A Demon's Journey

The Origin Sect was under a lot of pressure. Nearly all their elders, disciples, and even the mercenaries hired by them had been ordered to repeatedly battle against the demons.

Their numbers were dwindling with each passing day. However, these demons were slaughtering all the weak fellows in the Origin Sect.

The ones who could be considered paper tigers.

Some real experts and talents lost their lives, but the Origin Sect wasn't affected too greatly by their deaths.

The numbers had been greatly reduced, but only the true experts remained behind. Each of these experts had gained their right to live by slaughtering hundreds of demons.

Thus, not a single one of them could be underestimated. Under the pressure of death, they had even awakened their bloodline abilities and their hidden potential.

This hidden potential was somewhat abstract. The individuals who unlocked it experienced a change in mentality as they felt somewhat more mature than before.

The other sects were also preparing their defenses. Some low-ranked sects had even ordered all the resources within their branches.

They intended to sacrifice their other branches to protect their main branch from devastation.

Even though sacrificing their own branches to the demon's assault appeared very cruel to them. The low-ranked sects were actually forced to take this action.

If the resources remained scattered like that, neither the main branch nor the other branches would survive.

In this situation, this was truly the best course of action.

However, the elders or the disciples in those branches didn't understand this reasoning. They knew they had been abandoned by the main branch.

It would be their luck if the demons didn't attack their sect. If the demons did attack their sect, they would be finished.

The other top sects didn't face this kind of issue.

Two of those top sects were already on the battlefield and battling each other. The Black Lake Sect and the Night Mountain Sect.

Both were getting anxious with each passing day, especially the Black Lake Sect.

Unlike the Night Mountain Sect, the Black Lake Sect's disciples, elders, and even their leader were away from their region. If the demons attacked their main sect building at this moment, it would be absolutely disastrous.

However, the Black Lake Sect also couldn't leave after creating such a huge commotion. Their prestige would be greatly affected if they didn't deal great damage to the Night Mountain Sect before returning.

The Black Lake Sect wanted to leave this battlefield, but only when they had shown their absolute supremacy here.

And this task was proving quite challenging due to the alliance of the beasts and the Night Mountain Sect.

The Red Crown Sect wasn't hugely affected. In fact, it wasn't even making any waves. It appeared as though the Red Crown Sect was completely confident in dealing with any attacks from the demons.

This was actually the only sect that had gained the Royal Family's support during its inception. In return, the Royal Family had gained significant control over this sect.

When setting up the Red Crown Sect's main branch or other smaller branches, the Royal Family had hired some reputed array masters.

They prepared a bunch of arrays around the Red Crown Sect's every branch during that time. Among those arrays included the Great Demonic Suppression Array.

These arrays were powered by some Celestial materials. Even the array masters didn't know what exactly the energy inside those stones was.

Since they didn't know its exact use, they just used it wherever it could be used or appeared appropriate.

This seemed the most appropriate way to use these stones, so those array masters didn't hesitate in utilizing them.

There was a region in the Glerian Kingdom where many of these stones could be mined out. Thus, there was always a stable supply for these stones whenever the Red Crown Sect required it.

All those cities that had a mine of this ore, there was always a Red Crown Sect's branch in that town.

The Red Crown Sect would launch missions so that the disciples would be rewarded if they assisted in keeping watch over the area.

This was one of the most rewarding missions of the Red Crown Sect. Thus, many disciples would pick this mission at least once.

Even though there were no movements by the higher-ups, the disciples were still quite terrified. They were all ordered to stay at their positions and practice their techniques.

They might need to utilize it at any moment.

The training worked in diverting the attention of a few individuals for a couple of days before they realized the seriousness of the situation.

And they realized the seriousness of the situation by hearing rumors of how the Origin Sect was dealing with the demons.

Two branches of the Origin Sect had already been completely demolished. The demons had broken all the arrays, and their resources had been looted. All the disciples had been slaughtered. The demons didn't even let off their bodies after killing them.

The demons ate their flesh and drank their blood. It seemed akin to food and water to them.

Moreover, there were rumors about some very strong demons who fought hundreds of warriors alone and won.

The demons possessed an extremely hard body and a savage outlook. Their savagery was even greater than that of beasts.

Azaroth also heard about the rumors of these demons. He merely smirked upon hearing these rumors.

'That Black Hurricane actually has rather strong subordinates. They possess the King's seed within them. I wonder if there is someone with an Emperor's seed in them.'

The King's seed was somewhat that was used to link the Ardor of a demon with that of a Demon king.

The target must naturally be weaker than a Demon King. Using this seed in them, the demon could borrow the power from a Demon King. The energy they could borrow depends on their body's limit.

If the body's limit was great, the energy they could borrow would be extremely large. Or else, the energy they could borrow would be abysmal.

The same was the case with the Emperor's Mark. However, the energy that was granted by the Emperor's Mark was much greater than that of the energy granted by the King's Mark. It wasn't the difference in quantity but quality.

Naturally, using the King's Mark and the Emperor's Mark had their own drawbacks. The primary drawback would be the loss of their life force.

And the secondary drawback was that the Demon King or the Demon Emperor who had planted that seed inside his subordinates, he could absorb their Demonic Ardor at any moment. If the Demonic Ardor of their subordinates was exhausted, the Demon King or the Demon Emperor would suck the life force out of them.

The Demon King or the Demon Emperor would absorb their subordinates' Ardor only when they were fighting against individuals even stronger than them.

Normally, a Demon King or a Demon Emperor would allow his subordinates to utilize a part of his power. His subordinates would perform better, which would only benefit him.

When Azaroth thought deeply about it, he felt it was unlikely that there was a demon with an Emperor's Mark on him.

After all, Black Hurricane was merely a Demon King. And when he met Black Hurricane, it didn't seem like he was working under someone.

If he wasn't working under a Demon Emperor, then why would he have a Demon Emperor's subordinate working under him?