Cangwu Immortal City’s emergency high-level meeting ended in haste.
Although the City Lord projected absolute confidence—believing that, given Cangwu Immortal City’s deep foundations, it would never share the fate of those three ruined Immortal Cities—worry lingered in the hearts of the city’s top leaders. Better safe than sorry.
Inside Feixian Palace…
Upon returning, the Palace Master wore an unrelievedly grim expression. After a moment, he walked out of Feixian Palace and proceeded to a certain A-grade cave dwelling.
“I request an audience with Master Yun Zhenzi,” the Palace Master stated, explaining his purpose.
With a massive wave of fiends converging, Cangwu Immortal City now faced the possibility of destruction. The Palace Master had come to warn Lin Yuan. As one of the high-level powers in Cangwu Immortal City, he himself could not abandon the city. But Lin Yuan was different; he wasn’t deeply tied to the city and could presumably leave at will.
“My master is in closed-door cultivation,” Yun Zhenzi said quietly.
“If you have business, you can tell me, and I’ll pass it on.”
Over the past century or two, the Palace Master of Feixian Palace had visited Lin Yuan frequently, and Yun Zhenzi knew the two had a good relationship. Naturally, he did not dare act carelessly.
“Tell you?” The Palace Master hesitated. The news of vast hordes of fiends converging near Cangwu Immortal City was top-secret. If word got out prematurely, many immortals in the city might panic and flee. Even the Palace Master only dared mention it to Lin Yuan himself, in person; sharing it with this servant risked an accidental leak.
“Very well… if Master Yun Zhenzi leaves seclusion, let me know.” With that, he turned and departed. Now that Cangwu Immortal City was on the highest state of alert, the Palace Master had many other urgent tasks to handle. He decided he would wait until Lin Yuan finished his cultivation and then warn him.
Some tens of trillions of miles from Cangwu Immortal City…
Countless fiends had gathered, exuding such horrific demonic energy that the Immortal Realm itself seemed in danger of twisting into a branch of the Abyss of Demons. At the center of that swarm stood six colossal figures, each exuding an unfathomable presence, like small incarnations of the Abyss of Demons itself. The countless fiends nearby all prostrated themselves before these six titans.
Practically all fiends possessed only bestial instinct and little to no intelligence. But among an infinite horde, a rare “Fiend Emperor” might be born—a fiend that has devoured untold numbers of its brethren, consolidating a portion of the Abyss of Demons Progenitor’s aura and thus gaining sentience. In a way, each Fiend Emperor was an “avatar” of the Abyss of Demons Progenitor, which gave it dominion over other fiends.
In prior Immortal-Demon Wars, at most one Fiend Emperor would appear. Now, there were more of them than ever. This was the main reason that three Immortal Cities had already fallen in just a few decades.
A single Fiend Emperor, leading countless fiends, might ravage the surroundings outside a city but still fail to breach its walls. If two or three Fiend Emperors joined forces—or five of them, or six—they stood an excellent chance of tearing down any Immortal City.
“Cangwu Immortal City… such a feast,” one of the six Fiend Emperors rumbled, eyeing the distant city.
An ordinary fiend finds the flesh of a Tribulation or Mahayana stage immortal unbelievably tasty. But for a Fiend Emperor, not even Golden Immortals can truly satisfy them. Fiend Emperors prize devouring Jade Immortals above all. The stronger the Jade Immortal, the more the fiend gains.
The trouble was that Jade Immortals are exceedingly rare and typically congregate in Immortal Cities. Hence, the Fiend Emperors conspired to invade such cities, feeding the masses of fiends on the mortal populace while they themselves shared the Jade Immortals.
“The strength we’ve amassed is probably enough now. It’s time to strike at Cangwu Immortal City,” declared the leading Fiend Emperor. Showing surprising intelligence, they had waited patiently until they’d gathered overwhelming force for that decisive blow.
“Agreed.”
“If we break down Cangwu Immortal City, I want to devour at least twenty Jade Immortals,” said the Fiend Emperor to the right. Fiend Emperors form by feasting on hordes of lesser fiends, but consuming fiends alone is merely a matter of quantity—healing wounds and so on.
Devouring immortals, though, is something else entirely: it fills in fundamental gaps in the fiend’s being. Instinct told them that the more immortals they swallowed, the more “complete” they would become.
“Twenty Jade Immortals?” The Emperor to the left let out a low growl.
“I want twenty as well.”
“Ordinary Jade Immortals are yours, but leave the top-tier ones to me,” the lead Emperor snapped. Of course, the apex Jade Immortals offered the greatest benefit—though they were also the hardest to kill.
A few years later…
Under the command of these six Fiend Emperors, the seemingly endless tide of fiends arrived outside Cangwu Immortal City. Malevolent, twisted demonic energy filled the air. Only now did many of the immortals within realize just how dire the situation truly was.
“The fiends are here?”
“What do we do? I heard they already destroyed three other cities.”
“I’m out of here—I’m running!”
“Run where? If we leave the city, we’ll be devoured in seconds. Our only chance is to stay and rely on the city’s protections.”
In Cangwu Immortal City, the momentary panic quickly gave way to cold logic. Those who had cultivated to the Tribulation Stage were no fools; they understood that staying within the city’s defensive perimeter offered their sole hope of survival.
“Friends,” rang out the City Lord’s voice in everyone’s ears, “the fiends are at our gates. We need the strength of every one of you to repel them. Pour all your power, all your Immortal qi, into the city’s ground beneath your feet.”
Cangwu Immortal City had been fashioned into a mighty war-engine over generations of Jade Immortals. Activating its full might requires the power of countless immortals. Only then can the city’s capabilities be unleashed to the limit.
Given that Fiend Emperors surpass even top-tier Jade Immortals, and that legions of fiends swirled around them, the city’s defenders could only prevail by harnessing Cangwu Immortal City itself. Once every resident poured their mana into it, they just might hold off the Emperors and the unending onslaught.
Hence, without hesitation, the Immortals of the city poured their energy into the ground.
Rumble…
All at once, Cangwu Immortal City seemed to awaken, radiating terrifying brilliance in every direction. Countless fiends near the outer perimeter vaporized instantly.
“Hmph. They’re leaning on the city’s power again. Same old trick,” muttered one of the six Fiend Emperors at the rear of the fiendish horde. United, they could match or even suppress the city’s might. Still, being prudent, they let waves of lesser fiends rush in first. A million, ten million, a hundred million fiends perished in the Immortal City’s blazing halo, but the city’s defensive system was correspondingly drained.
“Where is the Fiend Emperor?”
Inside the city, the Lord and other top figures grew nervous. This vast sea of fiends outside must have a Fiend Emperor commanding them. Their final strike would be reserved for that Emperor; only by slaying or badly wounding it could they hope for victory. Otherwise, it would endlessly summon more fiends to besiege the city.
Time rolled on…
No matter how many fiends were destroyed, more surged forward without respite. The City Lord and his peers fell ever deeper into despair.
At last, a veil of murky black demonic energy crept silently inward. Six colossal shapes suddenly manifested before Cangwu Immortal City and brought down their mighty right hands.
“Oh no…”
The City Lord and other leaders blanched.
“Six Fiend Emperors. There are actually six of them!”
He felt parts of the city beginning to crack under the pressure. So this had been their plan all along: remain hidden until the city was worn down by endless waves of lesser fiends, then appear at the last second to deliver a fatal blow.
“It’s over,” the City Lord thought grimly. Had they fought in earnest from the start, Cangwu Immortal City might have been destroyed immediately. But apparently they wanted the city mostly intact, so they had bided their time.
“Fiends have broken into the city interior,” someone shouted.
“Yes! They’re flooding through the walls,” came another cry.
“The fiends are here! Run!”
“Where? The fiends are outside, and now inside, too! Where can we run?”
“If there’s no escape, then let’s fight them to the death!”
Bedlam erupted within Cangwu Immortal City. Some immortals were paralyzed with fear, some stood resolute, and others dashed deeper into the city, seeking refuge.
In the cave dwelling district…
Yun Zhenzi, staring at the city through his dwelling’s array, went pale.
“The city’s about to fall?”
He could see perfectly how those six towering Fiend Emperors, along with endless other fiends, had invaded.
“Master…”
“I must inform Master at once.”
Before the six Fiend Emperors had acted, the defenders seemed to be prevailing. But the moment they joined the battle, the tide reversed. Yun Zhenzi realized the situation was critical.
In the cultivation zone…
Lin Yuan’s brow furrowed.
“The city’s on the brink of collapse?”
He had just been informed by Yun Zhenzi. Lin Yuan had the sense that he was only a hair’s breadth from reaching the seventh level of time-space fusion. A few more years—or perhaps only a few more months—might have delivered him to an entirely new realm.
“Is it really that bad out there?”
He rose to his feet and left his cultivation site, heading over to Yun Zhenzi. Through the dwelling’s arrays, he surveyed the city.
“Master, what do we do now? There are six Fiend Emperors out there,” Yun Zhenzi said, his voice trembling. He’d experienced multiple Immortal-Demon Wars and knew how fearsome such beings were, surpassing even top-tier Jade Immortals.
“What do we do?”
Lin Yuan, mood sour, glanced at the ashen-faced Yun Zhenzi. He raised his arm and casually reached toward the sky.
In that instant…
Every single fiend vanished—erased without a trace. The region outside Cangwu Immortal City turned clear and serene, as if nothing had happened.
Yun Zhenzi’s jaw dropped.
Because just a moment ago, he had seen Lin Yuan seize the skyful of fiends and the six towering Fiend Emperors in a single handful. Those six enormous Fiend Emperors, so colossal mere seconds before, were like insects in Lin Yuan’s fingers—barely the size of a tenth of one fingertip.
...
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