Published: August 10, 2026
The internal strife among the Human Race was severe, and the demonic race was no better off.
Demonic cultivators often secretly sold intelligence in exchange for large amounts of cultivation resources, allowing the Human Race to make proper strategic deployments and even occasionally organize local counterattacks.
For example, during the last transaction, Blood Leopard Demonic King had asked Liu Yu to take action and eliminate, or at least severely injure, Golden Horn Demonic King.
However, due to the overall disparity in strength, the Human Race still remained at a tremendous disadvantage.
The demonic race had five great demonic kings, each representing a different faction.
Now that Phoenix Ling'er had been tied down at Tianyi District City for eight years without making the slightest progress, there were already demonic kings openly questioning her ability.
Not to mention the pressure from the rear and the fact that eight years had been wasted without any results, even the demonic kings under her command were dissatisfied.
Liu Yu spent some fourth stage resources and, through a pleasant transaction, got Blood Leopard Demonic King to occasionally express dissatisfaction "inadvertently," constantly putting pressure on Phoenix Ling'er from within the demonic race.
The extreme anger she had once felt had been worn away by eight years of time, and it seemed she was no longer quite so enraged.
Facing the internal doubts of the demonic race and the dissatisfaction of her subordinate demonic kings, she had now also calmed down.
She realized that Liu Yu already possessed the strength of a pinnacle true lord, and if she wanted to break through Tianyi District City head-on, it would probably be impossible in the short term.
But if she withdrew her troops directly, it would look abrupt and unfinished.
After all, Phoenix Ling'er was the dignified Second Princess of the Fire Phoenix Clan. How could she do something so humiliating?
Thus, over the past year, the situation had completely deadlocked. Low-level demonic beasts attacked the city every day, while the true lord demonic kings had not made a move for a long time.
Wary of Liu Yu's strength, the demonic kings were also hesitant, and when they attacked, they were quite nervous, not daring to unleash their full power.
Thus, eight years passed without any true lord demonic king being lost.
Only low-level cultivators fought and died against low-level demonic beasts, with heavy casualties every single day.
"Phoenix Ling'er cannot be touched. This demonic beast has too deep a background. If anything goes wrong, it will definitely draw out a divine transformation demonic emperor."
"Continuing to stalemate with her will also easily create variables."
"It's time."
"Since Phoenix Ling'er cannot bring herself to step down, this seat will give her a way out."
With that thought, Liu Yu looked into the distance and made a certain decision in his heart.
Overall, only a tiny minority of demonic cultivators were willing to act as "demonic traitors," but when multiplied by such a large base, the number was definitely not small.
And with Blood Leopard Demonic King, such a peak of the fourth stage great demonic king, providing intelligence, he was still vaguely able to grasp the thoughts of the various demonic kings.
Right now, most of the demonic kings had already lost interest in Tianyi District City and were considering retreating.
Phoenix Ling'er could not bring herself to do so, while the other demonic kings were not willing to speak up first.
Under these circumstances, Liu Yu only needed to provide a suitable excuse, such as a certain Immortal City having weak defenses.
Then the demonic kings could naturally propose changing their target.
After all, retreating after failing to take the city would sound far too ugly. Calling it a "strategic transfer" sounded much better.
As these thoughts flashed through his mind, Liu Yu went alone to a secret chamber in the city lord's mansion and set up a wall of spiritual consciousness around the room, isolating it from all prying eyes.