The forefather of the winged demons was named Bluefalcon. He was relatively renowned among his fellows.
Forefather Silveredge, of the golden demons, enjoyed a similar status.
The final forefather who entered was Shadowless, one of the top three forefathers of the shadow demons. He was roughly the equal of Evilshadow, whom Jiang Chen and friends had slain.
It was very strange for these three to appear near the Rejuvenation Isles. In theory, this place wasnât nearly important enough to warrant all three of them showing up. One forefather wouldâve been more than enough to raze the isles.
There was clearly a different reason for which they had gathered.
The arrival of Shadowless prompted a chuckle from Bluefalcon. âDaoist Shadowless, I presume from your presence that work on the ten sacred lands is going smoothly?â
Shadowless let out a sinister cackle. âI didnât expect them to be so easy to beat. It seems that the descent of so many of us upon Myriad Abyss has been a bit of a waste.â
âNot at all! Weâve simply learned from our mistakes in the ancient war,â laughed Bluefalcon. âIf our ten tribes had cooperated a bit more closely, we wouldnât have met with nearly such a miserable end. The humans have this adage: live and learn. Thereâs no reason we canât do the same!â
âHeh, I suppose, but thatâs hardly the reason for our collaboration this time around. Itâs because of the celestial forefatherâs order. No matter how much we dislike each other, we are obliged to band together, yes?â Shadowless spoke as insubstantially as he traveled.
Silveredge harrumphed. âThe celestial forefather is overcautious. If we use our full strength at any time, we would conquer Divine Abyss in a clean sweep. There is no reason for these complicated conspiracies.â
âHaha, Daoist Silveredge, if thatâs what you really think, then you are sorely mistaken. You havenât learned from the ancient lesson, it seems.â Shadowless cackled darkly again.
âEnough of that from you.â Silveredge appeared unconvinced. âTake this time, for example. If weâd attacked Winterdraw after wiping out Rejuvenation, we would be able to utterly crush Winterdrawâs defenses. If thereâs a so-called transportation formation there, we can take control of it immediately and attack the human domain that way. Why go to all these extra lengths? Have we demons grown to fear the humans?â
Just like the late Forefather Stonefiend, Silveredge carried a gross disdain for humanity.
Evidently, he much preferred a frontal assault, an attack as swift and decisive as a lightning strike. That, in his opinion, suited demonic style much more.
These underhanded tricks and roundabout tactics were utterly distasteful to him. Silveredge hated the approach of Shadowless and the shadow demons especially.
Shadowless cackled a third time. âDaoist Silveredge, you deride the human domain even after losing once to them? You should know well the reason that we canât invade them, even though our seals in the desolate wildlands have been opened.â
âHmph. Didnât they activate the so-called âGreat Formation of Heavenly Soul Confinementâ? Thatâs all theyâre good for. They only know how to turtle up behind a formation. That shows their fear of us, doesnât it?â
Silveredge had a pretty good point.
âSure, humans are scared of us demons. So what? That doesnât mean they canât deal with us. Havenât you heard of what happened to Lightford of the monster demons? A real character has appeared on the humansâ side. Heâs hard to deal with.â
âAbsurd. One human brat? If we golden demons were in the vanguard, I guarantee Iâd have his head in a month,â spat Silveredge viciously.
It was Bluefalconâs turn to chuckle. âDaoist Silveredge, calm yourself. The celestial demon lord has spoken: we must follow orders in this sortie. Daoist Shadowless is in the lead, and we are to assist him.â
Bluefalcon seemed to be emphasizing Shadowlessâs leadership role, but his words could be construed as somewhat provocative as well.
Silveredge harrumphed, but refrained from overt criticism after that. Instead, he turned to complaining. âI hope everything goes well. Otherwise, the time weâll have wasted here will be enough for us to conquer the ten sacred lands at least once over.â
Shadowless roared with laughter. âWhen our mission here is complete, of course weâll get new assignments with the ten sacred lands. Are you worried that you wonât be able to contribute?â
âIâm just worried that the wood demons will kill everyone before we get to them,â sighed Bluefalcon. âWe wonât have much more to do then.â
âThe celestial demon lord knows better than that. The wood demonsâ methods may be particularly devious, but he wonât let them have all the honor. He wonât like any other tribeâs contribution to overshadow his own, after all.â Shadowless grinned. âYouâre worrying about nothing at all. The lord is so judicious in his command this time because he knows not to split up our forces anymore. Back then, we spread ourselves too thin, which allowed the humans to divide and conquer.â
This was absolutely true. In the ancient era, if the ten demonic tribes had stayed together and listened to orders, they wouldnât have lost the war so completely.
The demons had lost because they had underestimated their enemy, as well as been overly proud of themselves. In terms of raw strength, they were more than capable of conquering Divine Abyss.
âThe demon lord has made a wise choice this time. Conquering Myriad Abyss means that we will have our own base of operations with which to defend and attack from. More importantly, the cultivators here are mostly spineless cowards. Aside from the ten sacred lands, the factions here donât have the guts to fight us to the death,â Bluefalcon laughed snidely. âWe smashed our way here with trivial ease.â
âSmall fry, all of them,â waved Shadowless. âTheyâre not important. What matters most is breaking into Winterdraw and the human domain. Thatâs the key to this war. If we canât enter the domain, the lordâs plan will be stopped short.â
âYou guys have so much bullshit to spew. Can we go or not?â snickered Silveredge. âDonât tell me youâre still in the planning stages?â
âWhatâs the rush? I have the entire plan right here. Donât worry, youâll have a fight ahead of you soon. I hope you can actually beat Jiang Chen when he shows up, hmm?â Shadowless riled up his fellow forefather.
Silveredge sneered. âAre you talking in your sleep? When have we golden demons failed in a straight-up fight?â