A small Demon Abyss could only allow demon soldiers of the fourth rank or below to emerge. Anything stronger could not pass through. Yet within the territory of Great Yi, the entire populace was armed; everyone was a cultivator. Even the weakest among them, after years of subtle tempering, could at the very least reach the second-rank Life Aperture realm, with many achieving the third-rank Fate Map realm. Their physiques were powerful, their combat strength far from weak. Not to mention the bounty hunters—men and women who licked blood off the edge of their blades.
Thus, when small Demon Abysses appeared within Great Yi, once their coordinates were exposed, the army did not intervene directly. Instead, they set up prohibitions outside the Abyss, stationed a portion of the military to guard it, and left the suppression of the demon soldiers pouring out to the bounty hunters of the Hunter Hall.
For other realms, the Abyss was a disaster.
For Great Yi, it was a grand feast for bounty hunters.
Countless hunters stood guard at the Abyss, releasing the demon soldiers in an orderly fashion. One emerged, one was captured. Another emerged, another was slain. It was no different from herding cattle and sheep to the slaughter.
And what a fragrant slaughter it was.
Moreover, the bodies of demon soldiers were filled with treasures.
In Great Yi, the development of the Hundred Arts of cultivation had long since entered a new stage. The body of every beast and fiend could be utilized. The flesh of the Zerg could be eaten, their carapaces forged into armor or refined into weapons and artifacts. Even their eyes could be crafted into treasures. As for demon soldiers whose flesh was inedible, their blood and meat could be thrown into the sea to feed fish, given to the wilderness to nourish spirit beasts and divine birds, or even directly absorbed into the Iron-Blood Great Wall to strengthen it.
One way or another, nothing went to waste.
Not a scrap of flesh, not a fragment of bone. Everything could be used to its utmost.
This situation within Great Yi inevitably stirred envy and jealousy across other realms.
Though the Eternal Night demon soldiers emerging from the Abyss were of low rank, their numbers were terrifying. In places where the Abyss was not sealed at once or guarded by experts, chaos reigned. Even if the Abyss was blocked later, countless demon soldiers had already flooded out.
Those Eternal Night demon soldiers, upon encountering weak forces, launched immediate annihilation. Against stronger opponents, they would scatter into the wilderness, hunting, breeding offspring. And nearly all of the demon soldiers spilling out now were of species with terrifying reproductive abilities. Once they disappeared into the wilds, finding them became nearly impossible. As long as they had nourishment and time, they could breed vast armies of descendants. Their own strength would also steadily grow over time.
If not suppressed at the first instant, they became a hidden threat of unimaginable scale—an endless calamity, impossible to eradicate.
Thus, all across the realms, chaos spread.
The demon calamity erupted everywhere.
Realms that located the Demon Abyss swiftly could suppress the source. Those that failed were plunged into something akin to doomsday. Demon soldiers emerged in endless waves, slaughtering, destroying, showing no mercy—cruelty taken to the extreme.
Bloodshed everywhere.War everywhere.
Compared with the tranquil scenes inside Great Yi, how could the hearts of others possibly remain balanced? They were nothing but bitter lemons, consumed by envy.
"Why aren't we citizens of Great Yi? If only we lived within their borders. I hear the myriad races dwelling in Great Yi's wilderness haven't suffered from the calamity at all—life continues as before!"
"So envious! If only Great Yi would extend their rule to our realm. Better to submit to Great Yi than endure this demonic calamity. Being their subjects is far preferable to facing this apocalypse. One is hell, the other heaven."
Such sour words filled the air, common across the Star Network's virtual communities, where voices surged like waves.
Many realms, already fragile, were now on the brink of collapse under the onslaught of the calamity. For struggling forces, it was a crippling blow, impossible to withstand.
"According to reports, the demon calamity within Great Yi has caused no damage at all. Instead, it has become a laughingstock in their eyes. But in other realms, the Abyss have achieved shocking results—destruction on a massive scale. Their rule has suffered severe threats."
The black-robed man's face shone with joy. This widespread eruption of Demon Abyss was nothing less than a grand invasion.
"Unfortunately, only small Abyss have opened. The true threat is limited. Still, as long as Eternal Night can hinder the growth of the Eternal World, severing its momentum, that is enough. This outcome will satisfy Eternal Night."
The green-robed man grinned. In recent years, Hydra had borne enormous pressure. If anything went wrong this time, Eternal Night would vent its wrath upon them as scapegoats. Fortunately, everything had gone according to plan, all within control.
"Eternal Night's side should be starting soon."
The white-robed man smiled, gazing into the void as if to pierce through heaven and earth, looking upon his destined target.
"Indeed. Once those powerhouses return, in the war between Eternal Night and Eternal, our side will surely seize the advantage. Eternal will become nothing but a dish on our table. A war that has dragged on for two eras will finally end. In the end, we of Eternal Night are the greater."
The red-robed man cackled strangely.He had long wished for the war to end. To battle Eternal without pause was to live in constant terror—never knowing if death would come in the very next breath. The last battle of the previous era had been so brutal he could not bear to remember it. To lack even control over one's own life—what horror that was.
"Soon. According to news from Eternal Night, once the powerhouses return, within a thousand years a full-scale assault will begin. The fusion of the two realms will accelerate. Within ten thousand years, the war will be over."
The black-robed man inhaled deeply.
This message came from the Hall of Gods and Demons.
It was nothing less than a war of life and death.
Eternal Night Battlefield.
Thirteen blood moons still hung high in the sky, shedding dense moonlight over the battlefield. From the Summoning Pools, demon soldiers condensed in wave after wave, transported toward designated positions. These were undoubtedly destined to be cannon fodder on the battlefield of gods and demons. Though newly born, their killing will was instinctive, their aura fierce and unyielding.
Their numbers were endless.They were cannon fodder, yes—but still the vanguard of Eternal Night.
Yet in the Shadow Demon Clan, one of the three great races of the Eternal Night battlefield, the scene was entirely different.
There were no cannon fodder soldiers here. Instead, the entire Shadow Mountain Range was cloaked in strangeness. Invisible prohibitions and barriers blanketed it, reducing its very presence until it seemed to vanish. To outside senses, its existence diminished countless times over.
It was as if the Shadow Mountains had been cut away from the battlefield itself, shunted into another dimension.
Birds flying overhead passed through as though nothing was there, their perceptions subtly altered by some invisible force. They noticed no anomaly, as though their awareness itself had been rewritten.
Atop a massive mountain, its peak sheared flat into a vast platform, stood a colossal black altar. Around it stretched an immense blood pool, filled with a sea of blood so vast it exuded an eerie fragrance. So concentrated was the essence that it no longer smelled of gore but of strange allure.
All around, Eternal Night demon gods stood, their gazes fixed upon a single figure at the altar.
It was the Sovereign of the Evil Eye.
Though clearly not his true body, only an avatar, even so his presence transcended the Hunyuan realm. A single wisp of his aura made the surrounding demon gods afraid to even breathe, lest they offend him. The consequences of such offense were unthinkable.
Suspended above the altar was a silver ancient mirror, covered in countless mysterious runes that outlined boundless Dao rhythms. A silver serpent coiled around its edge, biting its own tail, forming a perfect closed loop. Looking closer, one could see within it a mysterious long river of time and space flowing in endless cycles.
Beside the mirror floated a great banner. Upon it blazed the image of thirteen blood moons, radiating the purest aura of Eternal Night, exuding a strange guiding pull.
"This is the altar to summon back the Eternal Night powerhouses? Remarkable. This altar is no weaker than any innate treasure—perhaps even stronger."
Among the watching demon gods stood Yi Tianxie.Thousands of demon gods had gathered here to welcome the returning mighty ones of Eternal Night. Amid them, Yi Tianxie was unremarkable, deliberately suppressing his presence.
This altar was the Eternal Night Altar—an object of supreme importance, of a grade surpassing even innate treasures.
The mirror was the Mirror of Space-Time, imbued with the power of time and space, able to pierce the River of Time and open a passageway.
The banner was the Blood Moon Demon God Banner, carrying the essence of Eternal Night itself. To the mighty demon gods of Eternal Night, it evoked a resonance like the call of bloodlines, serving as a beacon to guide them home.
Each of these items was priceless. Were word of them to spread, Eternal Night itself would drown in rivers of blood and the fall of stars as countless beings fought to claim them.