Enduring humiliation for three years, seizing the elixir, the treasure, and the holy maiden.

Within the small world of the demon race, there are mountains and rivers of their own.

Su Chen had once been amazed by the exquisite craftsmanship of this small world.

To be honest, the old demon king had a long private conversation with Su Chen back then.

That day, Su Chen was only focused on getting away as soon as possible to go to Tian Shu Star City to find Master Hong Fu.

Naturally, I didn't ask too many details.

Su Chen finally realized what was happening.

The demon race's little world is not bad either.

With mountains and water, it has a certain spiritual energy...

In fact, whether it's the Xuanhuang Continent, the Black Mountain Continent, or even the Qingzhou Continent...

The spiritual energy here is incomparable to that of the upper realm.

Especially back then, Master Li Changfeng was trying to reshape a physical body.

The Three Continents Grand Array was set up, and the spiritual energy from the source of the spiritual veins was almost fully absorbed.

Since then, the spiritual energy in the lower realm has become even thinner.

It will probably take some years to recover.

Su Chen scanned the area with his Nascent Soul stage divine sense...

The royal court, outside the city, in a hazy, forest of beasts, stretches all the way to the horizon...

"What did Senior Su see?"

Yue Li stepped onto the stone steps and stood beside Su Chen.

Just a few days after her reinstatement, the demon princess changed into a dark blue dress.

It has a unique charm.

"How has the clan's spiritual vein been these past few years?"

"It gets thinner every year."

Yue Li stood beside Su Chen, looking up at the tattered sky.

"To progress from the Golden Core stage to the Nascent Soul stage, less than one in ten will succeed."

"For a Nascent Soul cultivator to even touch the threshold of the Deity Transformation realm is even more difficult."

"When Father was alive, we could use the spirit crystals from the royal treasury to make up for it."

"In recent years, the stock has also run dry."

Su Chen hummed in agreement.

How could the demon race possibly know about the affairs of the outside world?

Therefore, the spiritual energy from the outside world is not very strong.

However, the old demon king had a long-term vision back then.

It's not because of anything else.

When Su Chen came here that day, he was only at the Nascent Soul stage.

Naturally, no one could see the secret here.

Now, with his combined Qi cultivation, his divine sense has seen through this world.

It was originally created by some ancient, powerful being.

But I'm afraid it won't be another thousand years.

This little world is about to collapse completely.

Now that I wish to settle this karmic debt, I must do so before returning to the upper realm.

"This small world was originally nourished by the spiritual veins of the human realm."

Su Chen withdrew his divine sense and pointed to the northwest.

"The great war between humans and demons a hundred years ago disrupted the spiritual veins beneath Tian Shu Star City, and this one was severed as well."

"It was cut off for a hundred years and has never grown back."

"This small world can't get any spiritual energy from outside, so it can only rely on its own reserves."

"Once we run out of our savings, the sky will fall."

Yue Li was stunned for a long time.

The reason why the fate of this small world has come to an end has been a mystery to the demon race for a hundred years.

Some say it's divine punishment, others say it's the old king's misconduct, and the new king uses this as a pretext when he usurps the throne.

No one expected that the root of the problem would lie in a war that had lasted for a century.

"If only my father had known back then..."

Yue Li stopped mid-sentence.

A faint rustling sound came from beneath the altar.

A tiny fox spirit, no bigger than the palm of a hand, was chasing a ball of fireflies when it crashed into the steps, rolled half a circle on the ground, got up, shook its head, and continued the chase.

Su Chen glanced at it, and his lips twitched.

"Senior Su."

Another person came up the stone steps.

With his grey-brown animal hide and half-white beard and hair, he was none other than the old elder who had turned against him at the banquet that day.

"This old man, Shi Pan, greets Senior Su and the princess."

After bowing deeply, Shi Pan took out a scroll of animal hide from his bosom and presented it with both hands.

"These past few days, I have taken stock of each branch of the clan, including the old, young, women, children, and even the infants who have not yet taken human form."

"If you need to settle your people, senior, you'll find this useful."

Su Chen took it and casually flipped through a couple of pages.

The handwriting was neat, and he remembered clearly which branch had how many mouths, which branch had how many nascent souls, and which branch was close to the new king.

Well done.

It's just that it's a little too beautiful.

"Elder Shi is very kind."

"No, no, I wouldn't dare."

Shi Pan lowered his head and changed the subject.

"I wonder where you plan to settle your people, senior?"

"The human realm is so vast, surely there's a place big enough to accommodate the demon race?"

Su Chen closed the booklet without replying.

That old fox, he barely turned over before he was already trying to curry favor with his new master.

Facial recognition is a pretense; the real purpose is to probe into the truth.

If the old royal lineage were to rise again, Shi Pan would not want to relinquish even a fraction of the merit he had earned by supporting the new emperor.

Shi Pan waited a few moments, and seeing that Su Chen remained silent, he dared not ask any more questions. He bowed again and retreated behind Yue Li.

As he retreated, his old eyes still glanced at Su Chen.

This human's cultivation has merged, and the Angry Scale Green Robe has recognized a master. If the demon race wants to survive, they have no choice but to cling to this powerful figure.

But they are still human.

Humans have always viewed demons much like livestock.

If the demon race is moved out and turned into domesticated spirit beasts, wouldn't the demon race be like going from one wolf's den to another tiger's mouth?

We need to keep an eye on it.

Shi Pan tucked his hands into his animal-skin sleeves, his face still bearing that respectful expression.

The little fox demon beneath the altar finally caught the ball of firefly light.

The roof of the side hall is inlaid with more than a dozen luminous pearls, one of which has a dim light that flickers on and off.

Yue Li raised her hand and flicked a wisp of demonic energy towards him.

The bead lit up briefly, then dimmed again.

Yue Li pouted, too lazy to care anymore.

Su Chen sat at the desk, with Shi Pan's animal-skin booklet spread out beside him.

"More than 41,300 people."

Su Chen dipped his fingertip in the tea and wrote a number on the table.

"More than 40,000 mouths to feed, the entire clan needs to be moved into the human world."

"It's not as simple as just opening a hole at the edge of a small space to let people out."

Yue Li knelt down opposite her, her skirt spreading out and pressing down on her knees.

"What makes it difficult?"

"There are many more difficult parts."

Su Chen drew a line next to that number.

"With so many demons going out, they need a place to stay."

"Which beautiful mountain or river in the human realm is not owned? Major sects occupy spiritual veins, minor sects occupy mountain peaks, and even rogue cultivators are scrambling for a cave dwelling."

"The land that no one wants is mostly considered unlucky."

Yue Li remained silent, waiting to hear what would happen next.

Su Chen drew another line.

"At least we can still take over territory."

"The difficult thing is dealing with people's hearts."

"On the continents of Xuanhuang and Heishan, the human and demon races have been fighting for over a hundred years. Which side hasn't suffered casualties?"

"The moment the demon race shows its face, cultivators from all over the continent will come after it."

These words were so blunt that Yue Li's face paled slightly.

Yue Li knew better than anyone how many demons died in that great battle...

The demon race, on the other hand, is naturally strong in physique and has great regenerative abilities.

Countless human cultivators died as a result.

They are definitely more numerous than the demon race.

In fact, there was no deep-seated hatred or grudge between the human and demon races.

The reason they fight to the death is mainly because they are in high positions.

For example, someone of Wang Qiushan's status incited conflict between the two clans.

Furthermore, since ancient times, humans have killed demons to obtain their elixir.

Demons can also devour the spiritual power of cultivators.

This kind of thing, let alone Su Chen being a Nascent Soul cultivator.

Even if Su Chen's cultivation is extraordinary.

It also cannot help the two races resolve their conflict.

All we need to do is our job and find a place for them to live.

...