Tens of thousands of demons surged in all directions, their battle cries echoing through the skies.
Wherever they passed, vegetation withered, the earth cracked, and the air became lifeless and oppressive.
This was the nature of demons — they devoured all life energy, whether from the living or the inanimate. Everything containing life essence, they consumed.
"So these are demons… They certainly live up to their name," Bi Ji murmured coldly from the shadows. Fortunately, she and Yuanen Zhentian had long since evacuated the surrounding soul beasts and soul masters. Otherwise, this would have been a catastrophe.
"How could such low-level things exist? Devouring life energy so crudely — the conversion rate is far too low. It's simply wasteful." The Crimson Mother followed behind the crowd, muttering disdainfully in her heart.
Her opinion of demons was the opposite of Zi Ji's.
While the demon army did consume a great deal of life energy, they absorbed very little of it efficiently.
To the Crimson Mother, this was disgraceful waste.
"These small fry — handle them yourselves." Gu Yue spoke calmly, her gaze fixed on the Demon Gate the entire time.
"Barely reached the quasi-god level. Not worth my effort," said Leng Yaozhu, who had just arrived, in a similarly detached tone.
"I'll take care of it." Yuanen Zhentian's eyes burned with hatred — when enemies meet, emotions run high. With a low roar, his body swelled to over a hundred meters tall, transforming into a terrifying Titan Giant Ape. Like a mountain, he leapt into the center of the demon army. The shockwave from his landing alone sent countless demons flying.
"It's him! One of the two humans from last time who killed many of our kind — as strong as Demon Lords themselves!" Some demons, who had previously entered the Douluo Plane, immediately recognized Yuanen Zhentian, whose towering form even dwarfed Demon Lord Alba.
Last time, when Yuanen Yehui's mother opened the Demon Gate, Yuanen Zhentian had been the first to respond. The number of demons he slew surpassed even those killed by Yun Ming.
Thus, many demons remembered him vividly.
"You wretches — die!" Yuanen Zhentian bellowed, his massive fists striking out wildly. Despite his size, he unleashed hundreds of punches in an instant, filling the sky with afterimages of his fists.
Having been personally trained by Er Ming, his Titan Divine Fist was far stronger than before. Under his terrifying blows, even demons who managed to dodge were shredded by the force of the strikes.
"Bullying weak demons — what skill is that? Let me face you!" All demon lives belong to the monarch! Unable to bear watching the slaughter, Demon Lord Alba flapped his fiery wings and charged toward the airborne Yuanen Zhentian.
But at that moment, a purple figure suddenly tore through space and appeared in front of Alba without warning.
A halo of purple-black light radiated from her, covering a ten-meter radius. Within its range, powerful demons instinctively lost control of their bodies and staggered back. The weaker ones simply melted on contact with the halo.
Even Demon Lord Alba was forced to retreat the moment he touched the light. The purple aura, like a vortex, crushed everything in its path.
"Another being as powerful as a Demon Lord…" Alba glared at the woman before him — clad in purple-black armor, tall and curvaceous, with snow-white shoulders and a deep cleavage visible above her chest. Her long hair flowed behind her, billowing without wind.
Her enchanting face bore eyes of deep violet and lips of glowing purple. On her forehead, a pitch-black scale pulsed with waves of purple light, naturally flowing upward above her head.
It was Zi Ji — and what she had just unleashed was one of her signature abilities: Death Decay.
Death Decay was a small-scale domain imbued with corrosive dark energy. Within its area, all attacks gained the property of darkness corrosion, and anything inside would be eroded away.
Seeing the sudden appearance of Yuanen Zhentian and Zi Ji, Alba's heart sank.
Two powerhouses on par with Demon Lords — this Demon Gate activation might very well have been a trap targeting him.
"Damn it!" Alba glanced back at the Demon Gate behind him and felt somewhat reassured. With it, he could return to the Demon Plane at any time.
At the same level of power, he was confident that if he truly wanted to escape, not even two Demon Lords could stop him.
"You go stop that ape! Don't let him keep massacring our demon army! I'll deal with this woman!" Alba barked to the nine great demons behind him and then charged again at Zi Ji.
These nine demons were each equivalent to a human Super Douluo in strength. Not only were they powerful, but they also possessed a cooperative formation technique. They lined up in a row, each using their long tails to wrap around the waist of the next, forming an interconnected chain.
Their tails held unique properties — when one was attacked, the others could transfer their power to help withstand it. This energy transference was incredibly fast and seamless.
The nine great demons functioned like one entity, quickly gaining the upper hand over Yuanen Zhentian.
Below their feet, a massive purple-black formation shaped like a serpent — reminiscent of a dragon, but more snake-like than the ones on the Douluo Continent — began to form. The nine demons acted as its nine heads. Their coordinated formation made them as one; even the quasi-god-level Yuanen Zhentian was helpless before them.
"Heh… Did you really think just two beings on your level could stop my demon army? Your kind of life energy is a great tonic for me!" Alba felt reassured seeing the nine demons suppressing Yuanen Zhentian. Though he wasn't confident in taking on both enemies, he had no doubt about handling one.
As a Demon Lord, he was confident none at his level could defeat him.
High-level life energy contained laws and principles. Alba had already reached the peak of the Demon Plane, but if he could absorb and comprehend the rules within such life energy, he might be able to break the plane's limits and become a god.
If that happened, he would surpass all other Demon Lords and become the second Demon God of the Demon Plane.
Thinking of this, Alba's gaze turned burning hot as he looked at Bi Ji.
"You think you can devour me? You overestimate yourself." Zi Ji snorted coldly. "If it weren't for how weak you are, the others wouldn't even bother. It wouldn't be worth my time either. But dealing with the likes of you… if I don't finish it in three moves, I'd be ashamed before my master."
With a shout, she declared, "I'll end you in three moves."
Purple light swirled. A radiant four-word battle armor enveloped Zi Ji, causing her aura to spike dramatically.
"Roar!" A majestic dragon cry erupted from her lips. In the next instant, she transformed into a hundred-meter-long giant dragon, her battle armor extending to cover her massive form.
She unleashed Purple Dragon Flame, a signature ability of the dragon race, which surged toward Alba.
"Arrogant!" Alba roared, enraged by her disdain. He released hundreds of flame projectiles from his wings — purple-black fire meteors — aimed at her dragon flame.
But the next moment, he was shocked. His fire was completely absorbed by her flame, which engulfed him entirely.
"Ahh! Damn you! What is this flame?!" Alba screamed. He realized his power couldn't extinguish it. The dragon flame clung to him like a parasite, consuming his life force — which only fueled it further.
Unbeknownst to Alba, while Zi Ji was indeed a pure-blooded dragon, her Hell Demon Dragon lineage made her a corrupt dragon.
Devouring was a natural gift of the Hell Demon Dragon. In terms of devouring ability, Zi Ji was no weaker than even top-tier demons like Alba.
Otherwise, her race wouldn't be called Abyssal Demon Dragons.
In the Star Dou Forest, Di Tian had forbidden Zi Ji from consuming soul beasts and humans to grow stronger. Otherwise, she wouldn't have remained at just 200,000 years of cultivation. She could've reached 300,000, 400,000 — even 600,000.
Di Tian's restriction was to protect her from rapid growth that might trigger fatal tribulations, and to ensure the last pure-blood dragon after himself would cultivate steadily.
However, that was before she met Xia Yi.
Now, with Hetu and Luoshu and the soul beast-exclusive divine realm Origin of Creation, Zi Ji had transcended three tribulations and reached a cultivation of 500,000 years.
Her current dragon flame contained the innate skill Abyssal Devour of the Hell Demon Dragon clan.
With the boost of her battle armor, it was strong enough that even Alba couldn't escape.
"I can't let this continue! Roar!" Alba bellowed, knowing full well what continued exposure to Abyssal Devour would do.
Without hesitation, he activated his source power. Terrifying dark storms erupted in a 10-kilometer radius, distorting space. The flame on his body finally began to die out.
"Source power? Desperate, but useless," Zi Ji scoffed. Her massive dragon claw, reinforced with armor made of Starmetal, descended like a meteor. It had piercing properties and instantly reached above Alba's head.
Having just suppressed the flame with source power, Alba didn't hesitate — he turned and fled toward the Demon Gate.
This time, he abandoned all hope of victory.
The raid on Douluo was a failure. Zi Ji and Yuanen Zhentian were enough to stall the army until human reinforcements arrived.
Rather than wait to be beaten and then flee, he chose to leave now.
But how could Zi Ji let him escape?
With a flap of her dragon and armor wings, she instantly caught up, grabbed his flaming wings, and tore them off with her armor claws.
"Ahhh! Rise, fallen power — Destruction Storm!" Alba screamed, unleashing his source power again. Nine massive tornadoes roared to life, knocking Zi Ji back. He coughed up a mouthful of purple blood that merged into the storm, turning everything around them into darkness.
Alba didn't press the attack. Instead, the nine tornadoes wrapped around the nine great demons, transforming into black chains and yanking them back to him.
Though losing the demon army hurt, he could always rebuild. But the nine great demons — they were part of him.
In the Demon Plane, demons don't reproduce biologically. Their legacy is through division.
When a strong demon chooses to divide, they create a weaker version of themselves to start over. But the process is difficult and energy-intensive.
These nine great demons were divided from Alba himself — his core power.
At his level, Alba could no longer grow stronger, so he divided small parts of his strength to create these loyal extensions of himself.
They were like his nine lives.
Knowing this battle was lost, Alba had only one goal — escape with his nine great demons and recover.
"I told you, I'd finish you in three moves. You're not getting away." Zi Ji's cold voice rang out as Alba approached the Demon Gate.
She raised a claw toward the sky — and purple-black lightning crashed down.
Each bolt was thick as a water barrel.
BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!
The lightning instantly engulfed the entire demon army. Screams echoed — and most demons didn't even have time to scream before…
Behind him, the nine great demons were also, almost at the same time, engulfed by lightning. Amidst their wails of agony, they were reduced to charred corpses.
Standing at the center of the demon legion, Yuanen Zhentian stared blankly at Ziji, who stood at the core of the lightning storm. Ziji's overwhelming power had completely overturned his understanding of what was possible.
Was this truly a power that a soul beast could wield? Even if his ancestor Er Ming were to face this, he would surely be killed without a doubt.
Er Ming was a divine beast, after all.
He finally understood why Ziji had confidently claimed she could kill Alba within three moves.
Turns out Ziji had the strength to finish Alba in just one move.
"Not bad at all." Looking at her masterpiece, Ziji smiled in satisfaction and transformed back into her human form.
Destruction Divine Thunder—her ultimate killing move, comprehended through the combination of the Hetu and Luoshu with her own elemental attributes—was now her strongest ability.
With Destruction Divine Thunder, if not for her insufficient soul power, she could even undergo tribulation after tribulation right now.
Seeing the purple-gold flaming greatsword Alba had dropped to the ground, Ziji immediately picked it up and joyfully swung it twice. "Nice. Just a step away from becoming a divine weapon. With Lord Xia Yi's help in reforging it, it will definitely ascend to the level of a divine artifact. Lord..."
When she mentioned Xia Yi, something seemed to occur to Ziji. She suddenly turned around and looked around the void, but there was no sign of her Lord's presence. Not willing to give up, she released her spiritual power—but still found nothing. Only she and Yuanen Zhentian remained in the area.
Ziji abruptly turned to look toward the Gate of Demons, biting her purple lips with her pearly teeth, revealing a pitiful expression. "Waaah! Lord, you're too much. I risked my life fighting this demon monarch, and you guys went off to the Demon Plane to have fun without me?"
Ziji finally understood now—why so many top powerhouses, any one of whom could have easily destroyed Demon Monarch Alba and the demon legion, hadn't made a move.
Well, now she got it—they were all waiting for someone else to act first so they could be the first to enter the Demon Plane.
A bunch of scheming snakes.
Ziji grumbled internally and, without further hesitation, leapt into the Gate of Demons.