Rise of the Demon God

A week passed as Long Chen finally came out of his meditation to see where they were and to check on things. 

As he opened his eyes, he realized that they seemed to be flying from above the forest. 

He looked at the sun to check directions. "Good. We seem to be on route."

"We are. But I had to take so many diversions to avoid the cities, that I think we increased the time to reach there by two days. We should get there later than we thought. Why are there so many cities in our way? Can't they make cities elsewhere? Wasting my precious time," Snake Monarch said as he complained. 

"You're right. It's indeed taking long. You must also be getting tired after such a long journey. But this should also give me more time to heal my core," Long Chen told the Snake Monarch, nodding. 

"But if you are tired, you can stop. I'll bring out the Blood Dragon. It would be faster as well. And you can tell it the directions so it could move effectively without needing me. So which one is a better option for you? As for me, I'm fine with both personally," Long Chen told the Snake Monarch.

"I can give him directions?" Snake Monarch asked suspiciously. "That's interesting. That way, I can teach him that I'm the boss."

"That's right. What do you say? Faster and better," Long Chen asked, smiling. 

Up To that point, the Snake Monarch seemed excited not as he heard Long Chen's last line; his excitement disappeared. 

"What do you mean better! I'm the better one," the Snake Monarch let out sharply. "No need to bring him out."

"Aren't you tired of avoiding many cities?" Long Chen asked, amused.

"Not at all. The greatest beast like me can never be tired," the Snake Monarch answered.

"Are you sure?" Long Chen asked, frowning.

"I am sure," the Snake Monarch said proudly.

"Alright. Then you can keep going. It doesn't matter if it takes longer," Long Chen said, nodding. In any case, he actually wasn't going to bring the Blood Dragon out and be lost in meditation. 

That guy was going to attract a lot of attention because of his aura, and Long Chen needed to be up and prepared to make sure his aura remained in control.

As he finished observing his surroundings and realized that everything was fine, he once again closed his eyes and entered the meditation again.

"Better he calls? That guy can never be better than me. But then again, I really am falling behind in cultivating. I really need to work harder. First I was defeated by Orion, who was as weak as a kid when I joined the team. I can't let this new guy defeat me too."

Even though the Snake Monarch didn't tell Long Chen, he was still upset. He was really annoyed as to his growing weakness. His progress was so slow. 

The Snake Monarch kept flying, talking to himself as he took more and more detours.

While the Snake Monarch was still in the middle of the route, the Western Emperor had already reached the Royal Capital of the Northern Empire despite starting almost at the same time. 

Their Golden Dragons landed in front of the Palace of Northern General, where the meeting was supposed to take place. 

The guards of the Palace greeted him as they said, "Greetings to the Western General. Please follow after us."

The Western General and his men followed the guards as they entered the Royal Palace. 

As they reached near the meeting room, they noticed that men from all other Empires were standing outside.

"You can go inside. As for your men, they must wait outside," the guards told Western General, who nodded as he stopped outside. 

"You all stay here," the Western General told his men before he pushed the door open and stepped inside. 

His men remained outside, waiting.

"You're finally here. As expected, you kept us waiting like always. Why don't you change your ways, Gu Yan?" The Northern General asked, squinting his eyes. "Anyway, now that you're here, sit down."

The Western General was distracted by something else though. His eyes remained on one of the three men that were sitting on the chairs before him. 

"Fu Min, you're alive?" The Western General asked the Southern General.

"Why won't I be alive? Are you hoping for my death? Stop this nonsense," the Southern General asked, me rolling his eyes. "Sit down so we can begin."

"Ah, not that. It's about something else. I heard you passed through the Western Empire, and you were killed," the Western General said as he stepped forward, taking a seat. 

"Even if I were to die during my journey, I wouldn't have died in the Western Empire. I traveled through the Eastern Empire. Now stop this joke," the Southern General replied.

"You mean the Blood Dragon didn't kill you?" The Western Emperor asked, frowning.

"Blood Dragon? Why would they kill me? I haven't stepped near the Dragon Temple at all," The Southern General replied, rolling his eyes. 

'Do it wasn't him keeping his identity a secret? Then who was this Master Long that the people there thought was as strong as me? Were they really idiots to misunderstand someone?'

'That might be it. The person they met must be someone weaker than us but stronger than them, so they assumed. What stupid guys. Their confidence even fooled me. How annoying.'

The Western General fell in a deep thought as he placed all the blame on King Lu. 

"That's why that person was so easily killed by the Dragon before even putting up a fight," he muttered softly.

"May I ask why you keep talking about a Dragon?" The Northern General asked, frowning. He had noticed something strange. 

"Do you really not know about this?" The Western General asked, frowning.

"What don't we know?" The Northern General asked.

"The Dragon Temple is in your Northern Empire, so I thought you'd know about this," the Western General said. "I believe something significant has happened there."

In any case, he couldn't investigate alone since the Northern Empire had jurisdiction over that place. So it was better to enter with coordination. 

"What do you mean something happened there? What do you know that we don't?" The Northern General asked again, still not understanding.

"A Blood Dragon was seen in the Western Empire recently," the Western General said, dropping the bombshell of a revelation. 

"This guy has really gone crazy today. He's speaking nonsense. First, he said that I was killed by the Blood Dragon, and now he says that a Blood Dragon appeared."

" Neither was I ever in Western Empire, nor the Blood Dragon will be. He's either dreaming or trying to fool us," the Southern General chimed in.