When he grew up, not to mention avenging Ma Xingkong, he couldn't even gather three Replenishing Essence Pills for cultivation.

Gradually, the thought of revenge dissipated.

He consoled himself, saying that if he became a master one day, he would definitely investigate the truth of that year.

Too many people believed that Ma Xingkong's death was not an accident.

At this moment, he looked up at the sky and smiled self-deprecatingly.

Even if he advanced to the Innate level, he was powerless to fulfill the vow of that day.

There were too many vows and goals from childhood, almost none were achieved.

Missing this one wouldn't matter.

Everyone was chatting while searching through the forest clans.

Unintentionally, they talked about the relationship between Zhou Leng and Ma Xingkong.

Rao Mingxian blinked; it was the first time he heard that Ma Xingkong was Zhou Leng's uncle. He truly didn't know before.

"You all knew?" Shen Jun asked.

"You knew Ma Xingkong too?" Jax asked.

"People of our generation, who doesn't know? He toppled the Lou Family and embarrassed the Dong Family, but unfortunately, his prominence led to being murdered."

Tu Rong's heart skipped a beat; he said, "They all say it's rumors; in reality, he died from untreated severe injuries."

Shen Jun said, "You guys joined the Demon Worship Sect late, naturally wouldn't know, I joined early. My master told me that it was orchestrated by the Lou Family and the Rao Family. Otherwise, why did the Huang Meng Sect target only the Rao Family last time in Ru City? Tong Tianxia hated the Rao Family and the Lou Family precisely because of Ma Xingkong... Uh, Rao Mingxian, sorry, I'm just repeating what my master said."

Everyone looked at Rao Mingxian, whose face turned livid.

"I'm going to ask the Rao family members." With that, Rao Mingxian turned and left, heading to where the Rao Family Demon Worshipers were.

Tu Rong hurriedly asked, "What exactly happened?"

Shen Jun said, "I don't know the specifics either, but the Lou Family suffered too much, even an heir indirectly died at Ma Xingkong's hands. Not taking revenge on Ma Xingkong wouldn't make sense."

"Is there any evidence?"

"How could there be any evidence? The people involved are long dead."

It wasn't long before Rao Mingxian returned, looking soulless.

Tu Rong asked nonchalantly, "How was it?"

Rao Mingxian was silent for a long time before slowly saying, "The elders of the Rao Family said they've heard of it, but they aren't too sure."

Jax suddenly said, "I heard that you used to have a good relationship with Zhou Leng?"

"We used to be friends." Rao Mingxian did not deny it.

Shen Jun cheekily said, "Then your Rao family really did a number on Zhou Leng. I investigated Zhou Leng before; he was poisoned by demon venom in his senior year of high school. The demon who released the poison was hired by your grandfather, which slightly involved me, but not much."

"There's such a thing, huh." Tu Rong and Jax said.

Shen Jun coughed lightly and said, "Actually, the Rao family just followed orders from above. Zhou Leng was purely unfortunate."

"From above? You seem to know a lot." Rao Mingxian asked.

"Your grandfather didn't tell you?"

"He didn't speak in detail; I can only guess."

Shen Jun said, "Since we are all on the same side, I have no reason to hide anything. It's just... that family decided to cooperate deeply with the Demon Purgatory to exchange for some particularly important cultivation resources, secretly pushing some forces into the Demon Worship Sect, expanding its influence. Your Rao Family became a sacrifice. I reckon that having you cultivate Demon Skill wasn't even your grandfather's idea; it was the Rao Patriarch's and those above. However, the result is good; look, we became friends, isn't that nice."

Jax jokingly scolded, "Stop talking, will you?"

Everyone looked at Rao Mingxian, who was pale.

Everyone knew how miserable the Rao Family had been these past years, but didn't expect there were manipulators behind the scenes.

Shen Jun shrugged and said, "What can be done about such matters? Accept fate. Anyway, I accepted it long ago. Is there any real difference between living as a human, a demon worshiper, or a demon? In Dragon Country, could we be above ten thousand people? But after joining the Demon Worship Sect, at least I reached the Innate level. When His Majesty the Celestial Calamity God destroys Blue Star, at least we will have a way to survive."

Rao Mingxian asked, "When the Lou Family sought the Rao Family to kill Ma Xingkong, did they ask... that family?"

"Isn't that obvious? Without the Zhao Family backing them, would the Lou Family dare even with ten guts? When they rooted out the plot back in the day, how many interests were involved? Every faction was paying attention to Ma Xingkong's fate. Would a single Lou Family dare to strike? On Ma Xingkong's funeral day, half of Ru City's people took to the streets to mourn; it was a grand scene. I was among them."

"So was I." Tu Rong said.

Shen Jun said, "I watched with my own eyes as Tong Tianxia, Wang Boxiong, and the others donned mourning clothes and scattered Ma Xingkong's ashes into the Longyou River."

"I was there too." Tu Rong said.

"You were there too? Then you should remember when the Lou Family mobilized forces to criticize us for blocking traffic and disturbing order, right?"

"I remember."

Shen Jun said, "At that time, I thought some people were worse than the Demon Worship sect. Now seeing that everyone turned out to be Demon Worshipers, the Rao and Lou families were just ahead by decades. I was naive."

The crowd couldn't help but laugh and cry.

Jax sighed, "Ma Xingkong was indeed a hero, even had a bit of a reputation in our Eagle Alliance."

Shen Jun said, "Ma Xingkong's reputation in our Dragon Country is about equivalent to your Flame of Burning Evil. I remember the Flame of Burning Evil self-immolated in front of the White Tower to oppose the collaboration of your Eagle Alliance high-levels with the Demon Worship Sect, right?"

"Right. Didn't die, got saved by the Hell Knight Order, then somehow reconstructed and became a powerful Hell Knight Commander. Although our proper Demon Worship Sect doesn't get along with the Hell Knight Order and Huang Meng Sect, we still respect these righteous figures."

Not far from Silver Lake Town.

Zhao He's team.

Someone reported to Zhao He, "News from the Demon Worship Sect came, this time Aiden is here firstly for the Ancient Tree Fossil and the Ancient Heart of Life, secondly, to cooperate with the Radiance of the Bright Candle to hunt Zhou Leng."

"Zhou Leng actually provoked Aiden and the Radiance of the Bright Candle? Tell me what happened."

After the subordinate finished speaking, Zhao He smiled, "This Zhou Leng is truly extraordinary. So young and already daring to participate in the counterattack. Next time you meet Zhou Leng, let him know about this."

"Won't it make Aiden angry?"

"It's a small matter. Even if I do nothing, Aiden will still be angry. As long as it doesn't delay our matters, why not lend Zhou Leng a helping hand?"

"You are right."

Elf Castle.

Zhou Leng stepped out with his sword and ascended the city wall.

After a night's rest and study, his Star Trajectory Swordsmanship had advanced further.

The battle continued.

Until sunrise, Zhou Leng took a brief rest, quietly recalling the previous battle to identify and remedy shortcomings.

Silver Lake Wind had been secretly observing Zhou Leng all along.

He pondered, "Initially, I had doubts about him. Even if he's been personally conferred by the King of Light, caution is necessary."

"Unexpectedly, he led by example, exceedingly strong, unmatched among the younger generation of elves."

"He must not die here."

"If the Tree-man reinforcements haven't arrived after another day's and night's battle, by tomorrow morning, let him lead the Prophet's Guard and leave through the secret passage."

There were naturally secret passages in the Elf Underground City, but they weren't mentioned during that first meeting.

"Perhaps he truly is the future of the elf race..."

Silver Lake Wind sighed, his aged body standing in the morning light, fearlessly gazing at the sprawling demonic creatures.

He was born here, grew up here, aged here.

He wished for nothing more than to rest here eternally, with no other desires.

Outside the city wall, a mound of earth suddenly collapsed.

Then, a large brown cocoon emerged, followed by four Tree-men and a Demon Spirit Master.

"Jiji..." Xiaoyong shouted loudly.

Even though he was hundreds of meters away, Zhou Leng heard Xiaoyong's voice on the chaotic battlefield.

Turning his head, Zhou Leng rejoiced and shouted, "Cover me!"

Zhou Leng jumped off the city wall and rushed toward his old friends.

Cyan Flame and Vigorous Root waved at Zhou Leng, only to be quickly surrounded by demonic creatures.

The nearby elves either shot their arrows or cast spells, with numerous attacks landing to Zhou Leng's sides, dispersing the demons attempting to hinder him.

Zhou Leng defeated the demons and reached his comrades, saying, "Let's go, up the city wall first."

The group charged forward, breaking through until they reached the foot of the city wall.

Vigorous Root and the others were troubled, as climbing was the Tree-men's weakest skill.

Without saying a word, Zhou Leng lifted Vigorous Root and tossed him onto the wall, repeating the process with the other three Tree-men.

Cyan Flame flew up by himself.

Finally, Zhou Leng picked up Xiaoyong, stepped on the demons, and climbed up the city wall.

Setting Xiaoyong down, Zhou Leng asked, "Why have you come?"

Vigorous Root pointed at Xiaoyong and laughed, "He said you were here. After some discussion, we decided to come and support you. He claimed there was a direct path below, but he dug in the wrong direction."

"Jiji..." Xiaoyong hurriedly defended himself.

Zhou Leng patted Xiaoyong's massive body and laughed, "With Xiaoyong here, retreating is much easier. How about the Tree-man reinforcements?"

Vigorous Root glanced around and whispered, "Blocked by the giant insect army. The Celestial Calamity Envoy is indeed formidable, having anticipated this possibility. Through the underground roots, I learned that now the entire forest tribe is at the Celestial Calamity Envoy's mercy."

Cyan Flame sighed, "After all, it's the avatar of a Divine Spirit. Even if it's just an ordinary one among the Divine Spirits, its knowledge far surpasses ours."

A Tree-man said, "He can't be that powerful, right?"

Zhou Leng said, "Let me give you an analogy. If an ordinary person lived four or five hundred years ago, spending their entire life in a village, occasionally visiting a county town, what would they know? Besides labor and living, nothing at all."

"Nowadays, an average person on Blue Star, even if their martial arts skills are mediocre, can easily access various military strategies, understand what a united front is, and realize the need for strong national organization. They can effortlessly analyze the strengths and weaknesses of the Ten Realms' tribes."

"It's not that modern people are much smarter than ancient people, but the information modern people receive is at least tens of thousands of times more."

"While this information might seem useless at first, when pushed into a corner, people will naturally apply what they've learned. If nothing else, they can offer strategies."

"The gap between the two is visibly vast."

"Now, we are facing a Divine Spirit. We don't know how many years it's been alive. The information it has received is millions or billions of times more than ours."

"It might have weaknesses, selfish desires, ambitions, and possibly all kinds of bad tempers and issues, yet it lacks only ignorance."

"It's quite likely participated in cosmic-level wars, so even a single strand of its divided spirit can strategically crush the entire Tree-man World."

"Moreover, it not only has strategy but also power, directly intimidating the giant insect's mother hive, commanding the giant insects effortlessly. How can we compete against it?"

Vigorous Root sighed, "Ultimately, we're just too weak as Tree-men. Otherwise, why doesn't it go mess with Blue Star, the Demon Spirits, or the Dwarf World?"

Cyan Flame half-joked, "Cheer up. It may not be that the Dwarf World is too strong, but rather even the Celestial Calamity God can't control those stupid Green-skinned Orcs..."

Boom!

A loud explosion interrupted Cyan Flame's words.

"Blood of Tyranny, you dare ambush us..."

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