Chapter 3: The forbidden formation

"Okay, Zheng Jiu Zhe," replied Fai Gu and placed his hand on the ancient symbol.

"Swoosh!"

Chains of red color emerged from the ground and wrapped around the demon lord.

"How the hell did you get your hands on this forbidden formation?" shouted the demon lord angrily.

"Oh, when you went into hiding, I got bored and went to your ancestors' graveyard to dig. I found this forbidden formation in your ancestors' graves," said Jin Zhao mockingly.

"Wait, to activate this forbidden formation, you need to sacrifice the blood of 1000 demon newborns," said the demon lord, raising his head to look at Jin Zhao with bloodshot eyes and nerves popping up all over his body.

"Oh, you know so much about this forbidden formation of your demon continent. Yes, you're right, but I have to correct the number you mentioned. I actually sacrificed 1500 demon newborns. You see, I wanted to make sure I kill you this time," said Jin Zhao sarcastically.

"You bastard!" shouted the demon lord, starting to burn his own life force to free himself from the red chains restraining his body, with blood tears falling down on his face.

"Oh, I knew it. Even 1500 demon newborns are not enough to completely restrain you. Why didn't I sacrifice 500 more demon newborns? Do you think I will just wait here for you to free yourself from the restraints on your body?" said Jin Zhao, shaking his head and moving towards the demon lord at lightning speed. He swung his sword towards the demon lord's heart, piercing it, and the sword came out from behind the demon lord.

"Ah..."

The demon lord let out a long, painful, and sorrowful shriek, coughing up mouthfuls of blood. He looked at Jin Zhao resentfully and said, "If the demon god gives me another chance, next time I will make sure you don't have an intact corpse after I kill you." The demon lord then kneeled on the ground, his face displaying lifeless eyes, as the red chains slowly faded away.

"Boy, this body is perfect for you. Split your consciousness and take over his body if you want to fulfill your last wish," a voice echoed in Ronin's consciousness.

"Damn you, it's not my last wish. I just want to kill this Jin Zhao bastard, that's all," said Ronin, inserting his half of the consciousness into the demon lord's body through the sword still lodged in him.

Soon, Ronin completed the transfer of his consciousness. Jin Zhao reached out his hand to hold the sword, placed his feet on the demon lord's chest, and pulled it out from his heart. "Fool, there is no other chance or next life," he declared.

Jin Zhao flew away on his sword, leaving the scene without looking back.

As Jin Zhao flew away, Ronin's consciousness had already entered the demon lord's conscious space. However, as he was about to merge, he felt a strong retaliation from the demon lord's conscious space, and a last wisp of the demon lord's consciousness appeared in front of Ronin's consciousness.

"You're neither human nor demon. I don't know why you want to take over my body, but if you promise me one thing, I will allow you to take over my body," said the demon lord's consciousness.

"Save my demon kin," said the demon lord's consciousness.

"I will," replied Ronin's consciousness.

"Thanks," said the demon lord, and his last wisp of consciousness disappeared from his conscious space. But before he vanished, the final wisp of the demon lord's consciousness transferred all of his life experiences and memories into Ronin's consciousness.

Before Ronin could fully process the demon lord's life experiences and memories, his consciousness merged completely with the demon lord's conscious space.

Surprisingly, all the wounds on Ronin's body began to heal at a visible speed. It didn't take long for all his injuries, including the deadly one to his heart, to completely heal.

As he attempted to rise, he experienced intense pain throughout his body and collapsed back onto the ground, a pained expression on his face. He remained still in a sleeping position for a few more hours before slowly getting up. It took a few additional minutes for him to regain full control of his body.

"This body is really impressive. I never imagined I would have such cool-looking muscles," Ronin murmured in a low voice, moving his hands across his body with an excited expression.

"Boy, even though your consciousness is far from the sword, you can still feel the presence of your other half wherever it is," a voice echoed in Ronin's consciousness.

"That's a cool feature, SG," said Ronin.

"SG?" inquired the voice of God's consciousness.

"Super God," Ronin replied, coughing awkwardly and thinking, "Stupid God."

"No one knows the real name of the demon lord. It's really cool. From now on, I can use my own name for the demon lord," Ronin whispered to himself and slowly walked away from the scene. He had depleted a significant amount of demonic energy and needed to rest.

From the day the demon lord disappeared, the demon continent had been completely dominated by the human continent, and many demons had become slaves to humans in order to preserve their lives.

Unlike humans on Earth, the humans in this parallel world were fundamentally different. Here, people were divided into low rank, high rank, and royals based on their social status. Humans treated each other according to their ranks, and even though low rank humans led miserable lives, demons were currently enduring even worse conditions on the human continent.

There was a city that acted as a border between the two continents, where humans and demons had once lived harmoniously. However, after the demon lord was defeated and went into hiding, that city transformed into a living hell for all demons. Humans completely dominated the demons and took control of the entire city.

Ronin entered the city and, as he wandered through its streets, he was filled with anger witnessing how humans mistreated the demons. He knew he didn't possess enough power to free all the demons and protect them simultaneously, so he remained passive, only observing the plight of the enslaved demons.