The Demon Lord's Invasion

Chapter 49: Déjà Vu

A young man from the Sword Sect, with a long sword slung across his back, stared blankly at the thick fog ahead. “Senior Brother, what are you spacing out for? If we don’t run now, they’ll catch up to us,” another, slightly younger Sword Sect disciple said anxiously. The young man, however, remained motionless and asked, “This foggy area must be the Spirit Jade vein, right?” “So what if it is? We can’t possibly worry about mining Spirit Jade right now—we need to run!” the younger disciple said, truly frantic. They had obtained a precious treasure at the ruins of the Bone Tower and were now being hunted down by disciples from several sects—yet at this critical moment, the young man was standing there, frozen in place. “Didn’t Sixth Uncle’s four disciples say they were going to mine spirit ore? These formations might have been set up by them.” Upon hearing this, the teenager snapped, “So what? The four of them can’t even beat the two of us—how could they possibly stand a chance against the disciples from the major sects in the rear? These formations are just low-level confusion arrays; they won’t hold them off at all. We’d better get out of here fast.” “They have secret tracking techniques—it’s no use running anywhere. There are still seven months until the Divine Light of Guidance arrives, and that’s more than enough time for them to kill us a hundred times over.” Upon hearing this, the boy’s face immediately darkened with worry, and he said sheepishly, “It’s all my fault, Junior Brother. I was useless—I didn’t lure them away, and instead, I let them discover the secret of the Earth Cavern.” “Don’t blame yourself. The most urgent matter now is how to shake them off.” After saying this, the young man looked at the thick fog ahead and said, “Let’s go in.” “Go in… Senior Brother, although I also disapprove of Sixth Uncle’s behavior, we’re all fellow disciples. To cause such trouble…” Before the boy could finish, the young man let out a cold laugh and said, “Since we’re fellow disciples, we must naturally join forces to weather this storm. They won’t stop us from crossing the fog zone, and no matter what tracking techniques they possess, we’ll have to push through—every moment we can buy is a moment gained.” The boy paused in surprise, then his expression darkened as he said, “I suppose we have no other choice!” Less than a quarter of an hour after the two entered the fog zone, more than twenty streaks of light suddenly appeared in the distance. After a few flashes, they all came to a halt just outside the fog zone. “They’ve gone in,” said a woman with delicate features as she put away a Bagua array disk. “Such a low-level illusionary formation certainly doesn’t belong to Spirit Island.” “Hmm, this must be a Spirit Jade vein. I wonder if that sect’s disciple, knowing their own strength was insufficient, deliberately chose to stay here.” “Although they can mine hundreds of Spirit Jade stones a year, that’s only a few tens of thousands of crystals—not even worth a single Fifth-Grade Spirit Plant.” A burly man said impatiently, “Stop beating around the bush. We agreed: we’ll fight for the Divine Bone based on strength, and whoever doesn’t win must not complain.” Some immediately chimed in, “Of course. If anyone breaks this rule, may they be struck by five bolts of lightning.” “Then let’s not stand on ceremony.” Just as the burly man finished speaking and was about to charge into the mist, his body suddenly froze. He stared in astonishment at the young man stumbling out of the mist. “It’s that Jianmen disciple who took the Divine Bone!” Just as one cultivator cried out in alarm, the young man who had been about to charge into the mist suddenly froze, then shouted at them in terror, “Save… save me…” His voice grew fainter and fainter, and in the blink of an eye, the young man’s figure vanished. “What’s going on?” the crowd exclaimed in shock. “You shouldn’t just wander into this place!” “But the divine bones…” They had all seen with their own eyes the skeleton radiating a seven-colored divine light—it was undoubtedly the most precious of treasures. Clearly, it had retreated due to some unknown circumstances, and no one was willing to accept that. “I’ll break the formation; you all protect me.” The woman who had spoken first said this, then took out the formation disk once more. Without hesitation, she stepped into the misty area, and at the same moment, several disciples immediately appeared behind her, forming a protective circle around her. “A mere trifle,” the woman said expressionlessly. She tapped the formation disk, and instantly a beam of rosy light shot from it into the sky. Immediately afterward, a gentle breeze swept past, and a large section of the mist surrounding them actually dissipated. However, the scene before them remained hazy. The woman furrowed her brow, then smiled faintly. She tossed the formation disk into the air and flicked her fingers rapidly; as beams of light struck the disk, it burst into a brilliant glow. A barrier radiated out from its center, keeping all the mist outside. The barrier grew larger and larger, extending to a li away in the blink of an eye. But just as the barrier was about to reach one li, a black line as thin as a strand of hair suddenly pierced through it, striking the array disk suspended in midair with pinpoint accuracy. In the next instant, the barrier collapsed. “My Eight-Array Disk!” the woman cried in alarm. Just as she was about to rush in after it, she was blocked by two cultivators. “Be careful, Junior Sister!” “But my Eight-Array Disk…” the woman said, her gaze fixed with hatred on the thick white mist gathering around her. She then tapped her storage pouch and pulled out an ancient mirror. “The Sky-Peering Mirror!” exclaimed the cultivator guarding the woman in shock. However, the moment the words left his mouth, he knew something was wrong! Because as everyone looked at the ancient mirror in the woman’s hand, their expressions changed! “It’s a fake. How could I possibly wield the real thing?” the woman said nonchalantly. She raised the ancient mirror high, and a straight beam of golden light shot forth. Wherever the golden light passed, the mist dissipated—but because of this, the scene within left everyone speechless with shock. Once the golden light faded, the mist quickly gathered again, but what they had just witnessed was already etched deeply into their minds! “I passed by here on my way in and saw it was just a small rocky hill—how could it have turned into this?” If their eyes hadn’t deceived them, there was absolutely nothing inside! The rocky hill, the grass—it was all gone! All that remained was a massive crater! At the bottom of the massive crater lay a multitude of bizarre-looking puppets! “They’re going to hollow out the entire Spirit Jade vein!” “It must be the disciples of Kui City—only they have the capability to do this!” “If they’d been digging here from the start at this pace, they’d probably have extracted tens of thousands of Spirit Jade by now!” “Tens of thousands!” A few hundred pieces of Spirit Jade wouldn’t faze any of them, but tens of thousands… millions of crystals! “As for the Divine Bones, each takes what they’re worthy of. As for the Spirit Jade, how about we split it evenly?” “That’s the only way. Otherwise, we’d have wasted all these days tracking them down for nothing.” Greed flashed in the eyes of each of the twenty-odd people. Just as they were about to make their move, everyone suddenly froze—a powerful divine sense engulfed them all, accompanied by a cold command: “Get out.” “Spiritual Martial Realm?” The group exchanged glances, all looking somewhat incredulous. How could someone at the Spirit Martial Realm have slipped in here? Who on earth dared to break the rules established by the major sects? The woman holding the ancient mirror snorted coldly. “What’s there to fear? Kui City disciples specialize in mental cultivation. What’s so strange about a Peak Qi-Martial cultivator possessing mental powers rivaling those of the Spirit-Martial Realm? It’s nothing but a bluff. If you’ve got what it takes, why all the talk?” Having had her Eight Array Disk stolen, she was naturally unwilling to flee in disgrace after being told to “get lost.” Besides, there was some truth to what she said. Whether it was a bluff or not, a test would reveal the truth! The impatient burly man proved his resolve through action. With a flick of his wrists, an 1. 8-zhang battle halberd materialized out of thin air. He gripped it tightly and slashed fiercely at the thick fog ahead. In an instant, a gale raged like a dragon; wherever the tornado swept, the air echoed with “boom, boom” as one mist formation banner after another was torn to shreds. The others hesitated no longer; they drew their weapons one after another, shattering the formation discs and flags illuminated by the golden light from the woman’s ancient mirror. Wherever the golden light passed, the explosions caused by multicolored sword qi, blade auras, and fist winds vanishing into the white mist shook the very earth. The white mist grew increasingly thin, yet the attacks of the twenty-odd people grew fiercer rather than weaker. “Who’s the unlucky one here—you or me? Running into this kind of thing again,” Dongfang said, looking at Jiang Tang, who was sitting cross-legged. Qiong Sang flapped its wings and flew over, chuckling, “I told you to break through outside, but you insisted on having Little Jiang Zi break through in there. Now look—I even had to scare them off with my mental projection. It backfired, didn’t it?” “If we hadn’t scared them off, they would’ve stormed in long ago. Why waste time breaking through the illusionary formation?” In order to explore more ruins in the future, Dongfang had Jiang Tang use the Yin-Yang Rotation Technique to frantically absorb spirit jade and boost his cultivation. The results were indeed remarkable—in just one month, he achieved what would normally take others three years of arduous meditation, raising his cultivation to the peak of the early Qi-Martial stage and beginning to attempt a breakthrough. But he never expected that, at this critical moment, someone would actually burst in. The fact that so many elite disciples from various sects had joined forces clearly indicated that the two Jianmen disciples who had previously intruded must have been carrying precious treasures. Yet no matter how valuable they were, Dongfang had no interest in inspecting their storage pouches. His calculations had always been precise; he was certain that even if anyone approached, there wouldn’t be many—after all, each faction was limited to ten entrants, and some smaller factions had only three or five members. Generally speaking, they rarely joined forces. There were far better places on Spirit Island than the mineral veins; even if he were to strike against them, he should wait until their return time was near—that way, killing them would yield more Spirit Jade. Reaping rewards without effort and maximizing profits is what smart people do—but one must always be prepared for the unexpected! “I’ll go stall them; you stay here and command the Seven Puppet Illusion Array,” Dongfang said. As he spoke, eight bone spines shot out from his back. His body emitted no light or color, but was instead covered in intricate and exquisite black runes. As he moved, he was like a bolt of black lightning streaking through the void, appearing in an instant above the heads of the twenty-odd cultivators. Seeing a bald puppet suddenly appear, some immediately halted their attack, while others paid it no mind—after all, it was just a puppet; it wasn’t worth everyone jumping in. But they soon realized they were wrong! The moment he appeared from Dongfang, his left hand suddenly transformed into six black tubes. In the blink of an eye, countless black-and-white bullets blasted an unsuspecting cultivator—who had been relentlessly attacking—into oblivion, leaving not a trace behind. A person standing nearby, still in shock, had just managed to unleash his spiritual energy, but after a series of explosions, he too was reduced to dust. The crowd was thrown into panic; some took cover, others fled—no one dared to face that torrential barrage head-on. These were the newly developed Demon Spirit Bullets from Dongfang. Demon energy can devour spiritual energy; however, if the quantity is insufficient—if it falls far short of the spiritual energy—the two will fuse temporarily. But when demon essence is added, the outcome is entirely different! Demon energy and a cultivator’s spiritual energy are like dry kindling and a raging fire. He had once used this principle to create a human bomb to rescue Jiang Tang. Spiritual energy is the purified form of primordial energy and, as such, naturally resists demon energy. However, when applied to ammunition, this method yields too little power; unless high-grade materials are used as a carrier, a tiny bullet cannot store much of it. However, if demonic energy is added—even in a quantity as small as a grain of rice—the resulting explosive power would rival that of a howitzer, capable of shattering even Gang Qi with ease. “Kill!” The burly man wielding the battle halberd showed not the slightest fear as he charged forward into the air. Sweeping his halberd horizontally, a dazzling, jade-green beam of halberd energy grew longer as it met the wind, expanding to ten zhang in width in the blink of an eye. Just as it seemed poised to cleave Dongfang in two, Dongfang transformed into a streak of black lightning and appeared silently twenty zhang away, raising his hand to fire hundreds of Demon Spirit Bullets at the burly man. The burly man snorted coldly. Mid-air, he whirled his halberd wildly, and the heavy halberd beams surged like waves, one layer higher than the next. Wherever they passed, every single Demon Spirit Bullet exploded, and the resulting shockwaves made the robes of the cultivators below flutter wildly. Although the Demon Spirit Projectiles undoubtedly struck the burly man, the blazes of his halberd were also blown to pieces by the explosions, much to everyone’s astonishment. The sheer power of the burly man’s halberd aura had sent shivers down their spines, yet it had been shattered by those tiny, unidentified particles! “What on earth are those black-and-white rice-grain-sized beads?” exclaimed a sharp-eyed cultivator in shock. “Who cares what they are? As long as we don’t get hit, what’s there to fear? Help out!” As soon as those words were spoken, everyone soared into the air, surrounding Dongfang and launching a frenzied barrage of attacks.