As the vines loosened to reveal the Temple of Heart and Spirit, it was already crushed.
From inside, the Heaven Devouring Avatar could see the sky outside.
It was just as Rose Demon Queen had said. She wanted just the key. In this trade, she had trusted Wu Yu, and released the hostages first.
Also because she knew that Wu Yu could not escape with so many people. An area of hundreds of li were under her control. If Wu Yu got cold feet, she could change tack at any time, and take down Wu Yu's loved ones again.
Therefore, it did not mean much for her to release them first. She used one vine to send the Temple of Heart and Spirit out, right before Wu Yu's eyes. And then she said: "You can give me the key now! And then you may run as far as you please. I can't be bothered to chase you either. I have to hurry back, and onwards to Stellar Realm and Great Ancient Ink Realm!"
At this time, Temple of Heart and Spirit burst, and the Unbounded Warship flew out, still whole. It was much faster, and also out of the vines. But the problem was that the entire area was under Rose Demon Queen's control, and it was not much use to escape now.
Feng Xueya and the others naturally did not want Wu Yu to do this.
But Wu Yu had no choice. He threw the Gateway to the Ancient Demon Realm, the "key" far away.
"Go get it!" Saying so, he boarded Unbounded Warship, and they flew away with speed. Rose Demon Queen indeed went after the key. She would probably head back to her territory immediately after. But Wu Yu assumed that the Gateway to the Stellar Realm was already on her person, so that she could enter Stellar Realm at any time!
This was also why she did not harass Wu Yu any further. The Unbounded Warship camouflaged itself and flew far away, finally plunging to the bottom of the sea. It was again hidden, and in a place where the Rose Demon Queen would be unable to reach. Wu Yu intended to hide out for a while. After things had settled down, his real body swiftly left for the direction of the Rose Demon Queen!
Of course, he could not just lose the Gateway to the Ancient Demon Realm like that! Otherwise, he could not even return to the Jambu Realm. He would be stuck in Ancient Demon Realm forever! It was the most important thing to him right now!
"What are we to do?" Everyone asked anxiously.
"Don't fret. I will think of something." Wu Yu calmed them down with his Heaven Devouring Avatar.
"The important thing now is for us to hide. As best we can." Full Moon of Nanshan understood the situation, and the task of hiding was up to him. Actually, the Unbounded Warship was a little more stealthy compared to the Temple of Heart and Spirit.
They were hidden in the depths of the sea, while Wu Yu's real body quickly doubled back. He had the Somersault Cloud, and very quickly retraced his steps. But he was surprised, very surprised, because two demon immortals were fighting!
An even greater scene of chaos!
Because this battle and the previous commotion was sure to have demons across the entire Ancient Demon Realm headed this way!
A battle between two demon immortals would definitely be about the key. One fighter was Rose Demon Queen, who was about to go to Stellar Realm.
The other was much stranger. It was not a whole body, but billions of insects about the size of a finger. They were all completely golden, and had sharp teeth and sturdy wings. They had stingers on their legs, and were fairly deadly. This was clearly some sort of locust. Billions of them filled the sky and swarmed the Rose Demon Queen!
"One of the eight demon immortals, Immortal Locust! These are all parts of his body!"
It was said that he had countless clones, and indeed he had more than Wu Yu. However, his distinctive trait was that he had no real body. These billions of bodies were all part of him, and they could merge or separate. They were currently separated.
This was quite a special demon.
Actually, Wu Yu himself considered Immortal Locust and Rose Demon Queen to be relatively harder to fight amongst the demon immortals. That was because they were not a single body, and more slippery. Rose Demon Queen was everywhere at once, her body all over the place. And Immortal Locust could send his clones everywhere. With eyes everywhere, you did not know when he was watching.
This time, because Immortal Locust had been watching, he had quickly arrived before Rose Demon Queen could successfully leave. He had caught her, which was a great help for Wu Yu. If she had already gone to Stellar Realm, all would be lost!
Two demon immortals duking it out.
"Rose! What you do is not helpful! All of us have the same pain. If you choose to leave by yourself, that would be too uncharitable. Since you have the key, we will not snatch it from you. You can send them all to the realms of their respective ancient demon stones. In the end, you can go to Stellar Realm, and no one will stop you!"
The Immortal Locust was clever. In a few exchanges, he had maneuvered Rose Demon Queen successfully.
"With me around, you will never leave through your ancient demon stone. Be careful you don't break it, along with your hopes! Even if you have the key, you aren't going anywhere. Let me tell you this: stop being in denial. You will be our hero. In truth, I've already told the other six, and they're all on their way. Before too long, they'll all be here. If you're still being uncooperative, don't blame us for being heavy-handed!"
Rose Demon Queen was in a difficult spot.
With the Immortal Locust haranguing her, she could not leave. If it had been any other demon immortal, she might have been able to, but she could not escape the Immortal Locust's eyes.
She had no breathing room to activate the Gateway to the Stellar Realm and go to Stellar Realm.
Her body was too huge. She had to shrink it before she could use the gateway. She needed time.
But now, the Immortal Locust would never let her go. If this continued, and she was still refusing when the other six demon immortals showed up, it would be a seven on one. Rose Demon Queen would not only be unable to leave, but she would also die.
"Alright! I agree! But I have a condition: everyone must go to the world in their own ancient demon stone. No one is allowed to go to Stellar Realm with me." She knew that the Immortal Locust might not have heard of Great Ancient Ink Realm, and she did not want to share it.
Immortal Locust laughed, and said: "Of course. We don't want to go to Stellar Realm either. Everyone understands: who doesn't want to rule a world alone? My ancient demon stone leads to the Earth Demon Realm. It seems not bad as well, comparable to Stellar Realm!"
Their fundamental goal was to make it to another world, where they could be ruler. Of course, the season of massacre here was also a reason.
Therefore, they were no good characters.
The two came to a deal. Rose Demon Queen backed down, and the fight came to a halt.
"Everyone has discussed it. You can have the key. You just need to send us to the respective realms." Immortal Locust said.
Rose Demon Queen laughed chillingly. "You say that, but Crimson Blood Roc Demon had his ancient demon stone stolen by Wu Yu. If we all go to our own realms through the ancient demon stone, then where will Crimson Blood Roc Demon go?"
Immortal Locust snickered in response. "I don't know. Maybe he'll find Wu Yu and get his ancient demon stone back? If he can't even protect his ancient demon stone, he only has himself to blame."
Wu Yu listened to it all. In any case, none of them would allow the Crimson Blood Roc Demon into their worlds. As the saying went: two tigers cannot share one mountain. No one would be so charitable.
None of the eight demon immortals would show the others any kindness.
The two of them calmed down. Wu Yu was a ways away, unable to get closer for now. The Gateway to the Ancient Demon Realm had been stowed by Rose Demon Queen. Wu Yu still had a link to it, since he had already blood bonded with it. These demons did not understand blood bonding and spirit designs. Therefore, the Rose Demon Queen only used it, but could not severe the bond between Wu Yu and the Gateway to the Ancient Demon Realm. Wu Yu roughly knew where she hid the Gateway to the Ancient Demon Realm within her body.
The eight demon immortals arriving might grant Wu Yu some chance to get it back. In any case, he could not just give up - it was too important.
When it concerned the key, the other demon immortals would come as quickly as they could. First to appear was Immortal Jiuying. He was an impressive, dominating figure, the ideal that Jiu Ying was working towards. He had black dragon scales and bat-like wings of flesh, a full tail and sharp claws. His nine ferocious heads were incredible weapons, and just as terrifying. He said in a low voice: "To think that you got the key. Congratulations."
Rose Demon Queen said: "No need for congratulations. My obtaining it means that all of your dreams and wishes can be realized."
"Indeed. Many thanks to you." Immortal Jiuying smiled.
And then the Crimson Blood Roc Demon arrived. The four land demon immortals huddled together. Crimson Blood Roc Demon was silent, his face glowering. Next were the sea region demon immortals. Azure Dragon, whom Wu Yu had clashed with before, was here as well.
The Azure Dragon was huge. When he took to the air, he covered half the sky, and his huge head seemed capable of swallowing all four land demon immortals. However, his voice was cordial, as he laughed: "Wonderful! Rose is no less than my best friend. When she gets something good, she does not forget old friends like us. Honestly, we are very grateful."
"Brother Azure Dragon, no need to be so formal. It is as I should do." Rose Demon Queen said although it was clearly not what she felt.