The great elder’s hand trembled. The cup of wine he had prepared for Zu An almost fell to the ground. He couldn't be bothered with pouring wine anymore, and quickly placed the bottle and cup down before asking, “Why would you say that, young master?”

Zu An then explained his encounters in the palace. “I just saw both the Mad King and the Green Iguana King dying right before my eyes. The Monster Lord is clearly a merciless person. No doubt he did that for me to see.”

The great elder swallowed with difficulty. “I hadn’t expected even outstanding heroes of their generation like the Mad King and the Green Iguana King to die in such a dismal way. Had they known things would be like this, they would’ve just gone with the Shadow Monster King to the Cultivation World. Even if they died, they would’ve died honorable deaths.”

Zu An was a bit surprised. Judging from what the elder was saying, the Mad King and Green Iguana King’s status and strength were almost equal to the Shadow Monster King’s. The fact that the Monster Lord was able to so easily kill them meant his true power was even more unfathomable.

“But the young master doesn’t need to worry. Judging from what you are saying, they clearly colluded with the past dynasty’s remnant evil, and that was the reason for their execution. The lord was only doing this as a warning for the True Demon race. As long as we are cautious and conscientious, we won’t need to be scared.” The great elder calmed down and returned to the table to pour some wine.

𝘧𝓇ℯℯ𝑤ℯ𝘣𝓃ℴ𝓋𝑒𝑙.𝑐𝘰𝑚

Zu An then said, “But I was recruited by first miss Salamay and agreed to their request.”

Since the Monster Lord already knew about that, he didn’t have to worry about other people hearing about it. He could just use the information to be more proactive for once.

“What?!” The great elder finally couldn't hold onto the wine pot anymore. It fell to the ground and shattered. The scarlet wine that flowed everywhere seemed to reflect his current emotions. There was no time for him to cherish this precious bottle of wine, though. He grabbed Zu An’s hand and exclaimed, “Young master, please don’t scare me like that! Just what is going on?”

Zu An had been paying attention to the elder's reaction, and thus confirmed that the latter really didn’t know about his relationship with Salamay. He replied, “Mojard sought me out before I went to the Cultivation World. First miss Salamay also sought me out earlier today.”

The great elder started to panic. “You’ve made a grave mistake… Young master, how could you have dealings with those traitors?”

He didn’t ask if Zu An really had sided with them. The fact that they had frequently communicated, and yet hadn’t immediately reported it already explained a lot. He finally understood why the Monster Lord would deliberately kill the Mad King and Green Iguana King in front of the young master. He was clearly already suspicious.

“I didn’t have a choice either. The entire world is on the verge of collapse, and it might be destroyed at any time. Has the Monster Lord been able to find a solution in all these years? All of his plans ended in failure, so everyone is starting to feel uneasy. I only wanted to find another way of survival for the True Demon race,” Zu An replied, paying attention to the elder's reaction so he could change his direction at will. Fortunately, the latter didn’t start to suspect him.

“But even so, there is no need to mix with those remnant evils!” The great elder couldn't help but exclaim, “Do you think the Lord of Slaughter is some benevolent individual? He was incredibly cruel in the past, and all of the clans loathed him. Later, he was trapped in the Cultivation World after he failed to conquer it. Even if he truly could return, what would that change?!”

“But we still need to do something. We can’t just wait for our deaths, right?” Zu An stared into his eyes.

The great elder became silent. He looked really conflicted, and he wanted to say something several times, but stopped in the end. He paced around the room with his arms behind him. When even Zu An’s eyes were starting to get a bit dizzy following him, he finally stopped and seemed to make up his mind, saying, “It’s all my fault. I should have told you about some things earlier. You wouldn’t have acted so rashly then.”

“What is it?” Zu An was surprised. Judging from various clues, he'd already formed suspicions that the True Demon race had some secrets, and that was why he'd put on this performance in front of the great elder. He hadn’t expected it to really work!

“You remember how your father died in the past, right?” The great elder’s tone became extremely grave.

Zu An ambiguously grunted in agreement.

How the hell am I supposed to know how Donaire’s father died?

Zu An was worried that he would expose himself, but the great elder suddenly began to talk to himself. “The Monster Lord brought your father and the other clans’ kings to challenge the Annihilation Beast, yet they returned after a crushing defeat. The casualties among the kings were severe, with many of them not even returning. Even though your father managed to return successfully, he was already seriously injured. Before his death, he told me about the True Demon race’s secrets. He wanted me to pass these secrets onto you once you became strong enough.”

He paused for a moment before looking straight into Zu An’s eyes. “I always believed that the young master was still not strong enough. However, this time, the young master achieved tremendous success in the Cultivation World, and you have been going between the Lord of Slaughter and Monster Lord’s designs. This level of ambition has surprised me, so I think it is time for me to tell you about this secret.”

Zu An was full of curiosity. He really wanted to tell the elder to stop beating around the bush and get to the point.

Fortunately, the great elder didn’t make him wait for too long. He set up several sound-blocking barriers around them before saying in a serious tone, “Young master, what I am about to say relates to the very existence of our race. You must remember that no one else can know about this, whether it is your closest friends or the women at your side. Otherwise, there will be no hope for our True Demon race if even the slightest news leaks out.”

“But of course!” Zu An immediately agreed.

When he saw how serious Zu An was, the great elder nodded in satisfaction. “On your journey to the Cultivation World, the young master has probably seen the Demon race. Don’t you feel that they are a bit similar to us?”

“That’s right. It isn’t just appearance, even their language and way of life is very similar,” Zu An replied. He was also a bit confused. Could it be that the Fiend races really were just bloodlines that the Monster World had left behind in the Cultivation World?

“It isn’t just similar; we can even activate the power hidden within their bloodlines,” the great elder said with a sense of pride.

“Is it because they come from some lineage that our ancestors left behind in the Cultivation World?” Zu An asked to test the waters.

“The ancestor’s bloodline? An inferior species like them?” The great elder sneered. “The Cultivation World’s Fiend races are nothing more than beings who gradually gained intelligence and evolved from blood our ancestors left behind in their lands after all the battles.”

“The ancestors’ blood was that powerful?” Zu An was a bit surprised. The blood of the powerful had a lot of amazing properties. For example, his blood could heal a lot of hidden injuries and speed up one's cultivation. But causing beasts to gain intelligence? That was far from what his blood could accomplish.

“Of course. Does the young master know what kind of being our ancestor was?” The great elder started to get a bit excited as he spoke.

“Was he not the True Demon?” Zu An asked, stunned.

“Of course not. It is only because we’ve lost the power of the ancient bloodline that we’ve degenerated into the True Demon race.” The great elder harrumphed. “Our ancestor was a deity from the Celestial Court!”

“The Celestial Court?” Zu An was now truly surprised. Even though he'd suspected that the True Demon race’s ancestor had an impressive background, he hadn't expected it to be this incredible.