Chapter 391: The Real Deal! (II)

The vice-chief continued, "First, we want to abduct the Dragon Cavalry escorting the chief and force them to tell us how to open the door of the hidden realm. If that doesn't work, we'll use this squad of Dragon Cavalry members to trick the City Lord's Residence into opening up its gates for us. As long as we find the key before the City Lord returns, there's still hope for us."

Elder Yin said, "During this process, members of the Sun and Moon Pavilion will help out but only in secret. They cannot act openly. Because if we fail, the Blazing Fire Gang will surely get purged. It is necessary for there to still be people to pass on this information. Furthermore, the human race has to keep on existing in Python Belly City."

Chu Liang understood what Elder Yin meant.

They had to keep the hope of escaping from getting snuffed out. Moreover, there were demons in Python Belly City. If both the Blazing Fire Gang and the Sun and Moon Pavilion were wiped out, the remaining ordinary humans would end up as rations for the demons.

However, Chu Liang thought about it from a different point of view.

He asked, "Since we've found the hidden realm's door, the demons will also benefit if we can find a way to leave. Why not get them involved?"

Nevertheless, the City Lord probably sees the demons as being part of that same community with shared interests since they are all trapped here.

So, why not unite all the forces that can be united?

"I had the same thought in the past." Elder Yin shook his head. "But the current leader of the demons in the western part of the city is a greater demon from the Far West. He calls himself Tiger God.

"Ten years ago, he conquered all the demons in just three days and established the Celestial Tiger Hall. Now, his forces are as strong as iron plates. These demonic entities from the Far West are all extremely hostile toward humans. It is simply impossible to cooperate with them."

When Chu Liang heard of the Far West, a sudden thought struck him.

"Maybe I could give it a try?"

...

Celestial Tiger Hall was located in the western part of Python Belly City.

Unlike the structured human territories, there were hardly any buildings in the demons' territory. There had been more buildings there in the past, but they had all been destroyed. The demons' territory was now just a vast land of ruins and pits. Many of the demons used the pits as sleeping spots.

The demons had always scoffed at the humans' ability to construct buildings, but that was just on the surface. They were actually secretly deeply envious of the humans.

At the end of a street in the demons' territory, a rather peculiar figure suddenly appeared.

The approaching figure had a humanoid form. He was wearing a black robe and a bronze mask with simple veined patterns, looking very mysterious. The faint demonic qi he emitted was the only thing that indicated what his identity could be.

He kept walking until he arrived at one of the few intact buildings in the western part of Python Belly City—the Celestial Tiger Hall.

Around four demonic beasts approached the humanoid figure, eyeing him with unfriendly gazes.

One of them, a winged lion-like demonic beast, bared his teeth at the humanoid figure. "Kid, when did you get here? Why haven't I seen you before?"

There were not many demons in Python Belly City, and their territory was not large, so they all had some impression of each other.

This humanoid figure was naturally Chu Liang.

Upon hearing the demon's words, Chu Liang didn't move a muscle or even glance at the demons.

Seeing that, the winged lion beast became enraged.

However, before he could do anything to Chu Liang, someone bellowed from behind them. "You blind fools, how dare you be so impudent in front of the honorable divine envoy!"

The moment the demonic beasts heard that voice, they knew who was bellowing at them. It was the old ape who had a high status in the Celestial Tiger Hall.

Several thuds rang out. Then an old ape covered in red hair, looking much like a ball of fire, emerged from the Celestial Tiger Hall. With each step he took, he kicked away one of the demonic beasts standing around Chu Liang.

Then the old ape looked at the black-robed masked man in front of him with a complicated gaze full of a variety of emotions. In reverence of the divine envoy's presence, the old ape was deeply moved and filled with the desire to flatter him.

The old ape shouted excitedly, "Honorable divine envoy!"

The nearby demons gathered around them in astonishment. "So, this is one of the honorable divine envoys..."

Regardless of whether the demonic beasts originated from the Far West, they all knew of the existence of divine envoys. It was just that some of them had never seen a divine envoy before, so they would not be able to recognize one.

Consequently, when they heard the mention of a divine envoy, they all looked over with excited gazes, wanting to see a divine envoy in person.

"Take me to your hall master," Chu Liang said coldly.

"Yes!" the old ape replied, immediately leading the way. He shouted, "Make way! Make way! The honorable divine envoy is here!"

The old ape quickly brought Chu Liang to the entrance of the hall.

The hall master of the Celestial Tiger Hall, Tiger God, emerged from the hall to greet Chu Liang.

𝘧𝘳𝘦ℯ𝓌𝘦𝒷𝘯𝑜𝑣𝘦𝓁.𝒸𝘰𝓂

Tiger God stayed in a building that had been built by humans, so he maintained a humanoid form just to live there. His humanoid form was that of a middle-aged strong man with thick eyebrows and a broad face, dressed in tight-fitting clothes.

The moment Tiger God saw Chu Liang, he welcomed Chu Liang excitedly.

"Honorable divine envoy!" Tiger God exclaimed. "How did you get in?"

There was no white rain today, so that meant the passage to the outside world had not opened. Why was the divine envoy making an appearance in Python Belly City now? Tiger God did not understand what was going on.

Instead of replying, Chu Liang asked, "You're Tiger God?"

"Honorable divine envoy, you mustn't call me that. I'm just a lowly Black Tiger Demon. You can call me Xiao Hei[1]," Tiger God answered with a booming laugh.

The tiger demon king's fawning behavior might seem strange, but it was actually expected behavior. Demon divine envoys upheld the will of the demon god, so they always held a high status among the demons. It was a view that was deeply ingrained in them.

Chu Liang paid the tiger demon king's behavior no mind. Instead, he just raised his hands and said, "I have come here in accordance with our god's will."

The tiger demon king dropped to his knees with a thud.

His eyes welled up with tears. "Our god... still remembers us?"

Chu Liang continued speaking slowly. "Our god is about to return and has ordered us to spread the message to every corner of the world where our people reside. So, I came here."

His spirited tone moved the hearts of those who heard him.

"Honorable sir, you came here just to rescue us?" the tiger demon king asked, his voice filled with disbelief.

"Of course." Chu Liang looked down at him. "As long as you follow our god's will, our god will naturally deliver you from distress."

Feeling greatly moved, the tiger demon king bowed deeply. "We are the demon god's people, and we will always heed our god's will!"

After a while, Chu Liang left the Celestial Tiger Hall.

...

Inside the Celestial Tiger Hall, there was a scene of great joy and celebration.

The tiger demon king laughed heartily. "We can finally leave this hellish place!"

At this moment, several of his trusted aides were gathered around him.

One of them, a white crane demon, stepped forward and asked uneasily, "Hall Master, can we be certain that was a real divine envoy? He is asking us to help the humans... Could he be an impostor?"

"How could that be?!" The tiger demon king waved his hand dismissively. "You haven't been to the Far West, so you don't know how divine envoys are born.

"That bronze mask he was wearing—it is a mask that was blessed by the divine demon god in the temple. There are no more than a hundred of those masks in the entire demon race. Only demons with pure, unconditional faith in the demon god can receive the acknowledgment of the demon god's spiritual qi. If demons who have not been acknowledged by the demon god wear those masks, there will be no movement in their spiritual qi.

"Just from this point alone, you can tell if someone is a real divine envoy. And this one... is the real deal!"

1. This means “little black”. It's like a nickname. ☜