Chapter 849: Demon God!

"Huuu..." On the second floor of the Jiuhua City shop, Boss Fang felt the "qi" within his body. Having trained in the cultivation room for an excruciatingly long time, he had only barely managed to reach the threshold of the ninth realm from the eighth realm.

But now, the essence, energy, and spirit transformed from those Flat Peaches surged through his veins, continuously strengthening his physical body and the incomparably pure "qi" inside him. Fang Qi’s cultivation was undergoing a monumental transformation!

...

At this very moment, Jiang Xiaoyue had only just come downstairs.

In the lounge area of the shop, disciples from various academies across the Dajin Nation, including Lingyun Academy and Shengjing Academy, had gathered together.

Beside them sat a group of core disciples from the Haotian Sect who, during their friendly visit, were actively discussing the cultivation progress of the various disciples.

"Hehehe... on that note, the two senior disciples of our sect possess quite remarkable cultivation. Despite their youth, they have already reached the seventh tier of the eighth realm and the ninth tier of the eighth realm, respectively." Elder Xiao Yunhe spoke with visible gratification.

"Look at that! Just look at other people's disciples!" At this, Su Tianji cast a fierce glare at her two young disciples, Fenghua and Yuexin, her beautiful eyes narrowing. "Their cultivation is nearly at the ninth realm, while you few haven't even reached the eighth. Go back and play games with everything you've got for your master, do you hear me?"

"Yes... Master...!" The two lowered their heads in utter dejection.

"However, if we are talking about cultivation..." Su Tianji pointed toward Nalan Mingxue, who was sitting nearby, and said, "It still has to be our little Nalan. She is the benchmark of our Dajin Nation's Immortal Martial Association. She is only in her early twenties, yet her cultivation has already broken through to the eighth realm!"

"In her early twenties...!?"

"The eighth realm!?"

The disciples of the Haotian Sect stared at Nalan Mingxue with absolute astonishment: "Incredible...!"

"Ah... Xiaoyue is here! Xiaoyue is here!" Just as the crowd was marvelling, they noticed her arrival.

Su Tianji immediately pulled Jiang Xiaoyue over, speaking with earnest affection: "Xiaoyue, we haven't seen each other in so long. What is your cultivation level now? Has it gone up? Look at your Sister Nalan, she has already broken through to the eighth realm!"

"Really!?" Jiang Xiaoyue said with a hint of inner conflict, "How is everyone’s cultivation rising so fast... I..."

"Oh, have you not reached the eighth realm yet..." The crowd quickly offered words of comfort, "Actually, that's already quite good..."

"Yes, yes, at such a young age, it's actually..."

"Burp—!" Suddenly, a loud burp escaped her lips, and all at once, the aura around her body erupted in a violent surge. "Huh!?"

"I..." Jiang Xiaoyue said, half-believing it herself, "seem to have reached the ninth realm?"

"What—!?"

...

Although the games, movies, and television series in the shop offered the benefit of raising one's cultivation...

The greater the talent, the faster the cultivation—this rule held true here as well. It was just that the talent spoken of in this shop differed from conventional talent; it referred to one's aptitude for playing these games.

Of course, putting gaming talent aside, if a person possessed exceptional innate cultivation talent, or happened to encounter a specific technique perfectly suited to them (such as the Ten Directions Invincible cultivated by Liang Shi), and then practiced diligently in their spare time, their cultivation would still advance by leaps and bounds even if their gaming talent was somewhat lacking.

For those with a dedicated heart, choosing either path would suffice.

And if someone possessed both, their cultivation speed would naturally yield twice the result with half the effort.

Nalan Mingxue belonged to the latter category, which was why her cultivation, already far superior to her peers due to her immense natural talent, remained noticeably ahead.

But...

"How is this brat's talent so ridiculously good...!? She wouldn't even lose to those from the East Continent?" Boss Fang had also just finished adjusting his breathing and, coming downstairs, could not help but mutter to himself.

On second thought, it made sense. After all, these veteran players had been playing games and watching shows in the shop for so long; their foundations were incredibly deep. In contrast, new players like those from the East Continent had relatively shallow roots.

If a talented disciple like Yu Yin, the senior disciple of the Haotian Sect, had been brought in when the shop first opened, they would likely be well past the ninth realm by now.

And now... whether it was the various abilities learned from the experts in League of Legends earlier, or the later lectures by Patriarch Subhuti, these veteran players clearly possessed a much deeper understanding.

One had to remember that Patriarch Subhuti had only taught Sun Wukong for seven years.

These people were not born from the essence of heaven and earth like Sun Wukong, but under the premise of having such a profound understanding, their growth would not be too slow either.

...

Over the past few days, Boss Fang had been explaining the opening episodes of Journey to the West while simultaneously progressing the "King Training Class" task assigned by the system.

However, as the Origin Internet Club championed the philosophy of "balancing work and play"...

"Ah..." Song Qingfeng stood up from his seat, stretching his limbs, "Let's stop watching here for today..."

"First, I'll go clear my fatigue points in Dungeon and Fighter... then I'll play League of Legends for a few hours..." Properly allocating gaming time was a healthy habit.

"Ding-ding-dong-dong..." Accompanied by a crisp chime of music, the game was quickly launched.

...

Meanwhile, at the Half City shop.

The torrential floods seemed to gradually recede as the heavy downpour came to a halt.

The rain stopped, and the city washed by the waters appeared cleansed, pristine, and fresh.

Standing at the edge of Half City, one could clearly see that from this point onward, the other half of the city had completely sunk into the sea, resembling a sheer cliff.

The seawater beneath the cliff crashed against the ink-black rocks. Looking out toward the open sea along that irregular cross-section, the deep waters revealed a profound darkness the further down they went.

A faint, ethereal melody, as if originating from a distant dream, drifted along with the sea breeze. The singing resembled the whispers of sea beasts, carrying the cadence of a completely different language.

Upon the cliff along the shoreline stood a figure clad in a dark green dress, her beautiful long hair cascading over her shoulders like ocean waves.

Two sharp fangs near her red lips betrayed her identity—a hybrid of human and demon.

She gazed into the distant Underworld Sea, beneath whose turbid waters another world seemed to lie hidden...

It was said that this amber ocean, though its origins remained unknown, was far more ancient than the cultivators of Half City, spanning at least ten thousand years.

At this moment, inside the Half City shop, a dark cloud was bragging loudly on a live stream: "What rubbish boss! Just wait another ten thousand years, and this deity guarantees he will respectfully call me granddaddy!"

Having spoken, it picked up a bottle of Cola, wrapped its mouth around the straw, and took a massive gulp: "Slurr-rp—! Ah—!"

"He has absolutely no understanding of the might of my clan!"

...

Since ancient times, the immortals and gods resided upon the eternal mountains and high heavens, while the forces opposed to them dwelt within the endless Nine Serenities.

They were known as Demon Gods, or Fiend Gods.

And this Nine Serenities did not refer to a specific location.

No one knew where it was situated... or perhaps it did not exist in the mortal realm at all.

Within the profound void, enormous skeletons, terrifying in scale, lay half-buried in the dust.

Accompanied by the roars of wandering souls, the yellow wind seemed capable of tearing human souls apart.

"The frontal battlefield has yielded no results after prolonged attacks..." Within the void, a voice spoke, low like the rumble of the earth, "I believe we should alter our strategy."

"How shall we alter it?" another voice inquired.

"Borrow a path through the human realm."

"Our clan has plotted this for a very long time... now is the opportune moment to succeed. The Sky-Swallowing Tortoise has already absorbed enough spiritual energy, only waiting for the timing to ripen..."

"...Weak humans are utterly incapable of posing any threat to us... and humans... just happen to serve as supplies for our march," that low, rumbling voice, akin to an earthquake, said, "It is an excellent plan..."

Within the endless void, an unimaginably massive shadow shifted its four limbs, slowly moving toward a certain direction.

...

And at this time... inside the Jiuhua City shop.

"So you're already getting ready to pioneer Anton?!" Song Qingfeng cast a casual glance, staring at the screen next to him where Nalan Mingxue's display revealed the image of a titanic tortoise, massive as a desolate primeval continent: Anton, the Seventh Apostle, along with the various dreadful monsters living in symbiosis beside it.

"Yeah..." Nalan Mingxue nodded. "This raid looks rather interesting. It seems like we players are actually the main force."

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PS: I'll probably post the next chapter tonight... Sorry everyone.

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