CHAPTER 764: CHAPTER 687: ASCEND TO THE PEAK 86

After killing these four Martial Sects, the journey became very smooth. Tan Shuangshuang and others didn’t encounter anyone coming to assassinate them. It seemed those four were the most formidable. Tan Shuangshuang also checked the corpses of the three Martial Sects she had just killed.

The men were already dead, and naturally, the Spirit Mansion was shattered and couldn’t be seen. However, Tan Shuangshuang did find a core unique to the Demon Clan at the Spirit Mansion location of these three Martial Sects. The Demon Clan core usually grows in the head, but the demon cores of these three Martial Sects grew at the human Spirit Mansion location.

After a person dies, the Spirit Mansion cannot be probed. To verify whether or not these people had a Spirit Mansion, Tan Shuangshuang grabbed an assassin who had been thrown in earlier and forcibly used Spiritual Power to explore the other’s Spirit Mansion. She indeed discovered that this person not only had a Demon core but also a human Spirit Mansion!

Tan Shuangshuang looked at Lu Tianyi with a somewhat grim expression, speaking with a heavy tone: "These things have both a human Spirit Mansion and a Demon core. No wonder they can survive in the human world. It’s possible they can also live in the Abyss. They’re neither purely human nor purely demon; it’s hard to tell what exactly they are."

Though Tan Shuangshuang spoke in this way, she secretly harbored an absurd guess in her mind. However, that thought was so far-fetched that she found it hard to believe.

Nevertheless, Tan Shuangshuang didn’t voice it. Lu Tianyi seemingly reached the same conclusion and directly put forth the conjecture, "Sister Shuangshuang, do you think these people might be descendants born from the Demon Clan and us humans? That’s why they possess both a human Spirit Mansion and a Demon core."

Tan Shuangshuang shook her head in contemplation, "I am also not sure, although it seems to be the most logical explanation. However, I read in a historical book, ’Ba Yue Records,’ that a thousand years ago, the Demon Clan once frantically captured humans, attempting to create offspring that could survive in the human world and aid the Demon Clan in overtaking the human realm through a union of humans and demons."

"But the Demon Clan’s idea never materialized because the human body simply cannot withstand birthing demon offspring. Conceiving demon offspring is already extremely difficult; even if conceived, none could survive until birth because the mother would die from the Demon Clan’s inherent toxins within two months of pregnancy, and even taking specially developed antidote by the Demon Clan proved ineffective."

"That was a catastrophe lasting a hundred years, marking the longest war in history between humans and demons with countless large and small nations participating. In their insane bid to produce hybrid offspring, the Demon Clan captured numerous women who died, to the extent that when the war ended, eighty percent of the participating nations’ ordinary women were casualties, and even female cultivators largely perished."

"After that clash, both demons and humans were severely weakened, leading to a three-hundred-year cessation of warfare as both sides recuperated. Despite the Demon Clan’s frenzied capture of human women back then failing to create hybrid offspring, developing such offspring without widespread disappearance of human females is not easy."

Lu Tianyi felt dejected. He also knew what Tan Shuangshuang was discussing but had momentarily forgotten it. Since these individuals were not forced offspring by the Demon Clan, the half-human, half-demon situation they now presented puzzled Lu Tianyi even more.

Aside from the hundred years of war before, the Demon Clan had never truly launched an all-out battle in the following years due to restrictions preventing extensive stay in the human world.

If these restrictions were broken by the emergence of these hybrid beings, the Demon Clan would gain a formidable presence in the human world, facing humans with catastrophes of annihilation level.

With such heavy thoughts, Tan Shuangshuang and Lu Tianyi silently sped back to the frontline battlefield, where General Shang and the Five Great Sects had been awaiting Tan Shuangshuang’s news.

Although confident in Tan Shuangshuang’s formidable combat abilities, which should guarantee the safe return of resources, they couldn’t find peace until seeing Tan Shuangshuang in person.

Fortunately, Tan Shuangshuang returned quickly, much faster than expected; she spent only four days away, sparing everyone from enduring battlefield pressures while she was gone.

Upon Tan Shuangshuang’s return, it also marked the safe arrival of resources. Lu Tianyi’s brought resources were exceptionally plentiful, filling twelve High-level Storage Stones, enough for consumption over two years.

But along with the good news came a significantly bad one—the discovery by Tan Shuangshuang and Lu Tianyi, diminishing everyone’s joyful mood owing to the arrival of resources.

Not only did Tan Shuangshuang bring bad news, but General Shang also had disheartening information; he immediately conducted a search among his soldiers and sect disciples upon receiving a transmission from Tan Shuangshuang as per her request.

The results were terrifying, uncovering thousands of individuals who had altered their appearances to infiltrate, including over a dozen high-ranking members, with even an elder from Bishui Sect being impersonated.

Everyone was disappointed by this outcome. Those individuals had been shut off from their Spirit Mansion and powers and imprisoned, with their disposition yet to be decided.

Death was inevitable; previously undiscovered until now, since uncovering, General Shang’s investigation found these impersonators secretly aiding the Demon Clan in committing atrocities against humans.

Their actions were extremely covert, feigning death once suspect, then reappearing under another identity. These individuals caused numerous deaths, and such severe crimes offer no possibility of pardon.

However, before executing them, understanding their behind-the-scenes mastermind, their motive for infiltration to cause immense human casualties, needs extracting, requiring experts in interrogation.

Whether to directly interrogate the traitors here or send them back to Baiyue Country Capital for interrogation remains a dilemma.

Interrogating here minimizes extraordinary incidents, but few in the military or sects excel at interrogation. Ling Wuchen is adept, but the Demon Clan’s aggression is intensifying, and as a Martial Venerate level force, Ling Wuchen cannot be diverted.

As for other sects, none have brought Law Enforcement Hall members, mainly because during Demon Clan combat, both sects and nations require powerful members to guard their bases, preventing immediate downfall even before combat concludes.