Blood mist surged through the passageway of South Heaven Gate like a raging tide, crashing inward and mingling with the thin clouds above, instantly transforming the scene into a crimson sea.
Within that sea of blood, a furry silhouette flashed quietly into view, standing with the Golden Staff planted in the knee-high mist, looking upward.
A gentle breeze swept past his ears, making his fur tremble.
Before him stretched the vast Moon Tree beneath the night sky, ethereal clouds and mist, countless floating islands, the picturesque scenery of the Heavenly Court, and... frantic screams, desperate flight, Daoist disciples and immortals swirling through the air, and Skyward Legionnaires gripping their weapons in stunned confusion around South Heaven Gate.
"I'm back again." Slowly, he grinned lazily at the Celestial Army.
The Skyward Legionnaires retreated in terror.
Before the stunned King Virūḍhaka at the front could utter a word, tens of thousands of troops had already broken into a dam-bursting stampede.
He was a truly unfathomable demon monkey. From beginning to end, he fought the entire Heavenly Court alone. In his presence, not a single general of the Celestial Army could muster the courage to stand, let alone the Skyward Legionnaires.
Tilting his head, he reached up and dug at his ear; with a flicker, he split into hundreds of clones.
Sweeping his gaze over the Skyward Legionnaires and the distant, fleeing Daoist disciples and immortals, he murmured, "Kill. Leave none alive."
"Yes!" The clones brandished their staffs and charged at the crowd.
In an instant, screams of agony erupted.
With South Heaven Gate fallen, a pure massacre began—a slaughter of immortals by demons, something no one had ever imagined.
Thirty years east of the river, thirty years west; immortals who ruled the Three Realms for tens of thousands of years now found themselves as desperate as the hunted demons.
Through layers of blood mist and the chaos of battle, Monkey soared toward the Moon Tree, his face expressionless.
......
Inside Tusita Palace, Lord Lao gazed silently at the last fragment of the Heavenly Dao Stone floating in midair.
At this moment, even that tiny remnant of the Heavenly Dao Stone trembled uncontrollably.
......
In the dark interrogation prison of Ninth Heaven, Aiden Ao carried the weakened Belle Whitebone, sneaking carefully down the corridor.
From time to time, they glimpsed scattered Skyward Legionnaires fleeing outside. But at this point, no one paid them any mind.
As they stepped out of the interrogation hall, they saw immortals soaring through the sky and Dragon Palace troops rushing in.
"Did your father send someone to rescue you?" Belle Whitebone asked softly.
Aiden Ao glanced indifferently at the crustacean troops from the Dragon Palace, then ran in the opposite direction with Belle on his back.
"Why not go with them?"
"We're fugitives now. If we join them, we'll only get them in trouble."
"Is that so?" Belle coughed behind her hand and asked in a low voice, "Are you afraid your father will find out I'm a demon and forbid you from marrying me?"
Aiden Ao's brows furrowed slightly, but he said nothing.
Belle Whitebone gave a faint smile. Leaning against Aiden Ao's back in the wind, she slowly closed her eyes.
Prince Adrian of the Western Sea had always been a willful prince—and this time was no exception.