Finding nothing of value on the Crab-Claw Beast, Li Dalong casually waved his hand and hurled it dozens of miles away. Then, with a bang, it exploded into a mist of blood and vanished into the canyon.
Continuing his search with Zhou Xue, Li Dalong changed his strategy again, sweeping forward in a fan-shaped pattern to cover as much ground as possible.
After they advanced several hundred miles, Crab-Claw Beasts gradually became more numerous. Without exception, Li Dalong killed them all.
Judging by this, they were still only on the outskirts of these strange creatures' territory. Their search was headed in the right direction; if they kept going, they should find the creatures' lair.
Suddenly, a new kind of monster appeared within his divine sense. It had two flattened heads, with two enormous black fleshy growths on either side of its heads. Something seemed to writhe inside the growths, as though they contained living creatures. Its body was pitch-black, and its dark red eyes seemed to gleam with an evil light.
Two powerful limbs grew from its lower body, their claws exceedingly sharp. Its tail was slender and strong, with a sharp venomous barb at the tip. A single glance was enough to evoke an overwhelming sense of danger.
Li Dalong quickly flew over and once again used his divine sense to restrain it first. Judging by this new demon's reaction, however, its sea of consciousness was far stronger than that of the Crab-Claw Beasts. It was an intelligent demon.
He used the same method as before, invading its sea of consciousness with his divine sense to search and read its memories. At last, he found something useful. These demons had come from beyond this world, following higher-ranking demons in an invasion. They had not been here long. They were the lowest-ranking demons, vanguards sent ahead at the bidding of their superiors-in other words, cannon fodder.
Demons from beyond this world? Li Dalong was astonished. This overturned his understanding of things. There were other worlds, too? What kind of places were they?
Li Dalong hurriedly searched the demon's memories more carefully. The world they lived in had an extremely harsh environment and scarce resources, most of which only high-ranking demons could enjoy.
Moreover, demons reproduced extremely quickly, so competition among them was fierce. When resources ran out, they would even devour their own kind to evolve and advance.
This time, a demon had accidentally fallen into a spatial rift and then returned safely. When the high-ranking demons in its region learned of this, they organized a group of demons to invade this world.
Yet over the past several decades, they had only been able to live within this canyon shrouded in dense mist. Compared with their original world, however, it was an unimaginable paradise beyond their realm.
They were called Soul-Devouring Demons, and their race was known as the Soul-Devouring Devil Race. Although they were not particularly intelligent, most demons beyond this world were unwilling to provoke them.
Soul-Devouring Demons were extremely dangerous demons, adept at absorbing living creatures' souls and life force and converting them into their own energy.
They could easily subjugate living creatures by controlling their thoughts and actions, turning them into puppets to do their bidding. When food was scarce, they fed on those puppets.
Soul-Devouring Demons also possessed powerful physical and mental attacks. Once one latched onto a victim, that victim would suffer endless torment and pain.
After learning all this, Li Dalong dared not let his guard down. He had never expected that coming to Misty Canyon to rescue his niece would uncover such an enormous secret. A spatial rift had actually appeared here, and demons from another world had invaded.
They had already been here for decades. Fortunately, the spatial rift had appeared within Misty Canyon. Had it appeared anywhere else in the Cultivation World, living beings would long since have been plunged into misery, with blood flowing in rivers.
Now Li Dalong was worried as well. He needed to venture deeper and investigate where the spatial rift had appeared and how large it was. He also needed to determine the strength and numbers of the otherworldly demons now inside the canyon, and roughly what human cultivation level their strongest members equaled.
These were all things he urgently needed to know. If those demons emerged into the Cultivation World, it would spell enormous trouble, and the Righteous Qi Sect would inevitably be caught up in it as well. When the nest was overturned, no egg remained intact. He could not stand by and watch the Righteous Qi Sect face a deadly threat.
To learn the numbers and strength of the otherworldly demons invading the Cultivation World through the spatial rift, Li Dalong decided to take his niece Zhou Xue deeper into Misty Canyon and investigate the rift's location. Along the way, he would map Misty Canyon to prepare for the Righteous Qi Sect's next steps.
The terrain they passed through began to grow more complex. Dense forests and enormous rocks appeared, and the ground was no longer flat.
Li Dalong looked around warily. They carefully explored farther ahead.
Soon, they sensed unstable spatial fluctuations ahead and immediately stopped to observe closely.
A narrow spatial rift abruptly appeared not far away. Strange energy fluctuations emanated from it, as though it led to another world, before it abruptly vanished into thin air again. It felt profoundly eerie. Li Dalong and Zhou Xue carefully skirted the area where the spatial rift had appeared and decided to investigate farther.
They continued forward along the area where the spatial rift had appeared. Neither dared to fly now, so they descended to the ground and began searching swiftly.
Tall mountains and rivers began to appear ahead. The spiritual energy was somewhat denser than in the places they had passed through before, but it was mixed with an unsettling aura, as though it had been polluted.
Gradually, they reached a gloomy cave. A dense, dark aura permeated it, making it feel suffocating. Li Dalong sent a stream of spiritual power toward Zhou Xue, enveloping her to keep the dark aura from invading her body. He also gathered spiritual power around himself to form a protective barrier.
Suddenly, an enormous wolf-like otherworldly demon charged out of the darkness. Its massive form was terrifying, and an evil aura radiated from its entire body.
Dense, dark energy covered it, making it seem like a living shadow. Its eyes glimmered red, as though filled with hostility toward all life. Its limbs were long and powerful, and its exceedingly sharp claws could easily slice through anything. Its slender, strong tail could lash at enemies, and the demon power clinging to it would corrode their bodies.
Li Dalong dared not be careless. Shielding Zhou Xue behind him, he immediately struck with his palm. A powerful blast of force instantly condensed from the strike and hurtled toward the enormous otherworldly demon. Yet the demon paid it no heed, shattering Li Dalong's blast with a single swipe of its claw before lunging at him.
Li Dalong's heart tightened. He swiftly retreated, forming hand seals with both hands as he prepared to unleash his signature technique. Zhou Xue watched the battle nervously, lingering fear gripping her heart. Just as they prepared to give it their all, another otherworldly demon suddenly charged out of the darkness.
This enormous otherworldly demon was covered in thick frost and radiated a chilling aura, as though it were made of ice and snow.
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