Volume 5, Chapter 77 – Convergence

The scene shifted to the more distant northwestern desert. Looking down over the yellow sands, one could see a mass of “azure cloud” writhing across the ground.

On closer inspection, it was in fact an incomparably lush, incomparably enormous blue-green treetop. The main trunk beneath the canopy was seventy to eighty meters wide, and its vast root system moved through the sand like giant pythons, constantly burrowing deep below the dunes and drawing up groundwater to nourish itself.

Beneath the canopy were tens of thousands of demon beasts and demonfolk in all manner of forms. Most of them were naked, though some wore crude armor and carried broken swords and blades in their hands, trudging forward in a dazed haze.

If Bai Changze had seen this sight, he would have recognized it at a glance. This was the chronic blight that had plagued the Tianji Circuit for years: the Qingyun Army.

And he would have been greatly shocked as well, because despite the Tianji Circuit having fought the Qingyun Army for many years, at most they had only glimpsed that enormous “azure cloud” from afar. They had never charged close enough to see it at this distance.

In other words, they had never glimpsed the mystery hidden beneath that canopy. They had never known that the so-called Qingyun Demon Saint was actually an enormous tree demon.

Whoosh.

As the Qingyun Army kept marching beneath the shelter of the canopy, a sudden commotion rose from the sandstorm ahead, loud and chaotic.

The sand and smoky clouds gradually parted, and a gigantic demon bird flew out from within.

Then came a second and a third. Very quickly, the sky was almost completely occupied by the flock, a black mass that blotted out the heavens.

“So this is the place…”

The immense tree demon came to a halt. A vertical slit slowly opened in its trunk, and from within it squeezed out a grotesque, nauseating blood-red giant eye, which fixed itself on the black clouds with a sigh.

“That voidfiend army that gathered for no apparent reason was actually here to await their god…”

“Great demon god.” It lowered itself slightly, enough to make even the vast canopy droop. “I am willing to become your servant and trade my loyalty for your protection.”

[Hmph…]

The moment those words fell, a cold laugh suddenly rang out from the black clouds.

Whoosh.

Whoosh.

Suddenly, wild winds roared up.

The sky darkened at once. The smoke and clouds all around began to gather upward of their own accord, condensing directly in the Qingyun Army’s path into a gigantic shadow of black smoke that seemed nearly two thousand meters tall.

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That shadow had a pair of enormous wings and nine avian heads extending from it, each with a different appearance. Eighteen giant eyes, nine pairs in all, gazed down from above, frightening every demon creature present, including the Qingyun Demon Saint itself, into trembling all over, none of them daring to look directly ahead.

[Descendants of the Qingmu clan, reduced to this state.]

[You’ll do.]

[A thousand years of cultivation is a bit lacking, but for the sake of your lineage, you do not disgrace my majesty too badly.]

Accompanied by that mockery, a slender figure emerged from the black smoke. It was Li Nanyun, who had come out of the ruins.

Li Nanyun held Rong Wen, the chieftain of the Liren clan, in her left hand. With her right, she tugged at the black smoke, and the gigantic nine-headed bird shadow immediately turned into a black robe that wrapped itself around her. Wearing it, she took a step forward and, as if traversing the void, landed atop the giant tree in an instant.

“You all come down as well.” Li Nanyun looked toward the demon birds circling behind her. “Roost here and await my orders.”

Thus, the mass of demon birds descended, pressing down on the Qingyun Demon Saint’s branches and trunk and treating it as a place to roost.

The Qingyun Demon Saint was naturally miserable under the burden, but it did not dare defy a deity. It could only endure the birds’ harassment.

“Your Majesty…” It even had to continue flattering Li Nanyun. “We know that you delight in human flesh and human blood, so we specially brought you living sacrifices…”

“Was this what you arranged with my followers?” Li Nanyun swept her gaze downward, and sure enough, she saw that within the voidfiend army there was also a group of detained humans, men and women, old and young alike. It was obvious at a glance that they had been abducted from villages and towns along the way.

“You have besieged the Tianji Circuit for years in order to suppress Eastern Xia and stop them from interfering with the destruction of my temple.”

“Not bad.”

“I accept the thought.”

Still holding Rong Wen in her left hand, Li Nanyun suddenly lifted her right and gave that group of humans a distant wave.

At her side, Rong Wen widened his eyes. He saw her hand turn blurry halfway through the motion, as though it had suddenly spread and grown larger, transforming into an enormous feathered wing.

But the next moment, that wing seemed to vanish into the void and merge with the air, leaving no visible shape behind.

Reality, however, did not lie.

The human captives below suddenly felt a black wind wrap around them. Before they could react, their eyes bulged one after another, their flesh collapsed, and countless people melted into bloody slurry, swept up by the gale into a gigantic bubble of blood.

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“Come.”

Li Nanyun crooked a finger at the blood bubble, and the mass of stinking blood immediately shot up into a tapering stream and whistled into her open mouth. Within a few breaths, she had devoured it all.

Gulp.

At that sight, Rong Wen felt terror in his heart. Gooseflesh rose all over his body.

That… that was at least three thousand people!

Such power. She truly was a god, the totem our tribe has followed since ancient times!

“The flavor is a little muddled… mixed with demon blood?”

After finishing the humans, Li Nanyun showed displeasure on her face.

With its limited vocabulary, the Qingyun Demon Saint found that hard to explain on the spot, so it lashed Rong Wen with one of its branches, reminding him to fulfill the agreement they had made beforehand.

“Yes…!” Rong Wen forced out. “Because all the humans of Eastern Xia have hidden themselves inside the fortresses, there were only some half-demonized people along the way…”

“Half-demonized?” Li Nanyun lowered her gaze toward him, her pitch-black eyes devoid of even a trace of light.

“My lord, please do not be impatient!” Rong Wen cried more quickly. “We have a plan… It is highly abnormal for the Qingyun Army to pull away like this. That Watchman of the Tianji Circuit, Bai Tingyun, will certainly grow suspicious!”

“He will definitely send scouts to follow us. I have already had Senior Qingyun dispatch demon kings to intercept them. Once we capture those human cultivators… we can let… let my lord have the first taste…!”

“And then?”

Li Nanyun tightened her grip on his neck and lifted him before her for closer inspection.

“Is the next part of your plan for me to help you break through that so-called Tianji defensive line? So you can open a gap in this direction for all the demons here, letting them flood into Eastern Xia and feast to their hearts’ content, revel to their hearts’ content…?”

“That…” Rong Wen’s expression changed instantly.

She actually saw through it?

No… it was not surprising that she saw through it, but even if she could extract memories from the sacrifices, the information she obtained should not have been enough. How had she perceived it so quickly?

“Suppress Tianji, block Eastern Xia, prepare living sacrifices, awaken me.”

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Li Nanyun spoke to him one word at a time.

“Every step is linked to the next. I do not believe fools like you came up with this.”

“Someone is manipulating you from behind the scenes.”

“Who is it.”

“…Answer?”

Th-this…

Rong Wen shook like a sieve. He wanted to answer, but under that pressure he began to stammer, unable to produce even half a sound.

Just as Li Nanyun’s patience was about to run out, a refined male voice with deep, magnetic resonance suddenly came from the side.

“It was me.”

Li Nanyun turned her head and saw, on the right side, a vortex spreading across the section of trunk that belonged to the Qingyun Demon Saint. The flesh and bark there were rapidly thrust outward, forming in midair a tall, elegant human man with handsome features.

“Who are you?”

Li Nanyun narrowed her eyes.

She could feel the dense demonic aura radiating from him.

He was not human.

But he did not quite seem to be a demon either.

The strength of his soul should even be above that of the Qingyun Demon Saint. Though there was still a distance between him and her full strength, this level was already quite impressive.

“Who I am is not important.”

“If you insist on a name, just call me the Demon Lord.”

The Demon Lord smiled and inclined his body slightly, displaying abundant respect toward Li Nanyun.

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“As for my plan, if I explained it in detail, you probably would not care to hear it. So why don’t we discuss something more practical instead.”

“More practical?” Li Nanyun tilted her head. “Such as?”

“For instance… as the main world’s devouring of the fragments intensifies, the races, tribes, gods, totems, and all the surviving immortals, Buddhas, demons, and devils from the myths may awaken and return one after another.”

The Demon Lord’s smile did not waver.

“It was not easy to seize the lead at the beginning of this chaotic age and return ahead of the rest.”

“Surely you would not want to miss such a rare opportunity?”

“Or are you planning to continue lying low and obediently wait for those great powers to awaken, so you can go on surviving in the cracks…?”

“Enough!”

Disgust appeared on Li Nanyun’s face, and killing intent entered the way she looked at him.

“How do you know these things…?”

“The void.” The Demon Lord tapped his temple.

“The void is a mirror.”

“Everything that happens in the main world is imprinted there.”

“And I…”

He straightened his shoulders.

“Have merely received a tiny fraction of that knowledge from it.”

“You would do best not to attack me,” he continued. “Quite apart from the fact that this is only an avatar, hunting me down would only waste your strength.”

“And if you turn against me, you will lose the most reliable source of support available in the early stages.”

“The speed at which you build up your followers will slow.”