The Record of Unusual Creatures

The entire Coldpath dimension was a huge historical repository. Even though Hao Ren was not clear what kind of place it was at first, his two years of digging graves and his extensive experience in collecting bodies allowed him to determine the site’s value. This led him to develop a relatively cautious and safe plan of action. Intuition told him that there were secrets hiding in these crumbling palaces and that he wanted to keep them as they were if possible. Hence, he squashed the idea of using the Petrachelys and other weapons of mass destruction.

The demon king’s army was strong enough to deal with this incident. And thanks to the strength of Coldpath itself, the battle between the demon hunters and the demon king’s army would not damage anything. It would, however, be different if the Petrachelys and the armed UAVs were brought in.

His intuition was right.

For thousands of years, demon hunters had been working on the endless secrets of Coldpath. Everything there was made by the true God. Even though things there had been blown up into pieces, those fragments were still powerful enough to make mortal civilization crazy. The Thirteen Sages and the Council of Elders had explored every temple and tower for thousands of years. They dug up everything they could collect and moved them all to the library of the Netherrealm Clock Tower. Now, these treasures were Hao Ren’s new target.

Hao Ren was standing in front of the big hole at the end of the palace, where the goddess had fallen. He looked at the contorted and torn ground; he could vaguely discern the dent that had once held the Gilded Disc. He bent down and examined the ground within a few meters of the dent. “What are you looking for?” Vivian asked curiously.

“Blood,” Hao Ren said, without looking up. “The goddess’ blood ran down the Gilded Disc to the ground when she was killed. The blood on the Gilded Disc became the original divine sin, but… the blood on the ground vanished.”

“Maybe the demon hunters who lived here wiped the blood off when they were cleaning up the place,” Vivian muttered.

“How is that possible?” Hao Ren rolled his eyes. “That’s the goddess’ blood.”

Vivian was a little nervous. “I don’t think those blood stains are anything good. You see, the blood on the Gilded Disc became the original sin, and the innate antagonism among the otherworldlings on Earth’s the result of that little bit of blood. And this place is even worse. It’s the scene of the goddess’ murder. So the level of sin here, I think, is a lot higher than the original sin of the Gilded Disc.”

“The exact process of turning the goddess’ blood into the original sin is still unknown. This is something that can’t be explained by scientific logic,” said Hao Ren while as he stood up. “So, not every blood stain is going to carry the original sin, but certainly the blood stain won’t just vanish into thin air.”

He knew it was hard to prove. The blood was indeed gone, along with the long black sword that killed the goddess. Now he could only place hope in the Netherrealm Clock Tower. Hopefully, the ancient demon hunters would find these things and keep them safe.

“I don’t know if they were lucky to have settled down in the place where the goddess of creation fell for so many years. You never know; I was probably born in one of the palaces here.”

Hao Ren looked at Vivian. Thinking that her true identity was the divine life created before the fall of the goddess of creation, he nodded and said, “Perhaps… Maybe the goddess of creation made you in one of the rooms here. Why don’t we look for it?”

“Stop kidding. Who remembers what happened when they just came out of the womb? I didn’t even have eyes.”

Hao Ren smiled. He stood before the open wall of the palace, looking out into the darkness. In the dark, he could see the remnants of other buildings floating in the distance. The ruins were floating in endless nothingness in a melancholic atmosphere. Under the mysterious starlight in the boundary of space, they were just like the palaces of gods that floated among the stars in fairytales. Hao Ren saw flashes of light jumping between the palaces, and lights from dense explosions over some buildings. The demon king’s legion and the normal demon hunters were organizing waves of counterattacks. At least ten troops were attacking all the bases of Coldpath at the same time. Although things had calmed down in the palace, the frontline was in full swing.

Brutalus was leading his men to reorganize their forces. The tireless demons were ready to attack a nearby energy node. Now that the legion’s portal was open, the demons were rubbing their hands in front of it, waiting excitedly for the next fight.

Meanwhile, Hao Ren looked back at the faint red mark on his hand.

There were hundreds of ruins in Coldpath. Various palace ruins floated in that space. Lanina had six options to choose as their first target: In addition to Brutalus’ team, there had been five legions going to other war zones, and Hao Ren had chosen this spot. After he entered the palace, his line of actions almost completely recreated his experience in his vision. Even at the last moment when Vivian was standing in the spot where the goddess of creation had fallen, he was standing exactly in the spot where he was standing in the vision.

This sequence of events was well beyond coincidence.

It was like they were destined to happen.

Hao Ren did not believe in the supernatural at first. But ever since he became the landlord of a bunch of supernatural beings, he had completely fallen into this wicked realm. Hence, he had no doubt at the moment that everything he went through in Coldpath had a meaning behind it.

Perhaps, the main purpose of everything happening there was to draw him in, to stand right there at this very moment.

“Was this your arrangement?” He clenched his palm. The red scar had now completely faded, but he felt a tiny heat coming from it as if it were responding to something.

The demon king’s army marched into Coldpath in full swing.

Twenty-four hours after the first unit entered Coldpath, the following legions arrived as planned. The Stellar Spire opened for a day and a night, and finally sent 100,000 troops into the demon hunters’ sanctuary.

The fierce fighting on the frontline never ceased. The demon king’s legion was made up of war veterans trained on the most brutal battlefields. They crushed the enemy’s will to resist and formed dozens of teams that kept attacking the demon hunters’ strongholds. Unwearied demons became the main force of the attack, while others continued to push their strongholds forward, giving the demon hunters of the council little chance to fight back and catch their breath.

Lanina was in charge. She was definitely worthy of the title “Chief Strategist” under the demon king. While she totally had no sense of direction, her skills in the war were truly impressive. Although Coldpath was a strange place for the demon king’s legion, she was able to grasp the situation and characteristics of the battlefield in a short time. She figured out the Council of Elders’ patterns and general strength only after a few tentative attempts. She always weakened the enemy’s defense with just the right amount of force. When her opponent tired out from the ceaseless defensive battle, she would sweep the battlefield thoroughly with her overwhelming main force, eradicating all hazards at once, leaving no hope for the enemy to fight back.

When Hao Ren first met Lanina, he thought she was a bit strange but easy to get along with. However, he got to know her better after learning about the war on the frontlines. She was a standard demon. Her attacking style was cunning and powerful. Her cunning side came from her own demon blood, but her powerful tactics were taught by Y’zaks.

*Bang! Boom!*

The green flare from the demonic cannon fell on the Council of Elders’ line of defense. A great cloud of smoke billowed from the ruined palace. The protective shields over the palace shook and crumbled during the incessant bombing. These shields were built by the demon hunters with their own magical skills, which were almost as strong as the palace itself. However, in front of the demon king’s weapons of heavy firepower, their resistance appeared weak.

This was one of the last strongholds of the council’s demon hunters. In Elder Gregowen’s words, after they broke the place apart, the Netherrealm Clock Tower had basically become a general without an army.

Hao Ren and the gang stood behind the demon army, watching the fire roaring in the distance. A battlefield like this did not require their help.

Just as Hao Ren thought that the battle would end without a hitch, a master demon hunter ran toward White Flame and Teuton with an odd expression on his face. He then said, “We’ve caught a… commander of a higher rank.”