After four hundred years of conflict and going through four generations, the new leader of the Demonic Cult, who became the Great Demon slightly over twenty years ago, suddenly asked for peace after a significant battle with the Murim Alliance.
Now twenty years later a new generation is growing up hearing about the Demonic Cult who were bad in the past but were turning over a new leaf. Due to this, a few children in the Central Continent grew up as childhood friends with other children from the Northern Wasteland.
If one had asked past generations if it was possible for the Demonic Cult and the Heavenly Mirum Alliance to coexist, they wouldn't have hesitated to give a definite no. However, such a scene was playing out today, and so far, it was going smoothly. In fact, the transition was so smooth it caught both the Demonic Cult and the Heavenly Murim Alliance off guard.
Both sides had thought that with so much bloodshed between the two, the children in this generation would be no different from the past and grow up resenting the Demonic Cult, and vice versa.
But when the children from both sides showed opposite reactions, the elders of both powers couldn't help but investigate why that was the case. The conclusion that both parties came to was an extremely simple answer… they were just too old.
These young children were naive to the world and the past, and because they were living in a relatively peaceful era, even when they were told stories of the Great Demon and the chaos he brought to the world, it only served as a scary bedtime story for them.
Even children from the Noble Clans and Great Sects, who descended from the Ten Divine Heroes and should have held a generational hatred for the Demonic Cult, showed signs of accepting the Demonic Cult's peaceful attempts after their elders mentioned a single sentence.
Even if those Elders went into gruesome details of the inhumane acts the Demonic Cult did in the wars in the past, as long as they added that single sentence a seed would have planted itself in those children's hearts that would defuse their hatred for the Demonic Cult.
That sentence was a piece of information stating that twenty years ago when the Great Demon declared that the Demonic Cult would advocate for peace with the Central Plains, she had slaughtered each and every single person who had voiced an objection. This included her uncles, aunts, cousins, and other relatives who had wanted to use this chance to usurp her position. Absolutely no one was spared.
Among these people were powerful experts who after their deaths left the Demonic Cult extremely weak.
The Murim Alliance had initially thought the Demonic Cult was planning something by declaring such an absurd thing after they had just instigated a war and lost; however, this incident forced them to believe it to be true.
During that time the Demonic Cult was so weak the Murim Alliance could have squashed them once and for all. Some people suggested this action; however, the Great Demon made another move that left these powerful and influential leaders dumbfounded.
She voluntarily came to the Murim Alliance headquarters all alone to supposedly stand trial for what the Demonic Cult had done in the past.
Everyone there that day could never forget when that proud woman, who was as beautiful as a fairy, bowed down in front of the Murim Alliance Leader begging for peace. How could their hearts not be moved by such a thing?
She had also made a good point during her plea, that she had killed most of the older members of the Demonic Cult who had already formed irreconcilable hatred towards the Central Plains, leaving only the newer generation that had only participated in the previous war but hadn't actually fought since they were at the back of the group. Those at the front who were killed were exactly those people with the most hatred for the Central Plains.
It was then that the Leaders of the factions in the Murim Alliance realized this Great Demon might have been scheming to create this very day where she bowed in front of everyone, perhaps even before she had become the Great Demon.
This further convinced the Murim Alliance powerhouses to accept the Demonic Cult's advocation for peace and tacitly agreed to the Murim Alliance Leader's order to pardon the Great Demon.
All of that happened twenty years ago, and now the Demonic Cult was on a road of redemption with the feud between them and the Murim Alliance on the verge of being completely wiped out.
The only thing remaining was the final nail in the coffin which was the single most important event in the history of the Central Plains.
A marriage between the Great Demon's daughter and the Murim Alliance Leader's third son.
It would be the solidification of an idea that was initially thought to be inconceivable, and the beginning of an Era I call the 'Era of Great Peace.'
….
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"The Era of Great Peace? Ridiculous! Completely Ridiculous!"
Xiao, who had been reading a book he bought from a shopkeeper in the last town they stopped in, was incensed by the last few lines. Sitting up on the roof of his carriage, he angrily tossed the book into the forest trees on the roadside while hoping that some wild beast would do him a favor and rip it to pieces.
Looking at the older woman ahead of him in the coach seat, he asked irritably.
"Mei-Mei, how long until we reach the Demonic Cult?"
While controlling the two horses pulling the carriage, the woman called Mei-Mei answered respectfully.
"Young master, we'll first have to visit Yellow Leaf Valley which is just up ahead. From there we will be escorted through a secret passage to the Demonic Cult's hideout in the mountains."
Xiao released a sigh upon hearing that before he fell back onto the carriage. He then dazedly stared up at the clear blue sky having nothing better to do.
It had been a week since he left home. During that time, he saw a lot of amazing scenery and met quite a few interesting people. It almost made him grateful that this wedding was happening since he wouldn't have left Heavenly Martial City to see such things or meet those people otherwise.
But ultimately his goal was to break off this ridiculous betrothment, and the only way to do that was to visit the Demonic Cult and meet this demoness.
Xiao had taken this time to read up about the Demonic Cult, and he had even bought that book detailing their history of conflict with the Central Plains. Said book angered him at the end, but it did give him a good grasp of the current Demonic Cult and the mindset the people of the Central Plains have towards them.
Though after grasping this mindset Xiao had only one thing to say after, and that was…
"A scheme! It's all a malicious scheme for them to take over the Central Plains! Since they couldn't do it forcefully, they plan on doing it from the inside!
"Father and those old bastards are just too dumb not to realize it. But thankfully I did, and I will stop them!"