First Arrival Among the Human Race, Demonic Calamity Runs Rampant

Along the Eastern Sea Coast, winds and clouds churned.

Xuan Chuan and Zhao Gongming stood side by side atop the clouds, with dozens of carefully selected Jiejiao disciples behind them, all willing to attempt the "Merit Path."

Most of these disciples were Heavenly Immortals or True Immortals. Though they were not among the sect's finest, their minds were relatively pure, and they were either curious about or agreed with Xuan Chuan's principles.

Below lay a Human Race tribe built against the mountains and beside the waters.

Walls of rough boulders and massive logs wound across the land. Their considerable scale spoke of the tribe's prosperity.

Yet now, this place that should have been brimming with life was shrouded beneath bleak clouds and dismal mist.

Outside the tribe, dust billowed while beast roars shook the heavens!

Thousands upon thousands of demonic beasts of every shape and kind surged like a tide against the tribe's crumbling walls!

There were lizard demons clad in scales and breathing poisonous fire, harpy-like creatures with wings on their ribs and hooklike talons, and rhinoceros spirits of boundless strength, thick hide, and tough flesh...

Their eyes were blood-red, filled with violence and the desire to destroy. As if they knew no pain, they charged one after another, tearing and biting at the defensive line formed by Human Race warriors with their very flesh and blood.

Upon the walls, Human Race warriors wore crude leather armor and wielded stone spears and bone blades as they fought with all their might.

They shouted ancient battle songs, using mortal bodies to resist extraordinary demonic beasts. People were constantly torn apart by claws, engulfed by poisonous fire, and sent tumbling from the walls, their blood staining the earth red.

Behind them, women, children, and the elderly huddled together in terror. Their crying and prayers mingled with heaven-shaking battle cries and beast roars, forming a scene of misery and despair.

"These demonic beasts... seem rather wrong."

Zhao Gongming frowned deeply. Well-traveled and knowledgeable as he was, he had sensed the anomaly. "There are too many of them, their kinds are too mixed, and... their ferocity far exceeds the norm."

Xuan Chuan's gaze was sharp. His divine sense had long since swept across the battlefield like mercury pouring over the ground.

His perception was even keener than Zhao Gongming's, especially with the aid of The One That Escaped and the Creation Jade Disc Fragment.

He saw not only the beasts' frenzy, but also a powerful demonic aura rising like beacon smoke into the sky behind the beast horde!

Its owner lurked within the muddy river, its aura having clearly reached the peak of the True Immortal realm!

It was an Evil Flood Dragon on the verge of transforming into a dragon! It was clearly the commander and core of this Beast Tide.

"The situation is dire. There is no time to hesitate!" Xuan Chuan made his decision at once, his voice reaching every disciple behind him. "Fellow disciples, follow the drill and form the Little Five-Element Demon-Subduing Formation!

Protect the tribe's walls and slaughter the low-level demonic beasts! Remember, prioritize driving them away and injuring them. Do not take their lives unless necessary, lest Karmic Force strike back!"

"Yes, Eldest Senior Brother!"

The dozens of disciples answered in unison. After Xuan Chuan's prior explanations and simple drills, they were not proficient in formations, but they had already grasped the fundamentals of coordination.

They swiftly spread out according to the positions of the five elements. Immortal power surged as they linked with the spiritual energy of heaven and earth, and a formation barrier gleaming with five-colored radiance instantly rose, covering nearly half the wall!

The power of the five elements flowed across the barrier: golden light like swords, wood energy winding around foes, rippling water dispersing force, fire serpents dancing wildly, and earthen walls standing thick and heavy!

The low-level demonic beasts charging at the barrier were either torn apart by golden light, bound by wooden vines, battered by the combined assault of water and fire, or blocked by earthen walls. Their offensive immediately stalled!

The pressure on the Human Race warriors greatly diminished. Seeing the immortals who had suddenly appeared and that miraculous barrier, they froze in astonishment before erupting into thunderous cheers!

"It's immortals! The immortals have come to save us!"

"Heaven has eyes!"

As for Xuan Chuan himself, the instant the formation was completed, his body transformed into a streak of purple lightning. Tearing through the sky, he crossed directly over the dense beast horde and pounced toward the True Immortal Evil Flood Dragon hidden in the river!

ROAR—!

Sensing the threat, the muddy river suddenly exploded, and an Evil Flood Dragon more than a hundred zhang long shot into the sky, with a single horn upon its head and black scales covering its entire body!

Its scarlet vertical pupils fixed tightly upon Xuan Chuan as it spewed foul poisonous mist and torrents of water from its mouth.

"A mere Human Race cultivator dares meddle in this king's affairs? You're courting death!"

The Evil Flood Dragon spoke in a hoarse, savage voice. Waving its claws, it whipped up towering muddy waves and clawed at Xuan Chuan! Its peak True Immortal demonic power erupted without restraint, its might terrifying.

Xuan Chuan's expression did not change. He did not even use the Purple Lightning Hammer.

He raised two fingers like a sword. Pure Jiejiao immortal power surged within him, and an incomparably condensed azure sword aura containing the true meaning of Severing Intent appeared from thin air.

It grew with the wind, expanding to dozens of zhang in size as it slashed with flawless precision toward the Evil Flood Dragon's claws!

RIP—!

The sword aura collided with the demonic claws, releasing a piercing tearing sound!

The Evil Flood Dragon's ever-victorious claws were actually cut open by that seemingly unremarkable sword aura, leaving several wounds deep enough to expose bone. Black-red demonic blood splashed down!

"What?!" The Evil Flood Dragon cried out in pain, shocked and enraged. It had never expected that this Human Race cultivator, whose aura seemed to be merely at the Golden Immortal realm—Xuan Chuan had deliberately concealed it—would possess such sharp and vicious sword aura!

With an enraged roar, the demonic aura around it intensified. It opened its blood-filled maw and hurled a poisonous-fire inner core, condensed from several centuries of cultivation, at Xuan Chuan like a meteor!

Wherever it passed, even the air was corroded with sizzling sounds.

Xuan Chuan's eyes narrowed as he prepared to use a stronger method to subdue it.

Yet just as his divine sense locked onto that poisonous-fire inner core, preparing to probe its reality and seek out its weakness—

He keenly detected something deep within that violent poisonous-fire inner core, as well as within the source of the Evil Flood Dragon's demonic soul.

A trace of an exceedingly concealed spell mark coiled there, carrying an artificially imposed frenzy and chaos!

This mark was neither innate nor caused by cultivation. It was more like an imprint left after some external force had forcibly catalyzed and magnified its savagery and lust for slaughter!

This Beast Tide was no natural disaster!

Someone was driving it from behind the scenes! They had deliberately catalyzed the demonic beasts and sent them to attack the Human Race tribe!

Alarm bells rang wildly in Xuan Chuan's heart! He had originally believed this to be an ordinary demonic calamity, yet it had unexpectedly implicated a deeper conspiracy!

Who was it? And what was their purpose?