Chapter 1084
Fourth-Order Demon Slave
The return of Ancestor Xuanlei and True Monarch Leixiang was like a shot in the arm for the cultivators fighting on the scene, revitalizing their morale, which had been somewhat dampened by learning the truth, and making it even higher than before.
After Ji Shinian and Yi Tianzheng returned to the Abyss after suppressing the demonic calamity, Lei Xiang Zhenjun personally rearranged a series of fifth-order top-grade sealing formations, during which he mobilized a massive amount of resources from the Wanxiang Palace.
After the formation was completed, the seal was reinforced by the combined efforts of Ancestor Xuanlei, four Nascent Soul cultivators including Song Changsheng, and dozens of Golden Core cultivators present.
Song Changsheng could clearly sense an invisible force spreading outwards from the Xuanlei Ancestor. This force was as gentle as a breeze, and the space that had been distorted by the existence of the rift was smoothed out by this force.
The originally narrow spatial rift also began to slowly shrink towards the center, and the narrow opening at the edge even completely healed.
This is not a change brought about by the seal, but rather the ultimate manifestation of the personal power of Ancestor Xuanlei.
This is also the fundamental difference between a Nascent Soul True Monarch and a Divine Transformation Supreme.
Nascent Soul cultivators communicate with the Heavenly Dao through their Nascent Souls, indirectly controlling the free-floating laws of the world. They have opened the door to the Great Dao and are exploring the Three Thousand Great Daos.
However, the Nascent Soul Supreme has already taken one of these paths to its extreme. Once one method is mastered, all methods are mastered. He can directly grasp the power of the laws of heaven and earth without relying on the Heavenly Dao, and can even shield himself from the Heavenly Dao's perception.
They come into contact with the Way of Heaven, perceive it, and understand it. The day they glimpse the essence of the Way of Heaven and comprehend the rules governing the world's laws is the day they truly embark on the path to heaven.
In layman's terms, the power of laws can only be used for destruction in the hands of a Nascent Soul True Monarch.
In the hands of a Nascent Soul Supreme, shattered spatial barriers can be reconstructed instantly, withered vegetation can be revitalized, and even stones pulverized into powder can be reassembled with a single thought.
In the true sense, and not just a smokescreen.
This is part of the great power of the Heavenly Dao. When it reaches its extreme, one becomes a high and mighty immortal who can recreate wind, fire, water, and earth and rebuild the universe!
Although Song Changsheng has only just stepped into the Nascent Soul realm, it does not prevent him from yearning for this power.
He firmly believes that one day he will also reach the summit and look down on all the mountains below!
……
Even if Ancestor Xuanlei were to personally intervene, completely sealing the spatial rift would not be something that could be accomplished overnight.
The demonic calamity continues to spread, and even some of the cultivation world's defenses in the southeast region have begun to crumble.
Fortunately, the battles in various sea areas have basically subsided, and the sea race army of up to one million has either been defeated or annihilated. The main forces of the cultivation world in the southeast region have begun to return to reinforce.
Otherwise, the defenses in the southeast region would probably have collapsed long ago.
Because the southwest is located on the front line against the demon race, mortals are concentrated in one place and have little contact with the outside world. The defenses are also very complete, so it is less affected by the demon calamity.
The diverse urban landscape of the southeast, where both immortals and mortals coexist, has resulted in a highly dispersed population. Opening even one gate would create a sieve that leaks air from all sides.
The situation deteriorated far faster than anyone had imagined.
During this period, Song Qingxing and Song Qingyun acted as firefighters, fighting on all sides and killing countless people, but the scale of the demonic disaster did not diminish at all.
In the process of quelling the demonic calamity, more and more demonic beasts corrupted by demonic energy emerged, making matters worse.
"It's been eroded again. The demonic energy has penetrated more than a foot deep, completely severing the life force. If this continues, even if the demonic calamity is quelled, the ecology of the borderlands will be ruined." Song Qingyun used his magic to grab a clump of soil from his feet and said solemnly after careful observation.
Song Qingxing glanced at the clump of mud, which was as black as ink, with strands of black blood flowing through it, mixed with rotten grass roots and the corpses of insects. It was unrecognizable and completely devoid of life.
The cause of all this was simply the corpse of a late-stage Qi Refining demon slave.
This demon slave had his heart pierced from behind, and the demon blood flowing out of his body stained the ground within a radius of about three feet.
It may seem like the impact area is not large, but this is a battlefield where righteous cultivators and the demon slave army are fighting head-on. The number of participants on both sides is as high as 100,000, of which only 8,000 are righteous cultivators and the vast majority of the demon slave army are mortals.
According to the subsequent investigation, this was originally a demon slave army of less than a thousand people, but it had seven demon slaves comparable to Purple Mansion cultivators. It directly broke through the mortal realm of a Purple Mansion force in the Great Yu cultivation world, causing more than three million mortals to suffer.
In a short period of time, this army of demon slaves expanded to nearly 100,000.
Although most of the demon slaves were mortals in their previous lives, through mutual devouring and strengthening, they actually reached a strength comparable to a cultivator in the early stage of Qi Refining.
The number of demon slaves at the Purple Mansion level has also expanded from seven to ten.
The improvement of the demon slaves' strength is mainly reflected in their physical strength. Their physiques have an exceptionally high resistance to magic. Except for large-scale firepower coverage, those below the Purple Mansion stage can only fight in close combat.
This was merely one of the smaller of the several demon slave armies ravaging the Great Yu cultivation world. The Heavenly Cloud Sect had no time to deal with it and could only send elders to temporarily organize a group of cultivators from affiliated forces to build a defensive line for a direct confrontation.
If Song Qingxing and Song Qingyun hadn't arrived in time, this battle, even if won, would most likely have been a Pyrrhic victory.
Now, although they have won, the demon blood flowing from the corpses of demon slaves scattered all over the battlefield, which is over a hundred miles in diameter, has left ugly black spots and a deathly silence.
Every great battle leaves behind a vast expanse of eroded land, and so far, there is no way to resolve this except by scraping away the soil stained with demonic blood.
The demon slaves did not initially display this ability; it only gradually emerged as the demonic calamity grew stronger, leaving righteous cultivators utterly powerless.
Killing involves bloodshed. Unless one is overwhelmingly superior, it is impossible to defeat an opponent without bloodshed. Small-scale skirmishes are fine, but large-scale battles like this are unavoidable.
This has become the most troublesome thing for righteous cultivators at present.
To put it bluntly, people can be brought back to life after they die, but once the environment and ecosystem are destroyed, it is truly irreversible.
"The Hall of a Hundred Arts is already following up, but it is still unknown when there will be a result."
Song Qingxing casually replied that he didn't actually care about these things, because they weren't aspects he needed to think about or be responsible for. He was more concerned about the changes in the [Traceless Sword] in his hand.
Such changes have occurred twice before, once in the Abyss and once on the Trial Road, but without exception, they were both related to the Demon Race.
Each change will greatly increase its power.
Now, after a great battle, the Bloodstained Sword has undergone its third transformation, its power once again enhanced. From the day it came into his hands, he didn't know its exact rank, but his cultivation had already risen from the Qi Refining stage to the Golden Core stage, yet the sword could still unleash its full power.
After this change, he felt that the [Traceless Sword] had now reached at least the level of a high-grade spiritual treasure.
The changes were all related to the demon race, or more precisely, to demon blood, which made him even more curious about the connection between the two.
"The great waves wash away the sand, and only the true gold remains in the end. The strength of the demon slaves is getting stronger and stronger. The frequency of third-order demon slaves comparable to Purple Mansion cultivators is increasing. If this drags on, we may even see fourth-order demon slaves comparable to Golden Core cultivators. At that time, we will be even more passive." Song Qingyun sighed softly.
He originally thought he was late, but he never expected such a fierce battle.
He still hasn't seen where the solution lies.
"Time to set off." Song Qingxing sheathed the gleaming [Traceless Sword] and turned his gaze to the northeast. According to the information he had just received, there was still a large army of demon slaves gathering there. They had to suppress them as soon as possible and not let them snowball and continue to grow stronger.
"it is good."
Just as the two were about to set off, a streak of light flew from behind and hovered in front of them; it was a communication flying sword.
With a thought, Song Qingxing crushed it. After browsing through its contents, his usually unchanging facial expression flickered slightly.
"A message from the clan: Chi Li has returned to the clan and intercepted a large army of demon slaves that suddenly attacked from the central Mingxiao Cultivation Realm in the Jade Dragon Cultivation Realm. According to feedback from the Nine Profound Sect, there is a high possibility that there are fourth-tier demon slaves among them. We are to go and provide support as soon as possible."
"Chi Li? Father's disciple, isn't he training at Zhu Lu Academy?" Song Qingyun asked with some doubt.
Song Qingxing did not answer the question, but instead revealed another piece of intelligence attached to the communication flying sword: "According to reliable intelligence, twelve cities in the Mingxiao cultivation world have fallen during this period, resulting in the loss of at least ten million people. The demonic calamity has already taken hold."
The elders analyzed the size of this demon slave army and concluded that there was a high probability of the existence of fourth-tier demon slaves, possibly even more than one. If left unchecked, the Jade Dragon cultivation world could very well fall.
Although demon slaves are weaker than righteous cultivators of the same level, their snowballing speed is terrifying.
The average age for a human Golden Core cultivator to break through to the next level is four hundred years, while these demon slaves only need forty days as long as there is a sufficient supply of flesh and blood.
Knowing the risks involved, the two headed straight for the Jade Dragon Cultivation Realm after learning the details...
The distance between the Jade Dragon Cultivation World and the Great Qi Cultivation World has always been a major problem. The information they gathered in haste was limited, and the actual situation was far worse than Song Qingxing and his group had imagined.
At this moment, the eastern part of the Jade Dragon Cultivation Realm was filled with a murderous atmosphere. Nearly 40,000 cultivators had gathered at Hou Yu's call. This was almost all the elite forces that the Jade Dragon Cultivation Realm could currently muster, which showed how much importance they attached to this battle.
However, the enemy they faced was equally powerful: an army of over 300,000 demon slaves was advancing in more than ten separate groups, charging in without any strategy or plan.
Three hundred thousand is undoubtedly a very large number, but behind this number lies an even more astonishing figure: it was "fed" out by tens of millions of mortals and tens of thousands of cultivators.
Ten million is a very conservative figure; the real number is probably much higher.
This is undoubtedly the most powerful army of demon slaves since the outbreak of the demonic calamity.
Moreover, unlike the demon slave armies encountered before, this army clearly showed signs of command. Although its tactics were very clumsy and could not be fully executed, the signals it conveyed were extremely dangerous.
Previously, the demon slave army was only attracted to each other by their bloodlust, and their individual intelligence was very limited, so they could easily fall into the traps set in advance by human cultivators.
However, all indications now suggest that highly intelligent individuals have emerged among the demon slaves and have assumed leadership or command roles within the army.
Based on past experience, such individuals are most likely to be in the fourth tier.
The Jade Dragon cultivation world is now riddled with problems. If it cannot withstand this wave of impact, it is very likely to follow in the footsteps of the Lu Kingdom's cultivation world.
"We'll be there soon on the shortest route."
On a giant warship, Chi Li gazed at the horizon ahead and spoke softly.
Hou Yu nodded and gestured to the elder beside him to order the fleet to prepare.
Like the ancient demons, the demon slaves only cultivate their physical bodies and not their magical power. Facing the warships, it was almost a one-sided massacre. It's just a pity that the Nine Mysteries Sect has a relatively shallow foundation in the Dao of Heavenly Craftsmanship, and currently only has less than twenty warships. Otherwise, this battle would be much simpler.
"If any fourth-tier individuals appear in the demon slave army later, I'll trouble Master Hou to step in and restrain them. My junior sister will come and join us after she has dealt with the other group of demon slaves."
Upon hearing this, Hou Yu nodded in agreement, as this was the strategy that had been agreed upon beforehand.
Hou Yu was initially suspicious of this person who claimed to be Song Changsheng's disciple, since he had never heard of such a person before.
All his doubts vanished after he met the other party's "junior sister".
Everyone knows that True Monarch Zixu has a disciple named Huayan, who is an unparalleled genius. In addition, she has two other identities: first, she is the granddaughter of the Ghost King of Ghost King Valley, the number one Golden Core cultivation force in the Great Qian Dynasty; second, she is the personal disciple of True Monarch Longxiang of Wanxiang Palace.
This cannot be faked, and no one would dare to fake it.
What surprised him was that Chi Li was clearly only a late-stage Purple Mansion cultivator, but in terms of identity, he was the senior brother of Hua Yan, a Golden Core cultivator.
Could this also be an unparalleled genius?
"coming."
Chi Li's voice pulled Hou Yu back from her wandering thoughts. Standing on the deck of the warship, she looked ahead and saw a dense array of dark shadows surging up from the horizon like a tide, stretching as far as the eye could see.
Within this massive force, he sensed two powerful auras.
His gaze sharpened instinctively, and he quickly locked onto two burly figures, each a foot tall.
"A fourth-tier demon slave!"
Upon hearing this, the expressions of the cultivators behind him immediately changed. Had their worst fears come true?
...(End of this chapter)