Free Web NovelOn the border of the Otherworld, black snow fluttered.
A weathered, majestic pass stood on the Otherworld, its former grandeur still faintly discernible.
At the very beginning of the Tianhuang Domain, there was not only the Heavenly Human City, and the outside world was not always the Otherworld.
This was originally the rear, but now the city walls were scarred, corpses were everywhere outside, and the air was thick with the smell of blood.
Everything indicated the intensity of the fierce battle that had taken place here yesterday.
At this moment, inside a fortress within a city. ƒгeeweɓn૦vel.com
Jiang Yu, leading the Heavenly Human race including Pojun, and representatives of the Martial Artist families from Earth City, all stood before a city defense map.
"Now, we have no retreat; only one path remains: to burn our bridges," Jiang Yu said, his hand on the Celestial Human Divine Sword at his waist, opening the meeting.
Everyone looked at him with complex emotions: sighs, resentment, regret, but they had no choice but to suppress them.
The situation indeed offered no retreat.
Their retreat route had been cut off; no one had expected that Tanlang, a valiant and skilled warrior among the Heavenly Human race, would have long ago defected to the Otherworld. ƒreeωebnovel.ƈom
"Without supplies and military provisions, the longer we drag this out, the lower our chances of victory."
"If we're going to fight for our lives, we need a plan."
"We can't just eat the flesh of demons; eating that stuff will drive you mad and kill you..."
"Caught in a pincer attack, even if we achieve a tragic victory, how are we supposed to return to Heavenly Human City?"
The discussions among the Martial Artists from Earth City grew louder and more anxious.
Jiang Yu listened to them quietly, and when the clamor subsided, he swept his gaze across everyone.
"You don't need to consider too much; what you need to do is to hold back the majority of high-Rank demons here."
"I will lead the strongest part of the Heavenly Human race away; at least, we need to hold out for three days."
"Three days?"
The Martial Artists exchanged glances, their expressions obscure.
They didn't speak, but they all had the same question in their hearts.
Jiang Yu wasn't planning to have them act as a rearguard while he ran off, was he?
"I plan to strike directly at the Dragon's lair and capture the king," Jiang Yu said then.
Even now, he remained just as confident.
A middle-aged Martial Artist from Earth City smiled bitterly, "It seems we have no choice."
Yes, even if Jiang Yu truly left with his people, they couldn't stop him.
Now, they could only hope that his words were true and that he would succeed.
But even so, the rear still... gurgle—
A round object was thrown in, rolling twice on the ground.
It was a head, eyes wide open, with pale golden blood already congealed.
It was Tanlang.
And the figure who had just thrown the head in also entered from the black snow, rubbing his hands as he sat by the brazier, poking the charcoal with a still blood-stained fire poker.
Looking at this ordinary old farmer warming himself by the fire, a sense of absurdity arose in their hearts.
That was a Heavenly Human accompanied by purple auspicious glow, yet he died just like that, at the hands of a Mortal.
Jiang Yu also looked at him for a long time before bowing slightly and saying:
"For the journey to Youshuo, I ask Elder Dong to accompany me."
"I will go, old man, but not with you."
Dong Changtian didn't even look at him.
He didn't find Jiang Yu, who had ascended to the imperial throne and wielded the God Sword, particularly dazzling.
Because he had already seen the true sun... outside the city.
"Old Luo, how did you mess up again?"
"Yaoji, you eight-wan, such good luck?"
"Hahaha, I'm keeping score; remember to pay me when we leave Heavenly Human City."
The crisp, pleasant sound of mahjong tiles made from bone could be heard; members of the Demon Summoning Sect were either playing mahjong or drinking, exuding a cheerful atmosphere.
Luo Yexian could be said to be very pleased with himself lately.
The demons could all be controlled by the Hundred Beast Hall's secret techniques; they seemed to have intrinsic connections with the Hundred Beast Hall's Beast God.
The Heavenly Human City's counterattack on the Otherworld, due to various natural negative factors, failed to create any significant waves.
Just the demons organized by the Hundred Beast Hall forced the enemy to huddle within their city.
With the defection of the Heavenly Human Tanlang, that majestic pass wouldn't be able to support them for much longer.
The primary credit was undoubtedly his.
The Hall Master of Blood Refinement snorted coldly, "The next natural disaster hasn't arrived yet, and Ancestor God is still recuperating. I didn't expect this Heavenly Human Trial to end so soon; the methods I prepared haven't even been used."
"It's the same for me; Jiang Yu probably wants to finish everything once and ✧ NоvеIight ✧ (Original source) for all while Ancestor God is recovering, but unfortunately, he is too foolish and arrogant," the burly Yinyang Hall Master said in a delicate voice.
Jiang Yu's outrageous actions were not only an eyesore to his own people but also to his opponents.
"Cough, the Heavenly Human Trial won't end yet; there will still be opportunities to earn merit."
Luo Yexian, however, shook his head.
These two were getting a bit carried away; they actually forgot about Ying Bing.
But even she, I'm afraid, would find it difficult to turn the tide, wouldn't she? Jiang Yu had already led the situation to an irreversible point.
But just then, a tall ox-headed demon came in to report.
"Ancestor God's direct order: all sirs are requested to return to Youshuo!"
"What happened?"
"Jiang Yu, with a group of Heavenly Humans, has already reached outside Youshuo!"
"Hmm?"
Lu Tangzhu, Luo Yexian, and the Yinyang Hall Master's expressions changed slightly.
A sneak attack?
This kid was too dishonorable, and so ruthless; without the Heavenly Human race, this city wouldn't last long before falling.
The people in the city would have no choice but to fight to the death.
This was equivalent to exchanging the lives of others in the city for a chance to strike directly at the Dragon's lair.
Could it be that Jiang Yu had this idea in mind from the very beginning?
"There's no time to lose; please, sirs, depart as soon as possible."
"Let's go!"
Luo Yexian and the other two discussed and decided to leave the weaker demons to continue besieging the city, while they would take the strongest group of demons and return to reinforce Youshuo.
"Go!"
Taking the ox-headed demon with them, they began to rush towards Youshuo... Youshuo.
A malevolent wind swept through; this was the origin of the Heavenly Human City's disaster, the most foul and twisted place in this world, where thick black moss grew everywhere, as if compressed from black snow, and there were strangely shaped stone carvings.
The creatures that could survive here were as harsh as the environment itself.
A temple stood on the highest peak of the mountain range.
The power of the second natural disaster was incubating within it.
Here, there was the source of the natural disaster, a considerable number of powerful demons, members of the Demon Summoning Sect who had undergone a ritual, and that supreme external entity.
At this moment, figures stood in the sky above Youshuo, looking towards the distant horizon.
There, a phantom of a divine city, with a golden Dragon coiling around it, broke through layers of black snow and approached.
"More Heavenly Humans are coming to Youshuo, just like us in our former lives."
"Let's keep them here."
"After this battle, He will take us to the true world, and grant us new life..."
The black snow, where even sunlight couldn't penetrate, rippled and evaporated under the illumination of Earth City.
Had this Otherworld perhaps welcomed a dawn?
A temporary vacuum formed between the two sides, falling into an eerie silence.
Carried by Di City, the Heavenly Humans looked down and finally saw the forms of the entities below.
They were all tall, with white hair, and their clothing corresponded to their own, but with an ancient, dilapidated quality amidst the splendor.
Without exception, they had bluish skin, hollow black pupils, and as they breathed, turbid Qi rose, seemingly forming the black snow.
Vaguely, they resonated with this world.
This also revealed the identity of these beings—Heavenly Humans.
However, their bodies had long since decayed, driven by already corrupted Yi Souls, existing between life and death; calling them living dead was more fitting.
"Huanglie, Xiangji, Guxing..."
Leize muttered, looking at those distinct figures.
Among those entities, there were many ancestors who had left a profound mark in the records of the Heavenly Human race.
And indeed, ordinary individuals would not have the qualifications to appear in Youshuo.
But now, they had become living dead, standing on the opposite side of everyone.
"Why are they here?"
"It must be the Blood God's doing; he had already placed guardians in Youshuo... But why didn't they participate in the last wave of natural disaster?"
"Perhaps because they couldn't leave the Otherworld, but now, it is us who stand on the Otherworld..."
The Heavenly Humans were transcendent, above all things, because they were the darlings of this world.
Now, their ancestors, who were like them or even more powerful, had become living dead guarding the temple for the enemy; how could they not feel a chill down their spines?
"You also come from the true world."
"Heavenly Humans born in this sub-world cannot possess this unusual phenomenon."
The living dead, just called Huanglie, looked at Jiang Yu with his dark pupils, revealing a grim expression.
His voice stirred rolling black clouds, as if endless resentment rose from Youshuo.
The ground of the Otherworld suddenly ignited, as if this place had become a volcanic mountain range about to erupt, and his figure disappeared into the sea of fire.
The next moment, an exceptionally tall 'mountain' rose from the sea of fire.
That was not a mountain, but a giant whose entire body was burning.
Leize, standing beside Jiang Yu, had a solemn expression; he hurled a pure bolt of lightning into the sky.
The weather changed, and thousands of lightning bolts descended, instantly turning the world into a prison of raging thunder, halting the burning giant's advance.
"Everyone, let's move."
Leize was the first Heavenly Human to make a decision.
His body was entwined with tiny lightning snakes, as if a Thunder God had descended, and he stepped out of the divine city's scenery.
The thunder prison did not extinguish the black flame giant; although the opponent was struck by lightning, causing black flames to leap, they quickly mended.
The Heavenly and Earthly powers of both sides were canceling each other out.
In a breath, Leize transformed into a flash of electricity and rushed into the prison he had set up.
He was not an isolated case.
Rivers of water surged out of nowhere, turbid waves emptying the sky; wind and sand swirled, sandstorms scouring the black snow; brilliant starlight pierced through the gloom... Pojun was the most primal; he had become a Heavenly Human through martial arts, wielding a spear in one hand and a long saber in the other, moving through the battlefield.
The Otherworld, dormant for many years, was now almost turned upside down.
The battlefield was divided into dozens of areas, and the battle entered a white-hot stage from the very beginning.
But it wouldn't be long before the scales of victory would tip.
Because this was in the Otherworld.
The Heavenly Humans could resonate with Heaven and Earth, and so could their opponents, with an endless supply of reserves, unless these living dead's reliance on existence in the world was completely severed.
All they could do was buy time for Jiang Yu.
Di City traversed the chaotic battlefield, approaching the temple.
The figure holding the God Sword, from beginning to end, kept his gaze fixed on a black coffin connected to the ground deep within the temple.
This was a rare opportune moment.
Di City suddenly shrank, hovering above Jiang Yu's head, and the imperial power emanating from it grew even more intense.
With profound imperial might, with the wrath of an emperor felling a million corpses, Di City crashed down.
In the distance.
"Damn, they're fighting so fiercely."
"If they fought like this in Heavenly Human City, there would be no need for the next natural disaster; the place would be a wasteland before the fight was even over."
"Hey, do you think the abandoned cities outside Heavenly Human City were destroyed like this?"
"Jiang Yu went towards Ancestor God; what should we do?!"
The members of the Demon Summoning Sect arrived late, seeing the chaotic Youshuo from afar.
"Heh, Jiang Yu wants to harm Ancestor God; he's just overestimating himself," Lu Tangzhu of the Blood Refinement Hall sneered.
"We should go together and surround those Heavenly Humans, lest they escape. Ancestor God will praise us for being adaptable."
The Yinyang Hall Master also nodded.
"Indeed, if we're any later, we might only be spectators when we return."
Luo Yexian had originally planned to slack off and wholeheartedly agreed with their plan.
Just then, a clear and honest voice rang out.
The three of them turned around to see the ox-headed demon.
"Jiang Yu, that brat, is indeed not worth worrying about, but Ancestor God is still recovering and not at his peak. If he were to suffer even a slight injury, it would harm his venerable prestige."
The ox-headed demon was quite loyal.
The three looked at each other; what could they help with by getting closer?
If it were in the outside world, it would be fine, but Jiang Yu was now an Emperor, empowering the God Sword with the strength of Heavenly Human City; they would be useless if they went up against him.
"In that case, you take a few high-Rank demons to help," Luo Yexian said casually.
"Then I'm going!"
The ox-headed demon actually agreed and charged out first.
His tragic silhouette left the others bewildered.
Were there such brave warriors among demons? As expected, the Otherworld is vast, and all kinds of demons exist... "So brave, whose subordinate is he?"
"I don't know, Old Luo's, maybe."
"No, no, absolutely not mine; I hate minotaurs the most."
"Under the Yin Yang Hall?"
"Impossible, my Yin Yang Hall only has demons formed from plants, stones, and corpses, not living creatures."
The few of them talked for a bit but didn't pay much attention to the matter.
After all, there were countless nameless demons, and they couldn't have seen every single one.
There was a reason why the various Hall Masters of the Demon Summoning Sect didn't take Jiang Yu seriously.
Jiang Yu did seem strong, and if this were a normal Heavenly Human Trial, there was a high probability he could succeed in one battle.
But now, lying in the temple was the Blood God.
Crash—
The coffin slid open with a grating sound.
During this period, that arm, though still bluish-black, had lost its hideous wounds, replaced by streaks of thick blood-light.
The palm gently opened and held up the phantom of Di City.
Without apparent effort, it caused Jiang Yu's connection to the Inner Scenery of Heavenly Human City to waver under the unbearable strain.
Rather than saying the palm received Di City, it was more like it was weighing its true strength.
"You are far inferior to your father."
