"Beast." The Demon Lord snapped back to his senses and, furious, lashed out at the wyrm.
Mo Xuanye’s lips curved into a thin, blood-hungry smile. He remained statuesque on the dragon’s broad back; the pressure radiating from him unfurled like a dark tide.
Pfft—
Pfft, pfft, pfft—
Below, people across the Five-Gods Realm began to cough up blood in waves.
On the demon side, only the Demon Lord and two close lieutenants remained unscathed; the rest doubled over, coughing blood.
A new horror flitted across the Demon Lord’s eyes. For the first time, panic crept into him. The man above was far too powerful—far beyond anything he could contend with. A creeping wrongness settled in his gut.
He hurriedly summoned talismans and artifacts, throwing everything he had at resisting Mo Xuanye’s oppressive will. But around him, his puppet thralls—those animated servants—began to topple, one after another, visibly and rapidly.
“This can’t be…” the Demon Lord glared upward at Feng Yuxin. “How did you do that? You weren’t this fast before.”
Feng Yuxin had no time for him. But that didn’t mean the four who rode the phoenix would ignore the question.
“If we’d been faster earlier and you felt threatened, do you think you’d have let these people come this close?” Feng Yi said, regarding the Demon Lord as if he were a fool.
“What do you mean?” The Demon Lord, still straining against the pressure, didn’t catch Feng Yi’s drift at once.
Feng Mo chimed in from the back. “We deliberately let you draw all the puppets to us.”
Now the Demon Lord understood. He had been baited.
“How dare you?” he spat. “You were counting on being able to handle all those puppets?”
“You failing to do so doesn’t mean our mistress can’t,” Feng Tong said coolly. “Do you think everyone fled to other realms because they couldn’t make it in the Demon Clan like you?”
The remark struck deep. The Demon Lord went silent, stung.
He immediately tried to send an urgent message to that one subordinate who'd been told to stand down—ordering him to stop the remaining puppets from advancing—and prepared to flee himself. But the message would not go through. For the life of him, he couldn’t send a transmission.
He glanced sharply at Mo Xuanye, suspecting the man had blocked communications. He tried again, this time using a Demon-Clan secret technique. Still nothing.
His eyes widened. It was impossible—how could his secret method fail?
“Were you trying to stop the rest of the puppets from coming?” Feng Mo called, perched on her spirit companion and smiling.
The Demon Lord’s gaze turned poisonous. “How did you know?”
Then he stared straight at Mo Xuanye. “No. I used a Demon-Clan secret technique. How—how could you possibly—”
“There’s nothing my master can’t do,” Feng Tong said with genuine admiration.
“A frog in a well,” Feng Xiu scoffed.
“No, this can’t be.” The Demon Lord’s mind raced. A terrifying thought seized him. He fixed Mo Xuanye with a stare. “You’re not human. You’re one of us—the Demon Clan?”
Every pair of eyes in the Five-Gods Realm snapped to Mo Xuanye.
“Who are you?” the Demon Lord demanded again, voice hard.
“You’re not worthy to know,” Mo Xuanye said, unusually terse.
The Demon Lord didn’t relent. “Do you mean to become a domain lord? We could work together.”
Mo Xuanye’s gaze swept the crowd below. His voice was cold as a winter well. “Why would I need to become a regional tyrant and stoop to your gutter tactics?”
“These people volunteered,” the Demon Lord protested. “How is that gutter?”
“Are you sure they did?” Mo Xuanye asked softly. “Would you swear it?”
He could not. Some had volunteered—but far more had been misled. They did not know what the forbidden rites would demand of them; by the time regret came, it would be too late.
Mo Xuanye had been merciful so far, even letting the Demon forces bicker and waste time. He had his own reasons: his wife would perform the rites to ease those trapped souls, and that required numbers. Saving others like that was not something everyone could do; the greater the number, the greater the benefit for Feng Yuxin as well.
The demon commanders, seeing Mo Xuanye sworn to oppose them, immediately tried to set a killing formation. Seven key demon practitioners took their positions, and the surrounding air shifted as the array activated. A tremendous suction rolled toward Mo Xuanye.
“Overreaching.” The dragon watched the Demon Clan’s maneuver with contempt.
In the next breath it inhaled and unleashed a gale from its maw. The Demon Clan’s proud formation was blown apart in one puff, scattered like ash before a wind.
Everyone gaped. The Five-Gods Realm folk, already trembling, saw the might of the Wasteland Dragon Continent and panicked—if they stayed, they might lose their lives. Once one person bolted, the rest followed. They fled like startled birds.
“Master, those people—” the dragon began.
“Let them go,” Mo Xuanye said without interest. “We’re here to deal with the demons and the puppets. What happens to the Five-Gods Realm is their law enforcers’ concern.”
“They’ll grow worse without intervention.” The dragon’s voice held stubbornness.
“They didn’t attack us directly. Don’t make things harder for Yuxin.” Mo Xuanye glanced at Feng Yuxin, who was still quietly freeing the puppets from their bindings. “If we slaughter them all, it won’t help her.”
“I understand.” The dragon fell silent.
As the Five-Gods people scattered, the demon invaders tried to escape. But they were invaders—Mo Xuanye was not about to let them go. Even as they attempted earth-vanish spells and teleports, he waved a hand and a powerful barrier snapped over them, sealing them in place.
Panic erupted in the Demon Lord. He dropped to his knees before Mo Xuanye, forehead slamming the ground as he begged, “Please spare me. Spare me and I will serve you—I’ll be your slave, I’ll repay you however you want.”
“Such power,” Mo Xuanye said lightly, “and I still look down on you.” He willed it, and the barrier’s surface spidered with fractures. The bodies beneath the magic began to split and crack.
“My lord…so powerful.” Xiaoying and the others watched in astonishment.
“What level has his strength reached?” Hun Bing asked, curious.
“Can’t you tell?” Xiao Jin asked in surprise.
“No.” Hun Bing hesitated. “It’s not that I can’t read anything—there are moments I can see through him. But deeper—some core of him is beyond my sight.”
“So when the master wants you to see, you see,” Xiaoying offered.
“Something like that,” Hun Bing said. “Or maybe there’s simply a part of him he doesn’t let be seen.”
Having dealt with the demons, Mo Xuanye moved to Feng Yuxin’s side and said quietly, “Yuxin, I’ll step away for a moment.”