Schemes on All Sides

Hu Xiaotian grew increasingly anxious with each attack.

Its peripheral vision was constantly fixed on the Demon-Identifying Stone in Song Xuanji's hand.

The stone grew smaller and smaller until only a tiny bit remained.

If this isn't stopped soon, the barrier will be repaired.

It roared suddenly.

An invisible roar of sound exploded from its throat, bypassing Wu Qingfeng and heading straight for Song Xuanji.

Seeing this, Xiao Tianqi stopped guarding the cave entrance.

He flashed forward, blocking Song Xuanji's path, and thrust out his palms, condensing his True Essence into a light shield in front of him, preparing to take the sound wave head-on.

Just as the sound wave was about to hit the two of them, a figure appeared in front of them.

It was Wu Qingfeng. He had somehow broken free from the battle and stood directly in front of the tiger's roar.

"Boom!"

The sound wave slammed solidly into his chest.

Wu Qingfeng was thrown backward by the shock, crashing into the cave wall and spitting out a mouthful of blood.

Brother Wu! Are you alright?

"I'm fine."

Wu Qingfeng wiped the blood from the corner of his mouth, propped himself up from the cave wall, and charged towards Hu Xiaotian again.

As Hu Xiaotian watched the Demon-Identifying Stone in Song Xuanji's hand shrink smaller and smaller, he grew increasingly anxious.

Its offensive began to become chaotic, and Wu Qingfeng gradually turned the tide of the battle, which had initially been in a dominant position.

A moment later.

"Alright!"

The Demon-Identifying Stone in Song Xuanji's hand had been completely refined into liquid.

He glanced at Hu Xiaotian, then took out other materials for repairing the barrier from his storage bag, fused the Demon-Identifying Stone liquid with the materials, and pushed them towards the cave entrance with both hands.

The liquid, which combined the Demon-Identifying Stone and repair materials, landed at the edge of the barrier, and the barrier opening, about ten feet in size, began to slowly shrink.

The dark halo at the edges gradually converged inwards.

Hu Xiaotian watched helplessly as the crack grew smaller and narrower until it finally disappeared completely.

After the cave entrance disappeared, it was replaced by an invisible barrier that blended seamlessly with the existing barriers.

"Great! The barrier has been repaired!" Lu Qingshan's face lit up with joy.

The three then joined the battle, attacking Hu Xiaotian alongside Wu Qingfeng.

Seeing that the barrier had been restored, Hu Xiaotian lost all will to fight.

It roared, and its massive body soared into the air, flying out of the mountain valley.

The three wanted to give chase, but Wu Qingfeng called out to them.

"No need to chase them! The barrier has been repaired, and the demonic beasts can no longer enter Yongzhou! We'll deal with them later!"

Upon hearing this, the three stopped and ceased their pursuit.

As Hu Xiaotian flew Shangyang Town, he saw dozens of Fifth-Tier Demon Lord flying towards him.

"Tiger King! This is Shangyang Town..."

Before the Scarlet Flame Tiger Lord could finish speaking, he was interrupted by Hu Xiaotian's loud shout.

"A bunch of useless trash!"

Hu Xiaotian's voice was filled with boundless rage, and Demon Lord trembled, hovering in mid-air, not daring to move forward any further.

"The barrier Shangyang Town has already been repaired by Wu Qingfeng and his team. If you had arrived any earlier, they wouldn't have been able to succeed at all."

"What? The barrier has been repaired? Does that mean we're trapped in Yongzhou forever?"

The demons were immediately thrown into chaos.

They followed Hu Xiaotian into Yongzhou, thinking they were there to feast on blood and seize territory.

Now that their escape route is cut off, they are trapped like turtles in a jar.

"What's the panic!"

Hu Xiaotian glanced at them coldly.

"The barrier isn't immune to being broken again."

"Could it be... that we still need to find Wu Qingfeng?"

"I ask cautiously," asked the Scarlet Flame Tiger Lord.

Humans cannot be trusted!

Hu Xiaotian snorted, his tiger eyes filled with rage.

"They have a very good saying: ' Those Non-Self our kind must have ulterior motives!'"

"The reason Wu Qingfeng was willing to break the barrier for us last time was because he needed something from me."

"Now that he has broken through to the Celestial Person Realm, he can no longer help us a second time. We must rely on ourselves for this."

"Rely on ourselves? The barrier was set up by human hands, how can we break it?" The demons looked at each other in bewilderment.

"As long as there is enough human blood, the barrier can be eroded."

"During this time, you should gather the powerful demons together and disperse them to various locations to collect human blood."

Upon hearing this, all the demons' eyes lit up.

Collecting human blood means being able to go to human towns.

This is more than just completing a task.

That's blood food. Fresh blood food.

"Go to a more remote place. Now that the barrier is sealed, our supplies have been cut off, and we can't just sacrifice low-level demonic beasts," Hu Xiaotian added.

"Yes!"

The Demon Lord responded in unison, and then followed Hu Xiaotian, flying away into the distance.

Two weeks later.

Shangyang Town is no longer a ruin.

Although the city walls are not yet fully repaired, they are already much better than the ruins they were in when the city was first captured.

Only a small portion of the houses in the town had been built, people were walking on the streets, and disciples were on duty at the town entrance.

In the center of town, a newly built meeting hall made of bluestone was filled with people sitting around.

At the head of the table was Wu Qingfeng, flanked by Song Xuanji, Xiao Tianqi, Lu Qingshan, Qin Bailian, and Han Baizhan.

Qin Bailian spoke first, his expression not good.

"Si Zheng, news has arrived from Lenggu Town."

"Yesterday, a Fifth-Tier Demon Lord led thousands of demon beasts to attack Lenggu Town. The town was only guarded by a Grandmaster, and it was breached in less than half an hour."

"After those monsters breached the city, they killed people and collected human blood."

"The news was sent out by that Grandmaster before his death."

The conference room fell silent for a moment.

Han Baizhan took over the conversation,

This is the third incident in the past two weeks.

"The monsters are attacking villages and towns that are poorly defended and far away. Even if we wanted to provide support, it would be too late."

"Their goal is simple: to collect human blood and break the barrier again," Wu Qingfeng said calmly.

Even if you knew, what could you do?

"These monsters aren't even engaging us in direct combat right now."

"We're doing everything we can to exterminate them, but at this rate, even if we wipe out all the demonic beasts in Yongzhou, half the population of Yongzhou will still die at their hands."

Lu Qingshan said with a frown.

He got to the most crucial point.

Once Hu Xiaotian has collected enough human blood, he can break through the barrier again at any time and escape back to the Demon Race with his demon beasts.

Does anyone have any ideas?

Wu Qingfeng sat in the main chair, his expression calm. He glanced at everyone and spoke.

"How about we each head to the major city? That way, if the monsters attack, we can provide immediate support!"

It was Xiao Tianqi who spoke. He hadn't heard from Lu Feng for almost half a month, and he wanted to take this opportunity to find Lu Feng first and secretly send him back to the North City Demon-Slaying Bureau.

As long as we return to the North City Demon-Slaying Bureau, even if people from headquarters come, we can protect Lu Feng.

"Brother Xiao's plan seems feasible, but if we are separated, and Hu Xiaotian were to gather demonic beasts again to attack the city, the losses might be even greater than they are now!"

Song Xuanji spoke up, then changed the subject.

"I think it would be better to send a decoy to lure Hu Xiaotian out, and then we can join forces to kill him!"

As soon as Song Xuanji spoke, Xiao Tianqi knew in his heart that he was targeting Lu Feng.

"Last time, even with our full strength, we couldn't defeat Hu Xiaotian. Now he still has dozens of Fifth-Tier Demon Lord under his command. You think you can kill him? Brother Song, you're oversimplifying things."

Upon hearing Xiao Tianqi's words, Song Xuanji glanced at him but did not immediately respond.

He knew, of course, that killing Hu Xiaotian was unrealistic.

His only goal from beginning to end was to get Lu Feng out.

In the past two weeks, he has found out that Zhao Changgeng was killed by Lu Feng.

As long as Lu Feng shows up, he can produce evidence immediately and arrest the person in public.

Even if Xiao Tianqi wanted to protect her, he wouldn't dare to snatch her away in front of everyone.

But Lu Feng hasn't shown up yet. If he makes this public now, Xiao Tianqi will definitely send a message to Lu Feng in secret.

It will be difficult to arrest them then.