Chapter 172: Cold Rain

Meng Chuan transformed into a streak of lightning, heading straight for the south city wall. At this moment, the lightning within him fully erupted, pushing his speed to its normal limit. Although he was angry and anxious, he clearly understood that this battle had just begun, and his Primordial Spirit power and divine power techniques had to be saved for more critical moments.

All the common people in the city were rushing towards the nearest underground tunnels. Hundreds of smoke signals billowed, making it clear to everyone in the city that this was no longer a fight ordinary people could participate in; to go out was to die.

"Clang.""Boom."The various layers of mechanisms within the tunnels sealed shut. Hundreds of people were huddled in each tunnel, anxiously awaiting their fate.

"How could Jiangzhou City be under attack?""How dare the demon race?""Smoke signals are billowing from all four city walls, and the Jiangzhou Branch Academy's bell hasn't even rung to summon us above the Marrow Cleansing realm to resist. This is clearly very serious."People whispered amongst themselves.

They also knew that the tunnel's multiple layers of mechanisms were only meant to buy time. Ordinary demons would take a significant amount of time to breach the tunnels, but demon kings could destroy and breach them quickly. Even so, it still bought some time. Outside, a demon king could slaughter all life within a hundred zhang in the blink of an eye. Inside the tunnel, however, a demon king would need one or two breaths of time to breach it and could only kill a hundred people inside.

Meng Chuan's speed was extraordinary; a single flash of lightning covered three li. After a dozen such flashes, Meng Chuan reached the area near the south city wall.

"This is..." Meng Chuan's expression subtly changed.Being close to the city wall, it was clear that many people here had been slaughtered while still trying to escape to the tunnels.At a glance, vast numbers of bodies lay scattered.

Some bodies were completely bisected, as if a giant axe had cut through one or two hundred people at the waist. Rain fell, mixing with blood to form rivers. Other bodies were intact but had dark faces and had collapsed. Hundreds, even thousands, of bodies were like this, sending a chill down Meng Chuan's spine.

Although he had witnessed demon massacres over the years—at the age of six, and during the Dongning Prefecture invasion—those were mainly carried out by ordinary demons. Nothing compared to this level of frenzied slaughter by demon kings. This was the first time he had seen such a sight.He even understood... this was not the beginning.When Yuanchu Mountain and the other three major sects chose to abandon the small and medium-sized passes, he feared such scenes would occur more than once in the future.

"Demon kings, demon kings!" Meng Chuan shivered, but a strong killing intent surged within him."That direction." Meng Chuan looked into the distance; it was the nearest battlefield he could sense, where demon power aura was rising.Meng Chuan swiftly ran towards that direction. From afar, he could see a place where loud rumbling sounds emanated.

"A Wolf Demon King." Meng Chuan arrived in a flash and saw a two-zhang tall Wolf Demon King, hunched over, emerging from a completely collapsed tunnel. The fate of the people inside was self-evident.The Wolf Demon King, still hunched over, hadn't even fully exited the tunnel when it spotted the lightning-shrouded figure."A Godfiend?" The Wolf Demon King shuddered. As an ordinary Second-Heaven Demon King, its purpose here was simply to slaughter.

"Boom."With a wave of Meng Chuan's hand, a streak of true essence blade light cut through the air, severing the Wolf Demon King's neck. Its head flew into the sky.

"Bang, bang, bang."The Great Sun realm Godfiend, Li Ye, wielding twin blades, was struggling to fend off a Triple-Heaven Scorpion Demon King. In terms of pure strength, he was no less powerful than the Scorpion Demon King, but there was also a Second-Heaven Female Silkworm Demon King nearby, repeatedly binding him with countless silken threads. Although Li Ye's blade light could cut through them, his combat power was still affected. Furthermore, a Second-Heaven Toad Demon King continuously attacked him with two streams of green toxic gas, forcing Li Ye to divert some of his Great Sun realm true essence to resist the poison.

If it were a one-on-one fight, he could easily kill the Toad Demon King or the Female Silkworm Demon King. However, when combined with the Scorpion Demon King, their coordinated attacks became qualitatively different. Li Ye felt as though he was simultaneously facing three powerful demon kings.

"Puff." The Triple-Heaven Scorpion Demon King, wielding a black trident, stabbed Li Ye's thigh with its poisonous tail once more. Though the robes and pants issued by Yuanchu Mountain were incredibly tough, they were barely pierced, allowing venom to enter his thigh. Li Ye could only use his Great Sun realm true essence to resist the potent poison."It's over. I'm afraid I'll be killed within three breaths." Li Ye was already using a divine power technique, desperately trying to hold on.

Suddenly, a streak of lightning struck from afar."So fast!" The Triple-Heaven Scorpion Demon King, Toad Demon King, and Female Silkworm Demon King were all startled. They tried to block it, but the flying silken threads were too slow, and the two streams of green toxic gas sprayed by the Toad Demon King were also too slow.The Scorpion Demon King frantically swung its trident in defense.Yet, a single blade strike passed through.The Scorpion Demon King's body was sliced diagonally from the shoulder, splitting directly into two halves. Only then did Meng Chuan's figure become visible. Meng Chuan then swiftly unleashed two more true essence blade lights, which cut through the air and instantly killed the terrified Toad Demon King and Female Silkworm Demon King as they tried to flee.

"Senior Brother Meng!" The Great Sun realm Godfiend, Li Ye, exclaimed upon seeing Meng Chuan, who was no longer concealing his identity."Why are you alone?" Meng Chuan frowned, looking at him. Godfiend Li Ye was not an inner disciple of Yuanchu Mountain, but an outer one. However, having cultivated to the Great Sun realm, he was still able to learn Yuanchu Mountain's legacies and receive basic robes, armor, and weapons.

"I was out on an errand, and who knew the demon race would arrive so suddenly? I saw them slaughtering furiously..." Li Ye quickly explained."Quickly regroup with the others and go to the east city. Leave the south city to me." Meng Chuan didn't listen to him further. Time was precious now, and he couldn't afford to waste it.With a swoosh, Meng Chuan transformed into a streak of lightning and vanished.

Li Ye said nothing more.He also knew that when demon kings invaded, it was wisest to immediately regroup with other Godfiends. However, upon seeing the demon kings' frenzied slaughter, he knew he could save many people by intervening. What else could he do? He instinctively moved to block these demon kings, and after killing one Second-Heaven Demon King, he encountered the three: the Scorpion Demon King, and its allies.

"With Senior Brother Meng here, the south city can be defended," Li Ye said to himself. Holding his Godfiend token, he followed its sensation to regroup with his comrades.

East City area.The city was desolate, rain falling, and not a single person was visible on the streets! All the living had hidden in the tunnels.

A black-robed bald man walked barefoot through the rain, a smile on his face. He enjoyed rainy weather.

"Hmm?" He looked into the distance. "More Godfiends over there?"He strode forward, leaving a blurry illusion, and soon arrived at that battlefield.

A Great Sun realm Godfiend, Zhang Fangkui, leading two Indestructible realm Godfiends, was cooperatively dealing with a demon king. One demon king had already fallen, while the other two were struggling to hold on.

"Three Godfiends," the Blackwater Palace Master said as he approached. The three human Godfiends couldn't see or sense him.Then, three streams of water shot out.The water streams were like swords, appearing abruptly and moving with lightning speed.

"Not good!" The three human Godfiends' expressions changed drastically. Three streams of water had appeared out of nowhere dozens of zhang away and were attacking them. They were completely unprepared. They desperately tried to resist, but the water streams' trajectories were mysterious. *Puff, puff, puff—*All three Godfiends had their chests pierced, leaving bowl-sized holes, their hearts utterly destroyed.The two Indestructible realm Godfiends collapsed instantly, their bodies going limp, but their eyes remained fixed forward.The Great Sun realm Godfiend, Zhang Fangkui, still managed to forcefully swing an axe, sending it dozens of zhang forward. The axe flew, causing ripples in the water dozens of zhang away, revealing the black-robed bald man.

Seeing him, Zhang Fangkui's face changed. As a Yuanchu Mountain disciple, he naturally knew the intelligence on the Heavenly Demon Gate's powerful figures. "Blackwater Palace Master?"Zhang Fangkui then collapsed weakly to his knees, staring intently at the Blackwater Palace Master, fear in his eyes. "This is a Fourth-Heaven Heavenly Demon. My fellow disciples can't stop him."

"You go first; other Godfiends will join you one by one," the Blackwater Palace Master said, then turned and left.Zhang Fangkui lay there, his blood staining the ground, his eyes fixed forward. In his final moments, he thought of his family, of his two excellent children. Then, his consciousness completely sank into darkness.

"Puff." "Puff." "Puff."Three more streams of water.Three more human Godfiends fell powerlessly. The Blackwater Palace Master walked barefoot through the blood-stained ground, a smile on his lips. "For the great migration, the Marquis Godfiends went to the medium-sized passes, yet this gave us a rare opportunity to kill ordinary Godfiends."

What the demon race feared most was...If humanity had allowed the common people in hundreds of small and medium-sized passes to migrate on their own, while Marquis Godfiends remained stationed in various prefectures, and Great Sun realm Godfiends also guarded various state capitals. In that scenario, the Godfiend defenses would be impregnable, and while migrating commoners might suffer heavy casualties, the Godfiends' losses would be minimal.

Now, the people in hundreds of passes had very few casualties, but the Godfiends had to be spread out everywhere, facing the counterattacks of the demon race and the Heavenly Demon Gate.

"Is it worth it to sacrifice so many Godfiends' lives for the common people of hundreds of small and medium-sized passes?" the Blackwater Palace Master sneered. "The total population of hundreds of small and medium-sized passes is only equivalent to one prefecture's population. Humanity once had over sixty prefectures... even if all commoners in the passes were sacrificed, what's the big deal?"

"How foolish.""Well, it's better this way: fewer commoners die, and more Godfiends die. That's what we like best." The Blackwater Palace Master continued to walk, killing every human Godfiend he encountered.