Chapter 468: The Insider

"Elder Ancestor!"

With a mournful cry, a mighty demon dropped to his knees.

The other demons, slow to react, were stunned, but upon carefully observing the Innate Demon Infant’s appearance, they realized at once who stood before them.

"Elder Ancestor! You’ve finally awakened!"

"We pay our respects to the Elder Ancestor!"

Nearly all the demons were swayed by emotion. The appearance of the Innate Demon Infant meant that the demon race now had an Emperor standing above them—they were no longer the world’s unwanted stepchildren.

The Innate Demon Infant frowned deeply.

What is this?

Some were even bawling their eyes out.

Was this still the same bloodthirsty, lawless, and wicked-to-the-core demon race he knew?

This reeked of deception!

Watching these demons with their faces twisted in grievance, looking as though they had suffered unspeakable hardships—

"Enough! What disgraceful behavior. Demons bleed, they don’t weep—don’t you know that?" the Innate Demon Infant snapped irritably.

If these demons weren’t all old-timers, he would have devoured the weeping ones on the spot.

"Tell me, what exactly happened?"

His words seemed to open the floodgates of complaints.

"Elder Ancestor, our demon race… we’ve suffered so much!"

"That Lu Ye—that Lu Ye is a downright monster!"

The Innate Demon Infant’s expression darkened. With a flick of his finger, he instantly obliterated the wailing demon, turning him to ash.

"Talk straight!"

The remaining demons shuddered, abruptly recalling that this ancestor was no benevolent figure—he was a terror who once shook the heavens.

"Elder Ancestor, it’s like this. Among the Nine Heavens, a Celestial Lord reincarnated—his name is Lu Ye. In his past life, for some reason, our demon race offended him. Ever since his rebirth, he’s been hunting demons relentlessly…"

"Starting from the First Heaven, every time he ascended to a higher realm, he slaughtered demons. Some were nearly wiped out entirely, leaving only a handful of survivors."

"We demons didn’t even provoke him, yet he hunted us down and butchered us, one Heaven after another!"

"He even said slaughtering demons needs no excuse, that demons feel no pain. But we’re made of flesh and blood too! We’re living beings—how could we not feel pain?!"

"The worst was the Fifth Heaven. Our demon race finally produced a rare genius skilled in governance, who expanded our influence so greatly that we came within a hair’s breadth of ruling the Fifth Heaven. But then Lu Ye—he alone—wiped them out—no mercy, no respite!"

"Even during the era of the Great Sage of the Nine Heavens, our demon race never suffered such humiliation. He kills indiscriminately—young or old, demon blood meant death!"

The speaker was a top-tier Void Realm demon. Even though their clan leader had just been annihilated, the more he spoke, the more he felt like weeping.

What crime did we demons commit to warrant this?

Why must being a demon be so cursed?!

Upon hearing this, the Innate Demon Infant erupted in fury.

How infuriating!

"So when he first ascended to the Sixth Heaven, why didn’t you just kill him right away?" the Innate Demon Infant snarled.

"Impossible! He’s under the protection of the Heavenly Gate—how could we kill him?"

With a revived ancestor now among them, the demons finally had a pillar of support and began venting their frustrations.

They recounted all the suffering they had endured over the years.

Tough!

So damn tough!

"See? This is what you call using the demons to kill him," the Dark Origin taunted.

The Innate Demon Infant’s face twisted in fury.

"You mentioned he’s a Celestial Lord reborn—what does that mean? Rebirth is rebirth, but what’s this about ‘rebirth’?"

The demons hastily explained the concept of rebirth.

"So you knew he was reborn, didn’t you?"

The Innate Demon Infant wheeled on the Dark Origin.

"Of course. Why else would I have targeted him as early as the Second Heaven—no, even the Third Heaven? But I was helpless," the Dark Origin admitted.

The Innate Demon Infant began scheming.

"Now that I’ve awakened, Lu Ye’s days are numbered!"

The Dark Origin leaned in eagerly.

"How do we strike?" it asked.

"First, gather all the Void Realm demons!"

The demons shifted nervously. Some wanted to advise the Innate Demon Infant—maybe we should cut our losses? If they couldn’t win, couldn’t they at least hide?

They could just stay in the outer realms and avoid provoking Lu Ye.

"Move it!"

The Innate Demon Infant roared in fury.

He seethed with shame—these people had completely disgraced the demon race.

Once, their kind had held the cosmos under their heel and ruled an entire era.

Now, they had been reduced to pathetic shells of their former selves!

At that very moment, Lu Ye snapped awake.

"Nine Lives, we need to pivot. The Innate Demon Infant has awakened prematurely—the same one who smashed your stone blade in your past life, the one you pummeled into paste. Now, he’s gunning for you. Perhaps we should table the matter of the Forgetful Immortal Palace for now."

Hearing that name, Lu Ye snapped to attention.

That's right, in the previous life, Lu Ye ascended to Emperor status, and the stone sword also evolved into an Emperor Weapon.

But the evolution was too hasty.

It had just completed its evolution when it accompanied Lu Ye in a frenzied slaughter, resisting the Dark Upheaval.

After Lu Ye slew two Emperors, he single-handedly battled five more, shattering heaven and earth.

The strongest among them was this Innate Demon Infant,

so much so that the stone sword was shattered.

In the end, the Innate Demon Infant was pummeled into bloody pulp by Lu Ye's fists, and his *Dao Fruit* was crushed into dust.

Now, this damn thing has awakened prematurely.

At this moment, Lu Ye's *Primordial Power* has fully recovered.

"Good, let's deal with him first!" he sneered.

Lu Ye's eyes burned with cold killing intent as the stone sword appeared in his hand.

The stone sword now glowed blood-red all over.

It had devoured countless precious materials, growing exponentially stronger.

Compared to its state in the Sixth Heaven Realm in the previous life, it was now incomparably more powerful.

In this life, all resources were for Lu Ye alone to enjoy, so naturally, he wouldn't skimp on the stone sword as he was in the past.

Actually, in the previous life, it wasn’t stinginess—just flat-out broke.

"Nine Lives, the Innate Demon Infant has unleashed the Hundred Sons Return to Heaven technique, controlling a hundred Void Realm cultivators alone to enter the Nine Heavens and kill you."

The Hundred Sons Return to Heaven technique?

Lu Ye knew this technique.

In the previous life, the Innate Demon Infant had used the Ten Thousand Sons Return to Heaven technique to harvest infants for his purposes. Now, with only about a hundred Void Realm experts among the demons, he had enslaved all of them at once.

"A hundred Void Realm cultivators controlled by an Emperor—can you handle them?" the Dark Source asked.

Lu Ye considered briefly.

"Bring it on!"

Even if he couldn’t win, he could always retreat.

"Good, then I’ll tell the Innate Demon Infant that I’ll use the treasure given by the Reincarnation Celestial Worthy as bait to lure you in, and you can come to mop them up!"

"Deal!"