Chapter 564: 3-Race Confrontation, The Start of the Great War

North Demon City was truly worthy of its title as the most formidable city in the Northern Territory. An army five million strong looked like a mere speck against it. The Demonic Qi from within the city shot straight into the heavens, blotting out the sun and moon for thousands of miles around.

The Demon Race army halted a hundred li from North Demon City. They did not rush to attack. Instead, they waited for the signal from the Human Race.

According to the agreement between the Human and Demon Races, they would split their forces into three prongs—one from the Demon Race and two from the Human Race—to invade the Demon Realm together. The benefit of a simultaneous assault was to prevent other Demons from coming to the rescue.

On the human side, the combined army of the Cyan Sky Sect and the Heart Slaying Hall, led by Fu Jiange, had also arrived before South Demon City in the Demon Realm.

Guarding South Demon City was one of the three great Demon Marshals, Chimei.

Meanwhile, the army led by Leng Xiuming and Baili Zhangtu had advanced to Western Demon City, where Chi Huang was stationed.

The three allied armies invaded the Demon Realm with overwhelming force. The Communication Talismans they held began to chime one after another.

As armies of Cultivators, they adjusted with extreme speed. The three battlefronts erupted at almost the exact same moment as the first wave of probing attacks was launched simultaneously.

On Leng Xiuming and Baili Zhangtu’s front, the disciples of Mo Palace formed the vanguard. As Body Cultivators, they leveraged their natural advantages, combining their Blood Qi Fortune to empower their Yang Gods and form a Divine Technique. A crimson light of qi and blood broke through the Demonic Qi for thousands of miles, crashing against the City Array like a sun falling to earth.

BOOM!

A ghostly shield of Demonic Qi materialized in an instant, taking the world-ending solar blast head-on. It remained completely unshaken.

A million Demon Soldiers instantly formed ranks and emerged, counterattacking with a ghostly claw formed from overwhelming Demonic Qi.

At the same time, Chi Huang appeared atop the walls of Western Demon City, holding a Demon Pearl that pulsed with boundless Demonic Qi. It was clearly one of the supreme demonic artifacts.

Chi Huang channeled the power of the Demon Pearl and, gathering his strength, gave a wave. A ferocious Demonic Qi Tornado erupted from the pearl and shot straight toward the Human Race’s army.

Leng Xiuming threw a punch with his Yang God, shattering the Demon Claw the Demon Soldiers had launched.

Baili Zhangtu rotated his spiritual mind, forming a great wheel of nirvana that held the Demonic Qi Tornado at bay, preventing it from advancing a single step.

Seeing his counterattack fail, Chi Huang showed no sign of distress. Instead, he let out a great laugh and took out the City Mansion Seal. He poured Demonic Qi into it, and with a flash of ghostly light from all of Western Demon City, the energy coalesced into a colossal Magic Light Cannon that shot toward the human army.

Baili Zhangtu shouted, “Retreat!” He unleashed his spiritual sense, using his immense Divinity Transformation Power to move the entire army, instantly teleporting them a thousand li back.

At the same time, Leng Xiuming gave a solemn shout, “Defend!”

All the disciples of Mo Palace used the power of their physical bodies and Yang Gods, struggling with all their might to deflect the beam of demonic light away from the army.

After this round of probing attacks, the army had failed to gain any ground. However, they had managed to gauge the true strength of Western Demon City.

Besides the extremely troublesome City Array, the tens of millions of Demon Soldiers were also a huge problem.

The situation was largely the same for the other two demon-slaying armies. They too were locked in a stalemate after their initial probes. The only exception was the Demon Race army, who directly tanked the City Array’s cannon fire with numerous Divinity Transformation Divine Techniques before retreating a hundred li.

The counterattack power of the City Array, modified by the Demon Race, had already surpassed that of a sixth-rank Array. If the City Array could not be broken, slaying the demons would be nothing but empty talk.

However, none of the three armies panicked. Most of them were veterans of all-out race wars, and situations like attacking and defending fortified positions were well within their expectations. No matter how strong an Array was, it was still just an Array. There was always a way to break it.

Each army had its own experts highly skilled in the Array Dao. A single probe was enough for them to begin their deductions, and they were confident that sooner or later, they could break this seemingly indestructible City Array.

The Demon Race, for their part, also had ways to communicate. Before Chi Huang, two Ghost Mirrors formed from Demonic Qi showed the faces of Chimei and Chi Xiao, who were thousands of miles away.

Although they were stationed in South Demon City and North Demon City respectively, they all faced the same situation: the Human and Demon Races had mobilized their full strength. They understood the principle that a prolonged defense was doomed to fail. Their goal right now was not an all-out war, but to stall for time. It would be best if they could slow the advance of the Human-Demon alliance and weaken their forces.

Chi Huang said in a low voice, “No more stalling. Activate our hidden demon seeds. Throw them into chaos. Best-case scenario, they’ll be forced to turn back home and won’t have time to bother us.”

Chimei hesitated. “Do we really have to do this? That’s years of our painstaking work. It wasn’t easy to plant those demon seeds in their Dao Hearts. Once we activate them, all those years of effort will be wasted!”

Chi Xiao remained silent, but Chi Huang said grimly, “What’s there to regret? Once the Demon Lord refines the Realm Spirit Heart, the entire Floating Shadow Realm will be ours. Who cares about some demon seeds then!”

Chimei lowered her head in agreement. Chi Xiao also nodded his assent, and then vanished from the Ghost Mirror.

Then, Chimei spoke again, “Chi Huang, something is off about Chi Xiao. You should keep an eye on him!”

Chi Huang just gave a cold smile and said nothing more.

That very night, however, a Core Disciple of Mo Palace, Leng Tong, sought out his martial uncle, Qian Fangyu, a Nascent Soul Cultivator with whom he was on good terms.

Qian Fangyu specialized in the Array Dao and was one of the many Array Masters tasked with breaking the City Array.

Several thousand Array Masters were working under heavy guard to decipher Western Demon City’s Array.

No one suspected Leng Tong. He ranked extremely high among the Core Disciples of Mo Palace and was practically being groomed as the next palace master. When he said he was going to see his martial uncle, the disciples on guard duty naturally let him pass.

Upon seeing Qian Fangyu, Leng Tong asked directly, “Uncle, how is the progress?”

Qian Fangyu smiled faintly. “A third of the Floating Shadow Realm’s greatest Array Dao experts are here. In ten days at most, we will break the City Array.”

Shedding his usual solemn demeanor, Leng Tong laughed with delight. “That fast? That’s wonderful!”

He then continued, “Uncle, I actually have a supreme treasure of the Array Dao that can help you progress even faster. I’ll give it to you now.”

As he spoke, he made a motion as if to retrieve something from his Storage Ring.

Qian Fangyu was overjoyed, and the surrounding Array Masters also leaned in, curious to see what it was.