Of everyone alarmed by Yue Yang’s intention to head to the seventh gate’s Human Valley, the most wary was none other than the Heavens-Splitting Demon Lord himself.

Though he hadn’t left Demon Valley in tens of thousands of years, he’d gathered some information about Human Valley over time.

In Human Valley, ambushing Yue Yang wouldn’t be as simple as directly starting a fight the way it was in Demon Valley. Besides, direct combat had already proven incapable of finishing this young man. He needed to devise the best possible approach, the optimal course of action, to truly and permanently suppress the greatest rival fate had placed before him.

When a Battle Angel wearing an Angel Emblem came flying in from the distance at speed, every one of the hundred-day spectators — Ren Tiange included — let out a heartfelt sigh from the bottom of their souls.

What a cunning newcomer.

Who could have imagined that in the midst of a hundred days of world-shaking combat that intense, this newcomer had still managed to spare the energy to send a life-guardian war beast out hunting for points? Setting aside the question of how he had so many life-guardian war beasts to begin with, and setting aside the sheer nerve of holding back that much strength during a hundred-day battle for the ages, the simple fact of his foresight alone was enough to make anyone feel ashamed by comparison. This young man had apparently set this plan in motion the moment he entered the Dark Sky Nest underground ruins, and throughout a hundred days of bitter fighting, he had never once recalled his main war beast — instead using the chaos of battle to quietly accumulate points at a furious rate.

You simply had to respect it.

Ji Wuri’s internal-external pincer scheme had been clever enough, but compared to this kind of advance planning that looked a hundred days ahead, it seemed quite ordinary. At minimum, Ren Tiange and the others estimated that no matter how deep Ji Wuri’s scheming ran, he couldn’t have planned that far ahead — let alone maintained this kind of fighting capacity throughout the grueling ordeal of a hundred-day battle, while simultaneously winning other fights on the side.

“How many points?” Even Ren Tiange was curious. He knew that a move like Yue Yang’s had to carry real meaning — clearing a hundred points wouldn’t take anywhere near a hundred days. And that wasn’t an ordinary Battle Angel by any measure. Her intelligence, combat strength, and growth patterns all went well beyond what Ren Tiange and the others had ever seen before. More often than not, she felt like a person rather than a war beast, which showed just how far she’d developed her human form.

“Ten thousand.” The answer came not from Yue Yang, but from Blue Demon.

From the moment he’d spotted the Battle Angel approaching, Blue Demon had used a transfer to slip away to the nearest camp and check the records — where he found a new record had been born. Ji Wuri’s blood-red name was still at the top of the Angel Statue’s rankings, but his lead had shrunk to exactly one point, and since Ji Wuri had already left Demon Valley, the new top-ranked name — it went without saying — would belong to this freak of a newcomer.

What?

When Ren Tiange and the others heard this, they couldn’t help crying out.

Every one of them knew how difficult points were to earn. Even Ji Wuri and Zhonghua, with their inside-outside combined scheming, their countless sweeps through Angel Alliance camps — Ji Wuri’s total had only reached ten thousand and one, and that at the absolute ceiling of his scheming, just enough to edge past Vivienne’s original record. Of course, Ji Wuri had spent months doing it through underhanded means, while Vivienne had only taken half a month with legitimate combat — so the two weren’t really comparable.

Points this difficult to earn — how had this Battle Angel accumulated ten thousand of them in a hundred days?

“Would you care to explain?” Even the Silver-Eyed Great Sage found himself curious enough to want an answer.

“Trade secret.” Yue Yang smiled and said nothing more.

Some secrets were better kept. Sharing them too freely could set a bad example for those who came after — and besides, people with secrets and hidden cards were the truly powerful ones.

As the Battle Angel Ika returned to Yue Yang’s arms, taking on the form of little Yue Shuang for daily life, her body suddenly blazed with seven-colored radiance. In the vault of the sky above, a colossal angelic figure appeared — a thousand meters tall — crowned with a wreath of green laurel leaves symbolizing wisdom, holding a Demon-Slaying Sacred Sword in one hand, while the other reached down through empty space and rested gently atop Battle Angel Ika’s head.

In the far distance of the sky, another colossal figure also appeared — this one in the form of a demon king — but looking on with unmistakable sadness, as though no suitable inheritor had come forward, it faded and vanished without a sound.

When Ji Wuri had broken the record earlier, there had also been a flash of light from his body.

But nothing remotely approaching the spectacle of today.

Endless energy, pouring like the spiritual essence of heaven and earth, flowed ceaselessly into the Angel Emblem in Ika’s hand, while at the crown of her head, inheritance force a thousand times over poured in, driving this Battle Angel of limitless potential to grow and evolve continuously under the enveloping divine power.

Ika had never been an ordinary Battle Angel to begin with — born under the special circumstances of divine blood and Yue Yang’s own blood combined.

Now, catalyzed by the divine power of this angel-formed deity whose name no one knew, she underwent a complete rebirth, growing at breathtaking speed into an entirely new form that surpassed even Yue Yang’s own estimates.

BOOM BOOM BOOM!

When Ika — having inherited the full divine power of this nameless angel-form deity — broke free of Yue Yang’s arms and shot toward the sky with her wings spread wide, the very heavens and earth trembled in response. The female angel figure overhead wore an expression of tender love on her vast face, raising a colossal hand to gently cup Ika as she soared upward, bringing her to hovering just before her lips for a light kiss — and then, silently, disappeared.

Under that single kiss, Ika released every fragment of her divine power at once.

Her tier rocketed upward from its original divine soldier level, the speed of ascension so breathtaking that Ren Tiange and the others watched with hearts hammering, feeling equal parts envy and bitter regret. In that moment they finally understood why the two warring factions had existed inside Demon Valley — the reason was that two fallen ancient deities had intended to find a worthy inheritor here. Now that inheritor had finally appeared — and it wasn’t any of the people who’d spent thousands of years inside Demon Valley, but a newcomer who’d only arrived a hundred days ago, through a life-guardian war beast that had gone utterly unnoticed.

Ghost King Phantom, Skeleton King Golden Bones, and Flayer King Blood Shave on the Dark Alliance’s side felt the shame of it most keenly.

Looking at how the demon-king-form divine figure had faded away in quiet sorrow, the conclusion was clear: the Dark Alliance had lost. The Angel Alliance’s deity had found a worthy inheritor. This ancient contest, older than anyone could remember, had ended with the Dark Alliance’s defeat.

This wasn’t simply a loss — it was the forfeit of the right to a divine inheritance.

Divine soldier, divine general, quasi-divine, divine tier…

When Ika’s full divine power erupted, every person watching below lost the ability to breathe, their hearts crushed beneath the weight of that divine pressure. If Ika could fully master this divine power, she could likely erase every person present with a single hand. In the face of a force like this, even the Heavens-Splitting Demon Lord — who’d always looked down on everyone with towering arrogance — couldn’t prevent his expression from changing.

Unfortunately, the full divine power eruption lasted only a few dozen seconds before receding.

The divine power in its entirety was still beyond what Ika could command at this stage.

Not that she was in any hurry.

As the divine power retreated back within her, Ika let out a soft cry, reversed direction in the sky, and dove back down to return to Yue Yang’s arms.

If not for the divine-tier marking at the center of her brow — the mark of a divine being — and the notation in Yue Yang’s Sacred Codex confirming her unprecedented ascension to “Divine Angel,” nothing about her outward appearance showed any change at all.

“I’ll be waiting in Human Valley!” The Heavens-Splitting Demon Lord gave a cold snort.

With a war beast like this earning points for Yue Yang, and with a point total like his, any hope of blocking Yue Yang from leaving Demon Valley was now impossible. The Heavens-Splitting Demon Lord decided to go on ahead and use his own advantages to reach the seventh gate’s Human Valley first and wait. Whatever it took, he could not allow a young man like Yue Yang to keep growing — and he absolutely could not allow Yue Yang to clear all the Trial Grounds gates and claim the final Divine Codex reward.

Ren Tiange and the others came forward to exchange greetings with Yue Yang and establish a connection while they could.

At this point, every one of them regarded Yue Yang as an equal, or something above that. The divine inheritance was gone, and Demon Valley held nothing more worth staying for.

The seventh gate’s Human Valley was their next destination — but none of them held any confidence about competing with a “freak newcomer” like this.

Getting on good terms in advance was an absolute must.

For Human Valley, every one of them had gathered considerable intelligence over the years, and they all knew that relationships were the most valuable currency there.

Ren Tiange, the Silver-Eyed Great Sage, Ghost King Phantom, Skeleton King Golden Bones, Flayer King Blood Shave and the others took their leave one after another. The one who remained at the end, in a surprise to everyone, was Blue Demon.

“Your name isn’t Blue Demon. What is it?” Yue Yang asked him directly.

“Hmph.” Blue Demon gave a cold snort and transferred away without explanation. Yue Yang was certain this person had come from the Sky Tower — he simply couldn’t determine who exactly.

They would meet again in Human Valley either way. Yue Yang didn’t mind letting this senior figure maintain his air of mystery for the time being.

With the Heavens-Splitting Demon Lord and Ren Tiange’s group all departed from Demon Valley, Yue Yang didn’t leave immediately. Instead he returned to the ruined Dark Sky Nest, then back to the Heaven’s Sieve Space and the Demon God Hall within it.

Three days later, when he emerged, ten thousand thoroughly dejected challengers trailed behind him, their expressions carrying deep gratitude mixed with even deeper gloom — because as the price of their rescue, Yue Yang and Ika had eliminated their main war beasts. They had chosen to live first. After all, as Yue Yang had once heard before his transmigration: as long as the green mountains remain, there’ll always be firewood to burn.

At this point, the Angel Statue’s point total had risen to thirty thousand.

Towering above everything, ranked first by an insurmountable margin.

This score utterly demolished Ji Wuri’s ten thousand and one, earned over months through scheming and deception, and stood as an absolute pinnacle that no future challenger could replicate or surpass. No one would ever again have the opportunity to destroy ten thousand enemy main war beasts — and no one would be able to count on a safety margin like that either.

As a direct response to Ji Wuri’s deliberate and shameless effort to suppress Vivienne and claim first place.

Yue Yang had delivered the most decisive counter possible.

And this was only the beginning. The real counter was still waiting in Human Valley ahead.

When Yue Yang departed Demon Valley from the first Angel Alliance camp, it wasn’t just Angel Alliance challengers who came to see him off — many Dark Alliance challengers also appeared, paying their respects to this unusual man who had saved their lives. The most visibly moved among them were Mark the deputy captain, who had been the first to extend protection to Yue Yang as a newcomer, and the one-eyed powerhouse Ben, who had fought shoulder-to-shoulder with him through hardship; North the bull-headed man, Four-Limbs the four-armed creature, and the pudgy Fortune were there too.

Though Yue Yang didn’t say much, every word he did say became something they would treasure for the rest of their lives.

They had a clear sense of their own limitations.

In a Demon Valley now emptied of its great leaders and qualified challengers, they could live on comfortably enough — but the seventh gate’s Human Valley was not somewhere they could go. Even if Yue Yang could bring them along, they had no wish to be a burden to him.

“It’s all right. We can live well here. Once you’ve cleared all the Trial Grounds and claimed the Divine Codex, we’ll follow you then.”

Ben — who had become the new chief — spoke on behalf of the many challengers around him, giving voice to what everyone felt.

Yue Yang nodded, raised a hand, and said his farewells.

By the time he made his way back to the old man at the entrance, that old man’s face had crinkled into a smile that looked disturbingly like a chrysanthemum in full bloom — which gave Yue Yang an intense urge to put a fist straight through it. But he knew full well that this old creature, if it came to an actual fight, would be even more troublesome to deal with than the Heavens-Splitting Demon Lord. Otherwise there was no way he’d have ended up as the Angel Alliance’s “guide” for Demon Valley.

“Ah, to be young — what passion, what vitality. I envy it so.” The old man appeared to know everything Yue Yang had done and gained inside Demon Valley, his smile particularly sly.

“Ah, to be old — what thick skin, what nerve. I’m in awe.” Yue Yang shot back without any softening.

“There’s no benefit in offending this old man, particularly since I happen to know certain things about Human Valley.” The old man showed no sign of taking offense whatsoever.

“You want me to flatter you?” Yue Yang bristled. As a senior, not helping a junior along was one thing — but extorting them was something else entirely.

“Oh my, standing this long has made my legs so tired and my shoulders so stiff. If someone were willing to give these old bones a little rub, I might just happen to recall something useful.” The old man looked at Yue Yang with the expression of a seasoned thief who’d just spotted something priceless, his smile exceptionally warm and friendly.

“……” Yue Yang very much wanted to point out that arson and murder he could manage, snapping bones and flaying skin were also within his skill set — but flattering seniors, rubbing their shoulders and patting their backs in exchange for information was something not only beyond him, but something he would absolutely never do regardless. He nearly produced a blade to deal with this shameless old man who showed absolutely no regard for his juniors. But in the end he held it in, arranged his face into a pleasant smile, and said, “Honored elder, I should mention — my hands tend to be a touch on the forceful side. That won’t be a problem, will it?”

The old man visibly shuddered at that, shaking his head quickly. “Actually, my shoulders feel perfectly fine now, not stiff at all, and my legs are quite rested too. The thought that counts, young friend, it really is the thought that counts!”

(End of Chapter)