"What?"
"How is this possible?"
After the consecutive deaths of the Thousand-Eyed Troll and the Corpse Demon, the Sky-Dragon Continent experts watching through the Heavenly Secrets Treasure were stunned. They knew exactly how terrifying those demons were because they had detailed records.
But precisely because they knew, they understood what this battle implied. There were few people even in the Sky-Dragon Continent who could achieve such a feat.
The extreme demonic nature of the Demon Blade, the life-death cycles of Meng Tianqi, and the horrific Void-Grade body and conquest runes of the stone giant... these people would be ranked at the top even in the Sky-Dragon Continent's golden age.
And Qi Ping, as a Land Druid, was the most mysterious of all.
"These people are absurdly strong. Normally, the resources of the Star-Sea Continent shouldn't be able to produce cultivators of this caliber, yet here they are..." The feminine Mahayana expert frowned.
"The Star-Sea Continent truly has something hidden!" the puppet-master Mahayana expert added, his eyes turning solemn. "Look at that stone giant that became a Void-Grade Life. I don't think such a stone essence has ever appeared in the cultivation world. Those runes on its body are bizarre."
He began to harbor ulterior motives. If he could turn a Void-Grade stone giant into a puppet or a weapon, he would create a masterpiece!
"It's a good thing we didn't force our way in. If this hidden fortune exploded on us, the resulting karma would be more than we could handle."
"But this is fine. These demons aren't weak. If the Star-Sea Continent were too weak, it would be a hassle for our subordinates to clean up the mess later across the barrier."
"To be safe, we should prepare more 'gifts' to send over. The cost doesn't matter; the fortune of the Star-Sea Continent must be ours!"
"We also need to watch the Mahayana experts of other domains. We've planned this for too long to let someone else snatch the prize at the end."
Back at the Star-Sea Continent, Qi Ping led his people in a sudden raid while the demons were still talking. Qi Ping, Meng Tianqi, and Little Stone maintained their Three-Powers Formation. The Demon Blade, having consumed Qi Ping's honey and spirit medicine, began to recover, though his wounds were still hard to heal.
But he was the Demon Blade! The injuries didn't hinder him; they only fueled his demonic nature. His combat power was actually rising.
Suddenly, a tribulation cloud appeared in the sky!
"Is that... the tribulation for the Unity stage?" Countless people looked up in terror.
To everyone's shock, the center of the cloud was focused on the heavily wounded Demon Blade Dao-Lord!
"He's forcing a breakthrough to Unity?"
"That's insane!"
Normally, when a cultivator sought the Unity stage, they would polish their foundation to the absolute limit and wait for their peak state. Every step in cultivation was a new world. Soul Transformation was already 'shedding the mortal shell,' let alone the Unity stage above Void Refinement. The difficulty was unimaginable.
The Star-Sea Continent hadn't seen a Unity stage expert in eons! Even in the Sky-Dragon Continent, they were rare, and each one was a legend. Losing even one was a massive blow.
It seemed the world itself had rules that limited this level of power, keeping humans, demons, and beasts in a relative balance. Unless one was a Void-Grade Life, one could not escape this hierarchy.
Becoming a Unity stage giant was a feat of epic proportions. Yet here was the Demon Blade, forcing the breakthrough in his battered state!
Regardless, the others would support him. Having a Unity stage expert would be a massive help in the war. When the Qing-God Army moved to form a defensive formation to prevent interference, the Demon Blade stopped them.
"Star-Emperor! Old Meng! Get out of the way! Don't stop me from destroying these bastards' void channel!" Bai Liyun's arrogant voice rang out.
Qi Ping and Meng Tianqi looked at his broken body, sensing the wild demonic nature and the resolve in his eyes. They shared a silent understanding and moved aside, leading Little Stone away.
At their realm, every choice was carefully considered. Someone like the Demon Blade would walk his chosen path without fear. Most importantly, they saw something new in him—a horrific demonic nature that was about to break out of its cocoon!
The fight with the troll had been a blessing in disguise, allowing his Dao-result to merge with his nature, leading to a final sublimation.
For a demon, this was the moment of enlightenment.
While the Star-Sea side was expectant, the demons were terrified! They had seen his power already; how powerful would his Unity tribulation be? If it fell, it would surely destroy their void channel!
"Dammit!"
"Everyone attack! Stop him!" the Fiend roared from the black hole.
The Fiend struck first, followed by the Blood Sea and waves of Void Refinement and Soul Transformation demons. A concentration of attacks sufficient to kill a Unity stage expert converged on Bai Liyun.
But facing this, the Demon Blade felt no fear, only madness and confidence. His confidence came from his own strength and his faith in the Star-Emperor and his old friend.
As expected, three figures blocked the majority of the attacks. Under the Three-Powers Formation, the strikes were ground away by spatial turbulence, life-death cycles, and the weaponry of the stone giant.
But that wasn't all. Following them was a ten-thousand-zhang-tall human phantom!
The phantom was a fusion of countless unique powers—the Five Elements, Yin-Yang, Wind and Thunder, and the Sun, Moon, and Stars. All these forces merged in perfect harmony to form a collective entity that made everyone tremble!
This was Qi Ping's masterpiece of formation knowledge: the Qing-God Immortal-Slaying Formation!
Qi Ping had used his understanding of power, combined with military formations and joint-attack arrays, to create a super-formation that fused the strength of the entire Qing-God Army into one! When this formation was first conceived, auspicious omens had appeared in the sky!
Qi Ping had created many techniques, but only this one had triggered such omens. Even his primary cultivation technique hadn't done so.
Once the formation was set, the spirits and power of every soldier merged into one, creating an entity whose limits even Qi Ping couldn't guess. He had discovered that this formation possessed an limitless potential for growth.
This formation was the reason Qi Ping valued the Qing-God Army so highly!
Now, its power was fully revealed! With a million soldiers gathered, the Qing-God phantom released an aura that shook the world. Guided by the army's generals, a massive palm fell from the sky, pressing down on the demons attacking the Demon Blade.
The movement was simple, but it was 'simplicity through complexity.' It moved with ultimate speed and the weight of myriad sentient beings!
When the palm fell, it crushed the attacks of multiple Void Refinement demons and struck several high-ranking demons, causing their bodies to explode! Furthermore, the terrifying will and energy within the strike continued to grind away at the broken demon bodies, preventing them from regenerating and severely weakening their 'undying' traits.
And it didn't stop there! The 'Qing-God' phantom seemed to have gained a life of its own, locking onto the demons near the channel and slamming them down palm by palm.
In moments, dozens of Soul Transformation and Void Refinement demons were pulverized, their vitality erased! The demons had suffered heavy casualties again!
The observers were beyond shocked. 'Shock' wasn't even the word—it was pure horror!
What were they seeing? An army whose highest members were only at the Soul Transformation stage had used a formation to instantly slaughter a group of Soul Transformation and Void Refinement demons?
Even the massive Blood Sea demon had been pulverized into tiny droplets and erased!
Wasn't the gap between realms supposed to be an unbridgeable chasm?
Even killing someone of the same realm shouldn't be this easy, right? And most of the soldiers weren't even at the Soul Transformation stage!
How could such results not be terrifying?
Even Qi Ping was shocked. This was the first time he had seen the 'complete' power of the Qing-God Immortal-Slaying Formation.
'To be precise, the complete power the army is currently capable of,' Qi Ping corrected himself. This wasn't the formation's limit; it was just that these geniuses hadn't fully matured yet.
But even this was enough to stun its creator.
If Qi Ping was stunned, the others were beyond words. The cultivators in the city felt a wild fanaticism. The Qing-God Army was already the dream of every genius and every parent; it was the symbol of glory and the pinnacle of the continent's power.
Seeing the results of their first battle, everyone went wild!
"The Qing-God Army is invincible!"
"Glory to the Qing-God Army!"
The era where high-level cultivators alone ruled the battlefield was over! In this war, even a Foundation Establishment or Golden Core cultivator could contribute to slaying a Void Refinement demon!
The fear of high-level demons vanished. Fear came from helplessness, but now, they knew that by joining forces, they could suppress and slay even the most arrogant demons!
While the Star-Sea was ecstatic, the demons were paralyzed with shock, and the experts of the Sky-Dragon Continent stood up in their horror!