Having finished speaking, Zhao Zhen waved his hand. "The tree demon is destroyed. Go quickly to nurse your wounds."
Yan Hongxia voiced his thanks, then suddenly remembered something. "Daring to report to the Divine General, behind this tree demon is another great demon backing it, named the Old Demon of Black Mountain. His dharmic power is startling, his sins heavy—"
"We are precisely heading to capture and slay that fiend!" Zhao Zhen said. "Having received the True Lord's decree to sweep away the demonic vapors of Zhaoyun, how could we allow an evil demon to continue entrenching itself?"
Yan Hongxia was overjoyed at these words. This Old Demon of Black Mountain had run amok in Zhaoyun Kingdom for many years. Righteous cultivators from neighboring nations had long sought to eradicate him, yet his prowess was astonishing, leaving them helpless to bring him down. Now they had finally seen the Heavenly Court dispatch divine troops—there was hope at last of exterminating the demon!
"Very well. Enough said. Tend to your injuries and regulate your breath; we depart!"
Zhao Zhen raised his hand, and the brilliant golden cloud beneath his feet carried tens of thousands of heavenly soldiers southwest. The Old Demon of Black Mountain's lair was a thousand li to the southwest; riding the cloud, they would arrive in mere moments.
Amidst the ruins of Lanruo Temple, Yan Hongxia looked at the pale-faced Ning Jianchen and retrieved a porcelain bottle. "Brother Ning, inside are several healing pills effective for both Golden Core and Yin Spirit cultivators. Take them and recover in peace."
"Many thanks, Brother Yan!" Ning Jianchen was not one to stand on ceremony. He took the porcelain bottle, shook out a pill, swallowed it, and sat where he was to regulate his breathing.
Yan Hongxia sat cross-legged on the ground beside him. As he restored his dharmic power, he gazed into the distance at the golden cloud gradually vanishing into the horizon. "I hope that this time, they can truly slay that Old Demon of Black Mountain..."
***
Meanwhile, Zhao Zhen and Tao Xin led six galloping generals and seventy-five thousand heavenly soldiers, flying nearly a thousand li upon their clouds until they arrived over a mountain range smothered in thick demonic mist.
The moment the grand army reached the outer periphery of the mountains, demons great and small within spotted them and came swarming out from the ravines—green-faced wolf demons with bared fangs, long-tailed lizard spirits, winged bat demons... At a rough count, there were three to four thousand of them.
They drew up in a rather ragged battle array. Red and black banners fluttered wildly, spears and blades stood like a forest, and their morale was bold and fierce, making quite an impressive display.
At the very fore of these thousands of demons stood a Yang Spirit realm striped tiger demon. Gazing at the golden cloud pressing down like an overhanging mountain, it felt a secret tremor of dread: *Could these be heavenly soldiers and divine generals from the Heavenly Court come to subjugate our mountain lord? How dreadful!*
Southern Jambudvipa was vast beyond measure, home to tens of thousands of nations and far too many demons, fiends, and ghosts. Some ravaged entire regions and devoured hundreds of millions of people. Their mountain lord had merely swallowed the population of a single prefecture to satisfy a craving, and he had only done so once; he had committed no other outrageous atrocities. Why had he caught the eye of the Heavenly Court?
Forcing itself to remain calm, the tiger demon called out loudly, "What brings your honors here? This is the place where the Lord of Black Mountain conducts his secluded cultivation! If you have no urgent business, we urge you to depart quickly, lest a misunderstanding arise and lead to bloodshed!"
Up upon the cloud, Zhao Zhen smiled at Tao Xin. "This rustic little demon speaks with quite a bit of refinement."
Tao Xin sneered and shouted down, "We have come to claim your mountain lord's life!"
As the words fell, command flags fluttered upon the cloud.
A division of heavenly soldiers, numbering twelve thousand five hundred in total, immediately stepped forth. A valiant general at their head barked, "Release lightning!"
More than ten thousand heavenly soldiers raised their halberds and thrust them downward in unison. Lightning crackled and thundered at the tips, coalescing in an instant into a sprawling thundercloud.
*Rumble!*
Thousands of purple lightning bolts, coiled like dragons and serpents, struck down from the cloud, smashing directly toward the thousands of minor demons in the mountains!
Alarmed and infuriated, the tiger demon yelled, "Release the toxic miasma!"
The demons scrambled in a panic to detach pouches from their waists and opened them toward the sky. Instantly, grayish-green miasma billowed forth, merging into a single blanket that blotted out half the sky.
Yet before the thousands of divine lightning bolts, the miasma dissolved like snow under boiling water. Wherever the lightning passed, numerous minor demons were turned to flying ash before they could even scream. The survivors were frightened out of their wits; abandoning their weapons, they fled into the deep mountains or flew frantically into the distance.
"Where do you think you are going?!"
On the cloud, Tao Xin barked coldly. More than ten thousand heavenly soldiers holding golden ropes and silver shuttles descended upon the clouds, pinching hand seals. Thousands of golden ropes shot forth like nimble serpents leaving their burrows, weaving a seamless net of heaven across the sky. The fleeing demons had barely covered a few hundred zhang before being tightly bound by the golden ropes, falling one after another from midair, bruised, battered, and bleeding from their heads.
In the blink of an eye, thousands of minor demons were dead, captured, or wounded. The tiger demon that had led them had also been struck by lightning, seized by the earth net, and now lay on the ground howling in pain and shouting curses.
Having scored a small victory, Zhao Zhen, Tao Xin, and the other generals showed no complacency. They knew the true master had not yet emerged; these demon foot soldiers were merely lackeys, and whether they lived or died was of little consequence.
*Boom! Boom!*
A few breaths later, an earth-shattering roar suddenly erupted from deep within the mountain range. Atop the main peak, demonic qi surged to the heavens, condensing into a black cloud that spanned a hundred li. From within the cloud came an enraged roar that sounded like muffled thunder, shaking the surrounding peaks in resonance.
"Which blind fool dares to cause trouble in my domain?!"
The black clouds parted, and a colossal figure stepped out into the void.
He stood ten zhang tall, his skin sinewy and of a dark bluish-black. His eyes glowed crimson like two blood lanterns. Draped in a black robe, he held a heavy, pitch-black iron club in his hand.
*Eh? Heavenly soldiers?!*
The moment he clearly saw the tens of thousands of troops upon the cloud, the Old Demon of Black Mountain felt his heart skip a beat. He prided himself on being rather reclusive, unlike certain great demons who slaughtered righteous cultivators and mortals at will or boasted of rebelling against Heaven. How had he attracted a punitive expedition of heavenly soldiers and divine generals?
Zhao Zhen gave no thought to what the Old Demon of Black Mountain was thinking. His expression grew stern as he declared loudly, "You vile demon! You have ravaged living beings and committed heinous sins! Today, the heavenly army under the Southern Demon-Quelling True Lord has arrived—surrender and face execution at once!"
Though startled, the Old Demon of Black Mountain did not panic. Especially after discerning that there was no mighty True Immortal within the battle formation, he breathed a long sigh of relief and bellowed in rage, "If you want to kill, kill; if you want to fight, fight! What talk of justice and evil? Taste your grandfather's club first!!"
With no further words, he strode across the sky, hefted the heavy club, and smashed it down!
That swing was truly formidable!
Wherever the club's wind passed, the air cracked with thunderous booms, and clouds spanning a hundred li were shredded to pieces. The club grew larger and larger in midair; by the time it reached the front of the heavenly soldiers' formation, it was as thick as a mountain peak and a thousand zhang long!
It was like half a collapsed divine mountain crushing downward with the force of the falling sky!
"Defend!" Tao Xin shouted.
Hearing the order, tens of thousands of heavenly soldiers raised their halberds simultaneously. Divine light converged at the tips, transforming into an enormous golden light shield. The heavy club slammed directly against it.
*CLANG!!!*
The sound of clashing metal rang out to the heavens. Gales howled violently as a visible shockwave expanded in a frenzy, shearing flat over a hundred surrounding mountaintops. The light shield shook violently. Every halberd-bearing soldier flushed red in the face and fell back several paces, their formation growing slightly ragged.
"You have some skill," the Old Demon of Black Mountain grinned. "Take another from your grandfather!"
Zhao Zhen and Tao Xin did not wait for him to strike again. The former drew the long saber at his waist, its blade light gleaming like snow accompanied by wind and thunder; the latter unhooked the purple-gold twin hammers from his back, their shadows flying like two small hills.
The six galloping generals before the six formations also stepped out on the clouds. Some wielded swords whose rainbow-like light wove through the air like dragons; some invoked lightning arts, unleashing Palm Lightning, Five Elements Lightning, and Purple Dawn Lightning in succession to blast the roiling black clouds; others thrust long spears whose tips bloomed into golden lotuses.
Nine figures clashed in midair, fighting until the sky grew dark and the sun and moon lost their luster.
"This demon is indeed exceptionally powerful, fighting one against eight and only falling slightly into a disadvantage."
From far away, many people watched the battle. Some were cultivators from Zhaoyun Kingdom, some were great cultivators from neighboring nations, and some were even lofty, mighty True Immortals.
For example, certain heavenly generals from the Heavenly Court's Thunder Department had been paying close attention to the movements of Zhao Zhen and his troops ever since they learned Huang Tian's forces had descended to the mortal realm. They wanted to see where this newly appointed Demon-Quelling True Lord, only three months into his office, would light his first fire, whether it would burn fiercely, and above all, to gauge Huang Tian's capabilities through it.
After all, whether the Thunder Department's heavenly generals or the Demon-Quelling True Lords of the Four Quarters, all held the authority and duty to subdue demons and slay fiends. Their relationship with Huang Tian was one of both cooperation and competition. But how they cooperated and how much face they gave him depended entirely on the other party's strength!
*I cannot go on like this—*
After battling for about a quarter of an hour, the Old Demon of Black Mountain gradually showed signs of fatigue.
Though he was at Great Ascension perfection, possessed a formidable physical body, and commanded vast dharmic power, Zhao Zhen and Tao Xin were battle-hardened heavenly generals. The six valiant generals also coordinated with seamless precision, attacking and defending in an orderly fashion—to say nothing of the tens of thousands of heavenly soldiers in formation, who constantly harassed him with lightning and divine fire.
*If this continues, defeat is inevitable.*
With this thought, he feinted with his club to force Zhao Zhen back, abruptly retreating several hundred zhang. Stowing the heavy club, he formed hand seals and shouted, "Go!"
A palm-sized black square seal flew from his mouth. Small at first, it grew with the wind, transforming in the blink of an eye into a thousand-zhang phantom of Black Mountain!
The phantom was as solid as a real mountain, bristling with jagged rocks and dense forests, with illusions of flowing waterfalls, soaring birds, and roaming beasts rippling across it. This was the dharmic seal he had refined using the spiritual essence of the thousand-li Black Mountain!
The seal blazed with dazzling radiance, accompanied by the rumbling roar of mountains, and crashed down straight toward Tao Xin!
Tao Xin's expression changed abruptly. He raised his twin hammers high.
*BOOM!!*
The moment the purple-gold hammers collided with the phantom of Black Mountain, Tao Xin felt a searing agony shoot through his arms. The webs between his thumbs and forefingers split open, and he was hurled backward like a shooting star, tracing a white vapor trail across the sky.
*Crash!*
He tumbled over a hundred li away, crashing through more than a dozen mountain peaks in succession before slamming heavily into the mountainside of a towering peak. The mountain collapsed in an instant, and an enormous earthen-yellow mushroom cloud of dust billowed upward!
"General Tao!" everyone cried out in alarm.
Without losing momentum, the Black Mountain Dharmic Seal twirled in midair and pressed down toward the six valiant generals.
The six let out a collective fierce shout. Sword light became a rainbow, divine lightning coiled like flying dragons, and spear shadows stabbed across the sky—
Only by combining their attacks did they manage to barely withstand the pressing seal, yet they were thrown into great disarray, spitting mouthfuls of blood, their hair and beards flying wild.
Just then, Tao Xin flew back like a streak of light from the earthen-yellow dust in the distance. He held his twin hammers high, preparing to strike down at the Old Demon of Black Mountain's head. With a flick of the demon's thought, the seal twirled again and met the purple-gold hammers. With a deafening boom, it knocked Tao Xin out of the clouds and sent him crashing into the ground, gouging out a deep pit dozens of zhang wide with hundreds of crisscrossing fissures.
"What a formidable treasure!"
With a pop, Tao Xin flew out from the crater. He did not rush to attack again; instead, his gaze fell upon the square seal floating in the sky, his expression grave.
Zhao Zhen sent a voice transmission: "How are your injuries?"
Tao Xin replied, "You underestimate me. Though this fiend is formidable, my body refinement is well-accomplished; I am not so easily wounded. However, his dharmic treasure is powerful. In the short term, I fear we cannot subdue him. If he suddenly chooses to flee, it will be even harder to capture him."
Zhao Zhen nodded. "This demon's body, dharmic power, divine abilities, and dharmic treasure are all top-notch beneath the True Immortal realm; he is indeed difficult to deal with. Moreover, we have already engaged in a bitter fight for quite some time—we cannot drag this out any longer!"
Saying so, he took a deep breath, his expression stern and solemn as his voice resonated: "Request the True Lord's dharmic whip!"
"Request the True Lord's dharmic whip!!"
All present echoed him in respectful unison, stirring the wind, clouds, and thunder!
As the words fell, a hard whip suddenly manifested in midair.
Four feet two inches long, it was neither metal nor jade, entirely dark black. The moment it appeared, it radiated an immense, suffocating pressure.
*The True Lord? Not good!*
The Old Demon of Black Mountain's face fell, his heart pounding wildly as a tremendous sense of crisis washed over his entire body.
*Whoosh—*
Suddenly, the whip suspended in midair flared with light. The radiance was a brilliant red-gold, resembling a mere candle flame at first, but in a fraction of an instant it transformed into a blazing sun. Its dazzling splendor completely overwhelmed the midday sun in the heavens!
Under this illumination, the demonic clouds spanning a hundred li melted and dissipated swiftly, like snow meeting boiling soup!
The Great Sun Patrolling the Heavens; all evil banished!
Even tens of thousands of li away, observers could clearly see a second fiery sun rising into the sky!
"Slay!"
A soft murmur suddenly sounded from the void, and the whip fell in response.
In an instant, light of absolute purity—that majestic blazing sun—descended in grand solemnity from the nine heavens!
*I cannot block it! I cannot withstand it! Flee!*
The blazing sun mirrored in his crimson demon pupils, the Old Demon of Black Mountain felt his soul nearly scatter in terror. He tried to pull back and flee, only to find in horror that the surrounding space was entirely frozen; he could not move his body by even a fraction of an inch.
"Aaaaargh!!"
He roared wildly, attempting to break free of the restraint. Yet it was completely futile, for the whip had already struck the crown of his head!
*Splat—*
Brain matter erupted and blood splattered, only to be instantly submerged by the boundless sea of light. The ten-zhang-tall body was wiped out of existence in an instant.
Yet the whip did not halt. Continuing downward, it struck the vast mountain range sprawling below with a thunderous roar!
*BOOM!!*
Boundless light burst forth. Across the thousand-li Black Mountain, from the highest peak to the lowest bedrock, every inch of stone and every handful of soil was illuminated. The Old Demon of Black Mountain's remnant soul, hidden deep within the earth veins, was left with nowhere to hide.
"True Lord, I am willing to be your servant, I only beg for mer—"
Before his plea could finish, the blazing sunlight grew even more searing. Whether the Old Demon of Black Mountain's remnant soul or the yin fiend turbid qi accumulated in this mountain range over tens of thousands of years, all melted and dispersed instantly, like boiling water poured upon snow.
All evil was banished, all impurities cleansed.
A moment later...
*Hum—*
A low, grand sound resonated from the depths of the thousand-li Black Mountain's earth veins, resembling a joyful, sweeping sigh after throwing off a lingering ailment.
Immediately following, every mountain peak and every stream valley burst forth with brilliant divine light!
Thousands of tiers of divine light soared upward, golden-white in color, gentle and luminous, imbued with boundless vitality.
The originally dark and menacing rocks shed their gloom; withered trees sprouted tender green shoots; spirit herbs grew from the soil; and rivers and mountain streams flowed crystal clear...
A high wind swept over the reborn Black Mountain, carrying no longer cold, sinister yin fiend qi, but a refreshing fragrance of plants and earth. An ethereal mountain hum echoed melodiously through the wilderness.
Within a few breaths, heaven and earth were utterly renewed.
Truly:
*Heavenly soldiers stand in solemn ranks beneath the vaulted blue,*
*Demonic vapors fade to naught, swept from the skies anew.*
*A single whip descends on high, divine light shining clear;*
*Ten thousand ravines newly shaped as jade-hued peaks appear!*
Chapter 197