Chapter 263: The History of Demons
The Female Demon Cultivator’s gaze locked onto Song Jiulai for several seconds.
After a moment, she licked her lips.
The bone-caged carriage rolled into the distance, and their eye contact broke.
Their brief eye contact went unnoticed by others.
Song Jiulai noticed that this Female Demon Cultivator didn’t seem as terrified as the other Demon Cultivators.
The people around them were chattering excitedly.
"I hear these Demon Cultivators sell for quite a high price."
"This batch is such high quality. Did you see their faces? Every single one is stunning. They’ll definitely be auctioned off, and each one will go for a sky-high price!"
"That one from the Blue Butterfly Clan with the wings is so beautiful! If I could own a slave like that, my life would be complete!"
"I prefer the one from the Heavenly Leopard Clan. Demon Cultivators from the Heavenly Leopard Clan are hard to catch!"
"Dream on. With your net worth, you can’t even afford a glance. If it weren’t for a major city like Xuanwu City, a typical sect wouldn’t even be able to capture them!"
These discussions, tinged with a sleazy tone, could be heard everywhere.
After buying some jerky, Song Jiulai adjusted the felt hat on her head.
She had just bought it. After all, she had just killed a few people and needed to keep a low profile.
She passed through the chattering crowd, the noisy voices seeming as if they came from another world.
She walked away quickly, leaving the voices far behind her.
Her passing figure stirred a gentle breeze that brushed past a young woman in a long white dress.
Amidst the mix of smells, the young woman caught a whiff of fresh medicine powder.
The young woman lifted her head, her exquisite face watching as the carriage pulling the bone cage disappeared into the enormous Xuanwu Tower.
She murmured softly, "Huo Yuan, the Divine Ancestor has not bestowed His grace upon you. This is your retribution."
With that, she lowered her head, turned, and vanished into the crowd.
Seated on the Flying Magical Treasure on her way back, Song Jiulai murmured, "I used to think the Ten Thousand Immortals Sect was just one of the five major sects, but now, I think there’s something interesting about them."
The system said, "Because the Ten Thousand Immortals Sect has no slaves?"
"It’s not easy to be an outlier in a world with a strict class hierarchy. If what the shopkeeper said earlier was true, then it’s common knowledge on the Yunzhou Continent that only the Ten Thousand Immortals Sect doesn’t keep slaves. Even our players have never heard anything about slavery."
’And judging by Xuanwu City’s practices and the crowd’s discussion, slavery seems to be a trend exclusive to the Major Sects. After all, they have strict standards for appearance; the ones captured as slaves wouldn’t be ordinary Demon Cultivators.’
’People from small sects don’t have the power to get involved in this, but they know about it to some extent.’
’She hasn’t been in the Dragon Frost Swamp for long, so no one had casually mentioned it before. She just happened to stumble upon it today.’
’Only the Ten Thousand Immortals Sect was a complete blank.’
’Either the players’ range of activity is still too small to gather much information...’
’...or the Ten Thousand Immortals Sect is deliberately preventing small sects from getting involved in these matters.’
’Because back at the Feique Sect, the mere mention of Demon Cultivators inspired fear, and killing them was the consensus.’
’But she’d never heard anything about capturing Demon Cultivators to be slaves.’
The system offered another perspective: "There might be another reason why small sects don’t keep slaves—the Demon Cultivators would retaliate."
"After all, Super Major Sects have enough power to protect themselves."
"But small sects don’t."
"A single Demon Cultivator infiltrating the Human Clan could be fatal for them."
Song Jiulai nodded.
’Based on the information she had so far, the structure of the Yunzhou Continent was beginning to take shape. The only thing was, the demons... they were just too complicated.’
’To be honest, even the Holy Beasts from before would be considered part of the Demon Clan from the perspective of Huaxia people.’
’After all, Huaxia’s mythological system was vast, but the one here on the Yunzhou Continent was even more complex.’
’Holy Beasts were like a "Spiritual Beast Pro" version that existed outside the Yunzhou Continent.’
’It was said that the existing Holy Beast Clan were merely descendants with Divine Beast bloodlines.’
’The true Divine Beasts had already left the Yunzhou Continent—or perhaps, even left this world entirely.’
’This included the Azure Dragon, Vermilion Bird, Black Tortoise, and White Tiger—all confirmed to be Divine Beasts that had vanished.’
’They were likely the original Divine Beast ancestors of the Yunzhou Continent, born when the world began.’
’Now *that* was something that aligned with the understanding of Huaxia people.’
’Spiritual beasts were just beasts, unable to take human form, but to a certain extent, they could undergo atavistic regression and possess a Holy Beast bloodline.’
’Demon beasts had it even worse. Not only were they ugly, but they didn’t fit into either category.’
’Demon Cultivators could take human form, but they lacked the innate advantages of Holy Beasts, which were born powerful. Demon Cultivators had to rely on Crossing Tribulations to succeed in their cultivation, just like the Human Clan. It was more difficult, but they could also become more powerful.’
’From what she learned in the Secret Realm, Demon Cultivators and the Human Clan had coexisted in the past.’
’The Wing Sect was a Demon Cultivation Sect; that much had been proven.’
’The Wing Sect was one thing, but then there was the No Emperor Sect, whose traces had been completely erased, which was very curious.’
In truth, Song Jiulai’s mind was already racing, processing many things.
’But why was there such a huge difference between spiritual beasts, demon beasts, and Demon Cultivators?’
’They were all ’demons’ in a sense; there had to be some commonality.’
"Evolution... different branches." Song Jiulai thought of a theory from Huaxia society. "The bloodlines left behind by the Divine Beasts after they departed evolved into different branches in different environments."
The system replied, "That’s very logical, but there’s not enough evidence to prove they are fundamentally from the same ancestor. At least, no such theory exists on the Yunzhou Continent right now. If they did share an ancestor, then the demon beasts really got the short end of the stick. What kind of environment would it take to evolve into... that?"
"But they were normal inside the Secret Realm," Song Jiulai said, recalling the clearly majestic Black Blood Lion from the Secret Realm.
’The moment it came to Yunzhou, it was as if it had been poisoned.’
"Back then, the demon beasts looked pretty much the same as spiritual beasts, just as a different species."
After a moment, both of them reached an outlandish conclusion at the same time.
Song Jiulai: "The air in Yunzhou is toxic."
System: "This air is toxic."
Of course, it was wrong to say the air was toxic. After all, besides the demon beasts, everything else was normal.
They all existed under the same sky.
However, Song Jiulai stuck with one conjecture. "What if demon beasts and spiritual beasts are actually just different species of spiritual beasts, and the species that became demon beasts was cursed?"
Curses, restrictive spells, and the like did exist on the Yunzhou Continent.
The system thought Song Jiulai had a point. Besides, these weren’t just wild guesses. They were determined to become the number one sect, so sooner or later, they would have to uncover the main storyline of the Yunzhou Continent.
The system said, "A curse this vicious doesn’t seem like something an ordinary Cultivator could pull off. To make a species retain this form for thousands of years... you’d need at least a whole batch of Transcendance Tribulation Stage experts to perish in the process."
The Transcendance Tribulation Stage was a concept so lofty it was almost unimaginable—Cultivators who were just one step away from Ascension.
It was still unknown how many Transcendance Tribulation Stage Cultivators even existed on the Yunzhou Continent.
A whole batch?
’What would that even entail?’
Song Jiulai mused, "It seems likely that the Super Major Sects would have some records of this secret. The Ten Thousand Immortals Sect should be the most convenient for us to investigate."
The system retorted, "Look at our current situation. We can’t even get close enough to touch the hem of a gatekeeper’s robe at the Ten Thousand Immortals Sect."
Song Jiulai clicked her tongue, then suddenly remembered. "Oh, right! With all this talk, I forgot to notify the players about the jerky. Hurry up, I want the honey-flavored kind!"
The system: "..."