Chapter 43 Former Partners
After waiting for more than three hours, the surroundings remained peaceful.
The Endless Lord finally realized that there might be a problem with his reinforcements, and he decided to risk surfacing to see what was going on.
The sky was already showing the first light of dawn, and at this time, the law enforcement officers who had been searching all night were exhausted.
The guards responsible for the defense of the outer seas were so tired that they could barely keep their eyes open.
The Endless Lord floated cautiously on the sea, keeping watch and looking around.
Upon discovering that the surrounding waters were filled with the sleeping inhabitants of the tribe and that there were no law enforcement officers in sight, his heart gradually relaxed.
Could it be that his reinforcements were discovered before they even reached the open sea?
Then a large-scale battle broke out with the law enforcement team. The inland sea was mistakenly considered a safe place by them, and its defenses were weaker.
The Endless Lord saw this as a golden opportunity, a chance to escape.
As for the lower-ranking subordinates who remained in the inner sea disguised as contestants, they would naturally not make any rash moves as long as he did not light the signal flare.
If they can successfully participate in the competition, some of them will inevitably stand out and stay in the Great Abyss Sea. They might even become his inside agents if he rebels again in the future.
Thinking about it this way, he felt much better, and the frustration he felt from this failure seemed to have dissipated considerably.
Although the defenses were weak, they were not entirely undefended. The Endless Lord carefully avoided the guards and patrolling law enforcement teams along the way, and unknowingly deviated from the straight line closest to the outer sea.
When he realized he had returned to the waters where the Purple Demon contestant had been housed, a sense of unease suddenly arose in his heart.
Is it a coincidence, or...?
Before he could figure it out, he heard the high priest's familiar voice: "It's been a long time, my old friend—81660101?"
The moment that string of numbers was uttered, the law enforcement officers lying in ambush nearby were stunned!
Among the people of the Fine Demon Clan, only those who rank high in the current arena competition are eligible to be named with numbers.
Winners of previous competitions will have their previous numbers reinstated after the next competition.
Their numbers represent their birth dates.
For example, the first puddle that Xi'er encountered, the first yellow demon girl who took the initiative to talk to her, her number was 125520606, which means she was born on June 6, 12552.
The Endless Lord before us has the number 81660101, which means he was born on January 1, 8166.
In other words, he has lived for over four thousand years.
In the Dust and Ash Continent, spiritual energy is scarce and resources are limited, making it very difficult to advance to the Purple Demon level.
However, living to over four thousand years old is even more difficult.
In the minds of these law enforcement officers, apart from the high priest who had lived for thousands of years, they did not know anyone who had lived for two thousand years.
How could they not be surprised when a rebel leader who had lived for over four thousand years suddenly appeared?
Not only them, but even his subordinates who followed the Endless Lord did not know that he had lived for so long.
Such a long lifespan is simply impossible to achieve using only the resources of the Dust Continent.
The reason the High Priest could live for thousands of years was because he often led the elite of the Demon Clan to fight in other worlds, and unintentionally obtained some rare and precious materials, which extended his lifespan.
But this Endless Lord has never gone out to fight, so how could he live so long?
Seemingly noticing the doubts of those around him, the High Priest slowly spoke: "I have always wondered who the Endless Lord really is, but only now, having seen him with my own eyes, do I realize that he is actually my childhood friend."
We were all born in the same sea area, a remote place more than ten million miles away from the Great Abyss Sea.
From a young age, our talents were stronger than those of the other little yellow demons around us. After breaking through to the purple demon level, we traveled around together.
During his travels, he overheard a passing Purple Demon Lord mentioning that the current High Priest of the Great Abyss Sea had received divine revelation and decided to hold a grand arena competition to select the elite of the Fine Demon Clan.
We were immediately intrigued and decided to set off for the Great Abyss Sea.
On the way to Dayuanhai, we passed through a sea area. Although the sea area was already polluted at that time, the degree of pollution was not as serious as it is now.
In that sea area, we encountered a vicious dragon that was about to transform into a dragon. It coveted the enormous energy contained within us and wanted to devour us to break through the Heavenly Tribulation of Transformation.
We were forced to fight back. That battle lasted for three days and three nights, turning that sea upside down and even breaking an underwater volcano.
The magma erupted, and since the evil dragon was of the water element, it was hit by a huge impact.
We seized this opportunity and worked together to kill it.
During this process, I unintentionally swallowed a Crimson Flame Spirit Crystal that was born from an underwater volcano.
As someone with the wood element, swallowing this Crimson Flame Spirit Crystal would have been certain death for me. At that time, I thought of using my own life to give my companions a chance to live.
So I forcibly refined this Crimson Flame Spirit Crystal, and its original body was scorched by the flames, withering away by more than half.
Despite the excruciating pain from my own injuries, I desperately entangled myself with the evil dragon, buying my companions a chance to escape.
Watching my companions walk away, I felt very comforted.
Then I risked self-destructing my soul orb, intending to perish together with this evil dragon.
In fact, we were all blown to pieces by the power of the Soul Orb's self-destruction.
However, because I had previously consumed that Crimson Flame Spirit Crystal, although my soul was injured, I did not die.
That evil dragon was indeed dead, and I unexpectedly obtained the water-attribute inner core it left behind.
Thinking that such a precious inner core shouldn't be given away to other sea beasts, I swallowed it while I still had a sliver of clarity.
And using my unique stealth skill, I concealed my remnant soul and inner core together.
I thought that after my comrades escaped, they might secretly return to the battlefield to pay their respects to me.
Having grown up with me since childhood, he is familiar with all my skills. I think if he is lucky enough to sense my lingering aura, he should be able to follow it and find the evil dragon's inner core that I hid.
Before I lost consciousness, I truly had no regrets, and I think I passed away with a smile on my face.
Unfortunately, when I woke up three months later, I still hadn't seen my companion.
Then, to my surprise, I discovered that the inner core of the evil dragon had miraculously fused with the Crimson Flame Spirit Crystal that I had previously swallowed.
After they merged, the special energy they released actually gathered my shattered soul orb together and repaired it.
It was from that time that my combat power was truly enhanced. Since then, I have fought countless battles and always managed to survive by sheer luck, thanks to my unique attributes compared to ordinary demons.
I possess both fire and wood attributes. Fire excels at attacking, while wood excels at healing. Whenever I am injured in battle, the healing ability of wood allows me to recover quickly.
After waking up, I spent two months traveling to the Great Abyss Sea to participate in the first tournament.
To my surprise, I saw my companion again in the arena. The defensive inner armor he was wearing was made from the scales scattered by that evil dragon.
This is enough to prove that he returned to the place where we fought before after leaving, but he didn't bother to sense my remaining presence at all.
That alone wouldn't make me blame him. I think he probably thought I was dead, so going back to pick up the scraps wasn't wrong, given how scarce resources are on the Dust Continent.
But when we both stood out and entered the finals, and finally fought for first place, he used dirty tricks in that final battle.
One of the magical artifacts he used was a killing array plate that we obtained together in a small world—Boundless Blaze.
We obtained this array plate together. He said he took a liking to it at first sight and was willing to exchange it for other rare and precious materials.
I agreed because of our childhood friendship.
Later, I asked him about this array plate, and he kept saying that he hadn't been able to fully refine it yet.
So when we fought the water-attribute evil dragon together, he didn't take out this array plate, and I never suspected anything.
Unexpectedly, he used this formation in our final showdown.
Unfortunately, he didn't expect that I had already successfully fused with that Crimson Flame Spirit Crystal and was no longer afraid of this Boundless Blazing Flame Killing Array.
I won that battle in the end. When the high priest learned that we were childhood friends and that he had used such a killing formation on me, he completely despised him and banished him from the Great Abyss Sea.
After that, I never heard from him again, and I had no idea that he had become the lord of the Endless Sea and had even plotted this rebellion.
Now that things have come to this, 81660101, what else do you have to say?
The high priest looked at him calmly, his eyes showing no hatred, only indifference and estrangement towards a stranger.
After a few minutes of stunned silence, the Endless Lord suddenly burst into laughter: "Hahahaha! Since ancient times, the victor is king and the loser is villain. My falling into your hands is just your good luck."
Back when we fought the evil dragon, it was clearly a joint effort from both of us, but you took the opportunity to swallow that Crimson Flame Spirit Crystal all by yourself.
Later, the evil dragon died, and you took possession of its inner core, hiding away to slowly absorb it.
You only left me with those worthless scales and some dragon bones, otherwise how could I have lost to you in the final battle?
For thousands of years, you have held the position of High Priest, getting whatever you want, while I can only hide in the remote and barren Endless Sea, living as a minor lord.
I painstakingly planned this riot, but fate turned out to be on my side, allowing that alien brat from another world to discover my whereabouts ahead of time.
Since even fate won't help me, then I'll blow up this Great Abyss Sea! Even if I have to take all of you high-level combatants with me in my dying moments, it'll be worth it!"
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