Chapter 739: South Wilderness Demon Clan Changes

Two demon kings engaged the Wei Mei Sect members, one positioned on the Heaven-Devouring Beast’s back and the other on its forehead. The Heaven-Devouring Beast, Xiao San, naturally suffered the most, its head and back assailed by relentless attacks. The pain was like countless fine needles pricking its flesh – not fatal, but intensely sharp.

“Woooooah—”

The Heaven-Devouring Beast cried out repeatedly in agony, momentarily forgetting its hunger. It flew erratically, darting up and down, escaping the desolate valley and crashing wildly through the mountain range.

Boom... Boom...

Some mountain peaks were toppled by its charge, while others were swept down by its tail. However, for those fighting on its head and back, these actions were completely ineffective.

“Ungh…”

The Heaven-Devouring Beast suddenly accelerated skyward, then violently flipped its body, turning its back to the ground and plunging diagonally downwards.

Rumble, rumble, rumble...

With its back hitting the ground, the Heaven-Devouring Beast slid forward, its back scraping the earth amidst the shaking landscape. Mountains collapsed and rocky peaks shattered around it as it moved.

This terrifying scene was too frightening for ordinary demons and spirits; most fled as far as they could. While the demon race respects strength, they also value their lives. Since the demon kings hadn't ordered them to fight, they naturally stayed far away, using the excuse that they couldn't help in such a high-level confrontation.

The pavilions and towers on the Heaven-Devouring Beast's back had long been mostly destroyed. With the Heaven-Devouring Beast's back now pressed to the ground, Ji Yuan and the other two, hidden by the Grand Emptiness method, were unaffected. The giant leopard, meanwhile, clung tightly to the beast's back with three claws, pressing its own demonic back against it, while its other hand continued to battle the Wei Mei Sect disciples.

The two individuals fighting on the Heaven-Devouring Beast's forehead were even less affected. Their combat pace didn't slow in the slightest, and any incoming debris or mud was instantly pulverized by their sword qi and immortal light.

The sword-wielding Demon King Miaoyun possessed exceptionally refined swordplay; even Ji Yuan couldn't help but admire his technique. However, Jiang Xueling handled him with ease, her whisk acting like both a sword and a saber in her hands, capable of deflecting the demon king's sword arts and sweeping away enemies.

The sword light and the white light from the whisk created layers of beautiful radiance above the Heaven-Devouring Beast's head. Yet, within this brilliance, an intensely sharp killing intent pervaded.

Even the thick-skinned, coarse-fleshed Heaven-Devouring Beast's scalp shed countless superficial fragments, and its hide was frequently gashed. However, these were minor wounds for the beast, and a mist would often hover over them. The wounds would vanish like a fleeting dream as the mist dissipated, as if they had been mere illusions.

The Heaven-Devouring Beast couldn't constantly scrape the ground, and continuously ramming mountains had left it dazed. It eventually took flight again, making the battle on its back even more intense.

Demon King Miaoyun's expression was far more serious than Jiang Xueling's at this moment. He had been solemn since the start of the fight, initially trying to maintain a semblance of composure, hoping to display his sword techniques to the ‘immortal.’ However, his expression now grew increasingly ferocious, especially when he saw Jiang Xueling, while still fighting him, perform a hand seal and cast a spell, sending a beam of silver light towards the Heaven-Devouring Beast's back.

A silver light flashed and vanished. It was a silver dart, previously almost invisible as it moved through the sky, but now it shot directly towards the leopard demon king, who had revealed his true form.

The leopard demon had just used its tail to fend off a combined attack from three Wei Mei Sect disciples and was now sweeping a claw towards Zhou Xian. The sharp claw blurred with light, accompanied by the wails of wronged souls, making Zhou Xian's heart pound as she thought, "This is bad."

Just then, the silver light flashed past, directly piercing the giant leopard's palm with a “thump” and drawing a spray of blood. This made the leopard demon king, known as Huang Gu, pause his movements. He withdrew his paw to lick the wound, his gaze fixed on the constantly shifting silver dart in the air, while his peripheral vision flicked towards the Heaven-Devouring Beast's head.

“Miaoyun, you can’t even hold back one woman?”

Demon King Huang Gu's casual remark instantly made the brocade-robed youth, who was fighting Jiang Xueling, furious, his eyes turning crimson.

“Hmph… You haven't even dealt with a few junior immortal cultivators after all this time, and you dare to criticize me?”

Miaoyun roared and wielded his sword rapidly. Layers of scales, glowing with an eerie blue light and covered in frost, began to appear on his arms. His sword strikes grew faster and faster, and a layer of ethereal blue light permeated the area around the two fighters.

Jiang Xueling narrowed her eyes, observing the demon king before her. With one hand, she untied a red silk ribbon from her temple, wrapped one end around her left index finger, and let the other end extend into a long strip. The moment her whisk blocked a sword strike, she flicked the ribbon, striking the brocade-robed youth.

“Crack!”

The sound of the hair ribbon striking the brocade-robed youth was loud, as if he had been lashed with a metal whip. His clothes shattered across his chest, revealing a long, red, swollen wound. He hunched over and was sent flying like a cannonball.

“Hmm? Miaoyun?”

The giant leopard was still entangled with the Wei Mei Sect disciples, who were arrayed in a formation. Suddenly seeing the brocade-robed youth, who had been evenly matched with the immortaless, instantly struck down and sent flying, it was startled. It realized it had underestimated her strength. Upon seeing Jiang Xueling look towards it after defeating Miaoyun, the giant leopard simply bent its legs slightly and then leapt off the Heaven-Devouring Beast's back.

The Wei Mei Sect cultivators also recovered and quickly gathered around Jiang Xueling.

“Grandmaster, what should we do?”

Jiang Xueling looked down at the Heaven-Devouring Beast.

“Xiao San seems a bit more lucid than before, but this is indeed troublesome.”

In the distant sky, the two demon kings regrouped. Their furious, surging demonic aura blackened large swathes of the sky, and in the distance, other demonic and even devilish energies responded.

The Heaven-Devouring Beast, once again driven by hunger, displayed its frenzy and flew away into the distance. Meanwhile, on the Star-Gazing Platform, a small paper crane flew to Ji Yuan's side and landed on the table. As Ji Yuan and the others looked down at it, the paper crane formed a beak and tapped Ji Yuan's cup. A stream of water shot out, forming a mist, within which faint outlines of various demons could be seen.

“Oh? So the swallowed demons still exist?”

Ju Yuanzi couldn't help but ask. Lian Baiping had already begun his calculations. The information revealed by the paper crane was very clear, easily understood by them, and certainly by Ji Yuan.

“Indeed, those demons are all within the mist of the Heaven-Devouring Beast's internal world. They are neither here nor there; it's more like…”

“In the Heaven-Devouring Beast’s dream?”

Ji Yuan said, causing Lian Baiping to pause, then nod.

“Precisely, it does feel somewhat like that, but not entirely. And the Heaven-Devouring Beast is awake right now. If I had to describe it, it's creating a realm of illusion and reality using its innate abilities.”

Ji Yuan nodded. The fact that these demons hadn't directly died wasn't necessarily a bad thing; it might even serve as leverage for negotiations with the Southern Wilderness demon race.

“Rumble, rumble…”

At some point, thunder and lightning began to flash, and dark clouds gathered everywhere the Heaven-Devouring Beast passed. However, Ji Yuan and the others knew that while the thunder was real, the dark clouds were formed from a convergence of vast demonic, devilish, and evil energies.

Demons appeared frequently. Although the demon kings no longer personally engaged, many powerful greater demons attacked the Heaven-Devouring Beast. They found its relatively slow weaknesses, attacking without directly confronting it. Their engagement with the female cultivators of the Wei Mei Sect was primarily to tie them down; the main target remained the Heaven-Devouring Beast.

Even a monster with thick hide and coarse flesh couldn't withstand such continuous assaults. The Heaven-Devouring Beast accumulated more and more irreparable wounds, and having eaten nothing for several days, its hunger was gradually being overtaken by fear.

Jiang Xueling and the Wei Mei Sect disciples remained seated at the Heaven-Devouring Beast's forehead. They only intervened when demons stepped onto the beast's body, having little spare energy for other situations.

Disciples like Zhou Xian were burning with anxiety, while Jiang Xueling subtly sensed a unique aura emanating from the Heaven-Devouring Beast—a hint of a Heavenly Tribulation.

“Grandmaster Jiang, if this continues, Xiao San will die!”

“Grandmaster, I’ll go beg Mr. Ji and the others to intervene! We can’t get Xiao San out of here!”

“That’s right, they’re also from the immortal path; they wouldn’t just stand by and watch us die.”

Jiang Xueling shook her head, picked up a slightly tattered hair ribbon, and gently tied it to a wisp of hair near her temple.

“It’s not that they won’t help, but that they *cannot* intervene. Two days ago, I sent a message to the three fellow Daoists, telling them not to act, even if Xiao San faces imminent demise.”

“What?” “Why?”

“Grandmaster?”

“Wooooah—”

Not only were the Wei Mei Sect disciples stunned, but the Heaven-Devouring Beast beneath them also let out a mournful, disbelieving cry. Clearly, its mind was now lucid enough to understand her words.

Jiang Xueling offered a faint smile, touching the ground with her hand and gently stroking the Heaven-Devouring Beast's hide.

“Xiao San, our Wei Mei Sect has nurtured Heaven-Devouring Beasts for nearly two millennia, yet none have ever survived their metamorphosis. Even when we sealed and preserved the bodies of previous Heaven-Devouring Beasts in the mountains as ‘aid’ for future transformations… Now, I suddenly understand: ‘Calamity is inescapable.’ In the past, we merely tried to flee from it. For a beast like the Heaven-Devouring Beast to overcome its tribulation, it must be pushed to the brink of death to find new life.”

At this point, Jiang Xueling paused, then turned her head slightly and whispered.

“Fellow Daoists, is this not so?”

“Indeed!” “What Fellow Daoist Jiang says aligns with our own deductions.”

Ji Yuan and the others had, at some unknown point, arrived beside the Wei Mei Sect cultivators. Ju Yuanzi waved his sleeve, and a soft light rippled out, passing over the Wei Mei Sect disciples like a wave.

The next moment, all the Wei Mei Sect disciples, except for Jiang Xueling, vanished.

Ji Yuan’s arcane eyes gazed at the demonic clouds reforming in the distance.

“Xiao San undergoing its tribulation is naturally important now,” Ji Yuan mused. “However, I am somewhat puzzled. Aren’t the Southern Wilderness demons disorganized? Why are their attacks so disciplined and well-coordinated?”

Jiang Xueling nodded.

“Indeed, it’s not like the Southern Wilderness we know. Some of these demons are unnervingly coordinated. I intended to kill several times, but my attacks weren’t always successful; they were thwarted by their combined efforts on multiple occasions…”

Ji Yuan's expression was grim. This wasn’t merely the behavior of demons under a single demon king.