Chapter 203: 伏角 Great Demon King

Meng Dajiang was highly trusted by Yuanchu Mountain, largely due to his son and daughter-in-law. As the Meng clan patriarch, he commanded great prestige in Dongning Prefecture, and his years of cultivation had elevated him to the 'Undying Realm Godfiend' level within the Body Refinement lineage. He now served as the highest-ranking official of the 'Earth Net' in Dongning Prefecture. Liu Yebei partnered with Meng Dajiang, together responsible for tracking down demon kings and demon tribes within Dongning.

“Attack!” Liu Qiyue spread her fiery wings high in the sky, unleashing a barrage of arrows. Meng Chuan, too, employed his movement technique to close in and pursue the enemy.

“We’re too late.”

Meng Chuan and his wife stood amidst the ruins of a county town, gazing at the three fallen Godfiend bodies before them. It seemed only one member of the Godfiend squad had escaped; the other three had been slain there.

Although they were incredibly fast, covering several hundred miles still took several minutes. Such a duration was sometimes enough for demon kings to kill Godfiends.

“Another demon king attack.”

Thick smoke billowed in the distance.

Meng Chuan, patrolling Gushan Prefecture, immediately rushed to the scene.

Time passed quickly; in the blink of an eye, Meng Chuan and his wife had been stationed in Gushan Prefecture for eight months.

These eight months proved far more eventful than their time at Beihe Pass or Jiangzhou City. Meng Chuan encountered all kinds of Godfiends.

Not every Godfiend was willing to sacrifice for mortals…

Not every Godfiend was exceptionally brave…

Some clung to life and feared death, while others were deeply selfish.

One instance involved an 'Undying Realm Godfiend' from the Earth Net during a patrol. Upon seeing a Second-Heaven demon king attack a fortified village, he merely requested aid from Yuanchu Mountain, then quietly retreated, utterly unwilling to rescue the mortals.

An Undying Realm Godfiend could certainly contend with a Second-Heaven demon king, but fearing the possibility of death in battle, that particular Godfiend quietly withdrew. Meng Chuan, who happened to be passing by, witnessed this scene clearly.

In another case, a Godfiend squad found itself in a desperate situation. While the other companions supported each other, fighting desperately, one Godfiend was the first to flee for his life, leaving his comrades to hold off the demon kings.

Three companions died, but the one who fled first indeed escaped and survived.

This secret was only uncovered by Meng Chuan and his wife when they arrived to pursue the demon kings, learning from the demon kings’ taunts that the only Godfiend who had escaped had betrayed his comrades.

Meng Chuan and his wife captured two of the demon kings alive, who were then sent by the Earth Net to Yuanchu Mountain for interrogation.

Facing Yuanchu Mountain’s illusions, that Godfiend could not lie and was ultimately publicly executed!

Had he resisted alongside his three companions, they might have held out until Meng Chuan and his wife arrived, and all four could have survived.

What was the final outcome? Three companions died, and he was executed.

As he was executed, he roared, “I just wanted to live! I just wanted to live, and you’re executing me for it?!”

Meng Chuan, upon learning of this outcome, felt neither joy nor anger, only sorrow.

Had he lived to join a new Godfiend squad, he would only have endangered new companions.

According to the sect’s regulations, he had to be executed.

“Fool, utter fool,”

“He caused the deaths of three Godfiends, yet remained oblivious.”

Meng Chuan also depicted this scene in his long scroll, showing the Godfiend who secretly fled with a smirk.

Three companions fought valiantly, while he secretly fled alone…

Meng Chuan felt contempt, so in the painting, that Godfiend appeared base, like a clown.

There was more than one such ‘clown-like’ Godfiend in Meng Chuan’s scroll. They were inconspicuous, relegated to the corners of the painting.

Late autumn. A small coastal county town in Donggang Prefecture, within Wuzhou.

Thick smoke billowed over the county town, which had been reduced to ruins.

Three ‘Third-Heaven demon kings’ were present, wreaking havoc indiscriminately. The sky was gloomy, and rain was falling. Mortals in the county town, hiding in underground tunnels, could only wait as one tunnel after another was discovered, and one group of mortals after another was slaughtered.

It was a nightmare.

After nearly thirty percent of the county town’s population had been slaughtered, four streaks of light shot straight towards the location from afar.

“They are three ordinary Third-Heaven demon kings,” the Godfiend squad noted, their killing intent sharpening.

After suffering heavy losses during their initial probing attacks, Third-Heaven demon kings now also formed into squads. The most troublesome among them were teams led by divine ability demon kings; other demon king teams posed much less threat.

“Go! Don’t let a single one escape.”

“Surround and kill them.”

The four Great Solar Godfiends surged with overwhelming killing intent, determined to slay these three demon kings for the sake of the city’s fallen.

Experienced, they quickly surrounded the three demon kings. The demon kings, employing forbidden techniques, resisted desperately, but the vast power gap meant they wouldn’t last long.

“Pity, these four Great Solar Godfiends lack any true genius.” Inside a tavern in the county town, crushed by fallen trees, a figure stood within one of its rooms, watching the battle unfold over a mile away.

He wore a gray robe and watched silently.

“Well, killing four Great Solar Godfiends is still some gain.” The gray-robed figure stood there, his eyes flickering.

Two golden beams shot forth from his pupils.

The two golden beams left faint trails in the air. The four Great Solar Godfiends battling in the distance finally sensed the golden beams approaching them with lethal intent, but it was too late to block them.

“Pfft, pfft, pfft, pfft.”

All four Great Solar Godfiends had their foreheads pierced by the golden beams.

The two golden beams traced arcs and swiftly departed, flying back to the tavern and re-entering the gray-robed figure’s eyes.

“Go.” The gray-robed figure’s form blurred, and he vanished instantly.

Meanwhile, the four Great Solar Godfiends in the distance collapsed lifelessly, their eyes wide with despair and disbelief. They were the guardians of the entire Donggang Prefecture, who had silently protected it for the past nine months, pursuing demon kings wherever they appeared. They had saved countless mortals and slain too many demon kings.

Now, all four had fallen.

Two of them were inner disciples of Yuanchu Mountain, and two were outer disciples; all were Great Solar Godfiends.

Several minutes later, a King Godfiend arrived.

The ability to instantly wipe out a Godfiend squad indicated a Fourth-Heaven level threat. When a Fourth-Heaven level threat was involved, human Godfiends would dispatch the strongest available forces nearby.

But within those few minutes, the gray-robed figure had long since escaped, leaving the King Godfiend helpless.

“Hahaha!”

In a gloomy underground palace.

The gray-robed figure entered and removed his gray robe, revealing himself to be the one-horned 'Great Demon King Fuju'.

“Congratulations, Great King! Congratulations!” the demon kings in the hall flattered him.

“I merely killed four Great Solar Godfiends,” Great Demon King Fuju said with a laugh. “It’s nothing worth mentioning.”

“It’s also because the demon kings in the various prefectures are too useless; they’ve killed so few Godfiends.”

“Still, Your Majesty is formidable. You effortlessly slew four Great Solar Godfiends with a single strike.”

The demon kings in the hall continued to shower him with praise.

Great Demon King Fuju, seated on his throne, said, “You cannot blame the demon kings of the various prefectures. Human Godfiends are very cautious, and their rescue squads arrive quickly. At least thirty to forty Third-Heaven demon kings in my Wuzhou territory must die to kill one Great Solar Godfiend. Such losses are unbearable for the demon world. I can only occasionally kill Great Solar Godfiends.”

“The demon kings of the various prefectures have suffered sixty percent casualties in the past year and only killed four Great Solar Godfiends. Your Majesty, with a single strike, killed four!”

“Your Majesty is mighty!”

These demon kings, responsible for intelligence, continued to praise him, as they were not particularly skilled in combat themselves.

“All of you, withdraw. Leave me in peace,” Great Demon King Fuju said, waving his hand.

“Yes,” the demon kings replied, respectfully withdrawing.

Great Demon King Fuju sat there, contemplating, “Now that I’ve made a move, the humans will surely pursue me, perhaps even setting up an ambush? But you will be wasting your efforts. I will not make another move for the next two years. After two years, we shall see.”

It wanted to kill human Godfiends, but the humans wanted to kill it even more.

Ten Great Solar Godfiends for one Fourth-Heaven demon king… From a strategic warfare perspective, it was entirely worthwhile!

Only twenty-seven Fourth-Heaven demon kings had entered the human world in the first wave. For the three major sects, sacrificing over two hundred Great Solar Godfiends to eliminate this batch of Fourth-Heaven demon kings would be a tremendous victory.

However, the Fourth-Heaven demon kings were incredibly cunning, each one exceedingly slippery.