The Surging Demon Tide, Demonic Forbidden Technique
On the Douluo Continent, where the Martial Way are flourishing and the establishment of the "Tianxing Martial Arts Academy" is progressing steadily, Yu Yuanchen sits high in Dragon City, observing the Wind and Clouds. Meanwhile, in the Demon Plane, a distant dimension, undercurrents are surging to a critical point.
Demon Quelling City, this human fortress standing amidst the Scorching Purgatory, maintained a state of rapid development and tight security even months after Yu Yuanchen's departure. Under the joint command of Qian Daoliu, Tang Chen, Bo Saixi, and the rotating garrison of powerful figures from various sects, the city grew increasingly fortified, its defensive formations were continuously improved, and exploration and resource gathering proceeded smoothly. The human Soul Master within the city gradually adapted to this harsh yet opportunity-filled land, and their morale was high.
However, beneath the calm surface, a crisis is brewing. The sole surviving Demon King — Shadow Demon King Demogorgon —is like a venomous snake lurking in the shadows, never relinquishing his ambition for revenge and reclaiming his territory.
Although Yu Yuanchen's departure was secretive, the unique environment of the Demon Plane and Demogorgon's keen perception of spatial fluctuations still allowed it to vaguely sense that the aura of that terrifying human powerhouse had disappeared. To be cautious, it began a series of probes.
Initially, Demogorgon targeted Qian Daoliu, who frequently led teams to Purification Fallen Angel. Using its unpredictable Shadow Escape Technique Qian Daoliu), it launched surprise attacks in desolate areas, striking and retreating immediately without lingering. It did not expect to severely injure Qian Daoliu, who wielded the Angel Sacred Sword; its purpose was merely to test—to see if Yu Yuanchen had truly left and whether he would reveal himself if Qian Daoliu was attacked.
The result left it both pleased and worried. It was pleased that, although Qian Daoliu had managed to barely block its several sneak attacks thanks to his divine artifact and Martial Soul, Yu Yuanchen had never appeared, indicating he was truly not in Demon Quelling City. It was worried because Qian Daoliu and Tang Chen, who arrived later to provide support, had improved their strength far more rapidly than it had anticipated. Especially when the two joined forces, the Purification of the Angel Holy Light and the domineering power of the Clear Sky Hammer complemented each other, putting considerable pressure on it.
Several unsuccessful sneak attacks, instead harassing them like flies, thoroughly enraged the proud Qian Daoliu and the hot-tempered Tang Chen.
"That bastard Demogorgon, does he really think I'm easy to bully?!" After being ambushed, Tang Chen was furious. He smashed his Clear Sky Hammer, causing the earth to Rupture. "Chase him! This time, we must find this cowardly fellow and smash his demonic nature to pieces!"
Although Qian Daoliu was relatively calm, he was also enraged by the endless harassment. His golden eyes flashed with cold light. "If this fiend is not eliminated, Demon Quelling City will never have a peaceful day. Since it dares to show itself, it will not be able to escape so easily again!"
The two were prepared. In their previous encounter, they had deliberately left wounds on Demogorgon, collecting his splattered demon blood and shattered scales.
Upon returning to Demon Quelling City, they immediately summoned a special Soul Master who had accompanied the army—a Soul Emperor from the Spirit Hall whose Martial Soul Blood Shadow Spider, and Soul Emperor the sixth Soul Skill, Blood Curse Soul Chasing.
During Yu Yuanchen's previous battle with the Demon King, no one anticipated this aspect, nor did they deliberately collect any means to prepare. But this time, Qian Daoliu and Tang Chen were well-prepared!
This Soul Emperor's tracking Soul Skill is extremely unique. It requires the target's flesh, hair, or commonly used objects as a medium to greatly blur its location. As long as the distance is not an entire plane apart, there will be a trace to follow.
Using Demogorgon's flesh and blood as a medium, the Blood Shadow Spider Soul Emperor successfully located its approximate hiding area.
The next time, when Demogorgon tried to use the same trick to ambush a patrol team, Qian Daoliu and Tang Chen were already lying in ambush on the flank!
"Demon, die!" Qian Daoliu transformed into golden light, and the Angel Sacred Sword tore through the shadows, piercing straight at Demogorgon's true form!
"Take this from your grandpa Tang!" Tang Chen roared like thunder, his massive Clear Sky Hammer carrying the force to shatter the heavens, blocking his retreat!
Demogorgon was shocked; it hadn't expected its opponent to be able to pinpoint its location so precisely! In a panic, it transformed into countless shadows and scattered in all directions, its most effective means of survival.
In the past, Qian Daoliu and Tang Chen might have been able to only watch it escape. But this time, it's different!
"Holy Light Illumination, Purification the shadows!" Qian Daoliu pushed his Angel Domain to its limit, and the Holy Light spread like a tide, dissolving the low-level Shadow Clone wherever it passed!
"Clear Sky True Body, Shock Character Art, freeze me!" Tang Chen transformed into a giant, slamming the Clear Sky Hammer into the earth. The terrifying shockwave distorted space, slowing down the movements of many shadowy figures!
The two worked in perfect harmony, focusing all their efforts on eliminating the Shadow Clone. Although they couldn't annihilate thousands of clones with a wave of their hand like Yu Yuanchen, they successfully dealt a heavy blow to Demogorgon's true body before it could completely escape, forcing it to abandon a significant portion of its clones' essence in a sorry state before it managed to escape by sheer luck.
After this battle, Demogorgon was once again severely injured, and its hatred for Qian Daoliu and Tang Chen reached its peak, but even more so, it felt fear! It realized that the other party had the means to track it!
Sure enough, in the days that followed, no matter where Demogorgon fled or how well he hid, Qian Daoliu and Tang Chen always managed to track him down with the Soul Emperor and launch a siege. It was like a fox being chased by a hound, living in constant fear, and its injuries continued to worsen.
It also discovered the key—the human Soul Master Cultivation Level was only at the Soul Emperor level and who was closely protected by Qian Daoliu and Tang Chen was the source of its tracing!
"We must kill that tracker first!" Demogorgon thought fiercely. But it tried to kill him several times, only to be held back by Qian Daoliu and Tang Chen, unable to get close at all. Instead, it inflicted new injuries on itself by forcibly attacking.
Driven to the brink, Demogorgon's demonic ferocity erupted completely! He knew that if things continued this way, he would eventually be worn down and killed. He had to break the deadlock!
It fled back to its last remaining hidden territory—a Abyss Rift filled with chaotic magical energy. Here remained its most loyal few dozen high-ranking demon subordinates, as well as hundreds of thousands of low-ranking demons who were attached to them.
"You forced me to this!" Demogorgon stared at the dark, imposing Demon Legion below, his crimson eyes flashing with madness and despair. "Since you won't give me a way out, then we'll all Destruction together!"
"In the name of the demons, offer your souls and blood, awaken the forbidden power from ancient times!" Demogorgon chanted an ancient and evil incantation, and a huge altar constructed of bones and magic stones lit up with a blood-red light that shot into the sky!
The dozens of high-ranking demons let out a shrill wail as their flesh, souls, and even their life's Cultivation Level were forcibly extracted and devoured by the altar! Immediately afterward, the blood-red light from the altar spread like a plague, enveloping the hundreds of thousands of low-ranking demons gathered around the lair!
"Roar--!"
"Kill!"
It unleashed one of the most malevolent and costly forbidden spells in the Demon Plane— "Demon Sacrifice, Abyss Creation!"
Using its own demon king's essence as a catalyst, it forcibly extracted the Life and souls of dozens of its trusted high-ranking demons as sacrifices, and further stirred up the chaotic demonic energy that had accumulated in the Abyss Rift for millennia! The terrifying ritual triggered earth-shattering phenomena!
Under the influence of forbidden power, these low-level demons instantly lost their minds and fell into the most primal and frenzied mutual slaughter and devouring! The cruel survival laws of the Demon Plane were accelerated to the extreme!
Every moment, thousands upon thousands of demons die in their infighting, and their flesh, souls, and Demonic Energy are forcibly gathered, purified, and infused into the bodies of a few survivors by the power of the altar!
In just a few days, a brutal and bloody battle, reminiscent of the "breeding of venomous insects," came to an end. Of the original hundreds of thousands of low-level demons, only less than fifty thousand remained! But those who survived, without exception, underwent a dramatic transformation in their aura!
This process was brutal yet efficient. In just a few days, hundreds of thousands of low-level demons were almost wiped out, while in the center of the rift, a "New Demon Legion" numbering in the thousands was born!
These demonic forms are even more ferocious, with bulging muscles and jagged bone spurs, their eyes filled only with pure bloodlust. Their strength has been forcibly amplified, with even the weakest comparable to a human Soul Sage! Among them, those with exceptionally powerful auras have even reached the level of Titled Douluo, numbering in the double digits!
However, this power generated by forbidden arts has a fatal flaw. These demons' Life Force is overdrawn, and their lifespan is extremely short, at most not exceeding one year. Moreover, they are of low intelligence and are almost completely controlled by Demogorgon's will, like puppets.
But Demogorgon couldn't care less about that now! He needed this cannon fodder army to stir up trouble and create chaos!
"Roar! Target, Demon Quelling City! Slaughter all humans!" Demogorgon roared hysterically, leading his ominous demon army, built with the lives of hundreds of thousands of his kin, like a flood bursting its banks, rushing out of the Abyss Rift and heading straight for Demon Quelling City, the heart of humanity in the Demon Plane!
It plans to use this legion to launch a strong attack on Demon Quelling City, forcing the human powerhouses to defend with all their might. It will then take advantage of the chaos to infiltrate and kill that damned tracking Soul Master at all costs! Only then will it have a chance to escape the pursuit and find a corner to eke out a living.
When news arrived that the demon army was pressing down on Demon Quelling City like a dark cloud, the atmosphere within the city instantly became extremely tense.
Qian Daoliu, Tang Chen, Bo Saixi, Golden Crocodile Douluo, and other powerful figures who remained behind gathered in the Council Hall, their faces solemn as they watched the astonishingly large and Demonic Energy powerful Demon Legion projected from the crystal ball.
"Thousands of demons at the Soul Sage level or above, and dozens of Titled Douluo level... This madman, Demogorgon, has really gone all out!" Tang Chen clicked his tongue in amazement. Even with his bravery, he felt his scalp tingle when faced with such a number of high-level demons.
"They are cannon fodder created by forbidden techniques, with short lifespans, but posing a great threat in the short term." Qian Daoliu frowned, calmly analyzing, "Although our elite troops are strong, their numbers are far inferior. Defending the city, relying on our formations and strength, repelling them shouldn't be difficult, but casualties... will likely be unavoidable."
Bo Saixi gently stroked the Sea God Scepter, a hint of worry flashing in his azure eyes. "There are too many demons. If they relentlessly attack the city walls and destroy the array nodes, even if we ultimately win, Demon Quelling City will be severely damaged, and years of hard work may be destroyed in an instant. Moreover, Demogorgon's target is very likely the Blood Shadow Spider Soul Emperor."
Silence fell upon the crowd. Demon Quelling City was the foundation of humanity in the Demon Plane, and it could not be lost. Moreover, the Blood Shadow Spider Soul Emperor was the key to restraining Demogorgon, and he absolutely could not be allowed to fail.
"We can't fight head-on; we need to resolve this calamity with minimal losses." Qian Daoliu finally made the decision, looking at Tang Chen. "Brother Tang, it seems we need to invite Brother Yuanchen back."
Tang Chen nodded emphatically, a hint of regret flashing across his face. "What a pity to waste such a fine whetstone as Demogorgon... However, the bigger picture is what matters! This guy is desperate, we can't let him live any longer!"
Although they were confident of defeating the demon army in the siege, keeping Demogorgon, who was determined to escape and skilled in stealth techniques, in their sights was an impossible task. Only by bringing back Yu Yuanchen, whose strength was enough to overwhelm the Demon King and who was certain of killing him, could they resolve the crisis once and for all, at the lowest possible cost.
"I will immediately use the Spirit Hall's clandestine methods to urgently report this situation to Brother Yuanchen," Qian Daoliu said in a deep voice. "Please ask him to return quickly, take charge of Demon Quelling City, and slay this fiend!"
With the decision made, everyone immediately split up to take action. Qian Daoliu to the secret chamber in the city center and informed Yu Yuanchen of the message through the Spirit Hall's unique communication methods; Tang Chen, Bo Saixi, and others ordered the entire city to enter a state of high alert, strengthen defenses, evacuate non-combat personnel, and prepare to meet the impending onslaught of the Demon Tide.
Within the Demon Quelling City, horns blared, soul light swirled, and a chilling aura permeated the air. Everyone understood that a fierce battle concerning the city's survival was imminent. The key to breaking this deadlock lay in whether Yu Yuanchen, the Dinghai Shenzhen far away on the Douluo Continent, could return in time!