Although everyone knew the Demon Cult had prepared for more than one day, it felt like an overnight affair - the world's number one sect, Heavenly Gate, had become history.
Even Heavenly Gate was so easily destroyed - could other sects say they were more resilient than Heavenly Gate? Surely no one dared say this. Everyone felt that if the Demon Cult came to attack them, it would be a disaster.
However, those empires were somewhat better off. Although the Demon Cult also had the ability to destroy empires, they had always rarely taken action against countries. They would only compete with those sects. Empires might be too complex for the Demon Cult - taking them down would also require managing the people's daily needs, which was a headache just to think about.
Of course, these empires and kingdoms weren't necessarily completely safe. If they offended the Demon Cult, the Demon Cult would definitely take action. When the Demon Cult acted, it wasn't war, but it would be a massacre. However, they generally wouldn't massacre civilians, only taking action against the leadership.
Actually, as civilians, they wouldn't worry about the Demon Cult, because as long as they behaved themselves, the Demon Cult wouldn't act against them. In their eyes, the Demon Cult actually wasn't different from those righteous sects - they were all existences of the strong.
They might even dislike those righteous sects more, because many people from righteous sects would be very domineering, doing things that bullied the weak.
Generally, Demon Cult people wouldn't appear before people, so such things wouldn't happen. Therefore, speaking of oppressing the common people, it was ironically those righteous sects that did it more, not the Demon Cult members they considered evil.
This had to be said - worldly affairs were sometimes unexpectedly peculiar.
Under the Demon Cult's powerful entrance, some people began secretly conducting certain activities. Since they feared their own strength wasn't enough, they would form alliances. This matter became very interesting and had subsequent developments.
...
...
Afterward, very few people thought about why the Demon Cult would destroy Heavenly Gate, or whether there was something in Heavenly Gate that the Demon Cult wanted. Everyone felt this was very normal, the Demon Cult destroying righteous sects, righteous sects besieging the Demon Cult. This had always existed, happening continuously from ancient times to now.
Since this was something that had been happening from ancient times to now, who would research the reasons? Everyone felt this was very normal, extremely normal.
Moreover, as the number one sect, Heavenly Gate had killed quite a few Demon Cult members over these two thousand years, almost several times the current number of Heavenly Gate members. Because of this, who still cared about reasons? Who still cared about who was right or wrong.
What everyone cared about was when this would happen to themselves.
Therefore, no one knew about the underground Demon Palace within Heavenly Gate. They only learned later that this was how it was...
"Heavenly Gate was destroyed. This Hei Xue is really ruthless enough!"
In the Great Tang Imperial Palace, Ning Zhiyuan held the intelligence in his hand with some emotion. When he continued reading, his eyes widened and he said very surprisingly, "Strange, how would Xiaoyao be at Heavenly Gate? And he even helped open the Demon Palace and has a trace of Demon Cult bloodline? Could he really be Zhuyue's child?"
Ning Zhiyuan was very surprised about Xiaoyao being at Heavenly Gate. Soon he figured it out, perhaps when Xiaoyao got the Peerless Sword, he had already looked at what was inside. This could explain why he appeared there, because he had seen the treasure map.
This kid really was surprising. It took us so long to decode, but in his hands it was so quick...
If it was a coincidental appearance there, Ning Zhiyuan absolutely wouldn't believe this reason, because he felt this was an impossible coincidence. With so many places in the world, why didn't Xiaoyao go anywhere else but happened to go to Heavenly Heart Mountain? And among so many places in Heavenly Heart Mountain, he happened to choose Heavenly Gate. How was this possible?
Finding a reason that could convince himself - surely even trying to find one would be impossible. Most importantly, the intelligence said that Xiaoyao himself had admitted this point. He just hadn't had a chance to open the Demon Palace for over a year, and he didn't know this was the Demon Palace's location - he thought it was an ordinary treasure map.
Everyone didn't doubt this, because just looking at the treasure map, you really couldn't see anything. Xiaoyao previously didn't know what was inside either. It was only after discovering the secret inside that he learned it was originally built by the Demon Cult.
Regarding Xiaoyao's matter, Ning Zhiyuan just felt surprised and felt he had still underestimated Xiaoyao, but he didn't feel it was particularly special. The only thing he cared about was the Demon Cult bloodline aspect - suspecting Xiaoyao might really be Zhuyue's child, although he felt this was impossible.
Why he had such suspicions was because he knew he also had some Demon Cult bloodline. This bloodline didn't come from the founding emperor, Ning Caichen didn't belong to the Demon Cult, but Nie Xiaoqian did, and she was also a leader of one of the Demon Cult's branches.
At the same time, the reason Yan Chixia originally helped was mainly because he was Nie Xiaoqian's subordinate. Among others, there were quite a few people from the Demon Cult, but these wouldn't be known by outsiders, at least not by civilians. Otherwise, how could they manage the world!
These were all secrets of the Great Tang royal family. Only emperors like Ning Zhiyuan could see them, others weren't qualified to see them!
This was why the Great Tang Empire would have connections with the Demon Cult. His giving this treasure map to the Demon Cult to handle was also one of the reasons. The most important reason was that he knew Heavenly Gate was above it, so he couldn't directly intervene and could only give it to the Demon Cult.
Of course, this also had conditions, he could share in the benefits before he would give out this treasure map.
As for why Hei Xue had originally tried to assassinate him, it was because the Demon Cult branch where Nie Xiaoqian was located wasn't very harmonious with Hei Xue's Immortal Sound Valley. Plus, Ning Zhiyuan naturally wasn't very obedient to the Demon Cult, so Hei Xue wanted to change the person who was Great Tang's emperor.
Simply put, this was just an internal struggle within the Demon Cult. The Demon Cult had never been harmonious. Even in the previous unified era, it was also not very harmonious. Now it went without saying.
However, speaking of it, the Great Tang Empire didn't belong to the Demon Cult and could ignore the Demon Cult. After all, they were just descendants, not belonging to any Demon Cult branch.
The Great Tang Empire having transactions with the Demon Cult was very normal. As long as there were benefits, anything could happen.
At this time, among other powers, attention to Xiaoyao was zero. After all, Xiaoyao's appearance wouldn't be valued by people. What they valued was still that matter, and they had already begun taking action to prevent worrying developments.
A month later, the continent's situation seemed to begin producing some subtle changes, and even greater changes seemed to be brewing!
In the Demon Palace, changes were also proceeding. Hei Xue became the Demon Cult's Acting Cult Master, managing the Demon Cult's operations. It had to be said that Hei Xue's wisdom exceeded ordinary people. She quickly seized power and integrated the originally unharmonious temporary Demon Cult.
The Demon Cult team led by Hei Xue was a temporary cooperation of various branches. After achieving their goal, there would naturally be opinion differences and power differences. But the appearance of the Demon Palace made them face merger again - returning to become the true Demon Cult.
Merger would naturally have various problems. These problems were originally very difficult to solve, much less could be solved in a short time. But Hei Xue did it - not only solving the problems, but doing so within just one month.
Besides Hei Xue's methods, part of the reason was her special ability - the Heavenly Demon Sound!
The Heavenly Demon Sound was actually a tool for controlling people. It could not only briefly exercise complete control, but also influence people's thoughts and views for long periods.
Hei Xue doing this wasn't because she wanted power. She just wanted to make the Demon Cult stronger. As for the choice of Cult Master, she already had someone in mind.
She wouldn't violate the rules, nor could she violate them. Otherwise no one would submit. Why could she only become Acting Cult Master now? Why had the Demon Cult previously formed branches without combining? It wasn't that they hadn't tried, but no one had the qualifications to become Cult Master.
In the Demon Cult there was a rule - to become the Demon Cult's Master, one first had to have Demon Cult bloodline, because only those with Demon Cult bloodline could practice the Heavenly Demon Technique, and the Heavenly Demon Technique was one of the standards for determining who was the Demon Cult Master.
This was also very normal. The Heavenly Demon Technique was the Demon Cult's supreme cultivation manual. It was said that the Demon Cult's other techniques and martial arts were all developed from the Heavenly Demon Technique. This further illustrated the importance of the Heavenly Demon Technique - being one of the standards for becoming Demon Cult Master was natural.
Therefore, Hei Xue had those with Demon Cult bloodline begin practicing the Heavenly Demon Technique. Even if they only had very little bloodline, it didn't matter - they still had to practice. It was said that practicing the Heavenly Demon Technique would make bloodline become purer, so even a little bloodline wasn't a problem. As long as you practiced, you could still cultivate to the highest realm.
Of course, this was an optimistic statement, under the condition that there were no time limits and no obstacles in realm progression. Under normal circumstances, even if there were no realm obstacles, it would still take several hundred years of cultivation. By then, one's lifespan would long be gone.
Because of this, those with relatively little bloodline were actually very disadvantaged. Generally, those with purer bloodline would more easily break through, with much higher starting lines.
The person with the purest Demon Cult bloodline now wasn't anyone else, but Dongfang Wuqing. This was another very ironic matter.
However, the current Dongfang Wuqing had already joined the Demon Cult. She agreed with Xiaoyao's reasoning - joining the Demon Cult to practice the Heavenly Demon Technique was her fastest way to improve her strength, allowing her to reach the continent's pinnacle and have a chance to surpass Tian He.
She had also checked her family genealogy. In a very hidden place, she discovered the truth - she really was a Demon Cult descendant. Her ancestors had been important Demon Cult members with extremely high Demon Cult bloodline. They were also descendants of people who participated in building the Demon Palace. Accidentally discovering a vague map, they casually came to take a look.
(End of Chapter)