The demonic path descended upon the world. The heavens over Great Pian changed completely.

The sky seemed to be covered by a layer of viscous, heavy grey-black demonic clouds. The sunlight of the third month was blotted out without a single ray breaking through. And when rain fell, it fell black.

Wherever that black rain landed, it corroded the skin and raised festering boils. The people could only stay indoors or take every possible precaution before daring to venture outside. The fish and shrimp in the rivers, lakes, and ponds all floated belly-up; the water plants rotted and withered. In the third month — the very season when all things awakened and it was time to sow the seeds of spring — newly planted seedlings withered and died. The paddy fields hardened and cracked, radiating a deathly stillness. The air was thick with the stench of rot.

The people lived in terror and despair.

They were the most ordinary of people, seeking nothing more than to live and work in peace. Even in times of war and chaos they had only ever sought a small measure of tranquility. Yet now — before even war had arrived, an invisible calamity had descended upon them. What despair could be more complete.

And that was only one part of it.

The true horror — the kind that left people in helpless despair — was the demonic souls that crawled out of the waterways. They took grotesque and varied forms, mostly monstrous creatures, reeking of rot, dripping with foul black liquid, emanating an unbearable resentment and demonic energy. They possessed no shred of intelligence — only the most primal and absolute desire to destroy, attacking all living things without distinction: animals and people alike. What chance did ordinary, weaponless people have against such demonic creatures?

Wailing, screaming, and bitter curses toward the heavens replaced the sounds of crowing roosters and barking dogs, the peaceful scenes of people living and working in contentment — now it was as though the apocalypse had come, and the mortal world had become a living hell.

Even as a demon wrought havoc upon the mortal world, some people were still being infected and assimilated by the demonic energy — the evil impulses in their hearts magnified and transformed, driving them to kill, set fires, loot, pillage, and commit every manner of atrocity. This only added immeasurable human disaster to an already devastatingly hopeless natural calamity. More than a few Confucian scholars cried out in fury — with destruction hanging before their eyes, rather than uniting in self-rescue, humanity turned to slaughtering each other. How absurd.

The verse “born of the same root, why burn one another so swiftly” — it applied here in full force, its meaning laid entirely bare.

The great families and military commanders who had once harbored restless ambitions to seize the empire — faced with this catastrophe impossible to resist — had quieted their ambitions. No one dared speak of great enterprises any longer. Their only thoughts were of how to lead their clans through survival in this hellish mortal world. Their sole prayer was that there might be more monks and Daoists in the land, to slay the wicked and cleanse the demonic, and restore clarity to the world.

During this time, all they could do was preserve themselves as best they could — hoarding grain, medicinal herbs, and every resource that could sustain themselves and their clanspeople. In an instant, the price of grain soared. The common people had no grain left to buy, famines broke out everywhere, and displaced refugees and violent mobs sprang up as a result.

All of Great Pian plunged into an unprecedented darkness — sliding toward complete stillness and destruction.

And so the cold records of later historical texts noted: in the third month of the first year of Jian’an of the Great Pian Empire, a demon descended upon the world. Living beings were plunged into suffering. The horrors of cannibalism were enacted daily. The mortal world became a living hell, and heaven and earth alike mourned.

Faced with this near-irreversible catastrophe both natural and man-made, the Buddhist and Daoist orders of the land emerged en masse to save the world and succor all living beings.

Even Lang Jiuchuan and Feng Ya had not anticipated that after Tantai Wuji fell into demonhood, his demonic arts would advance so quickly and with such terrible power. They had underestimated him once again.

“This skeleton of mine can no longer produce any connection or resonance with his soul — no doubt because he severed cause and effect by forsaking his former self, allowing his demonic arts to fully mature. He has certainly already fully seized Kong Xu Zi’s divine soul and power. He harbors the ambition to incinerate the heavens. Having become a demon is the same as when you ascended to Core Formation — he must have made a significant gain.” Feng Ya said with a deep furrow in his brow. “Now he blots out the sky and plunges the mortal world into chaos. Only someone who has formed the demonic elixir and achieved the demonic body could produce such demonic power.”

Demons are formless. What people commonly call inner demons — those are the negative emotions within a person’s mind. And since all people have the seven emotions and six desires, everyone has such negative states. Some may be deeply concealed, others may lie in wait, needing only a single trigger to burst free.

With Tantai Wuji having cultivated a demonic body and achieved the demonic elixir, his power had grown immensely. Rousing the inner demons of the people of the world, transforming the world into a demonic domain — this cost him no effort whatsoever.

The chaos of the present moment, and the evil greed and desires in people’s hearts — all of it had been amplified without limit in this manner.

Some people harbored dark impulses that, once eroded and suborned, magnified into things they would never once have dared to do — driving the mortal world further into a living hell. More and more negative energy rose and surged through the land, all of it transforming into power for him.

Lang Jiuchuan said, “He cuts what must be cut, decisively. Just as that day when he chose not to fight us to the death over this skeleton — in order to preserve his life he would find every possible means to sever the karmic ties between his divine soul and flesh. Everything that has now manifested shows that he has completely become a demon. He is a great wicked fiend. On that basis alone, his ambition to ascend to the pinnacle is deluded.”

“Though he can become the Demon Sovereign.” Feng Ya added.

Lang Jiuchuan’s eyelids lowered slightly. “All the righteous cultivators of the world have emerged one after another, going forward in waves to save the world. If even then he can achieve his wish — that will be the day the Dao is extinguished.”

She would not allow it.

When Lang Jiuchuan raised her head again, her eyes held a cold and piercing sharpness. “The Temple of National Protection was built beside the dragon vein, and it is a holy site of the Buddhist order. I will proceed to the summit of the Temple of National Protection and set up an altar there, joining with the presiding abbot and the monks to channel the noble righteous energy of heaven and earth to purify the demonic energy and slow the advance of his demonic power. Now that demonic souls are running rampant in every corner of the land, those who have shut their doors out of cowardice and self-preservation are innumerable. You will command the court with your authority and compel them to act. However the world may be plagued with demons, humanity cannot fall into disorder — and must not slaughter each other. Otherwise, even after Tantai Wuji has been dealt with, the land will still be a scene of devastation, and it would take an unknowable length of time to recover its vitality.”

Though even as things stood, once peace returned to the land, it would already be a scene of everything lying in ruins.

But if things could be stabilized even a little, fewer people would die, and the mortal world would retain its hope.

Faced with such catastrophe, many among the powerful and privileged sought only to protect themselves, unwilling to exert any effort. That could not be permitted. Buddhist monks and Daoists could slay demons, but they had no power to conjure food for empty stomachs, warm clothing, or the medicines and herbs needed to treat disease.

The human catastrophe could not be resolved by monks and Daoists alone — humanity itself had to save itself.

If the powerful and privileged refused, then coercive and overwhelming means would have to be employed — even if that earned a ruinous reputation.

There was no logic in their fighting at the front to slay demons and vanquish monsters, while these people did nothing — only waiting for the world to return to peace so they could reclaim their splendor and sit atop power and wealth once more. And what of the common people left with nothing?

Feng Ya laughed coldly. “On that point, put your mind at ease. I know exactly how to handle them. Those who refuse to comply — I will drag them to the Underworld for a walk, let the King of Hell temper their self-serving natures a bit. That ought to do it.”

His face was filled with haughty disdain. He spoke of doing such deeds without the slightest concealment, and he feared no consequences whatsoever. If anyone took him for a good person, that was their mistake.

When he acted, he would let them know what true despair felt like.

“You intend to set up an altar to channel the noble righteous energy of heaven and earth — I cannot dissuade you of that, I know. But you also still need to lay the grand formation. Even a Core Formation cultivator has moments when their spiritual power is exhausted. When the day comes to meet Tantai Wuji the demon in direct confrontation — you…” Feng Ya exhaled a long breath. “Are you planning to hold back not a single measure of your remaining strength?”

Lang Jiuchuan met his gaze. “For this calamity — someone must always be the one to enter the fray.”