Chapter Five: Digging Up a Demon King

Special Training, Day Twenty. Lu Huan began his own regimen, no longer worried about those students. He strapped sandbags—five hundred pounds each—to his wrists and calves, then inscribed a first-level Forbidden Star Array upon himself to impede his star energy flow, reducing his speed to a tenth of normal.

As he adapted to the changes in his body, he practiced his movement techniques: through forests, mountain streams, and sheer cliffs, his speed gradually increased, shadows flickering as he moved atop the grass.

“One hundred and fifty meters per second,” Lu Huan glanced at the data on his watch, stroked his chin, and laughed quietly. His speed now rivaled that of a newly strengthened star practitioner.

With his movement techniques nearly perfected, Lu Huan sought out wild beasts to hone his boxing skills. Punch after punch, beasts fell before him—even those nearly at the threshold of advancement could not withstand a single blow.

It was dull; he had overestimated the strength of these beasts.

Lu Huan pursed his lips, no longer bothering them. He opened his watch, compared his location to the map, confirmed his direction, and dashed eastward.

Half a day later, Lu Huan arrived at his destination—the site where, twenty-one years ago, the demonic beast squad had crossed the spatial barrier. The area, five miles in radius, was a wasteland, not a blade of grass survived.

He looked around; nothing remarkable, except for the dense demonic aura and blackened soil. Nothing else.

“Is this it?”

Lu Huan couldn’t help but complain, “I ran all this way, just to see this? Not even a remnant of a star array left. What a waste of emotion!”

He boredly snapped a photo with his watch, sent it to Xiaoyu with the caption: “The world is vast, and I must see it!”

Done! Work finished!

Lu Huan turned to leave, a shadow flickering as he crossed dozens of meters with every rise and fall.

Wait!

Suddenly, memories of the event resurfaced: after Zhang Guli perished with the demonic beast, the army arrived, cleansing Qingfeng Mountain, eradicating all star beasts and newly mutated demonic beasts. They also set up a third-level Purification Array at the dimensional collapse site—the very place the demonic beasts had descended—to purify the demonic aura.

If they had established a Purification Array, traces should remain, even if it was long destroyed. It was unlikely the army would have completely scrubbed it away; the materials needed to fully remove a third-level array were valuable, and military resources were always stretched thin. There was no reason to waste them here.

Something was off!

Lu Huan doubled back, stroking his chin, leisurely searching anew, wondering if he’d missed something.

Half an hour passed. He gave up stroking his chin—his hand was greasy now!

What is this? Bare, empty, nothing peculiar! Damn it, am I actually tricking myself?!

He stomped his foot in frustration—a disgrace!

Wait?

Curiosity struck again. He stomped the ground once more, tried stomping in different spots, then moved outside the ruins to test the ground.

The hardness was different. The ground in the ruins was unusually hard… Could the blackened soil also become harder?

Darker, harder?

Lu Huan dug with his hands, discovering the soil was all fused together, extremely solid—he couldn’t pry a chunk free even with his strength. He pulled out a dagger, infused it with star energy, stabbed it into the earth, and pried out a piece. The more he examined it, the more uneasy he felt, his brows knitting tighter.

This was a fragment of a demonic beast’s magic crystal!

Stunned, Lu Huan dug up another piece elsewhere—magic crystal! Again, elsewhere—still magic crystal!

He collapsed on the ground, dazed…

Trouble. Big trouble.

After a long moment, Lu Huan steadied himself, gritted his teeth, scraped off a bit of the black soil with his dagger, and put it in his mouth.

“Pff—”

He felt as if struck by a blunt object, spat blood, and collapsed. Demonic voices echoed in his mind—if not for his strong spirit, he might have succumbed to becoming a demon…

Since the ancestors reversed the rules and established the Ten Cities Against Demons, the northern continent had become the domain of demons, now simply called the Demon Realm.

Political center of the Demon Realm: the Immortal City, the third Demon King's residence.

The Third Demon King was entertaining an important guest—a holographic projection, data flowing across its form.

“My sincerity should be clear to you. Isn’t it time you put forth some effort as well?” The Third Demon King sipped human-made wine.

“Patience. I’ve placed your magic crystals as requested. You can use them to link to the array of old and send your avatar to Qingfeng Mountain whenever you wish. As for cooperation, I need the right moment.” The figure spoke in an electronically synthesized voice, then vanished.

After the meeting, the Third Demon King hurriedly announced his seclusion.

In a secret chamber, his soul left his body, soaring through dimensional layers. Using the magic crystal infused with his heart’s blood as a guide, he sought the dimensional rift from years ago, sending his avatar through it.

“Found it!” Joy surged in the Third Demon King’s heart; his soul and avatar followed the pull of his heart’s blood. “Here!”

In a fold of the dimensional layer, twisted ripples exhaled demonic aura—this was where the demonic realm’s collapse touched Qingfeng Mountain.

The Third Demon King poured his soul power wildly into the rift, eroded by the dimensional wall. By the time it crossed to Qingfeng Mountain, barely a thousandth remained. He linked it to the prepared magic crystals, pouring soul power into his heart’s blood. With soul power as a bridge, he forged a soul connection across dimensions between his avatar and heart’s blood.

He possessed his avatar, driving it with soul power like a rope, inching through dimensional layers, crossing spatial barriers, arriving atop the ruins of Qingfeng Mountain. The avatar, nearly transparent and drained of energy, did not dare linger, plunging directly into the black soil.

Wait, why is someone lying here? As expected, humans are unreliable—but no matter, once my avatar fuses with the heart’s blood and these magic crystals, solidifies, and regains energy, I’ll kill this one.

The Third Demon King controlled his phantom avatar, striving to absorb energy…

Lu Huan slowly awoke, his head pounding, rolling about clutching his skull before finally easing up. He tried to open his eyes; a flash of demonic light flickered and faded. Shaking his head, he recollected what had happened.

Lu Huan had no time to think—he ran.

His speed hit two hundred miles per hour, his mood was nothing but foul.

“Hmph, brat, I’ll spare you this time,” the Third Demon King grumbled, unhappy to see Lu Huan escape.

Damn, this was a huge loss. It really was magic crystal! It’ll take at least half a year to purge the demonic resonance! Some kind of plant! Some kind of plant! Some kind of plant!

“How could magic crystals be buried here?” Lu Huan cursed as he ran, exhausted, bewildered. He muttered, “The records say magic crystals are the cornerstone of arrays for the demon race. Resourceful as they are, they use their own demons as tools—when they need magic crystals, they simply slaughter demons to extract them.”

“A spread this vast must hold tens of thousands of magic crystals!” Lu Huan paused, recalling the size of the ruins, his scalp tingling. “What kind of grand array would need that many? Tens of thousands of demon magic crystals? That’s insane!”

A shadow loomed in his heart; instinctively, he sensed something terrifying at work.

He could not have guessed these magic crystals were for the Demon King’s restoration, but his intuition about the lurking horror was spot-on.

“Tch! Who am I afraid of? Just a field of magic crystals, small matter!” Lu Huan folded his arms, stroked his chin, feigning indifference.

“And speaking of magic crystals—Old Cai had a research project on them but lacked samples for testing. If I were to take these magic crystals away… Old Cai, your unfinished project, I’ll finish it for you!” The more Lu Huan thought, the more excited he became; his trembling body warmed, a bold idea blossoming unchecked.

He produced a cloth bag from somewhere, then a shovel, and raced back to the ruins. Without a word, he started digging up the black soil!

Hmm? Why has the boy returned? What’s that in his hand?

The Third Demon King’s soul watched Lu Huan, puzzled that he’d return to die, and curious about what he was holding, what he intended.

“No!” The Third Demon King’s soul cried out as he saw Lu Huan begin to dig up magic crystals.

“No! Stop! Stop! Damn it, stop now!” The Third Demon King panicked. His soul had just fused with his heart’s blood; his avatar had absorbed little energy before Lu Huan woke. Fearing disaster, he abandoned his avatar, intending to use his heart’s blood as a core and directly construct a demonic body from the magic crystals. More directly, he scattered his heart’s blood and soul into ten billion fragments, merging them into the magic crystal shards.

But with Lu Huan digging them up, how could he construct a demonic body? He was being dug up himself!

“Truly, the land is the foundation of the common folk! The ancients never lied!” Lu Huan mused, unaware that the magic crystal fragments he was excavating, in a sense, constituted the Third Demon King himself. He cheerfully thought, “Too bad there are so many impurities—when I get back, I’ll have to refine them.”

“We common folk, today is a happy day…” Lu Huan hummed as he dug.

He finished with one patch, moved to another, then another… He dug up the entire five-thousand-meter diameter field of magic crystal fragments, all stuffed into his precious bag.

...

On June 10, Star Calendar 2020, Lu Huan dug up a Demon King…