Chapter 281

Chapter 281: The Heretic Cultivators’ Plot

The Great Devil was indeed enraged. His chest heaved as if sparks would fly from his eyes.

“Just a few Cultivators,” he snapped, “who sealed me by luck. What are you proud of? You Cultivators will never match us Devil Cultivators. Not before, not after. You will only grow weaker, and you will never surpass us. The Cultivation World is full of fools, played in the palm of a hand without even knowing it. Once I seize the Divine Soul Power and break the seal, I will lead the Devil Cultivators to flatten the whole Cultivation World and wipe you idiots out!”

Shen Sang Ruo’s brows pinched the slightest bit. She had planned to anger him to draw out news about the Heretic Cultivators. She had not forgotten what a Heretic Cultivator in the Phantom Mirage Domain once said about a blade always hanging over the Cultivation World.

He had not named the Heretic Cultivators, but his words sounded too close. There had to be something the Cultivation World did not know, and it threatened everyone’s safety. He clearly knew. Shen Sang Ruo became even more certain the Heretic Cultivators were still plotting in the dark, coveting the Cultivation World, and their timing might be earlier than they had guessed.

Before, they thought the Heretic Cultivators failed and were preparing to return later. But from the Great Devil’s tone, those plans might have started during the chaos back then.

[What exactly are they planning? How far has it gone? Are they close to success?] A chill climbed her back, like a huge net falling over her and the whole world.

She had no time to think more. The furious Great Devil’s attacks came even wilder. She snapped back to full focus and met them head on. After she blocked that round, she finally had a breath of space.

The Great Devil was a key clue. He not only took part in the old chaos, he was a Chief among the Devil Cultivators. He must know a lot. For the sake of the whole Cultivation World, she had to learn more.

“Flatten the Cultivation World?” Shen Sang Ruo scoffed, pushing him harder: “You are just a dog running beside those Heretic Cultivators. Only by following them do you get to eat. Without them, could you have stirred the world? Now that they have gone quiet, you want to flip over and be the Master, to crown yourself king?”

“Following them you were a dog, and in the seal you were a leashed dog. Do you still not get it? With your nature, you are better suited to be a quiet little dog. Devil King? I think Wangcai suits you better. Come on, Wangcai, give me a bark.”

She stretched out her hand and made a series of kissy sounds at the Great Devil.

His chest rose and fell hard. As the Radical Faction’s leader among Devil Cultivators, he was wildly arrogant and hated being looked down on, especially being compared to a dog.

“I am a dog by the Heretic Cultivators’ side?” he said through a laugh edged with rage. “They are gone, and only now can I be the Master? Let me tell you, to deal with idiots like you, we Devil Cultivators never needed help from Heretic Cultivators. Back then we joined with them because they begged me. I am the dog? What a joke.”

“The real fools are you all. Do you know why they vanished? It is because…”

Shen Sang Ruo kept every nerve tight, ready to catch even a shred of truth. The answer felt within reach, but the Great Devil cut himself off. He began to chuckle low and strange. Even as a soul, Shen Sang Ruo felt a chill.

“You are trying to trick me, are you not?” he said, lips twisting as he stared at her with playful eyes. “You almost had me, little ghost. Did you think I was that stupid?”

Her gaze cooled. He was more cautious than she had guessed. Even here, where he believed she would die, he would not reveal a single thing to someone he deemed a dead woman. That showed how serious the matter was.

He stared so hard it felt like he would bore a hole through her. “How do you know what happened back then? Oh, right. Your technique looks a lot like someone I knew.”

He meant her cultivation art, the Sunset Glassfire Art. He had been sealed too long to recognize it at first. Now that he thought carefully, it came back.

“So Immortal Lord Chang Li is still alive, and even took you as a new Disciple,” he said. “No wonder you could rebuild an artifact in such a short time and find a way to survive.”

His face shifted with memories. During the chaos, the Heretic Cultivators’ main force attacked the Ninghua Sect. He led the Devil Cultivators to attack another top sect that stood beside Ninghua in those days, and people from that sect sealed him. The Ninghua Sect ran red with blood, and he had thought it wiped out.

“Immortal Lord Chang Li’s Disciple brought me Divine Soul Power with her own hands,” he said, almost amused. “We can call that fate. I did not get to fight Immortal Lord Chang Li back then. Today I will start with you. After that, I will end Immortal Lord Chang Li’s life myself.”

He laughed wildly, then cut the laughter off and fixed his stare on her. “Enough. I do not have time to waste on you.”

Keeping this space stable cost him Divine Soul Power without stop. Now he meant to finish it quickly.

“Immortal Lord Chang Li’s Disciple is nothing,” he mocked. “In front of me, you have no power to fight back.”

From the start, Shen Sang Ruo had only canceled his attacks, never striking back with extra Divine Soul Power. She narrowed her eyes. Her face stayed calm, but the Divine Soul Power flashing at her fingertips showed she was ready for the final clash.

“If I cannot pry anything from your mouth,” she said, “there is no reason to keep you.”

She still wanted the truth about the Heretic Cultivators, but this Great Devil’s mouth was hard as stone. Caught off guard, he might have let something slip earlier. Now he would say nothing. She would defeat him first and keep herself alive. Those who lived through those years were not only this Great Devil. After she got out, she could ask Immortal Lord Chang Li and the others. Maybe they had missed something.

Hearing her, the Great Devil barked a laugh. “With just you? How foolish.”

In the next instant, a terrifying flood of Divine Soul Power poured out, opening a bloody maw toward her. But this time she did not merely cancel his strike. Her aura flared several times stronger. Just like the Great Devil, she gathered countless streams of Divine Soul Power into a vortex that began Devouring the power around him.

Shock flashed in the Great Devil’s eyes.

So she had not been unable to attack earlier; she had hidden her strength, or rather, she had been testing his.