54: Chapter 54 Wanzhou's Desolation

The vengeful spirits within the Bone Banners dissolved into green smoke upon touching the intense flames. The demonic blades melted into molten iron before they could even get within three feet of the Pill Furnace, and the three-headed, six-armed dharma idol was struck into dust by the heavenly thunder descending from the Talisman Array.

Daoist Danxia stood behind the furnace, his robes unstained by dust. As his hand seals shifted, the Heaven-Burning Karmic Fire transformed into nine fire dragons that roamed through the Talisman Array, systematically killing the demonic Cultivators who were still gasping for breath.

The agony of the raging flames caused the demonic Cultivators to let out wails that sounded inhuman.

Someone attempted to self-detonate their Golden Core to perish together with the enemy—however, just as the Golden Core began to fracture and glow, Daoist Fuxia brushed her sleeve and released a Demon-Suppressing Talisman, forcefully suppressing the rampaging Golden Core back into place.

“Since you have entered this array, your life and death are no longer up to you.”

Daoist Fuxia's voice was cold and clear, without a hint of emotion.

Fifteen minutes.

Only fifteen minutes.

The last wisp of Devilish Qi dissipated in the flames, and not a single demonic Cultivator remained standing within the array.

Glass-like crystals flowed over the mountain rocks, the remains of the stone scorched by the karmic fire. Scattered among the layers of ash were over a dozen pills the size of a baby's fist.

Those were the Golden Cores of the demonic Cultivators.

Yet, they no longer possessed even a hint of the clarity and Great Perfection a Golden Core should have. Every single one was grey and murky, with black mist seemingly moving inside, where twisted remnant souls could be faintly seen struggling and wailing—this was the evil consequence of forcibly forming a core through heterodox paths and nourishing Demonic Techniques with living souls and flesh.

Daoist Danxia withdrew the furnace into his body and gazed at these murky cores, the frost between his brows yet to dissipate.

“Collect the cores.” Daoist Fuxia had already begun dismantling the array. Sixty-four great flags were pulled from the peaks, transforming back into their ordinary size and flying into her Storage Pouch one after another. “Though they are tainted, they can still be used for medicine or Artifact Refining, fighting poison with poison.”

Daoist Danxia nodded, and with a sweep of his sleeve, the dozen or so murky cores were all taken into his pouch.

The mountain wind rose again, and the sea of clouds surged once more.

The two Immortal Masters rose with the wind, their sleeves fluttering side by side, and in an instant, they vanished into the depths of the sea of clouds.

Behind them, only a few mountain peaks with lingering warmth and scorched marks remained.

At that very moment,

In Wan Province City, all the demonic Cultivators of the Heavenly Demon Hall seemed to have received some news simultaneously.

They began to mobilize in full force, including the six Golden Core Deacons of the Heavenly Demon Hall.

Because of the forceful intervention of the Golden Core True Persons, the entire front line in Wan Province City collapsed instantly. Daoist Jian Xia was unable to hold back six Golden Core Deacons alone, and the Disciples of the Sunset Glow Sect suffered heavy losses.

Countless people began to flee for their lives, and the entire Wan Province was thrown into utter chaos.

In an instant, the entire Wan Province was turned upside down.

The sky was torn asunder, and blood-red light poured down like a waterfall.

Countless demonic Cultivators swarmed out like a plague of locusts, blotting out the sun. They either rode black clouds or stepped on blood mists, their hideous dharma idols strange and varied, with only slaughter and devouring in their eyes.

Wails rose to the sky from all directions.

Towns became ruins, and villages turned to ash. Mortals, the elderly, the weak, women, children, Cultivators, Loose Cultivators, and wandering warriors all became fish on the chopping block.

The demonic Cultivators refined souls and seized spirits, turning living people into Blood Pills. When those pills churned in the furnace, there were still twisted faces of those who had died with their eyes open struggling within.

The cries of infants were snuffed out before they could escape their throats, and the pleas of white-haired elders were met only with a demonic Cultivator’s indifferent palm crushing their skulls.

Blood flowed into rivers.

That blood was not a trickling stream; it was a river bursting its banks, a vast ocean pouring in.

The three thousand rivers of Wan Province were dyed crimson in a single day. The river water was thick and foul-smelling, and floating corpses blocked the rivers so that boats could not pass. The earth drank so much blood that it actually cracked, and dark red fluid seeped from the fissures, as if the land itself were weeping blood.

The soil lost its original color, turning from light red to deep ochre, finally becoming a shocking expanse of red earth.

The red land stretched for a thousand miles, and the vegetation was scorched and withered.

Wherever the demonic Cultivators passed, living beings were devastated. Not only humans and livestock, but even birds, beasts, and Essence Spirits could not escape. Spirit deer in the mountains were skinned and de-sinewed, and century-old tree demons were uprooted, their roots still trembling in the wind. The vultures circling in the sky did not dare to land—there was no longer any rotting meat on the ground, only bone meal ground from skeletons mixed into the blood-mud, giving off a ghastly white sheen.

Even Heaven could not bear it.

The clear sky grew dark for no reason, the sun obscured like the eye of a dying man. The clouds hung extremely low, leaden and heavy, yet no rain fell—as if the heavens could not bear to dilute the blood covering the ground with rain.

Thunder rolled dully across the horizon, like a wail, like a sob, like an old man leaning on a staff and sighing repeatedly.

The wind also stopped.

Between heaven and earth, only the stench of blood and deathly silence remained.

Occasionally, a shrill cry or two would pierce the sky, only to be immediately swallowed by a deeper silence. That silence pressed upon every inch of Wan Province, upon the blood-soaked soil, among the scattered broken blades and tattered banners, and within countless eyes that refused to close in death.

Wailing victims were everywhere.

No, at this moment in Wan Province, there were no more 'mourning birds' to fly—all the birds were gone.

Only purgatory remained.

Only a few Disciples of the Sunset Glow Sect managed to escape; everyone else, including Daoist Jian Xia, had fallen.

Things had exceeded everyone's expectations.

The two Golden Core True Persons who were in Qing Province received the news and rushed back to the Sunset Glow Sect.

Thus, Danxia, Fuxia, Zhen Xia, Shou Xia, and Qi Xia—five Daoists arrived together before the Sunset Glow Sect Master's hall. The hall doors were wide open, deep as an abyss, with only a single figure sitting cross-legged on a prayer mat at the far end.

True Lord Luoxia.

The only Nascent Soul True Lord of Great Gan, who had been sitting here in meditation for sixty years.

The five entered the hall and knelt on the ground. Daoist Danxia touched his forehead to the bricks: “Reporting to the True Lord, Wan Province has become a living hell. The demonic Cultivators have mobilized in full force, slaughtering cities, destroying sects, and refining all living beings. Jian Xia, he...”

A long silence filled the hall.

The figure on the prayer mat slowly opened his eyes. Those eyes had witnessed the Sunset Glow Sect rise from a minor sect to a major power in Great Gan, and had watched countless Disciples through birth, aging, illness, and death. At this moment, there was no ripple in those eyes, only a faint weariness that years could not wash away.

“Jian Xia... has fallen.”

It was not a question.

It was a statement.

True Lord Luoxia's voice seemed to come from a very, very distant place, light and slow, yet every word was like a stone cast into a deep pool, stirring a silent grief within the five people in the hall.

He naturally knew of the events in Wan Province.

With a Nascent Soul Divine Thought, a single thought could cover a thousand miles. How those demonic Cultivators slaughtered, how those people wailed, how the Disciples of his Sunset Glow Sect fought to the death without retreating, how Daoist Jian Xia fought one against six, and finally how he was besieged until his core shattered and his soul dissipated—

He knew it all.

He could even guess what the Heavenly Demon Hall wanted to do.

That Old Devil Head had been stuck at the Nascent Soul Great Perfection for three hundred years. Three hundred years without a single step of progress, with his Lifespan nearing its end, he was trying to gamble for a Heaven-Defying change of fate. Refining the living beings of a single province was not enough; he wanted to refine the entire Great Gan, with its billions of commoners, all as his stepping stones to ascend to the heavens.

He had originally wanted to observe a little longer.

To see how many hidden cards the demonic Cultivators had, to see when the various forces would notice, and to see when that Old Devil Head would reveal a fatal flaw.

But he had not anticipated Jian Xia's fall.

True Lord Luoxia closed his eyes.

After a long time, he let out a sigh.

The sigh was extremely light, yet it struck the chests of the five people like a heavy evening drum.

“Fuxia.”

Daoist Fuxia abruptly looked up.

“Go to Great Qi and find the Qingxuan Sect.” The True Lord spoke very slowly, each word sounding as if it were being fished out of a deep pool. “Tell them the Sunset Glow Sect is requesting aid. Tell them everything that happened in Wan Province exactly as it is; there is no need to gloss over it or hide anything. That individual from the Qingxuan Sect owes me a favor, and now it is time to repay it.”

Daoist Fuxia kowtowed and accepted the order, but her voice was trembling: “True Lord, if you were to act...”

“Danxia.”

True Lord Luoxia interrupted her, shifting his gaze to Daoist Danxia: “Go to the Southern Border. The Danding Sect has ignored worldly affairs for a long time, but when your Master was alive, he had a friendship with the Grand Elder of the Danding Sect. Take this Jade Slip there, and he will see you.”

A piece of green jade floated down from beside the prayer mat, hovering in front of Daoist Danxia.

Daoist Danxia held it with both hands: “True Lord! There are only six demonic Cultivators at the Late Golden Core Stage; your intervention would suppress them in the blink of an eye! Why is there a need to...”

“Only six at the Late Golden Core Stage.”

True Lord Luoxia repeated his words, and there was finally a faint, almost pitying smile in his voice.

“Danxia, do you really think there are only six at the Late Golden Core Stage in Wan Province?”