The Demon Clan in the Eastern Sea, the Wu Clan in the south!
At this moment, cultivator after cultivator from Eternal Sun Prefecture appeared in a basin. The surrounding area resembled a swamp. Within the basin, the ruins of a settlement could be vaguely seen, with Spiritual Qi rising from them toward the sky.
The cultivators floated into the air, their expressions heavy as they gazed down at the tragic scene on the ground.
Here... there had once existed a Nascent Soul Immortal Clan, an aristocratic family whose estate was situated upon a lake. But now, the lake had been destroyed.
This Nascent Soul clan, passed down for ten thousand years, had been blasted to the bottom of the lake and submerged beneath silt and sand.
"Reporting to the Elder, we've found a survivor!"
"There are traces of Demonic Qi and the aura of the Wu Clan. They... they've colluded. Judging by the tracks, there were about ten thousand of them."
"They are heading toward the mountain range and have taken many corpses with them. I suspect they intend to use some kind of evil technique!"
These cultivators were overcome with panic.
The people of Azure Cloud had a treaty with the Wu Clan; this was something all the great aristocratic clans of the Azure Dynasty knew.
Back when the Li family was destroyed, the reason Azure Cloud was able to survive was that the world feared the treaty would become void, leading to another Wu Clan invasion.
And now, with the world in chaos, the Wu Clan had attacked other places but had conspicuously not fought the people of Azure Cloud. This was because the Wu Clan honored its promises. But if the people of Azure Cloud were to engage in a desperate, all-or-nothing struggle and lead the Wu Clan into the fray, that would be another matter entirely.
That would have been bad enough on its own.
But of all things, the demonic cultivators had to come too—and they were the demonic cultivators from Shadowfell Prefecture.
The demonic cultivators of Shadowfell Prefecture are the most terrifying of all; it is rumored that the most ancient fiends reside there.
Many demonic cultivators in the world merely practice demonic path techniques, but true fiends, like the Demon Clan and the Wu Clan, possess powerful innate talents. Such talents often make them extraordinary from birth.
It is rumored that the demonic cultivators of Shadowfell Prefecture also like to dabble in all sorts of... new contraptions.
It is a paradise for them, a place where one can often see inhuman beings, neither human nor ghost. The so-called 'Night Parade of a Hundred Ghosts'² is a common sight in Xinshang.
For these two groups to be mixed together—how could this be anything but a disaster?
But little did they know, at this very moment, these two groups were trembling with fear as they followed the eight fiends leading them.
One of the demonic cultivators resentfully shouted to the stout, bear-like cultivator up ahead, "Fellow Daoist! Can you let us go now?"
As his voice fell, one after another, the demonic cultivators and Wu Clan members began to cry out.
"Yeah! You dragged us all the way here from Shadowfell Prefecture! You promised you'd let us go as long as we were obedient! When is this going to end?"
"Just what in the world are you people trying to do???"
"We offered you our storage rings and you didn't want them! Seniors, what use is my humble life to you?!"
"You beastly chieftains, may you die a terrible death!"
As these shouts echoed, the Blood Demon Lord—who wore a black robe but had it open to reveal the demonic tattoos on his chest—and the Seven Ironclads, dressed in their clan's 'Black-Iron Beast-Blood Armor,' all stopped and turned around.
As it turned out, behind them followed the demonic cultivators and the people of the Wu Clan, arranged in neat rows, with their numbers roughly even.
It wasn't that they were willing to be so orderly, but rather that each row of them, spaced apart, was linked by a thread formed of black spiritual power.
"Fourth Aunt's method is really effective."
Li Yundou sent a voice transmission to his younger brothers and sisters.
"Heh, after we captured them, we had them connect themselves with threads of spiritual power, ten people to a link. If anyone dared to escape and their squad mates didn't kill them, the entire squad would face collective punishment. After killing a few groups like that, they became truly obedient and have followed us all the way here without any trouble."
Li Yunzhen nodded slightly. "Not only are they obedient, they look even more orderly than the formations of the Azure Cloud Army. Anyone would mistake them for a real army."
After the few of them finished their voice transmission, the Blood Demon Lord's eyes narrowed. "Let you go? Fine."
With a wave of the Blood Demon Lord's hand, the demonic threads connecting the prisoners vanished.
The Seven Ironclads said nothing more. They looked toward the distance, where spiritual power surged into the sky. That was the location of Prince Qian's Mansion, where their clansmen were fighting.
They had captured the demonic cultivators from Shadowfell Prefecture and had also passed through the territory of the Wu Clan on their way back.
After everything that had happened in the past, the Wu Clan had politely sent them off with five thousand of their prisoners to aid the Li family in battle.
Once the demonic threads were released, the demonic cultivators and Wu Clan members, contrary to expectation, actually felt uneasy.
A clamor arose.
The Blood Demon Lord had spent several decades in Shadowfell Prefecture, and his cunning had grown ever greater.
He shouted to the whispering demonic cultivators and Wu Clan prisoners, "You are now in the Duravia Trade Prefecture. Ahead of us, our Li family is in the midst of battle. You have one way out, and that is to charge in with me and fight a desperate battle!"
Upon hearing this, the demonic cultivators and Wu Clan members stared with wide eyes.
But they remained silent.
After a long moment, one demonic cultivator gave a grunt of assent and fell in behind the Blood Demon Lord.
Li Yundou's expression was teasing. "Brother, you react pretty quickly, huh?"
The demonic cultivator gave a bitter laugh and raised his voice so that all the other demonic cultivators could hear—an act that could be considered an attempt to curry favor.
"Seniors, now that we're in the Duravia Trade Prefecture, if we don't fight desperately alongside you, what other choice do we have?"
"Neither we demonic cultivators nor the people of the Wu Clan are tolerated in the Duravia Trade Prefecture. On the way here, I already saw that both prefectures have deployed their troops; they are under martial law. Even if you weren't holding us captive, the people of this prefecture would still do everything in their power to hunt us down out of fear. That would be a path to certain death. Fighting alongside you, on the other hand, at least offers a glimmer of hope!"
Once these words were spoken, the expressions of the other demonic cultivators and Wu Clan members changed to ones of grim realization, and they silently stepped forward.
Watching as all these old scoundrels turned to follow, the Blood Demon Lord and the Seven Ironclads also looked toward the distance.
In an instant, Demonic Qi and the aura of the Wu Clan surged to the heavens!
Their eyes burned brightly as they headed toward that place of boundless Spiritual Qi.
They had been far away in Shadowfell Prefecture and knew nothing of the family's grand schemes. All they knew was that this was the mission the family had given them.
All they knew was this:
In the years they had been away from home, this goddamn son of a bitch, Prince Qian, seemed to think their Li family was a soft persimmon he could just squeeze!
"Charge with me!"