Boom!
The massive bronze greatsword crashed down, its blade faintly shimmering with Spirit Light. When it lifted, a pool of blood remained.
With a single strike, the sword pulverized a Peak Qi Refining Stage cultivator into a bloody pulp, shattering his exploding Magic Artifact into fragments and completely suppressing its self-destruct power.
"Kill!"
Two beams of Spirit Light shot into the air, converging on the Demon Race warrior. These were Spirit Swords wielded by Sword Immortals, their killing intent palpable. They slammed against the demon's battle armor with a mournful clang, leaving only a thin crack in its surface.
Yet this crack proved crucial.
In the blink of an eye, seven or eight attacks converged on the fissure, tearing a hole in the armor and blasting directly into the demon's Demonic Body.
Roar!
The Giant Demon roared in pain. With a furious sweep of its bronze greatsword, it sent a three-legged Golden Cauldron soaring dozens of meters away. The Legendary Qi Refining cultivator who controlled the Top-Grade Magic Artifact suffered the artifact's backlash, coughing up a mouthful of scalding blood.
The giant sword, its momentum undiminished after smashing the Golden Cauldron, continued its horizontal slash, bisecting a Legendary cultivator at the waist. Following this casualty, six more cultivators met the same fate, their bodies pierced by the terrifying, raw power and instantly reduced to sieves before vanishing into nothingness.
This horrifying spectacle sent the Demon Race's morale soaring.
In the next moment:
"Kill!"
Over thirty Legendary Qi Refining cultivators swarmed the Giant Demon, each wielding a Top-Grade Magic Artifact. Every strike carried the force equivalent to an attack from a Foundation Establishment Stage cultivator.
Before the Giant Demon could retract its exhausted sword, thirty simultaneous strikes landed upon its Demonic Body, targeting its head, chest, torso, armor, and throat.
In an instant, the most terrifying surge of Spirit Energy imaginable erupted from the Giant Demon's body, radiating outward in a shockwave. Peak Qi Refining cultivators caught too close to the blast lost control of their bodies, sent flying by the aftershocks. Though not fatally injured, the sensation of their internal organs shifting left them nauseated and pale, their faces frozen in extreme horror.
A sudden gale dispersed the Spirit Energy storm, revealing the Giant Demon's corpse, now unmistakably beyond death.
Faced with the concentrated fire of over thirty Legendary Qi Refining cultivators—equivalent to the devastating assault of thirty Foundation Establishment Stage experts—even a Golden Core Stage cultivator might perish. How could a Demon Race warrior with a restricted Demonic Body possibly withstand such an onslaught?
Nearby, Han Yi had just slain a Blood Demon. Looking up, he witnessed this earth-shattering attack, his eyelids twitching uncontrollably.
Even a swarm of ants can bring down an elephant, he thought. And this Giant Demon is no elephant. The Legendary cultivators aren't that much weaker.
He turned his gaze to the opposite side of the battlefield, where dozens of disciples from the Profound Pill Sect, led by a Legendary cultivator, had formed a Spirit Formation. Like a razor-sharp blade, they plunged directly toward Imperial Demon City.
The Legendary cultivator was not An Xin of Azure Dragon Peak, whom he had encountered in the Cang Tribe, but rather Geng Changxu of White Tiger Peak—the Profound Pill Sect's second-ranked Legendary Qi Refining cultivator and the Earth Ranking's top contender.
Within the Spirit Formation, Han Yi spotted a familiar face: He Fengdi.
Further away, other cultivators had also assembled into Spirit Formations, slaughtering demons with reckless courage as they rapidly advanced toward the colossal city.
Han Yi dodged a flying stone axe with a flicker of his body. His Chengying Sword flashed, piercing through a Rock Demon. Before the creature could explode, he retracted the blade, severing its head in a single, fluid motion—effortless and graceful.
Swish!
Han Yi gazed toward the city gate, where seven cultivators capable of flight had already landed, including two Sword Immortals and Xie Jingshan of the Spirit Battle Sect, with whom he had briefly clashed earlier.
Below the gate, several Legendary Qi Refining experts from Jade Capital Mountain proved equally formidable, having surged into the fray and left a trail of blood in their wake.
Han Yi's figure blurred as he pushed his Light Body Technique to its absolute limit. Now that I've committed, hesitation is fatal. I can't fear the wolf ahead while worrying about the tiger behind.
He dodged a Yin Demon's ambush and evaded a Metal Demon's golden Divine Ability without pausing, then charged through the breached city gate.
Inside, the city had transformed into a slaughterhouse. Waves of cultivators poured in, cutting down the demonic resistance as they surged deeper into Imperial Demon City, drawn by a towering beam of light radiating a deadly allure.
Han Yi halted abruptly. Before him stood a five-meter-tall Rock Demon, its massive hands gripping a crude black battleaxe. The weapon lacked refinement, its appearance brutal, yet the Magic Artifact pulsed with a terrifying aura—one even more potent than the Rock Demon itself.
Han Yi's expression darkened. He darted to evade, but it was too late. Behind him, the air cracked as the axe fell with uncanny accuracy, as if predicting his escape route.
Before Han Yi could even turn around, six daggers shot forth, hurtling toward the massive axe.
Whoosh!
Clang! Clang! Clang!
The daggers clattered against the axe, deflected one after another.
Boom!
The axe faltered momentarily, but its downward arc continued uninterrupted.
Seizing this fleeting moment of resistance, Han Yi sidestepped over four meters. The wind from the axe's swing grazed his face, causing his expression to darken.
"So strong," he muttered.
He retreated ten meters, summoning back his scattered daggers with a casual flick of his wrist.
Gasp!
He noticed a chip on the blade of one of the daggers, his face turning even more grim.
"Legendary," he realized. "This Rock Demon is undoubtedly on par with a human Legendary Qi Refining expert."
Han Yi mentally reviewed the Demon Race encounters he'd had since entering the Chaozhen Grotto-Heaven, and the conclusion remained consistent.
A three-meter-tall demon was stronger than a seasoned Ninth Layer cultivator but weaker than a Peak Qi Refining practitioner. A four-meter demon was a full match for Peak Qi Refining, while a five-meter demon—like the one before him—equaled a human Legendary Qi Refining expert. A six-meter demon, such as the former Patriarch of the Black Demon Clan's Cang Tribe, surpassed even Legendary status, requiring the combined efforts of multiple Legendary Cultivators to eliminate.
Han Yi retreated again. It wasn't that he couldn't fight a Legendary opponent, but being pinned down here meant he couldn't compete for the Jade Capital Grand Void Token.
Just a dozen meters away, the five-meter-tall Rock Demon roared furiously, its stone axe already descending. Despite its massive size, the axe's speed rivaled Han Yi's Light Body Technique.
Han Yi's expression darkened. Abandoning his evasive maneuvers, he muttered a command. The Chengying Sword in his hand flashed like a shooting star, slicing through the air faster than the axe. In an instant, it grazed the Rock Demon's neck.
A dull, grating impact echoed through the air. Han Yi stared intently, his pupils constricting in shock.
Only a few fragments of rock had fallen from the wound; the Chengying Sword had failed to inflict any significant damage.
It's the Magic Artifact, Han Yi realized, his heart sinking.
Strictly speaking, this was his first direct confrontation with a Demon Race warrior at the Legendary Qi Refining stage. He had encountered such opponents twice before.
The first time was in the Myriad Demon Mountain Range, when he exchanged blows with the Blood God Sect's Blood God Son, Han Xuxiao, across a great distance. That encounter had given him his first true taste of the terrifying power of a Legendary Qi Refining cultivator.
The second time was during his previous foray into the Black Demon Race's Ancestral Land, when Xie Jingshan of the Spirit Battle Sect had ambushed him. Even the Seven Stars Sword, his only Mid-Grade Sword Artifact, had only managed to halt Xie Jingshan's azure war banner for half a breath before being crushed to pieces.
In both instances, he had been utterly powerless to retaliate.