"Once the Demon Purging Decree was issued, every place Gu Santong had been was burned to the ground! It reached a point where every man, woman, and child shouted at him to die out of fear. He was treated like a public enemy. It didn't matter where he went, because the entire empire was against him. Isolated and despised, this mere child began to feel glum. Rumor has it that when the seven houses' Venerables chased, the kid had no heart to fight and fled. The Demon Purging Decree showed results in the end, at least it cut the little monster's fighting spirit."
Zhuo Fan nodded.
He was clear on that feeling, as demonic cultivators had often stumbled upon such a situation. Because they killed some righteous people for some reason, the others disregarded the truth and demanded their deaths. All because they were labeled demonic.
In such a helpless and isolated state, anyone would feel miserable. For this exact reason, his firm belief was that a demonic cultivator had to stand on his own, to cultivate a certain state of mind.
Even if alone, one needed to have the courage to face the whole world.
As such, he, the Demonic Emperor, didn't establish a sect or a cult after his rise, becoming the loneliest of the eight emperors. This was also the nature of demonic cultivators, though when problems arose there would have been no one to rely on.
Gu Santong may be invincible, but he was still very much like a child. The isolation and hatred had an even greater effect, leaving him with a trauma.
[Sigh, the Demon Purging Decree is psychological warfare!]
Zhuo Fan sighed and said to Violent Demon, "Then how did he remove his heart demon to become the current Invincible Scamp?"
"Hi-hi-hi, Steward Zhuo sure is smart. You caught on right away he didn't have that title before!" Violent Demon laughed.
Zhuo Fan grinned, "Becoming isolated bores heavy on one's mind. In this state, even if powerful, it was still far from becoming invincible!"
"Ha-ha-ha, precisely. When the seven houses' Venerables went after the kid, he was slowly reaching the end of his rope, on the brink of annihilation. But something happened then, and the kid changed completely. After only three months, when people thought he was on his deathbed and were searching for his corpse, he emerged. But if before he still had an innocent and childish manner, this time, he was devil incarnate. His actions struck fear in not only the seven houses, but the imperial family as well. His style was very much like ours from the demonic path, Hi-hi-hi…"
"Oh, what did he do?" Zhuo Fan grew excited and Li Jingtian eager.
Breaking out in laughter again, the light in Violent Demon's eyes danced, "Do unto others as others have done unto you! Once he appeared again, he threatened to destroy the entire empire. 'Didn't you declare Demon Purging Decree on me, burning any place I have been to to isolate me? Fine then, I won't wait for you to destroy the cities I'm just going to do it myself and save you the trouble. Every place I visit will be wiped out. When I leave this Tianyu, the empire will be an empty one!'"
"Hi-hi-hi, Steward Zhuo, Old Li, could you even fathom the kid's baffling power? Every single punch and kick of his razed cities to the ground. This not only had the seven houses scared, but the entire Tianyu was shaking in their boots. They had to be crying inside at the time, thinking 'what did it have to do with them'. 'We're innocent!' Ha-ha-ha, a bunch of morons if you ask me, the lot of them! "
The other three demons were also excited, wishing they had been there to stir trouble. Sly Demon even spoke over Violent Demon.
Violent Demon glared then kicked him, "Damn you, Sly Demon, this is the best part. I'm telling the story!"
Sly Demon smirked and snorted inside but made no comment.
Zhuo Fan and Li Jingtian were speechless. Li Jingtian asked, "I once heard of the kid's notoriety, but never knew he was so vicious. He wanted to destroy an empire, by himself?"
But Zhuo Fan shook his head, clapping in admiration, "His guts are commendable. I would've done the same thing in his stead."
"Humph, as for those who called themselves innocent, at the moment of the Demon Purging Decree, there was no one who stood up to the seven houses' slaughter. In fact, they even pitched in. They were anything but innocent. And since they became enemies, mercy and regrets have no place here!"
Zhuo Fan snickered and nodded, "The little imp is starting to grow on me."
Li Jingtian looked long at Zhuo Fan and found his impression was not unlike his own.
In this cruel world, it was kill or be killed. Even innocent killings were the order of the day. And in the case of enemies, there was even less remorse.
[Steward Zhuo is truly a man who will make countless sacrifices.] Li Jingtian sighed inside.
"And then?" Zhuo Fan and Li Jingtian asked in unison.
Glaring at his three bros to curb their interruption, Violent Demon continued, "He-he-he, what followed next was a prime example of how a true demonic cultivator should act. In but half a year, the kid fulfilled his promise, wiping out every place he went to until his onslaught had covered half the empire. Any and all who heard his coming, sent the people fleeing for their lives. The seven houses' Venerable joined hands to surround him, to no avail. The kid still went on killing regardless of opposition. He then started to be referred as the All-ravaging Child! To show that everywhere he went, he left ravaged lands behind him!
"The imperial family could no longer take it, seeing the seven houses in disarray. If it didn't intervene now, the empire would be done for. So it sent its 50 Divine Dragons…"
Violent Demon started sputtering as he spoke from the excitement. As if he was the one laying Tianyu to ruin instead. Zhuo Fan waved him off, "Hold on, How many Divine Dragons was that again?"
Violent Demon raised five fingers, "Fifty, why?"
Sss~
Gasping, Zhuo Fan was shocked, "There were fifty Divine Dragons then? You mean to say fifty Jade Flute Divine Sword Fang Qiubai at peak Radiant Stage?"
"He-he-he, Steward Zhuo, you've got it all wrong. The aptitudes of Divine Dragons at the time weren't as high as the current ones. How could there be fifty Jade Flute Divine Sword?"
Zhuo Fan nodded and sighed. Fifty Jade Flute Divine Sword was a dreaded sight. More to the point, it would be even more damn frightening if the kid escaped from them as well.
Before he even had the chance to calm his thoughts, Violent Demon continued, "The imperial family was still going strong at the time, having around twenty experts like Jade Flute Divine Sword. And the other thirty were at least in the 5th layer of Radiant Stage. Three among them were even called Immemorial Sages by the world, stronger than even Jade Flute Divine Sword. Even Invincible Scamp had a hard time dealing with them!"
"What?" Zhuo Fan cried and looked at Li Jingtian. They two were incredulous the imperial family ever held so much power.
Easily guessing their thoughts, the Four Scheming Demons started their creepy jeer, "Hi-hi-hi, how ignorant you are. You think Tianyu's imperial family and the seven houses of now only have this little power after a thousand years? Just three centuries ago, the imperial family had fifty Divine Dragons, the Regent Estate a hundred Radiant Stage experts and the other houses in the tens. This is what kept the houses in a delicate balance.
"But in the war with Gu Santong, the seven houses' united force of hundreds of Radiant Stage experts were almost wiped out. Even the imperial family's fifty Divine Dragons were destroyed, leaving but only the three Immemorial Sages alive. This battle waged for a whole year in a devastating fashion. Two of the sages ultimately succumbed from in this war of attrition, leaving behind the strongest Immemorial Sage to contend with the little monster. But at this time, both of them were nearing their limits, with the end looking to be drawn in mutual destruction…"
Zhuo Fan and Li Jingtian were wide eyed.
[Thank god Invincible Scamp wrecked Tianyu three hundred years ago or the Luo clan would've never got to rise above the seven houses not even in a hundred years, not to mention ten!]
Zhuo Fan wiped his brow, cheering inside!
"By the way, how did their fight end? With the kid still alive, did the last sage die? If that is so, why then the kid hid himself for the past centuries?"
Nodding, Violent Demon smiled, "Precisely. The last sage was very smart. He knew if both died, the imperial family would be left stranded, and the seven houses ultimately dividing Tianyu! So at the very end, he read the kid's nature and resorted to shamelessly dupe him into a thousand year agreement. He stated that if he stood his ground after receiving the kid's ten punches, the kid would replace him in becoming the imperial family's Divine Dragon and safeguarding the imperial family for a thousand years!
"If he died, then Gu Santong could do with Tianyu as he pleased, with no one stopping him! Hi-hi-hi, Steward Zhuo, don't you think this is the most ridiculous joke you've ever heard? If the sage died, with all other Divine Dragons laying dead as well, who on earth remained to stop the little monster? This was the most obvious trap if I ever saw one, but the kid was duped just as easily, or perhaps overconfident in his strength. Once the ten punches were struck, the sage was peach perfect and Invincible Scamp had the rotten luck of being in the imperial family's indentured servant ever since. Hi-hi-hi, what a moron! If it were me, I'd disregard the bet even after the punches, ha-ha-ha…
"I am tens of times wiser than that brat, a genius I tell ya!"
The other demons egged him on with thumbs up, and Violent Demon's laughter only grew more rampant.
But Zhuo Fan and Li Jingtian were shocked speechless. Never in their wildest dreams had they conceived that Gu Santong was the imperial family's third Divine Dragon…