In the blink of an eye, the appearance of the Demon Clan had already relieved some of the pressure on the cultivators from Azure Cloud.
The numerous elders of the Three Great Powers, who had been wild with triumph just a moment ago, now had extremely grim expressions.
"Impossible! The demons from the northern Endless Forest—how could they possibly appear in our Duravia Trade Prefecture? The Grand Tutor would never allow such a thing to happen!"
"Hmph! Who cares where this Demon Clan came from? They're just a few insignificant demons. Since they've come, they can stay in our Duravia Trade Prefecture forever."
"Wait…"
The horde of demons appeared at the west gate and immediately joined the battle alongside the cultivators from Duskwild Prefecture.
Compared to the Human Race, the bodies of demons are generally much larger.
They are also innately gifted, possessing techniques within their very bloodlines.
Ordinarily, within the same cultivation realm, unless their powers are specifically countered, few humans can face a demon one-on-one.
The myriad demons arrived with great momentum, but to the cultivators of the Three Great Powers inside the city, it was still nothing to be overly concerned about.
But just as the elders were ordering their disciples to rally their forces, they suddenly felt a chill as if they had been plunged into an icy cavern.
"Sea demons?"
"The Wu Clan? Demonic cultivators?"
"Impossible! How could this all be such a coincidence?!!"
They each took out Spirit Stones, talismans, or jade slips—the items they used to communicate with the various Clans of the Duravia Trade Prefecture.
It wasn't just them.
Outside the city, Fairy Hongxiu, the Palace Master of the Perennis Immortal Palace, and Daoist Mingtai, the Sect Master of the Aeternus Sect—both unable to act for fear of slaughtering their own sect members—exchanged a glance.
Their expressions were unsettled.
"Fairy Hongxiu, did you receive the same urgent intelligence as this Sect Master?" Daoist Mingtai's expression was grim.
"The Eastern Sea!"
Fairy Hongxiu's face turned cold.
"The Sea Clan has appeared in the Eastern Sea. The ocean's surface is covered with crab demons—mostly ordinary demon beasts and spirit beasts, but their numbers are immense. For the crab demons to act so abnormally, I fear the great sea demons are making a move. We must be on guard. The nearby Clans can no longer concern themselves with the people from Azure Cloud; they must divert their forces to provide aid at the coast."
But upon hearing this urgent intelligence, Daoist Mingtai's originally panicked expression actually improved.
He shook his head slightly. "My intelligence is different from yours."
"Hm?"
Fairy Hongxiu was startled for a moment.
She heard Daoist Mingtai say, "The people of Azure Cloud. Led by Li Yunbing, the Azure Cloud Army has already massed its troops at the border. In addition to them, there are the Wu Clan and the demonic cultivators."
Seeing Fairy Hongxiu's uncomprehending expression, Daoist Mingtai let out a long breath.
"At the Azure Cloud border, the Azure Cloud Army is no longer defending the frontier. They have withdrawn, which has opened the gates wide for the Wu Clan. We have received intelligence that the Azure Cloud Region even cleared a path for them. Tens of thousands of Wu Clan members have entered the Azure Cloud Region and Eternal Sun Prefecture, and their whereabouts are now unknown."
"And then there are the demonic cultivators. Within our Azure Dynasty, demonic cultivation is rampant in Shadowfell Prefecture, and they have always been a great scourge. All the other prefectures of the Azure Dynasty avoid the demonic cultivators of Shadowfell Prefecture like the plague, and this is even more true in this age of great chaos. And these demonic cultivators... have also entered our Duravia Trade Prefecture from Eternal Sun Prefecture. The most terrifying thing is..."
"Both the Wu Clan and the demonic cultivators have invaded our Duravia Trade Prefecture, and their whereabouts are unknown. One of our great clans has already been exterminated with the speed of a sudden thunderclap."
Daoist Mingtai looked at the Li family members and the many disciples of the great Powers still fighting fiercely on the battlefield and said in a grave voice, "This... this is the true killing blow for the Three Great Powers!"
And at this moment, on the battlefield, the members of the Li family, with the help of the Demon Clan, were still fighting without end.
The two sides were locked in a fierce battle.
Li Yaoqing's 'Mountain God' had been summoned after the demon seniors arrived to provide support.
The heavily injured Li Yaotie and his wife had been swept up by the Old Tree's roots, thanks in part to Dongfang Xuan's assistance.
Dongfang Xuan's brushstrokes were divine. Standing atop the 'Mountain God,' she painted at the edge of a cliff. Flowers bloomed where her brush fell, and she summoned an army of soldiers and horses to slay the enemy.
As the expressions of the Divinity Transformation elders inside the city changed, Dongfang Xuan's own expression was complex.
"As expected, I've lost after all. They really did bring… the sea demons and the Wu Clan!"
...
This was the Eastern Sea.
Above the water, countless giant green crabs could be seen, so numerous they blotted out the sky and covered the earth.
In this world, the sea demons were, in fact, the most terrifying existence.
No one knew just how vast the oceans truly were.
No matter how much the continent of the Azure Dynasty changed over the ages, the boundless ocean would always exist.
Even if the races within the sea were to scatter and vanish, new and powerful ones would still appear many years later.
It was rumored that many of the world's demon races originated from the sea, and the Flood Dragons were one of them.
In the distant past, the Demon Clan, the Human Race, and the Wu Clan had all experienced an age of being ruled by sea demons.
Even in the current era of peace, with the Human Emperor presiding over the Azure Dynasty for over a hundred thousand years—a time when none dared to offend—there would still be some sea demon clans that, on a whim, or after being oppressed in their own marine environment, would be forced to step onto the land.
Every time this happened, it resulted in mountains of corpses and seas of blood.
And now, this overwhelming tide of green crabs was a terrifying enough sight on its own.
On the shores of the Eastern Sea, cultivator after cultivator from the Duravia Trade Prefecture came to investigate, only to depart again in silence.
The cultivators who were originally sent to reinforce the siege against the people of Azure Cloud now had to hastily dispatch a portion of their forces to garrison the coast.
But what they didn't know was...
Gurgle.
The Wine Maniac stood on the back of a giant green crab. Beside him stood a young man. This was none other than Qing Yuan, the elder of the crab demon clan who had been drawn out years ago when Li Kuanghua had her breakthrough in the North Sea.
"So many cultivators are probing me with their Primordial Spirits!"
Qing Yuan forced himself to remain calm in front of his clansmen, but his fists were already clenched inside his sleeves.
"Old thing, what in the world does your family's master want? It's been over two hundred years! Back then, you people made me serve as a Dao Protector for a Li family junior for one hundred years. Fine, I did it. More than two hundred years have passed since then. I should have been a free man long ago."
"But you still wouldn't let me go! I swam for twenty years with my descendants to get here. That journey is two lifetimes for an ordinary crab, and more than half of them starved to death!"
No wonder Qing Yuan sounded so aggrieved.
Over two hundred years had passed. He had fulfilled his promise, received his payment from the Li family, and with their help, had even wiped out a sea demon clan to secure a new territory for his people.
After two hundred years of resting and rebuilding their strength, his descendants—crabs being fast breeders, birthing a whole litter at a time—had grown the clan to be several times larger than it was before.
He himself had also arduously reached the Divinity Transformation realm.
He had originally thought he and the Li family would go their separate ways and forget each other in the sea, but son of a crab!
The Li family had come looking for him again.
"Ahem, stay calm, my demon friend."
The Wine Maniac coughed, sensing the probes from numerous powerful auras. He took a hard swig of wine.
"Just act like you're an advance force sent to test their strength. Listen to me, I'm an expert at this. Back when the Wu Clan was probing our border, this is exactly what they did—brought their forces and stared from a great distance. They absolutely won't dare to approach. They'll just scurry over and send people to set up defenses at the periphery."
"Your million-plus descendants may be useless, but they make for an impressive show. Trust me, as long as you don't show any fear, there won't be a single problem. After this is all over, hehe, we'll lend you two Divinity Transformation experts to help you out for ten or twenty years. Now isn't that a deal with guaranteed profit and no risk? Besides, who has your back in the North Sea? Eh? Once you get to these southern seas, won't this be our territory?"
Qing Yuan's focus sharpened instantly. "Don't you dare lie to me. Whether or not I'll be able to swagger through the seas in the future is all up to you now."
He immediately let out a cold snort.
"Send fifty thousand crab soldiers! Divide them into three columns and charge! This vanguard would like to see just what the Human Race is truly capable of!"
This arrogant shout caused the expressions of the scouting cultivators to turn to terror.
The green crabs had come ashore.
The scouting cultivators were seized with panic.
"Reporting to the Family Head, the sea demons have made landfall!"
"There are countless crabs, and I fear this is only their advance force. They've begun to probe our defenses."
"Family Head, contact the Three Great Powers at once!"
The Wine Maniac watched his 'navy' come ashore and nodded with gratification. After following the Li family for so many years, they were finally expanding their business overseas.
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