Chapter 62: Traces of the Outer World Demon

“Oh? Thinking of me again? Hey, did you find Yin-Yang Tianyin?”

“This isn’t the time for jokes. Look at this beast—do you notice anything strange about it?”

Hearing Jiang Li’s serious tone, Bai Hongtu immediately dropped his playful attitude and focused on observing the beast.

Since his divine sense couldn’t be transmitted through the Remote Communication Talisman, he could only rely on his eyes. To help him see more clearly, Jiang Li pointed at the beast’s forehead, causing its body—previously fused into an inseparable whole—to disintegrate into countless particles, dispersing in all directions.

Bai Hongtu’s projection circled around, examining it carefully.

“This is… a trace left by the Outer World Demon?!”

Bai Hongtu’s eyes widened in disbelief. He wasn’t entirely sure of his guess, but certain remnants were eerily similar to the work of an Outer World Demon.

Once, an Outer World Demon had used Demonic Disintegration to pollute an entire city. Those infected lost all rationality, turning into mindless berserkers, and anyone bitten by them suffered the same fate, becoming new carriers of the infection.

Structurally, this beast didn’t seem capable of infecting others. However, it had no intelligence and acted purely on instinct—an unsettling similarity to the handiwork of the Outer World Demons!

“So, we reached the same conclusion. This has to be the work of an Outer World Demon.”

“This world is that powerful? It has Outer World Demons but hasn’t been taken over?!” Bai Hongtu was stunned.

In the Nine Provinces, Human Sovereigns, faith-based power, Immortal Artifacts, Tribulation Stage cultivators—every possible resource had been poured into the battle against the Outer World Demons, yet they were barely holding the line.

The Nine Provinces was one of the strongest worlds beneath the Celestial Realm, yet this world—one that didn’t even seem particularly powerful—had managed to resist the Outer World Demons?

Bai Hongtu suddenly felt deep respect for this world.

Noticing Ming Zhong, he realized this was a leader of the world’s humans. Out of admiration, he gave him a solemn nod.

Ming Zhong, however, felt awkward under Bai Hongtu’s gaze. He suspected this man might have completely misunderstood him.

“What’s even stranger is that the Outer World Demon seems to have only tampered with the beasts, making them attack humans, instead of launching a direct assault.”

“Let me introduce you—this is the leader of the humans in this world, President 506, you can call him Ming Zhong.”

“And this is Bai Hongtu, Sect Master of the Dao Sect, Tribulation Stage cultivator.”

“Nice to meet you.”

“Greetings, Sect Master Bai.”

Ming Zhong looked at Bai Hongtu with admiration, though Bai Hongtu wasn’t sure why.

“According to Ming Zhong, this is the strongest beast they’ve encountered so far—probably a fresh breakthrough. They’ve never seen one this powerful before. As for Outer World Demons, they’ve never encountered anything like them.”

“What? Soul Formation Stage—the strongest?” Bai Hongtu was momentarily dumbfounded.

What was the Outer World Demon even thinking? Did it seriously expect to conquer an entire world with just a Soul Formation Stage beast?

If something like this showed up in the Nine Provinces, the Dao Sect could throw a banquet and feast on Soul Formation Stage beast hotpot that very day.

However, upon seeing Ming Zhong’s reaction, Bai Hongtu realized that while this was nothing to the Nine Provinces, it was an enormous threat to this world.

“Oh, uh… I mean, Soul Formation Stage is pretty strong,” Bai Hongtu quickly tried to backtrack.

Ming Zhong stared at him.

If Bai Hongtu weren’t a Tribulation Stage cultivator, he might have believed that. But he knew Bai Hongtu’s true strength—how could a Tribulation Stage powerhouse possibly consider Soul Formation Stage “pretty strong”?

Now the whole conversation just felt even more awkward.

At this moment, Ming Zhong wished he was also emotionless, so he wouldn’t have to suffer this embarrassment.

“There’s something else you need to know—Yin-Yang Tianyin sensed the Dao Ancestor’s karmic presence here. It suspects that the Dao Ancestor himself is somewhere in this world.”

“The Dao Ancestor is here?!” Bai Hongtu’s eyes lit up with excitement.

This was an unexpected windfall—an unbelievable piece of good fortune for the Dao Sect!

“We haven’t found any direct clues yet, but Tianyin’s senses should be accurate.”

“What do you think?” Bai Hongtu took a deep breath, regaining his composure.

If a Great Ascension Stage cultivator had arrived in this world, the Dao Ancestor would definitely have sensed it. Yet they still hadn’t found him—this meant something must have gone wrong.

“I suspect the Dao Ancestor is currently locked in a struggle with the Outer World Demon, leaving him unable to respond to us,” Jiang Li speculated, forming a new hypothesis now that they had confirmed traces of the demon’s influence.

“…Then the burden falls on you.” Bai Hongtu’s tone turned serious.

He knew he couldn’t help in this matter—the only one capable of investigating further was Jiang Li.

After cutting the connection, Jiang Li turned to Ming Zhong, who was awkwardly staring at his own feet.

“These ‘beasts’—or ferocious beasts, as you call them—are they only found here?”

“No, this is just one region. The rest of them reside within their own territory,” Ming Zhong said, pointing in the opposite direction of the human lands. “They come from over there.”

“But we don’t know much about that area. Any machines sent to investigate their territory have been destroyed before transmitting back any useful data.”

Ming Zhong had unconsciously stopped calling them ferocious beasts and started using the term demon beasts instead.

Jiang Li nodded. “Let’s go take a look.”

The Demon Beast Territory
The landscape was completely different from human lands.

Ancient trees, hundreds of meters tall, filled the area. At any moment, a hidden beast could ambush another from the treetops. Naturally, upon spotting Jiang Li’s group, several tried to ambush them.

They all died horrible deaths.

Not a single complete corpse remained.

Each time Jiang Li casually slaughtered another demon beast, Ming Zhong let out a small chuckle.

By the time they had walked a considerable distance, his throat was sore from laughing too much.

Along the way, they had encountered several Soul Formation Stage beasts.

Ming Zhong finally realized—

The demon beasts had evolved far beyond what humanity could ever hope to match.

If Jiang Li hadn’t arrived, their entire species would have been exterminated in a few hundred years.

Of course, Ming Zhong couldn’t tell which were Nascent Soul Stage and which were Soul Formation Stage—Yin-Yang Tianyin had to point them out.

Ming Zhong also gained new insights—he hadn’t realized there were so many different types of demon beasts.

The ones they had spent centuries painstakingly researching were only a tiny fraction of what actually existed.

“All of these demon beasts have been tampered with by the Outer World Demon,” Jiang Li concluded after analyzing numerous specimens.

They had no intelligence, acting purely on instinct, and bore clear traces of demonic corruption.

The demon beast territory was vast—so vast that most of the beasts weren’t even aware that humans existed on the other side of the continent.

The ones Ming Zhong’s people had been fighting for millennia?

They were merely the weakest ones, driven to the outskirts by stronger beasts.

Interestingly, not a single beast had reached the Tribulation Stage.

After all, breaking through to the Tribulation Stage required more than just bloodline evolution—it demanded a deep comprehension of the Heavenly Dao and other conditions.

These mindless demon beasts simply couldn’t reach that level.

“…Don’t you think the density of spiritual energy is increasing?” Yin-Yang Tianyin suddenly asked.

Jiang Li frowned. “It is.”

The spiritual energy here was already comparable to the Nine Provinces.

If these beasts had intelligence, Tribulation Stage monsters wouldn’t be surprising at all.

“Stop!” Jiang Li suddenly commanded.

“What’s wrong?” Yin-Yang Tianyin halted.

“There might be danger ahead.”

Jiang Li’s divine sense had detected something hundreds of kilometers away—

A demon beast that might have ascended to immortality.

But that was impossible—

A mindless beast could never reach the Tribulation Stage, let alone ascend to immortality!

And where was the Stairway to Immortality?!

…Could it be that this world had its own Stairway to Immortality?!