"Buzz—"
Instantly, the mind of Old Badger Luo Gan buzzed. The moment the old man before him drew his sword and attacked, he had already determined that the opponent was at least an eleventh-realm sword cultivator, otherwise, such a presence would be impossible. With no other choice, Luo Gan clenched his fists and roared, "What are you waiting for? For our badger tribe, exterminate the thieves!"
At that moment, the lake water churned with constant "plop plop plop" sounds. Badger figures leaped across the water's surface, all of them mid-fifth-realm badger cultivators. Within the lakeside jungle, rustling sounds were incessant, and in a flash, dense numbers of badgers appeared on the shore, eyeing Huang Tingyu and Lin Zhujie with hostility. The badgers that followed Luo Gan here numbered at least ten thousand!
"Such a grand presence!"
Huang Tingyu, holding Amber, erupted with demonic energy that soared into the sky. He laughed, "Since that is the case, I shall be the one to flatten this nest of ants and vermin!"
Saying that, he swung his blade.
On the lake's surface, the inverted water droplets merged into streams of sword energy, which then rained down. "Plop plop plop," they pierced through the pursuing badgers. With just one swing of Huang Tingyu's sword, hundreds of badger cultivators were sent tumbling into the lake, which was instantly stained red.
"You!"
Luo Gan let out a low growl. Behind him, a blood-red badger manifestation hundreds of feet tall appeared. He spread his palms, and wisps of claw shapes materialized. He had refined his claws into his life-bound artifact. The moment he raised his hand, the grass on the shore snapped off, indicating an astonishing sharpness. But it seemed... this level of sharpness was still insufficient.
The instant Amber swept across with a horizontal slash, Luo Gan wailed repeatedly. The claws connected to his left hand were directly severed. Huang Tingyu then soared into the sky, flicked his sleeve, and gathered countless water droplets. In the wind, these droplets all transformed into sword energy, "crackling" as they struck back towards the shore. A dense surge of sword energy swept across, turning the badgers on the shore into a sea of blood.
Lin Zhujie stood amidst the woods, his long sword hanging low. He remained silent. Streams of sword dao restrictions overlapped around him. He did not attack anyone directly. Instead, as the badgers charged towards Lin Zhujie, they were instantly shredded by invisible streams of sword energy. This was Lin Zhujie's final act of mercy towards the cultivators of the ancestral land of the demon race.
"Who exactly are you?!"
Luo Gan roared.
"The one who sends you to your doom!"
Huang Tingyu lunged forward. A demon race sword immortal manifestation appeared behind him, and he stomped down fiercely. Instantly, he landed on Luo Gan's shoulder. Dense sword energy, mingled with lake water, continuously eroded and annihilated Luo Gan's manifestation. In a flash, the badger patriarch was pinned to the shore like a dead dog by Huang Tingyu's foot.
He roared endlessly, but the moment he attempted to counterattack, two streams of sword energy swept across, severing both of Luo Gan's arms at the shoulder. He wailed incessantly, his massive body rolling into Jin Gu Lake. Only his upper torso remained above the water, his former overwhelming presence completely gone. He could only beg, "Sword Immortal... please spare me, Sword Immortal, show mercy to my badger tribe and grant us a way to live..."
"It's too late."
Huang Tingyu swept his sword across, and Luo Gan's massive head rolled into the lake. The luck of the eleventh-realm great demon completely fed back into the entire ancestral land of the demon race.
Afterward, Huang Tingyu and Lin Zhujie unleashed a few more sword strikes, killing most of the badgers Luo Gan had brought before continuing on their way.
In the woods, the two rode on horseback.
"How is your state of mind?" Lin Zhujie sat backward on his horse, holding a wine pot. After taking a swig of wine, he laughed, "Has the bottleneck to the twelfth realm become any looser?"
"Not yet."
Huang Tingyu smiled slightly, "But my heart is extremely content."
"Why are you content?" Lin Zhujie asked in surprise.
"Look at this ancestral land..."
Huang Tingyu gestured towards the distant mountains and laughed, "It has been like this for ten thousand, even twenty thousand years. Beasts absorb the spiritual energy of heaven and earth, cultivate into demons, and scheme against each other, preying on the weak. This rule has not changed in over ten thousand years. It still retains that savage aura. In my opinion, Huang Tingyu, this is simply stagnation. After all, what are we demon race cultivators seeking in cultivating the Dao?"
"What?" Lin Zhujie was bewildered.
Huang Tingyu waved his hand and laughed, "Naturally, we seek the Heavenly Dao, we seek the principles and rules that already exist between heaven and earth. In the human race, over tens of thousands of years, they have produced Confucianism, Buddhism, Daoism, and the Hundred Schools of Thought. Are the principles of those scholars not naturally existing? I think so. It's just that later, those human scholars discovered them and compiled them into bamboo slips to educate the world. And our demon race? We have made no progress in all these years, still pursuing the same old ways of devouring flesh and blood."
As he spoke, Huang Tingyu raised Amber and laughed, "With one sword strike from me, those upper five realms of the demon race will disintegrate into flesh and blood, their luck feeding back to the ancestral land. Do you think it's possible that as I, Huang Tingyu, kill, I might carve out a saint for the demon race? It's like shuffling cards; if you shuffle enough, there will definitely be a surprise."
"Makes some sense."
Lin Zhujie said cheerfully, "But not much."
"A little bit is good enough."
Huang Tingyu laughed, "After all, our demon race has never been about reason. Whoever has the harder fist speaks with reason."
Lin Zhujie nodded in agreement.
...
The next day, in the afternoon.
North of the Snow Region Heavenly Lake, snow whirled continuously.
Early in the morning, the sounds of hooves echoed through the snowy forest. A cavalry regiment from the direction of the demon race's ancestral mountain appeared in the Jiuzhang Plain area. To the south of Jiuzhang Plain lay a map rich in monster resources, with the monsters spawned being demonized snow rabbits that had low attack power, few hit points, and high experience. This entire area where demonized snow rabbits spawned was controlled by the Demon Sound Legion of the Scarlet Moon Knights.
The Scarlet Moon Knights' assassins, led by Mo Yin, were usually responsible for gathering intelligence and information, doing the hard and tedious work. Therefore, according to Chen Xue's arrangement, they were given the best leveling resources. Thus, the demonized snow rabbit spawning grounds conquered by the White Robe Legion and the Thousand Cities Legion were eventually handed over to the Demon Sound Legion for the assassins to exploit.
At this moment, a large number of cavalry were crossing Jiuzhang Plain and arriving at the Demon Sound Legion's leveling area.
And at the very front of the crowd was Rong Xing, who had just become the commander of the Cold Night Long Guild's 5,000-strong cavalry regiment. He had even changed some of his equipment, adding two exquisite ghost artifact-level pieces. He reined in his horse, leading a group of cavalry players behind him to the southern slope of Jiuzhang Plain, watching the Demon Sound Legion leveling from afar, his eyes filled with coldness.
"Brother."
Not far away, Ai Chi Xin De Yao Guai leaped from a companion's horse, frowning. "The map ahead is within the Scarlet Moon Knights' control. Over there... it seems to be Mo Yin and their leveling area."
"I know."
Rong Xing narrowed his eyes and said, "The mission given to us by the Alliance Leader is to clear out the human guild players in the Jiuzhang Plain area. There's no need to differentiate who's who. We have all joined the demon race faction now, and we are already enemies, so there's no need to show anyone any mercy."
"But..."
Ai Chi Xin De Yao Guai frowned. "We used to be part of the Scarlet Moon Knights!!!!"
"Not anymore."
Rong Xing raised his long sword and pointed forward, "Charge down and kill all those assassins! Sword cultivators, pay attention to locking on with flying swords, don't give those assassins any chance to escape, kill them all and use their experience points to feed our levels!"
"Charge!"
On Jiuzhang Plain, over 5,000 Cold Night Long cavalry players spurred their horses down.
"Ah?!"
In the distance, Mo Yin, who had just finished dealing with a demonized snow rabbit, looked up abruptly. He saw the rolling cavalry charging through the blizzard. He immediately brandished his dual blades and said sternly, "Brothers, prepare for battle, all enter stealth mode, and notify Alliance Leader Xue in the guild, quickly!"
At that moment, groups of Demon Sound Legion members stepped into the void. However, the cavalry players charging down the mountain cast skills like Sword Qi Cage, forcing all the assassins out, and then it devolved into a one-sided slaughter.
"Rong Xing!"
Mo Yin was forced out of stealth by a sword strike, his body sliding a long distance on the snow. He glared fiercely at the opponent, "Have you forgotten that we fought side by side before?"
"Forgot!"
Rong Xing's gaze was icy, "Who remembers those trivial matters from the past?"
...
At the Summit Villa.
Lin Zhao, in white, stood in a fist-pugging stance, his fist intent flowing. Just then, a "drip" sounded, and a message from Chen Xue arrived: "The Demon Sound Legion led by Mo Yin was ambushed by people from Cold Night Long while leveling in the Jiuzhang Plain area."
"Got it. Send someone to reinforce." Lin Zhao replied.
"Um, Lin Zhao..."
Chen Xue frowned, "The commander of Cold Night Long's 5,000-strong cavalry regiment is Rong Xing."
"What?!"
Lin Zhao was stunned. "How can that be? Isn't Rong Xing from Star River?"
"Not anymore."
Chen Xue said, "I heard through the grapevine that after Rong Xing had a conflict with the people from Star River, he joined the Cold Night Long Guild. Now, he and Ai Chi Xin De Yao Guai have become players in the demon race faction. Since last night, Rong Xing has been leading the 5,000-man regiment, killing human players all over the Northern Region. I didn't expect that by afternoon, they would start attacking us."
"Coordinates. I'll go take a look."
"Okay!"
At this moment, Lin Zhao felt a surge of anger in his heart. Some people truly had their consciences eaten by dogs.
...
Northern Region, snow flying everywhere.
Rong Xing led a host of cavalry, sweeping through and cutting down dozens of Scarlet Moon Knights' assassin players into pieces. Just as they were about to continue forward, flying swords suddenly streaked through the air. With "crackling" sounds, players behind Rong Xing were either instantly killed or left with critically low health.
Dozens of flying swords spun rapidly in the air, finally stopping behind a person in the snow. Only one player in the entire server possessed such a presence.
"Brother is here!"
In the woods, Luo Man, clad in armor, along with Ding Chi, Chen Xue, and others leading a group of Scarlet Moon Knights' cavalry players, had arrived, appearing in formation behind Lin Zhao.
"Rong Xing."
Lin Zhao looked at the man not far away, shook his head with a sigh of regret, and smiled, "I really didn't expect you to turn out this way."
...
"Of course you wouldn't expect it!"
Rong Xing gritted his teeth, his eyes filled with unwillingness. "You are Lin Baiyi of the Snow Region Heavenly Lake. You have top-tier magical treasures. You are the junior brother of the God of War Ding Muchen, and the owner of the Summit Villa. You don't need to worry about many things, and you don't need to toil for a living. The hardships I've endured, how could you, Lin Zhao, possibly know?"
"Shut up!"
Ding Chi let out a low shout, "You dog, your attitude of blaming the world for your own failures is nauseating! The most disgusting thing in this world is trash like you!"