Chapter 538: Abnormal! The Evil Spirit Festival is Advanced

"Teacher, you've finally returned; something terrible has happened!"

Just as he stepped through the door, the newly accepted disciple Jiang Lingxian rushed over in a flurry and spoke anxiously to Xiao Han.

"What happened?" Xiao Han frowned and asked.

"The Man Mo Clan has sent people."

Jiang Lingxian said in a hurried tone:

"Today, an envoy from the Man Mo Clan suddenly arrived at Qiling City. News leaked from the City Lord Mansion, and it has spread throughout the entire city; it is said that this year's Evil Spirit Festival is to be held early."

"The Evil Spirit Festival is to be held early?"

Xiao Han paused slightly and asked:

"Has this ever happened before?"

"I'm not sure, but I have never heard of it before," Jiang Lingxian replied.

Although the status of the Evil Spirit Clan is low, the Evil Spirit Festival is one of the few things within the Evil Spirit Clan that is taken extremely seriously by the Outer Realm Evil Clan.

As the most important sacrificial ceremony of the Evil Spirit Clan, every instance of it being held has strict regulations; not only must it be personally presided over by the City Lord of each city, but there must also be an envoy sent by a higher-level Evil Clan to supervise from the sidelines, to prevent the Evil Clan below from just going through the motions.

As for other preparatory work, it is even more numerous, and in Jiang Lingxian's impression, there has never been a precedent for changing the time.

"What is going on?"

Xiao Han also lowered his head in contemplation; the Evil Spirit Festival, which had maintained its tradition for so many years, suddenly being moved up seemed to portend something unusual.

Moreover, he had a rather bad intuition that this anomaly in the Evil Spirit Festival seemed... perhaps... maybe... possibly related to him.

In fact, Xiao Han's guess was not wrong at all; this matter was indeed closely related to him.

At this moment, in the place of supreme power of the Outer Realm Evil Clan—the Evil God Palace, the Saint Demon Clan Leader, who is also the current supreme leader of the Outer Realm Evil Clan, was facing inquiries from a group of powerful clan leaders such as the Dark Heavenly Demon Emperor and the Zhan Tian Demon Emperor.

"Saint Heavenly Demon Emperor, although your Saint Demon Clan is our nominal leader, you must recognize your own status; you are not the Evil God, and we are not pawns for you to drive at will."

"If you cannot provide an explanation for this matter, we are not made of mud either."

The Zhan Tian Demon Emperor's face was cold, and his tone was unfriendly.

"This decision was a bit rash."

The one who said this was the second strongest of the Evil Clan, second only to the Saint Heavenly Demon Emperor—the Dark Heavenly Demon Emperor, who had also always been a supporter of the former.

Even the Dark Heavenly Demon Emperor held a disapproving attitude; one can imagine how absurd this move by the Saint Heavenly Demon Emperor was!

Admittedly, the Evil Spirit Clan is nothing more than a group of cannon fodder and consumables, but for those in the know present, the role of the Evil Spirit Clan is irreplaceable.

Slowly increasing the strength of the Evil Spirit Clan while strictly limiting their development is the basic policy of the Evil Clan toward the Evil Spirit Clan.

And the most critical step in this is the Evil Spirit Festival.

Controlling the number of geniuses and powerhouses of the Evil Spirit Clan through the Evil Spirit Festival is a massive plan that has been maintained for thousands of years, jointly executed by the thirty-two Outer Realm Evil Clans.

Each convening of the Evil Spirit Festival requires the power of specialized Outer Realm Evil Clan powerhouses to guard it, to prevent that group of lowly breeds from causing trouble. Originally, as the Evil Spirit Festival approached, the major clans were also secretly mobilizing reliable forces, preparing to complete the plan according to custom.

But who knows what madness possessed those old things in the Da Qian World recently; they, who originally acted like old turtles hiding in their shells and not moving even when the Evil Clan took the initiative to attack, actually started picking fights, causing the pressure on the defensive lines to increase greatly during this period, and the mobilization of personnel for the Evil Spirit Festival immediately stalled.

To make matters worse, that fellow the Saint Heavenly Demon Emperor didn't even discuss it, directly notifying that the Evil Spirit Festival would be held early, throwing the major clans, which were already in a tense atmosphere due to successive wars with the Da Qian World, into chaos.

The pent-up frustration in the hearts of the many Demon Emperors seemed to have found a vent, and they rushed at the Saint Heavenly Demon Emperor all at once, especially the Zhan Tian Demon Emperor, who was the highest presiding officer of this Evil Spirit Festival; he directly acted as the ringleader and sprayed the current number one powerhouse of the Evil Clan with a torrent of abuse.

He didn't know what kind of evil his Blade Demon Clan had committed in the last hundred years; a Langya Heavenly Palace suddenly popped up at the edge of the defensive line, and as soon as it appeared, it pushed his own defensive line back by a continent, not to mention writing off more than ten Demon Emperors of the Blade Demon Clan, including two of his best subordinates of many years.

If not for the deep foundation of the Blade Demon Clan, the losses during this period could have directly caused the entire clan to fall out of the top five.

Fortunately, he wisely withdrew in time and left the Langya Heavenly Palace to that group of brainless scapegoats, the Man Mo Clan; otherwise, the Blade Demon Emperor would worry about whether he would be jointly ousted from the position of Clan Leader by a few old immortals one day.

He himself had been cautious during this period, but he suddenly encountered this brainless notification from the Saint Heavenly Demon Emperor; he could already imagine how the Blade Demon Clan's defensive line, which lacked sufficient powerhouses, would be disgusted by that group of cowards in the Da Qian World.

The Saint Heavenly Demon Emperor did not speak, but quietly listened to the complaints of the various Evil Clan leaders; the meaning of these people was also unified: the order could be executed, but the losses must be compensated.

It was not until the clamor of the various demons gradually subsided that the Saint Heavenly Demon Emperor glanced indifferently at the Zhan Tian Demon Emperor who was at the forefront; just one calm sentence made the latter extinguish his fire:

"After this Evil Spirit Festival, the Blade Demon Clan can add fifteen Demon Emperors."

Hearing this, the Zhan Tian Demon Emperor's pupils shrank sharply, and his voice trembled slightly as he said:

"Saint Demon, are your words true?"

Fifteen Demon Emperors, even if they were only Ghost Demon Emperors, were an irresistible condition for the Blade Demon Clan; if what the Saint Heavenly Demon Emperor said was true, this wave could make up for half of the Blade Demon Clan's losses over the past hundred years.

If the Blade Demon Clan were to cultivate them on their own, it would consume at least thirty percent of the clan's treasury, and they wouldn't be able to recover for over a thousand years.

"When has this seat ever gone back on his word?"

The Saint Heavenly Demon Emperor's expression remained unchanged, and the Zhan Tian Demon Emperor, who confirmed the authenticity again, nodded without hesitation:

"I will strictly follow your orders."

His words unknowingly carried a bit of flattery; after all, the Saint Heavenly Demon Emperor was his big benefactor at this moment.

The Zhan Tian Demon Emperor had eaten the crab, and the other clan leaders also looked at the Saint Heavenly Demon Emperor with eager eyes; there was no longer the appearance of coming to settle scores, and each of their eyes was as clear as the arctic wolves in the far north.

Sure enough, the big brother is the big brother, his style is indeed extraordinary; he offered fifteen Demon Emperors right off the bat. Even though everyone came from large clans, Demon Emperors as top combat power are not roadside cabbages that one can pick up two of at will.

Some lower-ranked large clans don't even have twenty Demon Emperors in total; the Blade Demon Clan's losses were only manageable because it is a top-five large clan with nearly a hundred Demon Emperors, relying on its thick bloodline to hold on.

If it were an ordinary large clan, the death of a dozen Demon Emperors would be enough to replace a whole generation of top powerhouses other than the Clan Leader and the elders.

As the foundation of each clan, Demon Emperor powerhouses are naturally the more the better; they don't ask to be on the same level as the Blade Demon Clan, even one or two more would be good, and as for the small losses on the defensive line...

They are just cannon fodder, do they really think they are something special?

Facing the instantly clear eyes of the many large clan leaders, the Saint Heavenly Demon Emperor also fully carried forward his style as the ringleader for many years, waving his hand and saying:

"After the Evil Spirit Festival, every clan will have rewards."

Look... look!

With things having reached this point, what else was there to say? The big brother is generous. The group of large clan leaders left happily, only the Dark Heavenly Demon Emperor, who was mixed in with the demons, remained with a solemn expression.

"Saint Demon, what exactly do you want to do this time?"

The conditions promised by the Saint Heavenly Demon Emperor just now, even with the family wealth of the Saint Demon Clan and its status as the nominal leader, were a price sufficient to hurt the bones and muscles of this top-tier large clan.

The Dark Heavenly Demon Emperor did not believe that the Saint Heavenly Demon Emperor, who had always been self-interested, would suddenly change his style and become selfless.

The Saint Heavenly Demon Emperor did not answer, but instead asked in return:

"Our nails in the Da Qian World have been pulled out quite a bit during this period, haven't they?"

Although the Dark Heavenly Demon Emperor did not quite understand why the Saint Heavenly Demon Emperor wanted to bring up this topic, a trace of anger still appeared on his face.

"Mm. I don't know what methods the Da Qian World suddenly employed, but they actually managed to root out so many hidden lines in such a short time. Currently, only some fence-sitters who merely maintain trading relationships but have not been planted with a Demon Seal remain."

Regarding these existences that lacked control, the Dark Heavenly Demon Emperor did not doubt their reliability at all—they were absolutely unreliable!

It is just that during this period, that bunch of goods seemed to have realized the changes occurring in the Da Qian World and knew their own situation; some who did not fear death began to raise their prices, while the timid ones took the initiative to reduce or even simply sever their connections with the Outer Realm Evil Clan.

Regardless, it is impossible for the Outer Realm Evil Clan to cause trouble in the Da Qian World as they usually did.

However, the Dark Heavenly Demon Emperor was not particularly concerned; the Da Qian World side was not a soft persimmon either. At the very least, there was basically no room for the Outer Realm Evil Clan to infiltrate the Da Qian Palace at the top of the power structure and the upper echelons of the major forces.

A group of "lackeys" who were at most Great Perfection Earth Sovereigns did not have much ability to cause destruction, nor could they touch much valuable intelligence. This loss merely brought the Outer Realm Evil Clan and the Da Qian World to the same starting line.

The Outer Realm Evil Clan, which occupied the advantage in military force, still held the initiative.

The Dark Heavenly Demon Emperor had originally been comforting himself this way, until he heard a sentence from the Saint Heavenly Demon Emperor:

"This seat suspects that a rat has mixed into the Da Qian World."