"The Power That Threatens the Monarch."

-----

-----

Ato glanced sideways, staring intently at his evil dragon comrade who had just spoken, trying to see through his lies. But the other evil dragons were all backing him up.

Seeing this, Ato stopped wasting time overthinking it. After all, this was just some demon lord of a castle — he could crush him single-handedly. But since time was tight, he had ordered them all to strike together.

"Take out those demons who refuse to submit!"

With that, Ato exhaled a powerful blast of dragon fire straight at the demons of Golden Flame City.

The other evil dragons followed suit, unleashing their own devastating attacks.

It was like dragons soaring freely across the land; their path was unstoppable, leaving nothing but destruction in their wake. Wherever they passed, blood spilled like a sea, painting the ground crimson. The sight was terrifying, enough to chill anyone to the bone.

"Please, Lords, we surrender! Spare us!"

"This fight's hopeless — we're just throwing our lives away. Surrender now."

In no time, the terrified demons of Golden Flame City dropped their weapons, kneeling on the ground and begging for mercy.

Fear flickered wildly in their eyes, reaching a breaking point.

From an army of hundreds of thousands, only a few tens of thousands remained after the dragons' slaughter.

Those survivors had no courage left to fight on — all they could do was hope their surrender would be accepted.

"Good!" Ato spread his wings and flew high above, looking down with disdain.

At his words, the dragons who were still slaughtering stopped immediately.

Seeing this, the trembling demons of Golden Flame City finally breathed a sigh of relief.

"Take us to Golden Flame City!" Ato said arrogantly.

At the same time, from the kneeling demons below, one stepped forward — a demon with a dark aura thicker than most. He was clearly one of the top commanders of the demon army, second only to Chiyan.

"My Lords, please, please!" he begged, pointing toward Golden Flame City behind him. His body trembled with fear but he remained respectful and careful — not daring to slack off.

He definitely didn't want to offend these death gods who had slaughtered so many demons.

"Let's go!"

Ato led the way, flying toward Golden Flame City. Abel followed closely, and the rest of the dragons took to the skies as well.

Witnessing this, the captive demons of Golden Flame City, under the watchful eyes of the Poymu City demon army, marched step by step toward Golden Flame City.

An hour later, Golden Flame City was completely fallen under the claws of the evil dragons.

The human slaves living in the city showed no reaction to this scene — their expressions were indifferent, even cold. It was as if they had grown used to this kind of suffering.

Meanwhile, Abel and Ato stood in the main hall of Golden Flame City's lord's mansion, kneeling respectfully on one knee. Their fiery aura flowed into a mirror.

Moments later, as if a call was connected, they respectfully spoke, "Master, we've taken Golden Flame City. Shall we proceed to attack other demon cities?"

Looking into the mirror, they reported their achievements to the Divine Capital.

From Poymu City's Divine Capital, magical energy flowed through the mirror, sending a soul-like wisp to hover over Golden Flame City, observing everything.

After a brief scan, the Divine Capital said, "Good. Truly worthy of being the fire lord's followers. When the whole continent is unified, your status will be supreme!"

Hearing this, both Ato and Abel suddenly wept tears of joy.

They used to be weak demons guarding gates, but now they led tens of thousands of demon troops as proud dragon commanders.

"Master, we will not disappoint you!"

The Divine Capital did not praise them further but his eyes flickered with a hint of thought, and a message about the Eight Great Demon Lords came through his mind.

"Manage Golden Flame City well, then prepare to attack the other cities!"

With that, the Divine Capital quickly ended the communication, leaving Ato and Abel a little confused but obediently starting to govern the city.

At this moment, the Divine Capital was still inside the palace of Poymu City, looking extremely displeased.

"What's that demon lord Choulan doing? In less than a month, he's called three demon meetings — does he have nothing better to do?!"

After this complaint, the Divine Capital sent his consciousness into the demon realm.

As soon as he arrived, he took his seat as Fire Lord, while the other seven demon lords settled in as well.

"Choulan, if you have nothing important, don't keep using the demon consciousness space to summon us!" Di Kui said with a scowl.

Beside him, Basha croaked hoarsely, "I have my underwater kingdom and a whole continent to rule. Those sea races refuse to submit to me."

"I have a lot on my plate too, Choulan. Don't think just because you're the oldest brother, you can summon us at will!"

"Exactly. Those demons refuse to obey me, and I've already destroyed several cities using the power of the heavens!" Ximu also complained.

"Choulan, Basha is right. We all have our own business. Don't think you can just summon us because you're the eldest brother. We only come out of respect for your position."

"If you don't explain yourself next time, I, Zhong Su, won't come here again!"

"If you're free, come to my domain, Fire Lord. I'll be glad to host you," the Divine Capital's voice was hoarse. Though he sounded inviting, the other demon lords knew it was actually a rebuke.

For a moment, all seven demon lords scolded Choulan for being bored and wasting their time with pointless summons.

Choulan stayed calm, not bothered by their anger. He said slowly, "I have some news you'll want to hear."

At this, the angry voices quieted down a bit.

Seeing this, Choulan didn't keep them waiting. He said plainly, "I sensed a strong threat coming from the land that once belonged to my Moon Lord — it seems this power might be my nemesis!"

"Ridiculous! Choulan, we are the Eight Great Demon Lords born from dark energy, destined rulers of the world. How could we have a nemesis? Nonsense!"

"Right, you dare talk nonsense? We demon lords are immortal and eternal, existing with the world itself. No nemesis for us!"

"Choulan, are you just bored and making stuff up for fun?"

Obviously, the demon lords didn't believe Choulan and mocked him.

But the Divine Capital's eyes flashed with thoughtful light.

These demon lords did have nemeses — the eight undead gods that would later appear, also known as the Mythical Eight Immortals.

Their magical artifacts were precisely the weapons capable of casting the demon lords into hell.

So yes, demon lords really did have nemeses.

But now, it was the eternal era of demons, and the Eight Immortals hadn't appeared yet. So where did Choulan sense this nemesis power from?

As the Divine Capital pondered this, Choulan calmly added one sentence.

It instantly made the demon lords' expressions turn serious — even the Divine Capital was shaken.

"....."