Chapter 151: Kong Que Bloodline

Kong Que, staying within the circle, was startled to see Li Heng appear.

In her view, even if this man possessed great strength, the Ancient Residence was, after all, an extremely mysterious and dangerous place; she estimated it would be difficult for him to emerge without spending at least a day and a night.

She had even prepared herself for the possibility that this man would never come out...

But now? He had just walked right out?

How did she feel as if not even an hour had passed?

Kong Que looked at Li Heng's back, and seeing Li Heng signal for her to follow, her expression was somewhat hesitant. Was the one who came out truly that man, or was it some messy thing from the Ancient Residence?

However, no matter how she hesitated, it was not actually up to her.

As she stood stunned on the spot, an invisible force welled up, pushing her directly out of the circle to follow Li Heng.

At the same time, as the two of them departed completely, the Ancient Residence that had dammed the river at Lanyue Creek gradually vanished and faded, the entire river returned to its free flow, and the Lanyue carp within were able to migrate.

Li Heng pondered as he walked, considering how to dispose of Kong Que.

Suddenly, he spoke to inquire.

"Kong Que, I ask you. What kind of place is this Ten Thousand Demon Ridge, exactly? That dog-headed idiot I encountered earlier called himself one of the Seventy-two Road Demon Kings; what kind of thing is that?"

Kong Que was still guessing whether Li Heng was still himself.

Hearing Li Heng's inquiry, she couldn't help but be slightly stunned. But seeing Li Heng reveal an impatient expression, she hurriedly spoke. "Ten Thousand Demon Ridge is a large-scale Ghost Domain within the Yin World, containing numerous demons and Weirds; for the humans of the Present World, it is a hell!"

"As for those Seventy-two Road Demon Kings, they are actually subordinates of the so-called Three Sages of Ten Thousand Demon Ridge—Qingshi, Baixiang, and Jinpeng. Each of them commands twenty-four road demon kings under their banner."

"I see, then it seems the so-called demon kings are quite weak."

Li Heng spoke indifferently.

In any case, that dog-headed man who called himself a demon king whom he had slaughtered was only worth forty points of Source Power; calculating it, that was just an ordinary True Qi Realm, not even worth as much as a common soldier to him.

"It is not like that." Kong Que hurriedly explained.

"Among these demon kings, there are actually strong ones and weak ones. The strong ones have Innate strength, while the weak ones are only at the True Qi Realm. I have heard there is a distinction between upper road and lower road, but I am not very clear about those."

"Then what is the strength of these so-called Three Sages?"

Li Heng spoke nonchalantly, wondering in his heart whether he should throw Kong Que to the Sanshan Gathering, over to his own divine path avatar. After all, it would not be convenient for him to bring her back to Bei'an City.

"I am not too sure either; in any case, they all have Innate Realm strength, though I don't know the specific level. However, they are very strong; that Jinpeng even boasted to me about how many Innates he had slaughtered." She shook her head, as she herself only had a half-understanding.

"How do they compare to me?"

Li Heng posed a very interesting question.

"This..."

Kong Que appeared somewhat hesitant.

"Just speak plainly."

"If I tell the truth, you are not allowed to hit me."

"I can agree to that."

"Then I will say it. Although I am not clear about your strength, judging from the situations where you fought others, you are likely not as good as them. But don't worry, although you are not as good, you are vaguely close."

As Kong Que spoke, she hurriedly added one more sentence.

This was for fear that Li Heng would be shamed into anger and take it out on her.

Not as good? Interesting.

Li Heng raised an eyebrow slightly; it seemed these Three Sages of Ten Thousand Demon Ridge were not just ordinarily strong. Although this Kong Que had not witnessed his full strength, she had seen half of it, yet she still gave an evaluation of "not as good"?

Then, with his current strength, if he did not use his stored Source Power, it was truly hard to say.

After all, he did not believe that with Kong Que's strength and realm, she could know the true strength of the Three Sages of Ten Thousand Demon Ridge...

However, this was not worth making a fuss about.

His true realm was still at the peak of the True Qi Realm, a Half-step Innate, and he had not yet truly stepped into the transcendent, so naturally, he could not be truly invincible among the Innate. But once he stepped into the Innate, that would be a different story...

Seeing Li Heng silent, Kong Que closed her mouth and did not speak either.

She even walked cautiously, avoiding the fallen leaves and branches on the road to prevent making too much noise. She muttered inwardly, where exactly was this man taking her? Could it be his Ghost Domain?

Li Heng came back to his senses, his thoughts calm.

"Kong Que, tell me, what is your value to me?"

These nonchalant words instantly made cold sweat break out on Kong Que's back. She was not a naive fool, and she generally understood the meaning of this sentence; if she had no value, she would be in trouble!

"Speak, do not panic, speak your mind."

"I am a Spirit Beast, not a demon."

Finally, Kong Que squeezed out this sentence. This was also the only value she could think of for herself.

"You stayed in Ten Thousand Demon Ridge, and you still dare to say you are not a demon?"

Li Heng smiled faintly.

"Demons eat people, but I have never eaten people. Moreover, I was also offered up by my tribe. In the past, my Kong Que clan lived in a Spirit Realm, but later Heaven and Earth changed drastically, the Spirit Realm shattered, and we fell into the sphere of influence of Ten Thousand Demon Ridge."

"To ensure the safety of my tribe, I had no choice but to 'voluntarily' come to Ten Thousand Demon Ridge."

Kong Que calmly recounted her origins.

"So that is how it is? Truly a journey filled with hardships."

Li Heng sighed with emotion, "So you are not a demon, but a Spirit Beast; then what use is a Spirit Beast to me? I am a Weird, after all."

He still asked Kong Que to prove her value; as for the experiences in Kong Que's words? Although they were full of hardships and made one sigh, compared to most people, she was already lucky enough.

At least Kong Que was still alive.

"Can a Weird use that kind of flame?"

Kong Que asked in return.

"Sometimes, playing dumb is not necessarily a bad thing."

Li Heng said with a smile.

"Do you not trust me? Actually, there is no need. I can sign a master-servant Contract with you, from now on serve you as my master, and never betray you. You can also fully trust in the potential of my Kong Que clan."

"The bloodline of my clan can be traced back to the Divine Bird at the beginning of Heaven and Earth."

Kong Que said calmly.

She could roughly grasp this man's temperament; he was extremely overbearing. She estimated that apart from those close to him, he did not care about anyone.

She also had self-awareness; she did not count as someone close to him.

Li Heng nodded, lost in thought...

After a long while, the two separated.

Li Heng returned to Bei'an City, while Kong Que, following Li Heng's instructions, carried the Sun True Fire and flew toward the Sanshan Gathering in her original form.

After a long while, three phantom shadows appeared above Lanyue Creek.

These three phantom shadows were not stable, rippling like water surface waves, looking blurry and unclear, as if they did not belong to the Present World, projecting from some extremely deep level.

"What is going on? Where is that Ancient Residence? It has disappeared?"

"Taking the benefits and then vanishing, we have fallen for it this time!"

Two of the phantom shadows said as much.

"Big Brother, Second Brother, you have harmed me deeply!"

Another phantom shadow had an ugly expression, full of anger.

"Third Brother, you didn't say so earlier; I thought it was just a beauty causing trouble. Who knew that the Kong Que clan really had a treasure..."

One phantom shadow said with a bitter face.

"Hmph, it is useless to say anything now. Wait for the next stage of changes; only then can we manifest into the Present World and, by the way, find her again. Otherwise, our Great Banquet will have been held in vain!"

That phantom shadow let out a muffled snort and disappeared directly.

The remaining two phantom shadows looked at each other, smiled bitterly, and also disappeared.

After parting with Kong Que, Li Heng increased his speed, soon returning to the vicinity of Bei'an City, and saw the outline of the city. However, as he returned along the way, his worries grew more and more severe.

The density of the Yin energy outside the city was somewhat beyond his expectations.

In broad daylight, under the scorching Sun, the density of the Yin energy was about the same as a typical Lanzhuang Gang; if night were to fall and the moon were to rise, wouldn't everything outside the city turn into a Ghost Domain?

By then, with a hundred ghosts walking at night, a Weird Wave would be no idle talk.

Thinking about his next plan along the way, Li Heng had already arrived at the Bei'an City gate. However, because of the deepening concentration of Yin energy, it was no longer suitable for the living to stay outside the city, and those Guards had also withdrawn inside the city gate.

The Guards inside the city gate were taken aback when they saw Li Heng approaching.

Is this a human or a Weird?

With the Yin energy outside the city this dense, how could someone still be able to return? For a moment, they all raised their guard, their Qi and Blood surging within them, gripping their weapons tightly in anticipation of the unexpected.

This could not be blamed on their cowardice.

It was because an hour ago, when the Yin energy was not yet this dense, a Demon Exorcist had also returned after completing a mission.

At that time, they had joked that this Demon Exorcist had caught the last bus; if he had returned any later, even without a Weird, such dense Yin energy would have been enough to kill him outside.

But in reality.

When this Demon Exorcist entered the protection of the grand formation, he directly went mad and attacked everyone. Caught off guard, they even had one person die, and it took a great deal of effort to finally subdue him.

Later, after investigation, they learned that this Demon Exorcist had already died long ago. It was just because the Yin energy outside the city was dense, coupled with a lingering obsession that he was not dead, that he had walked here.

Finally, when he walked into the grand formation, because the Yin energy was sparse—not as dense as outside the city—this extreme stimulation directly triggered his obsession to go mad, and he turned into a Weird.

Li Heng gradually approached.

Zhang Xiaoliu, who had opened the gambling pool earlier, and those busybodies who had participated in the gambling pool were all stunned. What was going on? The one who returned was actually that greenhorn? This shouldn't be!

Especially Zhang Xiaoliu.

He had already closed the pool early, believing that this kid was a dead man.

Because with such heavy Yin energy in the city, even with their cultivation, they could not hold on, let alone a greenhorn of this age? No need to think about it, this was definitely not a living person, but a Weird!

Just as they wanted to grab their weapons.

A "great god" nearby, the Demon Suppression Division Chief Meng Lingyun, who had been staying at the city gate not knowing who he was waiting for, walked directly to Li Heng and patted him on the shoulder.

"Good lad, I knew you could come back."

He laughed out loud, quite happy.

Li Heng shook his head helplessly; it seemed Wang Donglai had told the old man about this again. But the old man was really something, did he really think he was a three-year-old child who never grew up?

He looked around at the shocked gamblers. But it was fine; the old man coming to pick him up in person could save him a bit of trouble, so he wouldn't have to take action against these small fry.

"Come, come, let's go back; I'll host a welcome banquet for you! With your ability, leaving the city at this time, you must have had some significant discoveries. Let's talk as we walk."

The two walked together, went straight into the city, and finally, their figures disappeared from everyone's sight.

Zhang Xiaoliu opened his mouth to speak, but felt that nothing was appropriate to say, and in the end, could only force out a sentence with a mournful face.

"He is a living person?!"

The gamblers who thought Li Heng was dead felt as if their faces had been slapped hard. The greenhorn they thought he was didn't seem green at all; he actually had the Demon Suppression Division Chief there to pick him up in person?

What level of figure was this?

Regardless of how Zhang Xiaoliu questioned or was surprised, those who had previously placed their Chips on Li Heng, hoping to make a quick profit, such as Xing Yong, began to look unkind, gathering around Zhang Xiaoliu, rubbing their hands and fists...