Monster Chronicles: My Daoist Skill Comes from Mythology-Chapter 718 - 618: The 5 Declines of the Heavenly Human, Wandering in the Mortal World

Kunpeng Emperor Master stepped back, the expressions of the other Eight Great Demon Kings were intriguing.

Beneath the Ten Golden Crows was Kunpeng, the National Master.

Kunpeng was a great demon who aided the Heavenly Emperor in ancient times, possessing cultivation at the True Immortal Peak.

His credentials were deep and vast; many Demon Kings and Human Kings were his subordinates.

Beneath Kunpeng were the Eight Great Demon Kings: Ying Dragon, Nine Phoenixes, White Qilin, Nine Infants, Ghost Car, Nine-tailed Fox, Kui Niu, and Bi Fang.

Equal in status to the Eight Great Demon Kings were the Abnormal Soldiers: the Undying Country Master, Dragon Head Country Master, Feathered People Ruler, and Sun Country Master.

One Master, Eight Kings, Four Chiefs—they formed the most prominent factions in the Heavenly Court. Most of them were leaders of their clans; as for the smaller clans below them, they weren't worth a mention—any one of the Kings could easily annihilate them.

These Kings and Chiefs were mostly at the Heavenly Immortal Peak. They also had a few Heavenly Immortals as aides, and some clan leaders from mid-sized clans were also Heavenly Immortals. Across the entirety of the Heavenly Court, there were over a hundred Heavenly Immortals, making it a wellspring of talent.

Precisely because of this, Xi Jing dared not expose the deaths of his nine elder brothers.

After the morning assembly ended, Xi Jing returned to the Emperor Palace, removed his mask, and revealed a weary face.

Gazing at the corpses of his nine brothers, Xi Jing muttered to himself, "Soon, it will be my turn, won't it?"

Di Jun united with the Heavenly Dao, merging into the Great Thousand World and becoming the Taiyang Dao. Thus, all the suns across the Great Thousand World were born, existing as natural phenomena.

The price of this was Di Jun's death—his body transformed into golden crows.

The other nine brothers met their ends after countless tribulations across infinite ages.

Theoretically, Harmonization grants eternal life, and Heavenly Immortals shine as brightly as the sun and moon, enduring as long as heaven and earth.

However, it is rare to see a Heavenly Immortal live beyond a million years; in reality, even Heavenly Immortals eventually succumb to natural death.

This kind of death is unrestricted by lifespan; they don't know when it will come.

Before death, five omens will occur.

The Spirit Platform dims, Divine Thought vanishes, Mana declines, body light extinguishes, and the Three Blossoms wither.

This is the Heavenly Human Five Declines, a nightmare for every immortal. The higher one's cultivation and the stronger one's abilities, the more likely these phenomena appear.

Ultimately, it ends with the Spirit Platform dissipating, merging into the Great Thousand World.

Xi Jing hasn't experienced such signs yet, but it likely won't be long. From the appearance of the first omen to the complete dissolution of the Spirit Platform, it's only a matter of mere centuries.

"Father was like this, my brothers were like this—could this be the ultimate fate of Innate Divine Beings?"

Xi Jing couldn't help but question.

Perhaps such a possibility exists. Many demons in the Heavenly Court cultivated Human Clan techniques, avoiding reliance on Innate Divine methods to develop their bloodline abilities, such as Kunpeng.

Kunpeng, who served during Di Jun's era, had lived for multiple millions of years while maintaining his peak physical condition.

Of course, this is only a hypothesis. In the past, there were old demons who practiced Human Clan cultivation techniques, but they too eventually died.

To Xi Jing's thinking, the way to survive might be to engage in fewer battles. Kunpeng had endured over two generations, wielding his power just a handful of times.

Therefore, this could be the correct path to longevity.

This was why Xi Jing didn't act personally when Kunpeng reported earlier, instead letting Kunpeng handle it himself—to increase the number of times Kunpeng would exert his power and thereby weaken the strength of these old ministers.

Kunpeng's Palace.

Nine Infants, Bi Fang, and others gathered. They couldn't help but ask curiously, "Demon Master, from where does this demon king from the Outer Domain come?"

Kunpeng glared at them and replied, "Fools, aren't you demon kings yourselves? If there's no demon king, can't you pretend to be one?"

"But… why pretend at all?" Bi Fang questioned in confusion.

Bi Fang, a demon with a crow's head and flames atop it, expressed bewilderment.

Most of them could fully transform into human shapes. However, they deliberately retained certain features out of pride—pride in being part of the Demon Clan—and despised emulating the softness of the Human Clan.

Kunpeng didn't respond directly but signaled with his gaze for the attendants to leave.

"I suspect nine of the Ten Golden Crows are dead."

"Impossible! How could the Ten Sovereigns die when there was no great conflict?"

The demons found it hard to believe; how could nine of the Ten Golden Crows be dead?

"Who says immortals don't die? How did those elders from the past perish?" Kunpeng retorted.

Though most died in battle, a select few succumbed to natural death.

"For over thirty thousand years, the Ten Golden Crows haven't appeared together. Each time, only one emerges—perhaps the other nine are already dead."

Kunpeng voiced his suspicions, long held and nurtured over years of secret observations, uncovering hidden clues.

Initially, it was mere conjecture, but over time, his doubts grew increasingly certain.

Thus, today, he decided to test the waters.

Kunpeng's eyes gleamed coldly, devoid of mercy, his heart brimming with insidious schemes.

"Nine Infants, disguise yourself as a demon king and force the Sovereign to appear. Then, we'll uncover the truth."

"Why me?"

The demon king with nine heads hesitated, unwilling.

"Because you have plenty of lives. Hurry up!"

"Fine."

Under Kunpeng's coercion, Nine Infants finally agreed.

After the other demons departed, Kunpeng let out a sinister laugh. "This old man has been a Demon Master for so many years. Perhaps it's time to try sitting in the Demon Emperor's Dragon Chair—hehehe."

The Demon Clan differs from the Human Clan; the Demon Clan places immense emphasis on hierarchy and bloodline superiority—far stricter than any other race.

If Kunpeng became the Heavenly Emperor, the Kunpeng Clan would ascend to the Emperor Clan, enjoying the blessings of heaven and earth, making cultivation easier and breakthroughs more attainable.

The Golden Crow Clan, so useless it couldn't even birth anything, being the Emperor Clan was simply a waste.

Donghua Heavenly Court.

Song Lin remained in seclusion, refining his commonly-used Magic Artifacts into Immortal Artifacts while also crafting numerous Immortal Pills to aid his cultivation.

A millennium of cultivation had brought significant progress in his Taoist Realm.

Yang Qi, Time and Space, Black Lotus, and Eight Diagram were all perfected—only the Five Elements remained.

Completing the Five Elements wasn't easy. Song Lin had experimented many times to no avail.

Whenever the Fire Dao advanced slightly, it was immediately counterbalanced by the Water Path, causing his Taoist Realm to not only stagnate but regress.

The interplay of generation and suppression among the Five Elements was challenging to master. Either all advanced simultaneously, or none could progress.

In summary, no single Dao could outpace the others.

Simultaneous advancement proved painfully slow, to an exasperating degree.

Even with the assistance of pills, progress remained sluggish.

Though slow, improvement was not impossible.

Seeing that his closed-door cultivation yielded little, Song Lin opted to exit seclusion.

Summoning the patrol officer, he asked, "Any clues near the Shaoyang lineage's locale?"

"None yet, sire. This official is still searching."

"What about the Ten Sun Divine Country?"

"Things there seem somewhat uneasy," the officer replied. "On the outskirts of the Ten Sun Divine Country, there have been numerous battles. Both sides are from the Demon Clan, but the reasons for their conflicts remain unclear."

"Explain further."

"The causes of the fights are unknown. Regardless of victory or defeat, both sides retreat after the conflict. There's no prolonged battle, nor is there any concrete result—it's almost like… acting?"

The officer appeared uncertain.

"Interesting. Keep observing."

Subsequently, Song Lin descended into the mortal realm, traversing its myriad worlds disguised as an ordinary person.

This was to preserve his human essence.

For when one lives too long, it's easy to become a cold, lifeless entity, indifferent to all existence and bereft of compassion. If he reached such a state, the Donghua Heavenly Court itself would lose its purpose.