The demon god stepped forth, shaking the entire river valley.
"It worked." Seeing this, An Jing slowly let out a breath, the tension in his heart easing slightly.
Among the many techniques the Sword Spirit had imparted to him, this was the one best suited to the current situation—using the power of the Exalted God of Imperial Heaven to drive the demonic qi and condense the phantom of a demon god!
Aside from blood sacrifice, this was the power of the Grand Ritual of Imperial Heaven's Baleful Stars meant for controlling ghosts, gods, and evil demons to strike down external foes.
Yet for decades, no one had used this function, and almost everyone had forgotten it. Had it not been that the ritual borrowed the Sword Spirit's power—allowing An Jing, who housed the Sword Spirit, to naturally take control of it—even if An Jing had obtained the Demon Sect's ritual manual, he would never have known how to use it.
"The ritual is out of control! The ritual is out of control!!"
"It's a Fear Demon! Quick, form ranks! Cast off the fear in your hearts, or all that fear will turn into its strength!"
The moment the Demon Sect instructors and lecturers presiding over the ritual caught sight of the demon god phantom before them, they instantly recognized its true form.
They cried out in alarm and gathered into formation. Though they knew they were in dire trouble, they knew even better that they could not afford to show cowardice before the Fear Demon. If they did...
Boom!
The colossal demon god phantom stepped forward and let out a silent roar. Tangible ripples of psychic force spread outward, instantly freezing one lecturer who was reluctantly falling into formation with a face full of terror.
In that single instant, it was as if he had experienced the most agonizing torture this world had to offer. Wailing and weeping like a child, he turned and fled.
The demon god phantom reached across the void with one hand and caught him. When it pulled its hand back, the lecturer's flesh was unharmed, yet a translucent soul was dragged out and seized straight into its grip.
The soul struggled frantically, but to no avail. Finally, the demon god phantom tossed it into its mouth and chewed, crushing it entirely.
On the ground, the man's eyes lost their focus, and his body lost all control. Though he was not dead, he was now nothing more than a living slab of meat.
"A demon, a demon..."
Witnessing such a horrifying sight, not only the Demon Sect members directly facing the demon god phantom, but even the boys and girls standing in the rear shook like sieves. When had they ever seen such a terrifying monstrosity? At least the instructors and lecturers held real blades and swords, whereas they had only wooden blades and wooden spears meant for drills!
Even though the battle formations they had learned were identical to those of the instructors—skills clearly meant for fighting this Extramundane Demon phantom—none of them dared muster the courage to make a move right now.
Feeding on the rising tide of fear, black mist spread, and the demon god phantom threw back its head and roared into the heavens, swelling even larger.
It even noticed the major source of fear behind it, turning its steps backward and reaching out a hand toward the boys and girls.
Yet a figure stood before it, blocking the Fear Demon's path.
"Stand down!"
He held only a wooden sword in his hand, facing down a demon god phantom. Such courage defied all reason, yet An Jing stood upright, squarely in front of the demon god, as if this were the most natural thing in the world.
He was already prepared: if things took a turn for the worse, he would summon the broken sword and use the Sword Spirit's remaining sword qi within the grand array to fight the Extramundane Demon phantom. Staring straight at the demon god phantom before him, An Jing barked without fear, "Your enemy is over there!"
Then he shouted to the others, "Don't be afraid! Reassemble the battle formation!"
He sternly commanded his group to cooperate, even stepping forward: "This is a 'Fear Demon'—it grows by feeding on fear!"
"Yet in the end, it is bound by our control... If you have the guts, follow me forward!"
Tap! Seeing An Jing take a step forward, the demon god phantom—the Fear Demon—actually stepped back, an expression of wariness already visible on its face.
At the same time, hearing An Jing's voice, everyone unconsciously looked up, even if they harbored no hope.
Such was An Jing's prestige: as long as his voice was heard, someone would always listen.
And then, they watched in utter astonishment.
Not only had the colossal Fear Demon failed to crush An Jing like a bug, but it was being forced back by him instead.
—So even a demon could feel fear?
"What's there to be afraid of?!" "That's right!"
A burst of boldness instantly surged. As An Jing's staunch follower, Gu Yeqi was the first to fall in, and Cang Linzu stepped forward without hesitation.
Right after them came An Jing's entire Xingji group!
"Sister Qinghan?"
At that moment, members of each group looked toward their own leaders. The third group did the same, and even more people were watching Bai Qinghan because, like An Jing, she had awakened an Extraordinary Destiny, and they waited for this 'number two figure' of the group to declare her stance.
"Follow them."
The girl with hair cascading like a waterfall looked at his back. Lowering her gaze, she spoke softly and then stepped forward as well, advancing alongside An Jing toward the Fear Demon: "On this matter..."
"I trust him."
Thus, after a brief moment of chaos, with leaders in place, all the Children of Calamity took their steps forward.
And then, a kind of courage unique to the young, unique to newborn calves, burst forth.
—That's right! At worst, it was just death. What reason did they have to be afraid?!
And so they summoned their courage to follow An Jing, brandishing their weapons, pressing the Fear Demon backward!
Whoosh—
An invisible yet surging gale swept forth, forcing the Fear Demon to step back.
The will of dozens of people, governed by their commander, condensed into a single whole; the momentum of this 'military formation' had taken shape.
As long as An Jing did not retreat, even the Fear Demon could not affect the youths within the formation.
Oppressed by the military formation and constrained by the grand array, the Fear Demon reluctantly turned its head. Though it was only a phantom, it could tell that the adult humans before it were far tougher to deal with.
Yet, driven by the pressure of the battle formation and the grand array, it let out a furious roar and charged toward the Demon Sect's battle formation.
In an instant, the earth shook and the mountains trembled. The Fear Demon and the Demon Sect members clashed violently, kicking up stones and sand as black mist churned wildly.
"Stop! Stop!"
At this moment, the one-eyed Instructor Li was still trying to halt them. He roared at An Jing and the youths, "Damn it, you little bastards, are you trying to rebel?! Stop right now!"
He thought that by relying on the authority he had built in the past, he could at least intimidate some of the children. But the youths paid him no mind, and An Jing ignored him completely.
Curiously, however, Manor Lord Yao, as the strongest person present, did not join in suppressing the Fear Demon.
Nor did he erupt into violence to capture An Jing—the one who led the formation in rebellion and who, for reasons unknown, had seized control of the ritual's grand array.
Instead, the old man turned his head to look back toward Suspended Fate Manor, his gaze dazed.
"Disaster," he muttered. "There's an external enemy invading as well?"
It was at that exact moment that the sounding of a warning gong suddenly rang out from deep within the distant manor!
The gong's tone was deep, long, and carried a soul-shaking force, reaching the valley behind the mountain in an instant.
—Someone was invading Suspended Fate Manor?
His guard raised, An Jing glanced toward the manor from the corner of his eye, while his gaze remained locked tightly onto the old man, whose aura was growing increasingly dangerous.
Yet even so, he was stunned by what met his eyes.
On the other side of the manor, halfway up a peak, a troop of well-equipped red-armored martial artists descended like celestial soldiers, charging straight down and plunging into the manor's inner grounds.
An Jing could even see a boundless multicolored demonic miasma rising within the manor—the hidden defensive measure of the grounds—and a sudden sweep of red-and-blue flame blazing through the miasma, burning everything away and sending up billowing black smoke into the sky.
For a time, the qi of blades and swords crisscrossed, spiritual flames and vicious balefulness intertwined, and resonant battle cries and the din of slaughter echoed throughout the entire manor.
Chapter 39