Chapter 2694: A Game That Breaks the Rules

"He's dead." Naraku Tian broke off for several breaths, then suddenly spoke urgently, "Your advice via He Chunhua wasn't bad. But the Lingxu crowd is about to go mad with anger—we have things to do now; we'll contact later."

After saying that, the smoke in the secret chamber dissipated.

He Lingchuan also obtained the information he wanted, so he opened the doors and windows to let the incense mist escape, then took a deep breath.

The struggle in the celestial realm was extraordinarily brutal and bloody; Shaliti Heaven faced the Lingxu forces at a disadvantage—put bluntly, they were just shy of being pinned down and beaten. Even relying on a few major celestial deities made it hard to oppose the Lingxu Holy Venerable and his divine host.

The last time He Lingchuan communicated with He Chunhua, he had specifically said that in the current celestial realm, as the Lingxu Holy Venerable led his divine subordinates to break ties, their killing intent surged. They would rather destroy the order they had painstakingly built over thousands of years than refrain from stirring up bloodshed and storms. Shaliti Heaven and the other idle deities couldn't possibly defeat the Lingxu forces—let alone defend themselves—but if they weren't confined to the celestial realm and instead turned their gaze to the human world, to Bekka, then they could accomplish much.

Clearly, Naraku Tian understood.

Every time a Bekka barbarian demon king ascends, they must, under the watch of the celestial deities, consume the secret medicine "Qianchang," forced through divine arts to have their life bound to a celestial deity—from then on, their life hangs in human hands.

In recent years, He Lingchuan has also studied such divine arts, and combined with observations from Mitian and other celestial demons, he discovered this is actually an unequal contract—though called a "shared life and death" pact, its effect is actually unilateral constraint.

If a barbarian demon king in the human world dies, the celestial deity suffers nothing. It's like a ghost child dying in the human realm while the celestial realm's Ferry Ghost Mother remains perfectly fine.

But once a celestial deity dies, the barbarian demon king bound by contract with them also loses their life.

This is the key point! For hundreds of years, few have noticed this crucial detail.

Today, Bekka is unprecedentedly strong; the difficulty of eliminating a barbarian demon king in the human world actually exceeds that of eliminating a contracted celestial demon in the celestial realm. It's just that human immortals and cultivators cannot reach the celestial realm or accomplish this.

But other celestial demons can!

Naraku Tian and Shaliti Heaven were also blind to the obvious—He Lingchuan gave them a light nudge, and they suddenly realized.

These past two years of celestial chaos have seen celestial demons fall in batches, and those who signed contracts with barbarian demon kings have no death-exemption talismans—so why can't they die?

The states of Yegan and Bili have always been strong supporters of the Celestial Palace. With these two barbarian demon kings dead, the Lingxu forces' position in Bekka collapses at two points.

"Bekka is going to descend into chaos." He Lingchuan murmured, "Naraku Tian gave it a hard shove—now we just wait to see how the Demon Emperor reacts."

Under the grave concern of the Nine Abysses Great Emperor, over the following month, updates on this matter came one after another, laid out on the table.

As he had originally envisioned, the deaths of the two barbarian demon kings made the succession issue explode beyond control.

Three years ago, whether it was the Lingxu Wang Ting or the Celestial Palace, on the surface things would proceed naturally, because each barbarian demon state's heir had to consume the secret medicine, receive the secret art, and bind the life-and-death contract before smoothly ascending the throne. In other words, barbarian demon kings were controlled by celestial demons—whether their hearts leaned toward the Celestial Palace or the Demon Emperor, their room for maneuver was limited.

But now the Demon Emperor likely already holds the antidote to "Qianchang," and naturally hopes the new rulers of these barbarian demon states are his supporters, for after taking the antidote, a barbarian demon king's life no longer needs to be bound to celestial demons. The more support the Demon Emperor gains in the barbarian demon states, the less the celestial demons can constrain him.

And the Lingxu forces cannot stand by and let this happen—they will also pick their preferred candidate among the heirs and find ways to support their ascent.

This is Bekka's two highest wills, insisting on settling the score between heaven and earth at this critical moment—certainly the Lingxu Holy Venerable is furious.

But Bekka is the Lingxu forces' best weapon for controlling the human world, and the Lingxu Holy Venerable will certainly not abandon it. Thus the Lingxu forces must divert a large portion of their energy to contend with Lingxu Cheng, so the pressure of encirclement and attack on Shaliti Heaven will correspondingly decrease.

The Nine Abysses Great Emperor also asked Du Shan: "Regarding the throne struggle in the two barbarian demon states, which side do you think will prevail?"

Du Shan replied without hesitation: "The Demon Emperor, without a doubt."

"Why?"

"The celestial demons must exert force through the Celestial Palace, and the Celestial Palace's power in Bekka can only be realized through Lingxu Cheng." Du Shan analyzed, "Now Lingxu Cheng is at odds with them, so the celestial demons' point of force is gone—wanting to support the barbarian demon states is no easy task."

"You're talking about rules, the long-standing modus operandi between celestial demons and Bekka." He Lingchuan smiled, "But don't forget—celestial demons sometimes don't follow the rules."

As if to confirm his words, two days later Du Shan received the latest news from the west:

The throne struggle in Yegan and Bili states remains unresolved—a prince of Yegan was suddenly assassinated and died, while both princes of Bili suffered heavy injuries—and they are all supporters of the Demon Emperor!

Du Shan gave a bitter laugh: "Luring the tiger out of its lair—I forgot that trick."

Originally, the throne struggle in barbarian demon states would not see open interference from Lingxu Cheng or the Celestial Palace on the surface. Even if undercurrents surged, they wouldn't be brought to the table. Once a prince defeated his rivals, regardless of how he won, he would enter Lingxu Cheng to be invested, while preparing to receive the coronation from the Celestial Palace's Yun Cloud Envoy.

Has this round seen the Celestial Palace personally step in and act? No one would doubt it. But the two barbarian demon states also cannot obtain evidence—they can only treat it as the princes' mutual sabotage—which is not surprising, for throne struggles have always been cruel and abnormal.

Now the Demon Emperor-loyal factions in these two states have suffered heavy blows, and the other princes must seriously reconsider: should they align with the Demon Emperor or the Celestial Palace?

Not long after this tangled situation began, the struggle in Yegan state finally ended—still, the pro-Demon Emperor prince ascended. He Lingchuan read the meaning of flashing blades and swords from the brief report, and the real struggle must have been even more tangled and difficult.

As for Bili state, the pro-Celestial Palace faction defeated their opponents.

Looking at this, is it a one-to-one tie between the Demon Emperor and the Celestial Palace?

But subsequent developments took everyone by surprise:

The Bili prince, en route to Ducheng, accidentally fell into the water and died.

Bekka erupted in an uproar. And Lingxu Cheng immediately issued a statement, expressing deep sorrow.

Yet no matter how floridly the article is written, it cannot conceal the cold, hard fact: everyone knows this time, Lingxu Cheng did the deed!

So, is it only the Celestial Palace that can carry out assassinations? Does only the Celestial Palace have peerless masters?

Lingxu Cheng used this method to warn all onlookers: no matter how other barbarian demon states support the Celestial Palace, don't forget you stand on Bekka's soil—so-called victors shouldn't think winning the throne struggle means you've won; you still must enter Lingxu Cheng, enter the Demon Emperor's domain, and accept his investiture!