A Town Besieged by Demons and Invaders (Thanks to the benefactor Ma En, who painfully wants to do math problems!)

The Demon God strode out, shaking the entire river valley.

"It worked." Seeing this, An Jing slowly let out a breath, the tension in his heart easing a little.

Of all the techniques the Sword Spirit had taught him, this was the one best suited to the situation: using the power of the Imperial Heaven Venerable God to command demonic energy and conjure the phantom image of a Demon God!

This was one of the powers of the Imperial Heaven Star-Evil Ritual, used to control Ghost Gods and evil demons and attack outside enemies, apart from making sacrifices.

But in the past several decades, no one had ever used this function. Almost everyone had forgotten it existed. If the Ritual hadn't borrowed the Sword Spirit's power, allowing An Jing, with the Sword Spirit dwelling within him, to control it naturally, then even if he'd gotten his hands on the Demonic Cult's ritual manual, he wouldn't have known how to use it.

"The Ritual's out of control! The Ritual's out of control!!"

"It's a Terror Demon! Hurry, form ranks! Cast aside the fear in your hearts, or all your fear will become its strength!"

The Demonic Cult instructors and lecturers presiding over the Ritual recognized the true identity of the phantom as soon as they saw it.

They cried out and formed ranks. Though they knew things had gone badly, they also knew they absolutely could not show fear in the face of the Fear Demon. If they did...

Boom!

The enormous phantom took a step forward and let out a soundless roar. Substantial ripples of spiritual force spread outward, and in an instant, one lecturer—his face full of terror, reluctantly joining the ranks—froze in place.

In that brief moment, it was as if he'd endured the most terrifying torture in the world. He wept and howled like a child, then turned and fled.

The phantom reached out across the air and seized the lecturer. When it pulled its hand back, his flesh was unharmed—but a semitransparent soul had been dragged out and swept into its grasp.

The soul struggled desperately, to no avail. At last, the phantom put it in its mouth and chewed, crushing it completely.

The body on the ground stared blankly, its limbs utterly out of control. He wasn't dead, but he was little more than a living lump of flesh.

"A demon! A demon..."

At the sight of this horrifying scene, it wasn't just the Demonic Cult members facing the phantom who trembled like sieves. Even the boys and girls farther behind shook all over. When had they ever seen such a terrifying colossus? At least the instructors and lecturers carried real swords and sabers, while all they had were wooden swords and spears for martial training!

Even though they had learned the same battle formations as the instructors—techniques clearly meant to fight this Heavenly Demon phantom—not one of them had the courage to strike.

As the tide of fear swelled, black mist spread, and the phantom threw back its head and roared, growing even larger.

It even noticed the powerful source of fear behind it, and so it tried to step backward and reach for the boys and girls.

But a figure stood in its way, blocking the Fear Demon's path.

"Back!"

He held nothing but a wooden sword, yet faced the phantom of a Demon God. His courage made no sense, but An Jing stood ramrod straight before the Demon God, making the whole scene seem only right and proper.

Ready to summon the broken sword if things turned ugly and use the Sword Spirit's remaining Sword Qi in the grand formation to fight the Heavenly Demon phantom, An Jing stared directly into its eyes and shouted fearlessly, "Your enemy is over there!"

Then An Jing called out, "Don't be afraid! Reform the battle formation!"

He ordered his group to work together in a stern voice, even taking a step forward. "This is the 'Fear Demon.' It grows by devouring fear!"

"But it's still under our control... Anyone with the guts, come with me!"

Tap! At the sight of An Jing stepping forward, the Demon God phantom—the Fear Demon—actually stepped back, its wariness plain to see.

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

That was An Jing's influence. As long as he kept speaking, someone would always listen.

Then they saw something that left them stunned.

The towering Fear Demon hadn't crushed An Jing like a bug. Instead, he'd forced it back.

—So demons could be afraid too?

"What's there to be afraid of!" "Exactly!"

A surge of heroism welled up in them. As An Jing's most loyal follower, Gu Yeqi was the first to join him, while Cang Linzu moved forward without the slightest hesitation.

Next came the rest of An Jing's entire Xingji Group!

"Sister Qinghan?"

At that moment, people in every group looked to their leaders. The third group was no exception. Many others were also watching Bai Qinghan, who, like An Jing, had awakened a Strange Fate, waiting for the second-in-command of the team to make her position clear.

"Let's follow him."

The long-haired girl watched that retreating figure and lowered her eyes. She spoke softly, then stepped forward too, walking toward the Fear Demon alongside An Jing. "In this matter..."

"I believe in him."

And so, after a brief moment of chaos, every Child of Calamity stepped forward, with leaders at their head.

Then a courage unique to the young, to those who'd never known fear, suddenly surged to life.

—That's right! The worst that could happen was death. What did they have to be afraid of?

So they gathered their courage, followed An Jing, and advanced with weapons in hand, forcing the Fear Demon back!

Whoosh—

An invisible yet surging wind swept in, leaving the Fear Demon no choice but to retreat.

Dozens of people's wills, commanded by their leader and bound together as one—the formation of this "army" had taken shape.

As long as An Jing didn't retreat, even the Fear Demon couldn't affect the boys and girls within the formation.

Pressured by the army's formation and constrained by the grand formation, the Fear Demon turned its head reluctantly. Though it was only a phantom, it could still see that the adult humans before it were harder to deal with.

But pressed by the formation, it still let out a furious roar and charged at the Demonic Cult's ranks.

In an instant, the earth shook. The Fear Demon and the Demonic Cult fought in a chaotic melee, sand and rocks flying as black mist swirled wildly.

"Stop! Stop!"

At that moment, the one-eyed Instructor Li was still trying to stop them. He roared at An Jing and the boys and girls, "Damn you little brats! Are you trying to rebel? Stop this at once!"

He'd thought the authority he'd built up over the years would at least scare some of the kids into stopping. But the boys and girls paid him no mind, and An Jing ignored him as well.

Strangely, however, Manor Master Yao, the strongest person present, didn't join in suppressing the Fear Demon.

Nor did he suddenly attack and seize An Jing, who was leading the rebellion and forming ranks, and had somehow gained control of the Ritual's grand formation.

Instead, the old man turned his head and looked toward Xuanming Manor behind them, his gaze stunned.

"This is bad," he murmured. "There are outside invaders too?"

Just then, warning gongs suddenly rang out from the distant manor!

The gongs rang long and deep, carrying a power that shook the soul. In an instant, their sound reached the valley behind the mountain.

—Someone had invaded Xuanming Manor?

On guard, An Jing glanced toward the manor with the corner of his eye, while keeping his gaze fixed on the old man, whose aura grew more dangerous by the moment.

But even so, what he saw left him stunned.

On the far side of the manor, a squad of well-equipped Red-Armored Warriors charged down the mountainside as if sent from heaven, storming into the inner grounds.

An Jing even saw a vast expanse of seven-colored demonic miasma rising within the manor. It was the manor's hidden defense. Then a wave of red-and-blue flames swept across the miasma, burning everything and sending black smoke billowing into the sky.

For a moment, sword energy crisscrossed the grounds, spiritual flames and baleful intent intertwined, and resounding battle cries and the sounds of slaughter echoed throughout the manor.