Within the stronghold, the murderous intent of hundreds of cultivators soared to the sky. However, the moment they saw Lin Yuan, they uncontrollably knelt and kowtowed.
This was an unparalleled suppression that came from the depths of the soul, as if all cultivators who cultivated demonic arts in the world were under its "jurisdiction".
"How is this possible?" The sinister young man, Bian Mao, knelt on the ground, unable to move, but his heart surged with immense waves.
With his strength, even if he encountered a peak level Ninth Realm existence, he wouldn't be able to defeat or escape, but he wouldn't directly kneel like this.
Yet now, not only was he kneeling, but many of his demonic techniques and forbidden arts were also rendered silent. It was simply unbelievable.
"This Xiahou Yuan..." Bian Mao's heart turned cold. At this moment, he finally understood why, when he learned that Xiahou Yuan had emerged from the Abyss, those senior cultivators who had experienced the era thirty years ago were panicked, not even daring to think of opposing him.
Back then, Bian Mao had somewhat looked down on those senior cultivators, mocking them for being scared stiff by Xiahou Yuan, not daring to come out even after thirty years.
However, now, facing Xiahou Yuan in person, Bian Mao keenly felt how terrifying the former ruler of the Five Domains, known as the "Demon Emperor", truly was.
His lofty ambitions of replacing Xiahou Yuan and becoming the new legendary figure seemed laughable.
If Xiahou Yuan was really so easy to deal with, the Nine Great Demon Lords would have come to hunt him down as soon as they learned he had emerged from the Abyss. How could they let a "little demon lord" like him seize the initiative?
"So, we've been manipulated."
At the same time, Yin Shi, who was also kneeling on the ground, suddenly realized.
Their actions this time were not a top-secret matter; several of the Nine Great Demon Lords knew about it.
But from start to finish, they hadn't encountered any obstacles. Instead, everything had gone unusually smoothly, easily locking onto Xiahou Yuan's location.
Before this, Yin Shi had thought it was the heavens aiding them. But now, they realized that their group had become the "knife" in the hands of those senior cultivators.
Those senior cultivators, including the Nine Great Demon Lords, had experienced the terrifying era of Xiahou Yuan and knew how dreadful he was.
Precisely because of this, even though they knew Xiahou Yuan couldn't possibly be in his prime right after emerging from the Abyss, they still didn't dare to take any action.
At this moment, this group of young demon lords had unexpectedly jumped out, which was simply an unexpected joy for those senior cultivators.
Under the instructions of several Demon Lords, they gathered together to discuss the matter of hunting down the legendary demon Xiahou Yuan. Little did they know, everything was under the watchful eyes of those senior cultivators.
These senior cultivators, cautiously using them, were testing Xiahou Yuan with their actions. If they succeeded in killing Xiahou Yuan, it would be equivalent to helping those senior cultivators completely resolve their major concerns.
If they failed, it would have nothing to do with those senior cultivators. From start to finish, this group of young demon lords had not cooperated with those senior cultivators in anything. All their actions were their own.
"Master... why hasn't the master come?"
"Xiahou Yuan is too terrifying wuwuwu..." The girl in the light green dress crushed the jade pendant in her hand.
According to her and her master's plan, as long as she crushed this jade pendant, her Ninth Realm master would come at the fastest speed and end everything.
By then, whether it was the little demon lord Bian Mao or Yin Shi, they would only be able to kneel. But she had already crushed the jade pendant into powder, and her master had not yet arrived.
Outside the wooden house, Lin Yuan looked at all the kneeling demon heads with no surprise in his expression.
From the moment he descended into this world, Lin Yuan knew that Xiahou Yuan had an almost terrifying suppression on all the demon heads in the world. Of course, this kind of suppression was not unlimited; it had to be within the same Realm.
For example, when Xiahou Yuan was at the Seventh Realm, all demon heads of the Seventh Realm and below would be suppressed when facing him.
Even the peak Seventh Realm couldn't break free from this suppression; they could only kneel when they saw Xiahou Yuan.
If it were an Eighth Realm demon head, they could alleviate this suppression, but they still wouldn't dare to act against Xiahou Yuan; it was simply unthinkable.
Decades ago, how did Xiahou Yuan, who ruled over the demon heads of the Five Domains, manage to maintain control?
Was it by strength alone? Tianjian Sect, the leading force of the righteous path, hadn't been able to control the demonic path for so many years, so how did Xiahou Yuan manage it?
Even if his strength was formidable, for those demon heads and demon lords, they could simply keep their distance if they couldn't defeat him. But they couldn't fight and couldn't escape, how could they keep their distance?
Facing the righteous forces, even if it was a Tenth Realm expert of the righteous path, the demon heads could truly hide. In the past tens of thousands of years, Tianjian Sect had produced three Tenth Realm experts.
Even so, at most, they could make the demon heads disappear for a few hundred years. Once the Tenth Realm expert died, the demon heads would come out again.
However, Xiahou Yuan made all the demon heads of the Five Domains obedient. This kind of control definitely couldn't be achieved with just strength alone.
Lin Yuan had been suppressed in the 18th layer of the Abyss for so many years, choosing the most torturous way to restore his strength instead of directly seeking a new body, precisely because he was worried that changing to a new body would make him lose this suppression.
Although, even without this natural suppression against demon heads, Lin Yuan was destined to be invincible in the world.
But if he had it in advance, he could definitely take a shorter path. And Lin Yuan was quite curious about the principle behind this 'suppression'.
"Don't bother, your master has long gone."
Lin Yuan looked at the numerous kneeling demon heads and glanced at the girl in the light green dress who was trying to crush the jade pendant into powder.
From the moment this girl appeared, Lin Yuan sensed a certain aura on her, connected to an aura hundreds of miles away.
The aura hundreds of miles away was connected to the girl's aura and was stronger, likely belonging to a Ninth Realm demon head.
However, the moment the girl crushed the jade pendant, the aura from hundreds of miles away quickly fled like a startled bird, probably already thousands of miles away by now.
This made Lin Yuan instantly lose interest in pursuing it. It wasn't that he couldn't catch up, but it wasn't necessary.
Right now, his most important task was to quickly breakthrough to the Fifth Rank (he refers to the main world's level system).
Other matters could be postponed. In fact, Lin Yuan speculated that if the girl hadn't crushed the jade pendant, the Ninth Realm demon head hundreds of miles away might have approached out of curiosity.
But once the jade pendant was crushed, it signaled a change, and the biggest variable was likely from Xiahou Yuan. How could the aura from hundreds of miles away dare to come now?
"Lord Xiahou... sir..."
The girl in the light green dress trembled in her voice, stuttering.
Decades ago, when Xiahou Yuan ruled over the demonic path of the Five Domains, he was called the 'Demon Emperor', and the demon heads under him respectfully addressed him as 'sir'.
"Enough."
Lin Yuan looked at the other demon heads, briefly pausing his gaze on the sinister young man, Bian Mao, and Yin Shi.
"Do you want to live or die?"
Lin Yuan's voice wasn't loud, but it resounded in everyone's ears.
"Do you want to live or die?"
Bian Mao was stunned for a moment upon hearing this, then revealed a look of ecstasy. Originally, he thought he was doomed to die, but from Lin Yuan's words, it seemed like he might still have a chance to live?
"We want to live?"
"Demon Emperor, we want to live."
The many demon heads quickly spoke up.
"Since you want to live, don't resist."
Lin Yuan raised his right hand, and hundreds of streams of light flew out, landing on the forehead of each demon head.
Currently, Lin Yuan had just emerged from the Abyss, and the forces he had established in the past had long scattered. He was lacking a group of subordinates to serve him.
Lin Yuan didn't have many requirements for his subordinates; as long as they could help him find some spiritual herbs of heaven and earth for rapid cultivation, that would be enough.
"Yes." Bian Mao and other demon heads felt a coolness on their foreheads, as if something had entered, but they didn't dare to inspect closely and quickly responded.
"Hmph." Nuan Shu stood beside Lin Yuan, looking at Bian Mao and the other demon heads with a hint of pride on her face.
'How dare you shout and scream, thinking you could provoke Lord Xiahou? Now, all of you have been marked with life and death symbols, and your lives are in Lord Xiahou's hands.'
The life and death symbols were a method Xiahou Yuan used to control demon heads when he ruled over them.
They could simulate Xiahou Yuan's aura, lingering in the minds of all demon heads. Once this aura erupted, even a peak Ninth Realm Demon Lord would find it difficult to survive.
Of course, the life and death symbols implanted in the foreheads needed to be reinforced by Xiahou Yuan regularly; if not reinforced for a long time, they would quickly dissipate.
Of course, no demon head dared to procrastinate in this matter, such as hiding somewhere and waiting for the symbols to dissipate.
Because before the symbols dissipated, Xiahou Yuan only needed a thought to detonate them. When Xiahou Yuan was first suppressed, it really frightened the demon heads for a while.
But later, they realized that Xiahou Yuan, who was trapped in the 18th layer of the Abyss, had long been cut off from the outside world, unable to even sense the life and death symbols, let alone activate them.
As a result, over the past few years, all the life and death symbols in the minds of demon heads had dissipated, and their lingering fears were finally put to rest.
Thousands of miles away from the stronghold. A streak of light swiftly approached, faintly emitting a bloody smell. Obviously, the owner of the streak of light had used a forbidden technique to increase their speed to the extreme.
Moments later, the streak of light stopped. A plump middle-aged beauty hovered in the air.
"Chan'er."
The middle-aged beauty's breath was somewhat unstable, but even so, her appearance made the surroundings quiet for several miles. The beasts seemed to sense the aura of a natural enemy and curled up, not daring to move.
Undoubtedly, this middle-aged beauty was a Ninth Realm expert, and also a Ninth Realm demon Lord.
However, even at this moment, this Ninth Realm demon Lord, who could roam the Five Domains, still had a lingering look of fear on her face, as if she had just escaped from some great terror.
"What exactly happened?"
"Why did Chan'er crush the jade pendant?"
This middle-aged beauty was one of the demon Lords who wanted to surround and kill Lin Yuan. She was the master of the girl in the light green dress.
Actually, calling her the master wasn't accurate; their relationship was something outsiders didn't know.
Originally.
This middle-aged beauty was observing from hundreds of miles away. However, even for a Ninth Realm demon Lord, it was difficult to perceive anything from such a distance.
Mainly because the middle-aged beauty dared not use any probing or sensing techniques. What if Xiahou Yuan discovered her? Wouldn't it be like confessing her whereabouts?
However.
When the middle-aged beauty sensed the girl in the light green dress crush the jade pendant, an instinctive fear arose in her heart. Instead of approaching, she activated various secret techniques and fled in the opposite direction.
There was no way. That was Xiahou Yuan. No matter why the girl in the light green dress crushed the jade pendant, as long as there was a slight possibility it was because of Xiahou Yuan, she dared not take the risk.
"No."
"I'd better go meet with Moyang and the others."
The middle-aged beauty calmed herself down, feeling somewhat unsafe alone. She wanted to find other Ninth Realm Demon Lords and seek safety in numbers.
Especially Moyang, who had reached the peak of the Ninth Realm thirty years ago. After Xiahou Yuan was suppressed, Moyang Demon Lord seemed to have the momentum to become the new leader of the demonic path.
And as far as the middle-aged beauty knew, since Xiahou Yuan emerged from the Abyss, Moyang Demon Lord had been planning something. If others knew the middle-aged beauty's thoughts, they would surely be astonished.
You're a Ninth Realm Demon Lord. What could make you feel unsafe under the heavens and the earth? But if they knew this person was Xiahou Yuan, they would find it perfectly normal. That was Xiahou Yuan.
After subduing Bian Mao, Yin Shi, and many other demon heads, Lin Yuan returned to the wooden house and continued his cultivation. As for these demon heads, they stayed near the stronghold and prevented outsiders from approaching.
"Fifth Rank."
The more he cultivated, the deeper Lin Yuan's understanding of the Fifth Rank became. Having spent twenty years in the 18th layer of the Abyss, Lin Yuan had long envisioned countless breakthroughs to the Fifth Rank.
"Almost there."
Lin Yuan opened his eyes. He had already made all the preparations to break through to the Fifth Rank. It was just a matter of starting the breakthrough.
"However."
"It's best to break through in a different place."
Lin Yuan's expression changed slightly, scanning his surroundings. First, breaking through to the Fifth Rank required a high-quality environment.
In fact, it wasn't the environment; if Lin Yuan had a few pots of 'Red Spirit Liquid', he could break through anywhere.
Although the spiritual energy around the stronghold was far better than that of the Abyss, it still didn't meet Lin Yuan's minimum standards for breaking through.
Secondly.
In recent days, Lin Yuan had clearly felt a faint sense of surveillance. Obviously, news of him here had been known to many people, who didn't dare to come forward but had been observing from a distance.
Although Lin Yuan didn't mind being spied on by others, he needed a safe and secluded place for the upcoming breakthrough to avoid disturbance.
"Nuan Shu."
Lin Yuan called for Nuan Shu and stated his requirements.
"Yes."
Nuan Shu nodded immediately. She had long wanted to leave this place. Not only had Lin Yuan sensed the surveillance, but Nuan Shu also felt that more than one person was observing them from afar.
Several days later.
Nuan Shu quickly arrived at the front of the wooden house. After getting Lin Yuan's permission, she excitedly said:
"Lord, I have found a place that absolutely meets the requirements."
"Hmm?"
Lin Yuan opened his eyes, his face showing surprise. He had set high requirements for Nuan Shu, and finding a place comparable to major faction strongholds was not an easy task.
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I need POWAAAA :D
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