Demonic Qi Emerges

Dijiang immediately felt the circulation of his mana become a little smoother. He knew it was because they had sheltered these million living beings, causing their own providence to grow more abundant.

Only Dijiang, who constantly watched over himself, noticed it at once. Zhu Jiuyin and the others had not sensed anything for the time being after bringing back those million living beings.

Once the grand formation was laid down, the million living beings seemed numerous, but compared to the area covered by the formation, they appeared sparse.

Therefore, they could gather in even more living beings.

And though the first attempt had gone smoothly, they could not bring every group they gathered back to Mount Buzhou without a hitch.

Having tasted the sweetness of providence's blessing, at Dijiang's call, they settled the first batch of living beings before once more scattering into smaller groups and leaving Mount Buzhou.

This time, their targets were clearer: they specifically sought out larger alliances of Rogue Cultivators or clusters of living beings struggling to survive in the cracks between the three clans.

For the first several thousand years, everything went according to plan.

After all, the Primordial World's attention was focused on the earth-shaking war between the Dragon Clan, Phoenix Clan, and Qilin Clan. So long as they did not take the initiative to touch the three clans' core interests, no one cared about several Mid Zenith Heaven Ancestral Witches with heaven-defying combat power taking away some lowly ants.

However, if one often walked by the river, how could one avoid getting one's shoes wet?

At the border between the Primordial World's Eastern Continent and Central Continent stood an immortal mountain called Sunset Glow Mountain.

It had originally gathered tens of millions of Rogue Cultivators, birds, beasts, and other creatures unwilling to be drawn into the tribulation, making it a force of no small size.

When Qiang Liang, Xi Zi, and She Bishi arrived at Sunset Glow Mountain, the sight before them made their eyes split with fury.

There was no immortal qi curling through the air, no peace or tranquility—only blood-red light shooting into the heavens and endless wails!

Hundreds of thousands of Dragon Clan soldiers had surrounded Sunset Glow Mountain so tightly that not even water could pass through, carrying out a one-sided slaughter too ghastly to behold.

"Have these loaches gone mad? These Rogue Cultivators never provoked them!"

Qiang Liang's eyes widened furiously as Purple Firmament Divine Thunder leaped wildly over his entire body.

At a glance, he could tell that the state of these Dragon Clan troops was extremely wrong.

Their crimson eyes revealed an eerie blackness. What radiated from their bodies was no longer pure dragon might and the Water Law, but an incomparably cold, violent black qi brimming with the desire for destruction!

At their head stood a Dragon Clan elder at the Late Zenith Heaven Golden Immortal realm. Holding a blood-dripping battle halberd, he was madly slaughtering several Primordial Unity Golden Immortal Rogue Cultivators from Sunset Glow Mountain, each strike accompanied by cruel, frenzied laughter.

"Their minds have been completely twisted by some kind of power."

Xi Zi closed her eyes, sensing the chaotic aura between heaven and earth. Her expression was grave. "This black qi is even more evil than the Tribulation Aura of the great calamity. It is devouring the resentment and souls of the dead!"

"Who cares what this thing is? Killing people right in front of us? You're courting death!"

Qiang Liang roared, unable to restrain himself any longer. His entire body transformed into a violet-blue pillar of lightning that reached from heaven to earth, crashing down upon that Late Great Principal Dragon Clan elder.

"Boom!"

Lightning exploded. The Dragon Clan elder was blasted several steps back by the sudden strike, the black scales across his body shattering inch by inch. Yet he seemed unable to feel pain. Instead, he turned his head and fixed Qiang Liang with those pitch-black, hollow eyes.

"Hehehe... Mid Zenith Heaven blood prey tastes even better!"

The Dragon Clan elder let out a chilling, sinister laugh. Rather than retreating, he charged forward, brandishing his battle halberd as he lunged at Qiang Liang.

"Courting death!"

Qiang Liang clenched his fists, and the Thunder Law condensed into two enormous thunder hammers that collided viciously with the Dragon Clan elder.

At the same time, Xi Zi and She Bishi moved as well.

Xi Zi transformed into hundreds of millions of lightning nets, instantly shrouding tens of thousands of Dragon Clan soldiers who were carrying out the slaughter. Violent electrical energy charred them black.

She Bishi opened his mouth and spat out a skyful of miserable green poison rain. The instant it fell upon those Dragon Clan members, it corroded wounds so deep that bone was visible.

Had they been ordinary Dragon Clan troops, such devastating attacks from three Ancestral Witches would have long since sent them fleeing in collapse.

But a bizarre scene unfolded.

Those Dragon Clan soldiers who had been charred by lightning or corroded by poison rain twitched only briefly after falling. Then dense black qi gushed from their wounds.

Immediately afterward, they climbed back up like zombies. Even with severed arms and broken legs, even with only their last breath remaining, they still madly lunged and bit at Xi Zi and She Bishi!

Several Dragon Clan commanders at the Primordial Unity Golden Immortal realm even chose to self-destruct without hesitation after She Bishi's poison rain forced them into desperate straits!

"Boom! Boom! Boom!"

Amid deafening explosions, the terrifying shockwaves of the self-destructions swept in all directions, mixed with that eerie black qi. They not only blasted the surrounding Rogue Cultivators into bloody mist, but even forced She Bishi and Xi Zi back again and again.

"These bastards aren't afraid of death at all! That black qi can contaminate the Primordial Spirit!"

She Bishi's face looked terrible. He had carelessly touched a trace of black qi just now, and his Primordial Spirit had immediately suffered a needle-like stabbing pain. Had he not promptly forced it out with the Weather Law, the consequences would have been unimaginable.

"Qiang Liang, don't get drawn into battle! Big Brother said to run the moment we encounter trouble! Take the remaining living beings and retreat!"

Xi Zi shouted. She suddenly tore her hands toward the sky, summoning wild thunder from the nine heavens and ten lands. It turned into a sea of thunderous flame, forcibly cutting off the crazed Dragon Clan army.

Though Qiang Liang was fighting with stifled frustration, he could still distinguish what was important.

With one hammer blow, he knocked back the Late Great Principal Dragon Clan elder, then cursed, "You loach got lucky!"

Afterward, he turned and swept his sleeve. Violent thunder power transformed into a vast net that blotted out the sky and covered the earth, scooping up all several million surviving beings of Sunset Glow Mountain.

"Go!"

The three did not linger. They transformed into three streaks of light, tearing through space as they fled madly toward Mount Buzhou.

The Dragon Clan elder tried to give chase, but the sea of thunderous flame Xi Zi had left behind blocked him firmly. He could only let out an unwilling roar before turning back to continue slaughtering the living beings who had not been taken away in time.

Because Qiang Liang and the others had interfered, news spread of the strange Dragon Clan, wreathed in black qi, slaughtering living beings.

Within the Spirit-Gathering Formation on Mount Buzhou.

Space rippled violently as Qiang Liang and the other two tumbled out in a sorry state.

"Cough, cough..."

Qiang Liang coughed dully twice, a trace of purple blood spilling from the corner of his mouth.

A wound deep enough to expose bone ran across his right arm. Eerie black qi that could not be dispelled lingered around its edges, constantly eroding his fleshly body.

Though Xi Zi and She Bishi had no external wounds, their faces were also deathly pale, clearly having expended a great deal.

"What happened?!"

Dijiang, who had already returned, instantly noticed something was wrong. With a flicker of his body, he appeared before the three.

Houtu, Xuanming, and the other Ancestral Witches who had remained on Mount Buzhou also rushed over. Seeing Qiang Liang and the others' miserable state, all were shocked pale.

"Big Brother, we ran into a tough one."

Qiang Liang gritted his teeth and recounted in detail what had happened at Sunset Glow Mountain, as well as the bizarre condition of those Dragon Clan troops.

"Fearless of death, self-destruction, black qi that contaminates the Primordial Spirit..."