Chapter 142: Pitch Black

Chapter 142: Pitch Black

Shang Yunduo’s wandering thoughts snapped to attention with a jolt. “How could it have anything to do with you? Whether they get along or not, how could that relate to you… the Illusion Art?”

Pei Jie nodded. “Mm.”

Shang Yunduo: “...”

Oh, well…

Shang Yunduo: “Then it’s their own fault for not keeping a closer eye on it! They should have been more careful!”

Pei Jie: “The one who hunted me down back then was the king of the Night Owl Clan.”

Shang Yunduo: “...”

At this moment, he really wanted to see what expression Pei Jie was making, and couldn’t help but mutter, “Senior, you must have been a real rascal back then, huh?”

A real little menace, wasn’t he?

Skilled and fearless, only taking on the biggest challenges?

What normal person goes to another clan’s territory and deliberately gets close to their Demon King?

And then go and kill their king and make him drop his loot?

Pei Jie said calmly, “That was an accident.”

Shang Yunduo: “...”

He just couldn’t buy it. Right now, his senior suddenly seemed to give off that villainous vibe from when they first met. Shang Yunduo swallowed his complaints. “Because you killed their king, so the Flying Owl hunted you down, but the Night Owl Clan held a grudge against the Flying Owl for not avenging their king?”

Pei Jie shook his head. “Of course not. The Flying Owl took his anger out on the Night Owl Clan.”

Shang Yunduo: “Ah?!”

Pei Jie: “The Illusion Art isn’t a tradition passed down in the Night Owl Clan. Its previous owner was also one of the Demon Kings in the demon world, but later disappeared, reportedly dying in some secret realm. I’m not sure how the Flying Owl obtained it, but he has always been a lone wolf, unwilling to waste energy on the Night Owl Clan. Yet the Night Owl Clan probably never paid him much attention either. Otherwise, before he transformed, the entire demon race would hardly have heard of him.”

Shang Yunduo: “... He was actually a rogue cultivator?”

Pei Jie smiled at his description. “Something like that.”

Shang Yunduo: “If he insisted on being a lone wolf, then it’s not entirely the Night Owl Clan’s fault.”

Just like in human sects, there are occasionally cultivators who don’t fit in—clearly not rogue cultivators, but they live even more like rogues.

If that was the case, the Night Owl King lost the technique that the Flying Owl had painstakingly obtained, even risking his life for it. It’s understandable that the Flying Owl would take his anger out on them.

“But how did the Illusion Art end up on the Night Owl King?”

Pei Jie: “After the Flying Owl became famous, he returned to the Night Owl Clan. The life of a rogue cultivator is hard. Even in the demon race where strength is paramount, after entering the Transformation stage, relying only on oneself to advance one’s cultivation is extremely difficult. Besides, he had made many enemies and stolen too many things, so he needed the Night Owl Clan’s territory to shield him from all kinds of trouble. I heard that the clan’s elders persuaded him for a long time before he agreed to take a disciple.”

Shang Yunduo: “Was the disciple the Night Owl King?”

Pei Jie: “Mm. According to what I’ve heard, at that time, the Night Owl Clan only had the Flying Owl as a Transformation stage cultivator. The clan first promoted the most promising Core Formation cultivator—who was closest to transforming—to be king, and only then did the Flying Owl agree to take him as a disciple.”

Shang Yunduo was puzzled: “Since he was the only Transformation stage, why didn’t they let him become king?”

Promoting a king and then making him become a disciple—wasn’t that pointless?

Pei Jie: “He didn’t want to bother with clan affairs.”

Shang Yunduo: “...”

What a character—someone else would be king, but he wanted to be the power behind the throne right off the bat.

Pei Jie: “But the Flying Owl likely put some effort into his only disciple. Both the Night Owl Clan and the Flying Owl himself urgently needed another Transformation stage cultivator. The Night Owl Clan wanted to boost their race’s strength, and the Flying Owl needed an ally. So his disciple not only entered the Transformation stage quickly but also learned the Illusion Art. However, judging by the Flying Owl’s reaction after I killed him, carrying the Illusion Art around was probably his own idea.”

“...” Shang Yunduo digested this gossip that was like a family soap opera and couldn’t help but comment, “He got carried away, didn’t he? The Night Owl King got way too full of himself!”

Pei Jie laughed.

The demon race didn’t have a tradition of taking disciples. The Flying Owl had raised him like a son, and the Night Owl Clan had poured all its resources into letting the barely three-hundred-year-old Night Owl King transform quickly. Success came too easily, so of course he became arrogant.

Shang Yunduo: “How could the Flying Owl allow him to steal something so important?”

Pei Jie: “It probably wasn’t stolen. At the time, the Flying Owl was in seclusion attempting to break through to the later Transformation stage. He probably wasn’t confident he’d succeed and feared he might die in the attempt, so he gave the technique to the Night Owl King. But he probably never expected the Night Owl King to take it out with him.”

Shang Yunduo: “...”

Then he wanted to gripe even more.

What kind of disciple was this? When his master went into seclusion that could be life or death, instead of helping to protect him, he secretly took the treasured technique and went out to play.

Such filial piety would make the Flying Owl spit blood.

Shang Yunduo: “So the Flying Owl, because his beloved disciple lost his beloved Illusion Art, took his anger out on the entire Night Owl Clan, a clan he didn’t even care about?”

Pei Jie laughed at his sarcastic tone and nodded again. “That should be it. After all, why couldn’t all those elders of the Night Owl Clan keep an eye on their king? You noticed that among the more than twenty demon races that came to the Lingxi Valley, the Night Owl Clan wasn’t there, right?”

Shang Yunduo thought about it—that was true.

The Flying Owl was one of the four great Demon Kings. Given his status in the demon world, if he wanted to help his race, the Night Owl Clan would surely have been able to participate in the competition at Lingxi Valley.

As if to rub salt in the wound, Pei Jie casually wondered, “I wonder if the Night Owl Clan has produced any new Transformation stage cultivators in recent years.”

Shang Yunduo: “...”

Suddenly, he understood why the Flying Owl was so hell-bent on hunting down Pei Jie.

He really was hard to like.

But...

But to be fair, Shang Yunduo felt he was being especially fair. If the Night Owl King hadn’t chased him, his senior wouldn’t have killed him in self-defense. Without that, the Night Owl Clan would still have a king, the Flying Owl wouldn’t have lost the technique, and the Night Owl Clan would be stronger now. And backing up even further, if the Flying Owl hadn’t taught the Illusion Art to his disciple, the Night Owl King might not have been able to chase his senior. So—in the end, they brought it all on themselves!

Pei Jie continued: “The Flying Owl taking his anger out on the Night Owl Clan became common knowledge among the demon races. If the Night Owl Clan had another Transformation stage cultivator, they might not put up with the Flying Owl anymore. Being a Demon King among the demon race isn’t exactly a good title. They like to call themselves the Sacred Clan, and ‘demon’ is an insult here.”

Shang Yunduo: “...”

Pei Jie: “And the Tiger King from back then, and even the one before him, cared a lot about the tiger clan’s status in the demon race. They devoted much effort to the clan, and since tiger clans are protective and love to nurture their younger members, they naturally looked down on the Flying Owl. When the Flying Owl demanded that all demon races hunt me down, the Tiger King at the time didn’t even bother to reply. He probably couldn’t even convince the Flying Owl to come, let alone the current Tiger King, who is so young he couldn’t possibly succeed. So...”

Shang Yunduo: “So it had to be the Flying Owl who sought out the Tiger King?”

Pei Jie: “Mm. And the tiger clan has three Transformation stage cultivators. The Flying Owl knows quite a few Transformation stage cultivators himself, so why was it the Tiger King who came?”

Shang Yunduo: “Lightning?”

Pei Jie nodded: “Right. The Tiger King I knew and the one before him couldn’t use the kind of lightning the current Tiger King uses. And the Chaos Clan is pretty mysterious in the whole demon world, living off in a corner and rarely coming this far. I bet it’s not just that the Chaos King doesn’t know about the Tiger King’s lightning; the young Tiger King probably doesn’t really know enough about the Chaos King either.”

Otherwise, why would he have fought twice and still let King Hundun get away using a clone?

If it weren't for Shang Yunduo and that person butting in, King Hundun would have truly escaped back. After recovering, he might have directly declared war on the Tiger Clan.

When a clan king makes a move, it's either a token strike or a lethal one, best leaving no trace so no one knows who did it—death without proof. Failure to kill is a major taboo.

"So, to kill King Hundun, the one who knows him best and knows who can counter him is naturally Flying Owl. Now, what do you think? Does Flying Owl know King Hundun is still alive? If he does, but deliberately didn’t warn your young and impetuous Tiger King, heh..."

Shang Yunduo: "…………"

As if the speculation wasn’t shocking enough, Pei Jie continued: "What if Flying Owl didn’t just know that King Lingxi escaped, but actually helped him?"

Shang Yunduo's eyes went wide: "What?!"

Pei Jie: "Think about it—how could it be such a coincidence? How did he manage to collude with the Tiger King to scheme against King Hundun while King Xuanying was chasing King Lingxi? And how was he so certain King Hundun would come?"

Shang Yunduo: "...So, it was him?"

Pei Jie: "Suppose he needed King Hundun to break through to a higher realm. Then he needed to trick the mysterious, reclusive King Hundun into coming out. And King Lingxi, who was already resigned to death but kept under guard, could serve as the perfect bait. So, he sneaked into the Ninefold Palace, released King Lingxi’s descendants without anyone noticing... no—one dead, one freed. The son with higher cultivation was killed, leaving only the grandson at the Core Formation stage with little hope of ever transforming. That way, the Spirit Rhinoceros Clan could never have a new king to protect them, driving them into a corner. If I remember correctly, he and King Lingxi had some rapport. Based on King Lingxi’s temperament, he could probably predict how he would react with some certainty."

Shang Yunduo's eyes widened in shock.

Pei Jie: "After that, he leaked the information to King Hundun. King Hundun would definitely come to break through in cultivation, and even if he didn’t come himself, he would send a Transformation stage cultivator. Once he was sure they would come, he could find allies. So, he went to the young, fearless, easily persuaded Tiger King."

Shang Yunduo: "..."

Pei Jie: "Coincidentally, the Tiger Clan was large and strong enough that even if things went wrong, the Tiger King wouldn't fear the Chaos Clan retaliating. Offering generous rewards would be enough to convince him. Maybe that giant tiger’s big sack was prepared by Flying Owl. And what role did the Black Abyss Clan play in all this?"

Shang Yunduo could no longer follow his train of thought.

Pei Jie speculated: "Was it the one who brought the news to King Hundun? An ally King Hundun or King Xuanying found? Someone who just happened to know the information and wanted a piece of the spoils? Or... an ally King Lingxi found?"

Shang Yunduo's eyes glazed over: "An ally King Lingxi found?!"

Pei Jie: "Just a hypothesis. The Black Abyss Clan’s main target was the Blood Qilin Clan. If they didn’t know the Blood Qilin Clan was going to help the Spirit Rhinoceros Clan, how could they capture them? But since they were already at odds with the Blood Qilin Clan, King Lingxi probably wouldn’t ask both clans for help at the same time. There’s a missing link—someone who could bridge the gap between those two clans..."

Both said simultaneously: "The Jade Mountain Clan!"

Shang Yunduo scratched his head: "So King Lingxi sought help from the Blood Qilin Clan and the Jade Mountain Clan, which were in similar situations, and the Jade Mountain Clan brought in the Black Abyss Clan? But if that’s the case, what did the Jade Mountain Clan gain? They themselves were stuffed into storage bags by the Black Abyss Clan!"

Pei Jie: "Probably Spirit Rhino beasts or other benefits."

Shang Yunduo suddenly remembered that when the Blood Qilin Clan couldn’t blast open the inner valley entrance, Sha Feng had roared, "Why aren’t you helping?" At the time, he thought Sha Feng was calling for his own clan’s help, unable to hold off so many Core Formation cultivators alone. But if Sha Feng was actually calling the Jade Mountain Clan, and the Jade Mountain Clan chose to betray them...

Was the Blood Qilin Clan really helping the Spirit Rhinoceros Clan of their own accord, as Sha Feng claimed? Did their king truly not know?

Why did the Black Abyss Clan pack away the bodies of the Jade Mountain Clan? To help bury their allies, or to use them as substitutes for the Blood Qilin Clan?

Did the Black Abyss Clan have anything to do with Flying Owl?

Shang Yunduo’s head was about to explode just thinking about it.

So tiring.

Just listening was driving him crazy.

All for breaking through in cultivation.

All of this—circling around such a huge scheme, killing over twenty elites from various clans at the Nurturing Spirit and Core Formation stages, destroying the entire Spirit Rhinoceros Clan, killing two Transformation stage cultivators, nearly turning the Tiger Clan and Chaos Clan into mortal enemies, almost getting him and Pei Jie killed, and stirring up the demon cultivators aligned with the Mystic Eagle Clan and Blood Qilin Clan, bringing them to the brink of war—possibly even triggering a massive conflict across the entire demon race between those with special bloodlines and those without. All for breaking through in cultivation!

And even if he breaks through? The Deity Transformation stage has three levels! Would he then devour the entire demon race to seek Ascension?

The more Shang Yunduo thought, the more he wanted to laugh. Darkness closed in before his eyes. He felt the demon race—no, the entire cultivation world—was pitch-black.

"Senior, I'm so tired," he said. He'd had enough of these lunatics. Just listening was driving him crazy. "Let's hurry back to the Boundary Mountain."

Author's note:

Shang Yunduo: Pitch-black! This world is pitch-black! Even a blind man can't stand this darkness—I want to change the channel!