The Demon Lord's Invasion

Chapter 5: A Convergence of Forces

“Can’t cultivate?” Dongfang seemed unable to comprehend it. Through his research on Yuan Qi particles over the past few days, Dongfang had discovered that many of them were rich in powerful life force. Of course, this didn’t mean the particles themselves were living beings, but rather that these substances could repair the body—and if present in sufficient quantities, they might even achieve the miraculous, heaven-defying effects of reviving withered wood or regrowing flesh on bare bones. In other words, in a world like this, as long as the injury isn’t fatal and the soul remains intact, what kind of severe injury could possibly turn a person into a废人? “You’d better figure yourself out first,” Jiang Tang said, unwilling to explain further. However, Dongfang explained, “Dimensions—though this is just a hypothesis for now. To put it in terms you can understand: my voice cannot travel through the air, yet you can hear it. This is because soul sounds can travel through primordial energy. Visually, souls are invisible on Earth—it’s like placing a glass underwater. Tactilely, souls are like smoke: gases can be touched, yet they lack a tangible sensation. Also, the storage pouch is the best proof of the Dimension. If you don’t understand, let’s use a display analogy: it’s like putting a 300,000-pixel image on a 30-million-pixel monitor…” Before Dongfang could finish, Jiang Tang quickly interjected, “Sacrifice—do you know what that is?” “It’s an ancient ritual—a bridge between humans and the gods. The ancients believed that by offering lives or objects, they could attract the attention of the deities and thereby exchange for…” Jiang Tang quickly interrupted Dongfang: “What if this is true?” “I can’t wrap my head around it.” Dongfang shook his smooth, bald head immediately, his voice drifting out from the doll: “If deities truly exist, what kind of beings are they? Suppose it’s the most powerful cultivator in this world—would it even care? Take the Earth Dragon’s shell you obtained—it’s a treasure to you, but in the eyes of that man and woman…” “Snap!” A palm-sized piece of Earth Dragon tail armor in Jiang Tang’s hand suddenly snapped in two. Staring at the broken Earth Dragon tail scale, Jiang Tang was lost in thought for quite a while before taking out another, slightly larger scale and slowly bending it with his formidable finger strength. “You know, I was conscious from the moment I was born. While others were still wailing, I had already begun cultivating. By the time others were receiving their initiation, I had already entered the Qi-Martial Realm. I practiced for a full ten years—apart from the sleep and food I needed at the very beginning, I hardly ever stopped. As a result, I became a genius—a true genius. Reaching the Spirit Martial Realm at age ten—among the hundreds of millions of beings across The Continent, there have been only five such cases in the past century, and three of them weren’t even human. But I didn’t receive the extraordinary treatment they enjoyed; instead, I was sacrificed. My bone marrow, the essence of my blood, and the spirit of my Qi—all were taken from me. If it weren’t for that cheap old man of mine…” Jiang Tang paused for a moment, then shook his head. He slipped the curved tail plate onto the wolf-shaped golem’s lower leg, a smile playing at the corners of his mouth—one of utter sarcasm! “Ordinary. After the sacrifice, they actually said that my bone marrow, blood essence, and vital energy were all ‘ordinary.’ They claimed that my cultivation had progressed so rapidly because I must have taken some kind of miraculous elixir, thereby dishonoring our ancestors.” Such weighty words were met with a single sentence from Dongfang: “Jiang Tang, you’re so stupid.” This time, Jiang Tang didn’t deny it. He was indeed foolish, for back then he had no guile whatsoever. In his previous life, he had been nothing more than an unlucky soul who kicked the bucket barely two years after graduating from middle school. In this life… “Now…” Jiang Tang took out another tail scale, folding it as he spoke, “The only thing I can cultivate is my divine consciousness. I’ll use it to control puppets to gather more materials and craft even stronger ones. One day, I…” “You’ll die of exhaustion because you can’t cultivate,” Dongfang finished his sentence for Jiang Tang. “Get lost.” Dongfang didn’t disturb Jiang Tang but instead began to familiarize himself with his puppet body. For half a month straight, neither of them spoke a single word. Then, half a month later, Jiang Tang suddenly realized that Earth City had actually become bustling! News had spread from somewhere that a third-tier Earth Dragon had appeared in the Sand Sea—and one that had awakened a divine ability, no less! Earth dragons are ancient, rare creatures—their growth potential remains unrecorded! It’s true that there are records of a Tenth-Tier Earth Dragon in the Sand Sea being struck dead by lightning, but everyone knew that was a Calamity Thunderbolt. If it had survived that ordeal, who could imagine what kind of being it would have become? Overnight, the news sent ripples through the world! This originally had nothing to do with Jiang Tang. Although it was he, along with Li Yishang and Yuan Shangpiao, who had cornered the Earth Dragon into this state, it was now truly none of his business—he simply didn’t have the strength to compete for anything. However, this upheaval still severely disrupted his life. “You little brat, didn’t you get it? Get out of this house now, and you’ll still get ten shards of crystal. Otherwise…” The speaker was merely at the mid-stage of Yuanwu—Jiang Tang could kill him with a single punch. But what about afterward? Earth City was small, with only so many houses available; housing 10,000 people was already the limit, yet the number of cultivators who had arrived now exceeded 30,000! He looked at the little home where he’d lived for two years—though run-down, it felt so warm! The climate of the Sand Sea made people from the Central Plains very uncomfortable. Coupled with the sparse primordial energy and low-tier demon beasts here, almost no one would come—except during sandstorms—unless they were desperate to survive or fleeing enemies. So Jiang Tang didn’t worry about it. As long as the Earth Dragon was captured, these people would naturally scram back to their hometowns, and by then, the house would still be his. “Twenty—or else…” As Jiang Tang spoke, he picked up a stone and crushed it to dust. The man’s face paled. After a moment’s thought, he obediently pulled out twenty shards of crystal and handed them to Jiang Tang. “I wonder how much this guy will make when he resells it next time?” Jiang Tang mused with a touch of dark humor before packing up his things and leaving the mud-brick hut. “Where are you going?” A small figure, about a chi tall, floated beside Jiang Tang. “Damn it, don’t waste your Yuan Power,” Jiang Tang grumbled. “I’ve already tested it. Using a wind-attribute demon core to float for a day requires 1,500 units of Yuan Power—an average of one unit per minute, which is directly proportional to the rate of Yuan Qi absorption. I have to admit, you’ve crafted it quite ingeniously.” “No kidding. I’ve been researching puppets for five years. But you—you’re even digging into this, coming up with useless stuff like ‘yuan energy values.’ And by the way, a day is 1,440 minutes.” Jiang Tang was at a loss for words, not sure whether to laugh or cry. “You’re wrong. To be precise, it’s 1,505 minutes—a little longer than Earth’s rotation.” “……” Jiang Tang was speechless for a moment, then suddenly thought of something and frowned. “Did you use crystal shards for the experiment?” Dongfang was silent for a moment, then nodded. “I used thirty shards of crystal.” “Where did you get them?” Jiang Tang grew anxious. “I sold my soul stones.” Dongfang didn’t even bat an eye. After saying that, he continued, “Each shard of crystal contains between ninety and one hundred and one units of Yuan Power. Perhaps due to its attributes, using the shards to levitate the puppet consumes two to three units per minute—it’s very unstable. Also, powering the puppet with a demon core isn’t a long-term solution. Every time the demon core is used or absorbs Yuan Qi, it suffers some wear and tear. Based on current estimates, this demon core will sustain normal use for half a year.” “You’re planning to use something that cost ten crystals for only half a year?” Jiang Tang was frustrated. That rate of depletion was way too high. If he’d used it on his own puppet, it would’ve lasted three to five years without a problem. As Jiang Tang was mulling this over, Dongfang’s narrow eyes suddenly swept toward a street stall in the distance, and he asked curiously, “What are those?” Jiang Tang looked over and replied immediately, with no interest whatsoever, “Isn’t it obvious? Spells and talismans, demon beast materials, and some junk weapons and junk cultivation techniques.” “Buy them all. For research,” Dongfang said immediately. “Get lost.” “Jiang Tang, you’re so stupid. If we want to survive in this world, we need to understand it better, and everything starts with the basics. We need to collect all the foundational information.” “I’d love to, but money—do you have any?” Jiang Tang snapped, growing impatient! “I’ve already thought about the research funding—we’ll go hunt demon beasts.” “You just say ‘kill’ and expect us to kill? In this weather, they’ll run away before I even get close. Killing my ass.” “We’re not hunting Blazing Wind Horses—we’re hunting Howling Wind Wolves.” Jiang Tang stopped in his tracks and glared exasperatedly at Dongfang’s shamefully delicate face. “Howling Wind Wolves are pack animals—as few as seventeen or eighteen, or as many as hundreds or even thousands. And the larger the pack, the more high-tier Howling Wind Wolves there are. If we run into a third- or fourth-tier one, we’ll both be dead meat.” Dongfang, however, replied without a care: “You said yourself that whether they’re common wolves or Howling Wind Wolves, the males always leave their packs. Haven’t you been hunting male common wolves all along? This time, let’s just switch our target to Howling Wind Wolves.” “I’m not the only one who’s thought of that,” Jiang Tang said, still shaking his head. Hunting Howling Wind Wolves was far too risky; even if no one else competed with him, the danger remained. Male wolves may leave their own pack, but they never stray far from the wolf clan. A single howl from them could prove deadly. Dongfang suddenly glided in front of Jiang Tang, blocking his path. “Jiang Tang, a safe environment is actually your prison. We can’t keep confining ourselves like this.” After speaking, Dongfang turned to look at the cultivators coming and going all around them, murmuring, “I still don’t fully understand this world, but wherever there are living beings, the law of the jungle prevails. Right now, aside from your life, what do you have to compete with others?” Jiang Tang fell silent. He knew all too well how slow this progress was. He’d been away from home for four years, yet not only had he made no progress, his physical condition was deteriorating day by day. At this rate, in another two years, even his physical body would slip back to the Yuanwu Realm, and then he would slowly age and wither away… Dongfang Yipiao sat down on Jiang Tang’s shoulder and said, “Being a spirit is truly agonizing—especially when you’re weak, drifting in a daze with your consciousness flickering on and off. No eating, no drinking, no sleep, no emotions or desires. I don’t want you to end up like this. Come on, let’s go deep into the Sand Sea.” “Mm-hmm!” Jiang Tang took a deep breath and finally steeled himself for the adventure. Barefoot, he stepped onto the scorching earth and walked step by step toward the city gates. The desert stretched endlessly, desolate and boundless. On the third day after Jiang Tang entered the Sand Sea, another group of people appeared in the earthen city. “A third-tier Earth Dragon that has awakened its divine power—not to mention this remote backwater, but even in our Shenwu Empire, there are probably very few of them.” A strikingly handsome young man stood with his hands behind his back, musing with an air of confidence. An elderly man approached the youth and chuckled, “Your Highness, on your very first journey to gain experience, you’ve already encountered such good fortune. Could it be that the Great Emperor of Shenwu has manifested to bestow his blessings upon you?” “If He had truly manifested, He would have made the Earth Dragon submit to me—but that, too, is only a matter of time.” The youth said smugly, then walked with his hands behind his back toward the only inn in Earth City, while the old man immediately bowed and followed. As the master and servant entered the inn, on the crumbling walls of Earth City, Li Yishang sat cross-legged with his sword in his lap, motionless as a mountain. “Hehe!” A voice like a silver bell suddenly drifted over, and immediately afterward, a woman dressed in sheer gauze—with an elegant yet alluring figure and sun-kissed skin—floated down onto the city wall. It was Yuan Shangpiao. “What do you want?” Li Yishang asked without even opening his eyes. “Of course I’m here to help you!” Yuan Shangpiao smiled charmingly, walked over, and sat down beside Li Yishang. She stared at the gleaming white hilt of the sword resting against his shoulder, smiled again, and said, “So, how does it feel? Does it fit your hand well?” Li Yishang still didn’t open his eyes as he said, “Is that all you came here to ask me?” “Hehe, I’m not that boring. You’ve come back this time—you haven’t given up on that Earth Dragon, have you?” Li Yishang replied expressionlessly, “Same here.” “I’d advise you to give it up. I’ve heard that not only is a prince from the Shenwu Empire here this time, but also several disciples from Xian Zong. Of course, their strength is all at the Qi-Martial Realm—you still have a fighting chance against them, but what about the forces backing them?” Yuan Shangpiao shook her head, sighed, and continued, “Without going into the distant past, there’s an elderly man at the prince’s side who’s at the Lingwu Realm. As for Xian Zong… heh, it’s even more terrifying. The one leading those disciples out for training is the human race’s greatest genius of the past hundred years. Although that unworldly little monster from the Ao family of Beihai’s Nishi Mountain snatched first place from him, he’s still far beyond our capabilities! Moreover, she’s a full ten years older than that little monster. It’s unimaginable just how far her cultivation has advanced over these past fifteen years. And lurking in the shadows, who knows how many powerful figures are coveting the Earth Dragon? I advise you to just give it up.” Li Yishang finally snapped out of it. He glanced sideways at Yuan Shangpiao for a moment and said, “Your words will only fuel my fighting spirit even more!”