Two Hundred Years

Great Wilderness Calendar, year 20,800.

By Dreamcloud Marsh.

"Kill!"

A human army flying the Jing Kingdom's Jade Qilin Banner was locked in bitter battle with a host of demons.

Above them, Witch Manifestations chanted spells, conjuring lightning, flames, and Witchcraft Gu that surged toward the demon powerhouses opposite them.

On the demon side, most were furred or horned creatures. A few had human forms—high-ranking Demon Generals locked in fierce combat with the Spirit Shamans.

The Great Void lay shrouded in haze. Flashes of radiance spilled from it now and then; even a single stray wisp could kill a Spirit Shaman.

These were the aftershocks of colliding Divine Abilities!

Dark Shaman Light roiled and took the form of a Grand Witch with a bone ring through his nose.

He looked old. A gaping hole in his chest exposed the ruined flesh beneath and the crimson heart inside.

Even for a Spirit Shaman, such a wound would have been fatal.

But to this Grand Witch, it was no more than a scratch.

He chewed a piece of Nine-Blood Hemerocallis, smeared its juice onto his hand, and wiped it across his chest.

In an instant, flesh regrew, and the wound was mostly healed.

Across from him, a young woman in a cloak of azure feathers watched with a frown. "Grand Witches truly are hard to kill...

"That Golden Seat of the Shaman emerged through Void Manifestation, impervious to fire and water. It can even hold Earth Virtue in check..."

"Heh. Why bring that up, Great Demon?"

The Grand Witch was named Gong. Newly advanced at the Shaman Terrace, he had yet to earn much merit.

So he had volunteered for this campaign against the Demon Race.

He had not expected to run into such a tough opponent.

*The First Phoenix birthed nine chicks—the