One year later.
After a full twelve months of relentless exploration,
Ye Qingxuan had finally encountered his first Cyan Demon tribe that was home to a Golden Core cultivator—deep within the Ninth Demon Domain.
This particular tribe was nestled in a vast valley hidden deep within the mountain range.
Through his observations, Ye Qingxuan determined that this Golden Core–level tribe ruled over more than a dozen other Cyan Demon tribes of varying sizes scattered throughout the surrounding area.
He’d noticed this while scouting the region—
the nearby tribes all seemed to have made some kind of prior arrangement, each dispatching their strongest warriors to bring vast quantities of resources to this valley as tribute.
Standing atop a peak, Ye Qingxuan watched the procession of tribute-bearing figures making their way into the valley below. A faint smile crept across his face.
Five more Purple Mansion–stage Cyan Demons and twelve Foundation Establishment–stage ones, all at once—
what an unexpected bonus.
The moment everyone had entered the valley, Ye Qingxuan activated the hundreds of array discs he’d painstakingly buried around its perimeter.
These discs were arranged to form two fifth-grade formations: one for concealment, and one for slaughter and suppression.
Though this incarnation of his was only at the Golden Core stage—and lacked the support of the Qingxuan Cave Heaven paradise to directly set up fifth-grade arrays using raw materials—the pre-prepared array discs changed everything.
All he had to do was activate them and guide their energies to interlock, and he could indirectly deploy a full fifth-grade formation.
As Ye Qingxuan channeled power into the arrays, every Cyan Demon in the valley was instantly alarmed. They gazed up at the massive formation shrouding the sky above them with growing unease.
Sensing the terrifying power contained within the great array, the Golden Core–stage Cyan Demon at the heart of the tribe let out a frantic shout:
“Quick—raise the defensive formation! Prepare for battle!”
At his command, the other Cyan Demons snapped out of their panic and scrambled to activate the tribe’s guardian barrier.
A crimson shield began to rise, enveloping the entire valley settlement within its glow.
By then, Ye Qingxuan’s fifth-grade slaughter formation had already begun its work.
Blades of light, spear shadows, sword gleams, and countless energy projectiles came raining down from the formation he’d set up—
a relentless torrent of destruction, surging wave after wave toward the valley below.
Boom! Crash! Kaboom!
The attacks slammed violently against the blood-red barrier, filling the air with the sounds of collision and energy detonation.
Under the unyielding assault of the fifth-grade slaughter formation, the crimson shield began to waver.
It looked as though it was about to shatter at any moment—
yet somehow, it held on. Stubbornly refusing to collapse.
Ye Qingxuan raised an eyebrow in surprise.
“A fourth-grade guardian formation, connected directly to the earth veins?”
The defensive array protecting this Cyan Demon tribe was only fourth-grade.
But because it was linked to the underground ley lines, it could draw upon the power of the earth itself—which was precisely why it had managed to withstand his fifth-grade slaughter formation for so long.
Still, even with that advantage, a fourth-grade formation was ultimately just a fourth-grade formation.
Sooner or later, the crimson barrier would be completely crushed by the fifth-grade assault. It was only a matter of time.
But waiting too long risked unforeseen complications.
Ye Qingxuan had no intention of dragging this out. A cold glint flashed in his eyes.
He turned his palm over, and the Town-World Pagoda appeared in his hand. With a soft murmur, he intoned:
“Suppress the realm!”
The two syllables echoed like divine law across the valley below.
In that same instant, the Dao resonance imbued with sealing power converged above the valley, coalescing into a phantom image of the pagoda itself—
Crack… Crack… Crack…!
As the ethereal pagoda took shape, the crimson barrier beneath it groaned under the immense pressure, issuing sounds of imminent collapse.
Cracks began to spiderweb across its surface.
Down in the valley, panic erupted among the Cyan Demons as they faced the specter of death.
The Golden Core–stage Cyan Demon wore an expression of sheer terror and screamed desperately:
“Hurry! Pour more energy into the barrier—reinforce the formation!”
But Ye Qingxuan wasn’t about to give them time to react.
With a light toss, the Town-World Pagoda flew from his hand, rapidly expanding as it soared upward and merged with its phantom counterpart in the sky, the two overlapping completely.
Now fused with the actual spirit-level pagoda, the illusory projection grew substantially more solid—and the suppressing force it exerted intensified dramatically.
Combined with the unrelenting barrage of the fifth-grade slaughter formation, it smashed through the fourth-grade guardian barrier in an instant.
The crimson shield above the Cyan Demon tribe shattered into countless crystalline shards of energy, scattering in all directions—
but before they could fly far, both the fifth-grade slaughter formation and the pagoda’s sealing power annihilated every last fragment.
The moment the barrier broke, destruction loomed over the valley.
The Golden Core–stage Cyan Demon was the first to react. In a flash of terror, he dropped to his knees and begged for mercy:
“No—please, my lord, spare us! I’m willing to—”
But before he could finish, he—along with every other Cyan Demon in the valley—was utterly obliterated under the twin forces of the fifth-grade slaughter formation and the Town-World Pagoda’s suppression.
To the very end, not a single one of them knew who had killed them.
Not some high-ranking Cyan Demon lord.
Just a single incarnation of a cultivator from the Earth Profound Realm.
After the last Cyan Demon fell, Ye Qingxuan moved at lightning speed to clean up the battlefield.
He destroyed the fourth-grade demon vein in the valley, packed up the bulk of the demon crystals and the vein’s core essence, and swiftly vacated the area.
Not long after he left, a Nascent Soul–stage Cyan Demon arrived in haste.
Standing amidst the devastation, his face was ashen.
This valley tribe was under his jurisdiction—his to protect.
The moment he’d received their distress signal, he hadn’t delayed a single second and rushed over immediately.
Yet despite his urgency, he’d still arrived too late. The tribe was gone.
After scanning the area, the Nascent Soul–stage Cyan Demon frowned deeply.
“Who did this? Could it be that old bastard Yin Kui?”
The spiritual energy Ye Qingxuan had left behind had already been neutralized by the demonic qi permeating the Demon Domain—there was nothing left to trace.
Then, as if struck by a sudden thought, his expression shifted to one of alarm.
“No—could it have been those humans from beyond the realm?”
His face paled. Without another moment’s hesitation, he transformed into a streak of black light and fled the scene as if his life depended on it.
In recent years, the deeds of the human Divine Transformation squads operating within the Demon Domain had spread far and wide.
If it really was one of those squads, he knew he couldn’t afford to mess with them—
he might very well end up as their next trophy.
After returning to his own tribe, the Nascent Soul–stage Cyan Demon immediately reported the incident up the chain of command.
Before long, he received a reply from the Cyan Demon high command: the investigation had concluded that the valley tribe’s destruction was not the work of a human Divine Transformation squad—
it was carried out by someone below that level.
He was ordered to begin patrolling a hundred-thousand-mile radius starting immediately, and to report any human cultivator sightings without delay.
Reading the message, the Nascent Soul–stage Cyan Demon curled his lip—and did nothing of the sort.
Are you kidding me?
Leave my tribe to scout a hundred thousand miles of territory?
What if I actually run into a human Divine Transformation squad out there?
I’d be dead before I could blink.
Cyan Demons were living beings too. They knew fear. They valued their lives.
So he had no intention of leaving his tribe’s protection.
After all, major tribes with Nascent Soul–stage cultivators were key assets the high command prioritized—if attacked, reinforcements would arrive swiftly.
But out in the wild, alone, against a Divine Transformation squad? He’d be as good as gone.
Still, he couldn’t completely ignore orders from above.
After mulling it over, he issued his own command:
Every Golden Core–stage Cyan Demon within his own tribe and all its subordinate tribes was to lead teams in a thorough grid search of the surrounding regions.
His official reasoning: a Golden Core–level enemy had invaded, and the target’s location needed to be found.
No one questioned his orders.
Across all the tribes under his control, Golden Core–stage Cyan Demons formed small squads and began dispersing to scout the areas around their territories.
