Contention over territory brought out old enemies.

Any Demonic Beasts with conflicting interests or past grievances showed the Orochi Demon King's lineage no mercy, aiming to utterly eradicate them.

"Damn it!" A Demonic Beast with the head of a fox viciously pounded the ground, creating cracks several meters deep. He bellowed, "I thought everyone would defend the honor of our Sakura Country Demon Race and seek vengeance for our master together, but it turns out you only care for yourselves."

The other Demonic Beasts remained silent, their eyes filled with both savagery and numbness.

"A famous human saying from Hua Country fits perfectly here: 'The world bustles with activity, all for the sake of profit.'" A middle-aged man wrapped in a black robe stood on a tree branch, gazing at the rolling sea as he taunted, "Hu Si, you're supposedly our great strategist, yet you can't even see through something so simple?"

"Are you looking to die, you crow!" Hu Si's face turned glacial as he glared at the Demonic Beast on the branch. "If you wish to die, I can oblige you," he said coldly.

"Heh." Wu Ya reverted to his true form, a massive black crow. His dark pupils were filled with mockery and disdain.

Hu Si glared furiously, but the other Demonic Beasts remained silent.

"Enough!" the young man in the corner, the one with eight heads and a naturally imposing aura, finally spoke.

As his voice sounded, the area fell quiet.

He was the heir of the Orochi Demon King. He had not only inherited his father's powerful Orochi bloodline but also the Thunder Talent of his mother, the Thunder Beast. If not for his youth, a seat among the Demon Kings of Sakura Country would surely be his. He was hailed as one of the most talented youths of the Demon Race, a true Demon King candidate.

"Lord Yomotsu," Hu Si said, clasping his fists with an urgent tone, "you are our master's disciple and our Senior Brother. You must find a way for us."

"I will."

As Yomotsu Hiraka finished speaking, Hu Si's eyes lit up. "Could it be? Your mother will take action?"

The Thunder Beast. She was known as the Thunder God of Sakura Country, possessing terrifying thunder element powers and unmatched combat strength. It was once rumored among the common folk that she was an executor of Heaven's will. She was one of the mightiest beings in Sakura Country, and almost no Demon King dared to confront her directly.

"..." Yomotsu Hiraka remained silent.

He had sought his mother's help before, but her demands were somewhat hard for him to accept…

But faced with the exhausted yet hopeful eyes of his junior brothers, he suddenly abandoned his convictions.

Yomotsu Hiraka quietly crushed a Jade Slip hidden in his sleeve. His central head smiled and said, "Yes, you're right. My mother will take action."

"That's wonderful!" The Demonic Beasts cheered in unison.

They could finally escape their dire situation. They no longer had to fear their enemies' pursuit, and what's more, they could avenge their master!

Yomotsu Hiraka's gaze swept over his fellow disciples, then shifted to a dark cloud that had appeared abruptly in the sky. He murmured softly, "I'm sorry, my dear brothers and sisters."

"Hm?"

The dozen or so Demonic Beasts, whose Boundaries varied but were generally on the verge of the Great Demon Realm, all froze.

Only Wu Ya and Hu Si felt a sudden lurch in their chests. A sense of impending doom washed over them. The former spread his wings to take flight, while the latter transformed into his true form, preparing to dive into the sea.

But then—

A fearsome pressure suddenly descended. Dark clouds, flashing with lightning and rumbling with thunder, enveloped the sky in a thirty-mile radius around the island. A terrifying, apocalyptic aura filled the air.

Even the quickest to react, Wu Ya and Hu Si, couldn't escape the oppressive force. They were petrified on the spot, their eyes wide with horror as they stared up at the storm clouds.

Could this presence be…

They all drew in a sharp breath, the answer materializing in their minds: it was Yomotsu Hiraka's mother, the Thunder Beast, one of the top-ranked Demon Kings of Sakura Country.

Although terrified, they suppressed their fear and calmed themselves. They reasoned that although their master, Orochi, had been estranged from his wife for two hundred years, they were ultimately family.

"Mother," Yomotsu Hiraka said calmly, looking toward the dark clouds. "I agree to your terms, but you must avenge Father."

"Of course," a woman with a swaying figure and a veiled face appeared from within the surging clouds. She snapped her fingers.

Hundreds of thunderbolts, each carrying the might of worldly annihilation, crashed down!

"Mistress, what are you doing!?"

Caught completely off guard, the Demonic Beasts were sent flying, vomiting blood. They stared up at the middle-aged woman in the sky, their eyes blazing with fury.

"Hmm? My dear son, didn't you tell them my terms?" The wind blew, lifting the middle-aged woman's veil to reveal what was once a face that could topple nations, now marred by ferocious, ghastly scars.

"This face of mine," she said with a radiant smile, "was ruined by Orochi. Now that he's dead, as his disciples, you should pay his debt, shouldn't you? By devouring you, my Boundary can advance, and then I'll have the confidence to avenge him. So, please die."

"YOMOTSU HIRAKA!!!" the Demonic Beasts roared in betrayal.

Yomotsu Hiraka stood in the distance, expressionless, silently watching as the disciples who had been through life and death with him died at his mother's hands. He would show no emotion. This was the first lesson his mother had taught him in two hundred years.

Strength. It is the only truth to survival.

Amidst the roaring thunder, a slaughter quickly began and just as quickly ended.

"The weak flock together; the strong walk alone," Yomotsu Hiraka thought, watching as his mother devoured his fellow disciples one by one. The scene was extremely bloody and cruel, yet it gave him a strange sense of comfort. As Mother said, you were all a burden. An indescribable emotion began to sprout in his heart. He knew he could never go back. This... this was power! The ability to slaughter other Demonic Beasts at will, without fear of any consequences. His father had died at the hands of that human from Hua Country precisely because he wasn't strong enough. But his mother... she certainly wouldn't!

The middle-aged woman wiped the blood from her lips, stroking Yomotsu Hiraka's face with a beaming smile. "You look so much like Yorozu Chizane."

Yomotsu Harukichi was the name of Orochi.

Yomotsu Hiraka shook his head. "I am not like Father."

The middle-aged woman paused, then burst into hearty laughter. "That's right, you're nothing like him! He didn't have a heart so cruel that he could watch his disciples be devoured."

Yomotsu Hiraka knew that from his mother, "a cruel heart" was the highest form of praise, not a condemnation.

"My son, your talent is excellent, and your disposition is perfectly suited for cultivation. In the future, you will surely step into the Demon King Realm and surpass both your father and me!" the middle-aged woman exclaimed with emotion.

Yomotsu Hiraka narrowed his eyes, gazing at the moonlit sea as he began to imagine the day that would come.

* * *

The night was as cool as water.

Xu Lai spent the entire night working on a wedding dress. He wasn't just treading water anymore; he had completed four percent of the total project.

"Mmm..."

In her room, Ruan Tang slowly woke up. The pounding headache from her hangover left her in a daze. She stumbled to the bathroom and washed her face with cold water, the fog in her mind gradually clearing.

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