Yang Hong was naturally unaware that an eighth-tier demon lord was on his way.
If he had known, he would have immediately found a place to hide.
He was still practicing the "Bone Scraping Cyclone Technique."
He had no inkling of the terrifying danger approaching.
Upon reaching the fifth-tier Nascent Soul realm in cultivation, cultivators could begin to comprehend the laws. Most cultivators would first focus on understanding spatial laws.
With even a superficial grasp of spatial laws, one could learn teleportation spells,
allowing for instantaneous travel of hundreds or even thousands of miles.
As cultivation and divine sense grew stronger, the distance of teleportation would increase.
Due to their innate talents and intelligence, most demon races, except for a few gifted species, required the sixth tier to teleport.
The speed and distance of human teleportation at the seventh tier were generally thirty to forty percent better than that of demons.
By the eighth tier, humans only held about a ten percent advantage.
At the ninth tier, due to the generally longer lifespans of demons, their teleportation abilities surpassed those of humans.
Hei Jinlai, from the Golden Star Black Fish tribe, was an ancient demon over twenty thousand years old. Although his cultivation was only at the sixth layer of the eighth-tier Tribulation Crossing realm, his divine sense and magical power were peerless.
The vast sea stretching for twenty-three million miles took him just over three hours to traverse at full speed.
When Hei Jinlai surfaced from the sea, demons within a thousand-mile radius immediately prostrated themselves on the ground. Some demons with weaker divine senses even fainted.
"It's... it's an eighth-tier Demon Lord!"
"A lord has descended, what is he here for?"
"He must be here to snatch the Jade Stream Wine Spirit Fish, right?"
"Isn't he afraid of incurring the wrath of the masses? Although none of our thirty demon tribes have an eighth-tier Demon Lord, we all have backing."
"Hmph, perhaps he's just a reckless fool looking for death?"
A group of demons muttered softly. Even an eighth-tier Demon Lord didn't frighten them. The demons controlling the Jade Stream Wine Spirit Fish channels were not without their patrons.
Only Mao Xiu of the Golden Fur Cat Demon fishery's face changed, and he whispered, "Be quiet, everyone! That is King Jinlai!"
The Golden Fur Cat demons immediately fell silent.
King Jinlai was the nominal ruler of the Golden Star Sea Domain, the absolute overlord within a hundred million-mile radius!
Even the self-proclaimed powerful Golden Fur Cat demons had to pay tribute of a million spirit stones every hundred years.
All demons trembled, silently praying that King Jinlai had not heard their disrespect.
The Golden Fur Cat demons quieted down, but some demons did not recognize this brutish-looking fellow who appeared like a ruffian.
Hu Zhi, the demon king of the Tiger Shark tribe, did not know King Jinlai and was quite arrogant.
Thanks to the convenience of being a fish farm manager, he had already consumed a considerable amount of Jade Stream Wine Spirit Fish and had grasped a shred of the laws of creation. He estimated that he would be able to break through to the Demon Lord realm soon.
Therefore, he wasn't particularly afraid of individuals at the Demon Lord level.
"Fellow Daoist, you're here to buy Jade Stream Wine Spirit Fish, aren't you? You have to queue up too."
Of course, Hu Zhi was not an idiot and dared not speak too arrogantly.
"Scram."
King Jinlai was not a good-tempered person.
With just a glare, he made Hu Zhi spit out a mouthful of blood, causing him to sustain a not-insignificant injury.
"Cough, cough... Senior, please proceed."
Hu Zhi immediately cowered.
"Hmph."
King Jinlai cast a disdainful glance at Hu Zhi and unleashed his divine sense, instantly identifying the species of the thirty nearby demon tribes.
A large group of demons prostrated themselves under his might,
without exception!
With a dismissive chuckle, he ignored the other demons and turned his gaze towards Jade Stream Island.
"Oh? Interesting, quite a few high-grade spirit plants."
"They're using spirit plants to form arrays, and so many arrays!
Hiss, over a million arrays!"
"Impressive! Impressive! What kind of spirit wine is this, with such abundant creation spiritual essence?"
Hei Jinlai's incredibly powerful divine sense penetrated Yang Hong's numerous arrays, giving him a clear view of the situation on Jade Stream Island.
Yang Hong, who was preparing the "Bone Scraping Cyclone Technique" on Jade Stream Island, naturally felt the scan of that divine sense.
"Hahaha, little fellow, are you... a monkey demon?"
"Hmm, no, your aura seems like a tree demon, or perhaps a flower demon?"
Hei Jinlai's voice resounded throughout the area, audible not only to Yang Hong but also to the many demons outside.
They wondered what his intentions were.
Yang Hong remained silent. The fellow outside clearly didn't look like a good person, and he had no idea what he wanted.
As for his aura, he understood it was a result of the continuous infusion of spirit plants and the return of cultivation, which had unknowingly imbued him.
When he fully circulated the "Supreme Breathing Technique," his human aura was completely concealed.
"Little fellow, your true form is a tree, isn't it? No wonder you can brew so much spirit wine, all of it at least fourth-grade.
I, an ancestor, am reluctant to kill you."
The more Hei Jinlai observed, the more surprised he became. His final remark was a private telepathic message to Yang Hong.
"Senior has a discerning eye. This junior is indeed a tree spirit that has taken human form."
Hearing the evaluation from the brutish-looking fellow outside, Yang Hong's heart stirred, and he decided to play along.
"The Iron Bark Birch tree over there, reveal your human form. I've already found you."
Hei Jinlai did not immediately respond to Yang Hong but looked towards a spot a hundred zhang behind Yang Hong.
Hua Xinlei, under Yang Hong's command, had transformed into his true form, gathering strength for a surprise attack.
He hadn't expected to be exposed by Hei Jinlai's divine sense.
Hua Xinlei did not transform into human form upon hearing this but instead sent a telepathic message to Yang Hong to inquire.
"Don't transform, be careful."
However, Yang Hong did not want Hua Xinlei to reveal himself. Having a hidden strength meant an extra bit of combat potential.
"Heh heh, little fellow, you're quite cautious."
Hei Jinlai's divine sense was powerful, and he naturally heard Yang Hong's telepathic exchange.
He no longer intended to kill Yang Hong; he planned to nurture him, allowing him to continuously cultivate spirit fish and brew spirit wine for him.
However, he first needed to subdue this little fellow.
"Little fellow, surrender to me!
I'll spare your life, otherwise...
You die!"
As he spoke, a terrifying pressure slowly descended upon Yang Hong and Hua Xinlei behind him.
"Creak... creak..."
Yang Hong's outward aura was only at the fourth tier, so the pressure he received was less.
Hua Xinlei, however, bore the brunt of it. Under the terrifying pressure, his thirty-zhang-tall tree body slowly sank into the ground.
Despite this, he maintained an upright posture, refusing to bend.
That was his pride and stubbornness.
Yang Hong, on the other hand, still had enough energy to spare to send out his divine sense, adjusting the positions of some spirit grasses around him, setting up arrays.
"Hmmph, your bones are quite hard!
Let's see how hard you two can be!"
Seeing that neither Yang Hong nor Hua Xinlei had yielded, Hei Jinlai began to increase the pressure of his divine sense.
"Ugh... damn it!"
Yang Hong grunted under the sudden divine sense pressure, sustaining a minor injury.
"This bandit is quite clever! He's not approaching my defensive arrays but is solely using his divine sense to pressure me, hitting my most vulnerable spot."
Yang Hong lamented inwardly. Cultivators were not fools.
He had discovered the loophole in Jade Stream Island's arrays so quickly.
This was the loophole Yang Hong had discovered after killing two seventh-tier demon lords, and it was the type of attack he feared the most now –
pure divine sense attacks!