In Year 3 of the Ancient Dynasty, while patrolling the outskirts of the Demon Extermination Forest and keeping watch for an attack from the Ancient Dynasty of the Demon Country, you discovered a squad of bizarre soldiers.
They were roughly the same height and build as ordinary men, but purple-red patterns covered their skin. Their eyes were unlike those of normal people—there was no emotion within them, only the ferocity of dark iron.
You had never seen soldiers like these before and had yet to realize the problem. When you asked where they had come from, they answered with silent, direct attacks. Their refined iron spears surged forth like dragons crossing a river, blood energy billowing as they stabbed.
You drew your blade to meet them. Deep-blue Force Qi roared like a vast sea, instantly knocking aside the three spears thrust at you together. You then retreated in successive leaps until you were dozens of paces away, your expression filled with shock and suspicion.
Each of these soldiers possessed strength comparable to that of a gifted Second-rate Martial Artist, and they even used Internal Force. Yet despite such martial prowess, their movements were stiff and rigid, scarcely better than those of ordinary people. They lacked the agility a typical Second-rate Martial Artist should have possessed.
Still, bolstered by their formidable stats, these strange soldiers could deal with ordinary Second-rate Martial Artists. Against Third-rate Martial Artists or common folk, they were outright crushing.
You were, after all, an expert among First-rate Martial Artists. There were seven soldiers in the squad. Once you saw that communication was impossible, you gradually dismantled them, killing six and breaking the bones and tendons of the last one before dragging him back to Fenglan Village.
Within the Demon Extermination Forest, the remnants of the Three Kingdoms Zone had formed the Demon Slaying Alliance. To prevent themselves from being swept away in one net, the alliance had further divided into numerous residential villages. No village held more than three thousand people; most had barely over a thousand, and each had at least one Grandmaster stationed there.
Some might have thought that ratio absurd. A city of more than a hundred thousand people might not even have a single Martial Master. If there were too many villages, would there be enough Grandmasters to go around?
Of course there were. Unless ordinary people had originally lived near the south, how could they possibly have had the strength to escape here? Besides, great numbers of commoners had died to the forest environment, and things had only recently stabilized. At present, the Demon Slaying Alliance had fewer than twenty subordinate villages in total, scattered throughout forestland spanning from dozens to hundreds of li deep.
It was said that three Grandmasters had led several thousand people more than a thousand li into this primeval forest, all to preserve the last spark of humanity from the Three Kingdoms.
Fenglan Village's resident Grandmaster came from the Fenglan Sect. His name was Xu Yinkong. When you brought the strange soldier to him, the many martial artists present surrounded it at once. Based on recent rumors from the outside world, their faces darkened as they reached a conclusion.
The Alien Demon's conversion ability had spread after being downgraded. It had now begun mass-producing these Demonized Soldiers through modification. No wonder no new compatriots had fled into the Demon Extermination Forest over the past two or three months—the Demon Country had already spread a vast net of low-level Demonized Soldiers.
Over the next half year, Demonized Soldiers began appearing more and more frequently. Demonized Generals comparable to Martial Masters also emerged, and the villages on the outskirts of the Demon Extermination Forest chose to move deeper inside.
In Year 4 of the Ancient Dynasty, you were fifty-four years old. Your Foundation had reached a staggering 168%, attaining the limit of First-Rate. Your next step was to form a Vital Energy Circulation and become a Martial Master.
Fortunately, the Flowing River Technique was perfectly suited for this step. After all, nearly all the bonuses granted at its various stages of depth were related to Force Qi. You estimated that you would break through to Martial Master within ten years.
You sighed. As expected of yourself—the older you became, the faster you progressed. You were getting more and more powerful in the later stages.
In Year 5 of the Ancient Dynasty, a group of scattered compatriots fled into the Demon Extermination Forest. Several villages took them in. According to their accounts, the former Three Kingdoms Zone had become nothing less than a living hell.
Blood Lakes, Bone Forests, and mountains of flesh had even been erected throughout the lands as grotesque wonders. The Alien Demon called itself the Holy King, its brutality beyond the imagination of living creatures.
Within that dark dynasty, a naked pyramid of status had taken shape. At its peak stood the Holy King—the Alien Demon itself.
Below it were three classes: Human Demons, who called themselves Holy Sons; Blood Demons, who called themselves Holy Envoys; and Demonized Warriors.
At the upper level were the Human Demons. Calling themselves Holy Sons, they were mostly converted from Grandmasters who had submitted, and perhaps even Great Grandmasters. These Human Demons were personally transformed by the Alien Demon and infused with ancient blood for remaking. They were like nobles—when others saw them, they had to fall to their knees in full prostration.
There were only several dozen Human Demons in total.
At the middle level were the Blood Demons. Calling themselves Holy Envoys, they were managerial personnel, mostly converted from former merchants, princes, nobles, and aristocrats. Compared to Human Demons, their transformation was far cruder; they had merely drunk a small amount of the ancient blood bestowed by the Alien Demon.
There were quite a few Blood Demons, estimated to number close to a thousand. They managed the Human Slaves in every city, as well as the Breeding Farms throughout the land.
At the lower level were the Demonized Warriors, mass-converted through some sort of ritual. Depending on the number of conversions and the ritual's promotion grade, they could roughly be divided into soldiers, captains, and generals. These three ranks were determined purely by strength, and the generals already surpassed many Blood Demons in power.
Demonized Warriors possessed no intelligence and had lost their personalities and emotions. Even those who reached the general rank were the same, following only orders to kill like machines. Armies formed from Demonized Warriors were generally mobilized and controlled by Blood Demons.
Below them were the human slave laborers within the cities, along with the blood food in the Breeding Farms.
You went numb. From the descriptions of those who had escaped, Demonized Warriors with Martial Master Combat Power could only be considered captains?
Yun Shou: "...Fight my ass!"
"This is completely hopeless. That Alien Demon's cross-dimensional strike has been far too devastating. It has more than ten thousand combatants at the Martial Master level alone—did the Martial Masters of Qing, Wu, and Ning combined even number a thousand in the first place?"
"And even more terrifying is that Alien Demon's ability to churn out troops and corrupt others. No matter how wildly an Alien Demon slaughtered, as long as people scattered and hid, it could never kill them all... but it has formed a demonized army."
A thought surfaced in Yun Shou's mind: the Demon Slaying Alliance hiding in the forest was finished.
If it was not finished yet, that only meant the Alien Demon was playing with them: Struggle for your lives to your heart's content, and entertain me!
"Good thing I'm here. Those futures that have yet to happen will gradually be ground beneath my feet into flying ash from this moment onward."
His gaze firmed. Perhaps in the next simulation, he would have to make contact with Zhu Baowen again.
Zhu Baowen was simply too strong. Before this, he had wanted to avoid contacting him as much as possible before becoming a Grandmaster, afraid that Zhu Baowen would discover the problem and end the simulation early.
He wanted to know just how high and vast the sky of martial arts was, and whether it had an end...
In Year 6 of the Ancient Dynasty, more and more Demonized Warriors entered the Demon Extermination Forest to search for villages. Captain-level Demonized Warriors appeared from time to time, possessing strength comparable to Martial Masters. Fortunately, they did not know Lightness Skill, so they could not chase as fast as you could run.
The name Demon Extermination Forest had already become a joke. Compared to the Alien Demon, it was humanity that was constantly being purged and driven away, fleeing ever deeper into the forest.
In Year 7 of the Ancient Dynasty, two villages were defeated by Demonized Warriors. Their First-rate Martial Artists and Martial Masters scattered and fled into other villages.
Only a few months later, Fenglan Village was discovered as well. A Blood Demon took the lead, and his strength firmly surpassed your side's Grandmaster, Xu Yinkong. He had also brought more than twenty Demonized Captains comparable to Martial Masters, over a hundred elite Demonized Soldiers comparable to First-rate Martial Artists, and seven to eight hundred ordinary Demonized Soldiers—each equivalent to a Second-rate Martial Artist!
Fenglan Village was surrounded on all sides. There was no possibility of turning the tables and killing their way out. Grandmaster Xu Yinkong transmitted his voice through Force Qi, ordering everyone to do their utmost to break through the encirclement.
Though you had lived here for many years, you knew that with your current strength, you could not possibly take others and escape. What mattered most now was preserving yourself, so that your main body could inherit a greater Foundation Amplification.
All regrets and suffering would be severed at their source!
Before you continue