The earth dragon stirred!?

Before the city lord could sound the alarm, everything collapsed in an instant.

A massive hand seized him and promptly tossed him into a gaping maw.

The renowned city lord was immediately crushed between monstrous teeth.

The city walls, fortified with spiritual energy for millennia, now crumbled like children's sandcastles, mingling with severed limbs that rained down like bloody hail.

City after city disintegrated beneath the fangs and claws of the beast tide.

A supreme demonic beast roared skyward, its deafening cry piercing the heavens.

"Kill! Bathe the mortal realm in blood!"

With that furious bellow, a tsunami of destruction swept forth like the apocalypse itself, threatening to devour the entire world.

Endless demonic beasts surged across the Burial Soul Sea in an unbroken tide, their numbers blotting out the land as far as the eye could see.

Blood flowed freely across the earth, staining every inch crimson.

Once-prosperous cities and tribes were reduced to ruins within moments under the beasts' onslaught.

Screams and pleas for mercy rose incessantly, yet nothing could halt the slaughter. Some perished without even a whimper, swallowed whole alongside countless others.

None knew how these beasts had crossed the Burial Soul Sea.

Nor what had become of Burial Armament City.

The demonic hordes permitted no time for thought.

A thunder-wreathed raptor took flight toward the heavens.

Nine figures materialized midair, wielding weapon spirits to engage it.

Beneath the lightning's glare—

"Heavens above!"

A clan leader knelt amidst ruins, weeping bitterly as he gazed skyward.

No hope remained visible.

A metropolis of millions.

A peak Consolidation Stage cultivator torn apart by a white-furred ape, which cheerfully gnawed on his thigh.

Then ripped off another limb.

Finally plucking off the head and crushing it between its jaws.

With a satisfied grunt, the beast tipped its head back to drain the skull's contents.

Cangzhou's strength lay in its clans.

Clans bonded to weapon spirits, capable of summoning them in crisis.

Now, nearly a million knelt before mountain altars.

Their ancestral enemies had already been exterminated in this unimaginable massacre—normally cause for celebration.

Yet none could muster even a grim smile.

For their entire clans faced annihilation, with no hope of escape.

The summoned weapon spirits—once deemed invincible—now fell helpless before the beasts' savagery, torn asunder without mercy.

Hopeless eyes watched generations of worshiped spirits slaughtered like common beasts.

In the end, even this mighty clan of millions couldn't escape extinction.

The bloodbath spread across Cangzhou without end.

Rivers of blood stretched ten thousand miles.

"Heavens, save us!"

"Where is Burial Armament City? My son is there!" someone wailed.

"The beasts are here—Burial Armament City must already be gone."

"Our walls are impregnable! Ten millennia-old weapon spirits guard us! We'll hold!"

Then a colossal eye opened in the firmament above the city.

The city lord shuddered, hairs standing on end.

That gigantic pupil brimmed with mockery—

Amused contempt for his weakness.

One mighty figure after another fell, each demise heralding thousands devoured alive.

Mountains crumbled during this calamity;

rivers ran dry.

Once-torrential waters vanished, leaving barren riverbeds...

High above—

A figure cloaked in black.

His silhouette seemed minuscule against the vast sky, yet commanded attention.

He stood motionless, fiery gaze surveying the devastation below.

Beneath him, majestic landscapes crumbled visibly.

Behind Scarlet Dawn Demon King stood the Nine-Tailed Fox Clan of Qingqiu, the Ancient Bone Wolf Tribe, and the Bloodfeather Roc Clan.

With Scarlet Dawn's own kin, all four Eastern Desolate Demon Territory chieftains had descended upon Cangzhou.

"Hahaha! My claws itch!"

The Ancient Bone Wolf Patriarch rubbed his hands, barely containing his bloodlust.

"I'm going hunting. This waiting bores me to death."

Scarlet Dawn Demon King side-eyed the wolf patriarch—revered as the Ancient Bone Elder.

"Remember our true objective."

"Just stretching my legs."

The elder vanished with a grin.

——

A clan's territory.

Their youngest champion wielded a warhammer amidst the beast tide.

Countless fanged horrors lunged, yet the youth fought fearlessly—eyes blazing with resolve.

Each hammer swing carried thunderous might.

His clansmen fell one by one.

Still he stood, hammer never ceasing.

Though blood soaked his robes from countless wounds, his aura intensified with every strike.

Finally, only he remained.

Corpses of slain beasts littered the battlefield.

Yet he couldn't stop.

His weapon spirit kept swinging, as if to pulverize the very earth.

Lost in battle's ecstasy—

For weapon spirits thrived on combat!

He hadn't noticed his entire clan was dead.

A massive wolf skull shattered beneath his hammer.

The air itself stilled for miles around as his killing intent condensed.

"HAHAHA!"

His mad laughter proclaimed victory.

Planting his feet, he raised the hammer—

Then froze.

His hands trembled uncontrollably.

A figure materialized before him, eyes glinting with amusement.

"Come."

The white-maned elder beckoned.

The youth startled.

A true warrior!

Exactly whom he sought!

His hammer thrummed with eagerness—

BOOM!

His head toppled before the thought finished.

A fatal misjudgment.

That tremor hadn't been battlelust—but primal terror.

The Ancient Bone Elder vanished.

——

Amidst flames—

"The human-demon truce holds! This slaughter defies Burial Armament City! Defies Cangzhou! Defies humanity! Defies Mount Shushan!"

A human elder shouted hoarsely.

The Ancient Bone Elder hovered above the city, gripping the old man dismissively.

"Who dares stop me?"

"Were you always this arrogant?"

A voice rang from higher above.

The elder looked up—

Lingxu stood with hands clasped behind his back, icy gaze locked on him.

Simultaneously—

Scarlet Dawn Demon King's eyes snapped open, lips curling.

"So you've come at last!"