Taking two cities in succession, surrendering of their own accord

At the Demon Sect headquarters, in the great hall on Heavenly Demon Peak, numerous senior members stood along both sides below.

"Liansheng, what did our sect gain this time?"

Standing beside Zhou Qiong, Liansheng bowed. "Reporting to the Sect Master, more than ten thousand members of our sect broke through their realms during the fighting. Those with outstanding talent even broke through several realms in succession!"

"Very good. How is the investigation into Desolate Mountain City and Lishui City coming along?"

Below, Di Er, dressed in a black robe and a silver mask, dropped to one knee and said, "Reporting to the Sect Master, the overall strength of Desolate Mountain City and Lishui City is far inferior to Heavenly Sea City's. Both cities are jointly governed by several major factions, and neither has any True Martial Realm experts!"

"Liansheng, Bai Haotian, I give you one year. You must take Desolate Mountain City and Lishui City!"

"As you command!" the two answered in unison.

At that moment, the leaders of five major factions sat in a private room in Heavenly Rainbow Tower in Desolate Mountain City.

A woman with a human head and a snake's tail gently shook her head and said, "Say something! What exactly should we do now?"

"Is it possible that the Demon Sect will rest for a while after occupying Heavenly Sea City? We could use that time to seek help in other cities," said a massive, black-skinned member of a toad-like race softly.

"There's no time. I've already received word that the Demon Sect's troops have set out for our Desolate Mountain City!" The speaker was the elderly human who had organized this gathering.

"What? Is that true?" The others were immediately shocked.

"What should we do? Why don't we surrender? Didn't they say the Demon Sect gives people three days to surrender?"

"Yes, why don't we just surrender of our own accord? At least we'll survive!"

With a crack, a giant-like figure standing eighty feet tall slammed his hand on the table.

"Surrender? If you want to surrender, do it yourselves. My Giant Race will never surrender." With that, he looked at the elderly human who had organized the gathering. "Bai Xiu, if you came to discuss how to deal with the Demon Sect, then I, Meng Tu, would hear you out. Since you're discussing how to surrender, I'll be leaving!"

With that, he ignored their attempts to stop him and walked straight out of the private room.

"Why does Meng Tu have such a temper? Leaving just like that-does he have any regard for us at all?"

"Ahem, don't you know? Hong Tu of Heavenly Sea City once saved Meng Tu's life. Now that the Demon Sect has slaughtered all of Heavenly Sea City, how could he surrender?"

"What a stubborn fool!"

They continued talking late into the night. When they left, they were all smiling, but coldness and ruthlessness showed in their eyes.

That night, while everyone was lost in dreams, cries of battle suddenly rang out across half of Desolate Mountain City. Members of the many minor factions quickly scrambled out of bed, thinking the Demon Sect had attacked. The bold ones dared to go outside to see what was happening, while the timid ones were so frightened that they crouched on the ground and burst into tears.

Outside, at the Giant Race's compound, Meng Tu shouted, "Why? Why are you slaughtering my people and attacking our ancestral grounds?"

The woman with a human body and a snake's tail said softly from the side, "To survive, of course. Just because you have a grudge against the Demon Sect, you can't expect all of us to die with you!"

"Exactly. Meng Tu, if you ask me, for the peace of our Desolate Mountain City, you should just take your own life!"

"Pah! Dream on! To think you're supposed to be the masters of Desolate Mountain City. All I see is a pack of spineless cowards!"

No one replied. What answered him were the four leaders' fierce attacks.

The sounds of battle in Desolate Mountain City continued until dawn. When the city's inhabitants came out to see what had happened, they discovered that Desolate Mountain City's five major factions had become four.

Overnight, the Giant Race had been wiped out by the other four factions working together. The body of their patriarch, Meng Tu, had even been hung on the city wall. Notices were posted throughout the city, announcing that the four major factions had decided to submit to the Demon Sect together.

To the four major factions' delight, the city's inhabitants showed no intention of opposing them. Every face even bore a look of joy. They were truly happy that the four major factions had chosen to surrender of their own accord. What they feared was that the four major factions would resist. If their resistance caused the Demon Sect to massacre another city, they would all be finished.

At the same time, the four major factions secretly counted themselves fortunate. Judging by the inhabitants' reactions, if they had truly intended to resist to the end, these people might have killed them instead and offered them to the Demon Sect in exchange for their own lives. After all, they had no True Martial Realm expert to suppress all opposition. The combined strength of all the city's minor factions probably exceeded that of their four factions.

A hundred li outside Desolate Mountain City, the Demon Sect members flew toward the city under Liansheng's leadership.

"Huh? Chief Steward, why does it look like there's a giant hanging on that city wall?" The Demon Tiger King, following behind Liansheng, looked at the distant wall and asked in confusion.

Liansheng raised his head and looked toward the city. Sure enough, a massive humanoid corpse had been nailed to the city wall.

"Chief Steward, the Giant Race is one of Desolate Mountain City's five major factions. I suspect this must be one of their people. I don't know why he was nailed to the wall!" the Demon Rat King, Chen Shu, said softly from the side.

At Desolate Mountain City's gate, the leaders of the four major factions stood on either side with their senior members, watching countless black-clad figures flying toward them from afar.

At the same time, a wave of bloody killing aura struck them head-on. The bloody aura was so thick that it even shattered some people's mental fortitude. Looking at the approaching black-clad figures felt like facing emissaries from hell, and their entire bodies began to tremble. It was hard to believe just how many people these Demon Sect members had killed to gather such an immense bloody killing aura.

The Demon Sect members stopped at the city gate. Liansheng frowned as he looked at the four major factions opposite him, then at the corpse on the wall, seemingly understanding something.

Bai Xiu and the other three looked at Liansheng at the head of the group. Knowing that he must be the Demon Sect's Chief Steward, they immediately bowed together and said,

"The human Bai Family of Desolate Mountain City respectfully welcomes the Demon Sect's Chief Steward."

"The Beauty Snake Race of Desolate Mountain City respectfully welcomes the Demon Sect's Chief Steward."

"The Ghost Toad Race of Desolate Mountain City respectfully welcomes the Demon Sect's Chief Steward."

"The Heavenly Scorpion Race of Desolate Mountain City respectfully welcomes the Demon Sect's Chief Steward."

Liansheng chuckled. It seemed his guess had been correct.

Bai Xiu looked at Liansheng and continued, "Our four major factions are willing to bring Desolate Mountain City into submission to the Demon Sect!"

The other three hurriedly nodded as well.

Liansheng raised his hand and pointed at Meng Tu on the wall. "What happened here?"

"Chief Steward, you may not know this, but he was Meng Tu, patriarch of Desolate Mountain City's Giant Race. He was obstinate and refused to submit to the Demon Sect because of his old ties with the Hong Family of Heavenly Sea City. We have already slain him and hung him on the wall."

"Oh, very good!" Liansheng's smile grew broader and broader. It seemed the Sect Master's policy of massacring cities truly was formidable. Look, he had not even lifted a finger, and the other side had come out to submit of their own accord. They had even dealt with those unwilling to submit for him.

What Liansheng did not know was that things had gone even more smoothly for Bai Haotian. Not one of the factions there had wanted to resist; they had simply announced their surrender. It could be said that the Demon Sect had taken another two major cities without so much as the effort of blowing away dust.

After all, the territory of just one of these cities was almost as large as an entire continent down below.