Meanwhile, in Duskwild Prefecture.
The numerous followers of the Tiger God had already been beaten to the ground by Li Tianyi, one by one.
An aged elder among the believers, his eyes bloodshot, roared furiously at Li Tianyi.
"Blasphemer! The Tiger God protects us! You dare to move against us, God will not spare you!"
Li Tianyi plugged his ears. A god... No matter what he said, these people refused to believe the simple fact that their god didn't exist. It was impossible to communicate with these deluded fools.
Just as the elder continued to roar furiously.
Li Tianqi and Li Tianming flew down from the clouds. Listening to the believers proclaim the power of the Tiger God, Li Tianqi glanced at the statue and suddenly froze.
"Your god," he asked, "does it have twin horns on its head, and a pair of wings? And is there a sun mark on its abdomen?"
"That is our god! You know of the Tiger God's divine might, and yet you still dare..."
Then, Li Tianming silently produced a spirit scroll. Imprisoned within the illustration was a strikingly lifelike flying tiger.
The moment that the Demon King was released, it began begging the Three Thieves for mercy, snot and tears streaming down its face.
Seeing this, the eyes of the believers filled with despair, and wails of anguish filled the air.
Wasn't this the very same Demon King Li Tianming had disturbed earlier while attempting to summon souls?
"A mere Flying Tiger Demon King," Li Tianqi said, "mid-stage Golden Core, hasn't even properly learned the demonic techniques from its own bloodline inheritance. And a beast like you dares to call itself a god?"
Li Tianqi grabbed the tiger demon by the ear, regarding it with keen interest.
If this creature had shown such audacity back in the Azure Cloud region, he mused, it would have been carved up and eaten by the local cultivators long ago.
"My lord, don't... This has nothing to do with this humble demon!"
The tiger demon was aghast.
He had been deep in slumber, only to be awakened by the incessant, mystical shouting of these three.
He had been on the verge of cursing them out, but had instead kicked an iron plate, finding himself instantly restrained by spiritual power and imprisoned within the spirit scroll.
The three hadn't even laid a hand on it; the dozens of other Demon Kings and the few Transformed Spirit Beasts already imprisoned within the spirit scroll were more than enough to keep it in line.
It hurriedly explained, "This humble demon never wanted to be their god! But after this one cultivated and gained sentience, these people showed up on my mountain, kowtowing in submission.
Every year, they insisted on offering me a few cultivators for a 'special meal', and there was no stopping them. To be perfectly honest with you three sirs," it blurted out, "this humble demon... this humble demon is a vegetarian!"
Hearing this.
The three of them were stunned.
"Big Brother, it says it's a vegetarian. Do you believe it?"
"The heavens have the virtue of cherishing life," one of them mused. "Since it's a vegetarian, we won't kill it. We'll just chop off one of its paws each month for a snack and let it heal on its own."
"And the tiger skin... hahaha, I'll be a mountain chieftain!"
"..."
After scaring this posturing old Demon King until it was limp with fear, they finally managed to pry some information out of it.
"Three sirs," it said, "Two months ago, a great battle truly did take place in the sky above this land. The oppressive might was such that this humble demon didn't dare send out its divine soul to investigate, for fear of disturbing those mighty figures."
The tiger demon said in terror, "The battle lasted for three days, and the sky was filled with spiritual Formations, though ordinary people couldn't see them.
Fortunately, this little one possesses the Heavenly Eye ability.
Afterward, I sensed those auras heading deeper into the prefecture. In all of Yuzhou... only the Yu King could possibly command such power."
"The Yu King?"
Li Tianyi furrowed his brow.
"Yes, the Yu King," the tiger demon said.
"In this Duskwild Prefecture, only one person dares to call himself king, and he has ruled for nearly a hundred thousand years.
I heard from my ancestors that he is the Human Emperor's fourth son, Prince Jue.
In ancient times, a hundred thousand years ago, my Duskwild Prefecture was filled with deities.
But after the Yu King arrived, no matter which immortal or god they were, all had to obey his commands alone.
If not for him, how could any Divinity Transformation cultivator possibly dare to wage such a great battle in this place?"
"What else do you know?" Li Tianyi's expression was grave.
He had now seen these so-called 'immortal gods' for himself.
To mortals, they truly were god-like figures.
The common folk here seemed almost uncivilized; no wonder this place was called the land of the 'Eastern Barbarians.'
He had spent many years operating on the fringes and knew little of the inner workings of the Imperial Dynasty.
In truth, his perspective was largely limited to his experiences in places like the Tian Xing Cultivator Abode and the Eternal Sun Prefecture.
The Human Emperor's fourth son from a hundred thousand years ago... what kind of figure must he be?
The tiger demon spoke again, its voice tinged with bitterness.
"Sir, two hundred years ago, this humble demon heard the Yu King issue a decree: all spirit beasts and monsters possessing sentience were to be recorded in the official registers of Duskwild Prefecture and were to quietly await his summons.
My friends and I didn't know what the Yu King intended to do, but a whisper was secretly spreading among everyone that the very heavens over Duskwild Prefecture were about to change—that the Yu King... was to be enthroned!"
"What?!!"
Li Tianyi's eyes flew wide. "Isn't this just a blatant case of a son trying to overthrow his own father?! It's been two hundred years—has the Azure Dynasty really done nothing about it?"
"A hundred thousand years old... Isn't that more formidable than even that old Daoist Baimei on Azure Mist Mountain? Big Brother, let's call off this investigation!"
Li Tianqi was frightened out of his wits. He might enjoy 'courting death', but there was a world of difference between courting death and outright suicide.
Li Tianyi fell into thought.
The Ancestor's spirit tablet lit up, and the Old Ancestor issued a directive.
[Enough. Your mission is complete.]
"The mission is complete?" Li Tianyi blinked.
Li Tianqi was also stunned for a moment. "Then... what do we do now, Big Brother? I suspect the elders were sick of us three and deliberately kicked us out."
Hearing this, Li Tianyi glanced at Tianming, who was sitting on the back of the tiger demon, grinning like an idiot.
Taking a deep breath, he said, "No need to hurry back. I, for one, would like to see which is the true dragon's pool and tiger's den—this land of the Eastern Barbarians, or the territory of the Wu Clan."
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