The Thousand Bird Demon Commander's words left Wan Lei bewildered.
This was a battlefield, not a friendly spar. It was a place of life and death, where they were meant to kill each other. What did he think this was?
Besides, weren't they supposed to be fighting? Why were they negotiating?
"I don't quite understand what you're saying, about you not killing me and me not killing you."
"If you have the true ability, you can naturally kill me. But I wish to spar with you more than I wish to kill you."
"Why? Do you have a conflict with Commander Qiong Ku? Don't you want to serve him?"
Wan Lei could only think of this as a possibility.
"No, I have a conflict with the entire Demon race."
"Then if that's the case, come and join me. We can destroy the Demon race together, and you can name your price here."
Wan Lei's eyes lit up. If he could recruit this Demon Commander, it would be a significant boost to their forces.
Who said only people from the Thunder Wind Realm could defect to the Demon race? Demons could rebel too.
The Thousand Bird Demon Commander shook his head with a wry smile.
"Don't say that. If I wanted to betray the Demon race, I would have done so long ago. I wouldn't have waited to defect in your small world.
Besides, even if I defected to you, you wouldn't trust me. Who would believe an enemy who suddenly appears to join them? You'd suspect me of being a spy.
I dislike the Demon race, but I haven't decided to betray my kind, nor will I. Save your breath."
"Then I don't understand. Your words are contradictory. You don't want to exert yourself in battle, yet you participate in it. You dislike your race, yet you refuse to betray it. Then why did you join the army? Why come to the Thunder Wind Realm to fight us?"
"I... I dislike my race because of its aggression. I am a peace-loving demon, and I strongly oppose invading other universes. In my view, it would be best if the positive and negative planes lived separately, minding their own business. Why the constant fighting?
Sacrificing so many citizens and soldiers just to satisfy the ambitions of the higher-ups is not worth it."
"Then why did you join the army? You could have just found a small universe in the negative plane and become a king there. No one would have interfered."
"I... was forced."
"Oh? Would you mind telling me about it?"
Wan Lei's interest was piqued.
The battlefield was currently in their favor. The longer they delayed, the stronger the formation's power would become, and the more enemies would die.
Moreover, with this Demon Commander blocking him, the other Demon Commanders were keeping their distance, making it difficult for Fang Xiaoyu's vacuum implosion bombs to hit the enemy.
It wouldn't hurt to listen to this Demon Commander's story here.
"Alright, since we're supposed to be dragging our feet and delaying time anyway, let's chat. I quite like people like you, the Sons of Destiny. You're much better than a useless wretch like me.
How about this, we'll fight while we talk, so that fellow Qiong Ku doesn't scold me for slacking off."
With that, the Thousand Bird Demon Commander produced a long staff. He hadn't even drawn a weapon when he was fighting the Sect Master Ji.
Immediately, the staff was engulfed in black lightning, emitting an aura of darkness and death, as if it had been nurtured in the most sinister and sinful places in the world.
The Thousand Bird Demon Commander swung the staff at Wan Lei, his attack carrying a formidable momentum. Yet, Wan Lei didn't sense much power in it.
Clearly, the opponent was about to put on a show again.
Wan Lei played along, his own lightning crackling ferociously and grandly. To an observer, he seemed to be engaged in a life-and-death struggle with the Thousand Bird Demon Commander. However, he knew precisely how much effort he was truly exerting.
Returning the favor, Wan Lei and Qian Niao began to act out their fight.
Even though he knew the other party was acting, Wan Lei remained vigilant, constantly guarding against a sudden attack.
"I was born in the initial universe, which is equivalent to your Origin Plane. That is the most powerful universe in the negative planes.
However, every place has its strengths and weaknesses, its prosperity and barrenness.
Where I was born was in a small mountain village. From childhood, I possessed extraordinary talent, immense strength, and a natural ability to communicate with lightning.
Our village was remote, and I grew up carefree. Upon reaching adulthood, I reached the realm of Nether Demon, equivalent to your Nascent Soul stage."
"Heh, you have quite good talent. To break through to Nascent Soul in your teens in a place like that."
"Our Demon race comes of age at one hundred years old."
"..."
"The mountain village was peaceful and harmonious, and our relations with the surrounding villages were good. We helped each other, and I developed a philosophy of peace from a young age.
But one day, the army from the city came, arrested my sister and me, and incidentally, wiped out our small mountain village."
Such things happened everywhere. It couldn't be called infighting among their own kind. Even in mortal worlds, cities plundered villages for conscripts.
"They recognized my sister's and my talent and subjected us to extremely rigorous training.
Finally, after I broke through to the Resentful Demon stage, they enlisted us into the army and sent us to the Bitter Sea battlefield to fight against your positive planes.
Battles, big and small, were occurring constantly in the Bitter Sea.
I grew tired, weary. I truly hated war.
Especially after my sister died, I became even more disheartened and lost the will to fight.
I didn't understand why we had to fight. We would conquer a positive plane universe, and then the positive plane would send people to reclaim it. We fought and fought, achieving nothing but slaughter.
I couldn't comprehend why we had to fight. I was tired, and I didn't want to fight anymore, to kill anymore."
Wan Lei could see that this was a very Zen-like Demon Commander.
"However, they forced me onto the battlefield, forced me to fight, forced me to clash with the enemy. If I didn't kill the enemy, the enemy would kill me.
But I still wouldn't kill them. In every battle, I would muddy the waters and play along with the enemy. Later, I became famous in that war zone.
People from the positive planes, upon seeing me, not only didn't attack me but would greet me enthusiastically. Some would even bring me a couple of jars of wine..."
At this point, the Thousand Bird Demon Commander had an expression as if he had eaten excrement. Wan Lei couldn't help but chuckle.
"The Demon race surely wouldn't let you off, right?"
"Yes, after I became famous, I was brought before the Demon Lord for judgment.
But I had neither deserted my post as a deserter nor betrayed the Demon race as a traitor. My crimes were not capital offenses, at most just a lack of military merit.
The Demon Lord pondered for a long time and decided to imprison me in the Abyss Underworld.
The Abyss Underworld is an ocean of lightning, where demon soldiers who committed offenses are confined. Only military personnel who made mistakes were imprisoned there.
It was there that I merged with the Abyss Nether Lightning and broke through to the Demon Commander realm."