No one knew the exact number of monsters that actually lived there or their strength but it was a general consensus that the experts from the Twilight zone were in fact stronger than the experts of the same cultivation living in the outside world.
The Twilight zone was the place that was avoided by the Immortal World as it was the place where their exiles were thrown. All the traitors and the trash of the Immortal World were thrown into the Twilight Zone which could be considered their darkness as well.
No ordinary Immortal cultivator would ever dare to venture into the Twilight Zone and even if he did, he wouldn't be able to survive long. That was the very reason that the Devil Realm higher ups had been living here ever since their defeat in the war between the two Worlds. The time flow in this space was so chaotic that the living beings there had no way of estimating the amount of time that they had spent in the grey world.
Since Yin had been sealed as a result of the final battle and the Demonic Realm no longer had the strength to defend themselves therefore they decided to leave their upper brass in the Twilight Zone and they only let the low level cultivators go back to the Demon Realm fearing that the Immortal Realm might come to land the final blow given their weakness at the time.
As such a division of the Demonic Realm upper echelon had been staying in the Twilight Zone ever since. They had chosen a temporary leader named Zero until the time Yin their true sovereign was released from its seal and returned to lead them again. The low level cultivators that had returned to the Devil World had been given a single objective to achieve and that was to release Yin from her captivity.
Ge Kai had come here to report to Zero but had been told to wait.
It wasn't very long before a guard came outside of the huge stone doors and escorted him inside to meet Zero.
"My Lord, I am Ge Kai the current Pavilion Master of the Shadow Kill Pavilion of the Demon Realm. I have come to request your aid in getting rid of a significant threat that has risen on earth."
"Has my Demon realm fallen so low that they have to come seek our aid just to handle an insignificant cultivator?"
Zero's voice was very raspy like it had come after travelling through several eras and ages. It sounded like the voice of a very old man but Zero's appearance suggested otherwise. He looked surprisingly young for the amount of time that he had lived.
"With due respect sir, he has become a thorn in our side. His strength is not something to be scoffed at. Neither the Immortal World nor the Devil World has the power to keep him in check. If you lend a hand, I am sure the cultivators of the Twilight Zone are veterans who can definitely get rid of him."
"What side is he on, Immortal or Demonic?"
"Neither sir, he is currently neutral. Both sides do not have the power to get rid of him without deploying their core power. Initiative is the key in this situation if we want to attain the maximum benefits."
"As far as I know the people from Shadow Kill Pavilion, if there are no benefits they would never make a move. I wonder what could be the reason that you were willing to come all the way here to convince me. It better be something good or you won't be able to go back so easily."
Zero threatened and Ge Kai could not help but sweat after hearing those words. Ge Kai worked up some confidence and told him about the treasure garden full of miraculous herbs that Zhang Jian had. He assured Zero that those herbs were scarce even in the Immortal World and could be considered to be extremely valuable.
As soon as Zero heard the medicinal effects of the herbs, his ears perked up. This was what they needed since many of the elders had been suffering some injuries that had yet to heal and some had gotten stagnant in their cultivation. These treasures were enough to grease their way to a higher cultivation level.
"If we have that medicinal garden in our hands, it would even be possible to raise the overall strength of our forces to be even stronger than those of the Immortal World. Through a constant supply we can raise their cultivation levels which would help us in the unsealing of our sovereign Yin earlier."
"If what you say is true, then this Zhang Jian is really quite a threat to our Demon Realm. I will send some of the elders with you to get rid of that person. As for the distribution of the resources obtained, you should know that the elders are high level cultivators and would require most of the resources to sustain themselves. Therefore, nine-tenth of the resources would have to be delivered to us and the rest can be used to build up the forces of the Demon Realm."
Ge Kai gritted his teeth with anger and his fists clenched tightly at the sides while trying to rein in his bursting anger. He had known this would happen as soon as he reported the treasures to the higher-ups but he had never thought that Zero would be so shameless as to ask nine-tenth of the total.
Ge Kai also knew that he could not refuse the offer at all. He had to accept it whether he liked it or not. Therefore he pasted a smile on his face and said, "Thank you sir, with your help we are destined to succeed."
Zero smiled with satisfaction and waved his hand. At his signal several elders one after the other arrived and bent to greet their leader with each having reverent attitude.
"Go with him and help him take down the target in any way that you can and bring back the spoils here for distribution."
With that, Ge Kai had acquired a group of powerful helpers in his quest to rob and kill Zhnag Jian at the same time to avoid future troubles but he had paid a tremendous amount in treasures for that purpose.
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Wu Ming knew about a forbidden place in the Demon World that no one had completely traversed. It was said that it was full of legendary beasts that were so powerful that even the most powerful of Demonic Cultivators would avoid that place.
Wu Ming was determined to bring back such a demonic beast in order to prove himself in front of Zhang Jian. His confidence had soared even more after the soul in the bamboo basket had offered his help in the capture of the said demonic beast.
The soul had its own agenda in doing so. He wanted to work hard for Zhang Jian in order to wash off any offense that he might have committed against the master. That was the reason that it had decided to go along with Wu Ming as well.
The forbidden region did not look like a forbidden region at all. There was nothing in the surroundings to indicate that it was the lair of some of the strongest demonic beasts of the Demon World. The lush greenery, clear sky and chirping of birds and various sounds of insects showed the image of a lively forest with no signs of life threatening dangers. Wu Ming ventured into the unknown forest looking for what he had come to find.
He had received information in the past that there was an Evil Black Phoenix that had been living in the forbidden region and that was his target in coming here. In the past, the Evil Black Phoenix had been an Ascension Stage master of the peak rank. No one had ever dared to provoke it in the bounds of the forbidden forest since that was where its nest was that is the Chinese Parasol Tree that it lived on.
That tree was full of fire essence that helped the Phoenix recover any injury that it suffered and as a result the challenging party always lost to the Black Phoenix. There had been a time when Lin Xi had come to challenge the Phoenix but had suffered a crushing defeat and had eventually given up and tried to avoid conflict wherever possible.
Wu Ming had been progressing deeper into the forest and had finally come across a scorched region that was at the western end of the forest. It was a blacked piece of land with no vegetation whatsoever growing out of the land. The only tree that was visible was a thick Chinese Parasol at the center of the scorched circle.
Terrifying heat could be felt even at the periphery of the circle and the heat continued to increase as he ventured further. The heat continued to tear at his flesh but wasn't enough to deter his determination. Moreover his cultivation wasn't so low as to not even allow him to move through the burning region.
The Black Phoenix had already noticed the insect that had entered its territory. It was arrogant by nature and could not tolerate any creature weaker than itself in its territory. It had already killed many cultivators that had encroached on its territory before but the reason that there weren't any signs of such slaughter was only because they had been completely burnt into ashes with not a single inch of their body left behind.
Wu Ming had some difficulty at the start but when he reached the center of the circle he used the bamboo bucket to repel the heat attack of the Black Phoenix.
Wu Ming reached under the Chinese Parasol Tree and shouted towards the Evil Black Phoenix at the top of the tree.
"You must be the terrifying Black Phoenix that I have heard stories about. You don't look that domineering to me. Why don't you be a little sensible and submit to me and maybe I will let you live. What do you think?"
Evil Black Phoenix was furious that an ant like creature had just told her to be its subordinate. Her fury ignited the eternal flames on her body and they spread outwards like a cascading waterfall.
Wu Ming stood his ground and the fire wall split in front of him and passed around him harmlessly. The bamboo bucket had once again saved him from the terrifying attack that the Evil Black Phoenix had just released.
"How dare you even imagine that my majestic self would ever submit to an insect like you?"
Black Phoenix usually would not even care to talk to humans who were weaker than itself but the way Wu Ming had handled her full power attack had scared her a little and she had deferred to talk to Wu Ming to figure out his true intentions. It still could not let go of its ego and continued to portray itself as superior.