Chapter 4 Rebirth and Transformation

The commotion on the stage finally drew the attention of the demons below. Someone shouted loudly, "Look! Another winged monster has appeared! Who is this guy? How did he sneak into the Grand Restrictive Barrier?"

The clamor beneath the high stage suddenly quieted down. The demons slackened their attacks against Zisheng and eventually came to a complete halt, staring blankly at the uninvited guest who had burst onto the stage. For this man to dare appear under such circumstances, and to be able to single-handedly force open the contracting Grand Restrictive Barrier by sheer might, was an unheard-of feat!

At the focal point of all the demons' gazes, a pair of gigantic black wings flapped slowly and powerfully. Each movement struck like a heavy sledgehammer against everyone's heart, leaving onlookers with a suffocating sense of oppression.

Under the violent compression, the walls of the barrier emitted a teeth-grunting creak. Streams of lightning-like radiance flowed ceaselessly along the outer edge of the luminous barrier sphere. Every so often, a stray bolt of electricity would slide off, blasting a massive, deep crater into the surrounding ground. The contained power within was unimaginably immense.

The Four Elders exchanged glances, reading shock in one another's eyes. After a brief moment of hesitation, they struck out simultaneously, each condensing a beam of brilliant light from their hands that shot straight toward the exterior of the barrier.

With this external assistance, the near-bursting barrier sphere slowly stabilized. However, it ceased to shrink further, as if the inward and outward forces had achieved a delicate balance, forming a bizarre and tense stalemate.

Looking at this strange man transformed from Ali, Fuyao felt not a shred of fear in her heart for some reason, but rather a profound sense of security. She raised her head to gaze up at the figure, a myriad of questions swirling within her mind, yet she could not utter a single word.

The man happened to look down at her. Completely ignoring the presence of everyone else around them, his eyes gazed at Fuyao with immense tenderness. A gentle smile touched the corners of his lips as he said, "Ayao, come over and sit by my side."

Fuyao's beautiful eyes widened, and tears welled up uncontrollably. Even as she remained unaware that she was crying, she stood up of her own accord and walked toward him without a moment's hesitation.

***

Down below, the demons watched in stunned and profound amazement: What a terrifying water-energy force field this man possessed! He was actually able to contend single-handedly against the combined power of the Four Elders and the Grand Restrictive Barrier! Could he be a supreme master from the Underworld?

What on earth was Fuyao's background? Why were so many powerhouses coming to protect her?

At that moment, Letu was driven to the verge of fury. They had not yet managed to subdue Zisheng, and now another terrifying freak had popped up out of nowhere! Could it be that Hongshuang and the others had known this would happen all along, which was why they yielded the leadership position just to lay a trap for him to fall into? Suspiciously, he swept his gaze across the Four Elders and Hongshuang. Questions churned endlessly in his chest, almost driving him to rush forward and grab them for an interrogation.

Yet, being accustomed to high office for a long time, Letu knew that anger was useless at the moment. After a brief silence, he quickly regained his calm and began pondering a countermeasure in his mind.

Suddenly, his eyes lit out with realization. Turning his gaze toward the Great Elder Yuanhao, who was still pouring energy into reinforcing the barrier, Letu asked in a deep voice, "Great Elder, who is he? What is going on here?"

With a gloomy expression, Yuanhao did not answer. Instead, his gaze swept toward Hongshuang.

The two exchanged a glance. Yuanhao accurately captured the flash of astonishment hidden beneath Hongshuang's calm exterior, causing his heart to sink instantly. After pondering over and over, he gave a slight shake of his head and said to Letu, "Do not worry! The Grand Restrictive Barrier was cast jointly by us Four Elders, and it is reinforced with three heavy seal curses. No matter who he is, he cannot come out to cause trouble."

Letu stared intently at the man inside the barrier, then cast a suspicious glance at Yuanhao—he had already witnessed the exchange of glances between the Great Elder and Hongshuang. Furthermore, after the voting incident, his trust in these so-called allies had plummeted. If the newcomer truly hailed from the Underworld, then this matter was undoubtedly extremely complicated!

This so-called election was nothing more than a conspiracy orchestrated by Hongshuang! Letu was now firmly convinced of this. However, he quickly calculated within himself: He and Chunniang had conspired to kill Tianmu and driven Fuyao to a dead end; regardless of what background the little girl possessed, the feud was already sealed. Hongshuang had pushed him to the fore merely out of fear of the Underworld's formidable strength and an unwillingness to shoulder the responsibility alone. Perhaps she also harbored the intent to cut losses and abandon a pawn if things went awry. But since he had already offended the Underworld, and if this were to spark a war between the Underworld and the demon realm, he would be implicated no matter what. Rather than cowering, he might as well throw caution to the wind and stir up massive chaos; perhaps a turning point would emerge...

As his thoughts raced like lightning, Letu realized he was riding a tiger and could not easily dismount. He quietly sent out a signal, summoning the chieftains of all his subordinate clans to return to the high stage immediately. Even so, a lingering question remained in his mind: Given how cautious Hongshuang usually was, why was she pushing so aggressively and fanning the flames regarding a conflict with the Underworld? Could she still be holding some trump card unknown to him?

***

"You... are you Ali?" Fuyao asked in a low voice after a moment of hesitation.

The man gazed deeply at Fuyao. He reached out a hand to gently stroke her long hair, the corners of his mouth curving upward slightly. A strange expression flickered in his eyes as he spoke with utmost clarity, enunciating each word: "Yes, I am Ali!"

"How could you..."

"Good child, do not worry," the man smiled faintly. "No matter what, I will make sure you leave this place safe and sound!"

The next instant, the man dropped his hands to his knees, clenching them into fists as he took a deep breath. His already towering figure suddenly grew even taller. A cluster of black mist-like vapor burst from the dark bracelet on his wrist, wrapping around his lower body in an instant. Right after, he extended his wings flatly and let out a long howl toward the heavens. Aside from the Four Elders and the observing high-level demon spirits, the rest of the people gathered around the barrier were shaken by the roar and involuntarily stumbled back several steps!

Following the piercing howl, the barrier sphere encasing the man's body shrank violently, then rebounded with tenfold force. Amidst a heaven-shattering roar, dozens of massive, silver-snake-like cracks suddenly appeared across the surface of the luminous barrier, and the entire Grand Restrictive Barrier dissolved into countless transparent fragments that scattered in all directions.

The moment the barrier shattered, the water-energy force field rippling around the man immediately expanded. Ten thousand colored rays of light overflowed from the barrier, nearly blinding the surrounding demons. The Four Elders, who had been exerting their full strength to maintain the barrier, suffered heavy backlash at the exact same moment, staggering back a step in unison and coughing up a mouthful of blood.

Wherever the massive water-energy force field swept, all the demons on the high stage were violently thrown into the air. Caught off guard, only a handful of powerful high-level demons and demon spirits managed to take flight in time to evade the shockwave. The ordinary demons, however, were caught squarely in the blast and swept dozens of meters away before crashing heavily onto the ground, leaving them battered and covered in dust.

The stage and the area below instantly plunged into utter chaos.

When the demons finally recovered their vision, only six figures remained on the high stage: Fuyao, the man in black, and the Four Elders, standing at a distance and facing off without a word.

After a moment, the man in black slowly straightened his body. With half-closed eyes, he swept his gaze across the faces of the demons. His gaze was icy and piercingly cold, seeming to peer straight into the depths of a person's soul. The demons felt a sudden pang of dread; most of them instinctively wanted to lower their heads to escape that penetrating stare, only to find that their eyes seemed magnetically locked onto that gaze, completely unable to move away. For a moment, their minds reeled and cold sweat poured down their brows.

***

At that moment, Letu had also taken flight into the air above the high stage alongside the other chieftains and demon spirits. Seeing this scene, he wanted to plunge back down, but after a momentary hesitation, he stopped and shouted loudly at the top of his lungs, "Do not be afraid, everyone! He is only one man. Let us all rush up together and capture him—that will be a monumental achievement!"

Letu's words instantly re-ignited the fighting spirit of the demons. Although they had all been intimidated by the black-robed man's divine might moments before, upon second thought, they realized: That's right! No matter how formidable he is, he is just a single person. With so many of us, we could crush him to death just by swarming him! A disorderly roar erupted, and they rushed toward the high stage in groups of three or five.

Among them, Cansong, the most powerful among the chieftains of the Shichi tribe, was the most eager to perform.

Having just been subdued by the black-robed man's glare, he felt his old face had lost all honor. Eager to redeem himself in the eyes of the new Grand Chieftain, Cansong did not even wait for Letu's voice to fade before he roared fiercely, "Watch this!" He drew a blue-glowing sabre from his bosom, channeled his demon energy, and merged his body with the blade, transforming into a flying rainbow that thrust straight toward Ali.

As the demons made their move, the Four Elders immediately dispersed to the four sides of the high stage, blocking all routes of retreat. At that moment, their objective was unanimous: This man must be captured alive!

Yuanhao even shouted sternly, "By order of Grand Chieftain Letu, capture the Underworld spy! Dead or alive!"

The situation both on and off the stage was pure chaos. Yet anyone with even a shred of intelligence could easily see that the ones shouting and holstering wildly to fight the black-robed man were merely mid-tier, short-tempered hotheads. The truly powerful high-level demon spirits, chieftains, clan leaders, and elite demons all kept quietly to the sidelines, and not a single one of them actually approached the center of the high stage.

Most of the demon spirits invited by the Four Elders under the guise of an election were solitary and peace-loving figures. Seeing this spectacle, they tacitly stepped aside—neither offering assistance nor wishing to miss this rare opportunity, for watching masters fight always offered plenty of valuable insights.

As for the elite demons who had been blown airborne by the blast of the shattering barrier, some didn't even dare to land. Though they continued shouting slogans with their mouths, their bodies quietly retreated further back, as if deathly afraid of being dragged into the fray.

***

The man in black lowered his head, gazing at Fuyao with loving eyes, as if nothing in heaven and earth could compare to taking a few more glances at her. Remaining entirely unresponsive to the chaos erupting around him, his figure suddenly rippled like a mirage for a fleeting second.

A wisp of thin vapor, almost imperceptible to the naked eye, quietly spread from around the man's black-clad body, stirring up ripples in the airflow beside him. Yet, a moment later, it snapped back to normal as if nothing had happened at all.

However, the demons who were roaring and lunging toward the black-robed man at that moment sensed something unusual. They felt a gust of cool wind brush across their chests, followed instantly by a piercing chill welling up from the depths of their hearts. The blood in their veins congealed in a fraction of a second. Their muscles and bones, stripped of all moisture, turned extraordinarily brittle; within moments, they began peeling away from their torsos automatically, turning into powdery dust that vanished without a trace in the breeze before even hitting the ground.

In the blink of an eye, the stage and the area below fell back into a dead silence. Everyone was utterly dumbfounded by this bizarre and horrifying spectacle!

Chunniang turned ashen-faced with fright, almost tumbling backward from behind Letu. Fortunately, Letu reacted quickly and grabbed her, only to discover that his own palms were drenched in cold sweat.

"The Frozen Storm!" Yuanhao pronounced word by word, his eyes filled with disbelief and confusion.

"The Submerging Waters!" The remaining three Elders shouted out another name almost simultaneously: "So you are still alive!"

Shuimantian! The man in black before them was actually the blood brother of the Asura Underworld King, Shuimantian!

This low-level demon beast named Ali, who had hidden in the demon realm for decades serving merely as an obscure servant by Fuyao's side and enduring menial tasks, was actually Shuimantian, the supreme master in the Underworld reputed to be closest in strength to the Underworld Emperor himself!

Even Hongshuang's normally placid face revealed a trace of panic. Hesitating for a moment, she gritted her teeth, a resolute and vicious glint flashing in her eyes. Seemingly making up her mind, she quickly regained her composure.

***

A violent jolt struck Fuyao's heart. Pushing herself up onto her knees, she supported her trembling hands against the ground and let out a shrill, desperate scream: "Shuimantian? You are saying he is my father, Shuimantian?!"

"No! This is impossible! He cannot be my father!"

—How could a servant who usually let others order him around and whom she had never once deigned to notice possibly be her father?

—Why would he conceal his identity, endure humiliation, and lurk by her side without daring to acknowledge her?

—Why had she been so rebellious for over a decade without ever discovering this truth?!

—This was a cosmic joke!

Faced with everything before her, the sudden and shocking upheaval made Fuyao feel as though all the values she had identified with and taken pride in were collapsing in an instant. She could only shake her head frantically, refusing to accept the truth.

Listening to Fuyao's near-mad screams, Shuimantian's body trembled slightly, a trace of pain flashing in his eyes.

"That's right, Shuimantian is your father! And you are indeed nothing more than a half-breed hybrid of the Underworld and the demon realm!" Hongshuang's words shattered the final line of defense in Fuyao's heart. She cast a nearly ruthless glance at Fuyao, then shifted her gaze to Shuimantian, saying slowly, "Shuimantian, you hid in the demon realm for nearly twenty years. Just what was your purpose?"

"Purpose?" A bitter smile suddenly surfaced at the corners of Shuimantian's mouth. He reached out as if to stroke Fuyao's shoulder, but stopped midway and smiled faintly, "No matter what my purpose was, can you people truly let us leave here safely today?"

"Knowing or not knowing, what difference does it make?" Muttering to himself as if lost in thought, Shuimantian's eyes suddenly burst with a chilling, steely glint. He slowly straightened his posture and strode toward Hongshuang. Facing Shuimantian's oppressive aura, Hongshuang instinctively wanted to retreat, but she finally mustered her courage, gritted her teeth, and stood her ground, forcing herself to look nonchalant—though her increasingly pale complexion betrayed the panic in her heart.

***

"I've figured it out! It was the Rebirth and Transformation Technique!" Dingxiang, the most meticulous among the Four Elders, stared fixedly at the approaching Shuimantian and suddenly spoke up. "You used the Rebirth and Transformation Technique, said to be able to 'shed the mortal coil, wash the bones, and recast the physical body'!"

As soon as these words fell, Shuimantian's steps halted instantly. Dingxiang smiled triumphantly and continued, "I also know that twenty years ago, you became infatuated with Tianmu's daughter, Cuizhi. Defying the opposition of both the Underworld and the demon realm, you conceived Fuyao with her. Later, because Cuizhi died in difficult labor, you colluded with that traitor Tianmu to steal the Nisu Treasure, using the Rebirth and Transformation Technique to transform into a low-level beast and lurk in the demon realm, while dragging your daughter Fuyao down with you to plot the theft... Heh, heh. By desperately reversing this spell just now, you've suffered a heavy backlash, your vital energy is severely damaged, and you don't have much time left, do you?"

Hearing the phrase "don't have much time left," Shuimantian lowered his head to look at Fuyao, who was covering her face and weeping. A flash of helplessness and sorrow crossed his eyes, and he laughed heartily, "Dingxiang, why go to such painstaking lengths to fabricate charges? The mere Nisu Treasure is fought over constantly in the demon realm, yet it has never been worth Shuimian's regard!"

"Is that so? So you didn't do all this for the Nisu Treasure, but rather because you couldn't bear to part with your daughter? You stayed behind, scattered your cultivation, and turned into a low-level beast—all just to take care of her?" Jicheng, chieftain of the Chongchun tribe, suddenly chimed in.

Shuimantian glanced at Jicheng, sorrow filling his eyes without answering. He merely lowered his head and gazed deeply at Fuyao once more.

Dingxiang shot an angry glare at Jicheng, who was obviously biased toward Shuimantian and his daughter, and pressed on, "Don't beat around the bush, Shuimantian! Your nominal reason for staying in the demon realm was to look after your daughter, but in reality, you were spying on the secrets of our demon realm!"

"We were deceived by the facade you created and remained oblivious to your true identity. Even after Fuyao's heritage was exposed, we still had no idea that her Underworld father was hiding right beside her!" Dingxiang's words were cut short as Great Elder Yuanhao chimed in—his intent was glaringly obvious. The moment he spoke, he hammered away at Shuimantian's Underworld identity, using it to incite the demons' hostility.

"Yet Heaven's net is wide, and nothing escapes it!" Letu had long since recovered from his panic. Seeing that Hongshuang had halted the crowd without his consent, he felt deeply displeased. Hearing that Shuimantian's vital energy was severely depleted, he wanted to use this opportunity to flex his muscles as the newly appointed Grand Chieftain. He leapt down in front of Shuimantian and interjected, "Now that you've exposed your identity in public, do you still expect to leave this place alive?"

Seeing Letu step forward to take the lead, Hongshuang secretly rejoiced; she had no desire to provoke such a formidable enemy as Shuimantian, and with someone else stepping up to take the blame, she smiled and bowed respectfully to Letu, casually laying a trap: "The identity of the Underworld spy has now been verified. We await the Grand Chieftain's orders on how to deal with him!"

A greenish tint flashed across Letu's face. The moment he saw the smile on Hongshuang's face, he knew he was being used as a cat's paw once again. But constrained by the situation, he had no choice but to bite the bullet and shout aloud, "Underworld spies deserve to be executed by all! Brothers, follow me, let's kill them all!"

Seeing that the demons still seemed somewhat hesitant, Letu turned his head and yelled at the Four Elders, "Please, Elders, unleash your full might! Do not give him another chance to use the Frozen Storm technique!"

***

With Letu taking the lead, the momentum naturally shifted. After all, his status as the newly appointed Grand Chieftain was right there, and the elite fighters from his own tribe who were originally loyal to him finally went all out. Taking the Shichi tribe as the main force, a new wave of bloodshed was ignited once more.

Axes, swords, spears, sabers, whips, energy blasts, spider silk, venomous fangs... Almost instantly, weapons and spells raged from every direction—above, below, left, and right—sweeping toward Shuimantian like a violent storm. On the massive high stage, with Letu at the center, dozens of chieftains from various tribes launched an attack upon him in unison!

At the same time, wood-energy force fields surged into the heavens, violently compressing the water-energy force field surrounding Shuimantian. The most formidable forces came from three directions: the Four Elders, along with Baishu and Qianteng—two high-level demon spirits from the Shichi tribe who had always favored Letu—who silently joined the battle.

The Four Elders chanted a strange incantation in unison. A rustling sound suddenly rang in everyone's ears, followed by countless deep-brown vines cascading from the sky, weaving a sturdy barrier before the demons. Writhing and winding, the vines continuously absorbed the freezing mist emitted by Shuimantian, instantly neutralizing over half of the Frozen Storm's power.

Meanwhile, Baishu and Qianteng leaped into the air, one from the left and one from the right. Relying on their own defensive barriers to withstand the erosion of the water-energy field, they engaged Shuimantian in close-quarters hand-to-hand combat, relying on their exceptionally tough physical bodies.

Faced with attacks from all directions, Shuimantian's eyes once again blazed with fanatical fire. His torso stiffened, firmly shielding Fuyao and Tianmu's corpse while deploying a barrier swirling with black water mist around the two of them. Then, spreading his wings, he conjured thousands of phantoms, instantly shredding all incoming weapons and kinetic force to pieces.

However, Baishu and Qianteng had gathered their momentum long in advance, and this time they poured their full demon energy into the strike. Their arms, transformed into sturdy tree branches harder than refined gold, intersected with Shuimantian's "Thousand-Wing Shear" without sustaining the slightest damage. Breaking straight through his defenses, they struck squarely against Shuimantian's chest—the full-strength assault of these two high-level demon spirits naturally possessed extraordinary destructive might.

"Well done!"

"Kill the Underworld spy!"

Cheers erupted instantly from the stage and mid-air. Having felt thoroughly suffocated since the moment Shuimantian appeared—even the Grand Restrictive Barrier of the Four Elders couldn't contain him—the demons finally felt a surge of catharsis.

Having successfully landed their first strike, Baishu and Qianteng were naturally overjoyed. Hearing the thunderous cheers, their confidence soared. Exchanging a glance, they drove their demon energy to the maximum, turning kinetic gales into solid substance to lock down Shuimantian's body, intending to finish him off in one fell swoop. Suddenly, however, their arms tightened. Someone gripped their wrists in a tight, vice-like hold. Realizing something was amiss, the two looked up and locked eyes with Shuimantian, only to find his gaze as cold and ruthless as ancient, unmelting snow on a high mountain peak. Panic struck their hearts instantly, but it was already too late to pull their arms back!

From the iron bracelets on Shuimantian's wrists, two slender, burning metal wires suddenly snapped upward, tying themselves into a knot in mid-air and wrapping around the pair's necks with ghost-like speed. Accompanied by two fountains of blood shooting into the sky, Baishu and Qianteng—who had been full of life and murderous intent just a moment before—did not even hear the cracking sound of their own shoulder bones snapping under the opponent's grip before their heads were cleanly severed from their bodies!

In a single encounter, two high-level demon spirits of the demon race perished on the spot!

The clamorous cheers vanished in an instant, and both the stage and the area below plunged into a deathly silence. This fiercely tragic scene shocked the entire audience once more. Shuimantian had actually managed, single-handedly, to slay two profoundly powerful high-level demon spirits in one fell swoop! Including Letu—who had initially been all bark and no bite—the chieftains and elite demons halfway through their charge hurriedly reined in their magic treasures and halted their momentum. As for the smaller demons who originally planned to swarm forward and pick up easy spoils, they were scared out of their wits and scampered away like smoke, hiding among the demon crowd and peering out timidly, terrified that Shuimantian's vengeance might befall them next.

***

In reality, Shuimantian was by no means as invincible as the demons imagined. Although his strength surpassed that of Baishu and Qianteng, slaying those two high-level demon spirits amidst such a massive siege was no easy task. It was only because he had risked his life, unexpectedly using his physical body to take their full-strength blow head-on, and then utilized the power of the divine treasure "God-Shattering Ring" on his wrist, that he managed to seize a moment of enemy distraction to dispatch the two supreme masters.

Yet at this exact moment, the shocking impact of slaying two high-level demon spirits, coupled with the majestic and terrifying aura emanating from his body, was enough to deter anyone from daring to challenge him head-on.

At this moment, Shuimantian's chest had been pierced by the severed arms of Baishu and Qianteng, yet no blood flowed from the wound. His expression was calm to the point of serenity. Sweeping his gaze with cold indifference across the countless stunned faces around him, his eyes carrying a trace of self-sacrificial composure and a faint smile, he took a slow, yet unwaveringly resolute step forward, and then another... Meanwhile, the barrier enclosing Fuyao and Tianmu lifted off the ground by itself, following closely behind him like a shadow.

As Shuimantian stepped closer, the demons backed away in waves. Even the Four Elders and Hongshuang were compelled by his overwhelming presence to leap down from the high stage.

In the blink of an eye, an open space with a radius of about ten zhang was cleared. In the very center of this clearing, under the watchful gaze of the demon race's powerhouses whose faces were turned ashen, Shuimantian continued marching forward slowly, as if utterly detached from the world, as if nothing in heaven and earth could ever block his path!