The shockwave from the falling spear rolled outward like a raging tide, uprooting earth and snapping nearby trees apart as many weaker cultivators were thrown backward without resistance. Dust, broken stone, and splintered wood filled the air while the clearing trembled beneath the remaining force.

Before the crowd could recover, another pressure descended from above, heavy and pure, carrying the presence of someone born far above the lower regions. Ji Wuchen arrived with his company behind him, robes fluttering cleanly as they stepped through the air with calm confidence.

Seeing this, many figures hiding in the shadows immediately began slipping away without sound, no longer daring to remain near two such monsters. The greed in their hearts had not vanished, but their courage clearly had.

Lin Xiao Tian and the others also lifted their eyes toward the newcomers, carefully observing every movement and every aura without speaking. Ji Wuchen descended at the front with complete confidence, his expression calm as if the battlefield below had already been decided.

But just as his feet neared the shattered ground, the dust from the spear impact slowly parted.

A black tentacle suddenly shot forward like a hidden arrow aimed directly for his throat.

Seeing it, Ji Wuchen’s eyes narrowed sharply as his body twisted aside at the last instant, the strike passing close enough to tear a strip from his sleeve before burying itself deep into the earth behind him.

As Ji Wuchen dodged, Lin Xiao Tian and the others immediately grew alert, their relaxed stances vanishing as every gaze locked onto the dust below. The same happened with Ji Wuchen’s escorts, each one drawing weapons and spreading outward in practiced formation.

Then the figure of the demon emerged once more.

Half of its body had been blown into fragments by the spear strike, yet countless writhing tentacles stitched flesh and bone back together before everyone’s eyes. Torn muscle reformed, shattered ribs closed, and within breaths the creature stood whole again, smiling as if pain had never existed.

With a savage laugh, it seized Ji Wuchen’s spear and hurled it back toward him with terrifying force, the weapon cutting through the air like a falling star. Many expected blood to spill that instant, yet Ji Wuchen merely extended one hand calmly. 𝑓𝑟𝑒𝘦𝓌𝑒𝑏𝑛𝑜𝘷𝑒𝘭.𝒸𝘰𝑚

To the shock of everyone present, the raging spear suddenly slowed, then settled obediently into his grasp as if it had never belonged elsewhere.

Seeing this, the demon’s expression twisted with fury.

Its aura changed violently as the small handsome body began swelling outward in grotesque fashion, bones cracking while skin split apart beneath surging flesh. Thousands of black-red tentacles erupted from its body and from the earth below, tearing the ground open as roots, stone, and corpses were thrown skyward.

The clearing collapsed into ruin as everyone leapt into the air at once, choosing the sky over the tearing earth as the battlefield transformed beneath them.

As everyone flew upward, the beast continued fighting without pause, its swollen body crashing through attacks while the sky and ground shook together from repeated clashes. What had first looked like madness slowly turned into a deadlock no one had expected.

After increasing in size, the creature had become far tougher than before, its flesh absorbing blows that would have shattered ordinary Nascent Soul bodies several times over. Spears, sword light, and techniques tore into it, yet the wounds closed almost as quickly as they were made.

Ji Wuchen’s group pressed from above while others struck from the flanks, but the monster simply endured everything with brutal patience. Every time one tentacle was severed, several more burst forth from its body or from the earth below.

Worse still, it had not forgotten the fleeing prey.

Thick tendrils forced their way through the torn ground like hunting roots, chasing disciples who had escaped the battlefield moments earlier. Screams rose again from the forest as cultivators were dragged downward or pierced through the legs before being hauled back struggling.

Some were swallowed into the broken earth entirely, their cries ending beneath the soil.

Others managed to cut free once or twice, only to be caught again by another tendril waiting ahead. The beast fought those above while feeding on those below, turning the entire area into a moving slaughter ground.

Lin Xiao Tian watched from the air with narrowed eyes, his expression growing colder by the breath. This bastard is using everyone here as rations while stalling the real threats.

Even Ji Wuchen’s calm face tightened slightly as he realized the same thing. The battle had become static in the sky, but below, the harvest was still continuing.

Slowly, the demon’s body began to glow from within, dark veins pulsing beneath its flesh as its aura steadily climbed higher with every passing breath. The pressure around the battlefield thickened visibly, and many faces changed as they realized it was approaching Divine Transformation.

Yet while rising, its eyes moved across the people present with chilling clarity, passing over Ji Wuchen, Yan Feng, Tianhe, and the others one by one. These fleeing scraps are nothing... those ones are the true supplements, it thought greedily.

The next moment, the massive body disappeared entirely, along with the countless tentacles that had filled sky and earth alike, leaving only torn ground and stunned silence behind. Seeing this, Lin Xiao Tian’s heart tightened as a sharp sense of foreboding surged through him.

He moved instantly but before he could reach them, the demon had already appeared behind Yan Feng without warning, its form completely changed from before. The bloated monstrous body was gone, replaced by a lean and agile figure whose presence had become calm, cold, and far more dangerous.

The tentacles had withdrawn and hardened into twin black blades extending from both arms.

Just as those blades were about to cut into Yan Feng’s back, Tianhe appeared like a crashing shadow between them. For a single instant, his hands transformed into dragon claws, scales flashing briefly as he struck forward and forced the demon backward.

The claws vanished at once, returning to human hands before most eyes could process what they had seen.

Seeing the interference, the demon’s expression twisted violently as fury erupted across its face, and it immediately tried to retaliate toward Tianhe. But before it could move, Yan Feng’s flying swords shot forward from behind like silver lightning and pierced straight through its body.

Yet the next instant, the figure dissolved again.

As it vanished, the swords that had pierced it suddenly trembled and shattered into dust mid-air, leaving Yan Feng’s expression dark and cold. He narrowed his eyes at once, understanding that whatever had been struck was no true body.

Then a scream rang out near Ji Wuchen’s side.

Everyone turned sharply, only to see one of his talented companions reduced to a dry husk, a fist-sized hole torn clean through the chest. Before shock could settle, the demon appeared again directly before Ji Wuchen.

In its grasp hung another one of Ji Wuchen’s companions, held by the throat like a shield. For the first time, Ji Wuchen’s calm expression clearly faltered.

His grip loosened slightly, and the spear in his hand dipped for a brief moment as hesitation entered his eyes. The demon seized that instant immediately, black tentacles erupting through the body it held and shooting toward Ji Wuchen’s open face like venomous lances.

But suddenly—

Xiaoshan appeared and with a single sweeping slash of the halberd, he severed the tentacles, cut apart the hostage’s corpse, and split the demon’s arm in the same motion. The force of the strike sent the creature crashing downward through the air.

Ji Wuchen snapped back to himself at once.

Then, instead of gratitude, he hurriedly distanced himself from Xiaoshan as if avoiding contamination, his robes fluttering sharply while he regained posture. With a stiff face, he said coldly, "I did not need your help. Stay back."

Seeing this, the demon seemed completely enraged as the last trace of calm vanished from its face, and with a savage motion it threw the lifeless body away like worthless trash. The corpse tumbled through the air before crashing into the shattered ground below.

Then the bodies that had fallen across the battlefield, those drained dry and discarded moments earlier, slowly started moving one by one. Fingers twitched first, then limbs jerked unnaturally, while hollow eyes opened with no life left inside them.

A foul aura of rot began spreading from every corpse.

The dead slowly stood upright, broken necks hanging crooked, shattered chests leaking black mist, while dried flesh clung tightly against bone. Some still held their weapons, others bent down and picked them up again with stiff, scraping movements.

One after another, they rose those who had been allies, rivals, sect geniuses, and escorts moments earlier now stood in silence beneath the demon’s will. The battlefield that had nearly calmed suddenly filled again with the sound of dragging feet and grinding steel.

Then they charged like a wave of the undead, the revived corpses erupted forward from every direction toward Lin Xiao Tian, Ji Wuchen, and the others. Some leapt wildly through the air, some rushed across the broken earth, while others hurled techniques twisted by death itself.

The living cultivators watching from afar felt chills run through their spines.

Lin Xiao Tian narrowed his eyes and almost laughed from disbelief.

This bastard truly is running a sect of his own.