Kaiyang Xingjun finished his instructions in one breath and waved his hand. “That’s all for today. In two days at the Hour of the Dragon, assemble at the Southern Heaven Gate.”
Two days from now? She had thought they would descend to the lower realm immediately.
Chenshu Academy was noisy and chaotic. The young divine beings were chattering away in animated discussion about descending to the lower realm. It was very clamorous. Xuan Yi put away the white snow into her sleeve. By now the sweat on her body had completely dried, leaving an uncomfortable sticky feeling. She had never particularly liked noisy places, so she simply got up and left.
Outside was even more of a chaotic mess, bustling with celestial gods packed everywhere. Previously, those Dadis above the Thirty-Three Heavens and the many divine beings with Dijun titles mostly had not joined the ranks of demon race extermination. The upper realm had always held a contemptuous attitude toward troublesome monsters and demons. This time the decree forcibly counted them in as well, which provoked a chorus of complaints.
Xuan Yi was dizzy and disoriented from the dazzling auspicious light. She had originally wanted to find Qing Yan—with the Heavens’ Demon Extermination Decree issued, he would certainly come to Yuhua Hall as well. But she felt she truly didn’t have the ability to find him among so many divine beings. After wandering around for a long time, she could only return to Baijia Academy feeling disappointed and summon the attendant goddess to serve her in bathing and changing clothes.
As for descending to the lower realm to be a battle general, she didn’t have any particular feelings about it. She only found it strange how Shao Yi could have known half a month in advance when even those of them who stayed at Yuhua Hall every day hadn’t known.
This Qingyang Clan member truly had some ability to keep people in suspense.
The soft couch was placed on the grass outside the hall. Xuan Yi inserted her fingers into her half-wet hair, spreading it out to dry. The cool autumn breeze made the osmanthus tree’s leaves rustle. She didn’t know when she fell asleep. Halfway through her sleep, she suddenly felt a gentle breeze sweep past her ear. She opened her eyes alertly and was astonished to discover that the little golden dragon Fucang had transformed through Sword Qi Transforming into Dragon was coiled before her.
He had returned? Xuan Yi looked around in all directions. Baijia Academy was completely empty—not even a shadow in sight.
Suddenly the little golden dragon leaped up abruptly, incredibly swift. It severed a strand of long hair by her ear, along with a pearl earring hanging from her ear, seizing them both in its mouth. Transforming into golden light, it vanished in the blink of an eye.
Xuan Yi covered her ear and was stunned for a long while before understanding—Fucang, as a battle general of Division Ding-Mao that gathered countless elites from the divine realm, was probably about to descend to the lower realm immediately.
If he couldn’t come back, then so be it, but he actually used Sword Qi Transforming into Dragon to take away her earring and hair. She really liked that pearl earring.
Xuan Yi abruptly lay back down on the soft couch. Not knowing why, her neck began to burn again, and she could no longer fall asleep.
*
Two days passed in a flash. The battle generals stationed at Yuhua Hall had dwindled to very few. Xuan Yi never managed to see Qing Yan. After inquiring for a long time, she learned that Qing Yan had actually been assigned to Division Ding-Mao, together with Fucang, and had been urgently sent to the lower realm on the day of assembly.
This group of crazed Dijuns really wouldn’t let a single Zhuyin Clan member go. First they forcibly kept her at Yuhua Hall, then they assigned Qing Yan, who wasn’t even forty thousand years old yet, to Division Ding-Mao. Once this demon race extermination mission was completed, there would surely be scores to settle.
When this Heavens’ Demon Extermination Decree was issued, Baize Dijun’s war division deployment was orderly and methodical. Each division was distributed in a circular pattern in the lower realm. The Dijuns and Dadis dealt with the ancient demon race Dajuns, the next tier of battle generals handled the Dajuns’ subordinate forces, the tier below that was responsible for exterminating those small groups or not-yet-risen demon race forces, and the remaining scattered weak ones were handed over to young battle generals like Xuan Yi who weren’t yet forty thousand years old.
However, even with such meticulous and careful deployment, several dozen battle generals had perished yesterday. After all, the demon races in the lower realm were unpredictable in their movements. Division Yi-Xin-Mao, which had descended to the lower realm a day earlier, had truly terrible luck—they had run right into Dajun Zi-Chou.
This matter was precisely what most frightened these celestial gods joining the extermination campaign for the first time. When assembling at the Southern Heaven Gate, a young goddess beside Xuan Yi kept sobbing. She felt like she couldn’t even stand steadily anymore.
A battle general behind them consoled gently, “With Kaiyang Xingjun here, we only need to deal with those weak scattered demon races. As long as we avoid the Dajuns’ forces, there will be no trouble. Don’t be afraid.”
The weeping young goddess shook her head desperately. “But what if we really do run into the Dajuns?”
Kaiyang Xingjun’s cold, harsh voice sounded from behind. “If you really run into them, flee if you can flee. If you can’t flee, then obediently perish. What is there to say about it?”
This cold rebuke made the young goddess’s tears fall even more fiercely.
Kaiyang Xingjun was very dissatisfied with Division Yi-Yi-Hai’s low morale. Frowning, he said again, “No one would be happy to see battle generals perish. Fight if you can fight, flee if you can’t—what use is crying? Preserve your own life yourself. Do I need to teach you even this?”
While speaking, the magnificent Southern Heaven Gate was slowly opened inch by inch. Wind carrying turbid energy immediately coiled around the gods’ bodies. Xuan Yi instinctively took a deep breath—she hadn’t been stuck by such paste-like wind for twenty-three thousand years.
The battle generals each mounted their steeds and followed Kaiyang Xingjun away from the Southern Heaven Gate. Amid the low, fearful sobbing of the goddesses, Division Yi-Yi-Hai descended at the foot of Mount Taihang in the lower realm.
“Form ranks, dismount.” Kaiyang Xingjun had not a single superfluous word. The newly appointed battle generals didn’t even have time for a sip of water before being thrown into the task of exterminating demon races.
Probably because of the Sea of Parting Regret, the turbid energy in the lower realm was even denser than twenty thousand years ago. The turbid energy coiled and lingered among the trees and foliage in the forest. Countless tiny scattered demon races hid in the darkness, only to be ferreted out one by one by the battle generals for extermination.
“See, it’s not very difficult.” The battle generals were still comforting the various goddesses who kept crying. “What we have to deal with are just these small demon races. No need to worry.”
Xuan Yi drifted along slowly at the back, so bored she was almost dozing off. They said to have them deal with scattered demon races, and they truly were quite scattered and particularly weak—not even as strong as that vine demon that had bewitched Yan Xia back then. She was too lazy to even produce snowflakes, only tossing the white snow ball up and down in her palm as she looked around idly with nothing to do.
A sudden gust of violent wind howled through the forest. Kaiyang Xingjun immediately raised his hand. “Stop!”
The battle generals looked around in all directions with alarm and suspicion. They saw several clouds of pale red demon fog rising in the distance like wispy mist, and in an instant they had closed several hundred li. The presence of demon fog proved these were quite formidable demon races. Kaiyang Xingjun’s thoughts raced—this demon fog didn’t seem to be from particularly powerful demon races. He alone could barely handle it. He didn’t want to retreat. Once he retreated, Division Yi-Yi-Hai’s morale would inevitably drop to its lowest and be difficult to revive.
“Stand firm! No retreating!” he shouted sternly.
Before his words had fallen, those several clouds of demon fog rushed toward them, enveloping the entire forest. In an instant, violent winds arose and one couldn’t see one’s hand before one’s face. Kaiyang Xingjun recited incantations, and ten thousand beams of silver light fell like urgent rain pattering down. Four sinister winds danced and howled through the forest. The silver light striking them seemed to have no effect whatsoever. The next moment, the sinister winds descended on the clearing and revealed four figures.
When Kaiyang Xingjun saw the embroidery on their belts, he couldn’t help but change color abruptly—they were demon race battle generals under Dajun Shang-Mao! Could they really be so unlucky as to run into a Dajun right after descending to the lower realm?
One of the four battle generals stepped forward with an arrogant demeanor. “Dajun Suihu’s Third Prince is coming to our Dajun’s earth palace as a guest today. Our Dajun specifically ordered us to clear the road and not let upper realm gods linger and loiter. Looking at you bunch of ragtag little celestial gods, we don’t even have the interest to kill you. Quickly make way!”
Kaiyang Xingjun’s divine power vibrated as he carefully searched all around the area. Not discovering any trace of Dajun Shang-Mao, his heart immediately settled considerably. With a wave of his hand, his long whip like a black serpent rolled with lightning speed. Half the trees in the forest were instantly broken by the hurricane. “No need for idle talk! Attack!”
The battle generals without any experience had no choice but to steel themselves and rush forward one after another, fighting in a tangled melee with those four demon race battle generals. Division Yi-Yi-Hai had three hundred battle generals while the other side only had four, yet they remained fearless. When those magical techniques and weapons struck their bodies, it seemed to have no effect whatsoever, but when the battle generals were merely grazed by them, their muscles and bones were injured.
This situation made all the gods’ scalps tingle even more. The magical techniques that usually worked smoothly could now only be released once or twice at best, which was already a miracle. The auspicious light and demon fog in midair entangled with each other for a long while, and those four demon race battle generals gradually gained the upper hand.
Kaiyang Xingjun anxiously shouted hoarsely, “Fight! What are you afraid of? If you don’t fight, you’ll truly perish!”