Chapter 1 The Beginning

North of the Tianyuan Continent, across from the frozen North Great Continent, lies a land where mountains and wastelands are covered in ice, and azure clouds and endless white frost spread.

The scenery of Baishan Continent is forever unique and cold, silent and desolate.

Here, very few humans or other creatures roam the wilderness. Even the most resilient white bears and tigers cannot endure the bitter cold season, when the soul-freezing winds will ice over the earth and sky, dyeing everything snow-white.

Now, that moment has arrived.

Solid city walls, cast from grey-white Changbai rock, stand tall amidst majestic mountains. Taking root in endless peaks and ley lines, the spiritual light of a massive formation obscures the sky and earth, severing the entire vista of sky and land. The mighty Baishan Non-Freezing River flows in front of the Tianguan (Heavenly Pass), like a natural dividing line.

Baishan Continent, Northern Territory, Taibai Pass.

Taibai Pass, straddling the edge of Baishan Continent and the border of Wei Kingdom, was originally unremarkable, never receiving anyone's attention.

Within the New Dynasty, no one considered the small Wei Kingdom, nestled in the frigid land, to be a threat worth guarding against. And within Wei Kingdom, the Wei royal family, never harboring ulterior motives, naturally never thought of attacking the New Dynasty's pass.

Therefore, for many years, the two sides had tacitly interfered with each other, and even occasionally, border residents would spontaneously hold trade gatherings at the border. At that time, many specialties originating from the far north and the North Sea would gather together amidst the flying snow, becoming a unique scene in the Northern Kingdom.

But now, everything has changed.

Dark clouds, carrying endless demonic energy, obscure all the sky outside the Taibai Pass's giant formation. The stars above the high heavens, and even the sun's radiance, are all devoured by these misty demonic energies, leaving only a dim and lightless abyss to be seen.

The entire territory of Wei Kingdom has been completely swallowed by this mist. It has already transformed into a demonic realm on earth, a land of demons.

Tens of millions of New Dynasty soldiers nervously stand guard within the pass. Although they cannot see or investigate at the moment, the many soldiers who have fought against the enemy know that within that seemingly calm black mist, the incomparably powerful Jiuyou (Nine Nether) demonic army, possessing the power of heavenly demons, may swarm out at any moment, attempting to break through this Northern Territory Taibai Pass and continue their journey of corrupting the ley lines.

If Taibai Pass were just an ordinary border checkpoint, perhaps it would have been breached by the demonic army long ago, allowing these servants of the heavenly demons to drive straight in.

However, fortunately, Taibai Pass is not ordinary.

Over the years, it has secretly gathered the New Dynasty's strongest forces and technology, and it can be regarded as the embodiment of the New Dynasty's growing national power.

But even so, the situation is not optimistic.

The power of the heavenly demons is beyond the comparison of mortals.

--Heavenly demons.

Among the gods and demons, they are powerful beings originating from the Jiuyou Demon Soil.

Legend has it that the first heavenly demons were not demons. They were also gods and immortals, but they were unwilling to heed the call of the first Heavenly Emperor to become one of the stars in the sky and rule the entire world together with the Immortal Heaven Divine Realm.

They were rebellious immortals and gods, unwilling to submit to others, so they broke away from the Immortal Heaven and gathered in the land of Jiuyou, which seemed to be one body but was actually a loose collection of sand.

These gods and demons, unwilling to submit to order and only wanting to do as they pleased, had always been suppressed by the Immortal Heaven. Moreover, because of the internal chaotic situation, they had always been passively beaten and had never had a moment to fight back.

However, the appearance of the first nameless Heavenly Demon Lord gathered the loose sands of Jiuyou at that time, and gathered the souls of hundreds of millions of living beings in the name of reincarnation. He established the Jiuyou Underworld Sea as a place for the heavenly demons to live.

At that time, the Primal Beginning Heaven and Earth were so engrossed in His grand plan that they did not pay attention to these rebels' actions.

It was not until the calamity of the gods and demons, the spread of the Great Unforeseen, forced the Immortal Heaven Divine Realm to leave the Tianyuan Realm, and the Southern and Eastern Continents sank, that endless vengeful souls roamed the world, but countless souls also entered the Underworld Sea, causing Jiuyou to completely take shape.

However, the nameless first-generation Jiuyou Heavenly Demon Lord also disappeared without a trace, just like the Primal Beginning Heavenly Emperor—and then, during the reign of the second Heavenly Emperor, the Taihao Heavenly Emperor who controlled the fate of destiny, no second Heavenly Demon Lord had ever appeared in Jiuyou.

Until the end of fate, under the unwillingness of all living beings to be suppressed and controlled, the second-generation Heavenly Demon Lord, the Great Free Heavenly Demon, appeared in the world. His battle with the Heavenly Emperor established the current situation.

Whether it was the confrontation between the third-generation Heavenly Emperor Taihao and the third-generation Heavenly Demon Lord Great Desire Heavenly Demon King, or the balance between the Immortal Gods and Heavenly Demons, whether it was the invasion of the extraterrestrial demons or the cohesion of the hearts of the people in the mortal world, it all originated from that battle.

And it was precisely because of this that the Jiuyou Underworld Sea, which had only collected human souls in the past, gradually transformed into the Jiuyou Sea of Desire, which merged the desires of the heavens under the influence of the two Heavenly Demon Lords. Although there were still countless souls wandering within it, its purpose was not to let them rest in peace, but to provide a continuous stream of thought power and wish power.

The heavenly demons also completely transformed from rebellious immortals and gods into true heavenly demons—since then, even the desires of the immortals and gods have been within the scope of the Jiuyou Sea of Desire's command.

Even, if heaven and earth had spirits... then even the desires of heaven and earth could still be influenced and controlled by the heavenly demons.

And this is what the heavenly demons intend - they will use the endless desires of all living beings and demonic energy to corrupt the veins of heaven and earth and control the unparalleled power of the ley lines.

Breaking through the Northern Territory Taibai Pass is only the first step.

On the city walls of Taibai Pass, busy soldiers are patrolling back and forth on guard, checking whether the formation is complete or not.

Taibai Pass is rooted in the core of the local ley lines and is the central hub of the surrounding ley lines. It is extremely solid. If you want to break it, you must corrupt the surrounding ley lines and completely cut off its defensive power.

However, if you want to bypass it to corrupt the surrounding ley lines, it is basically impossible.

If you want to corrupt the ley lines and transform the demonic soil as easily as in Wei Kingdom, you must first break through Taibai Pass. But if you want to break through Taibai Pass, you must first corrupt the ley lines. This chicken-or-egg problem has caused the Jiuyou demonic army, which has invaded several times, to feel a great headache and be forced to retreat.

However, it is only temporary. With the support of the heavenly demons behind them, the demonic army cannot be blocked so easily.

Tianguan (Heavenly Pass), at a certain sentry post.

The former city lord of Beiling City, now in charge of the logistics department of Taibai Pass, Wang Haitian, is surrounded by aurora-like light curtains. He is solemnly sensing the aura of the enemy in the endless mist through the great formation inside Tianguan, using the power of Yuanci (Primordial Magnetism) divine light.

Indeed, the mist condensed from the Jiuyou demonic energy almost isolates all means of detection. Whether it is spiritual energy or light waves, they are all swallowed by it - but the Yuanci divine light of the earth is not among them. This power, which can span multiple realms, is one of the strongest observation methods that is almost impossible to block.

After checking back and forth several times, he can confirm that there are indeed no demonic troops preparing to launch a surprise attack nearby.

After reporting the relevant information to the pass, Wang Haitian couldn't help but sigh.

"Although Holy Emperor did predict the movements of the Jiuyou demonic army in advance... it is truly shameless of the heavenly demons to use loopholes in the contract to invade the mortal realm like this!"

In the past, after defeating Zhengyang Kingdom, the Holy Emperor made a covenant with the gods and demons - the gods and demons would not enter the mortal realm, and the New Dynasty would also cooperate with them in various matters and provide convenience.

Among them, things like cooperating with the immortal gods to re-establish the order of humanity, or cooperating with the heavenly demons to promote the terror of the related heavenly demons, were all part of the relevant contract.

The New Dynasty did fulfill all the requirements in the contract.

But the gods and demons rarely fulfilled them.

Whether it was the descent of the gods and demons or the invasion of the Jiuyou demonic army as agents, the New Dynasty had no way to appeal for 'injustice' and could only grit its teeth and face it.

This is the difference between humans and gods and demons - one side can disregard all kinds of rules and clauses and play all kinds of loopholes, while the other can only strictly abide by them.

It's like now. Because Wei Kingdom does not belong to the New Dynasty, the heavenly demons directly demonize a country, inserting a nail in the back of Zhongzhou (Central Continent). Then the demonic army invades, which is equivalent to Wei Kingdom invading the New Dynasty, not the gods and demons taking action personally.

"Although, Holy Emperor is all-knowing and flawless, but after all, we are facing gods and demons who are almost taking action personally... can we really stop them?"

Thinking of this, looking at the almost endless Jiuyou demonic energy in front of him, even Wang Haitian's expression dimmed for a moment: "Taibai Pass is indeed solid, but how many times can it withstand the descent of the gods and demons?"

And behind this somewhat worried man, a thin man holding a sword and silent remained unchanged.

Yan Changfeng, the former leader of the Qinglin Continent remnants, an underground lurking agent of Zhengyang Kingdom, is now lowering his head.

This peak Real Person realm expert is neither sad nor happy, just obeying the Holy Emperor's order, following behind Wang Haitian, protecting this Heavenly Rank Real Person who possesses powerful Yuanci supernatural powers and can detect the Jiuyou demonic army's attack in advance.

As for why he would so easily obey the orders of Ming Zhengde, who should have been his mortal enemy... the answer is actually very simple.

Because the person holding the sword has changed.

Now, it is the second year of the New Calendar, February 11th.

Three months after Nan Zhengkai, the leader of Zhengyang, was beheaded, and two months after Zhengyang Kingdom was taken over by the New Dynasty's Southern Expeditionary Army.

Even Zhengyang Kingdom itself has surrendered, and Han Shiling, the second leader and holder of the Qingxiao Zhengyang Ruler, has announced that Zhengyang Kingdom will be incorporated into the New Dynasty as an autonomous region in the future... then what reason does he, as a sword, have to resist his now theoretically highest master?

Betrayal, villain.

No dignity, martial ethics, and even less integrity.

These are all the evaluations and insults that his old comrades used to say to him.

Although he was despised as a man of three surnames, both guarded against by the New Dynasty internally and disdained by his former Zhengyang old comrades.

But Yan Changfeng did not have any special thoughts in his heart.

Anyway...

It's just drawing his sword.

Since it's all about drawing the sword, what difference does it make whether he draws his sword for Zhengyang or for the New Dynasty?

"Lord Haitian, it's time to go."

So, after Wang Haitian finished his sigh, he raised his head and said in a calm tone: "Since there are no Jiuyou demonic troops invading in this direction, we should go to the next detection point to confirm."

Wang Haitian also turned his head at this.

He looked at this former Zhengyang Kingdom Real Person who almost beheaded him with a sword ripple, with a complicated expression. He still felt somewhat awkward in his heart.

Although he understood that when facing the gods and demons, no waste of power could be tolerated. Since Yan Changfeng was such a guy who only obeyed the orders of the person holding the sword, then using his power to fight against the gods and demons was naturally extremely normal.

But...

Can this guy really be trusted?

But, at this moment.

Buzz—

A buzzing sound suddenly rang out between heaven and earth.

The earth trembled slightly.

Hearing this sound and sensing this vibration, Wang Haitian's expression suddenly changed.

He immediately activated the formation again, used the Yuanci divine light to detect, and then anxiously said loudly into the communication channel inside the formation: "Demonic army invasion detected!"

"No, not just this direction, there's a second demonic army!"

"It's from below! They're coming from the ley lines!"

Soon.

With Wang Haitian's alarm, the entire Taibai Pass immediately mobilized, and all the extremely vigilant soldiers went to their respective positions at the first moment, preparing to meet the powerful enemy about to arrive.

However, this time's enemy was somewhat beyond their expectations.

--Buzzing.

Accompanied by the constant tremors of the earth, the pitch-black sea of mist churned, and countless pitch-black figures with all kinds of swirling lights all over their bodies flew out of the demonic mist. The Jiuyou demonic army, to put it bluntly, is just ordinary soldiers eroded by the power of gods and demons. Their minds have been completely occupied and brainwashed by the laws left by the heavenly demons. Each and every one of them is fearless of death and extremely powerful.

Then, the extremely solid frozen soil surface bulged, turning into a shape like a small volcano, and a huge, unparalleled armored giant insect suddenly broke out from the depths of the earth, shaking off endless soil and rock debris, bringing up a sky of snow and dust mist.

That was a deformed behemoth that resembled a centipede and also resembled a beetle. It was hundreds of meters tall and nearly a thousand meters long. This giant insect's huge body was like a mobile mountain.

Accompanied by the suddenly distorted ley line spiritual energy between heaven and earth, this Kun (Insect) demon giant insect, whose strength was at the Real Person realm, twisted its body in the mist, vaguely resembling a writhing giant dragon.

A Kun demon?!

Seeing this scene, almost all the New Dynasty soldiers were stunned for a moment.

When did the heavenly demons tame the Kun demons?

However, it's not surprising - after the Kun demons were repelled from the Xuan Sea by the New Dynasty in the past, some Kun demons did retreat back to the east. If the heavenly demons had been preparing for the invasion for a long time, how could they not subdue these demon insects that have a special relationship with the ley lines?

In short, now is not the time to be shocked.

It can be seen that, accompanied by the low buzzing sounds coming from the air, endless soil and rock and demonic mist flow as if they were alive, like armor, and begin to cling to its body, causing this originally extremely large Kun demon to completely transform into a mountain peak giant insect.

Then, waving its hundreds of insect feet, it began to charge.

Carrying a mighty, seemingly capable of destroying everything aura, the mountain-like Real Person giant insect charged towards the huge pass fortress standing between the mountains!

Wherever it passed, whether it was hills or small mountains, whether it was plains or rivers, all were crushed and leveled by this huge insect - even if there were Jiuyou demonic troops blocking its path of charge, the giant insect would not stop at all, but would run past with all its might, crushing everything into powder.

"Damn, such an impact, even Taibai Pass can't withstand it a few times!"

Seeing the charge of the mountain giant insect, Wang Haitian's expression suddenly changed - Taibai Heavenly Pass is indeed extremely stable with the power of the ley lines, but that is only when facing spells and large-scale demonic army invasions.

If it is a Real Person level expert, or a being with incredible brute force, no matter how solid the pass is, it is just a man-made building and cannot be without damage!

However, before Wang Haitian could think of what method he should use to deal with the current situation.

He saw that behind him, a figure walked out and came to the front.

The man holding the sword came to the front of the city wall, facing the huge, unparalleled giant insect that was charging towards him.