Di Nie stared at A Shi Li Ren for a long time before asking, “Have I seen you before?”
Just this one sentence made A Shi Li Ren very displeased.
Ordinary people would ask, “Have you seen me before?”
But Di Nie had said, “Have I seen you?” It was so domineering and so coldly arrogant.
A Shi Li Ren stared at the breathtaking face before her and shook her head. “No!”
Di Nie stared at A Shi Li Ren for a while longer. She still felt a sense of familiarity, and even a faint stirring deep within her memories.
Before her demonic transformation, A Shi Li Ren’s martial arts were slightly inferior to Zhi Yan’s, roughly on the same level as Gao Yin and Li Cheng Lian.
Converted to the cultivation levels of the Demon territories, she should have been around the middle level of the Demon Sect realm, roughly on the same level as the wife of the Black Demon Banner Lord.
Sword Venerable Bi Xiao, Grand Eunuch Gao Yin, and A Shi Li Ren were already the strongest martial artists in the Wrath Wave Kingdom, yet they were still one level below the top experts of any Demon Banner in the Rakshasa territory. They were inferior to the Black Demon Banner Lord, and even inferior to the Black Demon Banner’s Grand Elder, let alone the Lord of the Cave of Misfortune.
Moreover, although Gao Yin and Sword Venerable had very high martial cultivation, it was difficult for them to unleash energy attacks, so their combat strength was still inferior to that of a Demon Sect.
A Shi Li Ren could release energy attacks, but this was entirely because of her special bloodline talent.
In a certain sense, the Wrath Wave Kingdom should have been on the same level as the Rakshasa territory, and one level higher than the Black Demon Banner.
However, the strongest experts of the Wrath Wave Kingdom were still inferior to the strongest experts of the Black Demon Banner. Therefore, in terms of individual martial strength alone, the human kingdoms were two levels below the Demon territories.
This showed just how severe the Dragon Sacred Temple’s restrictions on martial arts in the human kingdoms were.
Now that the Blood-Coloured Stars had flashed six times and the great war between humans and demons was about to erupt, the Dragon Sacred Temple had only just begun lifting some of its restrictions on martial arts and allowing outstanding human martial artists to undergo further training.
Nearly three years ago, after A Shi Li Ren, Zhi Ning and her mother, and Fang Qing Zhuo and her mother entered the desert of the Southern Wilderness, they were discovered by patrolling warriors of the Demoness Kingdom.
Through a combination of circumstances, together with A Shi Li Ren’s extremely high talent and solid martial foundation, she not only successfully underwent demonic transformation with the resources of the Demoness Kingdom, but was also accepted as a disciple by the Demoness Queen.
After nearly three years of cultivation, A Shi Li Ren’s martial arts had advanced by leaps and bounds.
Of course, after her demonic transformation, her appearance had also changed compared with three years ago.
First, her ears had become the characteristic pointed ears of the Demon Clan, while her pupils had completely transformed into the eyes of the Demoness Clan. How should they be described?
How could the eyes of the Demoness Clan be described? Their pupils were somewhat like those of a cat, extremely deep, mysterious, and captivating.
Not only that, after her demonic transformation, A Shi Li Ren had grown by roughly an inch. She had already been very tall to begin with.
Her figure had already been exceptionally striking, and after her transformation, her physical appearance had become even more extraordinary.
The deadly Ice Bloodline that had once been a burden to her could now be controlled at will. She had become an extremely powerful ice-element expert.
According to the Demoness Queen, she was only one step away from the Demon Venerable realm and could break through at any moment.
Most importantly, she was still so young, with enormous room for future advancement.
Therefore, the Demoness Queen was now devoting all her efforts to cultivating A Shi Li Ren.
Hearing A Shi Li Ren say that she had never seen her before, Princess Di Nie was slightly puzzled. Why did this woman before her seem so familiar, and why did her heart react when she looked at her? Could it simply be because she was exceptionally beautiful and had such an extraordinary temperament?
However, she soon put all of this aside.
The Sky Fiend King said, “Di Nie, I will leave the Wing Clan to you!”
Di Nie nodded, then immediately rose into the air. She spread her magnificent wings and flew towards the Wing Clan.
The Demoness Queen’s beautiful eyes immediately lit up.
Throughout the Demon Clan of the Southern Wilderness, apart from the Wing Clan, no other race possessed wings.
If someone possessed wings but was not a member of the Wing Clan, it could only prove one thing. She possessed an ancient demon bloodline and was an ancient Demoness.
A Shi Li Ren rode a blue phoenix and caught up with Di Nie, flying towards the Wing Clan!
……
The Wing Clan lived in the westernmost part of the Southern Wilderness. Its territory was not small, covering more than one million square kilometres.
However… this land was extremely barren.
At a glance, there were cracks across the ground everywhere, bare rocky mountains, and almost no forests or lakes. Even green vegetation was scarce. Most of what could be seen were brown shrubs and some moss, while the most common plants were enormous cacti.
The most common features of this barren territory were cliffs and rocky peaks.
Hundreds or even thousands of stone mountains stood here. The lowest elevations were more than three thousand metres, while the highest exceeded ten thousand metres.
The Wing Clan’s royal city had been carved directly into a gigantic stone mountain, making it a city at an altitude of seven thousand metres. It was extremely easy to defend and extremely difficult to attack.
As soon as Princess Di Nie and A Shi Li Ren flew into the Wing Clan’s airspace, they were surrounded by several hundred Wing Clan members.
The Wing people were around 1.8 metres tall on average. They wore armour, possessed a pair of enormous wings, and had beautiful feathers.
Their wings were different from Princess Di Nie’s. Princess Di Nie’s wings were extraordinarily magnificent energy wings. They were not only used for flight, but were also extremely formidable weapons.
When the leading Wing Clan female warrior saw that it was A Shi Li Ren from the Demoness Kingdom, she immediately lowered all her guard and defence. She stepped forward and embraced her. “My beautiful little sister Li Ren, I have missed you so much. I heard that you were going into secluded cultivation for three years, but you have come out after only a year and a half. Did something happen?”
“Sister Mo Ren, I completed the Queen’s cultivation mission ahead of schedule, so I ended my secluded cultivation early,” A Shi Li Ren said. “Sister, have you been well recently?”
The Wing Clan female warrior leader said, “Not very well. Thanks to your generous support, our Wing Clan has not had much difficulty surviving. However, our King is becoming increasingly seriously injured, and our Crown Prince has completely lost his fighting spirit and become extremely dispirited. This pains me greatly.”
Li Ren said, “I was just about to visit the Wing King and His Highness the Crown Prince. By the way, this person beside me is Princess Di Nie of the Sky Fiend King!”
When the Wing Clan female warrior leader named Mo Ren heard the words “Sky Fiend Clan”, she first frowned. However, after seeing Princess Di Nie’s wings, she put aside all her hostility and bowed in greeting. “Greetings, Your Highness.”
Princess Di Nie merely acknowledged her with her gaze and did not return the greeting.
Then, under the guidance of the Wing Clan female warrior leader, A Shi Li Ren and Princess Di Nie flew into the magnificent yet ancient Wing Clan royal city.
……
The Wing Clan royal city was enormous.
It occupied more than a hundred gigantic stone mountains, and its architecture was filled with the artistic beauty of ancient times.
Exquisite, but not ornate.
Magnificent, but not extravagant.
Inside the main hall of the royal city, Li Ren and Di Nie met the Crown Prince of the Wing Clan.
He was an exceptionally handsome man, with an almost artistic quality about him. He dressed with exquisite taste, and every movement he made was extremely elegant.
But just as the Wing Clan female warrior leader had said, he was extremely dispirited and depressed, as though he was merely forcing himself to carry on, with his inner spirit already drained away.
An ordinary man seeing two peerless beauties like Li Ren and Princess Di Nie would be completely stunned, even without any improper thoughts. Staring at them would already be the mildest reaction.
Yet the Wing Clan Crown Prince merely glanced at them, showing only slight astonishment before saying, “My great friends from the Demoness Kingdom, is there anything I can do for you?”
Princess Di Nie said, “I represent the Sky Fiend King and invite the Wing Clan to join the unified front of the Demon Empire.”
The Wing Clan Crown Prince said, “The unified front of the Demon Empire? What is it for?”
Princess Di Nie said, “To unify the Southern Wilderness, establish the Demon Empire, march north to destroy the Demon Tuo Empire, and destroy the human kingdoms.”
The Wing Clan Crown Prince’s eyes lit up, then he sighed. “You are twenty years too late!”
Then he waved his hand and said, “Prepare a banquet and entertain our two distinguished guests.”
Afterwards, the Wing Clan Crown Prince personally accompanied A Shi Li Ren and Princess Di Nie at the banquet.
Princess Di Nie did not touch the food at all, while Li Ren politely drank a few cups.
The Wing Clan Crown Prince continued drinking by himself. Before long, he became completely drunk and silently shed tears!
Just as Mo Ren had said, the Crown Prince’s fighting spirit had completely collapsed. He had no interest in negotiations at all.
……
Mo Ren, the Wing Clan female warrior leader and the Crown Prince’s cousin, flew with Li Ren and Princess Di Nie above the Wing Clan royal city.
“Why has the Crown Prince become like this? Is it because of his defeat in the Northern Wilderness, or because of the division within the Wing Clan?” Li Ren asked.
Mo Ren hesitated for a moment before saying, “The woman he loved most, his fiancée, was the daughter of the False King of the Northern Wing. She surrendered to the Dragon Sacred Temple together with her people.”
The Wing Clan that had split and fled to the Southern Wilderness had its ruler known as the Southern Wing King. The one who defected to the Dragon Sacred Temple was known as the False King of the Northern Wing.
Li Ren frowned. “He became this dispirited simply because of a relationship?”
Mo Ren said, “Five years ago, his fiancée secretly passed through the Aurora Gate and came to meet him. The two eloped and lived together in hiding, eventually having a child. Their life was quite happy. But… the good times did not last. On the day his wife gave birth, our Demon King and the False King of the Northern Wing found them and forcibly separated them. His wife was taken back to the Dragon Sacred Temple, while his daughter was… burned alive!”
Upon hearing this, Li Ren’s delicate body trembled.
This… this was truly a terrible tragedy. No wonder the Wing Clan Crown Prince had completely lost his will to carry on!
“What about your Demon King?” Li Ren asked.
“He went to recover from his injuries,” Mo Ren said. “More than ten years ago, he was injured by Prince Di Sha of the Demon Tuo Empire. He has still not recovered and has to go to the Sacred Land for treatment every year. He should return the day after tomorrow. Do you want to wait?”
Princess Di Nie nodded.
The Wing Clan Crown Prince was completely incapable of handling affairs, so they could only wait for the Wing Clan Demon King to return!
In the great unification war that the Sky Fiend King was about to launch, although the Wing Clan was small in number, it held extremely important strategic significance.
Everyone knew that the Wing Clan was an elite air force. With the Wing Clan joining the unified front of the Demon Empire, it would be far more significant than simply gaining another advantage.
The Wing Clan occupied an indispensable strategic position in the Sky Fiend King’s military plans. In a certain sense, it was even more important than the Demoness Kingdom, or at least equally important.
……
There were still two days before the duel with the Black Demon Banner Lord. Lan Ling returned to the Flame Demon Tribe!
More than a month had passed. The seventy-li outermost city wall had already been completed as an earthen wall, and they had begun laying stone strips upwards.
Excluding the Rakshasa Clan prisoners, the population of the Flame Demon Tribe had exceeded two hundred and seventy thousand.
All the houses in the inner city had basically been completely built.
All the defensive fortifications had also been fully completed.
More than one hundred thousand mu of various types of farmland had been reclaimed, and the first season’s crops had already been planted.
Moreover, dozens of ponds had been dug within the territory, and various kinds of fish were already being raised artificially.
Various workshops had sprung up everywhere.
The Flame Demon Tribe’s near-human cavalry had expanded to thirty thousand, while its infantry had expanded to seventy thousand.
The extremely precious griffin cavalry had also expanded to more than four hundred.
After the wild flax had been harvested, the first batch of flax had already been planted, and even linen cloth had been woven.
Furthermore, following Lan Ling’s orders, the people of the Flame Demon Tribe had found cotton and wild silkworms. They intended to cultivate cotton on a large scale and had also begun raising wild silkworms.
In short, even without Lan Ling present, the Flame Demon Tribe continued to develop in an orderly manner and could truly be described as changing with each passing day.
More and more near-humans knew that after the chief had obtained an army of centaurs, the near-human army was temporarily unnecessary for warfare and expansion. In order not to appear useless, all the near-humans worked desperately, simply to prove to Lan Ling that they had value.
And they truly did have value.
All construction, learning, culture, and other fields in the wilderness world had to be entrusted to the near-humans, because their minds were the most intelligent.
After Lan Ling defeated Nai Shu’s million-strong army, the one hundred thousand surviving Rakshasa Clan prisoners had completely pledged their allegiance to Lan Ling and become members of the Flame Demon Tribe. They had not only removed their tails, but thirty thousand had even undergone reorganisation and become the second-line army of the Flame Demon Tribe.
Yin Ji spoke clearly, her voice crisp, as she reported the progress of the Flame Demon Tribe’s work one item at a time.
After the report was finished, the two remained silently facing each other!
Then she lowered her delicate face, and large tears fell like pearls.
Lan Ling stepped forward and gently held her in his arms.
After a while, Yin Ji raised her little face and quietly asked for a kiss.
She was a girl with a great need for emotional affection, yet she was destined not to receive enough of it and was often neglected.
However, she ultimately chose to give way rather than demand attention.
Of course, if she were completely alone, she could still live on her own.
Lan Ling kissed her deeply and held her gently.
“Will you care for me?” Yin Ji asked.
She asked whether he would care for her, rather than whether he loved her.
“I will!” Lan Ling said.
Yin Ji smiled softly.
That evening, Lan Ling slept beside Dina, whose pregnancy was already well advanced, and little Ya Ya.
Early the next morning, with the blessings of his loved ones, Lan Ling mounted a three-headed Chimera beast and flew towards Black Demon City to participate in the duel with the Black Demon Banner Lord.
A duel that would determine the fate of the Black Demon Banner and the fate of the Flame Demon Tribe!