Best Young Master

Under the shadow of those human-shaped creatures, Ye Fan really didn’t want to fall out completely with the Demon Clan; for the future of the Human Race, he was even willing to set aside the hatred of the Xuanwu Sect being wiped out.

However—

These little demons had gone way too far, relying on their powerful bodies and local advantages to repeatedly provoke the dignity of the Human Race. Did they really think there was no one left among the Human Race’s younger generation?

"Getting worked up won’t solve the problem. Right now the Demon Clan’s spearhead is clearly aimed at you. In that last match, you alone killed several of their young kings. Of course they’re not willing to accept that. Doing this is probably just to force you to show yourself."

The Old Bastard said worriedly, "The Demon Clan now is not the same as during the last matches. The Demon Emperor’s own son has appeared, shouting that he will kill you under his palm and make you his Blood Food! The young generation of the Demon Clan challenging Human cultivators everywhere is likely at his instigation."

"The Demon Prince? Is he that strong?"

Ye Fan said with some disdain. He had been able to defeat an Ancient Prince like the Ancient Immortal, let alone a Demon Prince. As long as the opponent wasn’t too ridiculously strong, he was confident he could kill him under his palm.

"Very strong, extremely strong. Although he’s only at the Late-Stage Lord Realm, even Lord Realm Peak strong people of the older generation may not be his match."

The Old Bastard still had a very accurate grasp of the Demon Clan’s situation.

As a Quasi-Emperor, the strength of a Lord Realm little demon—just by taking a distant look he could roughly gauge it, so his assessment was fairly objective.

"Late-stage Lord Realm, huh..."

Ye Fan’s eyes flickered with the light of battle lust. He had even slain the Emperor Sha in his youth—would he still fear a mere Demon Prince?

After that, they talked for a long time. The Old Bastard told Ye Fan a lot about this Demon Prince who had only recently appeared, including some of his Divine Skills and Forbidden Techniques.

In history, that Demon Emperor was incredibly powerful. As his Direct Lineage son, this Demon Prince’s strength naturally could not be underestimated.

After coming out from the Old Bastard’s secluded little valley, Ye Fan immediately saw Hu Fei, Shi Ye, and the others waiting outside.

Seeing him come out, they immediately walked up, but no one spoke first; the atmosphere was somewhat heavy.

"What’s wrong? Why are all of you pulling such long faces, don’t you welcome me back?"

Ye Fan found it strange, then suddenly noticed that present were only Hu Fei, Shi Ye, Sikong Po, and Han Sandong. There was no sign of the Ancient Saint Gu Hao and Yaling and the others.

"Of course not." Hu Fei forced a smile and said, "Let’s talk outside."

"What happened? What’s going on?"

Ye Fan keenly sensed that something was off, especially with Hu Fei—this guy was the textbook happy-go-lucky type who forgot everything in three minutes. With that expression, it was obvious something had happened, and not something small. Someone had very likely died.

"Don’t ask yet. Once we get outside, we’ll naturally tell you!" Sikong Po said the same.

Ye Fan was helpless and had no choice but to follow them out of the Immortal Academy to a small, picturesque valley where sunlight filtered through the leaves, scattering bright patches of light on the ground.

"Can you tell me now?"

Ye Fan couldn’t hold back from asking again. From everyone’s expressions he could tell that something bad had definitely happened.

"This... ai..."

Hu Fei opened his mouth, but in the end said nothing, only letting out a heavy sigh.

"What on earth happened? Are you trying to worry me to death?" Ye Fan looked at Hu Fei, then at Shi Ye, his gaze moving back and forth over the four of them.

"Let me say it." Sikong Po sighed and said, "Ye Zi, you’d better be mentally prepared..."

Ye Fan’s heart suddenly sank. It seemed his premonition had come true. Had someone really died in battle?

"Brother Gu Hao was challenged by a Two-star Demon a month ago. He used every means he had, but was still no match and died in battle at Little River Ridge." Sikong Po said, face full of grief.

He and Gu Hao had been as close as brothers. Although Gu Hao was the Ancient Saint of the Ancient Sacred Land and he was the strongest successor of the Sikong Family, the two of them were particularly aligned in interests and hobbies.

Gu Hao’s death hit him extremely hard. If he didn’t know he was no match and that challenging the Demon Clan would just be throwing his life away for nothing, he would long since have been unable to hold back from making a move on those beasts wearing human skin.

"Also, our Fourth Brother Wenren Jing died in battle too. His Divine Soul was shattered by a Three star Demon. He died miserably!" Han Sandong said hoarsely, choking up.

"What? Gu Hao is dead, Wenren Jing is dead too—what the hell is going on?" Ye Fan was completely shocked. A blaze of fury surged up, impossible to suppress, and his eyes nearly turned red.

The Ancient Saint Gu Hao had helped him back when he was still very weak. Ye Fan had always kept that in his heart.

And Wenren Jing, always with his hair in a wild tangle like a Wild Man—in the Immortal Mansion Secret Realm, he had fought side by side with Ye Fan, passed Tribulation together with him, and slaughtered human-shaped creatures shoulder to shoulder.

Later, they had even entered the Ancient Mine together. They could truly be called brothers who had shared life and death. And yet he had died at the hands of the Demon Clan.

This could be endured—what couldn’t be endured?

"Right, besides that, Sister Yaling, Miss Zi Yan, and Princess Yue Bai were also ambushed by the Demon Clan’s younger generation and were badly injured. They’re currently in seclusion healing and don’t yet know that you’ve returned." Shi Ye said in his muffled, deep voice.

"On top of that, those beasts even said you’re a turtle hiding in its shell, that once you learned the Demon Emperor’s son had appeared and was looking to give you grief, you hid away, afraid of being challenged."

Sikong Po said angrily, "Those beasts clearly want to avenge the grudge from back on the Holy War Platform by the Yuan Su river bank, when you cut down their young Demon Clan kings one after another!"

"Yeah! A lot of young demons who’ve come out are saying that if the Demon Prince had appeared back then, he would have easily abused you to death. Those dog-bred pieces of trash!" Hu Fei said furiously.

"Who stepped on the Xing Kong Gu Road last time it opened?"

Ye Fan took a deep breath, changing the subject. He was really afraid he wouldn’t be able to suppress the anger in his heart and would go straight to the Demon Clan to seek a life-and-death battle with that so-called Demon Prince.

"The Ancient Prince Yue Haoyu of the Yuehua Dynasty, the Emperor’s Son Yue Chuan of the Human Emperor, the Clumsy Fist Inheritor Li Yu’er and Emperor Wen’s successor Wen TaDou, the Buddha Yu chanzi, and the Demon Sect Young Master Great Demon—they all went in." Sikong Po said to Ye Fan.

"Oh, right, that bastard Ancient Immortal didn’t go."

Mentioning this, Hu Fei’s anger flared up again. He said hatefully, "While you were gone, he was the strongest among the Human Race’s younger generation. With the Demon Clan’s challenges and slaughter spilling everywhere, everyone thought he would represent the Human Race’s younger generation and fight a battle with the Demon Prince. Unexpectedly, not only did that brat not make a move on the Demon Prince, the two of them even started calling each other brothers. It’s a disgrace to his old man the Ancient Emperor’s name."

"No matter what, the Ancient Emperor is still a Great Emperor venerated by the Ten Thousand Clans. How did he end up with such a ball-less coward for a son?" Shi Ye scratched his messy hair, face full of bafflement.

During the time Ye Fan had been away, he too had been challenged by the Demon Clan. But he had shattered a Two-star Demon with a single swing of his club, and only then did the Demon Clan restrain themselves a bit.

Even Sikong Po and Hu Fei had been challenged by young strong people of the Demon Clan. After bitter battles, they had ultimately won, but they didn’t have the strength to kill their opponents and avenge their fallen brothers.

Because of this, the older generation strong people of the Treasure Pavilion and Purple Smoke Pavilion were furious. The top Emperor of the Yuehua Dynasty was even more ruthless, saying that if the Demon Clan dared to act so wantonly again, then even if it triggered a great decisive battle between the two races, they would wipe out every last young Demon Clan member involved at any cost.

"When the Emperor of a long-inherited, peerless Dynasty that possesses an Emperor Weapon personally speaks, it did make the Demon Clan’s younger generation behave themselves for a while. Now they’re no longer challenging disciples from long-inherited Holy Lands and Gu Families, but instead have turned their blades on elites from smaller forces and Loose Cultivators."

"Some disciples of our Immortal Academy were ambushed by the Demon Clan while out tempering themselves. Several disciples died. Yaling and Miss Zi Yan were ambushed by those beasts while they were outside as well. If Yaling hadn’t been carrying a life-saving supreme treasure, she probably would have already..."

"Damn it!"

Ye Fan clenched his fists so tightly that his nails dug into his flesh. Drops of golden blood fell one after another onto the grass at his feet.

"Since they take hunting Human cultivators as their fun, then I can do the same. It was one thing when I didn’t know, but now that I do, there is absolutely no way this matter ends just like that!"

"Revenge must be planned long-term. Before that, shouldn’t you go see Sister Yaling and Miss Zi Yan first? If they knew you were safely back, they’d be overjoyed!" Sikong Po kindly reminded Ye Fan.

"Fine, let those beasts live one more day then. Starting tomorrow, it will be the beginning of their nightmare! I’ll kill until they’re scared out of their wits!"

Ye Fan’s voice wasn’t loud, but it rolled across everyone’s hearts like a thunderclap.

Everyone present knew that Ye Fan was truly enraged. A dragon has its reverse scale—touch it and you die!

This time, the Demon Clan had touched Ye Fan’s reverse scale!

So they had to pay the price—a terrible price!

...

...