Chapter 52: The Periphery of the Demon Realm

The gate opened to reveal a gray, dim void—endless and bottomless, with a suffocating atmosphere pressing in on them.
This feeling reminded Su Che of the dark portal in the “Heavenly Immortal Hall” during his entrance exam. After entering, he was randomly transported somewhere, where he had subdued an outer-domain demon, eventually inheriting one-third of Lao Hei’s bloodline.
“Let’s go in.”
Yu Qing stepped forward first, followed closely by Su Che and Linglong.
As soon as they entered the gate, Su Che felt a dizzying sensation, similar to that in the dark portal of the “Heavenly Immortal Hall.” But this time, the dizziness was far more intense—perhaps because the teleportation power here was stronger, or the distance was greater…
Fortunately, those who practiced cultivation had far greater self-control than ordinary people. Their vital energy flowed silently, allowing them to remain clear-headed despite the discomfort. Soon, their vision returned to normal, and their feet touched solid ground again.
Su Che looked around and saw that this was a desolate and dark special space. The gray-black land was lifeless, with only some oddly shaped dark rocks scattered across the barren plain. The sky hung low, as if it could touch the ground at any moment, threatening to crush everything beneath it. Looking up only made things feel even more oppressive.
“This must be the doomsday land where everything was destroyed, right?” Su Che’s heart sank as he thought again of the great calamity that had destroyed his hometown and the Yan’an Kingdom. “Anyway, I’ll have to return to my old home someday. Perhaps, though it’s still part of the human world, it’s even more desolate than this Demon Sealing Realm…”
“Master, don’t worry. One day, Lao Hei will surely avenge you and tear that so-called ‘Great Calamity Creator’ to pieces…”
Lao Hei comforted Su Che for a while before cleverly changing the subject. “Master, I think this Demon Sealing Realm isn’t that mysterious. It’s probably located inside the ‘Demonic Subduing Peak’ itself.”
Su Che was intrigued. “You mean that outer ‘Demonic Subduing Peak’ is actually a high-level spatial magic artifact, just disguised as a mountain?”
“That’s likely,” replied Lao Hei. “Even before we entered, I faintly sensed that the Demonic Subduing Peak must be an artifact.”

“Well, then there can be no mistake,” Su Che thought. Lao Hei was originally the spirit vessel of the Immortal Prison Black Tower, so his ability to sense other magical artifacts should be extremely accurate. The mental communication between master and servant was as fast as lightning; after talking for so long internally, only a blink of time had passed in the outside world. It was only now that they heard Yu Qing’s soft reminder: “The extraterrestrial demons are ever-changing and omnipresent. Once we arrive here, we must be extremely cautious.” Su Che and Linglong responded with a nod each, pulling out their defensive artifacts. Su Che took out the Five Elements Ring; after infusing it with true energy, the Five Elements spirit stones embedded in it were activated, forming a cycle of elemental power that floated automatically two feet above his head, ready to create protective shields of different attributes at any time. Linglong’s defensive artifact was a colorful ribbon, casually draped over her shoulder and hanging in front of her. The ribbon emitted a faint multicolored glow, resembling an exquisite ornament that made the lively girl even more beautiful. Yu Qing, being skilled and bold, didn’t need to summon a defensive artifact for now; her spiritual sword still floated quietly beside her. “Look at that starlight.” Yu Qing pointed at a silver-white starlight in the distance. “That’s not real starlight. It’s the location where the Demon God is sealed. The further we go there, the more powerful demons we’ll encounter. So, we must not get too close; we can only train in the outer areas.” “Understood,” Su Che and Linglong nodded together. That starlight was extremely bright and was the only source of light in the Demon Sealing Realm. Before coming here, Su Che had learned from books that the Demon Sealing Realm could be divided into four areas: In the outermost layer (Zone 4), one would encounter low-level demons, with the strongest among them being equivalent to human cultivators in the later stages of Qi Cultivation. One layer further in (Zone 3), one would meet demon lords, equivalent to human cultivators at the peak of Qi Cultivation. Another layer in (Zone 2) would bring encounters with powerful demon generals, equivalent to human cultivators in the Foundation Establishment stage. In the innermost central area, it was said there were at least three terrifyingly powerful demon kings, equivalent to human Golden Core cultivators. Fortunately, these demon kings were created by the sealed Great Demon God and were essentially in a semi-sealed state, unable to leave the Demon God’s seal and could only wander around the central area. Otherwise, even someone like Yu Qing, an inner disciple, would be mercilessly devoured if they encountered a demon king-level demon. Yu Qing added, “For this training, I originally planned to challenge the demon generals in Zone 2. But with you here, we can at most go as far as Zone 3.”

Su Che could tell there was a hint of regret in his tone. It seemed that bringing himself and Linglong to the Seal of Demons was also out of necessity for him…
Linglong was always direct and asked outright, “If that’s your intention, why bring us along? Brother, that’s contradictory, isn’t it?”
Yu Qing shook his head lightly, still unwilling to explain.
Linglong was extremely clever. Based on his expression at that moment, she immediately guessed, “Could it be that this isn’t your own idea, but rather an order from my old man?”
“You little brat!” Yu Qing glared at her. “This is your own guess; it has nothing to do with me.”
By saying this, he clearly acknowledged it.
“What’s my old man up to?” Linglong murmured softly, looking at Yu Qing and then at Su Che, still unable to figure out the answer after a long time.
Su Che was also puzzled, but outwardly he remained calm. In the Immortal Prison, Lao He was shouting, “This place is great! I like the atmosphere here! Hurry, go find those demon kids! Just by smell, I can tell they’ll also be great nourishment for me!”
Lao He’s intention was clear—he planned to devour those lower-level demons to strengthen himself. Su Che wasn’t surprised by this, as he had already devoured demon souls before arriving, and who knew what he might do next—maybe even eat humans! After all, this guy could be a combination of humans, demons, and monsters, likely unafraid of any kind of food.
Yu Qing led the way, and the three slowly entered the fourth zone on the outermost edge of the Seal of Demons. After walking just a hundred feet, they encountered a problem.
Whoosh!
A large mass of mist suddenly rose not far away, like a sandstorm on the ground. In the blink of an eye, the mist split into dozens of translucent gray gases that rushed toward them quickly.
No one needed to explain—Su Che recognized that these were lower-level demons that had detected human scent and came looking for them.
“Wahaha! Someone’s here!”
“Fresh souls, perfect bodies! Now I have something to play with again.”
“There’s also a female disciple—great! Just what I want. I love torturing women! Gagagagaga! I’ll take over her body and torture her soul, while you all torment her flesh…”
Dozens of demons roared and howled, creating a chaotic and shrill noise.
“Looking for death!”
After all, Linglong was a girl and couldn’t stand their obscene words. Before those demons could get close, she raised her hand and unleashed a dazzling burst of silver light.
Swish!

Silver light sparkled everywhere, looking quite beautiful—but also extremely dangerous. The few Demons at the forefront couldn’t dodge in time and were hit by the silver sparks, immediately letting out agonized screams. Their translucent, illusory bodies burst into white flames as if kerosene had been splashed with sparks and instantly ignited.
“Waaah! Hide quickly!”
“That little girl is really fierce.”
The Demons behind them hurriedly stopped and tried to avoid the silver sparks floating in the air.
“Little demons, only good for making noise,” Linglong sneered.
The few Demons she burned to death turned into faint lights and instantly drifted into the Mysterious Jade Token hanging around Linglong’s waist, becoming records of the Demons slain. This was the subtle connection between the Seal Demon Realm and the disciples of Tianxuan Sect—each Demon killed would be recorded by their identity tokens or experience certificates. Once outside, they could exchange these for corresponding sect contribution points at the Internal Affairs Hall.
Su Che had already figured it out: the so-called sect contribution points were scores given by sect leaders to their disciples. The higher the score, the stronger the disciple’s overall ability and loyalty to the sect. Such outstanding disciples were the ones a sect should focus on cultivating as successors.
At that moment, Lao He was shouting loudly in the Immortal Prison, “What a pity! They were all killed by her. Those were all my food—such a waste!”
Su Che thought to himself, “Don’t rush. Since this is the Seal Demon Realm, Demons are never in short supply. No matter how big your appetite is, you can’t consume them all. Right now, in front of Yu Qing and Linglong, we can’t act rashly. First, let’s get familiar with the environment and assess the situation. When the time is right, we’ll find an opportunity to separate from them, and then we can satisfy your hunger.”
“Okay, okay,” Lao He nodded repeatedly. “Master, we just need to be cautious. There’s no need to take risks and go deeper. If we only capture low-level Demons in the Fourth District, then this Seal Demon Realm will be like my own cafeteria! Hahaha…”
Su Che smiled faintly, responding to Lao He’s excitement, but his own thoughts weren’t as optimistic. His own cafeteria? It was more likely that it was unclear who would be the diner and who would end up as food on the chopping board.