After killing three late Soul-Split demonic beasts, Ian Song pressed forward without slowing down.
On the way ahead, he was ambushed six more times by demonic beasts. The strongest was only early Fusion, and was instantly killed by him as well.
The light ahead grew brighter. Ian knew he was about to reach the other end of the passage, so he slowed down and completely concealed his aura.
Just as he stepped out of the passage, his expression changed slightly. Outside, over a hundred thousand elite Demon Race soldiers were arrayed, along with more than a hundred Fusion-realm demon cultivators and three Tribulation-realm demon kings.
In addition, the void outside the passage had been sealed by special means, making it impossible for him to use blink teleportation or the Art of Great Teleportation. And the moment he stepped out, the void behind him shifted and froze, cutting off his retreat completely.
Seeing this setup, Ian immediately understood that the Demon Race had prepared this trap, just waiting for him to walk right in.
He frowned slightly. Although he'd fallen into the Demon Race's trap, he wasn't worried. What he wanted to know was: who leaked his whereabouts? Also, when Silver Fox Princess asked him to go to Ten-Yao Continent to rescue her second brother, he'd already suspected it was a plot against him.
So, was this whole arrangement orchestrated behind the scenes by the Silver Fox Princess?
Thinking of this, he felt a bit of pain. After all, the Silver Fox Princess was the reincarnation of his wife from a past life, yet now she wanted to kill him. Even though he'd guessed her motive and still held some hope, seeing this setup...
He took a deep breath and forced all distracting thoughts out of his mind.
He pondered again: why did the Silver Fox Princess want to kill him?
Granted, he had wronged Princess Jade Fox in his past life, but it was beyond his control, and he had explained everything to her. So there was no real life-and-death grudge between them.
So, if she wanted to kill him, there had to be another reason.
Then, what was her ultimate goal in wanting him dead?
Suddenly, inspiration struck Ian. Countless scattered clues snapped together in his mind, and he instantly understood the Silver Fox Princess's purpose. She wanted him dead—most likely to drag Phoenix Heaven Church into the conflict.
Over the past few months, he'd interacted with Cheng Su many times and learned that even Phoenix Line disciples had been killed before. Yet at most, the Phoenix Line would send out a Tribulation expert.
But that time he was ambushed, even his master Elder Gideon Skyreach joined in, making four Immortals who came out to back him up.
Even Elder Faye Moon of the Phoenix Line had shown him great favor.
So, after some probing conversation with Elder Gideon Skyreach, he vaguely realized the reason.
Phoenix Heaven Church wanted to cultivate him as a pioneer in the Immortal World.
Don’t be fooled by Phoenix Heaven Church being the strongest force on the Southsky Continent, with foundations much deeper than the Grand Zhou Empire. In the Immortal World, it’s actually doing terribly, and his appearance gave Phoenix Heaven Church hope for a rise there.
That’s why Phoenix Heaven Church values him so highly.
In other words, he is Phoenix Heaven Church’s hope in the Immortal World. That’s also why, after he extorted 1,500 immortal stones from Elder Marcus Solitude, the other elders didn’t take their shares but gave everything to him.
So, since Phoenix Heaven Church values him so much, what would happen if he died on the Ten-Yao Continent?
Phoenix Heaven Church would definitely fly into a rage and go to war with the Demon Race of Ten-Yao Continent.
Even though Phoenix Heaven Church is stronger than the Demon Race, any conflict would cause losses. Meanwhile, the Grand Zhou Empire could sit back and watch the tigers fight. As Phoenix Heaven Church battles the Demon Race, the imperial court could move against all the sects.
In the end, they would not only eliminate the Demon Race threat but also weaken Phoenix Heaven Church, making themselves stronger.
It’s truly a case of one arrow, three eagles!
If this scheme really was set up by the Silver Fox Princess, you have to admit—she’s a terrifying woman.
And even if the plan fails, it doesn’t matter, because she knows that as his wife from a past life, he won’t do anything to her!
“What a scheme!”
Ian sneered. Luckily, he wasn’t stupid—otherwise, he’d be killed by the Silver Fox Princess’s plotting and not even know what happened!
“Too bad for you—your abacus is going to fail!”
With a soft shout, Ian charged straight at the Demon Race army.
“Audacious human! How dare you break into Ten-Yao Continent—prepare to die!”
Several streaks of light shot over, all attacking Ian at once.
“Die!”
Facing these Fusion-realm demon cultivators, Ian didn’t even bother to draw his sword.
He turned into lightning, flashed past several Fusion-realm demon cultivators, and their bodies split in half, falling from the sky...
Seeing this, the demon experts were all shocked, because among the five Fusion cultivators he killed, one was late Fusion.
“Kill him!”
More Fusion-realm demon cultivators soared into the sky—twenty-six in total.
Ian still didn’t show a hint of fear. Instead, he charged into the middle of the Fusion-realm demons, drawing the Azure Flood-Dragon Sword and swinging it out.
Skyless!!
“Boom!”
Profound sword intent instantly spread out, enveloping the twenty-plus Fusion-realm demons and stalling their souls.
Ian moved at blinding speed.
“Slash, slash, slash!”
He was unbelievably fast. With each swing of the Azure Flood-Dragon Sword, he split a Fusion-realm demon—body and soul—in half.
In an instant, twenty Fusion-realm demons died under his sword.
“Retreat, now!”
The remaining six Fusion-realm demons were terrified and tried to flee, but Ian gave them no chance. Six streaks of sword light flashed, and each was split in half, body and soul.
For a moment, the three Tribulation-realm demon kings at the rear of the army were visibly shaken.
As for the remaining seventy-plus Fusion-realm demons, all wore expressions of terror, staring at Ian in horror.
It was simply terrifying. In just a few breaths, he had cut down thirty-one Fusion-realm demons.
“This human is too strong. Looks like we’ll have to act ourselves!”
One Tribulation-realm demon king said.
“Agreed. We’d better attack together, or we won’t be able to take him down!” Another nodded in agreement.
“Enough talk—kill him!”
The third Tribulation-realm demon king attacked first, instantly revealing his true form—a hundred-meter-tall black brown bear. Its massive paw, like a sky-covering millstone, slammed down at Ian, darkening the sky above his head.
The other two Tribulation-realm demon kings also revealed their true forms.
One was a pitch-black serpent over two hundred meters long; the other, a gigantic ghost-faced spider.
The brown bear and the giant serpent were both early Tribulation, but the ghost-faced spider was mid-Tribulation.
Godpiercer!
Just as Ian was about to be crushed by the giant bear’s paw, he suddenly vanished from his spot. The next moment, his figure appeared above the bear’s head, and a massive sword light, radiating terrifying power, slashed down.
“Slash!”
The early-Tribulation black bear was instantly split in half.