Chapter 857: The Demon Lord's Sinister Move

On the other side, the Yin Celestial Son and the Heavenly Emperor of Returning Ruins were still locked in a fierce battle with the Demon Lord.

Previously, the Demon Lord had fought the Buddha, and although he managed to force the Buddha to self-destruct—

—when it came to facing the Yin Celestial Son and the Heavenly Emperor of Returning Ruins two against one, it was very hard for him to win.

Let alone winning, it was difficult for him to even gain the upper hand.

After all, the current Yin Celestial Son and Heavenly Emperor of Returning Ruins were also incredibly powerful; one could say they were in no way inferior to the Buddha.

The ghostfire in the Demon Lord’s skull flickered as he spoke in a deep voice to the Yin Celestial Son and the Heavenly Emperor of Returning Ruins: “If we keep fighting like this, I’m afraid that even if we go at it for dozens or hundreds of years, we might not be able to decide a winner.”

“How about this instead: you hand the Buddha and Returning Ruins over to me, and from now on, I will never invade the Celestial Emperor and the Void.”

“You occupy the Celestial Emperor and the Void, I occupy Chaos and Returning Ruins. We’ll mind our own wells and never cross rivers.”

Hearing this, the Yin Celestial Son frowned slightly, a look of surprise flashing in his eyes.

The Demon Lord’s words meant he actually wanted to proactively seek peace and a ceasefire!

However, there are ways and means to seek peace and a ceasefire; this was definitely not it.

You, Demon Lord, really want to have your cake and eat it too!

It was clearly the Demon Lord who wanted peace, yet somehow it turned into the Yin Celestial Son and the Heavenly Emperor of Returning Ruins needing to cede territory and pay indemnities?

“Heh!” The Heavenly Emperor of Returning Ruins let out two cold laughs and said irritably, “Demon Lord, have you lost your mind?”

“The Buddha is currently in our hands, and Returning Ruins is our territory. You want a ceasefire, yet you want us to hand the person over to you and also give you the territory. Do you take us for idiots?”

The Heavenly Emperor of Returning Ruins thought to himself, even if Li Hongzhang himself were here, he wouldn’t dare sign this peace agreement of yours!

Damn it, you really think I’m Li Hongzhang, huh?

“Demon Lord, whatever you can’t get on the battlefield, you’re even less likely to get at the negotiating table.”

“You can’t even gain the upper hand fighting the two of us, so what face do you have to?” the Yin Celestial Son said, full of anger.

The Demon Lord’s demand was utterly unreasonable.

On the battlefield he didn’t hold the slightest advantage, yet his demands made it sound like he was about to beat the Yin Celestial Son and the Heavenly Emperor of Returning Ruins to death.

How did the Demon Lord even have the nerve to?

Who on earth had given him that kind of courage?

Leaving aside the fact that the Demon Lord hadn’t gained any advantage yet—

—even if the Demon Lord had already seized an absolute upper hand, the Yin Celestial Son and the Heavenly Emperor of Returning Ruins would still never agree to his terms.

Agreeing to the Demon Lord’s request might indeed bring a temporary peace.

But once the Demon Lord used the Buddha’s flesh and blood body to cultivate a Tier One Chaos Star Beast, he would definitely come back in force.

And once he came back, the Yin Celestial Son and the Heavenly Emperor of Returning Ruins might not even have the strength to fight back.

As for the Demon Lord’s promise to never invade Heaven and Earth and the Void, Lin Yuan treated it as nothing but bullshit.

For a Chaos Star Beast to become powerful, it needed as food.

Looking across the four realms of Returning Ruins, the Void, Heaven and Earth, and Chaos, only Heaven and Earth held massive amounts of flesh and blood.

The Demon Lord invading Heaven and Earth was an inevitable choice; there was no room for wishful thinking.

After being rejected by the Yin Celestial Son and the Heavenly Emperor of Returning Ruins, the ghostfire in the Demon Lord’s eye sockets burned even more violently.

“Do you really think this is all I can do?”

“If you had agreed to my terms, that would have been that. But since you refuse—once I unleash my methods, what I’ll take won’t just be Returning Ruins. Heaven and Earth and the Void—you won’t be able to keep them either.” The Demon Lord barked, fierce on the outside but weak within.

The Demon Lord tried to bluff the Yin Celestial Son and the Heavenly Emperor of Returning Ruins, but neither of them were the type to scare easily.

“Oh, Demon Lord! Demon Lord!”

“Do you even believe what you just said yourself?”

“Lying to us is one thing, but lying to yourself—that’s a bit too ruthless, isn’t it?”

“If you were really as powerful as you just claimed, why are you still wasting words with us?” the Heavenly Emperor of Returning Ruins shot back mercilessly.

This retort from the Heavenly Emperor of Returning Ruins left the Demon Lord speechless, unable to say another word.

The flames in the Demon Lord’s skull leapt wildly, as if oil had been poured on them, nearly jumping out of his eye sockets.

“Fine!”

“Since you don’t believe me, I’ll just have to show you my methods!”

“I hope you won’t regret it!” the Demon Lord said through gritted teeth.

The Yin Celestial Son and the Heavenly Emperor of Returning Ruins looked down on their enemy tactically, but took him seriously strategically.

Though they didn’t believe the Demon Lord had some trump card that could instantly reverse the tide of battle—

—now that the Demon Lord was enraged and going all out, the Yin Celestial Son and the Heavenly Emperor of Returning Ruins still had to stay on guard.

“Roar!”

“Roar! Roar!”

The Demon Lord’s skull roared madly; under his roar, the entire Void began to shake.

Below the Demon Lord’s skull, countless tentacles lashed about wildly; each sweep shattered the surrounding Void into pieces.

For a time, under the Demon Lord’s frenzied stirring, the entire Void was filled with turbulent Void currents.

The fighting was too intense, and the Void turbulence triggered by the shattered space left the Demon Lord, the Yin Celestial Son, and the Heavenly Emperor of Returning Ruins all scrambling.

Even with the strength of the three of them, if they were sucked into the Void turbulence, it would still take some effort to break free.

“Keep a close eye on him—he’s acting strange!” the Yin Celestial Son transmitted to the Heavenly Emperor of Returning Ruins.

The Heavenly Emperor of Returning Ruins nodded and replied via sound transmission, “I feel it too. He’s trying to muddy the waters and use the chance to pull something.”

The Demon Lord shifted from defense to offense, his desire to attack extremely strong; he was even using moves that would kill a thousand enemies at the cost of injuring himself fifteen hundred.

Fighting like this could never make the Demon Lord win; it would only make him lose faster.

Thus, whether it was the Yin Celestial Son or the Heavenly Emperor of Returning Ruins, both had seen through the Demon Lord’s intent.

His goal wasn’t to decide victory or defeat, but to muddy the waters so he could pull off some trick.

For the Demon Lord, it didn’t matter even if his intentions were seen through.

As long as the waters were muddied, his next moves would be easy to carry out.

In the Void, the Demon Lord’s countless tentacles were flailing about wildly.

Unnoticed, one of his tentacles quietly concealed a pitch-black door.

The Demon Lord had too many tentacles, and they were too large; as they whipped through the Void, it was actually very hard to notice if one of them suddenly had something extra.

Taking advantage of the moment when the Yin Celestial Son and the Heavenly Emperor of Returning Ruins weren’t paying attention there, the Demon Lord suddenly flicked his tentacle, hurling that pitch-black door away.

The direction in which the Demon Lord threw the door was shockingly the edge of the Void—toward the Celestial Emperor, toward Heaven and Earth.

When the Demon Lord hurled that pitch-black door toward Heaven and Earth, the Yin Celestial Son and the Heavenly Emperor of Returning Ruins noticed it as well.

“That’s the door that connects to Chaos.”

“That bastard is going to unleash a Chaos Star Beast in Heaven and Earth.”

The Yin Celestial Son and the Heavenly Emperor of Returning Ruins said in unison.

Right now, although the Chaos Star Beast hadn’t reached Tier One, Heaven and Earth likewise had no Tier One beings.

If the Chaos Star Beast were summoned into Heaven and Earth, it would absolutely be a cataclysm.

Moreover, Heaven and Earth were rich in flesh and blood; the Chaos Star Beast could kill while it ate.

If the first wave couldn’t suppress the Chaos Star Beast and the fight dragged into a war of attrition, then all races in Heaven and Earth would be in danger.