The Demon Lord's Invasion

Chapter 11: The Terrifying Dongfang

A scar, resembling a flame, burned from the boy’s left chest all the way to his shoulder, spreading to his neck, appearing incredibly ferocious and terrifying. An absolute crushing of divine consciousness, yet accompanied by a faint, diametrically opposed flow of Primordial Energy. Was he concealing his true power? Or was his cultivation far beyond her own? Such severe injuries on his body, yet they failed to take his life—could it be that he truly wasn’t human? The woman was bewildered. “Spare him.” As the woman stood in horror, bone spurs protruding from Dongfang’s shoulder blades fired two laser-like silver beams at the Sword Cultivator, much like shoulder-mounted cannons. At the same time, Jiang Tang, taking advantage of the woman’s wounded divine sense, flashed like lightning in front of her. Forming a claw with one hand, he reached toward her lower abdomen and seemed to touch her lightly. Instantly, the woman’s body went limp, and she collapsed to the ground. “Spiritual Sense Seal! Spirit-Martial Realm!” Seeing this, the other two cultivators dared not harbor any further ambitions and immediately turned to flee. “Stop them. Leave this one to me.” Jiang Tang suddenly appeared beside the Sword Cultivator and delivered a swift kick. The Sword Cultivator instantly sensed danger, but just as he was about to dodge, Dongfang Suan sealed off his retreat with spider silk. His long sword was also deflected by a bone spike. In that instant, his spiritual energy exploded, and the Sword Cultivator’s side was struck by Jiang Tang’s kick, sending him flying five zhang away. He crashed through several falling rocks in succession before finally slamming violently into the stone wall, his fate unknown. Dongfang didn’t pause for a moment. His demonic energy seemed to have been pushed to its absolute limit as he fired more than a dozen large webs from his hands, entangling all the falling rocks. Then, he darted into the ant hole with lightning speed. There was nowhere to hide in the narrow ant tunnel; their talismans were utterly ineffective against Dongfang’s spider webs. Three consecutive volleys of spider web projectiles trapped the two fleeing figures inside. Bone Spiders were indeed weak; even a peak second-tier one would meet its end at Jiang Tang’s hands—but that was only if the spiderwebs were completely ineffective against him. If one couldn’t cope with the stickiness of the web, the consequences would be just like those of these men: they’d be at his mercy! Jiang Tang watched as Dongfang dragged back the two men, who were wrapped into balls by the spiderweb, and asked in puzzlement, “Why are you sparing their lives?” “For research,” Dongfang replied. He fired another blast, binding the Sword Cultivator into a ball, then flew above the woman and asked, “What did you do to her?” “I used my divine sense to seal her energy vortex. Combined with the damage to her divine sense, she’s now completely powerless,” Jiang Tang said before sitting cross-legged and beginning to regulate his breath. Dongfang, meanwhile, shot two silver threads from his bone spines, binding the woman’s limbs to the ground, then her mouth. Finally, as she stared at him in terror, he pulled out a scalpel—one he’d forged himself from the last leg of a peak Second-Tier Earth Dragon. He had a total of five such tools, including scalpels, bone saws, and scissors of various kinds. “What are you doing?” Jiang Tang suddenly opened his eyes. “I want to see what a vortex looks like,” Dongfang said as he lifted the woman’s robe and slashed down with a single stroke. “Wote?” Jiang Tang was dumbfounded, and the other four cultivators stared wide-eyed, watching Dongfang’s every move in horror. “No!” Dongfang suddenly cried out in alarm. Before his very eyes, the woman’s Yuan Energy was frantically leaking from her slit abdomen, vanishing almost completely in the blink of an eye! “How is this possible?” If Dongfang could frown, a deep furrow would surely be etched between his brows at that moment. “Don’t be ridiculous!” Jiang Tang, feeling a momentary wave of nausea, snapped irritably, “I’ve sealed her energy vortex—it can’t enter her flesh, blood, or meridians. How could that not leak out with a single slash like that?” “I see. But there are still four left.” With that, Dongfang didn’t rush to cut open the other four; instead, he began suturing the woman’s wound with spider silk. “What are you doing now? If you’re going to kill her, just put her out of her misery—what’s the point of this?” Jiang Tang was truly at a loss for words with this guy. “Jiang Tang, you’re so stupid—haven’t you noticed I’m studying the human body’s recovery rate? Besides, I need to see with my own eyes whether she can condense her qi cycle again after losing it. I’m doing this for your sake, too…” “Get lost.” “Jiang Tang, you need to understand: they struck first, and we’re not from the same world as them.” “I don’t think I belong in the same world as you either!” Jiang Tang was convinced that Dongfang was absolutely insane—who else could commit such inhumane acts? Maybe in a past life, this guy had done something so heinous that it provoked the wrath of heaven and the indignation of the people, which is why he was killed! “Say what you will, but I’m using all five of them for my research,” Dongfang said coldly, without a shred of humanity. Dongfang was right: those who kill must be prepared to be killed; soft-heartedness has no place in this world. As for these five, Jiang Tang could only sigh inwardly: “They deserve it!” Who did they have to provoke? This guy, of all people! Don’t they know he’s curious about everything and wants to study everything? You’re just lab rats to him, aren’t you? Jiang Tang suddenly thought of something and said to Dongfang, “Why don’t you possess them? Once you take over their bodies, you’ll be human!” But Dongfang shook his head. “I think things are just fine the way they are now—no eating, no drinking, no sleeping, no defecating, no urinating, no feeling of fatigue, no seven emotions or six desires. All that remains is obsession—an obsession with the unknown. It doesn’t get any better than this.” “That’s not exactly what you told me when you were trying to convince me!” Jiang Tang felt like ten thousand horses were galloping through his mind. After a moment of silence—realizing that nothing he said would make a difference—he lost interest in watching. Tossing his curly hair back, he approached a cultivator and, with a flick of his wrist, sliced through the spiderweb thread covering the cultivator’s mouth with a curved blade. Jiang Tang said coldly, “Where did you come from?” Faced with Jiang Tang’s icy gaze, the cultivator shuddered in fear and hurriedly replied, “From another ant nest—we came through the abandoned crystal vein.” Jiang Tang furrowed his brow and asked, “Is that ant nest abandoned as well?” “No—oh, we were able to get in thanks to a secret technique: the Seven-Star Illusion Array.” Jiang Tang nodded and asked, “What about the other two?” “They’re dead—killed by the heir of the Yin-Yang Sect.” After recounting everything in detail, the cultivator added in terror, “Please spare us, young man. We’re just…” Before the cultivator could finish, Jiang Tang plunged his blade into his heart. “Jiang Tang…” Dongfang’s tone was clearly displeased. “Go back to your research. I’m going down there to rest.” Jiang Tang cut him off, kicked aside a boulder blocking the path, and strode toward the ant hole leading downward. When Jiang Tang arrived in the vast cavern, he looked at the black crystals scattered across the floor, shook his head with a sigh, and took out his storage pouch. Jiang Tang wouldn’t waste things others looked down on. In the eyes of many, the black crystals were worthless—they seemed to serve no purpose other than prolonging the burning of the Underworld Fire Ants’ essence blood. But the fire produced by the burning essence of the Netherfire Ants was Netherfire itself, and since Jiang Tang, having absorbed the Netherfire, could unleash it at any time, this pile of black crystals held a very different value for him! “The successor of the Yin-Yang Sect—what a real headache.” Glancing toward the depths of the cave, Jiang Tang hesitated slightly after gathering up all the black crystals. Jiang Tang’s knowledge of the Yin-Yang Sect was limited, as the sect was highly secretive. Their successors were always dragon-phoenix twins. While the sect’s cultivation techniques weren’t particularly powerful on their own, they were designed specifically for individual practitioners; if a Yin and Yang twin joined forces, not even three or five experts of the same level would stand a chance against them. “I still need two more drops. What should I do?” Jiang Tang was at a loss. The Netherfire—though called fire and possessing a scorching heat that strikes fear into the heart—is, in reality, the essence of blood! Jiang Tang’s physical form was unique; the essence of blood from ordinary humans or demon beasts was useless to him. If he forced himself to absorb it, his body would automatically expel it. The only blood essence capable of saving him was that which had separated from its physical form and developed sentience—and the Netherfire was one such example. However, the best option was innate spiritual blood, born of the heavens and earth—though such a thing now existed only in legend. The essence of blood cultivated by countless Netherfire Ants using their vital blood is rich in powerful life essence. It can fuse with any physical body, enhancing its constitution and maximizing its strength. However, it is extremely dangerous—especially the method Jiang Tang employed. An ordinary person would have died long ago, but he had no other choice. Since he lacked a Qi Vortex and was unable to refine it, he could only weaken the Netherfire and forcibly fuse it into his heart meridians. Now, although he succeeded, it was not enough to save his body; it merely slowed the rate at which his physical form was deteriorating. The parts he had lost—such as his severed limbs—would not regrow on their own, just as they wouldn’t have in an environment like Earth’s. Therefore, he had no choice but to rely on external aids. After resting for a full five hours, Jiang Tang opened his eyes and looked down at the charred area stretching from his left chest to his shoulder, along with the scattered bloodstains left by the small bone spiders. There was not the slightest sign of healing, and he couldn’t help but sigh inwardly. Before he was sacrificed, such injuries would have healed completely after just one hour of recuperation, leaving not a single trace. “Have you rested enough?” Dongfang suddenly floated over to Jiang Tang’s side. “There’s no turning back now. Let’s go.” Jiang Tang didn’t ask what had become of the four cultivators—he was afraid the answer would turn his stomach. “Wait a moment.” Dongfang tossed five storage pouches to Jiang Tang and said, “Take a look. Let’s share the resources.” “……” After a moment of silence, Jiang Tang emptied the contents of all five storage pouches onto the ground. All five storage pouches were of the lowest grade—they didn’t even have any restrictive spells, so any cultivator could open them. The space inside was pitifully small; no wonder they hadn’t taken the black crystals with them. “What the hell is this? Just a pile of junk.” Jiang Tang looked at the junk scattered across the floor, his enthusiasm completely gone. Dongfang, however, examined each item with great interest, constantly picking up minerals and herbs to ask Jiang Tang what they could be used for. Jiang Tang immediately snapped, “Don’t we have *The Hundred Herbs* and *The Record of Rare Stones*? You’ll understand everything once you read them.” “Jiang Tang, you’re so stupid…” “Get lost.” Jiang Tang knew the guy was implying he couldn’t read the characters of this world, but he’d only said it on autopilot—was it really necessary to curse at him? “Fine, I’ll teach you. Otherwise, it’ll be even more trouble later.” With that, Jiang Tang simply sat down, picked up the *Compendium of Herbs*, and began explaining it to Dongfang. While listening, Dongfang suddenly asked, “Characters—why are they called ‘characters’?” “If they’re not characters, what are they?” Jiang Tang was at a loss for words. “Jiang Tang, you’re too…” “Get lost.” Dongfang fell silent for a moment before saying, “These characters must have evolved from pictographic writing. Why pictographic writing? Why not phonetic writing? Plus, a single character can have many meanings, and a single sound can correspond to many characters—this is extremely similar to Chinese characters. Also, the names of the people here…” “What the hell? You don’t even understand what ‘similar’ means?” Jiang Tang couldn’t take it anymore. Dongfang replied indifferently, “There are even people from Wenzhou who don’t understand the Wenzhou dialect.” Jiang Tang was thoroughly stumped by this remark. Finally, he shook his head with a wry smile and said, “You win, but please don’t talk to me in a language I don’t understand at all.” Dongfang remained silent for an even longer time this time before saying, “Continue.” As if reciting a sutra, Jiang Tang went through every unique character in the *Hundred Herbs Collection* and explained them one by one to Dongfang. Fortunately, Dongfang was a soul-cultivator; his memories were etched into his soul and would never fade. However, this fellow still had a habit of taking notes, and he claimed that nothing ever truly vanishes from a person’s memory—you simply can’t recall it, much like a computer hard drive that’s too full to search through… Hearing this, Jiang Tang cut him off!