“This queen is pleased with your answer!”

****

The minute Yaomu Shou and Long Di leapt into the whirlpool, a few other figures dashed into the cave.

“I-Incredible!”

It was Hui Haohan, one of the demons Long Di saved from the thunder dragon rhino.

He was surprised by the rich spiritual energy swirling within the cavern.

“Tch!” a scoff came from behind him, prompting the demon to look behind him.

There he looked to see a demon staring at him with no small amount of disdain.

Hui Haohan looked down with a red face. A while ago, he did appear like a country bumpkin. Even if it was his first time seeing something like this, he still should have kept his bearing as an expert.

He and the others from their group were surrounded by a much larger group of demons. An enormous bulk of the group were people that had a feud with Long Di.

This included Xue Zi, Shi Zun and Zhen Song. There were other demons present as well, mostly the normal disciples of the three mentioned earlier. There were others, but they were of the minority.

“Heh! Hui Haohan you’ve truly lost the face of one of the Grand Families!”

When Hui Haohan heard who it was who spoke, anger dotted his features, and he snapped his face behind the demon who chastised earlier to glare at the disparager.

A vein popped up on Hui Haohan’s head. “Zhen Song you…”

“What you!? If you have something to say, then say it!?”

That’s right, the demon constantly degrading Hui Haohan was none other than Zhen Song of the Zhen family, a contemporary from one of the Grand Families of the demon race.

Not just Hui Haohan, but the group of demons who were Yaomu Shou’s allies were angered by his contempt for them.

Zhen Song wasn’t that much different from them in terms of strength, so for him to look down on them so much was infuriating.

He was obviously using his current backing to bully them.

Zhen Song, on the other hand, wasn’t bothered by this. He had already thrown in his lot with others, so he might as well go all in.

“The argument of the weak is truly special!” another demon sneered.

Zhen Song’s expression darkened upon hearing this. He turned his attention to the speaker, who was a red-robed figure.

“Shut up Xue Zi! You got soundly defeated by Long Di, so why are you acting like you’re better than me!?”

The smirk on Xue Zi’s face disappeared when Zhen Song brought up his defeat like this. “Courting death!”

Shing!

A glowing red dot appeared between his brow, before another appeared in his hand.

“Enough!” A shout filled with power silenced the noise in the cavern.

Both Xue Zi and Zhen Song trembled under the power in the voice.

It was Jinzi Buxia, the second most powerful disciple of the Iron Body Forge Sect. He was the leader of this small group, and everyone here had to listen to him.

“Young master Xue Zi,” Jinzi Buxia looked at the young demon before him. “Remember that the only reason young Lord Er Jinshu agreed to help you is to repay the favour of the pill your sect created.”

“Yes!” Xue Zi hurriedly cupped his fist.

Xue Zi had no idea how his father was able to do it, but somehow the latter was able to get a pill to the Iron Body Forge Sect that their young master needed.

Xue Zi was arrogant, but he knew his place. Any disciple from the Iron Body Forge Sect was above him in both standing and power, but here he was, travelling with the second most powerful expert in the Iron Body Forge Sect!

In addition, Full Metal Er Jinshu knew of him! If he played his cards right, he might even be able to spark an alliance between the two.

“Now,” Jinzi Buxia surveyed the cavern. “Where is this…!?”

“T-This…!” Jinzi Buxia’s next words were caught in his throat.

In fact, everyone in the cave descended into stunned silence upon surveying the strange scene before them.

“W-What is this?” a demon nearby asked.

There, in the middle of the cavern, floating mid-air was a sphere of crackling lightning energy.

Though it was lightning energy, it appeared unnervingly calm. It swirled in a bizarre fashion, as if compelled to do by some invisible power.

It appeared to be shielding something inside. Whatever was inside couldn’t be made out, but what was for sure was that something brimming with spiritual energy was trapped inside.

Suddenly, Jinzi Buxia’s expression changed, “Could it be!?”

D-D-Dum!

Jinzi Buxia’s cauldrons exploded into being, shocking everyone here.

What happened for Jinzi Buxia to suddenly enter a battle-ready state!? Was there an enemy nearby!?

Shing!

Jinzi Buxia didn’t answer them. Instead, a golden lustre covered both his hands before he clapped both palms together!

“Aurous Vise!”

The slumbering somatic essence kicked up into a frenzy before he leapt from where he was to unleash a powerful claw strike on the sphere of electrical energy!

Everywhere his golden claws passed through left a faint trail of gold.

“So powerful!”

Xue Zi, Shi Zun, Zhen Song, and everyone else felt pressured by the power of this attack.

Krrsh!

The claw struck the lightning sphere with an incredible force, causing a thin layer of lightning to part from where he hit it.

“Hmph!” he smirked that this barrier wasn’t as formidable as it looked.

Suddenly, the dome shuddered, and the smirk left his face. An intense feeling of danger gripped his heart, and he backed away in an instant, but it was too late!

The lightning that made up the sphere quivered, and before long it was like a drop of water in a pot of boiling oil.

Krrrssh!

The entire dome of lightning lost whatever balance held it together and, as if in retaliation to the earlier provocation, lashed out in a frenzy!

“Shit!” Jinzi Buxia cursed as he turned back to where everyone else was.

“Erect your defences!”

Xue Zi and the others didn’t waste any time and in an instant executed their defensive abilities or activated their protective talismans and artefacts!

Two demons were a pace too slow, and they didn’t get the chance to even scream when the lightning ran over them, bursting them apart!

B-B-B-Boom!

Tendrils of lightning energy hammered the defences of everyone present. Flashes of light lit up the cavern like an exploding sun!

Ktch!

The demon race experts’ expressions fell when they saw cracks appearing all over the shields that kept these lethal bolts at bay!

Krsh…

Suddenly, the lightning died down and the space in the cavern returned to silence.

Slowly, everyone deactivated their defences and cautiously looked to where that ball of death floated before.

It was still there, floating quietly like it didn’t just try to run their fade with extreme prejudice.

“W-What the hell just happened!?” Zhen Song asked, still steeped in fear from the earlier experience.

However, no one answered him. One reason was that no one knew what to say and another reason was because everyone was still shaken up by the earlier sequence of events.

Their brush with death was so close that some just fell to the ground on their butts. Never before had they felt so grateful to be alive.

“Sir Jinzi Buxia, what is this?” even the reticent Shi Zun couldn’t remain unmoved in the face of this.

He had erected several layers of defence and was on his last layer when the lightning finally receded.

Jinzi Buxia didn’t answer Shi Zun’s question. Instead, he took out a stone tablet from his robes before smashing it!

Shi Zun and the others were confused by his actions. What was that stone tablet?

“I’ve called young Lord Er Jinshu here!” Jinzi Buxia announced.

What!?

Everyone here was surprised. Why did Jinzi Buxia suddenly call over the number one expert of the Iron Body Forge Sect for this!?

“Sir Jinzi Buxia, what’s going on!?” Xue Zi could tell that something was off.

Jinzi Buxia obviously knew what this was and needed the help of Er Jinshu to take it down.

Rumble!

Suddenly, a fierce tremor rocked the underground cavern! While cracks ran the entire length of it!

The demon race experts found it hard to keep their feet under them.

“What’s going on!”

Boom!

A thunderous explosion went off in the ceiling above the cavern!

Boulders the size of Pebbles rained down, causing most of the demon race experts to retreat back into the cave they came from.

Even Jinzi Buxia and the others were no exception. He could block the falling rocks, but there was no reason to waste the extra energy to do so.

By the time the dust cleared, they peeked their heads from the cave to see a massive crowd from up above staring at them.

Jinzi Buxia was shocked at the scene. Where was young Lord Er Jinshu?

“H-Hey look at that!”

Jinzi Buxia looked over to see the mass of people staring at the mysterious lightning sphere with undisguised greed.

‘Look after it for now. I’ll be there soon!’

A voice transmission made its way to Jinzi Buxia‘s head.

Something had caused Er Jinshu to not be able to come to their aid. Because of this, he had to keep this sphere safe!

Shu!

A single expert from up above made a beeline straight for the mysterious lightning sphere.

Only an idiot would see something like this and not know that something was good. The swirling spiritual energy inside deemed whatever was inside a treasure.

When the expert made a dash, all the other regular experts couldn’t keep their composure and made a dash for it as well.

Jinzi Buxia was just about to defend when a thought came to him. Then, with a smile, he turned to everyone he came here with.

“Get back!”

Not long after he said this, the first expert came, and not wanting anyone else to get it before he did, his hand touched the mysterious lightning sphere.

Krrsshh…

[Author’s Notes: I will be changing the great family/families of the demon race to Grand Family/Families. Need ways to differentiate them from another set of great families that are all but useless by now.]