Fear Demon and External Enemies

The Devilish Creature stepped out, shaking the entire valley.

"It worked." Seeing this scene, An Jing slowly exhaled, the tension in his heart easing slightly.

This was the most suitable technique for the current situation among the many taught to him by the Sword Spirit—using the power of the Imperial Heaven Venerable God to drive the Devilish Qi and condense a phantom of a Devilish Creature!

This was the power of the Imperial Heaven Star-Evil Ritual, aside from sacrifice, used to control ghosts, gods, and demons to attack external enemies.

However, no one had used this function for decades, and everyone had almost forgotten it. If it weren't for the fact that this ritual borrowed the power of the Sword Spirit, allowing An Jing—who hosted the Sword Spirit—to naturally control it, An Jing wouldn't have known how to use it even if he had obtained the Demonic Cult's ritual manual.

"The ritual is out of control! The ritual is out of control!!"

"It's the Terror Demon! Quickly, form the formation! Abandon the fear in your hearts, or all that fear will become its power!"

The Demonic Cult instructors presiding over the ritual saw the phantom of the Devilish Creature and immediately identified its true nature.

They screamed as they gathered into a formation. Although they knew they were in deep trouble, they knew even better that they must not show cowardice in the face of this Fear Demon. Once they showed fear...

BOOM!

The massive phantom of the Devilish Creature stepped forward, emitting a silent roar. A tangible ripple of mental energy spread out, instantly causing an instructor—who was full of terror and reluctant to join the formation—to freeze in place.

In a fleeting moment, he seemed to experience the greatest and most terrifying torture in the world, wailing and crying like a child before turning to flee.

The phantom of the Devilish Creature reached out through the air and grabbed the instructor. It pulled its hand back; the flesh was unharmed, but a translucent soul was dragged out and pulled directly into its grasp.

The soul struggled incessantly, but it was useless. Finally, the phantom of the Devilish Creature brought it to its mouth, chewed, and completely crushed it.

The body on the ground had unfocused eyes and had completely lost control. Although not dead, it was nothing more than a living lump of meat.

"Devilish creature, devilish creature..."

Seeing such a terrifying scene, let alone the Demonic Cult members facing the phantom, even the boys and girls in the back were trembling like chaff—when had they ever seen such a terrifying giant? Those instructors at least had real blades and swords in their hands, while they only had wooden swords and spears used for training!

Even though the battle formations they learned were identical to those of the instructors—clearly techniques meant to fight this Heavenly Demon phantom—they had no courage to strike at this moment.

Yielding to this tide of fear, black mist permeated the air, and the phantom of the Devilish Creature roared toward the sky, growing even larger.

It even noticed the significant source of fear behind it, so it wanted to step backward and reach out to grab the boys and girls.

However, a figure stood before it, blocking the Fear Demon's path.

"Back down!"

He held only a wooden sword, yet he faced the phantom of the Devilish Creature. This courage was irrational, but An Jing stood straight, standing in front of the devil, making it all seem like a matter of course.

Having already prepared to summon the broken sword to fight the Heavenly Demon phantom with the remaining Sword Spirit energy in the grand formation if things went south, An Jing stared directly at the phantom and scolded fearlessly: "Your enemy is over there!"

Then, An Jing shouted: "Don't be afraid! Reorganize the battle formation!"

He sternly ordered his group to coordinate, even taking a step forward: "This is a 'Fear Demon'! It grows by devouring fear!"

"But it is ultimately controlled by us... Those who have the guts, follow me!"

Tap! Seeing An Jing step forward, the phantom of the Devilish Creature—the Fear Demon—actually retreated a step, its wariness already apparent.

At the same time, hearing An Jing's voice, everyone subconsciously looked up, even if they held no hope.

This was An Jing's prestige; as long as he was still speaking, there would always be people listening.

Then, they watched in astonishment.

That massive Fear Demon not only failed to crush An Jing like an insect, but was actually forced back by him.

—So, even devils can feel fear?

"What is there to be afraid of!" "Exactly!"

In an instant, a surge of heroism arose. As An Jing's loyal follower, Gu Yeqi followed first, and Cang Linzu followed without hesitation.

Immediately after, it was An Jing's entire Xingji Group!

"Sister Qinghan?"

At this moment, people in every group looked toward their respective leaders. The third group was no exception, and many more were watching Bai Qinghan because she, like An Jing, had awakened a 'Strange Fate', waiting for the 'second-in-command of the team' to state her position.

"Let's follow."

The girl with hair like a waterfall looked at that back. She lowered her eyes, whispered softly, and then moved forward, walking alongside An Jing to face the Fear Demon: "On this point."

"I believe in him."

Thus, after a brief chaos, with leaders in place, all the Children of Calamity took their steps.

Then, a courage unique to the young, unique to newborn calves, burst forth.

—That's right! At worst, it's just death; why should they be afraid!

Therefore, they all summoned their courage, followed An Jing, held their weapons, and pressured the Fear Demon to retreat!

Whoosh—

Invisible but surging winds arrived, forcing the Fear Demon to retreat further.

The will of dozens of people, commanded by their leader, condensed into one. The formation of this 'military array' had already been established.

As long as An Jing did not retreat, even the Fear Demon could not affect the boys and girls within the formation.

Pressed by the military array and constrained by the grand formation, the Fear Demon turned its head in frustration. Although it was only a phantom, it could tell that the adult humans before it were much harder to deal with.

Forced by the pressure of the grand formation, it let out a wild roar and charged toward the battle formation of the Demonic Cult.

In an instant, the earth shook and the mountains swayed as the Fear Demon and the Demonic Cult members clashed into a chaotic melee, sending sand and stones flying while black mist billowed wildly.

"Stop! Stop!"

At this moment, the one-eyed Instructor Li was still attempting to intervene, roaring at An Jing and the group of youths: "Damn it, you bunch of brats, are you trying to rebel? Stop right now!"

He had assumed that by relying on the authority he had built up over the years, he could at least intimidate some of the children, but the youths paid him no mind, and An Jing ignored him entirely.

Yet, strangely, Manor Master Yao, the strongest person present, did not throw himself into the suppression of the Fear Demon.

He did not immediately erupt into action to seize An Jing, who was leading the formation in resistance and had somehow gained control over the ritual formation's authority.

Instead, the old man turned his head to look toward Xuanming Manor in the distance, his gaze dazed.

"Oh no," he muttered. "There's actually an external invasion?"

It was at this very moment that the alarm gongs suddenly rang out from within the manor in the distance!

The sound of the gongs was deep and far-reaching, carrying a soul-shaking power that instantly traveled to the valley behind the mountain.

Someone is invading Xuanming Manor?

Alerted, An Jing glanced toward the manor out of the corner of his eye, while keeping his gaze locked tightly on the old man, whose aura was becoming increasingly dangerous.

Even so, he was still stunned by what he saw.

On the other side of the manor, halfway up a peak, a squad of well-equipped Red-Armored Warriors descended like divine soldiers, charging straight down into the interior of the manor.

An Jing even saw a sky-filling multicolored demonic miasma rise up within the manor—the estate's hidden defensive measure—but a sudden, swirling wave of crimson-blue flame swept through the miasma, incinerating everything and sending black smoke billowing into the sky.

For a time, the energy of blades and swords crisscrossed, spiritual flames and evil spirits intertwined, and loud battle cries and the sounds of slaughter echoed throughout the entire manor.