The Cloud-Soaring Squad

Xing Yao stopped short and instantly sank into his mental world.

Inside his mental space, Clones No. 1, 2, 3, and 4 all stood waiting. Their faces were taut as iron, their foreheads covered in dense beads of cold sweat. Their breathing was rapid, their eyes locked on the blood-soaked battlefield in the projection of the outside world, and their entire bodies trembled faintly.

At a glance, Xing Yao saw the anxiety and urgency in their hearts-they had already sensed the overwhelming catastrophe outside, and every scream felt like a stab to their hearts.

He wasted no words, issuing only an icy command in his sea of consciousness:

"No. 5, No. 6, return to the secret realm plaza in Qingning City immediately and provide support. Keep your masks on the entire time. Do not expose your identities!"

Two mental fluctuations instantly answered, "Understood!"

The next second, Xing Yao severed the mental link, no longer dividing his attention.

Outside, a blood-reeking wind struck his face, and bloody mist filled the sky.

Screams, the crunch of breaking bones, and the sounds of demonic beasts chewing flesh were so piercing they made his scalp crawl.

Mutilated corpses lay scattered across the ground. Some had been disemboweled, their entrails strewn everywhere; some had been smashed into pulp by the massive claws of demonic beasts, leaving only indistinct pools of gore; there were even children whose small bodies had been gnawed beyond recognition, their little hands still frozen in the posture of struggling.

A nauseatingly thick stench of blood, demonic energy, and shredded flesh held the entire plaza in its suffocating grip.

Fury suppressed to its utmost limit churned in Xing Yao's eyes. His fingers clenched around his spear, his knuckles white.

Without the slightest hesitation, he drove both legs against the ground. The earth exploded with a boom, and he became a streak of black lightning, charging straight into the densest, most frenzied center of the demonic tide!

"Shhk-!!"

His spear carried the sharp shriek of tearing space as it pierced a giant demonic wolf's skull. Blackish-red blood sprayed wildly along the shaft, splashing all over Xing Yao.

He viciously twisted his wrist, churning the spearhead through the beast's brain and shattering its demonic core. Its massive body crashed down, crushing two smaller demonic creatures lunging from behind it.

Xing Yao pulled his spear free and swept it sideways, instantly unleashing a razor-sharp spatial blade!

Splurch-!

Two or three demonic beasts were cut clean in half at the waist. Their upper bodies flew away, intestines and blood spilling across the ground. Foul-smelling bodily fluids splashed onto his face and clothes, but he did not even blink.

A demonic creature covered in bone spikes ambushed him from the side, its claws sweeping toward his neck on a putrid gust!

Xing Yao sidestepped and thrust his spear backward, piercing straight through the creature's lower jaw and out the top of its head. Black blood gushed like a fountain.

He raised his foot and kicked hard, sending the corpse flying into an oncoming mass of demonic creatures and knocking them down.

Every step landed in a pool of blood. Every thrust drew a line of blood. Blood dripped from his spearhead in rivers, and corpses piled beneath his feet.

The demonic tide surged toward him, layer upon layer, like black waves seeking to swallow him whole. Yet Xing Yao was like the sharpest blade, carving a bloody path through mountains of corpses and seas of blood.

"Xing Yao!"

Lin Chen charged over with a furious roar, lightning flaring all over his body. Purple bolts coiled around his arms, and with a raised hand, he blasted out a thick pillar of lightning!

"Boom-!!"

The lightning slammed into the horde of demonic beasts, instantly blasting out a cloud of charred, bloody mist. Several beasts were reduced to charcoal on the spot, their flesh sizzling and smoking.

But a demonic beast's bone spike also tore a wound across his shoulder, deep enough to expose bone. Blood gushed out, instantly soaking his clothes.

Lin Yue swung both hands wildly. Countless dark green vines grew in a frenzy, wrapping around beast after beast and constricting until their bones shattered and their bodies burst apart. But the beasts also tore and bit the vines into flying fragments. Demonic blood splashed her cheeks, and her face was deathly pale.

The students behind them suffered even more terribly.

A boy had just struck a demonic beast with lightning when a creature pounced from behind and clamped its jaws around his neck. His agonized scream cut off halfway through, and blood sprayed out, staining the face of the companion beside him.

A girl had her right leg bitten off by a demonic beast, yet she still lay on the ground, wielding a dagger with both hands and stabbing frantically at its eyes, until she was completely swallowed by the bloody mist.

Someone else had an arm blasted off and was covered in blood, yet clung to a demonic beast to take it down with them, detonating their own energy and exploding into a skyful of bloody rain.

"Fuck! I'll fight you bastards to the death!!"

"I'm an awakener! Not a turtle hiding in its shell! Kill them!!"

"Protect the ordinary people! Even if we die, we can't let them take another step forward!"

The youths' roars were hoarse and tragically defiant. Some were so frightened that tears streamed down their faces, yet they refused to retreat a single step; some trembled in both legs, yet gripped their weapons and stood firm in front of the elderly and children.

Blood stained their school uniforms red. Wounds covered their bodies, their bones exposed, yet not one of them actually turned and fled.

Demonic beasts poured endlessly from the spatial rift. For every wave killed, ten more came; for every ten waves killed, a hundred more came!

Corpses piled higher and higher. Blood formed little rivers, flowing down the plaza steps and staining every inch of ground red. The air was thick with the cloying stench of blood.

Xing Yao stood atop a mountain of corpses, his spear dripping blood. Black blood and shredded flesh covered his entire body, and his gaze was as cold as an asura from hell.

He looked up at the ever-expanding spatial rift, spatial power churning wildly around him.

The next second, he raised his spear again and leaped into the boundless demonic tide.

Whenever his spear struck, blood spilled.

Whenever his shadow moved, a life was taken.

The moment Qin Lie led the Cloud-Soaring Squad through the barrier, the suffocatingly pungent stench of blood struck them head-on. Severed limbs and blood covering the ground stabbed at everyone's eyes.

Without a single unnecessary word, they all drew their weapons. Energy shields, alloy combat blades, and the radiance of supernatural abilities lit up at once, their presence as keen as blades.

Agile and well-coordinated, they entered the fray like tigers among sheep, forcibly tearing a huge opening in the demonic tide!

"Kill-!"

Their deep, unified roar rang across the plaza. Their movements were ruthless, every strike lethal. Each attack sent demonic creatures crashing down with wails, and their firepower and supernatural abilities wove into a storm of death, instantly shouldering most of the pressure bearing down on the students on the verge of collapse.

Lin Chen was fighting bathed in blood, wounds covering his body, even his purple lightning terribly dim. He suddenly caught sight of these powerful figures charging into the fray. First he froze, then wild joy erupted in his eyes!

"Reinforcements are here! They're powerful! So many powerful fighters!"

Lin Yue also gritted her teeth and looked up at these black-clad figures, who seemed like divine soldiers descending from heaven. A trace of hope finally appeared on her pale face.

Every student present was stunned for a moment. They did not know this was the Cloud-Soaring Squad. All they saw was a group of mysterious, well-equipped, terrifyingly powerful fighters suddenly appearing to hold back the deadly demonic tide for them!

Their nearly exhausted strength instantly surged back at that moment!

"We're saved! We have reinforcements!"

"Fuck! I knew I wouldn't die here! Kill them!"

"Charge with the powerful fighters! Kill every last one of these monsters!"

Morale instantly soared. The youths roared and lunged forward again, the last of their strength erupting from their battered bodies.

Xing Yao flicked an oncoming demonic creature away with his spear and glanced sideways at the powerful figures who had suddenly charged onto the battlefield. His eyes did not waver in the slightest; his attacks merely grew sharper and more ruthless.

His spear tore through the air, piercing straight through a demonic creature's skull. Black blood sprayed wildly.

He twisted his wrist, instantly shattering its demonic core, and the corpse crashed to the ground.

He did not care who these people were.

As long as they had come to kill demonic creatures, they were temporary allies.

Qin Lie fought furiously alongside his squad members, his watchful gaze remaining fixed around Xing Yao. Yet he neither revealed his identity nor gave any signal, silently building a defense of steel with flesh, blood, and firepower.

Blood stained the ground red, and severed limbs piled like mountains. The roars of demonic creatures, the furious cries of humans, and the thunder of energy explosions shook the entire plaza until it trembled faintly.

Just as the battle had steadied slightly-

The spatial rift in the sky suddenly began twisting violently!

An aura far more terrifying and colder than that of every demonic creature before it was slowly awakening deep within the rift.