The Rout

Mount Sumeru towered a million zhang high, standing out among the surrounding mountains.

Demons from all over were constantly gathering around it.

Soon, they formed a sea of living beings beneath the mountain.

The Magic Cloud Branch where Li Xuan was stationed

was on a small hill at the very edge of that sea.

And Li Xuan himself was among several thousand people,

hiding without the slightest presence in the canopy of a great tree.

He wasn't familiar with anyone.

And no one was familiar with him.

So no one had teamed up with him.

As for the four Mystic Immortals from the Black Marsh Altar?

They'd seen that Li Xuan hadn't come over to cozy up to them.

Of course, they weren't about to approach him and strike up a conversation.

Li Xuan was perfectly happy with that. He narrowed his eyes slightly and looked toward Mount Sumeru.

Black clouds shrouded the mountain, and killing intent filled the air.

Luohu had already completed half of his Grand Dao.

With the Four Swords of Zhu Xian and the God-Slaying Spear in his possession, it wouldn't be wrong to call him the strongest in the Primordial Wilderness at present.

He sat cross-legged on a twelve-petal black lotus platform, surveying the land below from the mountaintop.

Behind him stood his four Primordial Golden Immortal subordinates: Wufawutian, Formless and Emotionless, and two others.

There were also twenty-eight Grand Unity Golden Immortal branch leaders and seven hundred and twenty Grand Unity Golden Immortal sub-branch leaders.

And beneath the mountain were tens of millions of followers of all kinds!

Luohu's eyes burned with fervor.

At that moment, his heart brimmed with ambition and battle spirit!

This Primordial Wilderness, transformed from Pangu!

Would belong to me in the end!

He slowly began his speech.

"Beings of the Demon Cult! I comprehended the Heavenly Dao at Mount Sumeru and learned that it is merciless and governs slaughter! Thus, I founded the Demon Cult..."

Listening to Luohu's flat, lifeless speech,

Li Xuan felt like yawning.

The followers, however, were listening with great enthusiasm, some even beside themselves with excitement.

Luohu kept droning on,

occasionally provoking waves of thunderous cheers...

A full half-hour passed.

Only then did Luohu's impassioned speech—

or rather, his pre-battle pep talk—finally come to an end.

Luohu roared, "Now! Our Demon Cult shall first annihilate the Mystic Gate, then unify the Primordial Wilderness!"

"Unify the Primordial Wilderness! Unify the Primordial Wilderness!"

Tens of millions of Demon Cult followers howled in response, roaring without end.

Hearing the beings around him scream themselves hoarse,

Li Xuan could only raise a hand and pretend to join in.

"A bunch of idiots... A bunch of idiots..."

"Set out!!"

Luohu roared again, then led the way east on a cloud of black mist.

His four subordinates followed, then the twenty-eight branch leaders and the seven hundred and twenty sub-branch leaders.

After them came the countless altar masters and followers, blotting out the sky!

Ever since the Dragon-Phoenix Calamity ended and the Heavenly Dao Primordial Violet Qi descended,

a full 126,000 years had passed—one complete era.

Now, the calamity between the Mystic Gate and the Demon Cult

had finally begun in earnest. It was known as the Mystic-Demon Great Tribulation!

Li Xuan thought to himself,

then calmly followed the countless Demon Cult followers as they flew straight east.

Hongjun must have received the news by now and made his preparations...

The corners of Li Xuan's mouth lifted slightly.

It'd be great if they fought. Better yet, they could beat each other to a pulp...

Led by Luohu, tens of millions of Demon Cult followers flew east.

But because their strength varied so widely,

the higher-ups had to accommodate the weakest and most numerous followers, the Profound Immortals.

So they flew for a full half-month

before finally drawing near the eastern lands of the Primordial Wilderness!

As the Demon Cult followers entered the east,

a bloody slaughter erupted in an instant!

The Demon Cult had come east!

They would accept no new followers!

They would leave no survivors!

Luohu believed he had already given these beings several thousand years to think things over and make their choice.

But they hadn't treasured the opportunity! They hadn't joined the cult!

Many had even opposed him!

Then let them all

die!!

The Demon Cult followers poured forth like a flood.

The eastern lands of the Primordial Wilderness erupted into chaos!

In just a few days, countless beings had died!

At last, the eastern beings experienced firsthand the Demon Cult's terror and wickedness.

After all, before this, they'd only heard a few things about the Demon Cult's brutality and cruelty from refugees fleeing the west.

So although they'd been afraid, deep down they hadn't really believed it.

But now, the calamity had come—and here it was!

Li Xuan followed the main force, but hadn't killed a single being along the way.

For one thing, he was only here to watch, so he had no intention of getting blood on his hands.

And for another...

These Demon Cult followers were like rabid dogs.

The moment they spotted a living being, they pounced with wild cries, killing and devouring them.

There was no chance for him to get in on it.

He couldn't even grab a share.

Besides,

Li Xuan liked meat too, but who the hell ate it raw?

You bastards knew spells, didn't you?

Couldn't you start a fire and roast it?

At least then I could've gotten a bite!

He shook his head with a sigh...

But the calamity was, in the end, far too bloody and brutal.

The Demon Cult slaughtered its way east, massacring hundreds of millions of beings.

Before long, beings throughout the Primordial Wilderness began to fear, resent, and even hate the Demon Cult.

As the Demon Cult pushed farther east toward Kunlun Mountain,

Hongjun, the leader of the Mystic Gate, finally spoke up after half a month.

"The Demon Cult is wicked, slaughtering the Primordial Wilderness! All beings of the Primordial Wilderness must resist! Today, our Mystic Gate will lead the way and fight the Demon Cult! Beings of the world..."

After his righteous declaration,

beings everywhere answered his call.

"First he hunkered down and let the Demon Cult slaughter at will for half a month. Then he appeared as the embodiment of justice, vowing to resist them—and immediately won countless praises and admiration. Just like you, Hongjun..."

When Li Xuan heard the news, he let out a cold laugh and muttered to himself.

With the Mystic Gate's response,

and beings converging from every direction to join the fight against the demons,

the Demon Cult's advance immediately slowed.

Before long, beings numbering in the hundreds of millions began counterattacking the Demon Cult.

Li Xuan was in the middle of the Demon Cult's army.

He could clearly feel the changes in its ranks.

At first, the Demon Cult followers around him had slaughtered nonstop, gorged on flesh and blood, collected rare treasures, and grinned all day long.

Gradually, they grew taciturn and began to suffer injuries one after another.

And eventually, they were cursing under their breath, fear plain on their faces...

The slaughter continued for more than six hundred and thirty years.

The battle between Luohu and Hongjun's level of experts took place high above the Ninth Heaven.

Li Xuan couldn't see it—and didn't dare go up to watch.

But it didn't matter.

The final battlefield was at Mount Sumeru, after all.

He'd surely get to witness that world-shaking battle then.

For more than six hundred and thirty years, Li Xuan watched the battles between the Demon Cult and the Mystic Gate.

The Demon Cult's absolute dominance at the start gave way to a stalemate, then gradually turned into a rout.

The Demon Cult had made a big show of its strength and refused to accept new followers.

But whenever someone died on the Mystic Gate's side, a new being immediately joined!

And beings' cultivation improved rapidly during the battles!

Many powerful fighters from the Mystic Gate gradually appeared...

Almost everyone from Li Xuan's Black Marsh Altar had been killed.

Even the altar master had been beaten to death two years ago.

On this day, the Demon Cult's rout could no longer be contained. Its followers began fleeing for their lives in a panic!

Because Luohu had lost!

Luohu had been defeated by the combined forces of Hongjun, Willow, Yin Yang, and Qiankun!

Even with the Four Swords of Zhu Xian and the God-Slaying Spear in hand,

he couldn't withstand the four of them together!

Yet Luohu had gained insight from the battle!

He abandoned all the Demon Cult followers

and returned to Mount Sumeru at full speed with only Wufawutian, Formless and Emotionless, a few surviving Grand Unity Golden Immortal branch leaders,

and around two hundred Grand Unity Golden Immortal sub-branch leaders.

The remaining Demon Cult followers, abandoned in an instant, naturally fell into disarray.

They began wailing and fleeing west...

Only nine members of the Black Marsh Altar remained, Li Xuan among them.

There was only one Mystic Immortal left.

It was the cultivator who had taken four of Li Xuan's pills back then.

After spending several hundred years together,

even Li Xuan, despite keeping to himself, had eventually gotten to know them.

The Mystic Immortal, Shui Chi, was fleeing for his life at full speed, his face filled with terror and regret.

The other surviving Profound Immortals were also flying with all their might.

They clung tightly to the two Grand Unity Golden Immortals ahead of them.

They couldn't afford to fall behind. Falling behind meant death!

"B-Brother Huang, we have to fly faster! Otherwise, we won't make it back! Those Mystic Gate beings don't take prisoners!"

Seeing Li Xuan's calm expression, Shui Chi cried out through his tears. "The cult leader and the branch leaders have abandoned us! From now on, we can only rely on you, brother!"

After watching him for more than six hundred years,

he'd come to believe that this cultivator named Huang Feihong

was unfathomably powerful!

After all, while others struggled desperately to survive the calamity,

they fought for their lives in the slaughter just to stay alive!

Even if they'd been lucky enough to survive, every last one of them had been injured.

And yet Huang Feihong—

Compared to when he'd first arrived in the East over six hundred years ago, he hadn't changed at all!

His clothes hadn't even gotten dirty!

Shui Chi was a clever fellow, too.

How could he not understand? Huang Feihong had either been hiding his cultivation,

or had some kind of high-level life-saving technique.

By now, the Demon Cult's leader and all its high-ranking members had fled back to Mount Sumeru.

That meant Huang Feihong was the only leg they had left to cling to.

Li Xuan shot the man a sidelong glance.

Don't think for a second that he'd survived thanks to good luck.

Li Xuan knew perfectly well that the man had stayed alive by selling out his allies.

The other three Mystic Immortals had basically all died because he'd sold them out.

He'd even tried to sell out Li Xuan.

But Li Xuan was too strong and could leave whenever he wanted.

All the man had managed to do was sell out thin air.

So Li Xuan gave him a sidelong glance and said nothing.

Shui Chi seemed to understand the look, convinced that he'd figured out what Li Xuan meant!

He immediately shouted, "Quick! What are you waiting for? Bring out all the good stuff you've collected over the years! Show Brother Huang your gratitude!"

As he spoke, he was the first to take out the precious materials and pills he'd acquired over the years.

He even offered up a good deal of choice flesh and blood that he'd been saving for himself.

He piled it all in front of Li Xuan.

Seeing this, the others hurriedly brought out their own long-hoarded treasures and respectfully presented them.

They all gazed at Li Xuan with pleading eyes, hoping he'd protect them on the way back to the Western Primordial Wilderness.

Li Xuan had been standing by as a mere spectator.

Seeing them do this, he paused in surprise.

He hadn't planned to accept gifts.

And he hadn't planned to help them, either...

Li Xuan glanced over the group.

He said indifferently, "You went to kill others, and they killed you instead. Isn't that perfectly normal?"

The crowd nodded repeatedly in agreement.

But Shui Chi's broad smile stiffened. He sensed something ominous in Li Xuan's words.

Sure enough, Li Xuan continued, "So fend for yourselves. The Demon Cult? Not one of you is any good."

With that, Li Xuan abruptly transformed into a streak of light and vanished over the horizon in the blink of an eye.

All that remained were the Demon Cult members, frozen in place with their arms full of offerings.

Behind them, the Mystic Gate's pursuers were drawing closer with a roar...

Li Xuan naturally had neither the time nor the inclination to save these lunatics.

When they were killing others, they'd been thrilled to bits.

But when it was their turn to die, suddenly it was, "I don't want to die?"

Serves them right.

He still had to get to Mount Sumeru.

If nothing unexpected had happened, that scoundrel Luohu had figured out the Immortal-Slaying Formation Diagram.

With the diagram, he could set up the Immortal-Slaying Sword Formation.

Only then could he unleash the full killing power and might of the Four Swords of Zhu Xian!

With that sword formation, even if Hongjun, Willow, Yin Yang, and Qiankun all arrived together,

once the four of them entered the formation, they'd all be doomed!

What a pity...

Li Xuan sneered.

Hongjun had already accounted for all of this in his plans...

He flew onward, no longer holding back his peak Grand Unity Golden Immortal cultivation.

The route between East and West was practically deserted at the moment.

There were no Demon Cult experts, nor any Mystic Gate experts.

Flying back was much faster.

It took him only a day to return to the Western Primordial Wilderness.

He looked toward the faint shadow of Mount Sumeru ahead.

Then he suppressed his cultivation again and headed straight for the mountain.

There were far fewer living beings from the Demon Cult on Mount Sumeru now than there had been over six hundred years ago.

Altogether, there were only a little over a hundred thousand.

Most had fled back from the East, each of them looking utterly crestfallen.

As soon as the leader, Luohu, returned, he went straight into seclusion.

He said he was going to comprehend a heaven-defying formation that would turn the tide and defeat the Mystic Gate.

Wufawutian, Wuqing, and Wuxiang guarded the place where he was secluded. Anyone who trespassed would be killed on the spot.

At that moment, the Demon Cult had been left without a leader.

As a result, many of its followers had already begun quietly leaving Mount Sumeru.

The mountain grew increasingly deserted. Only a few hundred branch leaders and the chief leader remained.

They fervently believed that Demon Ancestor Luohu would surely turn things around!

That was why they hadn't left.

They also kept a constant eye on the other followers.

Anyone who dared to run would be killed immediately!

Li Xuan wasn't in any hurry to go to Mount Sumeru.

He turned into a streak of light and casually landed on a small hill about a thousand li from the mountain.

Then he concealed himself.

And waited for the final—

great battle!