Entering the Demon Palace was much easier than Su Luowei had anticipated. She had expected that she and Meng Shuying would have to expend significant effort to slip past the Demon Lord's numerous subordinates and sneak into the palace.
To her surprise, as soon as they approached the palace, they were surrounded by Tian Fulings and her forces.
Encountering Tian Fulings here was something Su Luowei had not expected. After all, in her mind, Tian Fulings was of average cultivation, and the Demon Lord had no shortage of more capable subordinates. It didn't seem logical for Tian Fulings to be the one to capture them.
Though puzzled, Su Luowei quickly decided to go along with the situation and use it as a way to infiltrate the Demon Palace. To avoid making it too obvious, she didn't surrender immediately. Instead, she put up a prolonged fight with Tian Fulings' forces before pretending to be overpowered and captured.
As soon as she was "captured," not even having had the chance to signal to Meng Shuying, she saw Meng Shuying give up the fight and surrender without resistance.
Su Luowei silently thought to herself, You're making us look so weak.
As they were pushed into the Demon Palace, Su Luowei assumed they would be separated from each other. But surprisingly, Tian Fulings seemed confident in either herself or the Demon Lord's power, as they were led into a large hall without any attempts to separate them.
The hall was entirely black, with a throne at its highest point, made of pure black material and encrusted with countless gemstones.
Black drapes hung all around the throne, layered and thick, concealing the seat of power.
By the light of the night pearls embedded in the walls, Su Luowei could barely make out a figure seated on the throne.
As soon as Tian Fulings and the other demons saw the silhouette, they immediately fell to their knees. Within moments, only Su Luowei and Meng Shuying remained standing, looking rather conspicuous.
The person on the throne moved a hand that rested on the arm of the chair, and the drapes began to lift slowly, revealing the full appearance of the person seated there.
It was a young and handsome man, lounging casually on the throne with one hand on the armrest and the other propping up his chin. His demeanor exuded a kind of carelessness that comes from wielding absolute power.
Though his features were not particularly similar to Meng Shuying's, possibly due to the differences between male and female features, his sharp, angular face bore a certain resemblance to Mingyou.
Except for his eyes, which were as dark and deep as Meng Shuying's.
His skin was unnaturally pale, likely due to the absence of sunlight in the demon realm.
He looks like he's been dead for three days, Su Luowei thought to herself.
The moment Meng Shuying saw him, her entire body tensed, her spine straightening like a drawn bow, ready to strike at any moment.
What troubled her more than the sense of impending danger was the sudden, overwhelming urge in her blood to submit to him.
While suppressing the agitation in her blood, she silently stepped forward, using her body to shield her senior sister from his gaze.
The man, however, seemed unconcerned by her actions. He slowly rose from the throne, moving with a calm elegance, exuding the pressure of a superior.
He turned his head slightly and smiled. "I've heard much about you, Su Luowei of the Qingxu Sect. I've been wanting to meet you."
Meet her? Su Luowei was taken aback.
She had always considered herself to be relatively unremarkable since arriving in this world. Her cultivation and other abilities were not outstanding enough to warrant the attention of someone like the Demon Lord, who ruled over the demon realm.
If there was anything about her that was different from others, it was that her soul came from another world, not this one.
Apparently, not just Su Luowei, but Meng Shuying also sensed something unusual in Fuguang's demeanor. She silently shifted her position, fully blocking Su Luowei from his view.
Meng Shuying's thoughts were simple: her senior sister was not connected to Fuguang in any way beyond their Dao bond, so if Fuguang wanted to meet her, it was likely because of Meng Shuying herself.
While Meng Shuying was clearly on guard, Su Luowei gradually relaxed.
They had been in this hall for some time now, and Fuguang had not made any moves against them. This was enough to suggest that he did not intend to harm them.
Of course, there was another possibility: Fuguang might still be recovering from an injury and lacked the strength to deal with them.
But as she observed the strong aura emanating from Fuguang, Su Luowei mentally dismissed that possibility.
Even if Fuguang had indeed obtained the other half of the Divine Bone through Mingyou, and even if he was not fully healed, as the Demon Lord who had ruled the demon realm for countless years, and as the only deity in both the human and demon realms before Wen Miaomiao's ascension, it would still be no challenge for him to deal with the likes of them.
Not to mention the ring of demons surrounding them. If it came to a fight, those demons would not be easy to handle either.
After considering all this, Su Luowei fully relaxed. There was no point in staying tense. The gap in strength between them and Fuguang was too great; even though she and Meng Shuying had reached the Mahayana stage, their cultivation levels were insignificant in the eyes of a Demon Lord who had ruled for so long.
She grasped the hem of Meng Shuying's robe and peeked out from behind her, tilting her head to study the Demon Lord seated on the throne. Her tone was casual. "May I ask why the Demon Lord wanted to see me?"
The hand that Fuguang had been tapping rhythmically against the armrest slowed, his dark eyes reflecting the images of Su Luowei and Meng Shuying.
"There's nothing particularly special," Fuguang replied, "I just wanted to see the person who has been taking care of my daughter all these years."
So it is about Meng Shuying.
Su Luowei felt a wave of relief.
Fuguang continued, "And to thank you properly."
There was something unsettling about the way he said this.
Years ago, Fuguang had ventured into the human realm and, by chance, had a child with a mortal woman. Despite knowing that a mortal body could not bear the strain of carrying a demon child, he had abandoned Meng Shuying in the human realm for centuries. Why was he suddenly so eager to thank Su Luowei, his daughter's "benefactor"?
This doesn't bode well.
Meng Shuying spoke up, "So that's why you had Mingyou help us advance to the Mahayana stage?"
Fuguang replied calmly, "Of course not. I had her help you because your cultivation was far too weak."
For the first time, he turned his gaze directly to Meng Shuying, studying her for a moment before raising an eyebrow in curiosity. "You've been practicing both spiritual and demonic cultivation?"
Meng Shuying frowned. "That's none of your concern."
"No wonder your cultivation is so poor," Fuguang said bluntly. "You shouldn't have split your focus between spiritual and demonic cultivation. It's because of your divided attention that your progress has been so slow."
Su Luowei was speechless. How could Fuguang lie so blatantly? Meng Shuying had cultivated for less than two hundred years and had already reached the pinnacle of the Small Accomplishment stage. Even if it wasn't an earth-shattering pace, it was still enough to outshine most.
And that was despite her cultivation being stalled for a long time due to the poison of love.
On their way from Mingyou's residence, they had learned a bit about the general situation in the demon realm. Even among the higher-ranking bloodlines, the only advantage they had was faster progress during the initial stages. Once they reached the Nascent Soul stage, further advancement was no easy feat. Countless demons spent their entire lives stuck at the Nascent Soul stage, waiting for death.
And yet, Fuguang had the nerve to say that Meng Shuying's cultivation was poor and her progress was slow.
Wait!
Su Luowei suddenly remembered that in the original story, Meng Shuying had already reached the Mahayana stage when Wen Miaomiao had finally subdued her.
In the original timeline, it seemed both Meng Shuying and Wen Miaomiao had progressed much faster. Wen Miaomiao, facing the threat of the demon army, had advanced as if she were blessed by the heavens, her cultivation soaring. After the Sealing Demon Imprint was broken and the demons invaded, it hadn't been long before she ascended to immortality.
Su Luowei had never bothered to calculate the exact number of years between Meng Shuying breaking the Sealing Demon Imprint and Wen Miaomiao subduing her at the base of Inkstone Peak. That entire stretch of the plot had been from Wen Miaomiao's perspective, focusing on her leveling up, gathering heavenly materials, and dealing with male characters. It had annoyed Su Luowei, so she had skimmed through it.
But now, thinking back, she couldn't remember the details, yet she was certain that in the original story, it hadn't taken Wen Miaomiao even two hundred years from joining Qingxu Sect to ascending to immortality.
If Fuguang, like Wen Miaomiao, knew the original story's plot, then his words made sense.
After all, in the original story, Meng Shuying had begun practicing demonic cultivation even before forming her Nascent Soul.
Su Luowei was about to probe Fuguang further, but Meng Shuying interrupted her.
Meng Shuying clearly had no fondness for this so-called father and spoke bluntly, "Qingxu Sect's techniques are excellent. Why should I abandon them? You didn't bring us here just to chat, did you? Whatever you're plotting, just say it."
"What am I plotting?" Fuguang squinted at her, then smiled. "I've already achieved what I wanted. Thanks to the half of the Divine Bone you so graciously provided, my old injuries have healed. The passage between the human and demon realms will open soon, and this time, even if someone reawakens the remaining divine consciousnesses on the human world to fight against me, nothing will stop me from unifying the two realms."
This statement held a lot of information.
Firstly, the Sealing Demon Imprints.
The fact that there were Sealing Demon Imprints beneath each of the Five Sects was a well-known secret among the upper echelons of the sects.
In recent years, the Qingxu Sect, Eastern Pole Sect, Kunlun Sect, and Penglai Sect had all been stable, with no signs of disturbances. If any Sealing Demon Imprint was at risk, it would be the one beneath the Danyang Alliance.
Before entering the demon realm, the leader of the Danyang Alliance had already joined forces with Min Lanmeng and Old Demon Ning to attempt to destroy the Sealing Demon Imprint.
It now seemed that they were close to succeeding.
Once the Sealing Demon Imprint is broken, it will bring devastation. Su Luowei could only hope that Zhan Xuehan had become cautious due to their disappearance and was making preparations in advance.
Secondly, the word "again."
Fuguang might have spoken carelessly, but Su Luowei immediately picked up on it. Fuguang did indeed possess memories of the previous cycle.
It wasn't just Fuguang. The remnant of divine consciousness she had encountered in the Fox Valley also had memories of the previous cycle.
And Wen Miaomiao—based on various clues, Su Luowei had deduced that Wen Miaomiao also remembered what had happened in the original story—the plot of the novel.
All these individuals shared one thing in common: in the original story, they had all, at one point, attained the status of "gods," standing at heights unattainable by mere mortals.
And in the original story, there was one more "god": the fifth Demon Lord of the demon race, Meng Shuying.
Yet it seemed she had no memories of those events.
As Su Luowei looked at Meng Shuying's back, a sudden panic gripped her heart.
If Meng Shuying were to one day regain her memories of the previous life, would she still choose to stand on the side of the human realm?
At this thought, Su Luowei felt that she might have already guessed the true purpose behind Fuguang instructing Mingyou to help Meng Shuying rapidly advance her cultivation.
Even if Fuguang's old injuries had healed, should Wen Miaomiao ascend to immortality, the best he could hope for would be to fight her to a draw.
Without someone on the inside helping them, the demon race wouldn't find it easy to wipe out the Qingxu Sect as they had before.
The Danyang Alliance was composed of numerous small sects, with experts dispersed across different regions. Even if the demons launched a surprise attack, it wouldn't inflict heavy casualties on the alliance.
Moreover, the Danyang Alliance was far from the other four sects. If the demons emerged from the Danyang Alliance's passage, it would be difficult to catch the human cultivators off guard, and it might even expose their plans prematurely.
The Four Sects might be initially panicked, but once they regained their composure, they would surely launch a strong counterattack against the demons.
In this situation, the demon race's plan to invade the human realm would likely not go smoothly.
To correct this imbalance and secure an advantageous position, the best—and proven—solution would be for the demon race to produce another Demon Lord.
With two Demon Lords leading the charge, the demon race would undoubtedly sweep through the human realm with greater ease than before.