Chapter 1 The Heavenly Barrier of Southern Jiang

The Heavenly Barrier of Southern Jiang is undoubtedly an insurmountable fortress for ordinary martial artists and armies in the general sense.

Located between two mountain peaks, the massive hundred-meter-high checkpoint is practically an uncrossable wall.

However, that's only for armies that 'can't fly'.

After the appearance of true qi airships, the Heavenly Barrier was no longer foolproof. Even with the protection of twelve giant demon generals guarding the city, the Righteous Army of Hundreds could still use true qi airships to directly send their most elite martial artists into the checkpoint... and then bloom from the center!

"Decapitation squad, follow me! Don't bother with those demon soldiers. Our mission is to break into the Divine Tree!"

At this moment, Su Zhou was wreaking havoc inside the Southern Jiang Heavenly Barrier. He descended from the sky and with one strike, annihilated a grandmaster-level demon general, mutated to a height of thirty meters. He then easily killed two demon army squads that came to encircle him. His speed was like chopping vegetables, even easier than a chef slicing ginger.

The demon soldiers and generals, who originally required a great deal of effort to kill, all turned into torches under the blade of the divine weapon, the 'Blade of Annihilation', screaming and scurrying around in the dark depths of the checkpoint!

"Yes!"

The three grandmasters and nine Houtian martial artists, including Zhou Buyi, who were closely following Su Zhou, responded in unison. Everyone saw the results of Su Zhou's previous strike. Their eyes were burning and their hearts were filled with heroic spirit.

—The might of a divine weapon is so valiant! This strike, I'm afraid even the Demon Emperor wouldn't be able to withstand it!

Thinking like this, they became even more fervent, unleashing thirty percent more of their power. The group flew towards the Banyan Divine Tree not far away like the wind.

Naturally, compared to the fanatical martial artists of the Hundreds, the demon army felt much worse. They knew very well that the Hundreds had gathered to attack the city, and they also understood that the Righteous Army of Hundreds had developed new weapons. But without personally experiencing it, who would have known that the 'ghost fire phosphorus', which was originally like a joke and not taken seriously by many, would be so terrifying after being purified and made into a bomb?!

Even a single touch of that red and white phosphorus fire was useless to put out, even if you jumped into the water. It would definitely burn through your flesh and bones before extinguishing!

Not to mention the black, viscous fuel. This thing could burn even when floating on water. At the demon army docks, where the water flow was slower, the entire river was boiling. Once you fell in, you would become a demon soldier boiled in a hot pot!

The elite martial artists of the Hundreds, who appeared behind them after the true qi airships landed, posed a great threat to their logistics. For a time, the demon army stationed at the Heavenly Barrier was under attack from both sides. If it weren't for the eleven demon generals holding the line, they would have probably fallen within the first half-hour of the Righteous Army of Hundreds' sudden attack!

"Reinforcements, please come quickly—" Even so, all the demon soldiers were shouting in their hearts. If the Divine Tree Guards and demon generals stationed at the Southern Heavenly Capital didn't come to support them, they wouldn't be able to withstand the Righteous Army of Hundreds' crazy attack, with their inferior numbers!

But.

The reinforcements they were expecting weren't in a good situation themselves.

Because there was a madman wielding a divine weapon, laughing wildly and hacking around, pushing against the road directly connecting the Heavenly Barrier and the Heavenly Capital, scattering the demon soldiers and generals preparing to come to support like a road roller, turning all reinforcements into mud and dust in a physical sense!

Whoosh! On the earth, there were constant sounds of sudden appearances, as if the air was being sucked out. This was the fierce wind phenomenon caused by the oxygen being burned by the high temperature, and the atmosphere being heated by the flames. Every time such a sound rang out, a burning streamer would flash and disappear in the rain. At the same time, a dozen demon soldiers, or even a demon general, would lose their lives, and even their souls would be beheaded!

"Hahaha, so divine weapons are this powerful! It's so awesome, it's like the top-tier equipment in a pay-to-win mobile game!"

In less than the time it takes to drink a cup of tea, Su Zhou had already hacked down three fully armed demon soldier squads. He didn't use any profound techniques, just pressed his right hand on the hilt of his sword, and went up to draw his sword whenever he encountered someone, cutting down with all his might, bringing up a gust of thunder and fire—generally, half of such a demon soldier squad would be killed, and the remaining half would be scattered, allowing the three grandmasters and Zhou Buyi, who were following behind Su Zhou like tigers and wolves, to rush up and kill them, leaving the white earth truly clean.

Among them, a tall demon general, five meters high, wielding a long-handled double-edged battle axe, rushed forward, wanting to suppress Su Zhou by relying on the advantage of his weapon—but Su Zhou wasn't stupid. He still had a seven-foot-long spear on his back. So, it could be seen that Su Zhou swept the spear in his left hand, sweeping away the giant axe that the demon general was chopping down from afar like sweeping away garbage. Immediately afterwards, Su Zhou stepped forward directly, and with a close-quarters strike, directly cut the demon general in two from head to crotch, turning him into a torch!

"This Blade of Annihilation, as long as it's stimulated with fire spirit qi, is like a laser cutting knife, almost melting everything, unparalleled in sharpness. And when controlled with thunder magic, the speed of the strike is extremely fast, and it also comes with a paralysis electric shock effect. Killing demon soldiers in this rainy weather is simply a natural counter!"

At this time, the defense battle of the Southern Heavenly Barrier behind him had completely entered a fever pitch, and the decapitation squad led by Su Zhou had already rushed into the urban area of ​​the New Southern Heavenly Capital.

This is a city that develops in a semi-circular shape. On the straight side of the semicircle is where the aerial roots and trunks of the Banyan Undying Tree are located. The entire city has no walls, and even the buildings are transformed from the branches and aerial roots of the Divine Tree. Every house has a strong wood-qi life aura, and many commoners belonging to the Demon Dynasty live inside.

Although he was rushing to attack, Su Zhou still glanced at these commoners, and the result made him smack his lips: "Wait, can that still be considered a person?"

Appearing in Su Zhou's eyes were 'tree houses' with human faces and roughly human torso shapes—that's right, those tree houses that looked like houses were essentially distorted human figures! And the life aura he felt in the tree houses before was all the malformed internal organs entangled and twisted with countless roots in the tree houses!

You could even see semi-woody hearts beating, transporting cyan wood liquid throughout their bodies!

All the tree humanoids were staring blankly at the branches of the Banyan Undying Tree above. Occasionally, one or two eyeballs could still move, and they were staring straight at Su Zhou, as if they wanted to use their gaze to tell him something.

"This, is this a human or a tree? Is this how the Banyan Undying Tree's dependents live?!"

A grandmaster who was following Su Zhou's footsteps was equally shocked. He originally thought that most of the commoners under the rule of the Demon Dynasty were like demon soldiers and generals, except that they had to use flesh and blood to maintain their human form, and they lived in towns like ordinary people on weekdays... But now it seems that these dependents of the Divine Tree really can't be considered humans, but rather a completely new kind of alien race with a strange life form!

But now is not the time to be sentimental about this. Soon, as Su Zhou and others passed through most of the city and forced their way into the core area of ​​the New Southern Heavenly Capital near the Divine Tree, the guards stationed here finally appeared.

More than a hundred Divine Tree Guards gathered from all over the place, blocking Su Zhou and others' path, and three wooden humanoids of different shapes, but all taller than humans, were waiting at the very front.

In an instant, an entire Divine Tree Guard brigade and three demon generals surrounded the decapitation squad.

"Grandmaster Su, you go first..."

Among them, the Liu grandmaster of the Daoist sect who had led Su Zhou before had already pressed a mudra of the 'Bing Fire Serpent Technique' in his hand, and was obviously preparing to use his trump card from the beginning to block this group of demon soldiers for Su Zhou, so that Su Zhou could maintain his full strength to go to the Yongning Heavenly Palace to kill the Demon Emperor—most other people thought the same way. All kinds of ultimate moves and life-risking pills were already in their hands, ready to erupt together!

But how could Su Zhou be the kind of person who would listen to his teammates' suggestions? He was already used to going solo—

Su Zhou didn't listen to these people at all. He laughed loudly, and then exploded like a bomb under his feet. Under the blessing of the qinggong *Thousand Mile Walk*, he pounced on the guards who had not fully prepared their formation at a speed of forty meters per second!

"Lowly bloodline..." The leading demon general had four arms, two holding shields and two holding spears. He was like a small military formation, and could be said to be as solid as a rock in the front. When he saw Su Zhou rushing towards him, he deliberately cursed, wanting to attract the other party's attention to himself.

Without a doubt, he succeeded. Su Zhou, who was originally planning to bypass the demon general and directly kill the archer units behind the Divine Tree Guards, turned his vertical pupils and pounced directly towards him. The shield-wielding demon general and the other two demon generals were immediately overjoyed: Su Zhou is a grandmaster, but how can a grandmaster kill them all in a short period of time? As long as they can hold on for a while, the Divine Tree Guards, who outnumber the decapitation squad by ten times, will be able to...

"Ha!"

Before they could finish thinking, Su Zhou let out a shout, like a thunderclap, and the roar with the meaning of a dragon's cry directly shook everyone present—even including the nine members of the decapitation squad—making them dizzy.

In the next moment, Su Zhou raised the spirit iron spear in his hand, and blue electric arcs crackled and flashed. He grinned and threw the spear out with all his might. It was like throwing a blue lightning bolt. In the flashes of electric light, one of the demon generals was stabbed to the ground right in the chest. The double blessing of Obscure Spirit Infusion and Crimson Earth Demon Poison made him unable to move on the spot, half-dead!

Immediately afterwards, Su Zhou used all his strength to draw his sword and slash. The Blade of Annihilation, shining with the crimson-golden luster of earth fire, instantly slashed through the two large shields in the shield-wielding demon general's hand like a hot knife through butter—at this moment, another demon general roared and slashed straight at Su Zhou's right arm joint with a flash of his blade.

At the same instant, the archer units in the Divine Tree Guards also drew their bows and released their arrows. All kinds of poisoned arrows and heavy bolts flew out like a storm, filling Su Zhou's entire body!