Chapter 116: Taking Action

In the direction he was looking, a middle-aged demon stood there, coldly observing the scene. Yet there was a hint of greed in his eyes.
If he wasn’t mistaken, this guy must be at the early stage of the divine level! Although demons were powerful, from what he had learned before, there seemed to be not many divine-level warriors among them. Yet here, in less than a day since arriving in Dark Moon City, he had already seen at least six divine-level warriors. What was going on? Rod wondered inwardly.
From what he had known before, the total number of demons was around 30,000. By proportion, there should be at least ten divine-level warriors, nearly 300 saint-level warriors, thousands or even tens of thousands of imperial-level warriors, along with tens of thousands of golden warriors. That was how the demons were structured. But now, after entering their territory firsthand, he completely rejected his previous understanding!
Not only were there more than ten divine-level warriors, but there were also far more than 300 saint-level warriors. Most importantly, the population number—30,000? By no means. Just in Dark Moon City alone, there could be at least 30,000. As for the other three towns, he didn’t know exactly how many there were, but one thing was certain: all the information he had before was completely wrong. Perhaps no one on the entire continent had realized they were wrong and had been deceived by the demons. All those talk of curses and population limits were nonsense; it wasn’t true at all!
According to Lilith, there might even be as many super-divine-level warriors in the Netherworld as there were pages in a book, showing that the demons’ strength far exceeded what people knew. Rod’s brows furrowed tightly.
In fact, Rod’s guess was entirely correct. Perhaps the demons’ population had indeed only been around 30,000 back then. After all, this was information from a thousand years ago. At that time, the demons had waged wars everywhere to establish their dark kingdom. Continuous battles caused heavy losses, and in the end, they were defeated and forced to retreat to the Source of Darkness. It wasn’t wrong to say their population dropped to its lowest point at that time. Just as Lilith said, the demons struggled greatly when they first entered the Source of Darkness.
But thousands of years of development had completely transformed the demons. They were no longer the race that had struggled upon entering the Source of Darkness. Now, within it, they could compete on equal footing with the four major families, having seen significant growth in strength. After a thousand years of reproduction, their numbers had increased considerably, and their overall strength had greatly improved.

Just as Lilith said, the strength shown on the surface is only a small part; there is even greater strength hidden within. The same is true for the continent—nominally, there are only ten powerful beings—ten god-tier warriors. But behind the scenes? Who knows how many more god-tier warriors there are, or how many have even surpassed the god tier?

With a sigh, Rod knew he would have to uncover these things little by little on his own.

Turning to look at the girl in the arena, who was being pushed back step by step by the man with purple-winged thunder eagles, Rod frowned secretly. He had always disapproved of those who used their power to bully others, especially bullying a girl. Meanwhile, the words of the demon man beside him also left Rod puzzled. Perhaps he knew something about the Colorful Crystal Glass. But one thing was certain: the rare Crystal Glass was by no means an ordinary item.

“What do you want to do? I said I won’t exchange it! Don’t force me!” Holding tightly to the Colorful Crystal Glass, cradling it against her chest for fear it would be snatched away, the girl shouted loudly. At this moment, the girl looked extremely aggrieved, her eyes filled with tears, giving her a pitiful appearance that stirred sympathy in many people. A girl just fifteen or sixteen years old being forced by a man like this—anyone would feel sympathy for her.

“Hehe, little girl, it seems you don’t intend to hand it over? Then don’t blame me for being ruthless!” Seeing the girl continuously refuse his demands, the man’s expression turned cold; he seemed impatient and ready to use force. If soft methods didn’t work, he would resort to force.

None of the dozens of onlookers stepped in to help, and some even watched with interest. This situation made Rod frown, feeling a slight discomfort. Although he had long known that within the Source of Darkness, there was no sympathy or mercy—only strength—seeing such indifference still filled him with disappointment.

The man with purple-winged thunder eagles reached out to grab the girl at high speed; he was a near-god-tier warrior. Though the girl resisted, the gap in strength was too great. Moreover, it was obvious to anyone that she had no combat experience at all, and in no time she was forced into a position where she could no longer fight back.

“Hehe, I’ll take this. I’m not unreasonable either. Here, these three magical beast cores are for you!” Saying this, the man extended his hand to hand the three magical beast cores to the girl, while his other hand reached for the Colorful Crystal Glass.

Just as everyone thought the man was about to gain an advantage at the expense of the Colorful Glass Girl, a sudden event caught them off guard. A figure swiftly darted forward, appearing before the man in an instant. With one hand, it grabbed the three magical beast cores, then struck out with a palm, sending a whooshing wind toward the man’s chest. Clearly unprepared for someone to intervene, the man with purple-winged thunder eagles was shocked and quickly abandoned his plan, leaping back. Standing firm and looking up, he saw a young man in his twenties standing in front of the girl, staring at him coldly. Filled with anger, he saw his chance ruined by someone else, and his expression darkened. “Who are you? It’s best for you not to interfere in the affairs of my Purple-Winged Thunder Eagle clan. Get lost!” “Heh, Purple-Winged Thunder Eagles? Since when have you become so arrogant? If I’m not mistaken, in the Dark Source region, you’re just vassals of the Black Phoenix clan. Since when have you started to act tyrannically under their guise?” With a cold snort, Rod spoke mockingly at the man before him. Indeed, the man standing in front of the girl was none other than Rod. After careful consideration in that critical moment, Rod decided to act. Although the Purple-Winged Thunder Eagles were powerful, according to Lilith, they were merely lackeys of the Black Phoenix clan—strong in power but of poor character, which explained why they were despised. It turned out to be true as expected. Just because others didn’t intervene didn’t mean Rod would stand by idly. Moreover, he wasn’t sure about the function of the Colorful Glass, so perhaps he could get some information from the girl. More importantly, Rod himself wanted that item; if he had the chance, he would definitely try to obtain it. Trading from the girl was better than trading from the Purple-Winged Thunder Eagle clan. “You… Good, very good! Which clan are you from? Vampires? Werewolves? Or what?” After Rod’s words, the man of the Purple-Winged Thunder Eagles laughed bitterly in anger, staring coldly at Rod and shouting fiercely. The fact that their clan was a vassal of the Black Phoenix clan had always been a source of pain for them. If possible, they would never accept such a status. The Purple-Winged Thunder Eagles had great ambitions; they always hoped to establish their own independent faction. Their strength indeed allowed them to qualify, but they had been suppressed by the Black Phoenix clan all along, forced to endure out of fear of their overwhelming power. How could they not get angry when exposed like this by an outsider?

In his view, the man before him was either a vampire or a werewolf—certainly not a member of the Four Great Families. To take on human form, members of those families needed to reach godly strength, while this man’s power was only comparable to his own, far from enough to transform. As for demons, it was even less likely; only a certain lineage of demons had such an appearance, so this definitely wasn’t one of them. Aside from these five major races, there were many vassal races within the Source of Darkness, but they all retained their original characteristics. Yet this man showed none of them at all, immediately narrowing down his identity for Rod.

Just from this, one had to admit that the man was extremely meticulous, able to analyze so much in an instant—a feat truly admirable.

“Brother, why did you come? Uuuu… He bullied me! You have to help me get revenge!” Before Rod could speak, another unexpected scene unfolded. The woman standing behind Rod suddenly stepped forward, hugged one of his arms, and began to complain pitifully.

Her underdeveloped body rubbing against his arm caused Rod to feel distracted.

Turning to look at the girl, sensing Rod’s gaze, she quickly put on a pitiful expression, looking at him as if pleading for something.

With a sigh, he thought to himself that he had been tricked again, but there was no choice but to press on. “It’s none of your business what race I am. She’s my sister—no one can bully her. This piece of colored glass belongs to me, and I won’t sell it to anyone!” Saying this, he pulled the colored glass from the girl’s hand and calmly tucked it into his arms with a slight smile.

The girl, hiding beside Rod with a pure expression, immediately changed color, staring at Rod in disbelief, yet unable to say a word for a moment! No one could have expected this man to do such a thing.

Glaring fiercely at Rod, the girl was filled with anguish but could say nothing, only enduring it while slapping his arm hard, cursing inwardly.

Taking a sharp breath, Rod thought to himself that the girl was indeed fierce. He could only force a cold smile as he stared at the man across from him—under no circumstances could he show any weakness at such a critical moment.