In a certain small town.
The buildings and houses were like paper mache beneath the sharp claws of the blood corpses.
The defending martial artists gathered together, roaring as they launched a charge, the light of blades and shadows of swords flashing.
They faced death without flinching, their courage commendable.
However, in the face of an absolute disparity in strength, courage was merely a catalyst that accelerated their deaths.
Old Demon Wu could not even be bothered to attack personally, merely directing the blood corpses to break through the enemy lines.
The third-tier blood corpses were like a tiger entering a flock of sheep.
Wherever they passed, martial artists fell in droves like harvested wheat.
Shattered weapons and fragments of armor mingled with blood and flesh.
I wonder if any Golden Core Stage cultivators have been born in this region. That would make things a bit more interesting."
Great Jin.
In a certain county city.
"Mother! Father! Where are you?!"
"The martial artists are dead! The immortal masters are dead too. Everyone is dead!"
"What did we do wrong? Why must we suffer this great tribulation?!"
The entire county city was enveloped by the divine sense of a Golden Core cultivator; they had nowhere to run.
If someone occasionally managed to escape, they were ignored.
After all, the demonic cultivators had been instructed to slaughter wantonly, but not to exterminate everyone completely.
In other places, various kinds of gruesome tragedies were also taking place.
Countless people had their souls extracted.
Countless people were drained of their pure yang or pure yin.
Countless others were hacked into mangled limbs and bloody chunks.
Some Demonic Dao Golden Core cultivators even manipulated certain clans into mutual slaughter for their own amusement.
The echoes of despair began to permeate this land.
Even the demonic cultivators of the Great Jin were not spared by the invaders from the Blackwater Region.
In their eyes.
They were nothing but lambs!
They were sacrifices!
Within the Commandery City.
There was some decent resistance.
After all, there was no shortage of martial artists and cultivators.
However, an ordinary Commandery City had no formations to protect it. Hordes of Foundation Establishment demonic cultivators surged in, and both sides engaged in a life-and-death struggle.
Yet, it often took dozens of lives to trade for the death of a single Foundation Establishment demonic cultivator from the Blackwater Region.
This was a feast of death.
It belonged to them, it belonged to the invaders, and it belonged to the beasts.
Hundred Thousand Mountains.
The earth was trembling!
A massive roar echoed from the depths of the endless Hundred Thousand Mountains, a place regarded as a forbidden zone for living beings.
At first, it was as low as muffled thunder, but it swiftly became clear and dense, ultimately merging into a symphony of destruction that was enough to tear at one's eardrums and shake one's very soul.
The mountains trembled, and the forests wailed.
The next moment, every mountain pass, every canyon, and the edge of every dense forest within the line of sight were simultaneously submerged by a multicolored tide.
That wasn't water; it was an endless horde of birds and beasts!
On the ground.
Millions of wild beasts and low-tier demonic beasts surged forth like a torrential flood breaking through a dam.
There were iron-armored rhinoceroses, as robust as small mountains, charging in groups; wherever they passed, trees were snapped, and boulders were pulverized.
There were wolf packs with glossy fur and bared fangs acting like gray waves, bringing with them a bloodthirsty, cold gleam as they surged forward.
There were leopard groups as swift as the wind, wild boar herds with thick hides and tough flesh, and a snake tide with terrifying venomous fangs.
Most of them possessed low intelligence and were being herded out by powerful demonic beasts.
In the sky, shadows that blotted out the sun swept past.
Tens of thousands of fierce raptors and demonic birds flapped their wings, flying at breakneck speeds.
The sound of their wings beating the air was like the howling winds before a torrential storm.
Iron beak eagles, rot bone vultures, blazing flame sparrows, and wind blade falcons—all sorts of vicious birds converged into a moving, incessantly shrieking black cloud. The shadows they cast plunged the earth into an early dusk.
Their sharp shrieks pierced the heavens, echoing for tens of miles.
The beast tide was not completely chaotic.
Faintly visible were the silhouettes of higher-tier demonic beasts mingled within, either driving the hordes or leading them.
A third-tier early stage twin-headed fire python slithered and roamed, leaving blazing infernos in its wake.
A third-tier mid stage golden-eyed sword-toothed tiger roared at the heavens, its tiger aura intimidating the hundred beasts as it drove the animal horde toward specific directions.
There were even massive mountain-moving apes beating their chests, casually uprooting giant trees to use as weapons to clear the path...
The beast tide continuously divided as it charged forward.
The colossal flock of birds in the sky did the same.
The countryside villages near the Hundred Thousand Mountains bore the brunt of the assault.
Before the morning cooking smoke had fully dissipated, the horizon was swallowed by billowing dust and surging black shadows.
A farmer dropped his hoe in terror, and villagers screamed as they fled into their homes, but the wooden fences and adobe walls were like mere toys before the beast horde.
The iron-armored rhinoceroses effortlessly smashed through the village entrances, the wolf packs leapt into the courtyards, and venomous snakes slithered in through the cracks in the doors...
Screams and the sounds of chewing instantly replaced the crowing of roosters and the barking of dogs.
A mother desperately shielded her child beneath her, only to be effortlessly snatched up by a demonic leopard, disappearing into the beast horde along with her child.
An old man who tried to resist with a wood-cutting knife was instantly torn apart and devoured by several wild boars.
Blood dyed the rice paddies red, and mangled limbs hung haphazardly across the fences.
In just a few moments, the village was reduced to broken walls, ruins, a coppery stench of blood too thick to disperse, and endless despair.
The county city fared slightly better thanks to its city walls.
Yet, it only allowed them to struggle for a brief moment longer.
After all, this was no ordinary horde of wild beasts, but a demonic beast tide.
Furthermore, those leading the charge were all third-tier demonic beasts.
The defending soldiers on the county city walls looked at the boundless beast tide, their faces turning ashen.
Arrows rained down, but they were mostly ignored by the thick-skinned and tough-fleshed demonic beasts, or at best, only inflicted negligible damage.
The city gates groaned and shattered under the tremendous impact of their collisions.
The limited number of martial artists and low-level cultivators in the city stepped forward. Blades flashed and swords glinted, while talismans and spell arts sparkled brightly as they engaged in brutal street combat with the invading demonic beasts.
"Hold the alleys! Protect the civilians and retreat to the Inner City!"
"Vile beasts! Die!"
A fourth-layer Mortal-Shedding Realm martial artist roared, his saber aura decapitating a demonic wolf. Yet, he was struck from the side by an iron-armored rhinoceros, his sternum caving in as he vomited blood and was sent flying backward.
A late-stage Qi Condensation rogue cultivator exhausted his mana, detonating his last few fire talismans to turn a small area into a sea of fire, temporarily stalling the beast horde.
However, he himself had his skull pierced by a demonic bird diving down from the sky.
Their resistance was heroic, but it was like a mantis trying to stop a chariot.
There were simply too many beasts. Individual bravery was rapidly submerged in the face of the endless beast tide.
The streets turned into fields of blood and flesh, and shops were trampled into ruins.
Human corpses and demonic beast carcasses were stacked layer upon layer. Blood merged into streams, forming small pools in the depressions of the streets.
The demonic beasts gnawed on the corpses, fighting over the spoils of war.
Some followed the scent of the living, smashing through doors and breaking into private residences to create fresh tragedies.
Even the Blackwater Region demonic cultivators, who had originally sneaked into the Southern Region as 'hunters,' failed to maintain their own safety in this demonic beast tide.
They were likewise the targets of the demonic beasts' slaughter.
Of course, the demonic beasts were also seen as materials in the eyes of these demonic cultivators.
In this massacre, there were no victors or losers.
Whoever survived to the very end would be the winner!
On the first day.
This demon tribulation only took place within the territories of Great Jin and Great Liang.
But by the next day, it was bound to spread to Great Wei and the Immortal Martial Alliance.
In the entire Land of Imprisonment, not a single place would be spared.
Dongxi.
Jade Cold Pool.
Under the Kurong tree.
Xu Chuan felt a sudden stirring in his heart.
Although he could not divine the exact day the great tribulation would break out, while cultivating today, it felt as though a shadow had been cast over his mind.
'Has the demon tribulation broken out?'
Xu Chuan opened his eyes, two corporeal rays of azure light shooting from his pupils. A fierce, ruthless glint seemed to flash past within them.
By now, all their hidden pieces had been recalled.
The Xu Family was effectively blind as well.
However, Xu Dewen was currently in the Great Jin.
If the demon tribulation had erupted, according to his predictions, it should first appear in the Great Jin.
Thus, he contacted Xu Dewen directly.
In the Great Jin, after casually slapping over a dozen Foundation Establishment demonic cultivators to death, Xu Dewen sensed Xu Chuan's contact and immediately split off a wisp of his divine sense to enter the 'Xu Clan's Grotto-heaven.'
His physical body, meanwhile, swiftly fled into the distance.
Behind him, a black streak of escaping light was chasing after him.
"Dewen, today a shadow has clouded your grandfather's spiritual altar. Has the great tribulation broken out?"
"Yes, Grandfather."
Xu Dewen sighed softly, a harsh glint flashing in his eyes as he said hatefully, "Those Blackwater Region demonic cultivators truly possess no humanity; they completely treat the living beings here as nothing more than livestock.
Moreover, far too many Foundation Establishment demonic cultivators have surged in. Your grandson alone has already killed dozens of them."
"This is a great tribulation!"
Xu Chuan's expression grew solemn. "Anyone who enters the Land of Imprisonment before the Ancient Battlefield manifests is nothing more than a sacrifice.
That includes those Blackwater Region demonic cultivators, the demonic beasts of the Hundred Thousand Mountains, and the cultivators from the major factions of the Heavenly South who will arrive shortly after.
All of them are the same!
Dewen, at this very moment, you have no need to hold back.
Kill whoever you wish to kill!
But the prerequisite is that you don't play the hero."
"Your grandson understands. Grandfather, there is an early-stage Golden Core demonic cultivator tailing me right now, so I will take my leave."
Xu Chuan gave a slight nod.
A moment later.
Xu Dewen's figure vanished.
In the outside world.
Xu Dewen sped away for fifty kilometers, tense and jittery at the slightest disturbance.
He finally stopped above a barren ridge, halting his advance and abruptly turning around!
That grayish-black streak of light, sticking to him like a maggot in his bones, followed closely behind.
The light dispersed, revealing a sinister-looking middle-aged demonic cultivator with disheveled gray hair.
Seeing that Xu Dewen was no longer fleeing, a trace of playful greed flashed in his eyes, like a cat toying with a mouse. He chuckled wickedly, "What's wrong, boy? Did you realize you couldn't escape and decide to surrender without a fight?
However, I never expected that such a poor village and desolate land could actually give birth to an early-stage Golden Core demonic cultivator like you.
Perfect timing. Let me see what kind of skills an unorthodox rogue like you possesses!
If you're qualified, I might just leave your corpse intact and refine you into an obedient corpse servant, hehe..."
"A corpse servant... you mean something like this?"
Xu Dewen's voice was hoarse, grating like grinding gravel, carrying an intense, suppressed killing intent.
Before his voice could even fade.
He abruptly slapped a bulging Yin Corpse Pouch at his waist!
"Roar—!!!"
A third-tier blood corpse immediately charged out. Its aura was ferocious, and tyrannical soul fires danced in its eyes.
Closely following it, seven slightly weaker but equally vicious figures lunged out, faintly sealing off all of the gray-haired middle-aged man's evasive space from every direction.
The gray-haired middle-aged man's expression changed slightly. "A third-tier blood corpse. It seems you've killed a Golden Core cultivator before. Without a corpse of that cultivation realm as material, it's incredibly difficult to refine and cultivate a third-tier blood corpse.
And you have these as well...
Tsk, tsk, tsk. It seems you're a ruthless and merciless fellow too!"
He didn't panic, clearly no stranger to corpse-controlling methods. He was merely astonished that Xu Dewen could actually refine a third-tier blood corpse.
Aside from a high-tier corpse refining secret art, the materials were also absolutely crucial.
Thus, even in the Blackwater Region, among the numerous Golden Core Stage Demonic Dao cultivators, only those at the mid-to-late stages or higher could possibly refine a third-tier corpse puppet.
Xu Dewen ignored him, his icy face devoid of any fluctuation.
To him, this was merely the beginning!
He flipped his right hand.
A black banner, just over a foot long, appeared.
Countless agonizing faces seemed to be struggling upon the surface of the banner.
The moment this banner appeared, the surrounding temperature plummeted.
The shrill whispers of thousands of wronged souls and vicious ghosts faintly drilled into one's eardrums, unsettling the mind.
"Go!"
Xu Dewen shouted in a low voice. The Soul Banner left his hand, expanding against the wind and instantly transforming to be over three meters long.
He reached out to grasp the freezing dark iron banner pole and violently flicked his wrist!
"Wooo—!!!"
The mournful ghost wails abruptly magnified.
Vast swathes of grayish-black yin clouds surged out from the banner. Yin winds howled in rage, bone-chillingly cold!
As the yin clouds churned.
Dozens of blurry, clawing phantoms shuttled through them, exuding an icy, venomous aura of resentment.
They were all second-tier yin souls!
And at the core, surrounded by the yin souls, a massive ghostly creature with a solid form, a single horn on its head, and a ghost head broadsword condensed from yin qi slowly emerged.
Its crimson ghost eyes locked firmly onto the gray-haired middle-aged man!
Its aura had impressively reached the level of an early-stage third-tier ghostly creature.
Blood corpses blockading the outside, a yin soul ghost king lying in wait on the inside!
The wicked smile on the gray-haired middle-aged man's face finally froze completely, replaced by unbelievable shock and a trace of solemnity.
He originally thought it was just a rogue cultivator who had luckily managed his core formation, but he never expected the opponent to possess such bizarre and numerous methods.
Not only did he harbor a corpse refining secret art, but also a ghost path secret art.
Even in the Blackwater Region, Demonic Dao cultivators who were proficient in both paths simultaneously were extremely rare.
Simply because cultivating these two paths made one incredibly susceptible to backlash.
A single moment of carelessness would result in a tragic end of dying and one's Dao vanishing.
"What impressive methods!"
The gray-haired middle-aged man laughed in sheer fury, a vicious glint fully exposed in his eyes. "To think that a desolate place where birds don't even poop could raise a figure like you!
I've certainly underestimated you!
However, you think you can kill me relying just on them?
Wishful thinking!"
His reaction was extremely fast; he was startled but not panicked.
With a thought, a flying sword—entirely pitch-black and wreathed in wisps of filthy demonic qi—spit out from his mouth.
The blade trembled, emitting a teeth-achingly sharp hum.
It immediately transformed into a fierce streak of black light, taking the initiative to slash at the closest leaping third-tier blood corpse.
At the same time, he flicked his left arm.
A bone shield, forged from the skull of an unknown demonic beast and engraved with defensive demonic runes, instantly expanded to protect his front.
The surface of the shield radiated a pale white spiritual light, with phantom beast souls faintly roaming across it.
It securely guarded all of his vital points.
"Clang!!!"
The pitch-black flying sword violently clashed against the third-tier blood corpse, actually producing the sound of colliding metal.
The blood corpse was forced back several steps, a bone-deep sword gash left on its chest where black blood gushed out. However, its ferocity did not diminish; it only increased as it roared and lunged forward once more.
The flying sword was also knocked back by the recoil, its light slightly dimming.
Simultaneously, the seven second-tier blood corpses lunged from different angles. Sharp claws, bone blades, and venomous fangs attacked the gray-haired middle-aged man all at once.
The yin soul ghost king led dozens of yin souls, spewing yin winds and ghost fires. Some directly lunged to bite and tear, while others unleashed mind-bewitching arts to interfere with his soul.
The gray-haired middle-aged man was heavily besieged, but his practical combat experience was incredibly rich, so he did not appear too flustered while dealing with the onslaught.
Magic treasures, magical arts, secret methods...
Various trump cards emerged endlessly.
Even while being swarmed, it seemed he could remain as steady as Mount Tai for the short term.
'He really is troublesome to deal with. I should have asked Grandfather for a magic treasure earlier. Otherwise, I wouldn't be this passive right now.'
Just as Xu Dewen was secretly thinking this.
The gray-haired middle-aged man spoke again, "If this were a one-on-one fight to the death, I might actually die at your hands. But there are over a hundred Golden Core demonic cultivators who entered this time.
With the intense fluctuations from our battle, I'm afraid it won't be long before someone rushes over."
Hearing this, Xu Dewen's expression instantly changed.
He had been so blinded by his anger earlier that he actually forgot to consider this point.
This great tribulation was a disaster for all living beings; it was not something that he alone, or even his Xu clan, could salvage.