Across hundreds of miles, the mountains and rivers shattered like jade. A single divine sword poured fire into the heavens and froze the earth. A lone youth stained the mortal realm with blood.
The demon race held their ground, suffering heavy casualties.
The sword peaks were sharp, taking every advantage.
Chaos reigned even more fiercely within the three-thousand-mile Demon Suppression Abyss.
From the moment Xu Xian grasped the divine sword, the slaughter never ceased.
He charged through the beast horde, utilizing his Pupil of Insight. Ignoring all else, he focused solely on striking the enemy beast emperors.
The purer the bloodline, the harder he struck and the more relentlessly he pursued them.
To completely wipe out the demon race was an empty boast—exciting to say and impressive to hear.
It was just a bit of posturing.
Truly exterminating them?
It wasn't that easy. The opposition weren't zombies; they would run and hide.
Besides, Xu Xian didn't have an infinite energy reserve.
After all, his cultivation realm was still stuck at the soul transformation stage.
With the sharpness of the divine sword, the strength of his sword body, and the keenness of his sword arts, he could kill enemies above his level, but he certainly couldn't engage in a mindless massacre.
Therefore, he adhered to the philosophy of capturing the leader to disperse the followers, killing only those in charge.
The Eight Desolate Tribes came with a ferocious momentum and grand display, but it was precisely because of this that they were easier to dismantle.
As long as the leaders were slaughtered, the remaining rabble would naturally scatter.
He used the prestige of the Sword Tower and the sharpness of the divine sword to suppress the enemy's morale and cause chaos. Then, by slaying the leaders, he incited panic.
He reaped their lives amidst the confusion.
This was his strategy.
Simple and brutal!
The results were indeed significant. Within two hours of slaughter, more than half of the beast tide before him had fled, and the remaining demons, seeing the tide turn, also began to withdraw.
The defeat began with fear and collapsed completely.
The people of the Wendao Sect seized the victory, charging and killing with frenzy.
The demon race became increasingly disorganized as they fled, like startled birds or rats crossing the street, running aimlessly.
You're running?
Then I'm running too.
They scrambled over one another to escape.
The humans pursued even more fiercely, advancing triumphantly, refusing to stop until the end.
Thus, the demon race fled, and the Wendao Sect pursued. One ran, the other chased. It was hard-pressed to—
Actually, they really did fly away.
Because Xu Xian said not to pursue a cornered foe.
Near noon.
The roar of the battlefield subsided, and the slaughter gradually ceased. The dark, pressing beast tide was replaced by clouds of dust.
That battle.
After lasting less than four hours, it ended with the demon race fleeing in defeat.
When they arrived.
They had trampled out a wide road.
When they left.
They left behind a field of corpses.
High upon the walls of Demon-Slaying City, cultivators used special means to gaze toward the battlefield.
Although the scene a thousand miles away was ultimately unclear.
They could vaguely infer the result from the sounds.
Setting aside the casualties.
The demonic beasts had indeed retreated.
The victory was obvious.
The demon hunters living in Demon-Slaying City and the disciples of the Wendao Sect erupted in a burst of cheers.
Their expressions were filled with excitement.
"We won!"
"Incredible!"
"See that? This is the strength of our Wendao Sect! Long live the Wendao Sect!"
"..."
However, the expressions of those from the Central Plains were extremely unsightly. They couldn't be called happy, nor could they be called mourning, but they felt uncomfortable.
The Wendao Sect hadn't lost and had even stolen the spotlight, making them feel uneasy.
Now that the beast tide had dispersed, they could once again delve deep into the Demon Suppression Abyss to search for the auspicious beast, which they couldn't help but feel secretly pleased about.
In short, it was complicated.
Perhaps it was because humans are naturally complex creatures.
Taking advantage of the gap in the Wendao Sect's cheering.
Amidst their complaints and sarcasm, they quietly turned back.
As for those cultivators who hadn't had time to retreat in the first place, they turned around on the spot and continued their search.
In contrast, within Spirit Elixir City.
The previous clamor was gone, and morale had dropped to the absolute lowest point.
On the banks of the Wild River, the beast sovereigns felt like dying.
Defeated again.
They had been defeated last night.
One could still say they were ambushed.
But they were defeated today as well.
In the end, their skills truly were inferior.
This inevitably made them think back to ten thousand years ago. As recorded in the history books, they were just like this back then—grandiose in momentum, yet ending in a disastrous defeat, scurrying back to the Great Desolation.
Their ancestors were like this ten thousand years ago, and their descendants were still like this ten thousand years later.
Was the demon race really this weak?
No.
It was that youth from the Wendao Sect who was simply not human.
...
Around the battlefield, sword cultivators of the Wendao Sect were still mopping up the stragglers. The sounds of combat could still be heard from time to time.
Xu Xian had already returned the divine sword, the Heaven-Burning Sparrow, to the Sword Tower.
A divine sword was useful, certainly.
But the consumption was too great.
It was far too taxing.
After wielding it for only four hours, Xu Xian felt as though his body had been completely drained.
Thinking back, he could swing the hundred-thousand-catty Star-Forging Hammer for over a dozen hours without his face turning red or losing his breath.
It was clear.
A divine weapon was incomparable to immortal weapons or earth weapons.
Now.
Taking advantage of the demonic beasts' defeat and the stabilized situation, he sat cross-legged in the wilderness, consuming pills and circulating qi to recover his spiritual energy. Wen Qingxue and the others stood guard by his side.
They were alert to their surroundings!
The rest of the cultivators returned from their pursuit and began to clear the battlefield, treating the wounded and collecting the corpses.
They were busy.
Although they had won.
There wasn't the expected cheering or loud shouting.
Perhaps it was because they were all seventh stage cultivators, a uniform group of several-hundred-year-old or even thousand-year-old beings, so they were composed.
They did not show their joy on their faces.
Or perhaps it was because they stood high and saw far, so they knew that everything was far from over. Now was not the time for a victory celebration.
Or perhaps...
They were simply tired, exhausted, and weary!
Did they not know? By routing an enemy dozens of times their own number with only a hundred people, how much better could they be?
Some were dead.
Some were wounded.
They had long since run out of energy.
Still.
It was worth it.
After this single battle, the demons of the Great Desolation had suffered heavy losses. It was unlikely they would be able to cause much of a stir for a while.
As for that auspicious beast, god knows when it would be found.
Regardless.
With Xu Xian, their Little Grand-Uncle, here, they would simply follow him.
After clearing the battlefield.
They immediately began to heal and recover their essence.
Bu Yining came to Xu Xian's side and said respectfully, "Little Grand-Uncle, the intelligence has been sent back. What should we do next?"
Xu Xian embraced the origin, slowly opened his eyes, and glanced in the direction of the East Desolation. His gaze was restrained, and he looked slightly weak as he said, "Let everyone rest for now."
Bu Yining pondered for a moment and replied:
"Understood!"
After Bu Yining withdrew, Wen Qingxue walked over and asked softly, "Little Grand-Uncle, are you alright?"
"I'm fine."
"Will we continue the pursuit in a bit?"
"Forget it, we'll see," Xu Xian said.
Wen Qingxue gave an "oh" in response.
Xu Xian had his concerns. First, he was afraid he wouldn't be able to handle it if the situation got out of control.
Second, he was afraid of pushing the other side too far, which might finally cause the big shots to appear and lead to a full-blown war between humans and demons.
That would push the Wendao Sect to the heart of the struggle.
But after fighting across three thousand miles in a single night, his Pupil of Insight had never once spotted the auspicious beast.
There were only two possibilities.
One: The auspicious beast had already fled.
Two: If it was still here, it could only be hiding in that Spirit Elixir City.
To find it, he would have to charge in.
But clearly, that was too reckless.
He might pursue and fight, but he always maintained a distance from the Wild River.
He was afraid that if he got too close, the other side might suddenly strike, leaving him no time to react and the experts of his sect unable to rescue him in time.
Spirit Elixir City was too close to the banks of the Wild River, just as Demon-Slaying City was too close to the Boundary Mountain.
While he was deep in thought.
A seventh stage Shadow Hall Deacon arrived, covered in blood. Before he even reached them, his voice preceded him. "Little Junior Martial Uncle, the Sect Master has a message for you."
Xu Xian pulled back his thoughts and looked up. "Speak!"
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