The demonic tide's assault was like an endless black tsunami—wave upon wave, ceaseless. From dawn to night, and from night to the next day's breaking dawn, the corpses before the "Watchtower Bastion" had piled as high as the city walls. Viscous demonic blood gathered into streams, emanating nauseating stench. Allied cultivators were mentally and physically exhausted, their spiritual power nearly depleted. Many merely wielded weapons mechanically through sheer indomitable will, releasing spells of greatly diminished power.
What was even more terrifying was that pervasive demonic energy, like malignant tumors clinging to bone, whose concentration only increased as battle prolonged rather than decreased. Even with Xiao Qi constantly patrolling and dispelling vast swathes of demonic energy with his World-Purifying Sacred Domain, his strength alone simply could not cover every corner of the thousand-li defensive line. There were always areas that, after he left, were quickly re-immersed in demonic energy.
"Ah—! My arm!" A human sword cultivator screamed while retreating in agony. His right arm had been bitten by a shadow demon lurking within the demonic energy. The wound instantly turned black and festered, demonic energy rapidly spreading upward along his meridians.
"Hold steady! Use the Heart-Clearing Pill quickly!" A comrade nearby rushed forward, trying to help him expel the demonic energy, but with little effect. The sword cultivator's gaze rapidly grew murky and insane.
Similar scenes played out endlessly along the long defensive line. The erosion of demonic energy was more terrifying than the demons' direct attacks—it wasing the allied forces' morale and combat effectiveness from within. An atmosphere of despair, like a spreading plague, began to quietly take root.
"Master! Western third section requests purification support! Three Golden Core elders have demonic energy invading their bodies—they can barely suppress it!"
"Report! Eastern seventh section's water elemental barrier has cracks! Large numbers of demons have infiltrated; aquatic forces have taken heavy casualties, demonic energy pervading the area!"
"The demon beast division 'Raging Bear Battalion' has entirely retreated to rest. Their qi and blood are over-consumed; they can no longer resist demonic energy erosion!"
Bad news arrived like snowflakes at Tang Xiaoqi, commanding from the central fortress. He had just returned from fierce battle in the northern sector, his face showing obvious exhaustion. Continuously extreme-intensity purification power, even with his Nascent Soul cultivation and Green Lotus source's abundant reserves, he felt tremendous pressure.
He gazed at the defensive line below, barely holding on yet constantly being eroded by demonic energy, at those comrades struggling on the edge of pain and madness—his heart felt like it was pressed by an enormous boulder.
This could not continue!
Piece-by-piece purification was like pouring a cup of water on a burning cart of firewood—it could not reverse the overall battle's decline. The allied forces needed a purification core that could persist continuously, cover a wider range, and have stronger effects!
He took a deep breath; his gaze became resolute. The time had come!
He stepped out of the fortress, his form rising gradually until he floated above the battlefield, before the bastion—that section of ground blackened by demon corpses and foul blood. His position instantly attracted countless gazes from across the battlefield—hopeful looks from allies, and madness from demons.
Xiao Qi closed his eyes, his heart-mind sinking completely into his dantian's purple mansion.
That guardian dharma image's Nascent Soul seemed to sense something, growing ever more solemn. The purifying white light surrounding it and the Four Symbols phantom images began flowing at unprecedented speed. The Green Lotus source was fully drawn upon. A vast, pure power containing infinite vitality and the will to protect began to awaken and surge forth from within him!
He slowly formed complex, ancient seal gestures with both hands before his chest. Each movement seemed to draw upon some pure principle of heaven and earth. As the seal took shape, increasingly intense white light began emanating from around him. This light was not dazzling, yet carried a supreme conception—warm, peaceful, capable of cleansing all filth.
"Nascent Soul Domain..." he intoned softly, yet his voice was like the Dao's heavenly proclamation, clearly entering the deep hearts and minds of every living being on the battlefield: "World... Purifying... Sacred Domain!"
"HUMM—!!!"
The moment the final syllable fell, centered on him, a pure, flawless, condensed-as-substance white pillar of light burst skyward, piercing the clouds! The pillar didn't flash and disappear, but like a massive canopy, rapidly expanded and descended in all directions!
Where the light touched, darkness retreated!
A massive semi-circular light dome over fifty li in diameter, like an inverted colossal jade bowl, thoroughly enveloped an entire major section of the bastion and vast swathes of the battlefield before it!
Within the domain, the scene transformed!
The originally dense, unpenetrable demonic energy, meeting this blazing sun's ice and snow, emitted sizzling sounds, melting and purifying at visible speed, quickly becoming so thin it could no longer threaten allied cultivators.
The demons rampaging within the domain let loose the most pitiful screams imaginable! Their demonic energy boiled, yet like being thrown into hell's scalding oil—their bodies rapidly shrank, decomposed, and dispersed amid black smoke! Low-level demons were nearly instantly killed on contact. Even mid-level demons comparable to Golden Core stage had their strength greatly reduced, movements becoming impossibly sluggish, as if burdened with a thousand jun of weight.
Conversely, all allied cultivators within the domain—human, demon beast, or aquatic—felt at this moment an indescribable warmth and power!
The spiritual power originally sluggish within them became lively and abundant; their over-consumed divine souls, like being nourished by sweet rain, quickly regained clarity; their wounds, under that pure white light's illumination, had demonic energy dispelled, flesh beginning to heal at visible speed! Even the spiritual glow of weapons in their hands and armor on their bodies seemed to grow more brilliant!
"This... this is..."
"My wounds... healed? The demonic energy's been expelled!"
"Spiritual power! My spiritual power's recovering quickly!"
"It's Temple Master Tang! It's the Master's Domain!"
After a brief moment of astonishment came deafening joy and cheers!
All allied warriors within the "World-Purifying Sacred Domain" felt as if they had instantly stepped from a muddy swamp into a sacred hall! Exhaustion vanished without a trace; power poured forth endlessly; fear and despair in their hearts were dispelled, replaced by boundless courage and battle intent!
"Kill! For the Master! For home!"
"Purify these filthy demons!"
Morale instantly exploded! The defensive line, originally tottering, not only stabilized but erupted with astonishing counterattack power! Spell light became several times brighter than before; arrows were more precise and forceful; demon beast warriors' roars were full of power; the water dragons controlled by aquatic forces even carried traces of purification!
Tang Xiaoqi floated at the domain's center, like a world-purifying deity descended to the mortal realm. His expression was solemn as he maintained this massive domain. This was also an enormous burden for him—Nascent Soul-stage spiritual power poured out like water from an opened dam, his consciousness highly concentrated, not daring the slightest relaxation.
But seeing the renewed fighting spirit below, those gazes full of gratitude and reverence, feeling the feedback when demonic energy was purified and comrades were healed within the domain, he felt it was all worth it.
This "World-Purifying Sacred Domain" was not merely a powerful purification and enhancement domain—it was a symbol, a lighthouse that, in boundless darkness and despair, shone resolutely, never extinguishing!
Its light dispelled the gloom of demonic energy, healed wounds of body and mind, and more importantly, it ignited the flame called "hope" in the hearts of every allied soldier who witnessed its might!
As long as this lighthouse still shone, as long as that figure in blue robes still stood on the battlefield, they would have courage to keep fighting, faith to ultimately win!
"True Lord of Purification! Ten thousand victories!"
"Temple Master Tang! Ten thousand victories!"
Not knowing who first shouted the slogan, immediately the entire area enveloped by the domain, and even the distant defensive line where soldiers could see this sacred light, resounded with mountain-collapsing, sea-roaring cheers!
Tang Xiaoqi, with his supreme divine arts and protective faith, transformed into the most dazzling, warmest lighthouse on this blood-soaked battlefield, turning the tide of the local battlefield through his sole effort, greatly inspiring the entire allied forces' morale!
The demonic tide still surged violently, but before that brilliant "World-Purifying Sacred Domain," its was, for the first time, truly suppressed.