After a thousand years of cultivation, he returns at the pinnacle!

Chapter 166 Heading to the Demon Realm

Late at night in Jiangzhou.

Moonlight streamed into the room through the gaps in the curtains, casting a thin, silvery-white patch on the floor. Jiang Chen lay on the bed, his hands behind his head, his eyes open, staring at the old crack on the ceiling that stretched from the corner of the wall to near the light fixture. Ten years had passed, and the crack was still there, exactly the same as when he first noticed it that summer when he was seven.

His phone screen lit up. He glanced at it; it was a message from Wang Kai.

"Brother Chen, are you asleep? I just got back from the training ground. I broke through to the mid-stage of the Nascent Soul realm today, and the conversion efficiency of the Life-Giving Dao Fruit has increased by another thirty percent."

Jiang Chen didn't reply. He held his phone to his chest and continued staring at the cracks in the ceiling.

He was thinking about something.

For the past two weeks since returning from the abyss, he has been teaching at the academy every day, going home for dinner in the evenings, and accompanying his mother to the market on weekends. Life has been as calm as a stagnant pool, completely different from the thousand years of sword fights he experienced in the cultivation world. But he knows in his heart that this peace will not last long.

Kahn still slumbers deep within the void's origin. At the very bottom of the abyss, the fragment of chaotic origin, formed from the fusion of nothingness, origin, and hope, continues to slowly rotate. It awaits a master—not him, but someone else. Someone he has yet to find.

Moreover, although the threats from the Apostle Realm and the Demon God Realm have been temporarily eliminated, there are still too many places on this planet that humans have never set foot in. Those territories that were ruled by the demon race for three hundred years, those continents that were completely covered by black ice flowers when the Apostles descended, and those forbidden zones of life that even Awakened Ones dare not venture into.

There might still be living people there.

There may be something even more terrifying.

Jiang Chen sat up, picked up his phone, and sent a message to Chen Beiyuan.

"Old Chen, I need a detailed map of the demon territories around the world."

Less than ten seconds after the message was sent, the phone vibrated. Chen Beiyuan didn't type anything; he called directly.

"What do you need a map of the demon territory for?" The old man's voice was aged and steady, but carried a clear hint of wariness.

"Go take a look," Jiang Chen said, his tone as indifferent as if he were saying, "Go downstairs and buy a bottle of soy sauce."

There was a moment of silence on the other end of the phone.

"Jiang Chen, those places are not Liangzhou Fortress, nor are they the Apostle Hall. Those places are forbidden zones that humans haven't set foot in for three hundred years. No one knows what they look like now, no one knows if there are any living people left there, and no one knows what kind of dangers lurk there."

"So I'm going to take a look." Jiang Chen got up from the bed, walked to the window, and opened it. The night breeze blew in, carrying the coolness of early autumn, and stirred the light blue hair ribbon on his right wrist.

Chen Beiyuan remained silent for a long time.

"When are we leaving?"

"tomorrow."

"How many people are you bringing?"

Jiang Chen looked out the window at the city illuminated by the moonlight, and at the seven-colored beam of light slowly flowing above Hope Academy in the distance, and the corners of his mouth turned up slightly.

"Not a single one."

The Demon Realm, the outer wasteland.

The moment Jiang Chen stepped out of the crevice, he felt an extremely strong, rotten, and nauseating stench.

The gray-white sky hung low, obscuring the sun and clouds; only a thick, congealed pus-like fog enveloped the entire wasteland.

The wasteland was littered with skeletons.

There were human skeletons, monster skeletons, and deformed creatures he couldn't name. The skeletons were piled up like mountains, rising from the ground like white mounds. Some skeletons were still attached to dried flesh, which was crawling with grayish-white maggots. The maggots wriggled in the crevices of the bones, making a fine, chilling rustling sound.

Jiang Chen stood still, the Primordial Sword hovering beside him, seven-colored light flowing along its blade, dispelling the grayish-white mist within a hundred paces. His gaze swept across the wasteland, his divine sense spreading out like a tide, extending in all directions.

There was no living person within a hundred miles.

Within a thousand miles, there was no living person.

Within a radius of ten thousand miles, there is no living person.

Only monsters. Tens of thousands of monsters of all ranks, from E to S, are densely packed in every corner of this wasteland. They lurk beneath piles of bones, hide in the depths of mist, and conceal themselves in the dark red soil. They are waiting. Waiting for prey to step into their territory.

Jiang Chen withdrew his divine sense and stepped forward.

He hadn't walked a hundred steps when the dark red soil beneath his feet cracked open. A giant insect, its body covered in a dark purple carapace and the size of a truck, burst forth from the ground, its open mandibles strong enough to slice a bus in half. Corrosive mucus dripped from its mouthparts, corroding the dark red soil and creating puddles that emitted white smoke.

S-rank monster, Abyss Digging Worm.

Jiang Chen didn't even stop. A flash of dark red flame flickered on the blade of the Primordial Sword. A thin, hair-like streak of dark red light shot from the blade, piercing the head of the Abyss Burrowing Worm. The light penetrated its carapace, flesh, and bones too fast for the naked eye to follow. The worm's body froze in mid-air for a moment, then began to burn from the inside out. Dark red flames ignited simultaneously in every cell within its body, reducing it to ashes within three breaths. The ashes were scattered by the wind, mingling with the grayish-white mist over the wasteland and disappearing from sight.

Jiang Chen continued walking forward.

His boots pounded on the dark red soil with a dull thud, like stepping on rotting matter. The seven-colored light of the Primordial Sword swirled around him, keeping the approaching demons a hundred paces away. The lower-level demons crumbled from their edges under the seven-colored light; the higher-level demons instinctively sensed the danger and kept their distance.

He walked for about an hour. At the edge of the wasteland, a black city wall appeared.

The city wall, about a hundred feet high, was constructed entirely of an unknown black stone, its surface covered with a thick layer of dark red scabs. Embedded in the wall were countless iron spikes, each spike piercing a skeleton—human, demonic, and various other bizarre and deformed creatures. The skeletons swayed gently in the wind, producing a delicate, chiming sound.

At the top of the city wall stood a row of dark figures.

They were humanoid, but three times the size of a normal human. Their skin was dark purple and hairless, with curved horns on their heads and dark red flames burning in their eye sockets. They were covered in rough armor made of animal hides and wielded huge battle axes forged from abyssal black iron.

Demon Guards.

Jiang Chen stood at the foot of the city wall, looked up at the dark figures standing on the hundred-foot-high wall, at the dark red flames burning in their eye sockets, and at the blood-stained battle axes in their hands. His expression remained unchanged.

The guards on the city wall also saw him. The demon guard at the very front lowered his head, and dark red flames flickered in his eye sockets. He opened his mouth and let out a hoarse, beast-like roar.

"Humans—!"

The roar echoed across the grey sky, carrying far and wide. The guards on the city wall simultaneously raised their battle axes, dark red flames erupting from their eye sockets, illuminating the entire wall as if it were daytime.

Jiang Chen raised his right hand, and the Primordial Sword appeared in his palm. Seven-colored light flowed along the blade, suppressing the dark red flames.

He did not draw his sword. He simply strode forward toward the city wall.