Boom!
A vast bolt of lightning descended from the sky, striking the early Grand Luo Golden Immortal scorpion once again with Grand Pure Divine Thunder. Endless lightning coursed through its body, and the accumulated Grand Pure divine abilities erupted all at once. The scorpion demon's physical body exploded, and the life force within it rapidly dissipated.
With the scorpion demon's death, the remaining six Demon Gods erupted simultaneously and fled in all directions.
The six Demon Gods retreated, but Suiren and the other three did not pursue them. They descended directly onto the battlefield below. Vast Grand Luo might swept forth as one destroying heaven and earth Grand Pure divine ability after another, mingled with Grand Pure Profound Light, fell from above. A huge swath of demons on the ground was instantly slain!
The demons were terrified and immediately scattered in defeat. In an instant, the demon race, which had completely held the upper hand, fled in utter disarray. The first formal battle between humans and demons ended with the demon race's defeat!
Jiang Haofeng stood upon the earth and gazed into the sky. Red and blue light flashed in his eyes as the majestic Demon Court coiled above the Ninth Heaven came into view.
Di Jun, I'll be waiting for your next move!
A sharp gleam rose in Jiang Haofeng's eyes. He would do all he could and leave the rest to fate. In any case, there could be no outcome worse than the original history.
Moreover, with his intervention, Nuwa City had been built on Central Phoenix Mountain. At the very least, it could preserve the human race's elite. That alone was already countless times better than the original history.
With a guaranteed fallback already in place, all that remained was to give it everything he had. Success would be best, but even failure would bring no regrets!
At the same time, in the Demon Court above the Ninth Heaven, within the Demon Master Palace!
Kunpeng looked at the six demons before him, their auras weak and dispirited, his face filled with astonishment.
"What did you say?"
"The seven of you couldn't defeat the human race?"
Kunpeng was profoundly shocked. The seven of them were all the Demon Gods born within the entire demon race after the human race's creation. With all of them deployed, they had still been no match for the human race?
The six Demon Gods lowered their heads in shame and explained, "The human race has four Grand Luo Golden Immortals. Three of them are late-stage Grand Luo, and they possess Saint divine abilities. We truly were no match for them."
Kunpeng froze. Four Grand Luo Golden Immortals, and three of them were late-stage Grand Luo Golden Immortals?
The human race had existed for only a little over a hundred thousand epochs. Producing Grand Luo Golden Immortals was already astonishing enough, yet they even had late-stage Grand Luo Golden Immortals.
And there were three late-stage Grand Luo Golden Immortal cultivators. It had only been a little over a hundred thousand epochs—how could their cultivation have progressed so quickly?
Within the entire demon race, the strongest clansman born after the human race's emergence was only at the middle stage of Grand Luo Golden Immortal. That was already the strongest being produced by the entire demon race.
Such was the case for the vast demon race, yet the weaker human race had produced late-stage Grand Luo Golden Immortals. Though the difference was only one minor realm, this was Grand Luo Golden Immortal cultivation. Every breakthrough was as difficult as ascending to heaven.
Was the human race's cultivation speed not a little too fast?
It seemed he needed to reassess this weak race. Being weak now did not mean they would remain weak forever.
This was also the first time Kunpeng had truly regarded the human race seriously. For the first time, it was not because of the Saints that he viewed them differently, but because he had been shocked by the human race's own potential.
"I understand. Go back and recover from your injuries. I will handle the matter of the human race myself," Kunpeng said, waving a hand at the six demons.
"Yes!"
The six Demon Gods bowed, then turned and departed.
Kunpeng, meanwhile, turned toward the Demon Emperor Palace, still finding it unbelievable.
"What?"
Within the Demon Emperor Palace, Di Jun looked at Kunpeng with a face full of astonishment.
"Of the seven Demon Gods, one died in battle, while the rest returned injured. They were defeated," Kunpeng said with a bitter smile.
"Defeated?"
"You gathered the strongest members of our demon race born after the human race's creation to fight the newly born human race, and you were actually defeated?"
"Does that mean that, under equal conditions, our demon race is inferior to the human race?"
Di Jun's voice was full of bewilderment and shock.
He had founded the demon race, which had stood within the Primordial World since the Dao-Demon Calamity and endured to this day. Among them were many generals who had survived the Dragon-Phoenix-Kirin Calamity from the Dragon, Phoenix, and Kirin Clans!
They had gathered countless veteran experts, occupied the vast Ninth Heaven, and intimidated the entire Primordial World.
But what of the human race? They were merely a newly born race, existing for only a little over a hundred thousand epochs. Though they were created by Saints, and Saints had established teachings to pass down the Dao to them, so what?
No matter what, the human race was only a new race that had existed for a little over a dozen epochs. They occupied a patch of land no larger than a palm within the Primordial World, and neither their population nor their numbers could compare with the demon race.
Yet under such circumstances, the demon race had gathered every expert born during the same era as the human race, only to lose to this newborn race!
They had instead been defeated by the human race?
Such an absurd thing had actually happened.
Before this, Di Jun had never imagined that the demon race would lose against the human race. Even if they used only demons born after the human race's creation, they should not have lost.
For a moment, Di Jun was speechless and did not know what to say.
A wave of humiliation and anger rose within him for no reason.
He was the mighty Demon Emperor, ruler of the Ninth Heaven, master of the celestial stars, commander of immeasurable demons. Yet when he tried to bully a newly born human race, he had actually failed to defeat them?
Inside the Demon Emperor Palace, Di Jun and Kunpeng faced each other in silence. For a time, the hall sank into prolonged quiet.
Only after a long while did Kunpeng finally say with a bitter smile, "What should we do next?"
Di Jun frowned. The demon race's previous plan had been flawless: use the newly born demons as a test. If the Saints intervened, they would shift the responsibility onto the newly born demons, claiming they had failed to recognize the mandate of heaven and offended the Saints.
If the Saints did not intervene, then they would completely slaughter the human race, use human blood to refine the Witch Slaying Sword, kill the Ancestral Witches, break the Witch Clan's Twelve Capital Celestial Gods Array, and utterly exterminate the Witch Clan.
The plan had been perfect. Whether the Saints intervened or not, the demon race had a response prepared.
But who could have expected the plan to stall before even taking its first step? They had used the newly born demons as a test, but the problem was that the newly born demons could not defeat the human race.
They could not possibly dispatch the demon race's other experts. If they did, would that not openly tell the Saints that he, the Demon Emperor, intended to slaughter the human race?
There would not even be room to maneuver.
Slaughtering the human race was merely for refining the Witch Slaying Sword. The Witch Clan's strongest combat power was only at the Saint level. Offending Saints over this was simply not worth it. It would be fine if the Saints did not care, but if they did, the losses would outweigh the gains.
They could not win by fighting, nor could they send additional demons. Yet Di Jun was unwilling to simply give up.
After mobilizing so many forces and gathering a million demon immortals, he could not accept getting nothing in return.
After pondering for a moment, he said, "Have Ji Meng make a trip. The human race killed one of our Grand Luo Demon Gods, so they must give us an explanation."
"If the Saints intervene, then so be it. If not, slaughter the human race and refine the Witch Slaying Sword!"
With a sweep of his hand, Di Jun set the course of action!
At the border between humans and demons, Jiang Haofeng silently looked over the tidied battlefield before him. In the previous battle, the human race had lost 5,300 Profound Immortals, seventy-eight Golden Immortals, and two Grand Unity Golden Immortals.
Although the battle had not lasted long, and Jiang Haofeng had blocked the demon race's strongest group of Demon Kings.
The demon race had a million demon immortals, vastly outnumbering the human race. Even that brief clash had inflicted horrifying casualties upon the human race.
Among the fallen were thirteen Innate Humans: two Grand Unity Golden Immortals and eleven peak Golden Immortals!
At this point, fewer than three thousand Innate Humans remained. There were only 2,987 left!
For a time, Jiang Haofeng felt a sense of desolation, his eyes filled with emotion.
Three thousand Innate Humans had once been born on Central Phoenix Mountain. They had known one another for over a hundred thousand epochs, but now they were separated forever by life and death.
Even though Jiang Haofeng understood that this was bound to happen.
If the human race wished to become the protagonist of heaven and earth in the Primordial World, battle was unavoidable. If they wished to become the protagonists of the Primordial World, they could not remain a pampered race. Only through battle could they truly grasp the fate of their race in their own hands.
Otherwise, the outcome recorded in the history of the Primordial World would become the human race's future.
As humans, they would worship gods and Buddhas. Though they would be the protagonists of heaven and earth, they would forever remain supporting characters and puppets upon the stage of the Primordial World.
To completely break free from the human race's former fate, war was unavoidable.
And battle was often accompanied by sacrifice!
Jiang Haofeng had never hoped that all three thousand Innate Humans would survive forever. That was impossible. As time passed, Innate Humans would inevitably perish from all kinds of accidents.
Yet though he understood this in his heart, when sacrifice truly arrived, Jiang Haofeng still felt a complicated mixture of emotions.
"I wish to establish a Human Heroic Spirits Pavilion beneath Central Phoenix Mountain, compile a history of the human race, record the course of our people's development, and commemorate these outstanding talents who sacrificed themselves for our race."
"We will place their statues within the Heroic Spirits Pavilion, record their deeds in our race's history, and announce them to every tribe so that our people may recite their names!"
Jiang Haofeng said as he looked at the densely packed corpses before him.
"That is only proper!"
"They defended our race at the border, resisted the demon threat, and protected the peace and joy of every tribe. They should naturally be honored by our people, remembered in their hearts, and serve as an example for the younger generation to follow, so that they may protect the human race's peace!"
Da Chao solemnly nodded beside him.
This was the first large-scale battle between the human race and an external race. More than five thousand Profound Immortals had died. Including those stationed within the tribes, the Human Manifest Lineage's Profound Immortals had suffered a reduction of one-fortieth. Even thirteen Innate Humans had died.
It was not only Jiang Haofeng who felt deeply moved; the other humans were likewise filled with emotion.
"They died fighting for the race. They are heroes of our people and should have statues raised in their honor, their names passed down for generations!" Suiren also said.
"That is indeed proper," Zhisheng said from the side.
The surrounding Innate Humans nodded one after another, all agreeing with Jiang Haofeng's proposal.
"Once this great battle ends, we will erect their statues and establish the pavilion, ensuring that they are forever recorded in the annals of our human race!" Jiang Haofeng declared solemnly.
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