High above the firmament.

Desolate Beasts howled as they dragged Ancient War Chariots, while fleets of flying vessels swept past in clusters.

And within the core Dragon Phoenix Vessel, only Bo Qing sat coiled in residence.

To the left and right of the Dragon Phoenix Vessel were, respectively, the traveling boats of the Mountain Soul Elder and Elder Snow Spirit.

Like streaks of Starfire and Fire Rain tearing through the sky, the dim night was instantly riven by that grand host of war chariots and flying vessels as they shuttled past at breakneck speed!

At this moment.

Bo Qing was seated cross-legged in the main chamber of the Dragon Phoenix Vessel; before him, the Heavenly River Sword and the Soul Killing Banner rose and sank in the void, fluctuating up and down.

"Soul Killing Banner..."

Bo Qing gazed at that black-and-white great banner, his eyes deep and distant.

Now, the Human Race and Demon Clan were locked in chaotic battle, deadlocked on the border-front battlefield between the Northern Region Divine Continent and the Western Desert Divine Continent.

If he took the field, it would inevitably grant tremendous aid to the Human Race and cause the Demon Clan’s offensive to falter.

In that case, it would certainly affect the path of Demon Body Becoming Emperor.

However, the reason he had emerged from seclusion was precisely because of that Demon Body Becoming Emperor path.

He wished to use the miasma of slaughter born from the Human Race and Demon Clan’s chaotic war to lull the Soul Killing Banner’s Divine Spirit into slumber—ideally, to have the Soul Killing Banner take on his own likeness.

Only then could he fully command the Soul Killing Banner in days to come and lay proper groundwork for fixing the grand situation.

After all, incidents of the Soul Killing Banner losing control and falling into demonic madness had indeed occurred in ages past.

"Petty skirmishes are meaningless—either don’t act, or, once you act, unleash a truly great wave!"

With that thought, Bo Qing reversed his grip and tightly clasped the Heavenly River Sword.

He narrowed his eyes and smiled faintly!

For he suddenly remembered:

Back then when he schemed for the Dream Tao Master, when he schemed for Demon Body Achieving Tao, he had likewise waited in silence like this.

Then he launched a single decisive strike, completely settling the grand game and suppressing all.

...

The sky over the Northern Region was overcast, with a fine, persistent rain falling.

It was in such weather that Bo Qing arrived at the border-front battlefield.

Just as he reached the frontline between the Northern Region Divine Continent and the Western Desert Divine Continent, he struck down a Quasi-Emperor great demon in domineering fashion, announcing his arrival.

Such earth-shaking methods were enough for him to suppress an entire theater of war, to say nothing of the fact that he also carried the Soul Killing Banner at his side.

His coming instantly stirred up a great uproar between the two races!

"This Divine Continent world was already difficult enough to conquer, and now the Soul Killing Banner can be wielded again."

"If we wish to plant the Demon Banner and have Demon Qi and Intent overwhelm human Qi and Intent, won’t that take tens of thousands, even hundreds of thousands of years?!"

Upon witnessing Bo Qing’s flourishing divine bearing, the Demon Clan’s side—especially the four Great Saint Lords and other Demon Clan Masters—wore expressions filled with worry.

"So this is the Demon Sword Bo Qing—his aura shakes the heavens, like a flood bursting through the sluice gates; his Qi flows for tens of thousands of miles, utterly unstoppable!" On the Human Race side, morale soared, spirits greatly roused.

Yet even with Bo Qing’s appearance, he still could not completely curb the Demon Clan’s ambition to infect the Northern Region Divine Continent.

In the border lands where the Western Desert Divine Continent adjoined the Northern Region Divine Continent, wars broke out frequently; flesh-and-blood millstones were plain to see, as one hero after another took the stage and fell.

Thanks to Bo Qing—especially the addition of the peror Artifact, the Soul Killing Banner—the Demon Clan’s situation declined, and the Human Race’s situation grew overwhelmingly favorable.

But no matter how the Storm shifted, the pattern remained: "the Demon Clan cannot break in, and the Human Race will not cross the boundary."

Originally, faced with such an almost ideal state of affairs, the Human Race should have been delighted.

Yet as eight to ten years slipped by, the Demon Clan side still remained unmoved.

At last, the Human Race sensed something amiss; instead of joy, they were filled with anxious concern.

For the World Devouring Demon Lord, Xuan Guangqiao, was no longer taking the field personally as in the past!

He was watching this unfolding with cold indifference!

With a bit of deduction, it was clear that the World Devouring Demon Lord definitely understood they intended to contend by Life Span, yet He simply did not care.

Even when the Demon Clan’s situation began to collapse, He showed no real urgency; all remained unhurried.

In this way, it was instead the Human Race who grew anxious.

Northern Region Academy.

Demon Slaying Hall.

Night.

Silvery radiance glittered brilliantly, shining upon Bo Nianrou’s face.

She stood toward the rear of the great hall, silently watching the disputes of the many seniors up ahead.

Though what stood before her were merely manifested traces of will, the strength of these seniors was still exceedingly terrifying!

Strictly speaking, this quarrel was mainly due to her father Bo Qing and the Soul Killing Banner’s entry into the battlefield.

"Do we counterattack the Western Desert Divine Continent, or continue to defend the Northern Region Divine Continent?"

As for the decisions of these senior Masters, Bo Nianrou, for now, had only the right to sit in and listen.

Though she was a Rhythm Tao Saint rarely seen in the world, she was, in the end, only a sixth-tier Saint; her strength was not worth mentioning.

Her very presence here was thanks to her identity as Bo Qing’s daughter!

All of a sudden, Bo Nianrou’s slender willow brows arched slightly as she nodded in hoarse acknowledgment to the senior on her left.

Just now, Hong Yuan of Phoenix Creek had given her a friendly smile!

"Senior Hong Yuan..."

"I’ve heard that there was once a Heavenly Talent Sequence, with Father ranked on the secondary list, while Senior Hong Yuan stood at the very top. Most importantly, Senior Hong Yuan is a Human Tao Saint!"

"But... wasn’t he at odds with Father? Why does he seem so kind and amiable?"

As Bo Nianrou’s gaze crossed with Phoenix Creek Hong Yuan’s, thoughts surged through her heart like a tide.

She could clearly judge that Hong Yuan’s friendly attitude toward her came from the heart; he was absolutely not that sort of hypocrite.

Because of this, Bo Nianrou lowered her head, gathering her thoughts, her eyes flickering with shifting light.

The longer she stayed at the front lines, the more she could feel that most of these seniors treated her with kindness.

Once, she had thought it an illusion; after all, she was the daughter of the Demon Sword Bo Qing.

Now, through the goodwill of Senior Hong Yuan, she fully understood that she was truly, genuinely special—whether within the Ji Clan or within the Human Race!