“A believer of Chaos?” Mo Tiesheng sneered.
In the legends of the demon race, Chaos was an enemy of the Pangu Clan and the evilest existence in the universe. Because of the propaganda, most of the demons had no positive impression about ‘Chaos’.
“You’ve all been fooled!”
Seeing the despise on Mo Tiesheng’s face, Ba Mingsong explained, “All this time, the high-level demons have been fooling you by telling you that Chaos was a great enemy of the Pangu Clan and the entire demon race. But in fact, it is far from the truth and nothing but a lie that the high-level demons utilized to paralyze us!”
Mo Tiesheng frowned. “Then what is the truth?”
Ba Mingsong closed his hands and put them into a triangle. In the weird gesture, he said respectfully, “Chaos was never the enemy of the Pangu Clan. On the contrary, God Chaos was the real successor of the Pangu Clan!”
“What?” Mo Tiesheng and Li Yao both exclaimed in amazement.
Ba Mingsong lowered his voice again and talked like a humming mosquito. “You must know that there was a huge gap between the thirteen clans in the primeval era and the Demon Beast Empire thirty thousand years ago. During those millions of years, there were not many demons, much less a systematical civilization.”
Mo Tiesheng nodded. “That’s the era of the ancient Cultivators, the time when humanity thrived.”
Ba Mingsong blinked. “Exactly. But have your ever wondered why the bloodlines that had been lost for millions of years were suddenly awakened forty thousand years ago? Why did the vast majority of the modern demons show up abruptly in less than a hundred years forty thousand years ago like a big bang?”
Li Yao was deep in thought. According to the well-accepted theory of the Star Glory Federation, a Cultivator forty thousand years ago developed a ‘Demon God Virus’ by accident and refined a large batch animals into slaughtering machines named ‘demon beasts’, and the intelligence of the demon beasts grew exponentially during the fierce battles. Eventually, the demon race was born.
Later, after the demon race swallowed the three thousand Sectors in the universe, an enormous Demon Beast Empire was established on the foundation of the civilization of ancient Cultivators!
When Li Yao was young, he had never doubted such a theory.
However, after more than ten years of travelling and training, as an expert close to the Nascent Soul Stage, he had become more and more suspicious about such a narrative.
The most crucial factor leading to his suspicion was the protraction of evolution. It had taken human beings hundreds of thousands of years before they evolved to possess basic intelligence. The usage of fire alone might have taken mankind tens of thousands of years to grasp.
Even if the Demon God Virus could endow ordinary animals with strong bodies and killing instincts, was it possible that the virus could grant animals intelligence that was similar to human beings, if not even higher, in only a hundred years?
Li Yao found such a theory unacceptable.
“Tell you what,” Ba Mingsong said mysteriously, “it was exactly God Chaos who caused the ‘big bang’ of the demon race!
“At the end of the era of the ancient Cultivators, human beings shattered most of the three thousand Sectors. Every Sector was in ruins, and catastrophes were falling upon the entire universe.
“God Chaos was born in such crisis. He found the relics of the thirteen ancient clans and excavated the legacy of the primeval era. Eventually, he created the modern demon race!
“Therefore, God Chaos is our creator. He is the one true god for us!
“When he created the modern demons, God Chaos did not set up the hierarchy of bloodlines at all. In his eyes, all demons are equal. He merely helped us awaken in different appearances for the purpose of different jobs!
“The goal of God Chaos was to ask us to replace the brutal human beings and repair the broken worlds so that the universe that was about to be destroyed by the wars of human beings would be revived again!
“However, hehe, God Chaos was too lenient. He underestimated the evilness and ambitions of human beings. He did not anticipate that some of the demons he created would be corrupted by human beings and turn against him. In the end, the traitors heavily wounded and suppressed him before they established their own reign!
“Before, all demons were only different in the talents that they awakened, but their blood was exactly the same.
“However, the demons who were corrupted by the evil, ambitious human beings locked up the bloodlines of all the other demons through secret techniques and enslaved the other demons by setting up the classes such as saint-blood, silver-blood, bronze-blood, black-blood, and chaotic-blood!
“Those demons are so evil that they are no different from human beings!
“Their reign lasted thirty thousand years. Finally, what happened to the human beings before happened to them again. The enormous empire collapsed, and whatever was left of their remnants could only hide in the corners of the cosmos, breathing their last breath.
“What is hilarious is that, even in such a far-flung area in the universe, they are still clinging to the decayed ‘Four Pillar System’, unwilling to let it go. They are still hoping to continue enslaving the black-blood demons and the chaotic-blood demons, but they do not know that they are seeking their own death!
“Right now, the Blade of Chaos has risen. The believers of Chaos crave nothing except to chop off the shackles that lock up our bloodlines so that all demons can be restored to their original appearances. From then on, there will be no distinction among the silver-blood demons, the black-blood demons, the bronze-blood demons, and the chaotic-blood demons. That is the only time we will be really free!”
Ba Mingsong’s words greatly stirred up Li Yao’s mind.
He had thought that the so-called ‘Chaos’ was just an evil god in the legends, which was possibly an alien civilization that was hostile to the Pangu civilization billions of years ago.
He did not know that the history of Chaos was much shorter than he imagined. According to Ba Mingsong, it appeared only forty thousand years ago.
Besides, Chaos was the creator of the modern demon race?
Behind the curtains of propaganda and myth, what was the true history?
Mo Tiesheng was silent for a moment, before he said, “I’m told that the Blade of Chaos has failed. Their uprisings in the Blood Demon Sector have been suppressed everywhere!”
“Hehehehe!” Ba Mingsong laughed out, somewhat insanely. “You don’t understand it at all. The Blade of Chaos will never fail in the Blood Demon Sector. It will come back again even if it is suppressed a thousand, ten thousand times. Do you know why?”
Li Yao and Mo Tiesheng stared at him with great interest.
Ba Mingsong took a deep breath and said, “Because the mausoleum of God Chaos is somewhere deep below the surface of this planet!
“God Chaos was never really dead. Very soon, God Chaos will be reborn, and he will lead all the demons to create an immaculate new world!”
The hair on Li Yao’s neck stood on end. What does he mean? Is ‘Chaos’ not a groundless figure in the legends but an existence with a real entity?
While talking, Ba Mingsong took out two pendants from his pockets and handed them over. Then he said solemnly, “These are the charms of God Chaos. Under the radiance of Chaos, all demons are brothers. I hope that you two can survive more days in the arena!”
With the help of the burning torches, Li Yao opened his hands and observed. It was a crude pendant made from a brown bone with a pattern of a saber tied up by countless double helixes that looked both like gene strands and solid shackles.
Li Yao narrowed his eyes and said, “Uncle Ba, are you not scared of being captured by preaching on the ideas of the Blade of Chaos here?”
Ba Mingsong smiled, apparently not bothered at all. “What can they do even if they take me away? The worst outcome is nothing but death. After struggling on the Skeleton Island for so many years, I’ve lived a long enough life!”
The old demon staggered to his feet, flapping his wings. He walked away, as hunched as before, and gradually disappeared into the depths of the forest.
Li Yao and Mo Tiesheng looked at each other. They both hid the charms of the Blade of Chaos in the safest place.
…
The crimson rocks were burning like fire. Sweat was falling down, only to be vaporized the next second. Occasionally, rock thorns would pierce out rapidly from deep below the ground.
It was one of the most terrifying dungeons on the Skeleton Island, the Thorny Flame Dungeon! All the floor tiles were carved out of crystals of the fire class, with a temperature of more than three hundred degrees. The joins of the floor tiles would also spurt out rock thorns without any pattern, driven by the underground magma. A moment of carelessness, and one’s foot would be pierced through.
It was a month and a half after Li Yao reached the Skeleton Island, and this was the fourth game that he had participated in.
Over the past forty-five days, Li Yao had become a legend that rose like a volcanic eruption among the gladiators of the Skeleton Island!
“‘Bloody Claw’, the most brutal, strong, and mysterious gladiator over the past five years, has shown up! He’s only been here for a month and a half, but we’ve all witnessed his performance in the three most dangerous battles!
“In the Lightning Dungeon, he killed a Soul-Splitting Behemoth with only one attack!
“In the Ice Desolation Dungeon, he twisted off three heads of a Six-Feet Ice Lizard by force!
“In the Black Water Swamp, he escaped without being hurt at all from the attacks of dozens of Transformative Spider Snakes!
“What marvelous performance is he going to demonstrate today? Let’s wait and watch!”
The shrieking bugs in the sky were yelling nonstop, elaborating on his feats to the audience. Even without the exciting voice, the local audience of Void Turmoil City who had often watched the games were already more than thrilled. Countless bronze-blood demons were shouting the name of ‘Bloody Claw’. Even many silver-blood demons were craning their heads out of their boxes or observing him condescendingly with their telescopes.
Li Yao slightly lowered his head. In his eyes, the rowdy audience was nothing but piles of rotten meat.
He was not fighting for the crazy cheers of the audience. It was only because the words of Ba Mingsong, a worker of the Skeleton Island, greatly aroused his curiosity.
From that moment on, he was certain that the Skeleton Island was a secret training camp where the Blade of Chaos recruited new members.
In order to catch the attention of the Blade of Chaos, he would have to show distinguished capabilities.
Therefore, from that day on, Li Yao had quietly accelerated the speed of his training. He also released his strength, gradually improving it from 7% to 7.5%. After he continued making advancements and finally increased his capability to 9%, even many seasoned gladiators who had gone through dozens of games in the arena were no match for him. As a result, he was permitted to participate in the next game to be hosted in the arena.