Chapter 90
Zhou Xuanzhi had no idea what Chonghua was up to, that he had been released. Back in the sunless cell, enduring excruciating pain all over his body, he realized he had overestimated himself, having initially thought he would be safe.
The jailer, seeing the disheveled, ragged cultivator, suddenly felt a surge of joy for some reason. Perhaps it was because the Lord had ordered the vanguard to set out; he truly envied his fellow human beings who had gone to the mortal realm—it had been so long since he had tasted the life of a mortal.
He tossed a small bottle of medicine to Zhou Xuanzhi. Seeing Zhou Xuanzhi's puzzled look, the jailer said, "It was the Lord's instruction that you should not die."
Zhou Xuanzhi looked at the small bottle of medicine on the ground, thought for a moment, then picked it up. He opened it and smelled the aroma; it was indeed medicine used by cultivators. But why did Chonghua do this? He put him down and gave him medicine for his injuries.
Generally, if someone treats their enemy this way, it means there's still something exploitable about them. He didn't know what Chonghua wanted to do with him, but it seemed he didn't want to die yet.
"Your Lord is truly unfathomable when it comes to a cultivator like me." Zhou Xuanzhi's only desire now was to survive and find a way to send a message to bring Shi Yunzhou home. He didn't care what Chonghua was up to, nor did he care where the medicine for the wound came from.
Seeing Zhou Xuanzhi applying medicine to his body, the jailer suddenly became interested. "Don't you cultivators dislike using our things? Are you afraid of dying?"
Zhou Xuanzhi ignored the jailer's taunts and retorted, "Aren't you afraid of dying? I still have things to do, so of course I can't die."
"Oh, you still think you can get out? Our vanguard has already been deployed. It seems the mortal realm is in chaos now. Hey, let me ask you, if you could get out now, what would you do? Go and perish together with our magical beasts like the other cultivators?"
It's today? It's infuriating that we can't get any information out of this cell. He looked at the jailer and said, "I'll stay here and wait for the right moment to kill you all."
The jailer wasn't angry at all; instead, he burst into laughter, and Zhou Xuanzhi laughed along with him. Once the jailer had finished laughing, he said, "Then I'll wait for you to come and kill me, provided you get out of here first."
After the jailer left, Zhou Xuanzhi finally showed his anxiety. The incense had been taken by the demons, and now that he knew the news, there was no way to send it back. He was somewhat annoyed at himself for being so impatient and doing something inappropriate at the wrong time.
As the jailer had said, the mortal realm was indeed descending into chaos. Demon soldiers were everywhere, accompanied by demonic beasts. These beasts, some three zhang tall, were incredibly tough and difficult to fight. A single swipe of their paws could kill several people. The demons were using them as vanguards, which was a disaster for mortals.
The army's resistance was futile in the eyes of the demonic beasts; they needed no other action, simply charging forward, scattering the mortal army. The mortals' valiant resistance was like a tickle to them. After the demonic beasts passed, they encountered the demon race, who pounced on and bit any mortals they saw. The army could not stop the demons' advance for even a moment.
The people behind them were almost driven to despair by the sight. Faced with an opponent far superior to themselves, they could do nothing but become food.
The young mother ran home, picked up her daughter who was not yet two years old, and ran with the crowd. No one knew where they were going; all they could think about was getting away from this place and at least ensuring the survival of their loved ones and children.
At first, people pushed carts loaded with all their belongings, and some even brought out their livestock. But this made them too slow. They were caught up by the demons and eaten alive.
The beast demons didn't even glance at them, continuing to chase the crowd. Soldiers kept stepping forward to block the demons, buying the crowd a little time—just a little time—enough for the crowd to run a few steps.
The young mother was too exhausted to run any further; the child's weight felt like an insurmountable burden. Seeing the approaching demons, she stopped, looked at her child, and hugged him tightly, filled with reluctance. Finally, she made her decision and hid the child in a nearby dry well.
After doing all this, she deliberately confronted the demons, hoping to use her frail body to shield them from their view. When she was tackled to the ground, she didn't struggle, letting the demons bite off chunks of flesh from her body. This way, they wouldn't abandon her because of her struggles and go looking for someone else.
But she knew nothing about the demons. She thought that if the demons couldn't see her hiding her child, her daughter would escape unscathed. They couldn't see her, but they could hear her—a sleeping child, and even her heartbeat. They distinguished the child's heartbeat amidst the cries and curses.
The young mother screamed in anguish as she watched the demons pull her child from the dry well. She struggled desperately to shield her child, but she couldn't. She had been devoured, leaving only bones. In her final moments, she saw the demons opening their mouths...
Filled with resentment and unwillingness, she finally closed her eyes.
When Lin Jichen arrived, this was the scene he witnessed: the zither floated in the air, and with a few plucks of the strings, the demons were firmly bound. An Zhi flew over and caught the child who was about to fall. Lin Jichen then plucked the strings again, and this time the demons were decapitated.
Seeing the young woman lying on the ground, her body covered only by her face, Anzhi felt a pang of pity. This child was so young and had already encountered such a thing; what would become of her in the future? Anzhi didn't know how to take care of this child.
She held the child and looked at Lin Jichen, "Senior Sister?" What should we do with this child? We can't keep carrying him around all the time. Now that the demons have invaded, it's very inconvenient to move around with a child.
"Take the child to the resettlement point, leave this to me." Lin Jichen said as he helped the fallen person up. The demon following closely behind him saw Lin Jichen, a cultivator, and looked at him with disgust. He drew his sword from behind and slashed at Lin Jichen.
At Lin Jichen's signal, the mortal continued running forward, not daring to look back at all.
Without children and mortals, Lin Jichen was no longer restrained, and all his moves were deadly. In the blink of an eye, he had dealt with the three or four demons.
Anzhi, carrying one child, picked up another, a twelve or thirteen-year-old, from the ground. She then used her sword to transport the children to the resettlement point. This resettlement point was actually the location of the celestial ship on Tianyu Mountain, guarded by a group of sword cultivators who kept the demons at bay.
After handing the two children over to the people on the ship, she turned back to the battlefield. The battlefield was filled with cultivators fighting against demons, and the mortals, whom the cultivators couldn't care less about, were hiding everywhere. So Anzhi brought these people one by one onto the immortal ship.
All sorts of people are on the battlefield, and Anzhi could no longer see Lin Jichen.
The situation was the same in other cities. Xiao Mu brandished his sword on the battlefield, blocking several demons. He turned to the family and said, "There are cultivators waiting outside, run!"
The family didn't even have time to express their gratitude before they saw Xiao Mu rush forward again to fight the demons. So the family ran towards the outskirts of the city.
After Xiao Mu dealt with all the demons, he saw a demonic beast.
He knew he couldn't defeat it, so he turned and fled. He figured his master and the others could easily handle it, and he would lure the beast towards them. He deliberately stabbed the monster a few times to draw its attention to himself, then ran while dodging its attacks.
Just as the monster was about to give up on its target, he threw out a few more talismans. The talismans only managed to create a few shallow cuts on the monster's body before it fled again. Enraged by this provocation, the monster chased after Xiao Mu like a madman.
So the fleeing civilians and the cultivators fighting the demons saw a sword cultivator from Tianyu Mountain provoking this huge demonic beast, and the beast was only chasing after him.
Using his agile movements, he dodged the attacks of the demonic beast time and time again. The demons, seeing the beast being toyed with like this, were furious. One demon cursed the beast, calling it a fool and telling it to stop attacking the civilians instead of chasing after a cultivator.
Xiao Mu, seeing the talkative demon, changed his route. He lured the demon beast to the demon's side, quickly passing by it several times, causing the demon beast to almost step on the talkative demon each time.
The demon was even angrier. He cursed the beast, "Are you fucking stupid? Why are you chasing cultivators? Open your dog eyes and kill these mortals!"
The beast was already furious with Xiao Mu, and now that a demon was cursing in its ear, it became even angrier. So it stomped the incessantly chattering demon to death.
Those around Xiao Mu gave him a thumbs up after seeing his actions, and some even said, "Hey bro, I have another demon here, can you do me a favor?"
This was of course no problem, but the demons wouldn't have it. They cursed Xiao Mu, but still couldn't stop their brethren from being trampled to death by the demonic beasts. Seeing that this method was very effective, Xiao Mu used his agile movements to indirectly kill several demons, slowly leading the demonic beasts to his master.
Then the monster was killed by the master with a single sword stroke, his face dark with anger.
More and more cities are falling to the demons, with the capital city being the best off. The capital had long been protected by a protective array, enveloping the entire city in its rich spiritual energy – a poison to the demons.
Even so, the Exorcists dared not relax their vigilance in the slightest. Every street was filled with Exorcists' disciples, as the Exorcists were few in number, and several Imperial Guards were also mixed in. The closer they got to the imperial city, the more cultivators there were, and several elders were stationed within the city walls.
They had heard about the scenes outside; the land was being destroyed and occupied by demons everywhere. Officials in the court saw reports every day of destroyed fields and massacred people. They wanted to send troops to suppress the demons, but the army was a delicious meal for them. The resentment generated by the demons' deaths would benefit the demons.
Panic gripped the capital. People were unsure if the formation could stop the demons' attack, or if they would storm the city at any moment. The Exorcist Bureau patrolled the streets daily, and various sects of the immortal realm sent people to rescue those in need. But even with their combined efforts, many still perished each day.
Su Liyue stood guard outside the imperial city, watching the officials who went to court every day with long faces. They must have tried everything to stop this disaster, but mortals are powerless, practically helpless. Several officials even had their hair turn completely white in the past few days.
Mortals were utterly powerless against demons. She suddenly recalled her master's words about the demon invasion, which affected the "Three Continents" and surrounding cities. The cultivators' defenses were divided into three lines. The first line was the several immortal sects at sea, where they were stationed. The second line was the "Three Continents." If the first line was breached, this line could still stop the demons' advance and catch any that escaped. The third line was the surrounding cities, the last line of defense. If this line was breached, it would mean that all the cultivators had been wiped out, and there would be no more cultivators left in the mortal realm.
Today is completely different. The "Three Continents" are virtually free of demons, while in the inland areas, except for the capital, demons are everywhere. If the cultivators cannot hold on, then the human world will truly become hell.
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