A desolate war horn echoed through the sky above the battlefield. Like two surging tides crashing from opposite directions, the armies of the Sakura Empire and the Grand Virtue Empire clashed, piercing and weaving through one another in a deadly dance. Shouts and cries of battle rang endlessly across the chaos.
Whoosh! Whoosh! Whoosh!
Rockets screamed into the sky, tearing through the clouds before reversing course and plunging downward like blazing arrows from the heavens. Beneath the dark storm front, a torrential rain of fire fell upon the earth. Flames erupted in clusters, thick black smoke rising to stain the clouds above.
Awooooo!
Beast-like howls erupted from the ranks of the Sakura Empire. Towering figures — over twenty feet tall and entirely green-skinned — emerged from the formations. These demonized warriors leapt into the air, covering hundreds of feet in a single bound before crashing down like meteors, their landings thundering through the ground. Their glowing green eyes blazed with bloodlust and savagery.
On the opposing side, cultivators of the Ascension Realm from the martial world formed a Grand Daoyan Sword Array. They surged forward, bypassing the frontline of the Grand Virtue Empire's forces, directly targeting the demonized soldiers transformed by the Fourth Demon King.
Smoke and fire climbed high into the sky. Fengyun Wuji glanced down, but quickly looked away. He knew that if all went as planned, the sixty thousand ascended warriors from the myriad sects of the martial world would be more than enough to deal with those corrupted demon-men. His real focus was the true source of this chaos — the Fourth Demon King.
Boom!
At that very moment, two figures shot out from opposite directions like blazing comets, colliding midair. A shockwave of destructive force — half crimson, half blinding white — rippled outward, tearing apart the clouds and exposing a starlit sky.
The Fifth Sword Soul, agile as a coiling dragon, struck out from every angle, each move precise and incisive. But the Fourth Demon King was clad in pitch-black armor that wrapped his body entirely. His long demonic tail curled around a silver diamond-shaped shield, wielding it with frightening dexterity. With each clash, the shriek of metal rang out — clang! clang! — as the shield deflected the flurry of sword strikes.
The demon king's right claw crackled with blood-red lightning as he slashed toward Fengyun Wuji. Wherever his strikes passed, space itself warped and tore in jagged black rifts. Fengyun Wuji had no doubt — a single direct hit would tear him apart.
The demon king's speed was blinding, his massive wings stirring violent currents of air with every beat. Fengyun Wuji couldn't easily shake him. Blood-lit claws slashed relentlessly, missing by mere inches. Within the narrow space, Fengyun Wuji pushed his speed to the very limit, leaving afterimages in every direction. Several times, the demon king's attacks landed only on these phantoms, allowing Wuji to retaliate with sparks of steel across the demon's shoulder plates.
Blazing energy swords whirled around Fengyun Wuji in a protective half-dome, appearing and vanishing in an endless flow. Guided by his will, they launched fierce strikes at every opening in the demon king's defense, bursting with explosive force. But the black armor defied every assault, only sparks leaping from its surface. If not for the demon king's exposed eyes — unprotected by a helmet — Fengyun Wuji would have had no target at all. Most of his attacks were directed straight at those vulnerable eyes.
Frustration built on both sides. Fengyun Wuji found no opening in that turtle-like armor, and the demon king's overwhelming strength was rendered useless against Wuji's lightning-fast evasions.
Zzzzt! Zzzzt!
A strike landed against the demon king's armor — only for the blade to snap. But in that instant, Fengyun Wuji glimpsed a thin white vein running along the demon king's shoulder plate — barely visible, easily overlooked. A spark of inspiration flashed in his mind.
Chime... chime...
Sword cries rose into the air. The dense sphere of radiant energy blades behind him suddenly streamed into his palm like shooting stars. With a gentle sweep of his hands, the blades flared brightly, humming louder and louder — then, in a blink, all light vanished. What now rested in Fengyun Wuji's hand was a sword of pure energy — ancient, elegant, and indistinguishable from a true blade.
After countless ineffective strikes, Wuji changed his approach. Against top-tier foes, ordinary sword control was too inefficient. But that subtle flaw in the demon king's shoulder armor had revealed the key. Now, dozens of energy swords fused into one, their essence compressed by pure will and spiritual force.
He struck. The composite sword landed with a deafening clash — and instantly shattered, leaving no mark.
"Still not enough?" Wuji murmured. "Then let's try a hundred."
Another brilliant blade formed in his hand, swung — and was obliterated by a single punch.
"A hundred isn't enough? Then let's try a thousand..."
Thousands of blades merged, again forming one. Again, the result: shattered steel.
Again and again, Wuji gathered and compressed. When energy alone could compress no further, he pressed in with his divine consciousness, forcing the sword's essence tighter still. Ten thousand. A hundred thousand. Then, in a silent instant, nearly a million energy swords vanished — and in their place, a single crystalline longsword, six feet long and chilling to the touch, appeared in his grasp, gleaming with deadly clarity.
Crack!
He slashed. The blade sang like thunder, crashing down onto the demon king's wrist.
Krrk!
A fine fracture appeared on the wrist guard. The Fourth Demon King reeled, stunned that Wuji had created such a weapon through last-minute insight. His expression darkened. As he prepared to retaliate, Wuji struck again — and again he was forced to block.
Boom! Boom! Boom!
At first, Wuji's strikes came in rapid flurries — dozens at a time — all blocked by the demon king's armor. But gradually, his swings slowed. Each blow now fell like a mountain, deliberate and heavy. The demon king's face grew grim. Black demonic energy poured from his body, converging into his hands.
Crash!
Another blow landed. The demon king staggered, a white crack running from his chestplate down to his leg armor.
Crash!
The next strike webbed his armor in spider-like fractures. Panic flickered in the demon king's eyes. With a roar, he raised his arms. A blood-red gleam flared between his palms, then extended into a blazing five-foot blade. The crimson energy around the sword radiated so fiercely it turned to mist — thick, clinging demonic qi.
"Go!" the demon king roared, hurling the bloodblade at Wuji — just as Wuji unleashed his 156th strike, his expression cold and unshaken.
BOOM!
The two attacks collided. The demon king was blasted from the sky like a cannonball, crashing into the earth. His bloodblade shattered into glowing shards. Above, Wuji's own sword dissolved, and he himself was hurled hundreds of meters back.
Where the two forces met, red and white energies carved a vertical rift through the sky — splitting heaven and earth in two.
RUMBLE...
The land quaked violently. A deafening rumble echoed as a massive fissure ripped open the battlefield, pitch black and bottomless. Thousands of soldiers caught in the vicinity were instantly torn apart or fell screaming into the abyss.
The sudden cataclysm stunned both sides. Amid the stunned silence, countless warriors instinctively looked skyward — just in time to see a blazing figure plummet toward the earth like a falling star.
Its target: the demon with wings.