Sovereign of the Three Realms

Indeed, they hadn't been very far from the battleground to begin with. It seemed too short a window to expedite a fight against two demon forefathers.

Under the same conditions, even Forefather Celestial might not have been able to dispose of them so easily.

After all, Blazingsun could exhibit fearsome destructiveness when cornered. At the very least, the two winged demons would rather avoid facing him.

"Shall we go down and take a look?" Demonhawk no longer exhibited any sign of conceit.

Demonroc remained utterly vigilant. "There might be traps waiting for us down there."

"Heh, what if there are? What's our tribe's greatest trait? Speed, of course! We'll have no problem avoiding whatever traps there might be." Demonhawk was very confident in that department.

But Demonroc merely nodded and stayed noncommittal. "Stick close to me so we can have each other's back. Don't ever be careless."

"Alright, I'll do as you say." Demonhawk knew it wasn't time to act presumptuous.

Turning into streaks of light, the two of them dove at the ground, keen as they were to obtain a better understanding of what had transpired.

"It, it was indeed them." Demonroc sounded torn. "The fire demon forefathers were definitely here, but I also sense many other presences. I'm certain it was Jiang Chen's group. Fellow daoist, do you feel the lingering aura of sacred beasts?"

Demonhawk gnashed his teeth. "That means it was really him! He's challenging our race and provoking our tribe!"

He immediately blew up at the mention of the young lord.

"Fellow daoist, please keep it in for now. There's certainly a reason he dares be so rampant. And I suspect…" Demonroc hesitated again.

"What? Why can't you stop beating around the bush?" Demonhawk grumbled.

"I suspect our peers the fire demons have been defeated. Their situation must be grim right now." There was an audible chill in Demonroc's voice born from fear. "Fellow daoist, we better go back. Let's gather our troops and play it safe. We'll defend our territory and wait for the main army to arrive." He was definitely unsettled.

If the two fire demons had fallen, then the enemy was far more terrible than they'd imagined.

Even with his tribe's absolute superiority in speed, he didn't want to touch such an opponent with a barge pole.

Demonhawk stared at his tribesman in anger. "You forget yourself! Who are we? When have demons ever been afraid of others? Do you know how humiliating your words are right now? You bring dishonor upon our entire tribe!"

Demonroc was of roughly equal status to his companion, so he naturally was incensed by the rebuke. If not for the urgency of the situation, he would've never tolerated it.

But right now, he didn't have the heart to yell back. Instead, he focused his entire attention on the surroundings, afraid every breeze or blade of grass could spring into sudden ambush.

How can he be such a wuss? Demonhawk fumed. "I finally see today your courage is smaller than a sesame seed. Whatever, if you're this afraid, you can go back by yourself first."

"Fellow daoist…"

"Stop wasting my time, I'm not interested!" Demonhawk interrupted with a bellow. "I'll make some inquiries in the fire demons' territory. I have to get to the bottom of this matter in any case. How can someone like Blazingsun be this easily taken down, even after igniting his life essence? I find that hard to believe."

Demonroc tried to compromise. "Fellow daoist, we absolutely have to stay together right now, else we'll play into our enemy's hand and end up being picked apart one by one."

"Haha, what a joke! There might be existences we can't defeat in this vast world, but none we can't flee from. Picked apart? Let him try," Demonhawk said in derision. "You're too frightened to be of any use, so hurry up and go back. I can't stand to look at your face any longer."

A tangible rift had formed between the two forefathers.

One thought his tribesman an easily spooked weakling. For the other, his companion was a fool who'd humiliated him on purpose.

Demonroc took a deep breath and nodded. "Very well, I've said everything I could, but continuing the conversation is pointless since you think it's nonsense coming from a coward. Im taking my leave!"

About to depart, he brandished his sleeves and siphoned the storage ring he'd noticed sometime ago among the rocks.

But in that precise moment, the stones suddenly flew in his direction. In an instant, countless flying boulders mobbed him from every direction, each of them as fast as a cannonball.

The attack began without any sign whatsoever. In the span of a breath, rocks covered the entire sky like a swarm of locusts, dimming the sun and darkening the land below.

The two demons turned pale with fright at this unforeseen development. They'd never imagined the situation would take such a sudden, strange turn.

"Damn, so it was really a trap!" Demonroc spread his wings, the aura from his wings sweeping away the oncoming storm of rocks.

This type of attack wasn't all that useful against them. An ordinary cultivator might have suffered grievous wounds or died outright, but the projectiles couldn't approach winged demons once they flapped their wings, to say nothing of hurting them.

However, the rain of stones was merely a prelude, a harbinger of worse things to come. The atmosphere immediately changed as the four sacred beasts came out of hiding. They joined hands to recreate their domain, covering an area within a few hundred miles that immediately impeded the winged demons' movements.

"It's a divine domain that impacts our agility!" Demonroc immediately noticed the danger.

Demonhawk stood back to back with his companion, his face ashen. Gone was his previous arrogant cockiness.

The fearsome energy of the domain came in layered waves that sealed the air inside like a surging tide.

Demonroc reacted promptly. "Damn it, they're trying to isolate this space and negate our speed advantage. Fellow daoist, we must break out before it's too late, or we're as good as dead!"

"Yes, let's do that!" Demonhawk was no longer in a position to act tough.