NOVPUBXu Zimei’s gaze met with the statue’s, as if their encounter bridged the span of countless years.
The statue was a young man dressed in a black robe with a belted waist.
A faint Demonic Qi surged around him, and his long hair naturally fell behind him.
His eyes were pitch-black, radiating with demonic intent, and in his slender hands, he held a lotus flower.
The lotus had five open petals, each one lifelike as if truly blossoming.
On the young man’s belted black robe, there were a few twisted characters.
However, due to the excessive passage of time, the characters on it had long been eroded to the point of illegibility.
"Who is this?" Xu Zimei inquired, looking at Jiuyou.
"I don’t know either, presumably some great figure from the Demon Race," replied Jiuyou.
"You don’t know? Someone must know who cast this statue," Xu Zimei stated.
"Not known either. When Divine Demon City was first established, this statue of the Demon Race and the Divine Race statue to the north already existed on this land," Jiuyou answered.
"The matters of the Divine Demon Battlefield are far too ancient; we know very little."
Xu Zimei nodded, gave the statue a deep look, and then left.
...
After leaving Divine Demon City, the two headed straight to the east.
The Divine Demon Battlefield was located to the north of Divine Demon City, within a separate space.
Rather than calling it a separate space, it would be more apt to call it a small world.
This small world was vast and used to be the most supreme place in the Eternal Ancient Continent.
Unfortunately, after the disappearance of the Divine and Demon Clans, this place too gradually fell into decline.
An hour later, Xu Zimei and Jiuyou finally arrived in front of the spatial gate leading into the small world.
There were two spatial gates leading into the small world; entering through the north gate led to what was once the territory of the Divine Race.
The south gate, on the other hand, led to the territory of the Demon Race.
Since the two came in search of the Divine Race, they naturally entered through the north gate.
"Those are people from the Misty Fantasy Mansion. The other one is a disciple from Nine Dragons Manor. Divine Demon Battlefield is getting livelier," Jiuyou said with a laugh, pointing at the disciples coming and going around them.
By then, the two had already reached the front of the northern Spatial Gate.
This colossal spatial gate stood hundreds of zhang tall, with a counterclockwise vortex continuously spinning.
The gate did not have a clear administrator and was instead co-controlled by various factions.
Therefore, people were free to come and go without anyone barricading or minding the traffic.
Xu Zimei looked around; some of these people were Loose Cultivators, while others were Talented Disciples from Sect Gates here for training.
"These factions seem quite famous," Xu Zimei remarked.
Truth be told, Xu Zimei was only clear about the Southern Domain in the Eternal Ancient Continent. He had never visited the other regions, so naturally, he did not pay much heed.
"Misty Fantasy Mansion is a holy-level force, well-known in the Western Region. As for Nine Dragons Manor, although they have not produced a Divine King, it is said that their ancestor, True Man of the Nine Dragons, could stand against a Divine King, not to be underestimated," Jiuyou explained.
"You seem to know quite a lot," Xu Zimei commented.
"Of course, I have been running for my life for a hundred years, visiting various domains," Jiuyou said with a smile.
"I do know some simple things."
Xu Zimei nodded slightly, and as they talked, they both stepped into the spatial gate.
After a shift in vision, the sight before their eyes finally cleared up.
The sky was azure blue, without a sun, but it looked incredibly beautiful.
The light all around was very bright, the breeze gentle and pleasurable, and before them lay a vast and beautiful grassland.
At the end of their line of sight, the mountains disappeared into the horizon, continuous and unbroken.
"This place is rather nice, it doesn’t look like a warzone at all," Xu Zimei chuckled.
"North of the battlefield is the territory of the Divine Race, and the Divine and Demon Clans mostly fight in the central locations. 𝑛𝘰𝑣𝑝𝑢𝑏.𝘤𝑜𝘮
We are merely on the edge," Jiuyou explained.
"Where is this Divine Race stronghold you mentioned?" Xu Zimei inquired.
"There are three places, Divine Valley, Divine Temple, and Divine Shrine," Jiuyou replied.
"As you know, nowadays the Myriad Clans are filled with intense hatred for the Divine and Demon Clans, they do not allow the once dominators to rise again.
Those of us who are remnants can only hide; though we have no fixed abode, there are still some contact points.
It’s just that after such a long time, I don’t know if they are still there."
"Where shall we go first?" asked Xu Zimei.
"The Divine Shrine. It’s the closest to our current location," suggested Jiuyou.
Xu Zimei nodded his head. With Jiuyou leading the way, he felt at ease.
The Divine Demon Battlefield was very different from what he had imagined; after all, it was sunny and serene, without a shadow of war to be seen.
The two walked for half the day when the sound of a fight ahead attracted their attention.
Ahead in the distance, a few corpses lay on the ground, and two men were engaged in combat.
The clashing of swords rang out, sparks flying in all directions, accompanied by angry shouts.
"In this Divine Demon Battlefield, as there are no rules to speak of, killing and looting often occur," Jiuyou seemed quite accustomed to it.
She smiled and said, "Disciples from Sect Gates usually come in groups, only Loose Cultivators tend to wander alone."
When they saw someone approaching, the two combatants instantly stopped, looking at Xu Zimei and his companion warily.
"Carry on, I won’t get involved," Xu Zimei said with a smile and a dismissive wave.
"Esteemed brother, the man has Divine Beads on him. We can join forces to kill him, I won’t compete with you for them, I just want to avenge my friend," the swordsman pondered for a moment, then suddenly addressed Xu Zimei.
"You’re insane, if we let others get involved, neither of us will get anything," the other man exclaimed in alarm, quickly backing away.
"What are Divine Beads?" Xu Zimei turned to Jiuyou, asking curiously.
"After the corpses of the Divine Race die, over the long years with the corrosion of the world’s Spiritual Energy, they eventually condense the energy within their bodies into a bead," explained Jiuyou.
"These beads contain the residual power of the Divine Race and are very much sought after."
Xu Zimei thought for a moment, then raised his right hand, followed by a "boom" as the explosion sound crashed down. The two men didn’t have time to react and were slapped dead by his palm.
Xu Zimei retrieved several transparent beads from the pouch of one of them.
"Is this it?" he asked.
The bead was completely transparent, with some specks inside, feeling heavy in his hand.
"Does the Demon Race also have something like Demon Beads?"
"Naturally, but the Demon Race is in the Southern Domain, and we won’t encounter them here," Jiuyou said.
Jiuyou walked along, familiarizing herself with the terrain here.
After all, it had been a long time since she had returned, and finally, the two of them wandered around for the majority of the day.
By twilight, they finally reached the so-called Divine Shrine.
It was a stone stele, weathered with age, standing there for untold years.
