! Run!

Xu Zhe suddenly felt the four-winged bird beast beneath him shudder violently. It forcibly changed direction in mid-air, following closely behind the fleeing troop.

Fortunately, that dragon-shaped black wind was merely manifesting itself. After pursuing the monster beasts for a short distance, it stopped and did not press the attack.

Xu Zhe looked back at the dragon-shaped black wind. It had almost fully formed, resembling a genuine gigantic black dragon spiraling high in the sky, blocking out the sun and day.

Upon closer observation, one could vaguely make out individual black scales on the wind dragon's body, radiating a bright luster and looking astonishingly lifelike.

This left Xu Zhe tongue-tied, a wave of shock rippling through his heart.

Goodness gracious, what kind of heavenly disaster and strange phenomenon is this?

He had originally thought that the Azure Heaven Realm was a tier lower than the Vast Heaven Realm, never expecting the extraterritorial lands of the four continents to be so perilous.

Although he could not sense any malice from that black wind dragon, just by looking at it with the naked eye, he knew that the wind was extraordinarily formidable—at the very least, it possessed the strength of a Heavenly Immortal realm existence.

Just a gust of wind, yet comparable to a Heavenly Immortal?

Such an outrageous thing had never been witnessed even in the Vast Heaven Realm!

Deputy Commander Blue, it seems our luck is bad this time. I am afraid we will be delayed quite a bit before we can reach the Monster City.

Soon, after moving away from the black wind dragon and returning to a safe zone, the fox-faced monster beast lord let out a long sigh of relief and smiled bitterly at Xu Zhe.

It is no matter. To be able to witness the dragon-shaped black wind with my own eyes can be considered broadening my horizons, Xu Zhe waved his hand and said.

From this moment on, he suddenly realized that he had underestimated the Azure Heaven Realm all along.

Although the current Azure Heaven Realm lacked high-level cultivators, and even Great Ascension stage experts were unheard of, with only Tribulation stage practitioners fighting for supremacy.

The Azure Heaven Realm itself had remained eternal throughout.

Those heavenly fires and the black wind dragon did not look like things that should exist in this era; they were mostly historical relics, yet even now, they remained terrifyingly potent.

This was sufficient proof that the Azure Heaven Realm was not inferior to the Vast Heaven Realm, and might even be superior to it.

However, the Heavenly Dao rules of the Azure Heaven Realm might have undergone changes, or perhaps the Heavenly Dao was incomplete, making it impossible for beings above the Great Ascension stage to exist in this heavenly realm, or even preventing the birth of Great Ascension stage experts altogether.

Therefore, if one could discover the cause of the changes in the Heavenly Dao rules, reverse those rules, or mend the incomplete parts of the Heavenly Dao...

Then this Azure Heaven Realm would usher in a great nirvana, regain its vitality in a new birth, and rise in a single bound to become a heavenly realm even higher than the Vast Heaven Realm.

Could this be the reason why those people want to take control of the four continents?

A flash of inspiration struck Xu Zhe's mind as he suddenly realized this point.

Those individuals who deployed the intermediate battle array for the monster race most likely also came from the Vast Heaven Realm, but perhaps their own strength was not yet powerful enough, or for some other reason they were unable to act personally. Therefore, they were utilizing the monster race and the Bai family clan to attempt to conquer the four continents and seize control of them.

After all, capturing the four continents, coupled with the submission of the extraterritorial monster race, was fundamentally equivalent to seizing the right to speak for the entire Azure Heaven Realm.

Previously, Xu Zhe had never been able to figure out what their motive was.

Why would people from the Vast Heaven Realm condescend to care about the Azure Heaven Realm?

Did they want to ranch cultivators like the demonic sects did? That seemed a bit far-fetched; just to ranch cultivators, there was absolutely no need to go to such great lengths to rule the Azure Heaven Realm.

And now, having witnessed the appearance of those heavenly fires and the black wind dragon with his own eyes, Xu Zhe finally understood.

He could perceive the extraordinary nature of the heavenly fires and the black wind dragon; if those people came from the Vast Heaven Realm, they would certainly be able to see it as well, and perhaps they had also guessed that the potential of this Azure Heaven Realm far exceeded that of the Vast Heaven Realm, which explained their such ambition and grand plan.

No, this matter has grown a bit too large. I must investigate the identities of those people as soon as possible. Perhaps they really are demonic sect members hailing from the Vast Heaven Realm, Xu Zhe muttered to himself.

If the demonic sects of the Vast Heaven Realm were allowed to invade the Azure Heaven Realm and even conquer it, once they revitalized the Azure Heaven Realm in the future, it would undoubtedly leap to become an immensely terrifying and colossal existence.

By that time, the Vast Heaven Realm would likely struggle to protect itself, let alone stop the expansion of the demonic sects, and eventually, the Immortal Emperor families would certainly become the primary targets of the demonic sects' revenge.

The burden on my shoulders has grown heavier...

Thinking of this, Xu Zhe could not help but feel a surge of excitement in his heart.

In his past life, he had been strictly protected by the Immortal Emperor family, watched over so closely that after finally shutting himself away in seclusion for a full ten thousand years to cultivate to the Immortal Emperor realm, he had dropped dead before he even had a chance to flex his muscles.

Reincarnating in this life and encountering such a massive conspiracy was truly rare; he absolutely must not miss it.

Accelerate the elevation of my cultivation realm and strength, and then summon the people of the Immortal Emperor family... In this life, I can finally stretch my limbs and make a grand display.

Xu Zhe's eyes gradually brightened, eager to try and feeling utterly impatient.

If he could conquer the Azure Heaven Realm in the future, not only would he thwart the conspiracy of the demonic sects, but he would also be able to uncover the secrets of the Azure Heaven Realm much more easily, discovering the truth behind why they were sent to this place in the past—killing many birds with one stone.

This was well worth pursuing!

Xu Zhe successfully established a new goal for himself.

Little did he know that the undisguised eagerness lingering in his eyes made the several monster beast lords watch with trembling trepidation.

Goodness, this Deputy Commander Blue had just finished witnessing the heavenly fire and the dragon-shaped black wind, yet he was still full of high spirits and zest. Could he possibly be thinking of testing the might of those natural disasters?

Those were terrifying existences that even ancestor-grade monster kings did not dare to face head-on!

If not for the defensive array left over from ancient times, the Monster City could never have been established, and the monster race would have found it difficult to even have such a hiding place in the extraterritorial lands.

Deputy Commander Blue, these natural disasters... cannot be underestimated, the fox-faced monster beast lord lowered his voice and reminded him.

This was not out of any particular kindness; it was mainly fear that if a natural disaster truly struck the Monster City, this Deputy Commander Blue might underestimate its might and get himself killed—which was fine, but he must not implicate the Monster City along with him.

I know. Natural disasters are indeed extraordinary, Xu Zhe nodded solemnly.

Unless one was in the Heavenly Immortal realm, one truly could not face that dragon-shaped black wind head-on.

As for the heavenly fire...

Although it also made one's heart palpitate with fear, why did he faintly feel an urge to make contact with it?

This impulse did not stem from a death wish; it felt more like it originated from the slaying techniques within the Orthodox Demon-Sealing Scripture, as if that fire lotus extremely favored those heavenly fires.

Xu Zhe immediately shook his head to banish the thought.

It was true that he could devour flames, but with his current meager strength, he wanted to devour heavenly fire?

Don't even think about it!

...

More than thirty days later.

Under the guidance of the monster beast squad, Xu Zhe finally saw, on the distant horizon across the desolate wasteland of yellow earth, the silhouette of a dilapidated city.

That was precisely the destination of this trip—the Monster City of the Southern Monster Realm.

Finally... we've arrived! This daddy has finally made it back alive, the bull-headed monster beast lord fiercely pounded his chest and shouted, before immediately turning limp and listless, completely losing the energetic drive he had possessed over thirty days prior.

The other monster beasts, including several monster beast lords, also looked to be in extremely poor condition.

Only Xu Zhe remained relatively calm, though recalling the experiences of the past month or so, he felt utterly speechless.

Over these dozens of days, they had encountered thirteenth heavenly fires and nearly twenty dragon-shaped black winds.

Xu Zhe increasingly felt that it was not his imagination; every single time the heavenly fires or the dragon-shaped black wind appeared, they seemed to be coming straight for him.

What amazed him even more was that those heavenly fires seemed to be divided into several different kinds, with completely different colors and forms.

However, the dragon-shaped black wind remained unchanged; from beginning to end, it seemed to be the exact same gust of wind, appearing from time to time as if simply to take a look at him from afar.

Yet every time these heavenly fires and the black wind dragon appeared, they scared the monster race out of their wits, nearly causing mental collapses.

The only consolation for the monster race was that they discovered these natural disasters were not targeting them; they merely manifested for a moment without committing total annihilation.

For the entire monster beast squad to return to the Monster City with zero casualties was practically a miracle.

This trip was far too bizarre. Could it be that some major upheaval is about to occur in the Monster Realm? The fox-faced monster beast lord frowned with doubt and said, If the natural disasters in the Monster Realm continue to be this frequent, I'm afraid it will spell grave trouble.

Leader Fox need not worry. Once we return to the Monster City and have the defensive array to protect us, natural disasters are temporarily nothing to worry about, Xu Zhe comforted, while at the same time feeling quite interested in the Monster City's defensive array.

An array that had existed since antiquity and operated to this day, capable of withstanding even natural disasters, was essentially equivalent to an array that could withstand a blow from a Heavenly Immortal realm expert.

Deputy Commander Blue's words are reasonable. It would seem I was overthinking it, the fox-faced monster beast lord nodded slightly.

As long as this Deputy Commander Blue was willing to step in and maintain the defensive array, there truly was no need to worry too much about the frequency of natural disasters.

However, Xu Zhe was merely offering casual comfort and hadn't taken the responsibility of maintaining the array for this identity to heart at all.

At this moment, his attention was almost entirely focused on the Monster City, which was growing closer and closer.

Just as he had imagined before coming here, the Monster City was extremely crude.

The surface of the city walls was uneven with quite a few pits and hollows, and the overall color was a dusty earth-yellow.

To put it bluntly, it was simply walls piled up from yellow mud, enclosing this area to form the Monster City.

Within the city walls stood an extremely conspicuous, gigantic mountain, upon which were densely packed cave openings—evidently the nesting quarters where the monster beasts lived.

Aside from that, one could not see any architecture of the kind found in human territories.

However, at the foot of the mountain within the city, there was a residence that looked quite brand-new. From the overall size of the residence and the stone tables and chairs placed in the courtyard, it wasn't hard to tell that this was a place specially prepared for humans to live in.

After the group entered the city, several monster beast lords led Xu Zhe directly toward the residence.

Deputy Commander Blue, after those Lords left, this Human King Manor has been left vacant, but the human women we captured to serve them are still kept inside. Of course, if you are interested in our monster race, you may summon them at will, the fox-faced monster beast lord said to Xu Zhe with a seductive smile.

Human women captured to serve them?

Upon hearing this, Xu Zhe instantly knitted his brows.

These monster races had actually captured human women and dumped them in this residence to serve those so-called Lords?

And this residence was actually named the Human King Manor?

What audacious arrogance!

However... this basically confirmed another clue: those so-called Lords were human beings as well!