"Huh, this aura feels a bit like the demon realm. Are the immortal and demon realms this easy to cross? It feels easier than going abroad, with no checkpoints or anything along the way?"
After surveying her surroundings and confirming that she had indeed entered the demon realm, Ding Yun couldn't help but mutter to herself.
However, she didn't leave immediately.
She never believed that good and evil had an absolute relationship with individual cultivation power. There was no need to assume that all immortals were good and all demons were bad. Moreover, the immortal and demon realms were inherently one. If they wanted to completely conquer them, it wasn't just about imprinting marks on the immortal realm; the demon realm couldn't be neglected either.
In any case, she didn't have any specific plans or goals for the time being.
Where she started anew was still a start.
Considering these factors, Ding Yun ultimately decided not to return. Instead, she found a temporary place to stay in the demon realm's border region of the Immortal-Demon Sea. She carefully reviewed her past plans and pondered what to do next, whether to change her identity and start anew.
She considered following her aunt's path.
After much deliberation, even contacting her mother Su Yunxiao for advice and receiving plenty of suggestions, Ding Yun finally decided not to follow her aunt's path. Developing technology was merely a suggestion, not a necessity. The core objective was imprinting marks, and as long as that could be achieved, whether technology developed or not was irrelevant.
Therefore, she didn't need to obsess over developing technology. There were many ways to imprint marks; overturning existing civilizations was one way, and becoming the Heavenly Emperor by following the natural order might also work.
Even a scenario of demonic power rising while immortal power waned might be feasible.
Her concept-level River God golden finger was not only excellent for developing technological civilizations but also quite effective for developing cultivation civilizations, factions, and strength.
Thus, Ding Yun's new plan was to find a way to become a Demon Emperor or Demon Lord, establish a demonic faction, and then initiate a war between the immortal and demon realms. Even if she couldn't completely succeed and eliminate the immortal realm's forces, as long as she could eliminate some of them and help the demon realm occupy some of the immortal realm's territory, she would undoubtedly gain the favor of the demon realm's consciousness, greatly increasing her chances of imprinting her mark.
With her plan set, Ding Yun quickly retrieved various demonic cultivation techniques from her memory. She then selected a few, made minor edits based on the demon realm's laws, and adapted them to perfectly suit this world.
Following that, she began upgrading those cultivation techniques.
She continued until they could no longer be upgraded.
Then, of course, came self-cultivation. Once she achieved a basic level of mastery, she used the River God to upgrade herself as well. The process was simple and the results were excellent. After only a few upgrades, Ding Yun successfully reached the perfected stage of Demon Emperor, second only to the top-tier Venerable stage in the Immortal-Demon realms.
The realm divisions in both the immortal and demon realms were generally consistent. The immortal realm had Human Immortal, Earth Immortal, Heaven Immortal, True Immortal, Profound Immortal, Golden Immortal, then Grand Unity Immortal Lord, Grand Unity Immortal Emperor.
And finally, Primordial Immortal Venerable.
The demon realm had corresponding divisions: Human Demon, Earth Demon, Heaven Demon, True Demon, Profound Demon, Golden Demon, Demon Lord, Demon Emperor, and Primordial Demon Venerable.
It was only at the level of Immortal Emperor and Demon Emperor that one could perfectly master a specific law. The concept-level River God was roughly at this tier. No matter how powerful it became, it couldn't create a being of a higher tier than itself. Just as God couldn't create a life form more powerful than Himself.
Perhaps the beings He created, through cultivation or even by falling from grace, might be able to rival Him, or even surpass Him. However, at the time of their creation, the beings created by Him could not possibly be more powerful than Him.
This was Ding Yun's current situation. The concept-level River God could only allow her to reach the perfected Demon Emperor stage, and no further. From this point on, it would depend on her own efforts.
However, this realm was sufficient for the time being. After all, there were only four known Venerable powerhouses openly present in the entire Immortal-Demon realms: two Immortal Venerables and two Demon Venerables. Most of them were in seclusion, and the main power holders in both realms were the Immortal Emperors and Demon Emperors. As long as Ding Yun didn't go berserk and slaughter the direct descendants of the Immortal and Demon Venerables,
She could essentially move freely throughout the Immortal-Demon realms.
"Next, I need to establish a faction. However, should I build one from scratch and develop it slowly, or should I simply seize an existing faction? I should probably conduct a thorough investigation first to understand the demon realm's customs, as well as its various unwritten social rules."
Upon arriving in a new place, before possessing the ability to completely overturn the existing chessboard and redraw the picture, it was undoubtedly necessary to act according to the long-standing implicit rules of that place. At the very least, this would avoid immediate intense conflict and being targeted by the majority.
Therefore, Ding Yun, despite her current cultivation level, did not feel she could do whatever she pleased. Instead, she remained relatively cautious, utilizing her concept-level River God's countless avatars to understand the demon realm's history, its current social structure, and its major factions.
Only then did she make a new decision: to find a demonic faction she fancied, eliminate its leader, and then directly take over the corresponding power.
This was because, according to the information she had gathered, such actions were quite normal and justifiable in the demon realm.
Compared to the immortal realm, where everything had to be veiled with morality and even high-sounding excuses, while still being a brutal struggle for survival behind the scenes.
The demon realm appeared much simpler and more straightforward.
They were brutally direct about the law of the jungle.
The common demon populace didn't have any strong sense of loyalty to a single entity. In fact, the stronger the leader of their faction, the happier they were. After all, the stronger the leader, the less likely their faction was to be bullied by others, and the safer the common demons would be.
Even the original leader's trusted subordinates quickly adjusted their allegiances. They didn't need to consider their reputation, their safety, or whether the new leader would trust them, unlike the immortals in the immortal realm. They simply and directly swore new allegiance and continued their work.
There was no internal strife or conflict.
Everything remained the same, except for the change in leadership.
The peaceful transition was so smooth that Ding Yun momentarily wondered if she had inherited the position as the crown princess, rather than killing the previous demonic leader and seizing power.
However, as Ding Yun's River God avatars gathered more and more information, she gradually came to understand the current situation and could accept it with equanimity.
This was simply their unique characteristic: the strong reigned supreme. It was quite good, much better than those who schemed and plotted for usurpation. At least here, as long as one's strength was sufficient, that was all that mattered. Those who schemed would not be praised as intelligent by most demons; they would be scorned and looked down upon.
They would even be called as filthy as the immortals.
Ding Yun quite enjoyed this social atmosphere.
After all, she didn't have to rack her brains over it.