Chapter 424 (1/2)

”This isn't going as well as I thought it would…”

”Oh, what was that oh honored senior?”

”Ah, nothing…”

Zhang Dong gave out a sigh after being stuck at another location. His goodwill was biting him in the behind once more as he was stuck healing more people along the way. He wasn't sure if Wang Long was doing this on purpose but it was certainly working in making him lag behind.

After getting out of that large city he continued to follow the trail of red. While most of the time it was a straight line in one direction, sometimes Wang Long rested in various settlements. Just as with the first city, some locations were then corrupted with demonic energy. He didn't outright flatten the large cities but there was always something for him to cleanse left behind.

It also seemed that his new enemy was using his skills all over the place. Sometimes he would find a trail of dead plants left behind Wang Long's flight path. Other times there were large holes in mountains that were clearly attacked by him. They all radiated demonic Qi at various levels which showed that Wang Long's proficiencies in the various techniques were all over the place.

He apparently had a hard time keeping the evil Qi from not affecting the area while also not being able to control it when performing attacks. This went all in line with what Zhang Dong thought. Wang Long was clearly over-relying on his own system, the key to his victory might be this as he took some time to practice his battle techniques after he lost the system store.

'That is if I ever reach him in time… I think I know where that bastard is going, this complicates things…'

”I'll bid you farewell then.”

The group of people bowed before him while Zhang Dong flew away. After healing some villagers that were affected by demonic miasma, he was on his way towards a certain desolate area. It was a famous lawless zone that he had heard about when he was performing bounty work as his demon hunter persona.

It was in the far northern reaches of the empire. From what he knew, the first one had to go past a wide desert filled with monstrous sandworms. It was devoid of all life and covered in faint demonic mist. Past it was a large body of water named the sea of death.

It apparently had many sea creatures lurking in the deep. The water in itself was poisonous to the touch and constantly radiating demonic Qi. It was mostly impossible to get through it without some kind of flying treasure. Any ship would just be pulled down into the deep by monstrous creatures.

Then when someone was finally able to pass through these two natural barriers they would arrive on a large island. This was the true land of the demonic cultivators, it wasn't as big as the empire but would have enough space to house a few middle-sized sects.

It was of course in a constant perpetual war. The demonic cultivators weren't very agreeable with each other, they constantly fought for the spot of the next Demon Emperor. But with how little trust there was, it was almost impossible. Without someone dominating them all with pure might, it wasn't feasible.

'I guess I'm in luck… Wang Long is probably going to become the next Demon Emperor…'

While there weren't any potential evil emperor candidates before, now they had a prime candidate coming their way. Wang Long's achievement of clearing out the entire Soaring Dragon Sect was probably known by the people living there. Some of them would welcome him with open arms as their new leader but others would need to be convinced.

His counterpart would probably oblige with that. Killing every single demonic cultivator would not make him bat an eyebrow. The carnage might already be taking place as he flew there. This complicated things as Zhang Dong was losing one of his advantages, which was having an army.

While the demonic cultivators could not be trusted, there were ways to bind them. Evil contracts and rituals could secure their loyalty if Wang Long was smart enough to use them. With their lives on the lines, these monsters in human form would toss themselves into battle for their master. Unwilling as they might be, they would have no other choice.

During his travels he didn't just space out, he was still involved with his sects business. With his system, he could reach out to his faction members like Zhang Zhi who were in the process of taking back some strategic locations.

”Is Huo Qiang giving you any problems?”

”Elder Qiang has managed to compose himself as his position required.”

”Oh? That's surprising, I guess he had grown up somewhat since those five years ago.”

Zhang Dong reached out to his number one fan Zhang Zhi. He was informed that the Dark Palm Sect area had been liberated from the other sects. With the number of nascent soul masters and his new title, it seemed that the middle sized sects agreed to capitulate without putting up a fight.

Luckily the United Element Sect had a good reputation for being one of the better righteous sects in the Empire. The other sects actually somewhat believed that they wouldn't get stabbed in the back when they lowered their protective formations.

”Good, be sure to occupy the spirit stone mines. I want them to be quickly mined out to the last spirit stone! Don't forget to place at least one nascent soul master at that expedition ground.”