Shadow Realm's Branch, Heavenly Demon Cult

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--- Chapter 226 ---

Yu Long observed the surroundings with marvel. 

Although the Illusory Demon Realm exists on the same planet as the Azure Cloud Continent and Profound Sky Continent, this place has a different atmosphere.

There are some similarities, but the air, flora, and fauna have mutated prominently.

"If I started here, I could have recovered from the Kaiju Maker faster." He mumbled out of simple observation. 

"Of course, the Illusion Demon Realm has less God's Legacy than the Profound Sky Continent and has no Ancient Devil Beasts like the Azure Cloud Continent, but they won by sheer variety."

Yu Long walked to a coconut tree and tapped it once, which caused a coconut to fall. His strength control is so perfect that only one coconut fell at a time.

He cracked the coconut with his finger and tasted the water, "Hmm..." 

"The coconut is sweeter than expected. It also makes me rehydrate faster. There is a subtle hint of profound energy, but it was less than 0,001%." 

"Maybe I should try planting some trees?" Yu Long thoughtfully rubbed his chin. 

"What do you think, Freya?" 

"I think it's a great idea, Master," Freya answered calmly from the Kaiju World. "After reforming some lands and vegetation, I noticed this planet has immense potential."

"We can unearth the land beneath the ocean and slowly create a ring of fire to raise life. Making fertile land is easy, but maintaining it is hard, so we could use Pandora's mutated profound beasts to introduce some head start." 

Yu Long's mouth twitched, "I'm talking about planting trees on a small scale." 

"Like a garden." 

"Oh?" Freya giggled nervously. She was too ambitious.

"Then, you can try finding some volcanoes with vast bodies of water nearby." 

"I will handle the rest." 

"What kind of trees do you want to plant, Master?" 

"Fruits." Yu Long replied casually. "If possible, I want apples, pears, oranges, melons, and watermelons." 

Freya noted Yu Long's order and commented solemnly, "Hmm, give me a few days." 

After that, Freya left the Kaiju World and flew out of the beach. 

Yu Long watched the purplish-green light fleet away to the horizon and shook his head because he hoped Freya didn't cause trouble for him.

Chu Yueli and Yona landed near Yu Long, eyeing their surroundings with great interest. In Yona's right hand is fainted Xiao Lingxi, who looks like someone who just experienced life and death moment.

"It's just like the Azure Cloud Continent again." Chu Yueli murmured while crouching on the ground and picking a handful of sand. Each grain felt nice in her hand.

Yona thew Xiao Lingxi to soft grass, glanced at Chu Yueli and also picked a handful of sand. What she did next with it baffled Chu Yueli, though.

The green-haired lady clenched her hand and turned the sand into molten glass, leaving Chu Yueli speechless. She played around with the molten glass before making it as dark as ebony night, shaping it into stylish sunglasses. 

"Master, for you." Yona cooled the sunglasses and handed them to Yu Long.

"Too much sunlight is not good for your eyes." 

"..." Chu Yueli.

What the hell?

Yu Long glanced at the sunglasses, "Okay..." 

"Thanks, Yona." 

Yona smiled. "Mm." 

Not long after, a bright light greeted Yu Long, and the behemoth that was Nine-Knot Grim Ichthyosaur transformed into her humanoid form. Unlike her seniors and fellow Kaiju, however. Onny didn't fully transform into a human and has a Kaiju-esque appearance.

(An: Nine-Knot Grim Ichthyosaur's name will be Onny from now on)

Onny stood around 4'11 feet or less than 150 centimeters. She looks like a lithe teenage girl with a tanned physique, wet purple hair, sharp shark-like teeth, and dark draconic scales on her neck and collarbone.

She wore a very exposing dark-blue hakama with a bandage beneath it and short pants, making her look like a delinquent young lady. 

Yona eyed Onny and mumbled, "Should I wear this kind of clothes too?"

"No, you don't." Yu Long could only imagine the disaster if Yona wore something this exposing. Much blood would get shed because of it, especially from the nose. 

Onny sniffed with her little nose and said, "Oh, your people are going to arrive in a few minutes, Master." 

"You can smell them?" Chu Yueli asked curiously.

Onny nodded and explained, "My nose is a little special. I can smell and remember different scents before storing them at the back of my head." 

"Even if you're a clone of someone, I can still distinguish the difference between two scents." 

"Onny's range is over one hundred kilometers." Yu Long chuckled because he made her this way. "She could even smell the chemical components in the air to help her with detection." 

"Like a hunting dog?" Yona uttered suddenly. 

"Exactly!" Onny gave Yona a nod. "I'm the best when it comes to hunting prey." 

"They are here, by the way." 

Yu Long and others glanced back, seeing a group of gray-clothed figures walking from the lush forests. He narrowed his eyes slightly because the embroidery was 'meticulously' done on the uniform, which caught his attention.

Made with subtle yet refined red threads, the words 'Heavenly Demon Cult' are embedded on the back of the gray uniform with a golden underlining. 

The characters are arranged like wings as if signifying that they could soar above gold, that is, heaven.

The one leading these people is a middle-aged man. He looks over his forties with a tall and refined appearance. 

Even though he wore the gray uniform like any other, his long braided hair, sharp mustache, and beard made him look like someone who was very wise and people wanted to depend on.

Yu Long recognized the middle-aged man, "Ah, Old Man Fu Zhong!" 

"You're the one leading this team, huh?" 

"Yes, Lord Shadow." Fu Zhong is one of Shadow Realm's founders. In fact, he was one of the oldest members, with the age of over eighty-nine.

"I've brought the team to the Illusory Demon Realm and developed the Heavenly Demon Cult as our base here. We have infiltrated all minor and major cities, recruiting natives as our cult members." 

"However, we haven't touched the Demon Imperial City yet and waited for your order first." 

Yu Long nodded in understanding, "Good." 

"How many members do you guys have right now?" 

Fu Zhong grinned, "One million cult members ready at your service, Lord Shadow." 

"One million? Damn." Yu Long couldn't believe his ears for a second. One million is a lot of members. Even the Azure Cloud Continent's branch didn't have that many members.

"You didn't do anything shady... Right, Old Man Fu Zhong?" 

"Hehe, don't worry." Fu Zhong answered assuringly. "I'm doing everything with enough moral standards." 

"We followed the Shadow Realm's method and recruited abandoned orphans and castaways in the Illusory Demon Realm. You can't imagine how many of them are dying every day." 

"The Illusory Demon Realm might look calm on the surface, but greedy people are still fighting under it and causing much misery over a few decades." 

"Anyway, after getting these recruiters. We gave them home, trained them how to survive, and instilled some belief, that's it." 

"Some belief, huh?" Yu Long snorted, to which Fu Zhong innocently responded by raising his arms in defeat.

Fu Zhong glanced at the people behind him and added, "Yuan Lin, come out." 

"Give Lord Shadow your daily schedule in the Heavenly Demon Cult." 

"Yes, Great Protector!" A young woman walked out of the group and stood before Yu Long.

Yu Long observed the young woman and found her cute with her bob-cut black hair, gleaming brown eyes, and round face. 

"Hello, Lord Shadow." The young woman greeted Yu Long with her raspy and determined voice. "My name is Yuan Lin, and I'm Great Protector's twelfth disciple." 

"Three months ago, I was just a dying member of society and cast aside because of my low upbringing. Let's not mention my cultivation talents because I'm the lowest talent in my hometown. My appearance is like ugly duckling."

"No one wants to take me in, not even my parents, as they had to feed my other sisters so they can marry good husbands." 

"However, Great Protector took me in one day." 

"He trained me based on the Shadow Realm's standard. 

"In the morning, he would give us theoretical knowledge about a wide range of things, starting from the values of money, medicine, and basic understanding of elements." 

"Then, we will do physical training by noon, usually sparring against each other. There is a ranking list in the Heavenly Demon Cult, and I'm currently the 3rd."

"After that, we will have free time to do anything we want, as long as we don't do chaos or discriminate against others, until dinner time." 

"Filling our stomach, the last daily task is praying." 

"Praying?" Yu Long raised his brow. 

Yuan Lin gave Yu Long a nod, "We will pray for 15-45 minutes toward you, Lord Shadow, hoping you'd protect us from harm and evil. This practice is mandatory in the Heavenly Demon Cult, and some even prayed for a longer time." 

"Then, we sleep." 

"Rinse and repeat every day~!" She finished with a high-pitched voice.

Fu Zhong looked at his disciple in satisfaction, "That's right. Without Lord Shadow, the world would have no light. He'd guide us to the heavenly path and cast others in his mantle of darkness." 

Damn it, Old Man Fu Zhong! 

You have some loose screws in your head!

"..." Yu Long's mouth twitched slightly. 

'I only left you guys for a few months, and you actually built a religion that worshiped me?'