“Sorry, I’m a stubborn man. On matters of principle, there’s no room for negotiation. Even if you offered three million Tribulation Pills, I wouldn’t change my mind!” Lin Yun said with a smile.
The Heavenly Demon, whose attitude had been amicable until now, suddenly darkened.
“Kid, don’t refuse a toast only to drink a forfeit! If you agree today, you’ll walk away unharmed with Tribulation Pills in hand. If you refuse, hmph, I guarantee you’ll pay a heavy price!” the Heavenly Demon’s words carried a clear threat.
“Hah, so when bribery fails, you resort to intimidation? Sorry, but you’re just a projection of consciousness. Did you think I’d be afraid? Do you think humanity would fear the petty threats of a mere demon beast?” Lin Yun sneered.
With a laugh, Lin Yun continued, “Besides, the more you act like this, the more it proves this place is far from as simple as you claim!”
If this were just an ordinary demon beast stronghold, would it make him this nervous, this desperate to protect it?
“Kid, you’ve enraged me!” The Heavenly Demon abruptly unleashed a terrifying wave of pressure, bearing down on Lin Yun.
“Get lost!”
Lin Yun’s brows furrowed as he swung his sword with explosive force!
*Boom!*
With a deafening blast, the phantom form of the Heavenly Demon’s consciousness projection was shattered by Lin Yun’s strike!
*Boom!*
All the surrounding disturbances vanished in an instant, and the scene returned to silence.
The city lord hurriedly ran to Lin Yun’s side, “Lord Lin Yun, what happened?”
“Nothing much, just a little threat from the demon race. Now that all obstacles are cleared, let’s go down to the underground fortress and see what’s really going on here,” Lin Yun said.
With that, Lin Yun released his divine sense, searching with it until he located the entrance to the hidden fortress. He then led the city lord straight toward it.
…
On the other side.
In a cave within the Demon Beast Mountain Range.
A Heavenly Demon sat upon a throne.
*Boom!*
His eyes snapped open. The destruction of his consciousness projection by Lin Yun caused a slight sting in his mind.
“Damn it! Damn it! That damned bastard!” Fury blazed in the Heavenly Demon’s eyes.
Never before had he offered a human such generous terms and preferential treatment, only to be rejected and have his projected consciousness destroyed. How could he not be furious?
Moreover, this underground fortress was of immense importance to the demon race. They had invested countless resources and effort into it!
Now that he’d failed to negotiate with Lin Yun, the destruction of this fortress was all but certain.
“Someone, come here!” the Heavenly Demon roared.
A Crimson炼魔虎 (Crimson Demon Tiger) immediately entered the cave.
“What orders does Your Excellency have?” the Crimson Demon Tiger asked.
“Issue my command: add Lin Yun, the disciple of the Fire Cloud Emperor, to the assassination list!” the Heavenly Demon said, seething with anger.
“Your Excellency, his status as the Fire Cloud Emperor’s disciple makes assassinating him extremely difficult,” the Crimson Demon Tiger below replied.
“He’s currently at the Third-Order Mahayana Realm and has already slain the Barbaric Sky Ox. His growth rate is too fast. If we let him develop further, the cost will be even greater. So, spare no expense to assassinate him!” the Heavenly Demon ordered directly.
“Yes, sir!” The Crimson Demon Tiger immediately accepted the command.
…
On the other side.
Lin Yun and the city lord successfully entered the underground fortress.
As the two proceeded through the fortress’s passages, they discovered that it was indeed a world of its own!
The underground fortress below was essentially a small subterranean city, fully constructed and capable of housing a large number of beings.
“If demon beasts were hidden here, it could hold quite a few,” Lin Yun remarked.
“It does look like a demon race stronghold, though it doesn’t seem to have been officially activated yet,” the city lord said.
“I still think it’s not that simple!” Lin Yun’s expression grew serious.
Even if it were just a stronghold, it wouldn’t warrant such a powerful demon beast guarding it, nor a Heavenly Demon projecting itself to negotiate with him.
“Let’s keep searching!”
As he spoke, Lin Yun released his divine sense, probing the entire underground fortress.
Though the fortress was largely complete, it was currently empty.
“Hmm? Over there…” Lin Yun’s divine sense detected something.
“City Lord, follow me!”
Lin Yun quickened his pace, heading toward a central underground plaza within the fortress.
“This… it’s a teleportation array!” Lin Yun exclaimed upon seeing it.
“Why would the demon race build a teleportation array here? Could it be… they plan to use it to transport demon beasts directly from the Demon Beast Mountain Range to this location?” the city lord said.
His words struck Lin Yun like a revelation!
“That’s highly likely!” Lin Yun nodded gravely.
Lin Yun knew that the four great empires guarded against the demon race by stationing heavy troops at the borders adjacent to their territory, preventing the demon race from launching a direct assault from the Demon Beast Mountain Range.
If the demon race were secretly transporting forces from the mountain range into the empire’s interior, then in the event of a war between the demon race and humanity, these infiltrated demon beasts could coordinate from within. With chaos erupting both at the front lines and in the rear, the consequences would be catastrophic!
“Lord Lin Yun, as far as I know, the demon race lacks the ability to construct teleportation arrays. Building a stable, long-lasting array requires an array master of exceptional skill—something the demon race, with no knowledge of arrays, let alone mastery, simply doesn’t have. That’s why the empire has never worried about this,” the city lord said.
Lin Yun nodded. He understood how difficult and costly it was to build a stable, enduring teleportation array, and that the demon race lacked experts in array formation.
“So, does that mean a human array master is helping the demon race build this?” Lin Yun murmured, his gaze narrowing.
At this point, Lin Yun finally understood why that Heavenly Demon valued this place so highly and tried to bribe him with such a fortune.
“Lord Lin Yun, no matter what, this is a major discovery! This time, the two of us have achieved something incredible!” the city lord said excitedly.
“Whether it’s a merit or not doesn’t matter. What’s important is that this could be tied to something far bigger,” Lin Yun said, his expression solemn.
Lin Yun continued staring at the teleportation array.
This array could likely transport more than ten demon beasts at a time.
However, since the underground fortress was still unoccupied by demon beasts, it suggested the demon race hadn’t yet begun sending large numbers here.
“City Lord, report this immediately. We need to investigate this to the end!” Lin Yun instructed.
“Right, I’ll notify the prefectural governor at once!” the city lord quickly agreed.
With a smile, the city lord added, “Lord Lin Yun, if it weren’t for you, this matter might have been reported to the empire with all the credit going to the governor. But with you here, he wouldn’t dare take it all for himself. He’ll have to report our contributions honestly, since you can speak directly to His Majesty. The governor wouldn’t dare steal the credit.”
Lin Yun frowned, “Enough with the talk of credit. Now’s not the time for that.”
There were many issues to consider now, and dividing up credit was the least of them.
If the empire’s city lords and governors all prioritised personal merit like this, the consequences could be dire!
“Yes, yes, yes!” The city lord could only nod with a dry smile.
With that, he quickly sent a message to the prefectural governor!
