In the Spirit Realm, within the Ten Thousand Demon Abyss.
This place was the most yin and evil in all of Spirit Realm, with demonic energy swirling year-round beneath a blood-colored sky that knew no sun or moon.
Ragged black boulders jutted like beast fangs, piercing the barren and cracked earth. From time to time, heart-wrenching roars echoed from the depths—the furious bellows of ancient demons suppressed beneath.
The great upheaval of five years ago had little effect here, instead making the already sparse demonic energy grow even more dense.
Today, at the central Sky-Piercing Demon Platform of the Ten Thousand Demon Abyss, flags fluttered as countless demons gathered.
The platform stood ninety-nine feet tall, constructed entirely of black demon stone and carved with ancient and sinister runes. Nine ferocious demon pillars surrounded it, each burning with green demonic flames that cast the entire platform in an eerie solemnity.
Below, tens of thousands of demonic cultivators stood in solemn silence. They came in various forms: Rakshasas with blue faces and fangs, enchanting succubi, yakshas covered in bone spurs, and human-shaped cultivators radiating overwhelming demonic energy. All held their breath, their eyes burning with fervor as they gazed at the majestic figure at the platform's center.
Qin Ao stood with hands behind his back, clad in jet-black demon armor and a crimson cloak that billowed without wind. His face was stern, bearing the killing intent of a seasoned warrior.
A ferocious scar from his temple to his jaw added to his fierce appearance. Merely standing there, an iron-blooded aura, as if crawling from mountains of corpses and seas of blood, naturally emanated, silencing all within ten li.
No one knew that the body of this future Demon Venerable who would shake the Spirit Realm housed a soul from another world.
Many years ago, he was the feared mercenary king of the Golden Triangle region. The survival instincts and ruthless methods forged in gunfire, rain of bullets, and intrigue during his past life made him perfectly at home in this world of the weak preying on the strong.
He quickly assembled a force, using special warfare thinking and ruthless tactics to rise rapidly, declaring himself Demon Venerable.
However, good times didn't last. The righteous alliance launched a surprise attack, his forces suffered heavy losses, and he himself was severely injured, forcing him to flee deep into the Ten Thousand Demon Abyss to survive.
Those were his darkest days, struggling at the brink of death daily, fighting abyssal demons while maintaining mental clarity amidst demonic corrosion.
Until five years ago, when the great upheaval occurred.
When that vast voice resounded through heaven and earth, Qin Ao was locked in a life-or-death battle with a thousand-year-old demon spider. In that moment, he felt the violent fluctuations of heavenly laws, and the instincts honed from his past battlefield told him—opportunity had come!
He drew upon the pure demonic energy accumulated through ten thousand ages of the Ten Thousand Demon Abyss, forcefully breaking through bottlenecks with the unyielding will of a warrior, reaching the peak of the Heavenly Human Realm!
Emerging from his breakthrough, Qin Ao looked at the chaotic Spirit Realm ravaged by the catastrophe, a familiar cruel smile touching his lips.
Chaos? This was his most familiar stage.
And today, he would take an even more important step.
Qin Ao slowly raised his right hand, and the platform below instantly fell silent.
This was an action he had performed countless times in his past life, each time able to quiet even the most ferocious mercenaries.
"Five years ago, heavenly fire rained down, the world underwent great upheaval, and the Spirit Realm fell into disaster," his voice was cold as iron, carrying unquestionable authority. "Those righteous hypocrites called this a sign of calamity, viewing the child of heaven as a star of disaster, discarding them like trash and insulting them like swine!"
A commotion rippled below, many demonic cultivators showing scorn and disdain. Most demonic cultivators walked the unorthodox path and scoffed at the righteous faction's rhetoric.
"However!" Qin Ao's tone suddenly soared like thunder, "In our eyes, this is not calamity, but the beginning of heavenly change! Not a star of disaster, but the arrival of holy infants!"
He suddenly turned, pointing behind the platform: "Bring them forward, the Ten Holy Sons!"
The majestic voice echoed through the abyss, all demonic cultivators turning toward the back of the platform.
Under the watchful eyes of countless onlookers, ten children dressed in black holy robes, escorted by elite demonic cultivators, slowly walked onto the platform.
These ten children, five boys and five girls, were of similar age, perhaps five or six years old.
They had youthful faces, yet their eyes held a calmness beyond their years.
They stood in a row, facing the tens of thousands of demonic cultivators below.
"These Ten Holy Sons were all born where meteors fell five years ago, each bearing heavenly marks and carrying the destiny of change!" Qin Ao's voice was filled with unquestionable authority.
"The righteous are ignorant, treating uncarved jade as common stone, abandoning pearls in dark alleys. This is the heaven-sent opportunity for us!"
He walked to the first boy, who trembled slightly, seemingly afraid of his surroundings.
"This child was born by the Eastern Sea where a meteor fell. On his birth day, the sea flowed backward and ten thousand fish bowed in worship!
Yet the righteous saw it as calamity, and his family tried to sacrifice him to the sea. It was this sovereign who saved him from fire and water!"
Exclamations of admiration rose from below.
Qin Ao walked past each child in turn, recounting their "extraordinary" origins and their "persecution" by the righteous.
Some were born where black lotuses erupted from the earth, regarded as demons to be burned by villagers; some summoned thunder with their cries, rejected by Taoist temples; some could understand the whispers of demons, deemed inauspicious and imprisoned by their families...
Each story was carefully crafted, highlighting these children's "uniqueness" while emphasizing the "ignorance and cruelty" of the righteous, making the demonic cultivators below seethe with righteous indignation, their gazes gradually shifting from curiosity to fervor.
When he reached the last girl, Qin Ao paused slightly.
This girl was unusually calm, even looking coldly at the tens of thousands of demonic cultivators below, her pitch-black eyes fathomless.
"This Holy Daughter was born in the meteor crater of the Northern Frontier. At her birth, demonic howls shook the Ten Thousand Demon Abyss for three days—she is the heaven-chosen daughter of our demonic path!"
Qin Ao's voice carried a trace of imperceptible seriousness. This girl was the one he understood least, seemingly harboring secrets, but the more so, the better she fit the "Holy Son" persona.
After the introductions, Qin Ao returned to the platform's front, facing the masses, his voice shaking the four directions:
"The righteous have become corrupt, heaven's way must be reformed! Today, this sovereign not only establishes the Ten Holy Sons, but also swears here—"
He suddenly drew the "Blood Slaughter" demon knife from his waist, pointing it at the blood-colored sky. This weapon, designed and forged from his memories of his past life, resembled a Nepalese kukri but was even more ferocious, having drunk countless gallons of blood.
"Before the ten thousand demons and in this abyss, I, Qin Ao, today establish the Holy Dynasty, no longer calling ourselves the demonic cult!"
"The Holy Dynasty will take the Ten Holy Sons as its foundation, embracing all talents persecuted by the righteous, reforming the old and establishing the new, to reorder heaven and earth!"
"All who wish to join my Holy Dynasty, regardless of origin or righteous/demonic affiliation, will be judged by ability and loyalty! Within the Holy Dynasty, the strong are revered, the fit survive!"
"I swear: with all my strength, I will dominate the Spirit Realm, sweep through the six directions, and pacify the eight wildernesses! Let all beings in this realm no longer suffer the oppression of righteous hypocrisy! Let this heaven-chosen child no longer be called a star of disaster by the ignorant!"
"With the Holy Dynasty established, heaven's destiny is clear!"
BOOM!
As Qin Ao's oath ended, thunder suddenly roared above the Ten Thousand Demon Abyss, blood-colored vortexes spun wildly, and demonic lightning writhed like dragons and snakes.
This heavenly phenomenon stunned all demonic cultivators. No one knew who knelt first, but soon, like a tide, tens of thousands of cultivators knelt to the ground, bowing reverently toward the platform.
"Holy Venerable, immortal! Holy Dynasty, eternal prosperity!"
"Heaven's destiny is clear! Holy Dynasty, eternal prosperity!"
"..."
Heaven-shaking cheers echoed through the Ten Thousand Demon Abyss, countless demonic cultivators trembling with excitement. They felt it—a new path, an opportunity to escape the stigma of "demonic" and truly contend with the righteous for the orthodoxy of heaven and earth!
Standing at the center of the platform, Qin Ao accepted the worship of ten thousand demons, watching the ten "Holy Sons" enveloped in light behind him, his eyes flashing with cold, pragmatic light.
He didn't believe in destiny at all, nor did he care whether these children were stars of disaster or holy infants.
Though he had indeed encountered these children through various coincidences.
As a mercenary in his past life, he only believed in strength and utilizing all available resources.
The persecution by the righteous gave them the perfect excuse, and the heavenly phenomena provided the best proof.
These children would become the spiritual symbols and tools of the Holy Dynasty, attracting "abnormals" and "geniuses" rejected and oppressed by the righteous. And he would use this power to build an unprecedented war machine.
"Propaganda war, psychological warfare..." Qin Ao sneered in his mind. "Having a righteous cause is an ancient dragon-slaying technique passed down by our ancestors."
...
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