Chapter 39: Dread Demon aernal Foes
The demon god strode forward, shaking the entire river valley.
“Success.” Witnessing this, An Jing slowly exhaled, the tension within his heart easing somewhat.
This was among the many teiques the Sword Spirit had taught him, most suited to the present circumstances—using the power of the Imperial Heaven and revered gods to harness demoniergy, densing the phantom of a demon god!
This recisely one of the funs of the Imperial Heaven Star Fiend Grand Rite—besides the sacrificial aspect, it could be used to and ghosts, spirits, and demons to strike agaiernal foes.
Only, for decades no one had used that fun; everyone had practically fotten it. If not for the fact that the ritual had borrowed the Sword Spirit’s power—enabling An Jing, harb that Sword Spirit within, to naturally seize trol—he could not have used it even if he had obtaihe demonic sect’s ritual manual.
“The ritual is out of trol, the ritual is out of trol!!”
“It’s a Dread Demon! Quickly form ranks and banish fear from your hearts, or else every drop of terror will bee its power!”
The demonic sestructors presiding over the ritual instantly reized the phantom’s true form.
They cried out as they mustered a formation, knowing full well how troublesome this was, yet also knowing they absolutely could not succumb to fear when fag a Dread Demon. If they faltered for even a moment…
Boom!
The colossal demon god phantom took a siep forward, releasing a silent bellow. A tangible psychic shockwave rippled outward, instantly paralyzing one of the instructors whose face was awash with dread and whose reluce made him slow in f up.
In that fleeting moment, it was as though he experiehe greatest horrors of this life. Wailing like a child, he turned and tried to flee.
Across the distahe demon god phantom reached out and seized him. When it drew its hand back, his flesh remained physically intact—yet a half-translut soul was dragged from his body into the phantom’s grip.
The soul struggled to no avail, until at st the demon god phantom stuffed it into its maw and chewed, destroying it pletely.
Left behind on the ground was a body whose eyes were vat, the flesh no longer responding, her truly alive nor dead but no more than a lump of livi.
“M-monster… monster…”
Seeing such a horrifying se, it was not just the demonic sect forces fronting the demon god phantom who were trembling like leaves—the young men and women standing behind them did so as well. After all, when had they ever witnessed such a t, terrifying creature? The instructors aurers at least held real swords and bdes, but all the youths had were wooden practice swords and spears!
Although the formations they had learned mirrored those taught to the instructors—clearly intended fhting such Heavenly Demon phantoms—none of them dared to strike at that moment.
Their collective fear swelled, fueling the spreading bck mist. The demon god phantom roared skyward, growing rger still.
Notig a major source of fear behind it, it actually turned, lifting its massive hand to seize those young men and women.
Yet someoood firmly before it, blog its way.
“Stand down!”
That person held nothing more than a wooden sword, yet faced a demon god phantom. Ce this reckless seemed beyond reason—but An Jing stood straight and unwavering, making the se feel entirely natural.
He had already prepared to summon the broken sword if necessary, drawing on the lingering Sword Spirit aura in the great array to fight the Heavenly Demon phantom. Staring directly at the demon god phantom, An Jing showed no trace of fear as he rebuked it, “Your enemies are over there!”
Then, An Jing shouted to the others, “Don’t be afraid—re-form the battle lines!”
He ahe group in a stern void even took oep forward. “This is a ‘Dread Demon,’ which devours fear to grow stronger!”
“But it still remains under our trol… Anyone brave enough, e forward with me!”
Tap!
Seeing An Jing step forth, the demon god phantom—the Dread Demon—actually took a step back, clearly showing wariness.
Simultaneously, as people heard An Jing’s voice, even those with no real hope found themselves instinctively raising their heads.
Such was An Jing’s prestige. As long as he spoke, there would always be some who followed.
And then, they all saw something astonishing:
That massive Dread Demon, rather than crushing An Jing like an i, was forced to retreat by him.
——So, demons knew fear too?
“What’s there to be afraid of!” “Exactly!”
In that moment, boldness fred to life. Gu Yeqi, An Jing’s staunch supporter, rushed forward first, followed without hesitation by g Lingzu.
came the ey of An Jing’s Xingji team!
“Sister Qinghan?”
In each group, someone g their leader. The same happened ihird group, with many others looking at Bai Qinghan—just like An Jing, she too had awakened a Strae, so she was regarded as the “sed figure” among them. Everyone waited to see how she would respond.
“Let’s go.”
The long-haired girl gazed at the figure standing up ahead. She lowered her eyes and spoke softly, then moved forward to face the Dread Demon alongside An Jing. “In this…”
“I trust him.”
Thus, after a brief moment of chaos, with someoo guide them, all of the Children of Camity stepped forward.
And a certain kind of ce, belonging uo the young and the ued, awakened in each of them.
——Yes! At worst, they would only die. Why should they fear?
So they all mustered their ce, followed An Jing, brandishing their bdes and ons, pressing the Dread Demon to give ground!
Whoosh—
Unseen but surging waves of spirit emanated, f the Dread Demon to retreat.
The will of dozens of youths was united uheir “ander,” f a single, cohesive “army formation.” So long as An Jing did not step baot even a Dread Demon could break the unity of the formation.
strained by their united battle lines and by the grand array itself, the Dread Demingly turs head. Although it was merely a phantom, it clearly reized that those adult humans over yonder would be no easy prey either.
Yet faced with the array’s pulsion, it let out a fierce roar and charged the demonic sect forces.
In an instant, the earth trembled; the Dread Demon and the demonic sect’s battle formation cshed with violent ferocity. Sand and stones flew, bck mist swirling madly.
“Stop! Stop!”
At this moment, Instructor Li—the one-eyed veteran—tried to intervene. He roared at An Jing and the other young people, “Damn it, you little whelps, you dare rebel?! Stop immediately!”
He had assumed his accumuted authority would intimidate some of them, but the young men and women paid him no heed. An Jing likewise ignored him.
Strangely, the Medie Manor Lord—stro among those present—did not join in subduing the Dread Demon. Nor did he immediately strike out to capture An Jing, who was leading the formation in open defiand somehow held authority over the ritual’s great array.
Instead, the old man angled his head to gaze back at Hanging Fate Manor, a stunned look in his eyes.
“This is bad,” he muttered. “There’s aernal enemy as well?”
Just then, an arm gong sounded from within the manor, the deep and resonant g reverberating in a single heartbeat all the way through the rear valley.
——Someone was attag Hanging Fate Manor?
An Ji a surge of alertness. From the er of his vision, he goward the dire of the manor, though his primary focus remained on the old man, whose aura was growing increasingly dangerous.
Even so, he was momentarily stunned by what he witnessed:
Along the other side of the manor, half a mountain peak, a pany of crimson-armored warriors—fully equipped—charged straight downward as though desding from the heavens, st into the manrounds.
An Jing even saw a wave of seven-colored demonic miasma erupt from within the manor’s hidden defenses, only for a burst of red-and-blue fmes to fre up and sweep the miasma away, burning it to ash in a plume of bck smoke.
For a time, bde and sword qi crisscrossed. Malevolent demoniergy collided with raging spirit fmes, and the cmorous shouts of battle echoed throughout the entire manor.
(End of Chapter)
