Above the city of Lihuo, a figure stood towering in the sky—none other than the True Martial Emperor. However, his Daoist robe was now tattered and torn, completely devoid of the celestial elegance he had displayed earlier. The Northern Dipper Sword he had held in his right hand was nowhere to be seen, and the sleeve of his left arm hung empty, limp and powerless.
"Your Majesty!" From below, the three marshals—Zhao, Ma, and Guan—along with Erlang Shen Yang Jian and Nezha, the Third Lotus Prince, soared into the air, gathering around the True Martial Emperor.
"Your Majesty, your arm..." Yang Jian's gaze fell on the empty sleeve of the True Martial Emperor, his expression filled with grief and indignation. The other marshals and Nezha also wore faces etched with hatred.
"The Demon Realm Emperor dared to sever your arm—I'll fight them to the death!" Nezha brandished his Fire-Tipped Spear and stepped onto his Wind-Fire Wheels, ready to seek out the Demon Realm emperors, but the True Martial Emperor stopped him with a word.
"The four Demon Realm emperors live up to their reputation. Though they joined forces to take my arm, I managed to gravely wound the Western Demon Emperor, leaving him on the brink of death. Heh heh, not a bad trade!" The True Martial Emperor still wore a smile, describing the perilous battle as if it were trivial, even with a hint of smugness.
Yet these words struck Nezha and the others like a thunderbolt, leaving them utterly stunned! To face four emperors of the same rank alone, not only surviving but nearly trading one for the cost of an arm—this feat was enough to shake the celestial realm!
"The Seven Star Lords have worked hard. You may disband the formation and return to rest!" The True Martial Emperor addressed the seven Star Lords within Lihuo City, who were straining to maintain the Northern Dipper Seven Stars Formation. Greedy Wolf Star Lord and the others withdrew the formation, collapsing to the ground, each looking utterly drained, gasping for air. It was precisely because the Northern Dipper Star Lords guarded the formation's core, allowing the True Martial Emperor to continuously draw on the power of the Northern Dipper Stars, that he could fight four Demon Realm emperors alone. Thus, the seven Star Lords deserved immense credit for this victory.
"Please, Your Majesty, enter the city first to tend to your wounds!" The seven Northern Dipper Star Lords, led by Greedy Wolf Star Lord, sat on the ground, looking up at the one-armed True Martial Emperor, speaking with reverence.
"Let's go back together!" The True Martial Emperor nodded to them and led the way back to the marshal's tent within Lihuo City.
Inside the marshal's tent, the three marshals—Zhao, Ma, and Guan—the seven Northern Dipper Star Lords, Erlang Shen Yang Jian, and Nezha, a group of over a dozen, surrounded the True Martial Emperor, discussing their next move.
"In this battle, the Western Demon Emperor had his physical form destroyed and escaped using his primordial spirit technique. The other three emperors also lost a significant amount of their original demonic energy and will need time to recover. The Four Spirits Blood Formation's supporting vessel, the Fulong Cauldron, had a corner shattered by my Northern Dipper Sword, greatly reducing its power; it should be unusable in the short term. Now is the perfect opportunity for our counterattack. Yang Jian, Nezha, you will coordinate with the three marshals to lead the remaining troops from Lihuo City in a pursuit. Divide into three forces immediately and attack Yimu City, Kuishui City, and Gengjin City. The faster, the better!" The True Martial Emperor looked at Yang Jian and Nezha, issuing his orders. One of them had achieved sainthood through physical cultivation, boasting unmatched combat prowess, while the other was on the Fengshen Bang, nearly immortal as long as a spark of true spirit remained. Together, they could hold their own even against the three Demon Realm emperors.
"We obey Your Majesty's decree." Yang Jian, Nezha, and the three marshals bowed in acknowledgment, then immediately left the tent to begin mustering their forces.
Soon, the 600,000 troops within the city were divided into three groups. Along with players from the three major immortal sects—Everlasting Hall, Imperial Pole Hall, and Azure Cloud Sect—they set out from Lihuo City under the leadership of Marshals Zhao Gongming, Ma Yuanjun, and Guan Yu, advancing in three directions: east, west, and north.
This time, Jiang Yuan's Everlasting Hall immortal sect was assigned to Guan Yu's command, heading straight for Yimu City, originally guarded by Wen Qiong. The other two marshals headed to Kuishui City and Gengjin City, which they had previously guarded.
The gates of Yimu City, shattered by the Eastern Demon Emperor Han Xiaotian, had not yet been hastily rebuilt. Only a barrier had been set up for defense, but under the combined assault of Guan Yu and players like Jiang Yuan, it quickly turned to dust.
At that moment, fewer than 100,000 demon troops remained in Yimu City, commanded by several generals under the Eastern Demon Emperor, who rushed to meet the attack.
As the battle began, the first to charge forward were not the celestial troops but players from Everlasting Hall, including Jiang Yuan and Wen Ding Cang Sheng. To them, these demon armies were solid battle merit points, especially the generals and commanders, who were prime targets in Jiang Yuan's eyes!
Standing amidst the crowd, Jiang Yuan released 10,000 Sand River Turtles and summoned three sacred beasts, immediately entering his "no-holds-barred" mode. He focused on killing anyone above the rank of centurion, ignoring common soldiers and squad leaders entirely!
[Ding! You have defeated a Demon Realm centurion, gaining 1,000,000 cultivation and 500 battle merit points.]
[Ding! You have defeated a Demon Realm chiliarch, gaining 2,000,000 cultivation and 700 battle merit points.]
[Ding! You have defeated a Demon Realm grand commander, gaining 3,000,000 cultivation and 1,000 battle merit points.]
...
After over ten minutes, Jiang Yuan's battle merit points in his task bar began to rise again, slowly increasing from the previous amount to around 1,000,000 points.
Suddenly, a black light slashed toward Jiang Yuan, shattering the [Water Healing Shield] cast on him by the sacred beast Xuanwu. A damage number exceeding ten million floated above Jiang Yuan's head, draining his health bar completely!
Yet, to the astonishment of the Demon Realm former general who had ambushed him, Jiang Yuan, despite his empty health bar, did not fall dead. Instead, countless flames erupted from his body!
The long-dormant sacred beast Zhuque's skill [Nirvana Rebirth] activated, instantly reviving Jiang Yuan on the spot!
"Let's see which little punk dared to ambush me!" Revived, Jiang Yuan scanned his surroundings and quickly identified the attacker: You Lang, a former general under the Eastern Demon Emperor.
[Secret Mark!] [Xuanwu's Essence: Water Devouring the Eight Wastelands] [Zhuque's Essence: Blazing Blood Feathers] [Baihu's Essence: Baihu Seven Killing Swords]
Facing You Lang, who had ambushed him without honor, Jiang Yuan showed no mercy. He commanded his three sacred beasts to unleash their essence skills on the enemy all at once.
In an instant, surging floods, blood-red fiery feathers, and a tiger-headed sword wreathed in lightning struck the former general under the Eastern Demon Emperor one after another. Locked in by three auras, the unlucky wretch had no chance to escape, and his body exploded into a cloud of blood mist!