Tianyi hadn’t followed straight after the group led by Xia Yushan.
First, Tianyi wanted to make absolutely sure that he had left no trails for Leviathan Ancestor to track them down with.
Second, Tianyi only had a general gist of Xia Yushan’s plans, so he headed towards the Golden Crow Clan’s territory.
Third, after Tianyi was sure Leviathan Ancestor wasn’t chasing them, he had taken detours to allow Daoyi and Xi Ri to temper themselves. Dragon Palace was pretty much a one-man show. If Daoyi or Xi Ri were there or not didn’t matter.
To Tianyi’s disappointment and relief, the three did not encounter anymore Nascent Soul Realm level demons, much less Unity Realm level demons. Even after massacring over fifty of them, Tianyi was unsure whether he had gotten over his apprehension. In fact, when he had activated the talisman at Dragon Palace, he had killed the nascent soul grandmaster equivalent demons before the unity venerable equivalent demons.
Speaking of Dragon Palace, Tianyi took out the immortal pill from his sleeves. Before, the pill would periodically disappear within the sect, but it had always stayed with Tianyi whenever he traveled out of the sect. Tianyi couldn’t see any changes no matter how many times he fed the pill with his true qi of chaos, but now, the pill was completely black and didn’t react to him at all.
Remembering the incident, Tianyi felt his mood become sullen. Although it wasn’t a pure-blooded dragon, he almost got a mount with a thick dragon bloodline. Even if the egg didn’t hatch, Tianyi still could have turned it into his demon clone… and then used it as a mount.
But nope. The immortal pill just had to ruin everything.
Tianyi had half a mind to just chuck the pill away for ruining his plans but recalling how much he already sacrificed for the pill—most memorably, the beating he had received in the ruin of the Immortal Court—Tianyi kept the pill. Still, Tianyi wondered what changes would occur with the immortal pill.
The round black sphere within his hand was currently emitting pulses, almost like a heartbeat. Tianyi couldn’t absorb the spiritual qi of heaven and earth anymore, but he could still detect the pill passively absorbing it. Tianyi wondered what changes would occur. Maybe it would hatch and become his spiritual beast?
Probably not.
The more likely scenario would be for the pill to hatch into some dragon hybrid and attempt to eat him. Tianyi really hoped for that to happen. If the pill actually did that, Tianyi would have no reservations to unleashed his immortal level talisman upon the pill. Only this way could Tianyi vent the frustrations in his heart.
Detecting no further changes in the pill, Tianyi placed it back within his sleeve. He returned his attention back to the battle that was taking place outside the immortal boat.
Contrary to Tianyi’s expectation, chasing after Xia Yushan and the others wasn’t as hard as he expected. Tianyi just had to follow the trail of destruction they left in their wake. Well, a trail of destruction wasn’t exactly accurate. It was more like just following the trail left by bandits.
The disciples from the Huang Realm were merciless. They cleaned up every place, den, or nest they encountered, picking everything dry. All of the demon’s hard work over the years was so the cultivators could harvest fruits of their labor. Not that Tianyi had any right to admonish them, considering he absolutely robbed Leviathan Acenstor’s dragon eggs and treasures. And just for extra measure, Tianyi destroyed it too and left a bomb for the true demon.
Although it took nearly a year, Tianyi finally caught up to Xia Yushan and the others. He just so happened to catch them during one of their operations too, and since he didn’t know the specifics, Tianyi decided just to watch.
“Oh!” Tianyi exclaimed.
“What’s happening?” Daoyi asked. She could see the overall battle, but her sight or spiritual sense wasn’t keen as Tianyi’s.
“Senior Sister Ji ascended into the mid Soul Nourishing Realm.” Tianyi simply said.
“Where?” Daoyi looked out, trying to discover Ji Shuye’s figure.
“Right there,” Tianyi said as he pointed towards the soul nourishing grandmaster that was charging into battle. “She was just talking to Senior Brother Xia and then suddenly entered. Now she’s charging into battle. It’s a bit weird.”
“Really? Was Senior Sister Ji talking to Senior Brother Xia about something?” Daoyi asked as she observed Ji Shuye valiantly combatting two Nascent Soul Realm equivalent demons.
“Don’t know. I only saw them, and I was too far away to detect what they were talking about.” Tianyi said with a shrug.
“Although, I was wondering when she would enter the next stage. Senior Sister Ji was already at the early Nascent Soul Realm when I entered the Core Formation Realm. Actually, when did Senior Sister Ji become a martial cultivator?” Tianyi’s face was filled with shock now that he realized he didn’t know Ji Shuye was a martial cultivator. “Did she stall at the early Nascent Soul Realm because she was changing to martial cultivation?”
“Tianyi, do you think everyone is like you?” Xi Ri couldn’t help but cut in while shaking his head in exasperation. “There’s no way she could cultivate as fast as you think she can. Do you recall that the average age of disciples entering the Nascent Soul Realm after they are a hundred years old? The average for the whole Heaven Continent is three hundred years old, and that’s including all the disciples of the first-rate sects.”
“Really?” Tianyi said, surprised evident on his face as he turned to face Xi Ri. “I recall that Senior Brother Xia and entered the mid Nascent Soul Realm shortly after entering the early Nascent Soul Realm.”
“That’s just one person. You can’t base others on him, just like you can’t base Senior Brother Xia on you.” Xi Ri said. “You’ll probably enter the Unity Realm before you’re forty. The number of people who have done that in the history of the Huang Realm can be counted on one hand.”
“Oho?” Tianyi smirked, a bit giddy and shy at Xi Ri’s indirect compliment, but he quickly pulled it down as he remembered his dilemma. “Who knows, maybe I will stall at the Nascent Soul Ream for a few hundred years.”
Recalling how he had no clue to enter the next realm, Tianyi felt his mood plummet. He still hadn’t found inspiration on how to enter the next realm. Right now, Tianyi was placing all his hopes on finding another one of the Ten Heavenly Scriptures. Unknown to Tianyi, he was releasing a heavy pressure in his silence, causing both Daoyi and Xi Ri not to know what to say. Xi Ri was praising him, so why did he look so down?
Tianyi quickly snapped out of it. “Speaking of which, what is the average age disciples enter Core Formation Realm?”
Daoyi shook her head while Xi Ri answered. “It should be thirty to forty years of age. Why?”
“Then aren’t you above the curve too? I blame you two for my skewed expectations!” Tianyi said as he pointed at the two of them in a flourishing manner.
“That’s baseless. Besides, we’re different than most people in the first place!” Xi Ri said while objecting to Tianyi’s claim while looking at Daoyi for support.
“Actually, I didn’t know the average time disciples entered certain realms. I mainly use you and me for comparisons. Well, when I actually compared.” Daoyi said, making Xi Ri reveal an expression of betrayal.
While the trio bantered back and forth, the battle between the cultivators and the demons continued dragging on, with the cultivators having overwhelming superiority. Despite this, the demon acted as if they were crazy and continued to throw themselves into battle, not caring about their casualties.
After hours of battle, a sudden shift in the situation occurred just as the sun dipped into the horizon.
A colossal bird demon seemingly made of raging red flames appeared, but that wasn’t what caught Tianyi’s and everyone’s attention. The newcomer demon was at the Unity Realm level!
The crow demon’s surprise attack was too successful. The disciples had grown lax both from their sense of superiority and the fatigue accumulated from the drawn-out battle, allowing the sudden attack to land successfully on them. In an instant, hundreds of Core Formation Realm disciples and seven nascent soul grandmasters were incinerated to dust, not even leaving behind a body.
Tianyi felt his eyebrows reaching the top of his forehead, and confusion filled his mind. “Daoyi, Xi Ri, did over a hundred disciples just die?”
“Yes.” Daoyi and Xi Ri both confirmed what Tianyi saw. Their faces were grave.
“We analyzed the records of the Demon Slaying Expedition and concluded that there were no deaths. It seems that we were wrong.” Tianyi said, each word unnaturally heavy. “You two stay here and don’t leave unless you have to!”
There were no Unity Realm disciples. Or rather, Unity Realm disciples didn’t exist, only Unity Realm elders, but the Demon Slaying Expedition only allowed disciples to participate. If that wasn’t the case, Elder Meng would have definitely followed Tianyi.
Thus Tianyi decided to take action personally. He wasn’t saddened by the deaths of the hundreds of disciples since he didn’t know any of them personally, but as a Buzhou Immortal Sect disciple, he had a duty to aid his fellow disciples, whether they were from the Buzhou Immortal Sect or not. Just as Tianyi was about to take action, a giant sword formed of five colors materialized and slammed into the flame-formed bird.
Next, the warship that was over fifty kilometers away charged towards the flaming bird. As it neared, the warship changed and formed into a giant humanoid construct and delivered a devastating punch to the flaming bird demon. If the situation wasn’t so serious, and he didn’t have to consider his dignity, Tianyi would have raised both arms and shouted “mecha!” with childish glee.
The demon formed of raging flames crashed into the ground, and the next instant, a man appeared in front of the bird, his size positively diminutive in comparison. Tianyi recognized him as Hun Jusang since he left a deep impression on Tianyi during the Heavenly Connection Gathering.
The gloomy man started to wriggle as if his whole body was in pain. Just as Tianyi was beginning to worry about him, a shadow erupted from Hun Jusang’s back. That shadow enlarged until it was nearly the size of the Unity Realm level demon and swinging its gigantic scythe and unleashing black crescent energy blades upon the fallen demon.
The flaming bird demon roared in rage and swept away the giant warship, golem, and the shadow being with a sweep of its wings, but before it could catch itself, a pillar of fire and ice erupted and trapped each of its wings. In the air, Bing Huoyuan started to unleash the next spell.
The pillar of ice and fire began to move closer to each other, and within the space between the two pillars, a chaotic ball of ice and fire continually exploded. The closer the two pillars were, the more devasting the explosion. Eventually, the bird demon freed itself, but by this time, Xia Yushan, Daoist Moneybag, Hun Jusang, and Bing Huoyuan were able to encircle him.
Tianyi, who was preparing to strike, found himself a completely unneeded spectator. It turned out that he had thought too highly of himself, and he wasn’t the only nascent soul grandmaster able to fight with Unity Realm level demons. Good thing I didn’t shout anything, otherwise it would be too embarrassing.
Tianyi had harbored some pride that he was able to defeat Demon General Earth Burning Venom Serpent, but it turned out that he was underestimating others too much.
Or not.
Tianyi noticed that despite overwhelming the colossal bird demon earlier, the ensuing battle turned out more even. The flames dissipated and revealed the demon’s true appearance. After that, the cultivators weren’t able to land a hit so easily anymore. Any attacks that landed on the crow demon seemed to not cause any harm at all, except Daoist Moneybag’s immortal stone fueled attacks. Even if attacks did leave a mark, they would soon heal. So Xia Yushan, Hun Jusang, and Bing Huoyuan worked together to create an opportunity for Daoisgt Money to land a hit.
More and more nascent soul grandmasters joined in on the assault, causing the Unity Realm level demon to fall into a more precarious situation. Seeing that they would eventually defeat the Unity Realm level demon, Tianyi decided not to take action. Instead, he turned towards the Core Formation Realm level demons.
Thinking about it, I haven’t bullied cultivators with lower cultivation realms than me yet. Cultivators, demons, same difference. It’s a crime against my status not to bully those weaker than me!
With a mischievous smile, Tianyi waved his hand, and his newly acquired Jade Diffraction Sword materialized in his hand. Turning to look towards Daoyi and Xi Ri, he said, “The Unity Realm level demon is currently being contained. If you want to join the battle, go ahead.”
“I haven’t experienced such a large battle yet. It’ll be a good tempering experience.”
Both Daoyi and Xi Ri decided to join the battle. Part of the reason was to gain experience, but the bigger reason was to aid their fellow humans after the devastating loss the Unity Realm level demon unleashed upon them.
Tianyi spared some concentration on the two so that he could intervene if anything unexpected were to occur. If the Unity Realm level demon were to break free, he would prioritize saving Daoyi and Xi Ri before repelling him. After seeing that Daoyi and Xi Ri was managing well in the chaotic battle, Tianyi struck.
The blade of the Jade Diffraction Sword split into several blades. Using his spiritual sense, Tianyi controlled each blade to fly in different directions. Using his monstrously powerful soul, Tianyi made each blade piece unleash different sword techniques.
On the surface, they all seemed to be disconnected, but they were all actually being employed under the Heartless Sword Art. Having seen the sword world unleashed the talisman, Tianyi wanted to create something similar. The more times the sword struck, the more sword marks it would leave, and the more complete the formation would be.
It was only a pity that Tianyi couldn’t form sword light yet. He could mimic sword light by using his qi to form sword qi, but that was a bastardized version at best. Once again, Tianyi discovered that his talent in the sword wasn’t as great as his mother’s. He heard that some Core Formation Realm disciples within the sect could create sword light already.
Tianyi frowned when he noticed that a Nascent Soul Realm equivalent demon was nearing him. Just as he was about to unleash a blast that would pulverize the incoming demon ten times over, he noticed that the demon was chasing two female cultivators. He didn’t stop his attack, he just controlled it more. Tianyi pointed to fingers at the demon, and a spiraling beam created from his true qi of chaos was unleashed.
The demon never stood a chance, and his head and torso were instantly vaporized. The rest of its body began to dissolve as well due to the corrosive nature of Tianyi’s qi.
“Thank you, Prince Xi! You saved my life!”
“Senior Xi, I was saved by you again.”
Tianyi had to fight an urge to grimace as he noticed who he had saved. The one who spoke first in an energetic voice was Bai Weiwei, and the calmer one was Bai Ningwei. Just as he was about to speak, the shadow below the three of them enlarged by tens of meters and caused the surrounding ground to become the color of pure darkness.
Two demonic eyes could be seen from the shadows, and a raspy, almost shrilly voice could be heard. “I finally got you, I’ll send the three of you to the Nether Realm!”
Tianyi instantly felt all his instincts go into overdrive as he the aura of a demon equivalent to a Nascent Soul Realm. He could feel tendrils creeping out of the shadow and binding his feet. Instantly, his soul began to feel phantom pain from when the Dragon Emperor unleashed the soul attack against him.
“No!” Tianyi screamed as if reliving that moment.