Most of the demon army was trapped within the grand formation, leaving the remaining forces outside vastly outnumbered by the allied forces. Though they immediately organized a counterattack without showing any sign of weakness, after just half a day of skirmishing, the massive demonic arrays formed by the demons were shattered by relentless assaults of magical artifacts and spells. The remnants of the demon forces finally began to retreat, unable to hold their ground any longer.
The allied forces of various races naturally seized the opportunity to pursue them relentlessly, and the tide of the entire battlefield was abruptly reversed compared to just a few days prior.
…
Almost simultaneously with the initial collapse of the demon army, in an underground chamber far away, Yuan Cha, who was currently controlling her Dharma Form—a demonic wolf—to battle Ao Xiao the Venerable, suddenly saw a dazzling white light flare up at her waist.
A series of black runes shot out from it, hovering before her eyes and forming several lines of motionless text.
Yuan Cha glanced casually at these black runes, but her expression abruptly changed. With a furious cry, her figure blurred and transformed into a dark rainbow that shot upward, piercing through the chamber’s roof in an instant and vanishing without a trace.
Moments later, the dark rainbow emerged from the swampy terrain, soaring thousands of feet into the sky. After a brief pause, it streaked toward the territory of the Wood Clan.
But at that moment, a calm male voice drifted down from above:
“Fellow Daoist Yuan Cha, where are you rushing off to in such a hurry?”
As soon as the words fell, a thunderous boom echoed in the sky, and a silver arc over a hundred feet long slashed downward.
“Ao Xiao, you dare block my path?”
Though Yuan Cha was eager to leave, she had no choice but to halt her escape and reveal her true form in mid-air. With a flick of her hand, a pitch-black sword beam of equal length surged upward.
A deafening collision ensued, and both the silver arc and the black sword beam vanished in a burst of energy.
“Our battle isn’t over yet. Naturally, I must insist on keeping you here a while longer,” the voice replied.
A ripple appeared in the sky, and a cluster of lightning silently materialized, within which a faint figure could be seen—a strikingly handsome face with a faint smile. It was none other than Ao Xiao the Venerable himself.
“Hmph! So you planned this from the start, intending to keep all three of us trapped here. But don’t celebrate too soon—whether you succeed remains to be seen!” Yuan Cha’s face twisted with rage. With a sharp cry, she formed a hand seal, and her figure blurred, splitting into over a dozen identical phantoms that shot off in different directions.
“Thinking of leaving? Not so easy. *Restrain!*” Ao Xiao’s expression darkened as he barked the command, pointing a finger toward the sky.
The heavens trembled within a ten-mile radius. The ambient spiritual energy parted like waves, revealing a colossal white jade bowl descending from above, its mouth facing downward.
Inside the bowl, five-colored radiance shimmered, and countless fist-sized runes churned violently. A crushing force emanated from it, causing the very air to solidify.
The space below the bowl resonated with a deep hum, and the ground within a hundred-mile radius shook violently, sinking several feet in an instant.
Caught off guard by this overwhelming pressure, Yuan Cha’s phantoms flickered, their speed reduced tenfold.
Seizing the moment, Ao Xiao laughed heartily and patted the top of his head. His skull split open, and over a dozen faint white lights shot out, each streaking toward one of Yuan Cha’s phantoms.
Mid-flight, these white lights twisted and transformed into massive, snow-white two-headed wolves, which pounced on the phantoms without hesitation.
Enraged, the phantoms summoned demonic energy and conjured various demonic artifacts to defend themselves.
Thus, Ao Xiao and Yuan Cha resumed their battle—though this time, the intensity was far greater than before.
However, given their near-equal strength, determining a victor would not be a quick affair.
And it wasn’t just Yuan Cha—the other two Demon Saints, upon receiving news of their army’s defeat, were also tightly pinned down by Mo Jianli and the Yaksha Grand Ascendant, leaving them equally furious and unable to break free.
Meanwhile, the high-ranking demons and over a dozen Saint Avatars trapped within the Wood Realm Formation alongside the demon army took advantage of the formation’s temporary lull in attacks to disperse and act independently.
For them, if they didn’t seize this opportunity to dismantle the formation, the remaining demons would likely be decimated once the formation regained energy and resumed its assaults.
As their numbers dwindled, the formation’s targeting would become more precise, and its attacks would grow increasingly lethal.
Once the other demons were wiped out, even these high-ranking demons couldn’t guarantee they’d survive the formation’s full-powered onslaught.
Thus, despite knowing the difficulty, they had no choice but to venture deeper into the formation in search of a way to dismantle it.
…
A group of over a dozen Void Refinement-stage demons, led by a Sacred Ancestor with the head of an ox, flew cautiously over a vast forest, their eyes darting warily in all directions.
Their caution was warranted.
Though the Wood Realm Formation wasn’t actively attacking, its defensive mechanisms remained ever-present. Triggering one could easily spell doom, even for a Sacred Ancestor.
Moreover, the formation suppressed spiritual sense, limiting its range to barely a hundred feet—forcing the group to proceed with extreme caution.
After flying over a hundred miles without incident, they relaxed slightly, and even the ox-headed leader eased his vigilance.
Just as they were about to pass a small hill, a scout at the front suddenly sensed a ripple in the air. A cold light flashed before his eyes, and he barely had time to shout “Look out!” before the light coiled around his neck.
With a sickening *thud*, his head tumbled to the ground.
A gray mist burst from the headless corpse, carrying a pitch-black Nascent Soul that tried to flee—but the cold light struck again, shredding the Nascent Soul into nothingness.
The other demons hastily summoned their defensive artifacts.
But then, the surrounding space rippled, and hundreds of identical cold lights appeared—each a foot-long, pale-yellow wooden sword radiating a bone-chilling aura.
“Be careful! Each of these swords carries the full force of a Void Refinement-stage attack!” the ox-headed leader roared, pouring his energy into a parasol-shaped treasure.
The parasol glowed emerald, encasing him in a protective haze.
The wooden swords hummed as they shot forth from all directions. The other demons, panicked, frantically activated their own defenses.
Blades of energy crisscrossed the air, mingled with agonized screams.
Within moments, the swords vanished as abruptly as they had appeared. Only the ox-headed leader remained, standing alone amidst a bloody rain that drenched the forest below.
Pale-faced, he coughed up several mouthfuls of blood. His parasol artifact, now dim and cracked, barely clung to functionality.
With a bitter smile, he swallowed a pill and stowed the damaged parasol away. After a moment of hesitation, he changed direction and continued deeper into the formation.
…
Near a mountain range, three Sacred Ancestors braved a storm of wind blades, jointly wielding several spirit treasure-grade demon artifacts as they raced toward the heart of the mountains.
Suddenly, the spiritual energy above them trembled, and several golden formations, each spanning an acre, materialized in the sky. Thunder boomed, and golden pillars of light blasted downward.
The three demons shouted in alarm, combining their artifacts into a massive black Taiji symbol to block the attack.
But the golden pillars shattered the symbol effortlessly, engulfing the demons in blinding radiance.
When the light faded, not a trace of them remained.
Meanwhile, beneath a colossal tree at the mountain’s core, a hundred Wood Clan members operating an intricate formation relaxed their expressions.
Han Li, seated beneath the towering tree, suddenly heard a faint hum. The trunk shimmered with green light, and countless five-colored runes emerged.
“Finally, some demons have arrived—and their cultivation must be formidable for the tree to react like this,” Han Li murmured, slowly opening his eyes.
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