(Thanks to simcitychabz for the gift.)

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“He’s planning something,” replied Ao Shen. “And it’s something major, something that will take into account the entire world. Heavenly Dao has some hint of what it is, and it approves of his actions.”

“That would explain why he was chosen as a complete Son of Era. But what roles does our demon race plays in his plan?”

“I don’t know. But it seems to require harmony between races,” continued Ao Shen.

“In that case, how do we treat the alliance?” asked the Golden Lion Chieftess. Ao Shen did not immediately answer, pondering about his race’s future.

The time spent in the Martial Hegemony World has benefitted him immensely. Upon arrival, he had to learn to hide and become quite good at it. But eventually, his identity was revealed, and he was forced to run away.

While constantly running away and surviving, Ao Shen became more powerful, cunning, calm, cautious, analytical, and ruthless. These traits allowed him to survive along with the good faith of one Emperor Lineage that shielded him without asking for anything in return. He also received countless fortunate encounters.

“So far, the alliance appears to be favorable to us. However, you have to make sure to alleviate the resentment of some of our members.”

Ao Shen knew many tribes would not accept humans’ aid. After billions of years of suffering, many clan members want nothing but revenge; they want to dominate the Myriad Emperor World and make the other races suffer the same fate.

In his early years, Ao Shen felt the same as these people. But as he grew up and learned more about the world’s truth, he understood how difficult this task was.

Only an Eternal Emperor on par with Empress Wu and the Absolute Beginning Emperor could achieve the goal of these demon races. However, there are other problems to consider. If he overthrew the human race as the protagonist of the Myriad Emperor World, the founders of the most powerful factions might intervene.

Ao Shen learned the true foundations of these sects are the people who have ascended and achieved higher realms in the upper dimension. These people would never allow the destruction of their factions or the enslavement of the human race.

Ao Shen became depressed after figuring out this truth. And a few hundred years ago, when he learned about the closure of the lower dimension, he thought his plan might work. However, his cautious nature made him analyze things thoroughly and realize he would suffer the be the one suffering consequences if he annihilated the human race.

These founders and previous Emperors would never allow him to survive in the upper dimension. And Ao Shen eliminated the possibility of hiding in the lower dimension since he wanted to continue his cultivation journey.

After mulling over the situation, Ao Shen realized that he needed to change his primary objective and not let hatred cloud his judgment. After becoming an Eternal Emperor, his goal should be to lead the demon race to prosperity and rival the other factions. He needed to take this rare opportunity of an upcoming era to ensure that the demon race dominated that era.

And after years of prosperity, the demon race can rejuvenate itself and become one of the most potent factions in this world.

“I’m worried about them, too,” commented the Black Tiger Chief. Hatred ran deep in many tribe members, and they could affect this alliance.

“I will talk and explain the situation to them,” said Ao Shen. “But if they cannot control themselves for the overall betterment of the demon race, we will eradicate them.”

“Is this necessary?”

“I’ve already explained the entire situation to all of you. So, you should understand that hatred is detrimental to our future.”

“We do understand. But you cannot expect many of us to suddenly forgive the humans.”

“I don’t expect you to. I just want you to be able to control your hatred and not let it affect the general situation,” explained Ao Shen. “Our demon race is so close to liberation. I don’t want anything to affect us–especially our own kind.”

“You’re…right. I will try to appease them,” said the Golden Lion Chieftess.

“Good. What about the cultivation technique I gave you? How are things proceeding?”

“Not very good. Our race is not very good at adapting to new things.”

Ao Shen frowned. One of the main reasons the demon race has become so weak is that humans exploited this weakness. They destroyed most of the race’s knowledge and cultivation techniques. Most demons have to rely purely on absorbing Spiritual Qi to nourish their bloodline; that’s all many people use for their cultivation. The cultivation method is so basic and rudimentary.

Emperor Bloodline Tribes can use this method to reach the Quasi-Emperor Realm. However, cultivation is extremely difficult for other tribes with lesser bloodlines.

Ao Shen knew the demon race’s inheritance was not completely gone. Tribes like Golden Lion, Black Tiger, Golden Roc, and others have some inheritance remaining. These inheritances included ways to temper bloodlines and techniques that allowed them to use their bloodline to create Domain or Blood Dharma.

Using these inheritances, years of trials and errors, and a touch of fortune, they finally had one bloodline achieve atavism, resulting in the creation of Ao Shen, an Innate Dragon. Unfortunately, these tribes are adamant about keeping their inheritance amongst themselves and don’t want to share it for the demon race’s advancement and prosperity. 

Ao Shen concluded the tribal system itself was one of the reasons for the demon race’s current decline. So, he wanted to change things. He created a new cultivation system after analyzing the Martial Hegemmy World’s martial art system, the Origin System, and the bloodline inheritance he received from his Innate Dragon Bloodline.

Ao Shen had his world views opened after experiencing life in another World Community. He realized it was wrong for the demon race to rely too heavily on its bloodline. Because of the inherent designs and culture of the race, bloodline will inevitably be their primary form of cultivation. But they should not rely entirely on it.

Ao Shen designed his cultivation method to involve the soul, Dao Heart Tempering, and law comprehension. Bloodlines have the natural ability to temper the body, but he optimized this ability based on his Martial Art understanding.

He created a stage where the demon could fuse their Laws into their bloodline to pass them down. Then, the next generation can use these laws to cast divine abilities and comprehend laws, but they cannot over-rely on them. They have to understand their own laws, fuse it with their bloodlines and repeat the process from one generation after another, ensuring the prosperity and development of every tribe.

“You need to be more active on this task,” said Ao Shen with seriousness. “If our demon race wants to rise, everyone has to work together and put in the effort. This cultivation system–although still flawed–will greatly benefit our race. It is a path of change or evolution.”

“We will try to follow by example.” The elders understood one of the core differences between humans and demons was their conservative nature and aversion to change.

Humans, by nature, like to evolve and change; it’s in their blood to evolve and adapt since it was the only way to survive in ancient times. However, after settling down and becoming the dominant race of this world, humans became conservative because of their culture and customs.

By following their ancestors’ words as if they were laws, they became conservative and less susceptible to change. The only time they will change is for their survival, for interest–but that’s usually temporary–or when an authoritative figure (Great Emperor) sets a precedent for their entire race.

Meanwhile, the demon race’s conservatism is ingrained in their blood. They refused to change the status quo. Even if a Great Emperor set a precedent for the race, the demon race might stop after a few generations if nothing is done.

“I need to see results before the Heaven Will Battle,” said Ao Shen in a severe tone. The spread of this cultivation system was vital to him for another reason besides the benefit of his race.

During his journey, Ao Shen fused the Marital Hegemony World’s Martial Art System with the Origin System, granting him the power of the Duyi Realm and almost dying in the process. Fascinated, he learned more about this power when encountering orthodox and unorthodox methods.

Then, he thought of trying to see what would happen if he used both methods. He wanted to know what would happen if he created and spread a cultivation system to the demon race and had a clone receive the benefit. Then, he would fuse it with his current body that already had Duyi Realm.

‘Although this method might fail, it was worth trying,’ he thought before dismissing everybody and returning to his cultivation seclusion. Ao Shen took out a golden light of merit that floated in his palm.

“Hopefully, this is enough for the [Heaven Path Tribulation],” he muttered.

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