Chapter 544: Heaven and Earth Face Off, the Demon Race

But within the mist, a faint, ancient great bell's phantom loomed, suppressing everything; no matter how the stars outside revolved or how the fog churned, it remained steadfast and unmoving.

Fuxi understood in his heart.

This prince is no ordinary one.

At that moment, a little demon god hurried in to report: "Your Majesty, the East Emperor… has awakened."

Before the words finished, Di Jun's figure had already vanished into the great hall.

East Emperor Palace.

Gu Yuan leaned against the headboard, cradling a steaming cup of spirit tea, sipping it in small sips.

He had just finished listening to the system's report and was very pleased with Kun Peng's "brain‑filling."

That's exactly the effect he wanted.

A qualified tool‑person must not only be able to work, but also find work for himself and pump himself up.

"Brother!"

Di Jun's figure appeared at the bedroom doorway; looking at his brother on the bed, whose face remained "pale" and aura still "weak," his eyes instantly reddened.

"Elder brother." Gu Yuan set down his cup and gave him a reassuring smile.

"You… you…"

Di Jun hurried to the bedside, wanting to say something, but his throat felt blocked and he could not utter a single word.

"Brother—no need for that." Gu Yuan said understandingly, "I happened to sense that aura clashing with my origin, which made me wary and led to this low‑key plan… I never imagined the Witch Clan had become so vicious."

These modest, self‑effacing words moved Di Jun beyond words.

He clenched his fists, his knuckles whitening from the strain.

"This matter must never be spread!" Di Jun ordered in a deep voice, his divine thought rippling through the Heavenly Court, "If even a single word of today's affair leaks out, do not blame me for being ruthless!"

He could not let anyone know what price his brother had paid for the demon race.

He would bear this merit and this sacrifice alone, taking it upon himself for his brother!

After doing all that, he finally looked back at Gu Yuan, his voice hoarse as he asked, "Brother, now that things have come to this, do you have a good plan?"

Gu Yuan stared at him, then glanced out the window at the Heavenly Court shrouded in the demon race's aura, and said slowly, "Blocking is something that cannot be blocked."

"The Great Array is rooted in the earth's foul evil and draws on the resentments of all beings; unless we can uproot the entire western primordial earth's ley lines, it will only be a temporary fix."

"As for diversion…"

Gu Yuan paused, lifted his cup, and blew the steam.

"I need to go to the Treasure Vault first, then look for inspiration."

Kun Peng and Fuxi stood outside the East Emperor Palace, watching Di Jun personally support the "wind‑fragile" East Emperor as he walked step by step toward the Heavenly Court's Treasure Vault; both felt an extreme mix of emotions.

Especially Kun Peng.

Whenever he now sees the East Emperor's calm face, he feels a chill behind him.

That is not merely a face; it is a board that has shrouded ages and schemed the heavens.

He, the Xihuang, and even the Heavenly Emperor are merely pieces on his board.

That feeling made the unruly demon master feel unprecedented defeat and… fear.

"Xihuang," Kun Peng couldn't help but transmit his voice, "Do you think the prince… can truly find a way to break it?"

Fuxi glanced at the demon master beside him whose spirit had already been drained, and slowly shook his head: "I can't see through it, can't calculate it."

His gaze also turned toward the depths of the East Emperor Palace, his eyes profound.

"But one thing is certain," Fuxi said, "the demon race's future may not lie with the Heavenly Emperor, nor with us."

"But in… this prince himself."

Kun Peng's body shivered at the words, and he fell into a prolonged silence.

Meanwhile, on the primordial earth, wind rose and clouds surged.

As Kun Peng's demon troops withdrew to the Heavenly Court, the blood‑sacrificing tribes that had been suppressed not only failed to recede but grew even more rampant.

Altars built from black bones sprang up across the western primordial lands.

Worse, some tribes wholly controlled by the Witch Clan began openly erecting crude ancestral witch temples, worshipping day and night, turning the surrounding area into a forbidden zone saturated with foul evil.

Any demon scout that draws near will be corroded by that invisible evil aura; lightly it will set back cultivation, heavily it will scramble the mind, turning them into beasts that know only slaughter.

Faced with such blatant provocation, the Heavenly Court boiled with fury.

Countless newly risen great demon gods clamored for battle, vowing to crush the Heavenly Court and grind those reckless tribes, along with the Witch Clan behind them, into powder.

Inside the Lingxiao Treasure Hall, shouts of attack and slaughter filled the air daily.

Di Jun sat upon the throne, his complexion as gloomy as water.

Has he never wanted to fight?

But reason tells him he cannot.

Fuxi used the River Diagram and Luo Book to simulate several times, each outcome being great disaster.

Once the demon race's main forces are fully deployed and a full‑scale war with the Witch Clan erupts, regardless of victory or defeat, the newly gathered fortune of the demons will be exhausted in this protracted bloodshed.

And the terrifying Great Array hidden deep within the Ten Thousand Bones Cave will seize the chance to absorb endless war‑born resentments, fully forming.

By then, the demon race will face its true annihilation.

Caught between a rock and a hard place.

Those eight words became a sword hanging over the entire demon race's Heavenly Court.

With no other choice, Di Jun could only adopt Gu Yuan's earlier suggestion.

He ordered Xihuang Fuxi, using the Zhou Tian Star Constellations as a model, to devise the Heavenly Court's official hierarchy.

Three hundred and sixty‑five great demons of Da Luo Golden Immortal rank would become the Zhou Tian Principal Deities, each governing a star sector and guarding a formation eye.

He also enfeoffed three thousand Taiyi Golden Immortals as Auxiliary Deities to assist the Principal Deities in organizing the Zhou Tian stellar power.

In a moment, the entire Heavenly Court entered a state of high-speed operation.

The Heavenly Stars Great Array, through the joint efforts of countless demon gods, was perfected and lit up at an unprecedented speed.

Brilliant starlight poured down from the Nine Heavens, forming a huge light curtain that enveloped the entire Demon Clan's Heavenly Court, blocking the foul qi rising from the lower lands.

The fortune of the Heavenly Court, bolstered by the array, became unprecedentedly stable.

But all the demon gods knew this was only temporary.

They were like birds trapped in a cage; although the cage was magnificently built, they ultimately lost the freedom to soar between heaven and earth.

Meanwhile, the Heavenly Court was busy with internal construction.

The Shaman Tribe was not idle either.

The Twelve Ancestral Shamans, except for Hou Tu, the other eleven actually walked out of their own tribes at the same time.

Taking Pangu Palace as the center, they established their Ancestral Shamans' Temples in the eleven directions of the Primordial Land, mutually responding to each other.

The establishment of each temple caused the earth's veins to tremble, and the turbid killing qi shot up into the sky.

These twelve temples resonated with the Blood Sacrifice Great Array of the Myriad Bone Cave, completely transforming the Primordial Land into the domain of the Shaman Tribe.

They openly proclaimed to the Primordial Myriad Clans:

Heaven belongs to the demons.

Earth belongs to the shamans.

Any demon who dares to set foot on the earth shall be killed without mercy!

When the news reached the Heavenly Court, Di Jun crushed the jade cup in his hand on the spot.

Too deceitful!

This Heavenly Emperor actually became merely a 'Lord of the Skies' who could only govern the Ninefold Heavens!