Chapter 443: The Demon Soul Appears

“What exactly happened?” Rod asked in a deep voice, staring at the two women.
“A demon soul! It’s a demon soul—it’s the Great Prince of the war faction! The demon soul has possessed that guy!” Aida rushed to explain, her words causing everyone’s expressions to change drastically.
“The Great Prince?” Everyone present was stunned. Could it really be him? He seemed to be at the peak of divine mastery—how could he possibly be possessed by a demon soul? And if he was indeed possessed, why would he dare to fight them? Did he want to die?
“The most dangerous place is the safest!” Rod said coldly, his expression grim. He somewhat admired that guy for coming up with such a tactic—clearly, he had some skills.
His words woke everyone up, allowing them to understand the purpose behind his actions. After all, the most dangerous place is indeed the safest—this saying was true. Although Water Screen City was dangerous, those demon souls must have known that the group was searching for them. Staying right under their noses was surely safer than anywhere else.
The Great Prince chose to do just that—first, he deliberately attacked, then was captured, making it seem like he wasn’t very strong. He was locked up in the prisoner camp. No one expected the demon soul to make such a move; it was a clever strategy. By doing this, Rod and the others immediately ruled out the Great Prince as the culprit—and indeed, that was the case.
If not for this sudden event, Rod and the others would never have guessed that the demon soul was the Great Prince. Unfortunately, he planned everything carefully, only to be defeated by Lucy and Aida. Who would have thought those two would come here in the middle of the night to search for the demon soul?
Seeing that the two were unharmed, Rod breathed a sigh of relief. “What happened?”
He then asked them, “Weren’t you here to visit the prisoners? How did this mess arise?”
Hearing Rod’s question, the two women felt embarrassed. After hesitating for a while, they said apologetically, “You were looking for the demon soul, and you wouldn’t let us join. With nothing to do tonight, we discussed it with Sister Aida and decided to come check on the prisoners. We also wanted to try that method to see if the demon soul might be here. We really just wanted to give it a try. If we had known the demon soul was here, we definitely wouldn’t have done this.”

It was fine at first. We had already seen the Crown Prince and never imagined he was a host for a demon soul. It was getting late, so Aida and I decided to give these people one last try before heading back. But just as we reached over there, the Crown Prince suddenly attacked us. If it weren’t for Brother Melon, who was guarding nearby, coming to help, the two of us would have…” As she spoke, Lucy’s eyes turned red, and she stopped talking, looking pitiful enough to make one feel sorry for her.

Actually, the two of them saw that everyone was troubled by the demon soul issue and thought they might as well check on the captives, so they decided to take the opportunity to do so as well. The method was simple—using the technique proposed by the Wolf King, soul inspection, by releasing their own mental energy to check if there were any abnormalities in the other person’s mental energy. Since it was said that the mental energy of a demon soul was extremely powerful, they hadn’t noticed anything at first and hadn’t even planned to check the Crown Prince. But then, suddenly, the Crown Prince changed drastically, broke free from his restraint, and rushed at them.

If Melon hadn’t arrived at the critical moment, they wouldn’t know what would have happened. Thinking about it, they were still terrified.

Hearing their story, Rod was somewhat puzzled. Could it be that the Crown Prince was really afraid of being discovered? Why attack suddenly? If he wanted to attack, wouldn’t it be better to wait until they got closer for inspection? Was there some other issue here? Rod couldn’t figure it out for now. He sighed at the situation, as there was no time to think carefully. “Alright, Lilith, take these two back and rest first. Leave this to us!” The two women were quite frightened and not suitable to stay here any longer.

Although Lucy was strong, she was still a mage. A surprise attack at close range could be fatal for a mage—she didn’t have the strength to fight back. Aida hadn’t even reached the divine level; she was only at the quasi-divine stage, so naturally, she wasn’t a match for the Crown Prince.

Meanwhile, Rod was puzzled. He knew Melon’s strength well—mid-level of the Yin Yellow realm. How could he not be able to resist the other party? But now, Melon had gone out to chase after them, so Rod couldn’t ask questions and could only hurry forward.

Behind them, Lucy and Aida obediently followed Lilith toward the city lord’s mansion, not daring to be careless anymore.

…

“How’s the situation?” After searching around, Rod and the others gathered in front of the mansion’s gate. All of them had furrowed brows, looking displeased.

“We lost them!” Melon spoke first, sounding somewhat frustrated.

“We couldn’t find them!” the Wolf King and the others said with bitter smiles.
Rod frowned, his expression grim. How could they lose track of someone they had already found? There must be some explanation, but it was the truth. The group felt frustrated at this.
“What’s their strength?” Rod asked, looking at Melon.
“Probably in the later stage of the Yin Yellow Realm!” Melon replied, clearly worried and preoccupied.
Originally, they had estimated that this guy’s strength was at most in the early or middle stage of the Yin Yellow Realm. Who would have thought he had already reached the later stage? And this was after only a little over a month of recovery. If given more time, who knows how strong he might become.
Hearing this answer, everyone present couldn’t help but gasp. The later stage of the Yin Yellow Realm? What did that even mean? It meant he was now terrifyingly strong. Among those present, no more than three could deal with him—Rod, the Wolf King, and Dolon, who was barely on par and could hold his own! Everyone else was no match for him. This exceeded their expectations.
“It seems we’ve encountered a big fish this time—probably a Demon General!” the Wolf King said solemnly after a moment, his expression grave.
“A Demon General?” Rod and the others were also shocked.
Below the Demon Gods were 360 Heavenly Demons, and within those were 36 Demon Generals—all super-powerful warriors. If these Demon Generals regained all their strength, they could reach the Xuan Yellow Realm! That meant in three years, who would be able to deal with them? It was precisely because of their immense strength that they could recover to the later stage of the Yin Yellow Realm in such a short time. The group exchanged glances—things were serious.
Putting that aside, what about the other two? Could they also be at the level of Demon Generals? That was what everyone was most worried about. If they really were Demon Generals, half a year would be enough for them to reach the Yang Xuan Realm, or even the middle or later stage of it. Then, how many could deal with them?
“It seems the ones who break through this time are all strong. Those who make it through the first barrier are usually highly capable!” Merk added. Those who could break through first when the Gate of Gods and Demons opened must surely be among the top ranks of the Heavenly Demons in terms of strength.

Even an ordinary Heavenly Demon should be able to reach the later stage of the Yang Xuan realm or even the Xuan Huang realm at its peak. You know, even an ordinary Heavenly Demon, even if it’s of lower rank, has a strength on par with the peak of the middle stage of the Yang Xuan realm.
“Hurry up and find him for me. We can’t delay any longer. He’s inside this Water Curtain City—dig through the ground if necessary to stop him from escaping. We also need to hurry up and search for the other two. I’ll head to Ice City tomorrow. If you can’t find them in a few days, just stay and guard well!” At this point, there was no need for further words. At this critical moment, Rod could only choose to go to Ice City to seek a solution from the troll tribe.
“Hmm! It’s the only option!” Dolong said with a sigh.
“Should I go with you?” The Wolf King asked hesitantly. The Netherworld wasn’t easy to enter—he knew that well. He looked at Rod with concern.
“No need. If I could get in last time, I can do it again! It might be a bit dangerous, but nothing serious will happen. Stay here and guard. That guy is extremely powerful now—only you guys can handle him. We’ll be busy these few days. If everything goes well, I’ll be back within three days!” This time, Rod wasn’t overclaiming. Last time, it was only a matter of luck; this time, he would be more cautious.
“Alright. Be careful. Don’t worry here. We won’t let that guy escape the city until you return!” The Wolf King and the others promised.
A moment later, after discussing it, they decided to strengthen the defenses outside the city, at least to prevent that guy from breaking through. At the same time, they would tighten security inside the city to avoid any problems.
In the dead of night, Water Curtain City became busy once again. This hustle continued until early morning.
At that moment, in a corner of Water Curtain City, a man stood with a cold, fierce expression. “Damn it! He was discovered. A divine essence again! Bastard! If Dex were here, we wouldn’t be in such a mess. I wonder what that guy is up to now!” he muttered after a while.
In the early morning, after arranging everything, Rod prepared to set off for Ice City. There was no time to waste—long nights could bring many worries. Of course, Lucy and Ada wanted to go with him, but Rod refused, leaving the two girls frustrated. Yet they had no choice but to obey, as Rod was on a serious mission. So they could only stay in Water Curtain City to assist in the defense and set up a thorough security network.