In the afternoon, the thunderous war drums in the distance signaled what no one had expected: the demon race was truly making a large-scale southward push!
Legions of demon soldiers, holding up banners that blotted out the sky, charged south. Ten army camps, millions strong, stretched out like a vast expanse. Along the Snow Ridge, all human armies and players stood in strict formation. Shen Xingchen and Chen Xue had already led over 2,000 elite players of the Scarlet Moon Knights to the foot of North Mountain to meet the enemy.
In an instant, humans and demons clashed fiercely on the ground. Numerous low-tier demon soldiers fought valiantly, but most of them would be converted into experience points for players and human warriors.
Lin Zhao remained on the North Mountain cliff, having no intention of descending to engage in close combat. Instead, as the lord of Snow Domain Heavenly Lake, his mere presence here would greatly inspire the entire army of Snow Domain Heavenly Lake.
Wu Zhi and Mu Zha stood silently by Lin Zhao's sides.
Chu Yu and Chen Ben stood further away. Chu Yu's eyes were fixed on the demon army outside North Mountain, her brow furrowed, wishing she could immediately lead the Snow Domain cavalry down to charge. Chen Ben, clenching his iron fists, felt that the opportunity to slay demons had finally arrived. As soon as Lin Zhao gave the order, he would unleash his fists like a dragon emerging from the sea, caring for nothing else.
Further away, the two young girls, Tong Yu and Wang Yue, stood together. Lin Zhao had ordered them not to participate in the battle. Firstly, Tong Yu was Lin Wanhua's direct disciple, a potential Sword Immortal, and could not be easily dispatched, as she would undoubtedly be marked as a primary target by the demon camps. As for Wang Yue, she had not been practicing martial arts for long and was currently only a low-tier martial artist. Her participation in the battle would also be too dangerous.
On an old pine tree in the eastern mountain forest of Snow Domain Heavenly Lake, the disheveled man Tang Guangjun sat silently with his long sword, gazing towards the northern region. The aura emanating from the demon camps made him breathless. They were too powerful. At least three Great Demons of the thirteenth realm were present, with many more in the twelfth and eleventh realms. If a real fight broke out, the human side's chances of victory were not particularly high. Relying solely on that Marquis of Victory? Clearly not. No matter how strong the Marquis of Victory was, he couldn't possibly withstand three Great Demons of the thirteenth realm.
He frowned, waiting for Lin Zhao to enter the fray. If their Mountain Lord were to encounter danger, then he, Tang Guangjun, would not hold back. Whoever dared to touch their Mountain Lord's junior brother would have to get past him, Tang Guangjun, first!
If he died in battle, the sect leader might bestow upon him a position as a mountain and river deity in the realm of military ancestral lands, allowing him to face his old master with pride in the future.
"Town Sword Pavilion, engage the enemy!"
On the first Town Sword Pavilion, Huo Piaoyao, clad in white robes and silver armor, brandished his spear, standing atop the pavilion like a fearless war god. In his eyes, the demon army was merely ants.
"Charge for me!"
In the distance, an eleventh-realm Great Demon roared, baring his fangs, "Destroy one Town Sword Pavilion, and the Demon Ancestor will personally ensure your ascension to the Upper Five Realms!"
Instantly, dense ranks of demon soldiers began their assault on the mountain. Among them were many from the Middle Five Realms, using various divine abilities to soar through the air, raining down upon the first Town Sword Pavilion.
From the lower and middle levels of the Town Sword Pavilion, white lights continuously shot out, transforming into renowned swords that relentlessly pierced through the mid-tier demon cultivators in the air. When the Ink School's ancestral court built the Town Sword Pavilions, they had already sealed famous swords within each level. These renowned swords, after being refined by military-school sword cultivators, possessed greatly amplified power. Relying on the formation's strength of the Town Sword Pavilion, an eighth-realm sword cultivator wielding a sword could often exert the power of a tenth-realm sword cultivator!
In the air, sprays of blood exploded. Under the dense barrage of flying swords from the Town Sword Pavilion, it was almost impossible for the demons to break through the pavilion from the air. Moreover, a thirteenth-realm military sage stood atop the pavilion. When he made his move, it was truly world-ending.
On the ground, in front of the Town Sword Pavilion, nearly five hundred military cultivators formed a battle array, each holding at least a small refined heavy shield and a long-handled weapon. They formed layers of iron-clad formations, encircling the Town Sword Pavilion. As large numbers of demon soldiers stormed the mountain slopes, these military cultivators thrust their weapons forward, their killing intent overflowing. In an instant, the area ahead became a sea of corpses and blood.
"It seems it's not going well!"
The eleventh-realm Great Demon gritted his teeth. He was originally a rabbit demon from the mountains. Thousands of years of cultivation had earned him the eleventh realm. He was a minor figure in the Demon Ancestral Mountain, with no achievements and only hard work. Let alone comparing himself to Great Demons like Yu Zhi and Ning Yuan Sheng, he held a very low status even among most eleventh-realm demon cultivators. If he could not achieve remarkable merit in this southward war, he would likely exhaust his lifespan and die in despair.
Thus, the rabbit demon leaped into the air, sweeping a long sword horizontally, unleashing sword light that stretched for dozens of miles towards the center of the Town Sword Pavilion. However, before this sword light could reach the pavilion, it was crushed by a spear from above. The rabbit demon was slightly stunned. In his astonishment, a wave of energy surged from a level below the Marquis of Victory's feet. It was a sword of pure, clear emerald green, wielded by a Star River realm military sword cultivator.
"Bold!"
The eleventh-realm rabbit demon roared in anger and quickly raised his long sword, forming layers of demonic energy to protect himself. But in the next second, a chilling dread filled his heart. The emerald green flying sword swept past, as easily as a blade piercing a cicada's wing. Immediately after, his head rolled from his shoulders. This was the power of the Town Sword Pavilion, condensing the sword dao fortune of the entire pavilion. A tenth-realm sword cultivator could slay an eleventh-realm Great Demon!
"It seems it's not going to work..."
On the summit of Panyun Mountain, the Great Demon Fu Sheng narrowed his eyes as he watched in the distance and chuckled, "Sending these low-cultivation demon cultivators to attack the Town Sword Pavilion, isn't that sending them to their deaths? Lord Nan Qingfeng, why don't you and I… join forces to fight the Marquis of Victory? Lords Feng Quan and Bai Ye, you two lead your men to flatten the Town Sword Pavilion?"
"Agreed."
The Great Demons nodded in unison.
Fu Sheng, in a grey and white long robe that fluttered in the wind, drifted away gracefully, chuckling, "Let's go, let's go, time to meet this Marquis of Victory!"
Nan Qingfeng smiled slightly and also took flight. A wisp of white cloud unfurled behind her, as if adorning her with a trailing white skirt that stretched for dozens of miles. As her slender fingers opened, a long sword transformed from her natal wing feathers was already in her hand. Although Nan Qingfeng was not a sword cultivator, as a thirteenth-realm demon, her swordsmanship was extraordinary, and her strength was not to be underestimated.
"All mountains can be used by me!"
Fu Sheng lightly flicked his sleeve, and immediately, rows of unknown mountain ranges behind Panyun Mountain were uprooted. Dozens of mountains spanned the air. At Fu Sheng's pointed finger, these peaks leveled out, directing their extremely sharp summits towards the first Town Sword Pavilion. Then, with a whistling sound, they shot forward like dozens of terrifying mountain-sized arrows towards the pavilion.
"Bold!"
On the Town Sword Pavilion, the young military sage raised his bright silver spear and stomped his battle boots on the ground. The earth trembled, and golden wooden stakes erupted from the soil, connecting with each other, forming a vast expanse that blocked out the sky. They transformed into rows of golden chevaux de frise and deer horns. In the next moment, with continuous loud crashes, dozens of mountains collided with the deer horns, crushing each other into powder.
Fu Sheng took out an engraving knife, swirling it gently in his hand. It transformed into a gentleman's sword of the Confucian school, and he slashed it towards the opponent. The sword light hummed incessantly, splitting into five attacks in mid-air. Simultaneously, above the young military sage, a massive white peacock dharma image opened, almost obscuring the entire sky. Nan Qingfeng used her dharma image to block out the sun and moon. In that instant, it seemed as if the entire Town Sword Pavilion was isolated from the world. A beam of dazzling white sword light pierced through the clouds and shot directly towards the opponent's head.
"..."
Huo Piaoyao looked up at the sky and couldn't help but reveal a smile.
On the tributary of the Dry Pine River, Lin Wanhua was enveloped in sword intent, drawing in everything in heaven and earth. The entire tributary buzzed and resonated. Water droplets in the river and forest hung suspended, all drawn by Lin Wanhua's sword.
"Chiff!"
When she casually thrust out a sword, the sword intent instantly drew the inverted water droplets of heaven and earth, forming a vortex of sword intent. With just one sword, she managed to dissolve the blinding palm strike of the thirteenth-realm Ning Yuan Sheng. Not only was most of the palm force diffused, but Ning Yuan Sheng's true body was also drawn into Lin Wanhua's dense sword Qi.
At the same time, Lin Wanhua's first flying sword, "Fei Hua," flew out of the Cloud Sword Lake, gathering dense moonlight and shooting towards Long Zheng's heart, forcing the twelfth-realm demon sword immortal to retreat. As Long Zheng retreated, Lin Wanhua's second natal flying sword attacked the twelfth-realm white-skirted female demon behind her.
Furthermore, Lin Wanhua, using her mind for four purposes, sent her third natal flying sword out of the Cloud Sword Lake!
In this world, no one had ever seen Lin Wanhua's third natal flying sword, but today, she had no choice but to use it. It was an azure flying sword named "Li Bie" (Separation). This flying sword was refined by Lin Wanhua after she entered the twelfth realm, making it the most powerful of the three flying swords, even containing a portion of the true intent divine abilities of Fusu Great Wall!
"Swish!"
The flying sword "Li Bie" plunged into the river water, but waves of Qi spread around the flying sword, forming a massive force of reverse impact. Instantly, the twelfth-realm Great Demon in the water, who was using divine abilities to trap Lin Wanhua's feet, was sucked out of the water by the flying sword "Li Bie." The so-called "Li Bie" was not only the feeling of separation from someone over the years, but also because the divine ability of this flying sword could separate the opponent's divine abilities from their main body.
Facing certain death, Lin Wanhua did not hesitate. With a fierce wave of her sword named "Jing Hua," she unleashed thousands of sword Qi that surged upwards, forcing Ning Yuan Sheng, Long Zheng, and others to retreat, abandoning their ambush of Lin Wanhua.
"Very good!"
Ning Yuan Sheng smiled calmly, opening his palm and refining a golden scroll. He then enveloped himself with his natal divine abilities and stomped on the void, conjuring a small world of a thirteenth-realm Great Demon to trap Lin Wanhua within. He chuckled, "The successor of Lu Xinghe is indeed formidable, but it's fortunate they are so strong, otherwise, wouldn't our elaborate scheme be a waste of effort?"
Long Zheng, holding his long sword, curled his lips, "How about I take Lin Wanhua's head?"
Ning Yuan Sheng chuckled, "As you wish."