Liang Zhaohuang's party headed west all the way. The Demon Country's interior was empty and in chaos; wherever they went, the Demon Race had either been drafted away beforehand or had already fled in panic. They encountered scarcely any worthwhile resistance.
Now and then, they came across members of the Demon Race fleeing south from the Demon Country's northern regions. They were clearly the clever, quick-witted sort among the Demon Race, having sensed that the situation was amiss and begun their escape early.
So long as these southbound demons did not attack the Liu Province force, Liang Zhaohuang and the others paid them no heed.
Everyone knew perfectly well that they could not swallow every last member of the Demon Race in the Demon Country's northern regions. Trying to be all-encompassing would only sacrifice the greater for the lesser. The Demon Country troops retreating from the battlefields of Jiao Province and Ning Province and fleeing south were their true targets this time.
Only by taking down those Demon Country troops could they truly break the Demon Race's spine. No matter how many demons fled into the Demon Country's southern regions afterward, they would be no more than livestock awaiting the butcher's blade.
Liang Zhaohuang and the others had a destination as they pushed west: the Thousand Ape Wild Forest in the central region of the Demon Country.
It was a primeval wild forest spanning nearly five hundred thousand li, the Demon Country's second-largest woodland. Rumor had it that several thousand varieties of ape and monkey demons, large and small, lived within it, hence its name.
As for the Demon Country's largest woodland, it lay in the far south, where the Demon Emperor Palace stood, home to countless Winged Demon tribes of the Demon Country.
The Thousand Ape Wild Forest was