Chapter Sixty-One: The Arbitrary Demon Lord

Late autumn.

The withered leaves rustle in the wind, the golden sun hangs high, and bright sunlight fills the sky.

Though it is still early before dusk, the sky is already deeply crimson. The maple trees under the sunlight, and their leaves, are brilliantly red—red so vivid, so breathtakingly beautiful.

Yet the ancient road beneath the maple forest is littered with bodies sprawled in disarray, drenched in fresh blood. The blood has stained the ancient road, its natural crimson even redder than the maple leaves, more vivid, and far more stunning.

It is a tragedy of supreme desolation, a spectacle of supreme brilliance!

The blood has dried, the corpses have grown cold. Behind this multitude of the dead, surely even more must stand...

For every single corpse belonged to someone of immense renown and formidable background. Some were the vice leaders of the Innate Wuji Sect, others senior disciples of the Snow Mountain Sect, along with the master of the Ding Family Manor, several grand elders and elite disciples of both the Emei and Diancang sects.

There were also the heads of the Minnan Lin Family, the Jintan Duan Family, the Shanxi Liu Family, and the Subei Nie Family, as well as the chief escorts and martial artists of the Thirteen Provinces Escort Agencies from the North and South.

Almost every one of them possessed a towering reputation, yet now they lie abandoned here, with no disciples to claim their bodies for a proper burial.

This ancient road seems to have transformed into the Road to the Yellow Springs, a corner of the netherworld, more terrifying than a realm of ghosts. It has become a forbidden zone in the martial world!

And it was right here, just three days ago!

A man in white clothes and silver hair, holding a sword in his hand, step by step slaughtered every single person here, wiping them out entirely and carving out the terrifying title of the Peerless Demonic Lord.

Not a single soul escaped this place, and the massacre was only discovered by others on the following day.

As for that Peerless Demonic Lord?

Anyone arriving in Jinan would naturally wish to visit Daming Lake, and the Shen Family Manor stands right on its shore. One need only look at the two ancient stone lions at the entrance to imagine the glorious and enduring history of this family.

The Shen Family Manor remains the Shen Family Manor, yet the Shen Family Manor of today is no longer the same.

If one speaks of glory, the Shen Family Manor is currently at the very zenith of its splendor, for there remains one forbidden zone in the martial world, and this manor is precisely that forbidden zone.

The one who transformed the Shen family is a single man—a lawless, deeply blood-stained figure whom the world calls the Peerless Demonic Lord.

Outside the city of Qufu, amid the ancient road and maple forest: the Seven Sects, the Thirteen Factions, and the Eight Great Families, totaling five-hundred and sixty-seven people... Exactly how that battle unfolded, no one knows, for those who knew are all dead.

Yet people across the realm could deduce from the maple forest that the battle must have been one where ghosts wept and spirits wailed, blotting out the sun, turning blood into rivers, and plunging humanity into utter despair with no survivors.

Indeed, no survivors—except for the Demonic Lord, who alone walked away from that place.

The Demonic Lord did not vanish without a trace, for someone laid eyes upon him the very next day.

When Ren Yi returned to the Shen Family Manor, not a single scratch marred his body, and even his long white robes remained unblemished, save for the stains of dried blood. The only addition was the single sword held within his hand.

All five-hundred and sixty-seven souls had perished by that very sword. In the wake of this battle, the martial world has suffered a grievous blow to its vitality and is bound to remain in a prolonged state of decline. Such is the Demonic Lord—Renyi, the man who now strikes terror into the hearts of all within the pugilistic world!

Ripples dance across the lake's emerald surface. The autumn breeze carries a slight chill, but the autumn sun remains ever the warmest and most comforting; the water mirrors the sunlight in a picture of tranquil beauty.

Renyi sits in the lakeside pavilion, breathing in the autumn breeze and soaking in the sunlight, holding a medical text in his hands and casually turning its pages with an air of unhurried leisure...

Whenever he encounters something that amuses him, he conjures a folding fan from goodness knows where, snaps it open with a flick, and gently fans himself.

Seeing his deliberately dashing demeanor, Shen Bijun invariably rolls her lovely eyes, casting him a charming yet reproachful glance. Her sparkling, limpid eyes gaze unblinkingly at the man's face, a faint, captivating smile playing at the corners of her lips.

A soft, crisp voice rings out: "She has already left. Aren't you going to go after her?"

"That woman?"

Renyi arches a brow slightly and remarks, "It seems I gave her quite a terrible fright this time..."

Shen Bijun pauses, her voice gentle: "Frightened? What is Fourth Sister afraid of? Is she afraid of you?"

Renyi raises his gaze. Against the backdrop of the golden radiance, revealing a face of infinite loveliness, he says indifferently, "I killed those six men first on her account, and then provoked an encirclement by the entire martial world. If it were you, would you panic? Would you be afraid?"

Shen Bijun blinks her beautiful eyes, looking somewhat dazed and endearingly naive as she replies, "I might panic, but why should I be afraid?"

With a flick of his folding fan, he lifts the beauty's delicate chin, revealing her fair, plump, jade-like neck.

"That's because you are obedient. If you were afraid as well, I might just go out and slaughter another hundred or eighty people to vent my irritation!"

Shen Bijun swats away the folding fan with her slender hand, glaring with feigned annoyance: "You... talk all you want, but you are not allowed to do that..."

Then she asks again, "You still haven't told me why Fourth Sister would be afraid."

Renyi tosses the book in his hand aside and says with an unhappily clouded expression, "Because that woman harbors a wild young fellow in her heart, and coupled with my grand entrance, wouldn't you say she's terrified?"

"Pfft!"

Seeing him look like this, Shen Bijun cannot help but chuckle. Meeting his sideways glance, she hastily swallows her laughter and says with a nonchalant air, "Are you saying Fourth Sister has long had someone in her heart?"

Renyi nods, still out of sorts: "If I hadn't failed to find that brat upon my return, I certainly would have broken both his legs first."

"You didn't find him upon your return?" Shen Bijun cries out softly, "Are you saying Fourth Sister actually fancies Xiao Shilang?"

"Yes! Those two scoundrels truly deserve to die!"

"Pfft..."

"Is it funny?"

"No... not funny..."

Shen Bijun struggles to suppress her mirth, and noticing his expression growing increasingly foul, she asks cautiously, "Is Fourth Sister currently unable to make up her mind between you and Xiao Shilang?"

Renyi lets out two cold humns: "That woman is fickle-hearted; what is so strange about that?"

Shen Bijun can truly hold it in no longer, and giggles, "Hahaha... Clearly you were the one who rudely thrust yourself into the middle, yet now you blame Fourth Sister?"

Renyi replies indifferently, "If I thrust myself anywhere, it would be with a blade, never into a romance."

Shen Bijun turns away, covering her dainty mouth, not daring to look at him again for fear that another glance would make her burst into laughter. Renyi is truly amusing right now; clearly a terrifying grand overlord feared by all, yet at this moment, he is acting just like a child.

"Have you laughed enough?"

She turns back, uncertain whether she ought to nod or not.

Renyi cannot help but ask, "Do you feel no bitterness in your heart at all?"

Shen Bijun pauses for a moment, then slowly shakes her head.

Renyi sighs softly, "You are so gentle and considerate, you truly make things difficult for me. Jun'er, you ought to at least lose your temper, curse out loud a few times, and throw a proper tantrum."

Shen Bijun smiles faintly and says, "I would never!"

Feng Siniang rarely has the opportunity to sit in a teahouse because she does not actually care for tea; she prefers wine. Yet today, she finds herself disinclined to drink wine and desires only tea instead.

Whenever she sits inside a teahouse, she always feels rather pleased, for she enjoys the way men stare fixedly at her.

For a woman to be able to fix a man's gaze in a daze is always a pleasing thing.

And indeed, the eyes of every single man in the teahouse are fixed upon her. In a place like this, women are already scarce, and a woman of such striking beauty is rarer still.

Yet Feng Siniang does not appear particularly happy. She is currently tormented by annoyance, the image of that man constantly lingering in her mind. This makes her panic, for she cannot comprehend why it has to be that man!

"How long have we even known each other? Could the old lady really have fallen for him?"

Just as she is muttering to herself, a voice suddenly cuts through her thoughts: "Siniang! Siniang, you're here too!"

The voice is booming—the man's vocal cords are simply far too loud. Feng Siniang raises her head to glance over, and her expression instantly turns sour.

"What are you howling like a ghost for? Are you trying to summon my soul?"

A square-faced, utterly honest-looking man wears an expression of profound grievance as he stammers, "I... I just saw... saw you and was happy."