Di Jun's heart bled.
He looked at Fang Ming.
When all prejudice was cast aside, when regret and remorse set in.
In Di Jun's eyes, he discovered Fang Ming's youth.
This young man was actually far younger than his youngest son, Lu Ya.
It turned out that the Human Emperor was, in essence, just a child.
Such a person, if he had truly joined the myriad races of the Demon Court, could have become—the third Emperor of the Demon Court!
Di Jun had never noticed Fang Ming's youth, Fang Ming's peerless appearance.
This was because any Great Divine Ability practitioner or cultivator in the Primordial Era had long since achieved extreme composure of mind, seeing through love and desire. Without this, they dared not call themselves great beings.
The so-called appearance, in the eyes of Primordial Law practitioners, was actually of no importance.
The Buddhas of the Western Teachings spoke of the contemplation of white bones, that beauties were merely white bones, mere empty skins.
The Xuanmen's Chan and Jie sects both looked down upon appearance. Any Primordial Law practitioner who was moved by love due to appearance was invariably labeled as having "poor Dao heart" or "unstable roots."
Primordial Law practitioners lived for tens of millions, hundreds of millions, or even billions of years. If they were moved by love, they would immediately suspect their own Dao heart had gone awry, or that they had been misled by illusions.
Unless it was a love "destined by heaven" or "fated by destiny," it was merely wishful thinking to expect great divine ability practitioners to show any preferential treatment due to mere external appearance!
Immortals, Buddhas, gods, and sages, where did they possess the weaknesses of mortals? The world's wishful thinking that immortals and Buddhas would also fall in love was merely imposing mortal concepts onto them.
Having cultivated the Primordial Law for tens of millions, even billions of years, Di Jun had long been devoid of emotion. Although he had long known of the Human Emperor's youth, although he had long known of the Human Emperor's peerless beauty.
However.
Di Jun had always treated Fang Ming only as an opponent, never as a child.
But now, Di Jun saw Fang Ming's merits.
This proved that Di Jun, a dignified top-tier innate divine being, had a Dao heart on the verge of collapse! His Dao heart was severely unstable!
A stable Dao heart viewed emotions as illusory, prioritized interests in all matters, and regarded appearance as dirt.
An unstable Dao heart felt regret, valued emotions, and harbored sympathy.
All Primordial Law practitioners were like this.
Di Jun was already regretting.
He was already fantasizing about how good it would have been if, back then, he had transformed into a demon and brought the Human race into the great family of the Demon Court.
The Fang Ming before him could have been a supreme prodigy of all races.
He could have been the Emperor of all races!
Even more so, he could have been the Great Emperor, a Sage, a pillar of support for the Demon Court!
What had he done to push such a talent, such a young prodigy, to the opposing side, outside the Demon Court, causing the Human and Demon races to be in opposition?
Regret!
Di Jun swore that if time could be reversed, he would never again treat the Human race as mere sustenance!
He had once been truly wise and heroic.
Otherwise, how could he and Dong Huang Tai Yi have balanced the conflicts between the myriad races and transformed them into demons back then?
The myriad races originally had conflicts.
The myriad races were not originally one race.
It was Di Jun, with his top-tier innate divine being body and various means, who used the "Witch race" as an external enemy to consolidate the core strength and cohesion of the myriad races.
He made the myriad races, under the oppression of the Witch race, identify with the value system of being "Demons."
He intensified the "Witch-Demon" conflict, slaughtered ordinary races among the myriad races, and framed the Witch race. This caused the harmed races to spread propaganda about the brutality of the Witch race among the myriad races, thereby inciting the cohesion of the myriad races and their hatred for the Witch race...
Using hatred as the primary driver, he strengthened the sense of belonging to the Demon Court in the hearts of all demons...
With his innate divine being body, he led the acquired demons and established the ruling position of innate divine beings...
He established various laws and regulations to protect the interests of the innate divine being class...
The fact that the Witch and Demon races could fight was, in part, due to the efforts of Di Jun and Tai Yi, and the collective efforts of over three hundred innate divine beings of the Demon Court.
Di Jun was extremely familiar with this approach.
If he had known earlier that Fang Ming's talent was so outstanding...
He would have certainly used all sorts of methods to cause Fang Ming to be persecuted by humans, to be endlessly bullied, and ultimately, to seek refuge in the Demon Court and become Di Jun's adopted son.
He would have made Fang Ming realize that although internal strife within the Human race was immense, the Demon Court was the only reliance.
The son of the Demon Emperor, also the son of the Lord of all races, such a noble status would inevitably have made him immersed in his mind and body, willing to be used by Di Jun.
This way, Di Jun's ruling power would have been further strengthened. Coupled with ideological indoctrination, he would not have feared Fang Ming's power and subsequent betrayal.
What if his combat power was immense? If through subtle influence, he treated Fang Ming with supposed "sincerity," Di Jun knew that human hearts were difficult to change and would never have worried about Fang Ming escaping his control.
Alas...
Alas...
Di Jun hated himself.
He had actually missed out on such a talent!
Human Emperor Fang Ming...
Di Jun.
In fact, it wasn't that he hated himself for not treating the Human race well.
It was that he hated himself for not discovering the potential of the Human race, for not discovering Fang Ming's potential in time. If he had known the true situation earlier...
Di Jun would have certainly made Fang Ming only feel the greatness of him as the Lord of all races, only remember his kindness, and be unaware of any sinister schemes in his heart.
He would not have let Fang Ming witness his cold-blooded actions.
Alas...
Everything... was too late...
"I was wrong..."
Di Jun thought to himself.
He was a Great Divine Ability practitioner.
Although his Dao heart had collapsed for a moment.
It had later repaired itself automatically, and he began to think about matters not based on emotion, but on interests.
Therefore, Di Jun's thoughts had been so contradictory.
"Now, what method is there to save my life..."
Di Jun, whose Dao heart had recovered, was contemplating how to solve the problem.
How could he have foreseen that at this very moment, another blow to his Dao heart would arrive?
Di Jun.
Suddenly, he felt an omen!
Heaven's secrets manifested!
He saw the deaths of the nine Golden Crows and the two Demon Empresses.
He saw Lu Ya still lying there at Pan Wang's place...
Di Jun's Dao heart collapsed once again!
Of all his kin, only Lu Ya remained.
His nine sons were dead.
His two Demon Empresses were dead.
How could Di Jun not collapse!
If his Dao heart had still had a chance before.
Now, Di Jun's Dao heart had been struck so severely that it was beyond saving!
He was completely on the verge of madness!
"Fang Ming! Fang Ming!"
Di Jun almost knelt on the ground, pleading.
"The Human race has now won the victory!"
"The Human race has now entered the Heavenly Court, and humanity governs the heavens."
"I, this so-called top-tier innate divine being, have been completely abandoned and fallen behind the times!"
"Fang Ming, can I ask you for one thing..."
"Within the Chaos Bell, there are great secrets. Tai Yi once sensed traces of the ancient Sage Heavenly Dao Fox Ancestor... Before the chaos, before the immeasurable kalpas, there was civilization! There were ancient Sages!"
"Ancient Sages... Ancient Sages... It is possible... they will descend..."