"Bang!"
"Wu Yang, look at what you've done!"
On Nine Nether Mountain in the Nine Nether Wasteland, within the city's defensive army, there wasn't a single warrior from the myriad tribes of the Barren Realm. Instead, they were all demon soldiers clad in blood-red armor, enveloped by demonic energy.
Inside the Nine Nether Mountain Grand Hall, the leader of the demon branch, Zhi Hai, stood ten zhang tall. His face was blood-red, as if stained with blood, and two blue flames blazed in his eyes.
"Zhi Hai, don't forget, I am a disciple of the Demon Lord. What I do is not for you to point fingers at!"
Wu Yang looked at Zhi Hai as if nothing had happened.
"You..."
Zhi Hai glared at Wu Yang. "Fifty thousand of our clan's sons, under the Demon Lord's command, were investigating the foundation of the Eastern Desolation Continent. Now, in just a few days, three hundred thousand troops have been utterly annihilated!"
"Wu Yang, is this how you serve the Demon Lord?"
"The Barren Realm is merely a section of the Myriad Beasts Realm's Blazing Cloud Cave, carved out for itself. Even if its foundation is weak, you cannot underestimate it so lightly. Three hundred thousand troops, three hundred thousand troops, how many years will it take to recover?"
Zhi Hai stared furiously at Wu Yang, clenching his right fist. His long nails dug into his flesh. His branch was not valued in the Western Regions to begin with, and now with the annihilation of three hundred thousand sons, his strength had been dealt a devastating blow.
"Zhi Hai, I was suppressed for a million years. How would I know about the Barren Realm?"
"Hmph, I had only just awakened when I was chased by the disciples I personally nurtured. I narrowly escaped death several times!"
"How could I possibly have the time to investigate the Barren Realm!"
Wu Yang's face darkened. His feet floated in the air, and suddenly his eyes brightened. "My affairs were exposed a million years ago, and the Demon Lord was continuously defeated, forcing him to retreat to the Western Regions. Meanwhile, I was suppressed by the Blazing Cloud Cave in the Eastern Desolation!"
"My primordial spirit was severed by half, and my cultivation dropped to the Spirit Nurturing realm. To welcome back the Demon Lord, I had to use the soul-snatching technique passed down by the Demon Lord!"
"Wu Yang, you are truly fortunate to have obtained such a precious technique from the Demon Lord!" Zhi Hai's eyes were filled with greed upon hearing this. The Soul Snatching technique, even in the entire Western Regions, among the myriad demon bloodlines, only demons of pure lineage could learn it.
"I refined the entire Barren Realm into a Blood Purgatory and passed down a method to nourish the flesh. To find a suitable physical body, I had to seal myself to prevent my primordial spirit from collapsing."
"I waited for hundreds of thousands of years. Later, a human prodigy, truly remarkable, not only reached the pinnacle Nirvana realm but also broke the physical soul-snatching method passed down by the Demon Lord, reaching the Spirit Nurturing realm."
"Impossible!"
Zhi Hai immediately flew into a rage. "Our demon race's sacred soul-snatching technique was created by our demon ancestor. Who in the myriad tribes of the world could break it?"
"Hmph, I didn't believe it at the time either!"
"That human burned his entire blood essence and suppressed and sealed me. Another million years passed. What I didn't expect was that the Great Han Dynasty of the Barren Realm, through some unknown means, found a cultivation method for the martial path, bypassing the physical path I laid out."
"You mean?"
Zhi Hai's hand trembled involuntarily, his eyes shaking with terror. "Could it be... could it be that the Nan Tian Family has already infiltrated the Barren Realm?"
"This is likely the only explanation!"
Venerable Wu Yang nodded. "The Nan Tian Family is the only top-tier power founded by humans in the Cang Yuan World. Humans are already scarce, how could they abandon their own tribe?"
"But... but this is the Barren Realm, this is the territory of the Myriad Beasts Realm!"
Zhi Hai shook his head.
"I naturally know this is the territory of the Blazing Cloud Cave of the Myriad Beasts Realm."
Venerable Wu Yang glared. "Whether the Blazing Cloud Cave or the Nan Tian Family intentionally supports the forces of the Barren Realm, this is extremely troublesome for both of us."
"What the Demon Lord ordered us to do cannot be messed up. Not only you, but even I would not be able to escape death."
"Then what do you suggest we do?"
Zhi Hai hurried to Wu Yang's side, his eyes fixed on Wu Yang as if he were the cornerstone.
"Strike first!"
Venerable Wu Yang said with determined eyes. "While the Great Han Dynasty is still unaware of the truth, we should raise an army and, with lightning speed, quickly take over the Barren Realm. Opportunities are fleeting. If the Blazing Cloud Cave and the Nan Tian Family discover this, do you think there will be any way for us to survive?"
"In the past, I could have protected you. But now, my primordial spirit has been repeatedly weakened. Although the soul-snatching was successful, my cultivation is only at the initial stage of the Spirit Nurturing realm. Even you, I cannot deal with, how can I face the venerables of the two great powers?"
"Right, right, right!"
Zhi Hai quickly agreed. "However, the Demon Lord ordered me to lead our clan's five hundred thousand troops to enter the Eastern Desolation first, using the blood essence of half of our sons as a guide, with you as the formation, to construct a more stable teleportation array. But now, three hundred thousand sons are all dead, leaving only two hundred thousand."
"How can the blood essence of two hundred thousand provide for the teleportation array?"
"Hmm?"
Wu Yang's expression changed drastically. Cold sweat appeared on his forehead. He was so engrossed in analyzing the mystery of the Great Han that he had forgotten such an important matter. If this was not done, what was the point of destroying the Great Han? What was the point of ruling the Barren Realm?
With these motley crws, let alone sweeping across the Eastern Desolation, he couldn't even get out of the Barren Realm. A single Blazing Cloud Cave would be enough to destroy him!
"Wu Yang, if this teleportation array cannot be constructed, the Demon Lord cannot descend upon the Eastern Desolation. If the Demon Lord doesn't come, we will just be waiting for death."
Zhi Hai shook his head, his miserable face revealing helplessness.
"In extraordinary times, extraordinary measures must be taken!"
"Zhi Hai, lead the two hundred thousand demons and the one million Blood Phoenix Lion army to attack the Great Han Dynasty!"
"And you?"
Zhi Hai looked at Wu Yang nervously. He had no worries about attacking the Great Han Dynasty. What he was most concerned about now was where to obtain fifty thousand demon bloodlines. The five teleportation arrays Wu Yang had set up were all single-use and had now collapsed.
Looking at Wu Yang's current state, he probably couldn't even construct a single teleportation array. What could be done?
"Me?"
"Heh heh heh!"
Wu Yang sneered. "The moment I swept through the Blood Spring Wasteland, I had already passed down the demon cultivation methods. These were originally intended to cultivate my own elite troops, but now, I have no choice but to abandon them."
"Merely cultivating demon techniques, one probably cannot condense pure demon blood essence," Zhi Hai said with a bitter smile and shook his head.
"If five hundred thousand is not enough, then five million. If five million is not enough, then refine all the myriad tribes in the entire Nine Nether Wasteland!"
"By cultivating demon techniques, one can at least extract some demon blood essence!"
"You don't need to worry about this matter. I have my own decisions. You should focus on your own affairs!"
Wu Yang glanced at Zhi Hai and then flicked his sleeves, leaving.
...