"You, you are…" Laura's lips shook as she spoke. She felt a faint guess rising in her mind, but she didn't quite dare believe it.
The whole reason she had done everything she could to send those Di Sha demons away was to give their race a future. Fifty years had passed without a single word. She had already given up hope.
But just then, someone came back.
"I'm Mai." Yun Jin introduced herself gently. "I changed my appearance a little to avoid being recognized."
After those Di Sha demons escaped and were discovered, they were hunted throughout the Nine Heavens Nether Demon Domain.
With their strength, they weren't worth a grand pursuit, but walking around with their original faces would still cause trouble.
Laura accepted this explanation almost immediately.
"You came back, that's what matters. It's good that you came back." Her gaze flickered, then she suddenly said, "Kid, I used to like that red hair of yours the most. But you really have changed your look completely."
Yun Jin frowned. "Patriarch, I think you're mistaken. The one who loved dyeing his hair red was my brother, Maxi."
Laura let out a breath and hurried to say, "You're right, I did remember wrong."
So the person standing before her really was Mai. A trace of expectation flashed in Laura's eyes. Her lips trembled, and it took her a long moment before she could form the next words.
"The treasure of the Tian Qi Demon Race…"
"It's already found." Yun Jin nodded calmly.
"Found?" Laura's eyes lit up at once.
Yun Jin exhaled slowly. "All of it is on me. Everyone else died on the road. Patriarch, I'm the only Di Sha demon who made it back."
Laura stayed strangely calm. "When they followed the plan back then, they all volunteered. Since you came back, then all those sacrifices were worth it."
She looked at Yun Jin with a spark of hope. "So, Mai, did you bring us hope this time?"
Yun Jin nodded and waved her hand. The room filled with glittering light as treasures formed a sea of brilliance around them.
Laura felt as if the world had blurred.
The next moment, Yun Jin swept her hand again and the treasures vanished.
Laura's gaze became burning hot. She fixed on the ring on Yun Jin's finger, and greed flashed in her eyes.
"Patriarch, these are all from the treasure vault. But our Di Sha demons can't hold on to things this valuable. This ring has a shielding array to keep it hidden from others, so these treasures can't be taken out easily. Also, it can only be opened with Tian Qi Demon power. I studied an introductory manual of their race, so I have a little of their power in me. Right now, only I can use this ring."
She had gotten that manual in the Library of the Devouring Demon God. With that faint trace of Tian Qi magic, her lie became flawless.
Because honestly, without something as strange as the Mission Center, who would ever think she could learn every hidden secret of their hearts and turn them to her own use.
Yun Jin explained everything, and Laura forced down the greed rising in her chest.
"Mai," she said softly, "none of this matters as much. That vault, does it have any method of evolution?"
Her eyes shone as if she would burn up the world.
In the Demon World, there were strange items that could, once taken, grant a chance for a race to evolve. More than anything, Laura wanted something like that.
"Patriarch, there's always a way. But there's something even more urgent." Yun Jin changed the subject.
Laura could only swallow her impatience and ask, "What is it?"
Yun Jin looked straight at her. "That Tian Qi demon hid on Di Sha Island for thousands of years and no one ever discovered him. His hiding place must be extremely well concealed."
Laura nodded slowly. "On the far east of the island, there's a dormant volcano. That Tian Qi demon used the natural volcano as cover. Then he used their secret arts to hide his fortune and created a space beneath the crater. He kept reinforcing it every year, so that space is now unbelievably tough. He claimed even a Demon God could not break it easily."
Yun Jin smiled faintly. "You know how to enter that space, don't you, Patriarch?"
Laura answered at once. "That Tian Qi demon gave us a talisman to repay our former Patriarch for saving him. As long as it's used within the range of the volcano, it allows us to enter."
She looked at Yun Jin, confused. "Why are you asking this? That space is empty now. Even his bones have been collected by me personally."
Yun Jin's expression turned solemn. "Patriarch, this is directly tied to our grand plan for the rise of the Di Sha demons."
Laura's eyes lit up again.
"That Tian Qi demon once ruled the Heaven Rise Demon Domain for hundreds of thousands of years. Do you really think someone like that was easy to deal with? Before he ascended, he left many preparations. Do you think that guy in the volcano was really the last of his race?" Yun Jin's gaze carried meaning.
Laura felt her pupils tighten. What is she implying?
"Before the Tian Qi Demon God ascended, he already found a hidden place where the most gifted young of his race could sleep. When I received his final gift, I also received a mission to awaken them. I know how to wake them now. What I need is a hidden place where I can awaken them one by one." Yun Jin spoke as if reciting a fact.
Laura felt as if her heart stopped. "There are… there are more sleeping Tian Qi demons?"
"Do you think a Demon God's contingency is something to joke about?" Yun Jin said. "Patriarch, this task can't be delayed anymore. Do you know what the Tian Qi race is strongest at? The path of causality. We have the treasure, which means we have cause. Cause always has effect. We must fulfill what the Demon God entrusted us with. Otherwise, our Di Sha race will never know rebirth for generations."
Her words chilled Laura to the bone.
She knew it. How could something this convenient ever be a blessing?
Their entire race had been tied to the deck of this Tian Qi Demon God's pirate ship.
"Patriarch, you don't need to panic too much." Yun Jin offered comfort. "The Tian Qi Demon God already prepared for this. When those sleeping demons awaken, they'll change their appearances to look like other races. What they will do afterward, I don't know. But our mission is only to wake them. What they choose to do after that has nothing to do with us."