The Sky Demon felt a premonition as he stepped out of Pillar State.
The war between demons and humans would be extremely perilous.
But he also firmly believed that victory would ultimately belong to the demon race.
He had interacted with humans for centuries and knew their methods. Before leaving, he had convened a mobilization meeting, convinced he was fully prepared.
Therefore, even though he knew the humans had set countless traps across the Nine States, he was fearless.
However, how could he have known that to counter the demons and beasts, the Nine States Continent had put aside their grievances, joined forces, and woven a colossal net, waiting for the demons and beasts to fall into it.
The Sky Demon instinctively twitched his fingers, and then his eyes flashed with a cold light.
It was not yet time.
With a movement of his foot, his figure suddenly appeared between the rifts, his demonic energy pouring out like a waterfall.
"Scram!"
The woman's expression shifted slightly, and her figure flickered, blocking the front of the rift.
Bang!
The woman's body retreated rapidly, a strange flush appearing on her face.
After a few breaths, her figure suddenly stopped, as if supported by a powerful force.
The Sky Demon's eyes darkened.
Four figures emerged sequentially from behind the woman.
There was an aged old woman, a handsome young man, a stern-looking middle-aged scholar, and a stout child with a large head, only three zhang tall.
Though their appearances varied, the aura within these five people was astonishingly profound.
"Demon Lord, you have trespassed," the woman said coldly.
The Sky Demon chuckled, his heart filled with unspeakable astonishment.
He didn't even need to carefully discern to know that these five were all Mahayana stage cultivators.
The Nine States Continent was vast and rich in spiritual energy, and humans possessed the foremost wisdom among all beings. Facing five Mahayana cultivators, it was natural that he would not be easily flustered.
Yet, he was astonished by the harmonious atmosphere among these five.
Human infighting was far more intense than that among demons and beasts.
Humans had numerous factions, making unity difficult, and when it came to taking action, they would shirk responsibility.
The Sky Demon clearly remembered the great war a thousand years ago, when human internal strife and mutual restraint had given the demons and beasts an opportunity.
He had firmly remembered this point and decided to exploit it fully in this battle, employing every means of instigation, patiently waiting for the best moment to arrive.
However, everything he saw today was entirely different from his expectations.
His eyes flickered. The rift behind the five human cultivators had still not closed, and an endless stream of cultivators was pouring into the battle that had already begun below.
Those cultivators wore robes of different sects, holding their respective magical artifacts in one hand and thick spiritual talismans in the other, yet they were able to cooperate.
Within a short period, the demon race had begun to show signs of weakness.
How could this be?
The Sky Demon refused to believe it.
Yet, everything before him forced him to believe.
Humans were different.
They had actually united.
The Sky Demon felt a sudden emptiness in his heart, but then, as if remembering something, his thoughts calmed.
What were five Mahayana stage cultivators?
Humans could not contend with gods.
The Sky Demon casually waved his hand forward.
Accompanied by earth-shattering war cries from behind him, they engaged the five figures.
A thousand li away from Ten States, in Yang State, a similar battle was unfolding.
The beastly eyes of Zhi Duo, the Eight-tailed White Fox, narrowed into thin slits in his anger. His formerly snow-like, fluffy, and soft white tail was now covered in dirt and blood, utterly filthy.
"Bì Xì! You, a dignified Beast King, have willingly degenerated into a human slave! What face do you have to face your kin!"
Zhi Duo only knew that the sect leader of the Beast Taming Sect had a demonic beast named Xuan Wu.
The sect leader of the Beast Taming Sect lived a secluded life, and his demonic beast rarely appeared. Zhi Duo had only heard its voice, not seen the beast.
Xuan Wu was a mythical divine beast of the turtle clan. Zhi Duo surmised that the sect leader's demonic beast was likely of the turtle clan, and apart from a few top-tier bloodlines among the turtle clan, they were nothing to fear.
Whether by strength or bloodline suppression, it could easily subdue the opponent.
But it had never expected that the opponent would be one of those rare, top-tier bloodlines, Bì Xì.
One had to know that even the entire Divine State could not find a few Bì Xì with pure bloodlines.
Therefore, it was enraged.
What further angered it was that it had cooperated with the demon race, keeping the beast army at the border for an entire month. Yet, shortly after emerging, they were ambushed by humans.
The beast race was not like the demon race, where everything was decided by the Demon Lord. Zhi Duo was merely the nominal commander of the beast army. In reality, the beast army was divided into several factions, and only one contingent truly obeyed its commands.
And its previous orders had already caused dissatisfaction within the beast race. Now, encountering setbacks, it could already imagine what it would face after this battle concluded.
In this battle, it could only win, not lose.
Zhi Duo, while his mind was preoccupied, waited for Xuan Wu's response.
"Yes, fri-end."
"What?"
"No, it's, sla-ve."
It was unclear whether humans influenced the demonic beasts or the demonic beasts influenced the humans.
Xuan Wu's tone of speech was like that of the Beast Taming Sect's sect leader, True Lord Chang Shou, slow and deliberate.
Even though Zhi Duo's eyes were almost spitting fire, Xuan Wu remained unhurried, answering word by word, slowly.
Zhi Duo connected his words and finally understood Xuan Wu's meaning.
"Those who are not of our kind are bound to have different hearts! These are human words! You actually believe them! Foolish! Ridiculous!"
Zhi Duo deliberately amplified his voice with spiritual energy.
This statement was not just directed at Xuan Wu, but also at the demonic beasts fighting alongside the disciples of the Beast Taming Sect.
As long as it could sway one or two demonic beasts, it would be an unexpected bonus.
Xuan Wu shook its head slightly.
Zhi Duo was destined to be disappointed.
The bonds between them and humans could not be severed by a few words.
Take itself, for example.
The people of the Nine States Continent, including many disciples of the Beast Taming Sect, did not know how many years it had stayed in the Beast Taming Sect; even it itself could barely remember.
It only remembered that the Beast Taming Sect at that time was still a small sect with less than thirty people.
And the young man it had rescued from a mountain crevice had his portrait now enshrined at the highest point of the Beast Taming Sect's spiritual altar.
Therefore, its relationship with the Beast Taming Sect was difficult to describe even as friendship, let alone as servitude.
As Xuan Wu had predicted, the demonic beasts fighting alongside the disciples of the Beast Taming Sect showed no unusual reaction. Instead, they became fiercer.
Coupled with the reinforcements the Beast Taming Sect had found from an unknown source, more and more demonic beasts fell, one after another.
"Moo!!!"
Zhi Duo looked towards the source of the sound in horror.
It saw a savage bull, larger than a palace, with blood spurting from it like columns of water.
Zhi Duo felt as if some of the savage bull's blood had splashed into its eyes. Otherwise, why would it find the three figures standing before the savage bull so dazzling?
"White, fox, you, can-not, win."
A voice filled with pity was sighed from Xuan Wu's mouth.
For some unknown reason, the ferocity in the Eight-tailed White Fox's chest intensified rather than diminished.
"Whether we can win is not for a lowly creature like you to say! Today, I shall use your blood as a path!"
Swish, swish, swish—
The white tails behind the Eight-tailed White Fox spread out abruptly, then quickly dispersed again.
Xuan Wu shook its head and took a step forward, meeting the charge.