Thanks to the jade pendant given to Lu Tianzi by his master Xihuang Yuanfeng, his cultivation level was perpetually hidden from the people around him.

It was only when he personally acted to drive the Spiritual or Slaughter Essence in his inner world that his cultivation level would show.

In fact, Lu Tianzi had already revealed his cultivation level earlier when he struck at the four District Heads. It was only that the people present had either not paid too much attention to it, or had neglected that fact for a moment, mostly due to the shocking words that just came from Hu Yuanbo.

But now, with this one domineering sabre strike from Lu Tianzi, all doubts were instantly dispelled!

The demon forces let out a self deprecating laugh for believing the words of the human leader, even if it was only for a few moments.

To think that their thoughts had wavered this easily, how embarrassing!

On the other hand, the humans of Ivory Rock City were stunned speechless.

Human martial artists cultivated the Spiritual Essence system while demon martial artists cultivated the Slaughter Essence system. This was a well established rule of the world, something that had become as good as common sense to everyone by now.

Yet at this moment, the Lu Tianzi whom they had known for so long actually exhibited signs of having cultivated the Slaughter Essence system?

Was he actually just someone who looked like Lu Tianzi?

No, that was impossible!

He had practically confirmed his identity earlier!

In that case, did the demons actually possess some unholy method to convert humans into demons?

At this moment, there was only one person present whose thoughts had never wavered since the beginning. Unlike everyone else, he had never doubted Lu Tianzi's racial alignment.

While the human forces were still confused, and the demon forces were still recovering from their shock, General Nanbai Zhaoyu had calmly made his way over to Lu Tianzi's side.

General Nanbai Zhaoyu was the only one here who had been present when Lu Tianzi personally stood before the Scarlet Moon Overlord.

At that time, even a supreme character like the Scarlet Moon Overlord had not found anything amiss with Lu Tianzi, so how could he possibly be a human?

Thus, General Nanbai Zhaoyu simply brushed off Hu Yuanbo's words, not even taking them into consideration.

Seeing the looks of shock on everyone's face, he could not help but to ridicule them in his heart.

Looks like even the human forces had been fooled by their own leader!

Bunch of idiots!

Even so, General Nanbai Zhaoyu was still filled with curiosity. After all, there was no doubt that Lu Tianzi knew the populace of Ivory Rock City.

"How did you get to know them?" General Nanbai Zhaoyu asked, his tone more curious than interrogative in nature.

Lu Tianzi let out a wry smile before answering. "This is a stain on my past, and I would have preferred not to reveal it to everyone. But now that things have come to this, I suppose General Nanbai Zhaoyu and the other seniors here will not feel comfortable if I just leave things be without giving a proper explanation. I just hope that seniors will not look down on me after hearing me out.."

Elder Diansheng was slightly startled as he quickly replied. "Nanlu Tianzi, you have no need to worry about that. I assure you that the Nine Suns Sect will always have your back!"

What a joke!

No matter what his history was like, Nanlu Tianzi was still the top ranker in the Scarlet Moon Heroes Meet, a student of Formation Master Beimu, and had the protection of a supreme expert!

Just how enormous of a stain did it have to be in order to cast a shadow over his current status, causing others to look down on him?

Elder Diansheng definitely did not believe that such a thing existed in this world. After all, Nanlu Tianzi had already proven with his actions that he was indeed on the side of the demons.

"Since Elder Diansheng has already said so, then I shall be frank here." Lu Tianzi nodded, a look of reluctance still lingering on his face. "Not many know of my past, but since young, I have been brought up by my Master, a demon who has closed himself off in the wilderness, not wanting to vie for fame or power."

"What?" Rui Xucheng blurted out in disbelief. Where did that come from?

Hu Yuanbo, as well as the other humans, immediately frowned as well.

What exactly was Lu Tianzi trying to pull here?

But in contrast, Elder Diansheng nodded his head knowingly.

Nanlan Qianxue had informed the Elders of the Nine Suns Sect about this matter when she tried to convince them to allow Nanlu Tianzi into the sect.

Just like Nanlan Qianxue and Nanqing Haowen, when Elder Diansheng understood from Elder Xingmeng's report that a hidden expert was protecting Nanlu Tianzi from the shadows, he had immediately linked it to this mysterious master as well.

Seeing how natural Elder Diansheng's reaction was, General Nanbai Zhaoyu did not raise any doubts on the matter.

"Back then, I was young and did not know of the dangers of the world." Lu Tianzi sighed helplessly before continuing. "Despite my Master's words of caution, I yearned to see the world beyond the small area that we lived in. One day, my Master finally reached a crucial point in his cultivation and had to fully concentrate on his breakthrough. Seizing this rare opportunity, I decided to venture a little further than was allowed, and that was when I came across the humans of this city."

At this point, a cold light flashed across Lu Tianzi's eyes as he cast his gaze at Hu Yuanbo, his entire being emanating killing intent.

"The humans captured me immediately, and the following days were humiliating to say the least. Every single day, I will be tortured from dawn till dusk, solely for their sadistic enjoyment." Lu Tianzi spoke through his clenched jaws, as though he was trying to recall a dark and painful past. "But no matter how much pain was inflicted upon my body, no matter how close to death I got, I held on with sheer willpower. I know that as long as I could stay alive, I will definitely have the chance for revenge in the future! As though the heavens heard my pleas, the humans finally got sick of torturing the young kid that I was, deciding to leave me in the wilderness as a sacrifice to the wild beasts!

Thankfully, my Master arrived just in time to rescue me from the jaws of death. But instead of taking revenge on my behalf, my Master wanted me to use this as a source of motivation to keep striving for strength, all so that I will be able to personally take revenge in the future. After all this time, when I heard that General Nanbai Zhaoyu discovered a human settlement in the wilderness, I naturally thought that it could be this place, and my guess was proven right. Actually, this is also the true reason why I wanted to join this operation. Now that this day has finally arrived, I wanted to see with my own two eyes as these despicable humans suffer for their past deeds! As for hiding the truth about my true motive, I humbly seek the forgiveness of Elder Diansheng and General Nanbai Zhaoyu."

The humans present were all speechless.

What kind of nonsense was this?

But after receiving shock after shock in such a short span of time, their thoughts were everywhere. Many of them were now in a confused state, and some were no longer even sure of their own memories.

Could it be that such a thing really happened to Lu Tianzi in the past without their knowledge?

However, there were also those among them who did not possess such a weak psyche. These people were completely outraged by the false accusations!

Yes, false accusations.

They who had watched Lu Tianzi grow up in the city knew this for a fact.

Be it living with a master since young, tortured from dawn to dusk, being rescued by his master from beasts, not a single word of what Lu Tianzi just said was true!

Everything had been fabricated by Lu Tianzi in order to give a rough account to the demons present.

His story had been loosely put together, and would probably crumble easily if put under the test.

Yet at the same time, these words provided such a dramatic backstory to this legendary youngster that the demons present almost felt compelled to believe in him.

After all, why would they ever choose to believe the words of mere human trash over that of their own kind?

"What a load of lies!" Hu Yuanbo shouted.

"Enough from you!" Elder Diansheng roared in response.

At this moment, he was truly enraged.

To think that such a talented seedling of the demon race was almost played to death by mere human trash. It was only by sheer resilience and a stroke of luck that Nanlu Tianzi managed to survive through the days of torture, eventually growing to this point and finally earning his current achievements.

Had it been any other young demon, such an experience could have created a fearsome heart demon within them, forever preventing them from advancing further along their martial path!

Being roared at by Elder Diansheng in such a manner, Hu Yuanbo widened his eyes in both anger and confusion.

Initially, he had been certain that the demons had been clear on everything before taking in Lu Tianzi. But now it seemed that Lu Tianzi was hiding the truth from the demons as well.

If that was the case, what exactly happened to Lu Tianzi that had resulted in such a drastic transformation?

From human to demon, even as an Origin Core realm martial artist, that was something completely beyond his understandings.

Yet this youngster who had been at a mere Essence Condensation realm, or perhaps even Essence Building realm, actually managed to achieve this by himself?

Hu Yuanbo could not help but turn his gaze towards Lu Tianzi, only to feel his anger welling up once more.

At this moment, Lu Tianzi was openly shooting him a look of contempt.

Since Lu Tianzi had chosen to come up with this story in front of the humans, it naturally meant that he did not care about any opinions from the humans.

No matter who it was, even if it was Hu Yuanbo himself, their words would hold no weight when placed against his.

This was a confidence that was born from his current status!

Perhaps even if every bit of evidence pointed towards him being a human, the Nine Suns Sect would still be reluctant to investigate the matter, unwilling to risk losing this stellar member from their ranks.

Not to mention now when the hard facts were pointing towards him being a demon!

"Nanlu Tianzi, you don't have to worry about having hidden your original intent from us," Elder Diansheng's tone suddenly turned much gentler. "It's been hard on you, and I certainly understand the feeling of not wanting to reveal such a dark history. But now that you have decided to share this with us, I, Nanhe Diansheng, swear that I will definitely help you exact your revenge today!"

"I, Nanbai Zhaoyu, swear the same!" General Nanbai Zhaoyu clenched his fists so tightly that his fingernails had cut right into his flesh.

However, General Nanbai Zhaoyu's current feelings were slightly different from that of Elder Diansheng.

Elder Diansheng had solely been outraged by Nanlu Tianzi's story. But in the case of General Nanbai Zhaoyu, there was also fear in his heart.

Just what kind of an existence was Nanlu Tianzi?

The current Nanlu Tianzi had already become someone whom even City Lord Nanlan could not afford to offend.

And with the fearsome rate at which Nanlu Tianzi was growing, it would probably not take too long before the youngster became a trusted aide of His Majesty the King!

All things considered, if it was ever made known that this harrowing experience that happened to Nanlu Tianzi in the past happened partially because of his decision to keep exploiting Ivory Rock City for human sacrifices, just what kind of fate would await him then?

No matter what, he had to do his best and establish good relations with Nanlu Tianzi before that happened!

Otherwise, even if Nanlu Tianzi decided not to pursue the matter in the end, other influences wanting to establish ties with him might still do so just to get in his good books.

General Nanbai Zhaoyu might be strong as an individual, but that was nothing when compared to entities such as the Beimu Clan.

He certainly could not afford to offend a trusted aide of the Scarlet Moon Overlord!

At this moment, a sinister light flashed across his eyes.

Now, all he could to do was to atone for his deeds by washing it clean with the blood of the humans!

Be it young or old, martial artist or not, none of them must be spared. Only then could he even begin to appease the rage in Nanlu Tianzi's heart!