A crescent moon illuminated the barren mountain, obscured by the clouds formed from the red and black demon qi. It had also been dyed a crimson red.
A huge demonic formation was raised out of stone on the barren mountain. The jagged rocks were engraved with strange demonic glyphs, standing in rings upon rings. A plume of demon qi rushed into the air in the centre of the concentric circles, linking the sky with the earth and spreading out a thick, demonic cloud in the sky.
Looking down from above, heads surged on the barren mountain. Thickly-dotted demonfolk surged about like ants. Under the commands of the Demon Generals, they carried the stone pillars to their designated locations. As the pillars were erected, the surging demon qi became even denser, shrouding the moon and stars.
Their bodily strength far surpassed mortals, but the onerous labour still made the demonfolk complain everywhere. They were not low-level corpses and ghosts from the Hungry Ghost realm. They also possessed regular emotions.
Crack! A resounding whip flew through the air. A four-armed, four-legged demonfolk supervisor swung the metal whip in his hand, lashing it viciously against a slacking demonfolk’s head. His head immediately exploded, and he rolled down the mountain.
“That’s the fate of anyone who still dares to slack. Keep working! Don’t stop!” The demonfolk supervisor swung his metal whip and glanced down the mountain. He revealed a vicious smile.
The slacking demonfolk’s corpse rolled to the bottom of the mountain, without budging at all. A while later, the “corpse” suddenly leapt to its feet, rushing off into the jungle with half a head.
Pairs of red eyes lit up in the jungle. Screech! Screech! Screech! Screech! Black figures whistled through the canopy, tailing closely behind the demonfolk before swarming down at the same time.
As it turned out, they were a group of wild monkeys. These monkeys that should have been no different from regular beasts had become extremely aggressive and vicious. Basically all of their fur had fallen off, revealing their bodies that rippled with muscle, together with their long, sharp fangs and claws.
The long howls of the fleeing demonfolk rang through the jungle.
The demonfolk supervisor snickered a little more. “Hmph, everything within fifty kilometers of the demon cavern has been affected by demon qi. It’s not just the wild beasts. Even the trees and vegetation have demonfied. You’re dreaming if you think you can rely on mere vitality to escape from here. The greater the vitality, the more pain there will be!”
However, when a Demon General glanced over, the demonfolk supervisor’s smile immediately vanished. He thought viciously, You’re a mere Demon General. You might be a little stronger than me, but you’re expendable too. Even quite a few Demon Commanders have died. I’d like to see just how long you can stay cocky for.
He stepped over a long, straight gully and could not help but think of the brilliant sword qi he had seen three days ago. It made him shiver inside.
There were several dozen of these gullies on the barren mountain, which had sliced apart the stone pillars smoothly. The primary task of the demonfolk was to repair this huge stone formation.
In the centre of the huge stone formation, where the demon qi surged out of, hovered a colossal, strange sphere of purplish-red flesh. It was riddled with blood vessels, possessing had hundreds of tendrils covered in vicious spines. It hovered there silently.
Twelve Demon Commanders stood around it on twelve stone pillars without moving at all, just like statues.
At first glance, they were basically identical to humans, but at a closer glance, some had four or five eyes, and some had a pair of fleshy wings. Combined with their strange attires of various colours, they gave off a sense of eeriness. There was only a single man who was relatively handsome in appearance, but when he grinned from time to time, he would reveal his mouth full of razor-sharp teeth, and his smile was chilling too.
The crescent moon was obscured from time to time as the demonfolk were in full swing with the work. The purplish-red sphere of flesh suddenly trembled, and the tendrils all straightened out as if they had sensed something. It was filled with a sense of vigilance.
“Sir!” The Demon Commanders began to move as if they were statues that had come alive. They bowed towards the purplish-red sphere of flesh in reverence.
“The sword cultivator is coming again. Activate the Twelve Citadel Demon Formation of the Ominous. Prepare to receive him in battle!”
An invisible, mental pulse emanated from the purplish-red sphere of flesh. The demonfolk all stopped what they were doing and dispersed suddenly, gathering towards the demon cavern in the centre of the giant stone formation. The demonfolk supervisor swung his metal whip and sent several demonfolk in his way flying, rushing ahead of all of them.
The twelve stone pillars under the twelve Demon Commanders suddenly lit up with a demonic light. The stone pillars on the outskirts lit up as well. In the blink of an eye, all of them lit up, illuminating the entire barren mountain with chilling light. The demon qi vaguely formed the shape of a grand citadel.
I don’t even know whether I can survive this time. This sword cultivator is even stronger than regular Demon Kings. Even that damned lug, the Thousand Tendrils King, suffered heavily at his hand in their first clash. All he could do was maintain his demonified form. It’s the wild ambitions of these great figures, yet we’re the ones who have to risk our lives. What a group of good people! Damn them! Damn them! the demonfolk supervisor thought to himself.
Suddenly, a strange, shrill whistle rang out by his ear. Before he had even returned to his senses, a streak of light pierced the sky and whistled past, diving into the city condensed by the Twelve Citadel Demon Formation of the Ominous.
Light shone and sword qi surged. Wherever it passed, the demon qi was split open, and the stone pillars were cut down.
The demonfolk were obliterated by the repercussions of the sword qi, collapsing and scattering everywhere.
The Thousand Tendrils King swung his tendrils violently at the light. At the same time, he emanated with invisible rings of demonic mental pulse in an attempt to perturb his opponent’s mind.
However, the sword cultivator had merged with his sword, darting about between the tendrils and cutting them down. His heart of the sword was finely forged too, completely immune to any influence.
“Ye Duanhai, there will be a day when I flatten your South Sea Sword pavilion and kill everyone close to you! I’ll make you watch with your own eyes as they howl to their deaths!” the Thousand Tendrils King bellowed through the demonic cloud, making the demon qi surge.
The person who had arrived was the master of the sword pavilion, Ye Duanhai. He remained cold and silent, completely disdained to converse with the Thousand Tendrils King. However, in less than five minutes, he pulled back in retreat. He also felt rather helpless inside. He seemed to have gained the upper hand, but he could not deal a lethal blow to the Thousand Tendrils King.
And under the influence of the Twelve Citadel Demon Formation of the Ominous, it was even more difficult for him to advance than moving through thick soil. His powers were depleted extremely rapidly, so he could not fight for very long. In that short while, the Sea-splitting sword in his hand had already dimmed, contaminated by the demon qi and demon blood. It would take him quite the effort to clean it, and if he just let it be, it would be gradually converted into a demon weapon, which would instead affect his heart of the sword.
He could choose to put his life on the line, or organise even more people to attack here, but once the situation was against him, the Thousand Tendrils King would immediately retreat back to the Demon domain. It was impossible to hunt him down. The other demon caverns would receive the message to attack harder and faster too, so this was destined to be a battle of endurance.
Right now, all he could do was constantly wear them down, to prevent the demonfolk from gaining a stable footing. Once they realised they could not afford an endurance battle like this, they would shrink back. However, he knew very well that the chances of this were extremely slim. Drawing reference to the past incursions throughout history, right now could only be regarded as the scouts. It was not even a proper attack, let alone a general offensive or a decisive battle.
Thinking up to there, he could not help but frown. Just how far would the World of the Nine Provinces fall?
At this moment, he sensed something and suddenly looked back. A red comet sailed over from the horizon!
