The ten-day deadline arrived in the blink of an eye.
This day was destined to be anything but peaceful. The void sank into a deep, ink-black gloom, heavy with a stifling pressure.
Everyone in the Central Army knew it: the Tier-One Demon Tide was finally here.
Compared with the Second-Level Demon Calamity that had ravaged the region before, this was a catastrophe.
Deep within the distant rift between realms, Demonic Energy no longer seeped out in slow breaths. Pitch-black waves surged forth, stretching ten thousand miles.
The rolling black fog was like the black waters of the nine heavens overturning. It crashed against the spatial barrier guarded by the Divine Court with the force to crush everything in its path.
The void was torn, folded, and shattered again and again. Fine shards of space sprayed across the sky, only to be corroded into nothingness by the dense Demonic Energy before they could fall.
Shrill demonic howls pierced layer upon layer of ruined Void Domain. No longer scattered roars, they had become a towering wave of sound from millions of monsters crying in unison. The light of the defensive arrays built into the ruined walls around the camps shook violently, their patterns brightening and dimming in waves.
The Central Army's defensive line.
The restriction barrier, fully repaired only days before, was riddled with spiderweb cracks after the first impact of the Demon Tide.
Pitch-black Demonic Energy seeped furiously through the cracks. The moment it touched the ground, it turned into vicious Baleful Intent and rampaged through the heart of the camp.
The border cultivators formed ranks and held their ground. Layers of spiritual light rose around them, but the Battle Formation that had never failed them before was now a guttering candle in the wind.
At the slightest touch of demonic