by <unknown>
Li Yao noticed that the flags of the Mystic Moon Sect and the Dragon King Brotherhood were burnt into ashes by the furious flames!
Time went on. New wars were still coming. After annihilating the two sects with the demon soldiers, the Ultimate One Sect marched toward an even vaster world.
More and more demon soldiers appeared around Ba Yanzhi. They were stronger and with more hideous faces. More kinds of the Divine Water of Kunlun were formulated, stimulating the most bloodthirsty and brutal genes of the demon soldiers. Gradually, there was no longer a need to bind them with chains; they would lunge fearless charges whenever they heard the horn or smelt the special scent.
Riding the enormous boats, or through the portals left in the primeval era, they appeared in different worlds.
Some of the new worlds were scorching, with magma everywhere. Some were freezing all year long. Some were primitive forests brimming with swamps. Still some were prosperous towns with coruscating buildings.
But all the worlds were cast into death, desperation, and desolation under the scourge of the tides of insects and beasts.
"Demon soldiers!"
"The Ultimate One Demon Soldiers have arrived!"
Gradually, whenever they showed up at a battlefield, the hostile Cultivators would scream in terror and defect before the battle began.
With the demon soldiers, the Ultimate One Sect invaded countless worlds and enjoyed its heyday!
Ba Yanzhi was unbelievably lucky. During the suicidal charges, no matter what shocking wounds he suffered, he survived them all, as if some immense force was hidden inside his unrecognizable body, waiting to be awakened.
The Ultimate One Sect did not forget the intrepid disciple, either. After every battle, Ba Yanzhi would receive 'special treatment'. He would be sent back to the dungeon to be experimented on in the most appalling and cruel ways.
As dozens of different types of 'Divine Water of Kunlun' were injected into his body, he became stronger and more brutal. The sparks of his self-awareness were like torches that had fallen into a swamp, swallowed by the darkness.
Right then—
In a new battlefield, on a boundless prairie, millions of the Ultimate One Demon Soldiers were grouped again, waiting for the battle drum anxiously.
However, this time, their enemies standing in front of them turned out to also be ugly demon soldiers!
"Ultimate One Sect, your secret arts have been seen through!
"You didn't see this coming, do you? The Alliance of Nine Sects captured quite a few demon soldiers after the failures. We have figured out your dirty tricks!
"Now, the Alliance of Nine Sects is producing our own demon soldiers!
"Hehe. There are three times more mortals under our nine sects than those under the Ultimate One Sect, which means that we can produce three times more demon soldiers than you can. How can you fight against us?"
The horns finally sounded around the battlefield.
The tides of insects and beasts, all made of ordinary people and essentially identical to each other, crashed into each other from the two sides of the battlefield.
Maybe it was his imagination, Li Yao thought he saw a tear in the crimson eyes of the demon soldiers on the other side before the tides crashed.
BOOM!
The messy memory pieces were finally shattered by the destructive battle of demon soldiers.
Li Yao clearly sensed that Ba Yanzhi's consciousness was slowly surfacing and condensing. He was regaining his self-awareness and memories.
Very soon, a new illusionary world appeared inside Li Yao's brain.
It was a planet with a bright purple sky. The atmosphere was rather thin, and one could see the blinking stars in the universe.
Bright green fog filled the surface of the planet. Occasionally, poisonous gas would spurt out of the crevices. It was apparently not the most suitable place for human beings.
Ba Yanzhi was standing on a protruding rock. He was now more than five meters tall, with green scales all over his body. His feet pierced into the rock like the claws of an eagle. There were only four fingers on his left hand, each of which was growing fingernails that looked like sabers. His right hand was his only relatively normal body part.
His face was ugly, his eyes blood red. Three horns soared into the sky from his head, as if he was wearing an unsightly crown.
A thick rope was tied to his waist, on which more than ten flying swords were hanging. On his back was a colorful cloak that was spluttering in the wind. With a closer look, one would discover that it was made from the flags of dozens of Cultivation sects!
With a solemn face, Ba Yanzhi looked at afar.
The deep canyon ahead of him was packed by all kinds of bizarre-shaped demon soldiers who looked like monsters in a nightmare. However, they all remained silent in battle formations under the suppression of Ba Yanzhi's aura, like rows of statues.
"Brothers!"
Ba Yanzhi's voice rushed past the canyon like a gust. Even the rocks around were emitting rattling noises because of the blast.
"All the brothers standing here are from different worlds, have different pasts, and used to have entirely different faces!
"However, there is something that is the same about us.
"We have all lost our families and our everything because of the Cultivators!
"Those high and mighty Cultivators, for their own training and longevity, exploited and savaged the mortals in every way possible!
"For their own personal interests, and under the pretext of 'great Dao' and 'righteousness', they attacked each other while sending the armies of mortals as the vanguard!
"Countless worlds have been demolished in the civil war of the Cultivators. The homes of countless mortals have destroyed because of a bombardment of the Cultivators!
"Is there any world where billions of mortals were not killed by Cultivators? Is there anybody here whose family members were not slain by Cultivators?
"In the end, the resources are running dry, the crystals are mostly used up, and the spiritual energy is thinner and thinner. The war cannot be fought any longer. However, they started to deceive the mortals and built countless mortals into terrifying monsters. They continued asking us to kill each other or collect and mine for them in the harshest environments!
"Even worse, they corrupted our brains with poison, depriving many of our brothers of the abilities to think and talk!
"Can we suffer any more of these days?
"Can we still wait and watch our fathers and brothers be sent into the mines of the desolate planets and toil until they die?
"Can we still wait and watch our wives and daughters be captured by the Cultivators and end up as slaves in their sects?
"Can we still wait and watch ourselves be modified into inhuman demon soldiers, to fight against our brothers whom we have no grudges with, and to die in an alien land billions of kilometers from our hometowns without even a gravestone?"
"No!"
"We can't!"
Roars were echoing in the tides of insects and beasts.
Ba Yanzhi opened his arms and pressed down, containing everyone's emotions. "Cultivators are the greatest cancer of the three thousand Sectors! Only after we kill all the Cultivators can our fathers, brothers, sisters, wives, and children be freed and live happy lives!
"Hehe. The Cultivators who turned us into such wretched creatures despised us as 'demon soldiers'!
"Very good. Demon soldiers we might be, but from today on, the demon soldiers will not fight for any sect or any goddamn Cultivator!
"We will only fight for ourselves, for your families, for the brand-new species made of us!
"Move all the Cultivators here!"
Ba Yanzhi waved his hands. Several demons carried up dozens of Cultivators who were tied up.
On the empty ground behind Ba Yanzhi, more than ten ballistae had been deployed. The Cultivators were all inserted into belts at the ends of the ballistae.
"B—Brother Ba, Uncl
e Ba, Master Ba!"
One of the Cultivators was already peeing in fear. He turned out to be Qing Xuzi, the one responsible for the refinement of the Divine Water of Kunlun in the Ultimate One Sect. His legs and tongue were shaking as he begged, "Master Ba, please spare my life. I was wrong! I—I'm willing to correct my wrongdoings and join your cause. I know many secrets of the Ultimate One Sect. I'm useful. I'm very useful!"
Ba Yanzhi's eyes glanced over Qing Xuzi's rather handsome face and spat on the ground. He slashed his giant hand down as if it were a saber. "Offer the sacrifices to our flag!"
Swoosh! Swoosh! Swoosh!
Several demon soldiers kicked the triggers of the ballistae hard. Including the crying Qing Xuzi, all the Cultivators were thrown into the horde of insects and beasts. Very soon, they were drowned by the furious demon soldiers, and even their bones were all chewed up.
The second batch of Cultivators were sent into the ballistae again. Many of them had already been grasped by fear. Like chickens or ducks whose neck had been cut open, they were uttering meaningless sounds from their throats. Their previous elegant, deity-like demeanor had entirely gone.
Shua! Shua! Shua!
The Cultivators were tossed out again. While they were still in midair, they were riddled with holes by venomous acid and stings, shattered apart with blood spurting out like a storm!
Behind Ba Yanzhi, an enormous flag gradually rose up and flagged in the wind. There was only one giant, bloody word on the black flag.
Demon!
Below the flag, a muscular man with a bullet head, who was more than ten meters tall and short of a right eye with scars all over his body as if he were sewed together from hundreds of pieces, was staring at the flag of the bloody demon wholeheartedly. He seemed to be dedicating his entire life to the flag.
Ba Yanzhi patted the man's shoulder hard and said softly, "Zhang Niuer, I am sorry!"
The scarred, half-blind, bull-headed man grinned. A coarse voice echoed deep down from his throat. "Moo…"
Zhang Niuer had already lost the ability to speak.
Two rows of hot, bloody tears flowed out of Ba Yanzhi's eyes again. He mumbled, "Last time, I told you that I would let you and your family live a better life. I did not live up to my promise. I didn't know that things would end up like this.
"But this time, I will not go back on my word again, and I will fulfil my promise to you!"
Clang!
The pale bone blade made of the bones of an enormous beast was unsheathed, and the killing intent blew out a bloody swirl in the bright purple sky. Ba Yanzhi roared thunderously, "Kill! Kill! Kill! Kill all the Cultivators to make a world of peace and justice!"
Chapter 920: Blood in Empyrean Terminus! |
The pale saber aura, mixed with endless storms of blood, swept across the entire universe. The memory pieces that followed were revolving at a much higher speed, and Li Yao experienced thousands of fierce battles in Ba Yanzhi's illusionary world.
At first, faced with the well-trained, disciplined Cultivators who boasted marvelous techniques, the demon soldiers, who had all been ordinary people in the past, suffered more defeats than victories. Many a time, they were attacked collectively by several major sects until there were barely any survivors left.
But the demon soldiers had the greatest advantage on their side, which was their sheer numbers!
This part was exactly the same with the history that Li Yao had read in his textbooks.
At the end of the civil war of the ancient Cultivators, the spiritual energy was running dry, and all the sects suffered heavy casualties. A protracted great war could not be fought solely by Cultivators any longer.
Therefore, after the secret of the 'Divine Water of Kunlun' was discovered, the Ultimate One Sect, the Alliance of Nine Sects, and the thousands of sects in the three thousand Sectors had been modifying the mortals under their government in secret, transforming the army of mortals into demon soldiers and demon generals to fight the war in place of the Cultivators.
Later, the paradigm of the wars was one or two Cultivators commanding thousands of demon soldiers. Should the demon soldiers be crushed, the Cultivators would immediately run away without even looking back.
After all, as the war went on, Cultivators were too precious to be killed easily for no good reason.
As for the Cultivation sects that were unwilling to produce demon soldiers, they were mostly swallowed, their heritage gone, under the scourge of other sects and their infinite demon soldiers!
As the vicious cycle continued, demon soldiers proliferated like viruses. They became the greatest supply for Ba Yanzhi.
Even though he only had several soldiers around him, as long as he could ignite the flame of resistance in the hearts of those demon soldiers and demon generals, Ba Yanzhi's army would be resurrected from obliteration time and time again. Eventually, it grew larger and larger like a snowball!
Just like that, after a hundred years of bloody battles, Li Yao saw that the army around Ba Yanzhi was far larger and more magnificent. In the beginning, they had worn skirts and armor made of hide and cloths, and they been fighting with their claws and teeth. Later, they were all in armors made of fine metals, carrying flying swords that they had and riding boats that they robbed of the Cultivators.
All while they kindled the fire of insurgency from one planet to another!
At each new world that they reached, all the Cultivation sects were annihilated. The land and mother lodes under the control of the Cultivators were distributed to the mortals. The Heavenly Materials and Earthly Treasures and the pills that were in the Cultivators' collection would be pulverized into powder and blended into food to help the hungry civilians live through the famine.
As a result, to defend their own land and to stop the Cultivators from coming back, a lot of mortals drank the Divine Water of Kunlun of their own will, turned into demons, and obeyed Ba Yanzhi's command!
"As long as we can protect our own land, feed our family, and let them live a happy life, what's wrong with being a demon?"
Ba Yanzhi's army liberated one world after another under such an ideology!
In the end, in a brilliant new world, below the colorful, spectacular nebulas that were spinning fast, Ba Yanzhi was staring at a planet. Hundreds of rings were swirling rapidly and constituted a solid array. The collision of the star dusts triggered three magnificent, awe-inspiring worlds.
Empyrean Terminus Sect!
Li Yao was suddenly shocked. The Empyrean Terminus Sect had been the strongest sect in the three thousand Sectors at the end of the era of the ancient Cultivators.
In the history books that Li Yao had read, it was also the sect that had been the last to be wiped out by the demons.
After the Star Ocean Imperium was established, its capital world had been named 'Empyrean Terminus Sector', and the space zone it was in had been named 'Empyrean Terminus Space Zone', in honor of the Empyrean Terminus Sect.
In front of the billions of demon soldiers was a fleet of warships that was densely packed together. They were almost as brilliant as the galaxy, showcasing the formidability of the Empyrean Terminus Sect silently!
Li Yao took a long breath. It appeared that this was the final war between the demons and the ancient Cultivators.
Ba Yanzhi was wearing translucent black armor, with a huge saber that was made by combining the 'best treasures' of almost a hundred Cultivation sects on his shoulder, and standing on a warship that he had captured.
The warship had already been tied up by countless thick veins that looked like trunks. Half transparent lumps were growing out of the veins, fluctuating and releasing bright green venomous gas into the warship.
After a hundred years of evolution, the demons right now were no longer used to the air that human beings breathed.
Ba Yanzhi's back was as straight as a hundred years ago, but his eyes were now much more hollowed. The brilliance inside his eyes was like the sharpness of a sword in the sheath.
&
nbsp; "This is our last war!
"On our way to this place, we have destroyed hundreds of Cultivation sects, slain countless Cultivators, and rescued even more mortals who were oppressed by the Cultivators!
"Right now, the remnants of those Cultivation sects are all hiding in the Empyrean Terminus Sect, gnashing their teeth and grinding their sabers, ready to crush us and return to their own worlds!
"They are preparing to go back and take back the land that has been distributed to you. They are going to enslave our family, sh*t on the top of our head, and resume their extravagant lives!
"The fate of all mortals in the three thousand Sectors is now in our hands and will be decided by our sabers, swords, claws, and teeth!
"If you don't want to be a slave forever, just charge at the scumbags together with me!"
Swoosh! Swoosh! Swoosh! Swoosh! Swoosh!
In the boundless sea of stars, a tiny galaxy seemed to have expanded abruptly. Every warship that made up the 'galaxy' activated their spiritual energy to the maximum. Their halos were melted into a roaring dragon whose every scale was standing up!
Before the warships charged out, billions of flying swords had already darted toward the defense line on the opposite side like a surging tide.
From the defense line of the Empyrean Terminus Sect, billions of dazzling mystic rays were shooting close, too!
The collision of the two destructive hurricanes made the stars of the galaxy as lackluster as burnt coal. The stars far away even died down instantly and turned into a black background for the war!
In the illusionary world, the scene was frozen for a long time before the turbulence of spiritual energy that was sweeping the universe tore it apart.
But this time, the darkness lasted for a long time. What reappeared in the end was a black and white world.
Li Yao vaguely felt that this was the part of his memory that Ba Yanzhi was least willing to recall.
