Su Mo did not understand why the horned demons were setting out in large numbers.
Su Mo did not think that they were out to capture him as there were so many disciples of the Celestialspirit Sect, and at Lv 2 Enlightment Realm, he was not worth their time. It was just not possible that they were acting that way because of him.
He frowned but time was of the essence, so he could only continue speeding toward Demon-controlling Fort.
He moved carefully and masked his aura. It took a few hours before he finally reached the Demon-controlling Fort, and he was completely taken aback at the sight in front of him!
At this moment, he was hidden in a dense forest hundreds of miles away from Demon-controlling Fort. When he looked up, he saw that the Fort was surrounded by an army of horned demons. He estimated that there were tens of thousands of them as they completely encircled the Fort.
Large numbers of Celestialspirit Sect disciples had gathered along the city walls of the Demon-controlling Fort. Their faces were grave as they stared at the hordes of horned demon troops milling outside the Fort.
"Does this mean that the horned demons intend to attack Demon-controlling Fort? We're doomed!"
Su Mo's face grew pale. Even if he chose to show himself now, after having wasted so much time getting to the Fort, Feng Shaoyu and the rest were probably already killed by the horned demons.
"Sigh! My three Senior Brothers, if I manage to get out of this, I will definitely wipe out their entire population to avenge you!" Su Mo thought inwardly as he shook his head helplessly.
Feng Shaoyu and the others had always treated him well, especially Feng Shaoyu who had faced off against Chang Qi and Hou Pengtian in a bid to protect him and Tian Chen.
"I can only wait and observe, then attempt to escape in the chaos once the horned demons launch their attack on Demon-controlling Fort!" Su Mo thought to himself.
Su Mo then hid himself within the forest and cultivated while he waited for the horned demons to attack the Fort.
However, to his dismay, he had spent three days waiting and the horned demon troops had not made a move. They merely continued their seige on the Fort, but did not go on the offensive.
"What exactly are these horned demons planning?" Su Mo's face darkened and after giving it some thought, he decided to raise his own cultivation again.
After these few days of cultivating, it shouldn't be too much of a problem to try to level up again.
Most importantly, in his current predicament, the stronger he was, the higher his chances of escape would be.
He had increased his cultivation too quickly this time, so once he returned to the Celestialspirit Sect, it was imperative that he focussed on refining his cultivation. He would need to ensure his foundation was stable or the risk would be too great.
"I have 500 million Lower Spiritual Stones and 300,000 Medium Spiritual Stones left, which is equivalent to 800 million Lower Spiritual Stones!" A flicker of helplessness crossed Su Mo's face. After these Spiritual Stones were exhausted, he would be poorer than church mice!
Thereafter, Su Mo carved a cave through the mountain, and used a big boulder to seal the entrance. He sat cross-legged in the cave, and started to devour Spiritual Stones.
…
At the foot of a lofty mountain, in the middle of the Horned-demon Territory stood many buildings that stretched for hundreds of miles that formed a city. The city wall surrounding the city as well as the buildings in the city were all built from large boulders.
This was a horned demon tribe!
In a vast stone hall stood ten horned demons, and of the ten horned demons that were comprised of mostly middle-aged or older men, were two female horned demons.
These ten horned demons gave off a powerful aura and were obviously not of the Enlightment Realm.
"Everyone, we have waited for hundreds and thousands of years for the one who has finally appeared!" Said an elderly horned demon sitting in the main seat. His hair was white with two golden horns on his head.
At his words, the faces of the other horned demons turned serious, and their eyes glittered.
The old horned demon looked at a burly middle-aged horned demon and said, "Tu Kun, please brief us on the situation!"
This middle-aged horned demon nodded, his gaze circling the crowd, then said, "Today we discovered a Celestialspirit Sect disciple with a five-colored Vital Spirit in the vicinity of the tenth tribe. His cultivation was not high as it was only at Lv 2 Enlightment Realm, and, according to reports, his five colored Vital Spirit and aura matches the Five Elements Force to a tee."
"From this we can gather that this person is the true descendant of the Firmament Palace. I have already sent out 100,000 of our tribe members to lock down the Demon-controlling Fort and search for traces of this person in the surrounding areas."
"Everyone, what actions should we take once we find this person? Please state your opinions."
The crowd fell silent after Tu Kun finished his speech.
After a moment, a middle-aged horned demon with red horns said with a fierce glint in his eyes, "Our tribe may belong to Firmament Palace, and we may be slaves of the Five Elements Supreme Emperor, but, as of today, Firmament Palace has been laid to ruins for thousands of centuries, and we no longer need to follow in the ways of our ancestors. Furthermore, this weakling is not worthy of reigning over us!"
Many people nodded in agreement at his words.
"Huo Tang, you're wrong!" Tu Kun thought for a moment and shook his head.
"We live with the Five Elements Slave Seal within our bodies and each generation has to recognize the Five Elements Successor as our master. This is a fact that cannot be ignored."
"Humph! As of now, he is so weak that the slave seal would have a negligible effect on our tribe. Kill him!" Huo Tang said coldly.
"I agree with Huo Tang!"
"Me too!"
"Me too!"
The crowd nodded their agreement as Huo Tang's words made sense. After all, no one would wish to be enslaved for generations. The horned demons would regain their freedom as long as they killed this person.
A moment later, the elderly leader of the horned demons said with a glint in his eye, "Huo Tang's words indeed make sense, but you have forgotten our current predicament!"
He sighed, then continued softly, "Ever since the Firmament Palace was laid to ruins, for hundreds and thousands of years, our tribe has rapidly weakened. In the battle with Celestialspirit Sect's founder and Celestialspirit King 2,000 years ago, we lost our strongest fighters of the Martial Royal and Martial King Realm. In the past 2,000 years, we have been constantly crushed at the feet of the Celestialspirit Sect and this had led our tribe being the weakest it has ever been."
"In order to remain alive, many of the patriarchs have sealed their own cultivation, and have gone deep into slumber. Many other tribe members have also tried their utmost to repress their cultivation. At this rate, not only will we not return to the glory of the past, but our tribe will be completely extinguished!"
"Therefore, the appearance of the descendant of Firmament Palace is a chance for us. A chance to escape from the hold Celestialspirit Sect has over us."
The crowd fell silent after their leader finished his speech.
Exactly! They were just too pathetic in their current state, so they could only despair!
In the ancient times, the horned demons were so strong that they were one of the ten major tribes in Firmament and Continent, and commanded respect across the land. Now, they had fallen so low.
"I propose that each tribe deploy their own men to capture this person, then bring him back to the tribe. We shall decide whether or not to kill him after seeing him face to face!" The elderly leader announced.