Chapter 45 Little Loach?

Gu Heng stood on the scorched earth, looking somewhat bewildered, his robes flapping loudly in the howling wind.

He then slightly closed his eyes, sensing the aura of the Laws of this world.

At this moment, the long-dormant Laws of the world finally detected this anomaly that had just entered the Realm.

Boom—a dark beam of light smashed down directly from the dark red firmament, landing upon him.

Gu Heng raised an eyebrow slightly, making no attempt to resist.

Under the washing of this Law, his cultivation barrier shattered instantly.

Within his field of vision, the pale blue panel that only he could see popped up.

[ Detected that the host has crossed the Realm barrier. Current location: Demon Realm · Outer Wasteland ]

[ World Law baptism in progress... Baptism complete. ]

[ Host cultivation Realm updated: Quasi-True Immortal → True Immortal Realm (Early Stage) ]

[ Note: As the host is in the Demon Realm, the True Immortal Realm aura has been automatically converted into Demonic Path Law fluctuations of equivalent intensity to prevent rejection by the Realm. ]

"So, I am a True Immortal now."

Gu Heng exhaled a breath of stale air and opened his eyes.

A smile tugged at the corner of his mouth; he was just about to properly experience the power of his new Realm and, while he was at it, study that heaven-reaching tower he had just refined.

Suddenly, a "beep-beep" alarm sounded from the panel.

[ Radar warning: Two powerful auras detected three thousand miles directly ahead, approaching rapidly! ]

[ Target cultivation assessment: Heavenly Immortal Realm (Early Stage) ]

[ Hostility assessment: Unknown (Extremely dangerous, host is advised to avoid) ]

The smile on Gu Heng's face faltered slightly.

"Heavenly Immortal?"

He stroked his chin, his eyes becoming somewhat helpless.

He had just ascended, and his cultivation, under the baptism of the Laws, had only just managed to break through to the True Immortal Realm.

According to the tropes of the cultivation world, above True Immortal there is Earth Immortal, and above Earth Immortal is Heavenly Immortal.

That was a gap of two whole major Realms in between.

"Sigh, I am quite emotional about this."

Gu Heng looked at the two red dots on the panel moving at an astonishing speed and sighed, "It would have been better if two Earth Immortals had come; I could have at least stretched my limbs a little. They're sending Heavenly Immortals straight away? The power scaling in this Upper Realm newbie village is a bit ridiculous, isn't it?"

Gu Heng casually put away the heaven-reaching tower.

He was a 'newbie' who had just ascended; carrying around a divine tower that could scare an Immortal Emperor into wetting himself was simply too high-profile.

After doing this, he dispersed his protective True Qi, letting the wind and sand whip against his white robes, and stood with his hands behind his back, adopting the posture of a bewildered ascender.

Whoosh! Whoosh! In just a few breaths, two black demonic rainbows streaked across the edge of the sky.

The demonic rainbows, accompanied by sonic booms, slammed into the scorched earth in front of Gu Heng like falling meteorites.

"Boom—!" The earth trembled, and rubble mixed with black soil shot into the sky.

Before the dust had settled, two waves of bloody Devilish Qi rushed toward him.

"Tsk tsk tsk, Third Brother, I told you the Realm sensing Formation here suddenly lit up. It really is a lucky fledgling."

A mocking voice came from the dust. The howling wind dispersed the dust, revealing two tall figures.

The person on the left was covered in dark red scales, had a single horn on his head, and was holding a mace.

The person on the right was as thin as a bamboo pole, eyeing Gu Heng with pure black eyes.

The Skinny Bamboo Demon Cultivator sneered, "Look at this delicate, fair-skinned getup; must be the Old Ancestor of some orthodoxy from the Lower Realm, right? Used to lording over people in the Lower Realm, so you came to our Demon Realm to play the big shot? Another one who doesn't know when to die has ascended."

Gu Heng blinked, putting on a very innocent expression.

He spread his hands, his tone sincere, "Two Seniors, I have just arrived and do not know where this place is. If I have disturbed your cultivation, I apologize. May I ask what business you have with me?"

"What business?" The One-Horned Demon Cultivator acted as if he had heard a joke, slamming his mace onto the ground.

He grinned widely, "Cut the crap! In the Lower Realm, you might be an Old Ancestor, but here, you're not even as good as a dog! Do as you're told and come with us!"

Before he had even finished speaking, the Skinny Bamboo Demon Cultivator, not giving Gu Heng a chance to react, flicked his withered finger.

"Go!" A chain with a ghostly green phosphorescence instantly crossed the ten-zhang distance, wrapping around Gu Heng's hands.

This was an 'Immortal Binding Rope' used specifically by the Demon Realm to deal with cultivators. It was designed to suppress cultivation.

However, when this Immortal Binding Rope wrapped around Gu Heng's hands, nothing happened.

Gu Heng looked down at the greenish chain on his wrists, then looked up at the two demon cultivators.

"..." Hilarious. He had no cultivation at all, so what was it going to suppress?

Furthermore, with this thing, as long as he moved a thought, he wouldn't even need to use the heaven-reaching tower; he could shatter this broken chain into dozens of pieces with his Physical Body alone.

But he did not do so. He simply let his hands hang down, pretending to be weak as if his cultivation had been sealed.

He wanted to see what the underlying ecology of this Demon Realm was like, and what exactly these two Heavenly Immortal-level errand boys wanted to do by dragging him somewhere.

"Behave, move!" Seeing Gu Heng submit, the Skinny Bamboo Demon Cultivator snorted coldly and gave the chain a hard tug.

Gu Heng obediently followed behind the two. Along the way, the wind and sand raged.

The two demon cultivators walked in front, seemingly feeling that Gu Heng had been controlled by the Immortal Binding Rope and could not make any waves, so they chatted unscrupulously.

The One-Horned Demon Cultivator carried his mace and said casually, "Speaking of which, the location of that Realm array fluctuation just now seems to be the same Lower Realm as that guy who ascended thousands of years ago, right?"

The Skinny Bamboo Demon Cultivator glanced at the chain and sneered, "You mean the one from last time? Oh, I remember now. You mean that little loach with scales, right?"

"Yes, yes, yes, that's the loach. Damn, that guy was quite arrogant when he first came up, shouting about being the Lord of the Aquatic Race and wanting to fight us. In the end, the overseer whipped him and broke off half his horn, and he became as obedient as a dog."

The One-Horned Demon Cultivator laughed heartily, "I didn't expect that after so long, someone from that backwater Realm would finally ascend again. These idiots from the Lower Realm actually think that Ascension is for enjoying life."

Gu Heng, walking behind, paused when he heard this. He was stunned.

Thousands of years ago? The same Lower Realm? Scales? Lord of the Aquatic Race? Half a horn? With these keywords combined, the face of Prime Minister Turtle, streaming with tears, instantly appeared in Gu Heng's mind.

Was he certain that this wasn't the invincible Dragon King whom Prime Minister Turtle talked about every day, revered as a god, and for whom he had even emptied the entire foundation of the Far North Dragon Clan!?

How could the Old Dragon King who ruled the four seas have become a... little loach in the mouths of these two Heavenly Immortal demon cultivators? And to be whipped and have his horn broken by an overseer?

Gu Heng's expression became somewhat strange; he suddenly felt a trace of deep sympathy for that Old Dragon King he had never met.

Just as Gu Heng was lost in thought, the Skinny Bamboo Demon Cultivator suddenly turned his head and looked Gu Heng up and down again.

"However..." The Skinny Bamboo Demon Cultivator stroked his chin and muttered, "Look at his fair appearance, so delicate and tender, completely different from us rough men in the Demon Realm."

The One-Horned Demon Cultivator also turned his head, stared at Gu Heng's face for a long time, stroked his chin, and nodded in deep agreement, "Indeed. With this look, he might not even need to go down to mine. I suspect that the Lord in the city likes this type. If we offer this kid up, maybe we brothers can trade for a few High Grade demonic crystals."

Upon hearing "likes this type," Gu Heng's eye suddenly twitched.

He felt it necessary to interrupt the dangerous thoughts of these two guys.

"Ahem..." Gu Heng coughed, putting on an appearance of humble inquiry, and asked cautiously, "Two Seniors, may I ask what the cultivation level of the Lord you are referring to is?"

The Skinny Bamboo Demon Cultivator stopped. "Pfft—" The Skinny Bamboo Demon Cultivator chuckled disdainfully, his nose pointed to the sky, and said arrogantly, "Is the cultivation of our Lord Demon Venerable something that a Lower Realm ant like you, who just crawled out of a mud pit, is worthy of knowing?"

Gu Heng blinked and said nothing.

The One-Horned Demon Cultivator beside him scratched his head awkwardly and muttered in a low voice, "Third Brother... you seem to have already let slip that our Lord's cultivation is 'Demon Venerable' just now. Uh..."

The air was suddenly silent for three seconds. A flash of annoyance crossed the Skinny Bamboo Demon Cultivator's face.

He glared fiercely at the One-Horned Demon Cultivator, then turned to look at Gu Heng and said viciously.

"Kid, since you asked so sincerely, then I'll be merciful and tell you!"

The Skinny Bamboo Demon Cultivator extended his withered finger, gesturing in the air.

"In this Upper Realm, don't think that just because you were something in the Lower Realm, you can walk sideways here. Listen well!"

"Your newly ascended Realm is at most a True Immortal! After True Immortal, there is Earth Immortal! Next, is the Heavenly Immortal Realm of us two brothers!"

When the Skinny Bamboo Demon Cultivator said "Heavenly Immortal," he deliberately puffed out his chest, his face full of pride.

"Above Heavenly Immortal, there are Profound Immortal and Immortal King! Further up, finally, there is Immortal Venerable! Which corresponds to our Demon Realm's Lord Demon Venerable!"

"Lord Demon Venerable only needs to move his finger to crush hundreds of thousands of pieces of trash like you!"

"As for above Demon Venerable..." A flash of awe crossed the Skinny Bamboo Demon Cultivator's eyes, "That is Immortal Emperor, Quasi-Immortal Emperor, and that supreme Immortal Emperor!"

Speaking of this, the Skinny Bamboo Demon Cultivator sneered and gave the chain a hard tug.

"However, those supreme existences are things you can just dream about. That is a Realm you will never be able to touch in this life, the next life, or the next life after that!"

"What you should be praying for now is that when we get to the city, the Lord will take a fancy to your skin. Otherwise..."

"If you aren't very lucky, you might end up with the same fate as that loach from thousands of years ago!"

The fate of that loach? Gu Heng raised his eyebrows, completely interested.

He originally just wanted to go with the flow to see the situation, but now he really wanted to go and see what kind of miserable state that Old Dragon King, who was blown up to the heavens in the Lower Realm and whom Prime Minister Turtle could not forget, had ended up in here in the Demon Realm.

"Is that so? Then I really must take a good look." Gu Heng muttered in a low voice.

"What are you muttering about! Move!"

Unknowingly, a city that looked like a beast crouching in the darkness slowly appeared in Gu Heng's line of sight.

At the city gate, two demon god statues radiated evil energy. The One-Horned Demon Cultivator and the Skinny Bamboo Demon Cultivator escorted Gu Heng to the black palace inside the city.

"You, stand here, and don't go anywhere! If you dare to run, I'll break your legs!" The One-Horned Demon Cultivator warned Gu Heng viciously.

Afterward, the two tidied up their appearance, put on sycophantic expressions, and trotted into the palace to report.

Gu Heng stood outside the palace, bored, looking at the surrounding environment.

From time to time, strange-looking demon cultivators passed by on the street, and occasionally someone would cast a glance at the white-clothed youth tied up with the Immortal Binding Rope, but they only swept past indifferently.

Not long after, a deafening roar suddenly came from the palace, followed by the loud sound of porcelain shattering.

"Get out! All of you, get out!"

Accompanied by the roar, the One-Horned Demon Cultivator and the Skinny Bamboo Demon Cultivator retreated from the palace gate, scrambling and crawling.

Both of their faces were as pale as paper, and their eyes were full of terror.

"What the hell... why is the Lord so angry today?"

The Skinny Bamboo Demon Cultivator swallowed his saliva and looked around, "It seems something big has happened! On the Human Race side, a huge change has occurred!"

"What kind of change could make the Lord this scared?"

"I heard... it's that Her Majesty the Empress, who is rumored not to have made a move for several epochs, actually took action personally!"

The fear in the Skinny Bamboo Demon Cultivator's voice was unmistakable.

The One-Horned Demon Cultivator gasped, "The Empress?! That killing god who beat our Demon God Emperor into a deep slumber?! How... how could she suddenly make a move?!"

"It's not just a move! Word is, the heaven-reaching tower that Her Majesty the Empress left in the Lower Realm... was refined by someone right under her nose!"

"What?!"

Once these words were spoken, it wasn't just the One-Horned Demon Cultivator; the surrounding Demon Cultivators who were just Passing By heard it too, and were instantly frightened into stopping in their tracks.

"Refining the heaven-reaching tower? Are you crazy! That is the divine object of the Empress!"

"No wonder the adult is so irritable... The Demon Cultivators in our territory must be feeling insecure now! The Empress's fury hangs over the entire Demon Domain; who knows when a beam of sword light might come crashing down, and we'll all be turned to ash!"

"Too terrifying..."

An old Demon Cultivator trembled his beard, "Exactly what kind of unfathomable taboo existence could actually proceed to refine the Empress's heaven-reaching tower? This is simply not taking the Human Race Divine Dynasty seriously!"

The more the crowd spoke, the more afraid they became. For a time, an atmosphere of panic spread across the open space outside the palace.

Gu Heng, standing to the side, listened silently for a long time. Looking at this group of shivering Demon Cultivators, Gu Heng coughed with some embarrassment.

"Um..." Gu Heng used his hands, which were tied by the Immortal Binding Rope, to scratch his cheek, and interjected with a sincere tone, "Is there a possibility that that person... was just Passing By? He really didn't intend to cause such a big commotion?"

Gu Heng's voice sounded exceptionally abrupt amidst the crowd of Demon Cultivators, who were filled with heavy breathing and whispers. The air fell into a dead silence again.

The dozen or so Upper Realm Demon Cultivators around him, exuding thick Devilish Qi, turned their heads in unison, their gazes gathering on this Ascender who looked as fair and clean as a scholar.

After a three-second pause, "Pfft—Hahaha!" The crowd erupted into a burst of uproarious laughter.

"Oh, damn, I'm dying of laughter!" The One-Horned Demon Cultivator clutched his stomach, "What did this kid just say? Passing By? Hahahaha!"

The Skinny Bamboo Demon Cultivator also looked at Gu Heng like he was an idiot, "You bumpkin from the Lower Realm, do you even know what the heaven-reaching tower is? Do you know what the Empress is?"

A passing old Demon Cultivator pointed at Gu Heng, laughing so hard he couldn't straighten his waist, "Still Passing By? Do you really think refining a divine object is like going to the vegetable market to buy cabbage? That is a supreme treasure containing the Law of an Immortal Emperor! Without the monstrous power of a Quasi-Immortal Emperor, you would be crushed into blood mist if you got within a hundred zhang!"

"Exactly! I reckon if you, this piece of trash, really met that taboo adult who dared to refine the heaven-reaching tower, even if they just looked at you, you would be so scared that you would wet your pants, and your Divine Soul would collapse!"

The Demon Cultivators mocked without reservation. In their view, this ant from the Lower Realm who had just crawled out of the mud didn't even have the common sense of the Upper Realm, and actually dared to use such absurd remarks to speculate about a supreme existence of that level.

Gu Heng listened to the ridicule around him, but he wasn't angry. He even blinked innocently, muttering to himself, 'Should I take it out and open your eyes?'

The thought flashed by. He knew very well that if he really took out the heaven-reaching tower, this gang of Demon Cultivators would probably not wet their pants, but would directly explode on the spot from fear. He didn't want to be hunted by the whole city as a terrorist who destroyed the world on his first day in the Demon Domain.

"Alright, alright, stop laughing!" The Skinny Bamboo Demon Cultivator stopped laughing, stepped forward, and pushed Gu Heng unceremoniously, "Kid, the water in the Upper Realm is very deep. It's not something you can just talk about casually!"

The Skinny Bamboo Demon Cultivator taught in a condescending tone, "I know that in your Lower Realm, you might be a big shot in the Tribulation Transcendence Stage, and you can do whatever you want and summon wind and rain in that tiny place of yours."

"But this is the Upper Realm! This is the Demon Domain!"

"Here, your cultivation, which you are so proud of, is worth nothing. So..." The Skinny Bamboo Demon Cultivator patted Gu Heng's shoulder and exhorted earnestly, "You must keep a low profile. Put away all your arrogant and bad habits from the Lower Realm, otherwise, you won't even know how you died!"

Gu Heng nodded, "I'll try to keep a low profile!"

The One-Horned Demon Cultivator next to him rolled his eyes when he saw Gu Heng's appearance, "Old Three, why are you talking so much nonsense to this piece of trash?"

The One-Horned Demon Cultivator yanked the chain in Gu Heng's hand, "The adult is currently angry about the heaven-reaching tower and has no mood to look at such a pretty boy. Just send him to the mining area!"

"That's true." The Skinny Bamboo Demon Cultivator shrugged, "Once he gets down there and is trained by those supervisors for a few days, he will know what the real Upper Realm rules are."

The two stopped talking nonsense, flanked Gu Heng, and passed through several dark and narrow streets. As they went deeper into the corners of the city, the air became more and more damp and cold.

Finally, they stopped in front of a cave. The entrance of the cave flickered with the blue light of a Formation, like a giant mouth of the abyss, constantly swallowing the surrounding light.

"Go in, kid!" The One-Horned Demon Cultivator walked to the edge of the Formation and pushed Gu Heng into the blue light screen, "Good luck, don't die too fast!"

Accompanied by the sneer of the Skinny Bamboo Demon Cultivator, the Formation light flared up, and Gu Heng felt a blur before his eyes.

He was teleported to an extremely vast underground space. There was no sky here, only a black rock ceiling tens of thousands of feet above his head. Some night pearls emitting green light were embedded in the rock ceiling, barely illuminating this place that looked like purgatory.

The air was filled with strong Devilish Qi. Gu Heng squinted slightly. Upon entering, he finally discovered what this place was for. It turned out to be mining. And what they were mining was the Demon Crystal unique to the Demon Domain.

Looking around, in this huge underground mining area, there were hundreds of thousands of laborers distributed. These people were ragged, covered in dust and blood. Every one of them wore shackles that emitted fluctuations of Law on their necks and ankles, and their mining picks were waving mechanically.

"Clang! Clang! Clang!" The sound of mining picks chiseling rocks formed a dull echo in the mine.

Gu Heng even felt some exceptionally pure spiritual power fluctuations in the crowd. This was the aura belonging to the Ascenders of the Lower Realm. In the Lower Realm, they might be Grandmasters who founded sects, or Saintesses and Prodigies respected by thousands, but after ascending to this so-called Upper Realm, their only value was to become the cheapest consumables in this dark mine.

Just as Gu Heng was looking around, suddenly, in a mine tunnel not far away, there was a dispute. Accompanied by it, there was also the crisp sound of a whip.

"Slap!" "Slacking off again?! Old thing, how many times is this for you today?!" An angry curse exploded in the mining area.

Gu Heng looked in the direction of the sound. He saw a Demon Race supervisor waving a bone whip of demon flames at the edge of the mine tunnel. The bone whip lashed on the back of a hunched figure, instantly tearing the person's ragged clothes.

"Ugh ah..." The hunched figure was whipped to the ground, letting out a suppressed groan. But he didn't resist, just struggling to protect his head with both hands, pleading in a hoarse voice.

"Adult... Adult, please calm down..." "The old one... The old one did not slack off... I just... I just wanted to drink some water..."

The person pointed tremblingly at the puddle of turbid muddy water nearby, his voice full of endless bitterness, "Three thousand years..." "The old one has been knocking stones in this dark place for three thousand years... can't I even... even drink a sip of water?"

"Drink what drink!" The supervisor didn't listen to the explanation at all, his eyes full of pleasure. He raised his combat boots and kicked the person hard in the chest.

"Bang!" The hunched figure rolled several times on the ground, hitting the Ore.

"After entering the Blood-Vein Mine, you are just a cheap life! If you don't finish today's quota, you still want to drink water?!"

The supervisor stepped forward and raised the bone whip again, "Hurry up and get to work! If you dare to slack off again, I'll deduct half a year's wages and break your remaining bones!"

"Slap! Slap!" Two more consecutive ruthless lashes. The surrounding laborers didn't dare to stop the movements in their hands, just looking at this scene with numb eyes. No one dared to step forward to stop it. At the bottom of the Demon Domain, sympathy is the most fatal thing.

Gu Heng stood not far away, watching the figure curled up on the ground quietly. At first, he didn't pay much attention. After all, in this kind of place, more people die every day than leaves fall outside.

However, when the hunched figure rolled on the ground, Gu Heng's figure froze. He saw the person's appearance clearly. That was an extremely old humanoid creature.

On top of his head, there should have been proud horns, but at this moment, only two broken stumps remained. Scales covered his exposed arms and neck. But those scales had long been dull, and in many places, they had even been peeled off.

The most striking thing was the tail dragging on the ground behind him, covered in mine slag. That was a Dragon tail. Even though it looked like a rag bag now, even though it had been tortured to be lifeless, Gu Heng still recognized that unique Bloodline aura at a glance.

In Gu Heng's mind, the conversation that the two Demon Cultivators had mocked on the road flashed instantly, "The last one who ascended... the little mud loach with scales." "Yelling that he is the master of the water race..." "Had half of his horns whipped off by the supervisor..."

Gu Heng took a deep breath. In his mind, the Prime Minister Turtle from the Lower Realm, who carried a turtle shell, was always submissive to him, but when mentioning his own Dragon King, his eyes would shine and he would proudly straighten his back, appeared involuntarily.

In Prime Minister Turtle's description, that was an unparalleled king. Ruling the four seas, freezing ten thousand miles, in order to pursue the supreme Dao, he resolutely abandoned the comfort of the Lower Realm, domineeringly ascended, just to create the glory of the Far North Dragon Clan again in the Upper Realm.

But what about reality? The reality is that this His Majesty the Dragon King, who carried the hope and pride of the entire Far North Dragon Clan, was trampled upon by a low-level Demon Race supervisor like an old dog in this dark Demon Domain mine. In order to drink a sip of turbid muddy water, he was whipped until his skin was torn.

Three thousand years. A full three thousand years of humiliation had forcibly smoothed out the edges of a proud True Dragon and turned him into a "little mud loach" begging for mercy. This is the Upper Realm. This is the so-called Ascension.

Gu Heng's eyes became exceptionally calm at this moment. "Slap!" The supervisor raised the whip again, aiming at the remaining half of the old man's broken horn, preparing to give this old thing who didn't understand the rules a lesson he would never forget.

However, the whip stopped suddenly in mid-air. The supervisor was stunned for a moment. He pulled hard, but found that the other end of the bone whip did not move at all. He turned his head in astonishment. He saw a white figure, whose hands were still tied by the Immortal Binding Rope, appeared beside him at some point.