Before Zanglong could even react, he felt an irresistible force envelop him. The scenery before his eyes changed in a flash, and when it finally stopped, he found himself standing at the exit of the Devil's Den.
He was filled with shock, realizing he had still severely underestimated this mysterious master of his. Yet, he could not help feeling a surge of joy; it was precisely because of the help of such a powerful being that his revenge had transformed from a delusion into a distinct possibility.
Feeling the vast true essence of a Tribulation Crossing cultivator surging within his body, Zanglong was confident he could return to the Lingtai Immortal Sect to exact his revenge. Across the entire history of the Lingtai Immortal Sect spanning several millennia, the strongest cultivator had merely been at the Early Deity Transformation Stage.
Just as he was about to leave the Devil's Den to seek his revenge, Zanglong turned around and knelt on the ground. "Master, please hear me. Once your disciple has avenged himself, I shall conquer the Nine Heavens and Ten Lands, and respectfully await the day of your emergence!"
In Zanglong's view, as the master of the Devil's Den, Luosa could not possibly remain dormant here forever. Not only had Luosa saved him, but he had also bestowed upon him such a supreme demonic scripture as the Blood Sea Battles Heavenly Dao, which meant he must have grand ambitions.
The Devil's Den was a Forbidden Zone in the mortal world; Zanglong simply could not believe that its master was a selfless do-gooder. Therefore, he made this vow to Luosa right then and there, driven by his heartfelt gratitude.
At that moment, Luosa's divine sense transmitted into his mind, "Ninety thousand years from now, this seat shall no longer be bound by the Devil's Den. Go."
A shudder ran through Zanglong's heart. He had not expected that Luosa truly harbored thoughts of leaving the Devil's Den, though it would not be until ninety thousand years later. He could only wonder what kind of monumental changes the Taixuan Realm would face by then.
Yet, he did not care in the least. From the very moment he chose the Blood Sea Battles Heavenly Dao, it was impossible for him to become a righteous cultivator. He had chosen to enter the demonic path for the sake of revenge, and the descent of demons upon the mortal world would likewise be a catastrophe.
He still remembered what Luosa had said a thousand years ago: the path he walked would inevitably be one of mountains of corpses and seas of blood, destined to make him an unrivaled demonic overlord!
"This disciple takes his leave!" With a piercing whistle that pierced the heavens, Zanglong transformed into a streak of blood-red light and vanished from the Devil's Den.
Luosa's divine sense returned to the Burial Earth, thinking to himself that Tribulation Crossing cultivators were certainly not to be trifled with. The only reason he had been able to put on such an imposing facade before Zanglong was entirely due to his status as the master of the Devil's Den.
Without the augmentation of the Devil's Den, Luosa himself was currently equivalent only to a Deity Transformation Stage cultivator, and would not even be enough for Zanglong to swat away with a single hand. Having witnessed such a genius, Luosa felt an even greater sense of urgency rising within him.
He was not a contender who started out invincible the moment he was born; instead, he still had to face the trials of the Three Calamities and Six Disasters. In particular, the very first human calamity he would face possessed boundless cultivation and was even karmically entangled with the Underworld Emperor.
Whenever Luosa thought of this, he felt a splitting headache. He could only hope that by the time he emerged, Zanglong would truly have become a colossal figure of a faction, so that he would have a helper to withstand the human calamity.
"Sigh, so damn annoying..."
Following this complaint, Luosa once again plunged into arduous cultivation. He refused to believe that ninety thousand years of time could not forge him into a Heavenly Tribulation Mighty Figure; when that time came, the moment he emerged he would go find the human calamity for a one-on-one showdown, and sleep with her for a hundred and eighty-odd years.
After an unknown period of secluded cultivation, Luosa's consciousness was once again disturbed by a tyrannical external force. He separated a strand of divine sense to investigate and discovered that the entrance to the Devil's Den was being torn open from the outside.
As a Forbidden Zone of the mortal world, the Devil's Den was naturally reinforced with layers upon layers of seals by various major sects. When Zanglong had previously fled into the den to seek survival, it was entirely due to his own fortuitous destiny that he had stumbled through a small, fractured opening in the seal.
Yet now, it was evidently powerful figures who were fully opening the entrance to the Devil's Den, allowing Luosa's divine sense to extend outward along the breach, though he could only detect a radius of a hundred meters outside the den.
Even so, this was already enough. Luosa could sense that over a thousand people had gathered outside the den. The weakest among them were at the Golden Core Stage, while Nascent Soul and Deity Transformation cultivators were as common as blackberries.
Just as he sensed two powerful forces attempting to probe carefully, he suddenly felt a sharp pain—his divine sense had been assaulted by another overwhelmingly powerful strand of divine sense!
Luosa instantly pulled his divine sense back into the Devil's Den, silently thinking to himself that it had been a close call. Those two forces definitely exceeded the Tribulation Crossing Stage; could they be Heavenly Tribulation Stage mighty figures?
If not for the fact that his soul had already fused with the Demonic Zombie Body, that single strike would have severely damaged and shattered his soul. Even when Zanglong had departed, there had been no such intensity of divine sense.
He immediately began to deduce the situation, only to discover that another nine thousand years had passed in his cultivation. The current situation was not two Heavenly Tribulation experts leading an assault on the Devil's Den, but rather a competition.
The newcomers were two renowned major sects in the Taixuan Realm: the Fairy Pavilion and the Hairy Leg Brotherhood. One recruited exclusively female disciples, with the sect creed that men are mere maggots, while the other recruited exclusively male disciples, with the sect creed that women are mere poultry.
What kind of terrible names and creeds were these? An otherworldly battle of the sexes between male and female martial artists? Luosa could not help but complain inwardly. Moreover, these two sects harbored deep-seated grievances and had been sworn enemies since ancient times, fighting small battles every three days and major battles every five.
Today I beat your sect's male disciples to death, tomorrow you slaughter my sect's female disciples; it went back and forth endlessly. Yet, the two factions were top-tier sects in the Taixuan Realm, and under the suppression and surveillance of other sects, they simply could not launch an all-out war.
It was not until a few days ago that the contemporary Saintess of the Fairy Pavilion and the contemporary First Senior Brother of the Hairy Leg Brotherhood perished together, finally causing the fury of both sects to erupt simultaneously as they prepared to fight to the death regardless of the consequences.
However, the matter was ultimately suppressed by the Heavenly Dao Alliance. Using the pretext that a clash between the righteous path would only benefit the demonic path, they altered the arrangement into a competition, with each side selecting five hundred disciples to enter the Devil's Den and settling the victory or defeat based on the number of fierce beasts and demonic creatures hunted.
On the surface it was a competition, but in reality it was still a fight to the death, except the location had been transferred into the Devil's Den. Even if they fought until the heavens shattered and the earth cracked, it would not affect the stability of the Taixuan Realm.
Still, the Heavenly Dao Alliance had to be given some face; the Tribulation Crossing mighty figures of the two major sects did not make a move themselves. Instead, disciples and elders from the Golden Core, Nascent Soul, and Deity Transformation stages would decide the victory, with each side also sending a Heavenly Tribulation old monster to hold the fort and prevent either faction from being wiped out down to the last hair.
Understanding the whole story, Luosa sneered inwardly. The Devil's Den was his territory, after all, and the demonic beasts and fierce beasts within were his subjects—how could he allow these people to act so presumptuously?
If he were out in the Taixuan Realm, the present Luosa still could not afford to provoke Heavenly Tribulation cultivators. But inside the Devil's Den, he was the sole god; no matter how strong a Heavenly Tribulation cultivator was, it was impossible for them to contend against the power of the entire Devil's Den. The moment they stepped inside, they could only be at Luosa's mercy.
Soon, the time came for the two major sects to flex their muscles. The two batches of cultivators rapidly entered the Devil's Den, yet these people did not immediately begin to fight. Instead, led by the two Heavenly Tribulation cultivators, they galloped away in two different directions.
Upon seeing this, Luosa was stunned for a moment, before instantly realizing the clever scheme of these people. They were certainly willing to risk their lives, but only after treasure-hunting; the purpose of the contention was for profit, not to blindly fight each other to the death.
Although the Devil's Den was a Forbidden Zone of the mortal world, it also contained countless demonic treasures. As long as they were brought out and cleansed of their demonic Qi, they would be genuine heavenly treasures. It was simply that the den was fraught with peril, and powerful cultivators rarely banded together to venture inside, making this expedition a rare opportunity for both major sects to enhance their foundational heritage.
"Hah, they are calculating this so loudly! Do they really think the Devil's Den is still an ownerless land?"
Luosa's divine sense sank into the Blood Sea, preparing to forge an external avatar using the Blood Sea as his foundation!