The Demonic Dao

The rain suddenly disappeared, as if the heavens themselves had shut off a faucet.

After the massive explosion of light, Li Hao Ran's body flew out lifelessly, crashing hard onto the soggy dirt and gravel outside of the stage. Yu Tian breathed heavily from the exertion while dropping to a knee.

"It's finally over." The former god panted out as he felt all strength leave his body.

His hair had returned to its normal shade of black. Qiu Xue also seemed tired as she separated from the [Martial Spirit Fusion] from Yu Tian, her little tongue sticking out.

Laughing goodnaturedly, he picked the little kitten up and cuddled her. Both the martial spirit and her owner were dirty and battered, with Yu Tian stained in many areas with blood due to his injuries, but they were happy.

However, he soon sensed something was wrong when he realized the aftermath of the battle was silent. Turning to the spectators, Yu Tian noticed a newcomer staring deeply at him, making him feel uneasy.

He couldn't place the older man with black and white hair, but the appearance looked familiar. Yu Tian swore he saw him somewhere before.

Li Changpu frowned. The experiment had failed miserably. Not only did Li Hao Ran's potential seem lacklustre, he even lost to this boy who was much younger while being a full rank of cultivation higher, after using the Qi deviance pill.

"Disappointing." The former patriarch commented as he gave a look of disdain to the fallen Li Hao Ran.

"Hao'er!" Li Chang was so stunned that he couldn't react to what happened.

Rushing to his grandson's side, the grand elder breathed a sigh of relief, noticing that the boy still had a strong pulse. However, he was heavily injured from Yu Tian's final strike and required medical help immediately.

Picking Li Hao Ran up, Li Chang paid no heed to Yu Tian as saving his grandson was priority. His son and daughter-in-law had died in a demonic beast accident just after Hao Ran was born, leaving Li Chang to mostly take care of him.

Aside from Li Cheung, his grandson was the only other closest blood relative left until the appearance of Li Changpu today. Channelling his Qi into the boy, Li Chang focused all of his efforts in helping Li Hao Ran recover.

"Stop." A raspy voice called out from behind him.

Li Chang was stunned when a force dispersed the Qi he was channelling into his grandson. He was stunned as he slowly turned towards Li Changpu. "Father?"

Walking slowly towards them, Li Changpu waved a hand and sent Li Chang flying away. He casually stood above the unconscious Li Hao Ran, the frown on his face growing when he realized how trash his closest bloodline had become.

"What a failure." Lifting his foot, all of the onlookers were stunned when Li Changpu raised his foot, stepping down on his great grandson's head.

Li Hao Ran's head exploded like a dropped watermelon, killing him. It took a long, quiet moment before Li Chang could recover from the shock. "NO!"

Yu Tian was also surprised at the current turn of events. His eyes narrowed when he detected a faint trace of crimson and black Qi that Li Changpu was absorbing into his body from Li Hao Ran's corpse.

"Demonic Qi?" Yu Tian recognized the feelings of resentment and dark emotions within the strand.

Unlike the natural Qi of the world, demonic Qi is created rather than produced, and is the antimatter to matter as demonic Qi is to natural Qi. The Holy Qilin Empire has always outlawed the practice of demonic cultivation and decreed for the execution of any cultivators practising it.

Trembling uncontrollably, Li Chang held onto Li Hao Ran's body. In his sorrow and disbelief, the old man glared at his father. "Why?"

"I have no use for failures." Li Changpu simply stated.

"What do you want, Li Changpu?" Shan Dong Hai asked warily. "Why lay a hand on juniors, when you said you weren't going to?"

The former Li patriarch smiled unnaturally. "I'm merely taking back what I've given a long time ago."

Shan Dong Hai's eyes narrowed. "What do you mean?"

Opening his hand, a red sphere about the size of a walnut appeared floating in his palm. Shan Dong Hai realized that it was a condensed form of demonic Qi, yet there was also another energy that he didn't recognize within it.

"For this." Li Changpu told him. "I had high hopes for Li Hao Ran, becoming someone worthy of serving my master."

"Your master?" Shan Dong Hai questioned.

Li Changpu shook his head disappointedly, ignoring the Shan patriarch. "Sadly, he has fallen so short of my expectations that I need to start from scratch."

"What is that thing?" Li You Zi felt the crimson sphere giving off a huge sense of danger.

"The void seed." Li Changpu proudly smiled at his nephew.

Li You Zi and Shan Dong Hai shared a look of confusion. They have never heard the name before, nor recognize the crimson sphere's properties.

"It is a blessing of the demonic dao." Li Changpu explained. "Being righteous would only get you so far in the path of cultivation."

"Those who shy away from power fear the taboo." He continued. " But those who seek power learn to control it."

Seeing the events unfold, Yu Tian's eyes narrowed warily.

This Li Changpu is supposedly the previous patriarch before his maternal grandfather. However, he seemed like a complete nutcase who also defected to the demonic path.

"At birth, I gifted him the void seed." Li Changpu gave another look of disdain towards his great grandson's corpse. "His parents didn't approve of my actions, so I had to silence them."

Li Chang was frozen in place, while Li Cheung seemed unsurprised. "You did WHAT?"

Li Changpu smiled coldly towards his son. "I said I silenced them. I should have know they were as trash as their son, from how easily they died."

Slowly, Li Chang turned to his brother in disbelief while shaking uncontrollably. "Didn't you tell me Nong'er and Xiu'er die in that demonic beast accident?"

However, Li Cheung returned the same cold smile to his brother, walking to Li Changpu's side. "I only followed father's preparations."

"Ahh!" Falling to the ground on his butt, Li Chang held his head between his hands from the grief and betrayal.

"My son, daughter. Your father was blind." The grand elder howled heartbrokenly.

Li Changpu sighed, shaking his head in disapproval. Mortal emotions had turned one of his offspring weak. Paying him no further heed, the former patriarch turned his gaze towards Yu Tian.

"Thankfully, there is a member of this generation who might be a better candidate." His lips broke out into another unnatural smile.

With a wave of his hand, the injured Yu Tian was helpless as he was dragged towards Li Changpu, landing in front of him. The former god struggled to pull away from the approaching void seed towards his face.

"En?" Sensing danger, Li Changpu's Qi converged into armour around him and blocked Li Chang's empowered palm strike.

The grand elder's eyes were now reddened, filled with madness and rage as he continued to strike out blow after blow. The strength of his strikes caused massive shockwaves in the surroundings.

"Everyone, get out of here now!" Li You Zi commanded the rest of the Li clan to evacuate.

...

Shan Dong Hai also signalled his granddaughter and the rest of his clansmen to retreat. The oncoming battle against a Battle Ancestor would be a violent storm leaving unimaginable collateral damage.

"Earth golem, come!" Shan Dong Hai summoned out his martial spirit. The earthly Qi erupted from his body before forming into a tall stone giant of about 3 metres, with boulders for hands and feet.

"Come, fire falcon!" Li You Zi's martial spirit also burst out from the flames caused by the fire Qi. A falcon made entirely of the crimson embers hovered above his head of white hair.

"Fellow elders, please help us in suppressing the demonic cultivators!" Sharing a look with one another, the representative from the Sima clan nodded.

He brought out his martial spirit, which was a tall shadow that was slightly below the height of the earth golem, while the member of the Yun clan's spirit was in the shape of the cloud. Seeing the shadow golem and the wind elemental, Shan Dong Hai felt relieved that they were putting aside their differences to fight against members of the demonic dao.

Laughing evilly, Li Cheung summoned out his martial spirit as well. It was a large snake with a circular mane of fire, but the flames had become black. "Come, pyro viper!"

"Ahh!" Still screaming, Li Chang's martial spirit also appeared. It was a pyro serpent just like Li Hao Ran, but it had two heads instead of one and was much bigger.

"Your martial spirit already evolved into a pyro racer too." Li Changpu's voice was full of pity as he easily blocked his son's attacks. "Such a shame."

As the fight happened, Yu Tian was thrown around helplessly from their attacks. His condition was too weak to resist the pressure with his Qi, forcing him to bounce on the ground.

"Yu Tian!" A pair of arms managed to catch him. He weakly looked up to see the concerned face of Shan Qian Xue, but returned a weak grin and a thumbs up.

...

"[Inferno Chains]!" Clasping his hands together, Li You Zi used the same technique as Li Hao Ran and summoned a multitude of fire Qi chains flying towards Li Changpu.

"I won't let you." Li Cheung appeared in front of him, throwing out a fist. "[Phoenix Burst]!"

Several clusters of fire Qi converged into large spheres, flying towards Li You Zi. Converging together, it caused a massive explosion as it clamped down on the Li patriarch's location.

"[Sand Mirror]!" Slamming his fist down into the earth, Shan Dong Hai erected a large barrier of transparent earth Qi that absorbed the explosion. "Reflect!"

Li Cheung's eyes widened when the explosion was launched back at him. Raising a palm, his fire Qi expanded into a large shield made of fire that dissipated his reflected technique. "[Flame Shield]!"

"[Shadow Blades]!" The Sima clan representative also made a hand sign.

"[Wind Slash]!" The Yun clan's representative stretched his arm out.

The martial spirits mirrored their techniques, shooting up multiple blades of shadow and wind Qi towards Li Changpu.

Li Chang followed up by throwing out a fist of his own, shooting out clusters of fire Qi. "[Phoenix Burst]!"

"Presumptuous." Seeing the Qi techniques fly towards him, Li Changpu was unfazed. "Come out, it's time to eat."

The attacks all landed with a massive explosion, completely obliterating the stone stage that Li Changpu was standing close to. Pulling back, the fighters felt their hearts chill when a massive martial spirit revealed itself from the smoke and dust.

While everyone else's martial spirit was around high grade, Li Changpu's spirit glowed with a purple aura, signifying it was already in the royal grade. The massive serpent had seven heads, hissing as they glared at their opponents present.

"The inferno hydra." Li You Zi grimaced. The previous patriarch's martial spirit was renowned for being royal grade, but currently it seemed off.

Instead of the pure red colour of flames it used to have, it was now the colour of black. The fire surrounding it was also tainted by demonic Qi.

"Infernal hydra." Li Changpu corrected. "Ever since I embraced the power of the demonic dao, my martial spirit has already evolved to the peak royal grade."

"Now, let's begin." The former patriarch's pupils suddenly turned purple with his infernal hydra. "This is the difference between us, a Battle Ancestor against War Masters."

[Infernal Gaze]

"Don't look into their eyes!" Li You Zi warned, but it was too late.

A strange feeling made them all stiffen like a statue, aside from Li You Zi. The two representatives struggled to move their bodies but to no avail, while Shan Dong Hai fell to his side from losing balance.

Li Chang also lost control of his body and was helpless as he watched his father slowly approach, yet it seemed like Li Changpu arrived in an instant. With a cold snort, the former patriarch kicked his son through the stomach, impaling him with his foot.

"Argh!" As blood poured out from his mouth and teeth, Li Chang maintained a hateful and defiant gaze towards his father.

"I don't like that look." Li Changpu gave another kick that fatally impaled Li Chang again.

Casually wiping his foot on the grass to clean the blood, Li Changpu suddenly appeared in front of Yu Tian and Shan Qian Xue.

"Oh?" His eyes were curious as he observed the amount of Qi flowing around Shan Qian Xue. "You are an even better candidate than him."

"What do you want to do?" The tomboy growled, trying to run away while carrying Yu Tian.

The void seed appeared again in Li Changpu's hand. Forced down by an overwhelming pressure, Shan Qian Xue's struggle was futile in trying to get away from the demonic cultivator.

"Go." Throwing the crimson sphere towards Shan Qian Xue, Li Changpu was stunned when Yu Tian managed to break free from his hold with a sudden burst of strength.

"Move!" The former god roared as he pushed Shan Qian Xue away.

"Yu Tian!" The tomgirl was also shocked when the void seed made contact with her friend's body instead of her's.

Then, everything became dark.