Amid the growing anxiety of the cultivators on the Crab Archipelago, a massive demonic cloud suddenly lood in the distant sky. Though it was still far away, the overwhelming demonic aura it carried had already spread, plunging all cultivators on the islands into unease.
That wasn't the aura of a single great demon—it was a vast convergence of multiple powerful demons, coming together to form such an intimidating cloud.
Clearly, their intention was to wipe out all humans on the Crab Archipelago in one fell swoop.
However, as the demon horde neared the archipelago, they suddenly halted. After all, the star of this operation had yet to appear—Gu Mo, the human grandmaster who had slain General Golden Claw, still held considerable deterrent power.
If not for the fact that the Lord Chisha had personally agreed to take part, these other demons wouldn't have co at all.
"…This isn't looking good," Li Yuzhi muttered, his scalp tingling. Beside him, Zhong Yuanfang and a few other human Golden Core cultivators also wore grave expressions as they looked at the gathered demons in the distance.
The number of demons amassed this ti had far exceeded their expectations. If all of them launched an assault together, it would be hard to escape—even for cultivators like them.
"Let's wait a bit longer."
Since they had already chosen to stay, fleeing now would an throwing everything away. For the ti being, the demons had yet to launch a full-scale attack. There was still room to observe.
If the situation truly beca critical, they would not hesitate to retreat. After all, nothing was more important than preserving their own lives.
Ti passed. Suddenly, the dense demonic clouds in the distance parted sharply, and from within the ranks of demons stepped a mature and alluring figure, approaching the Crab Archipelago.
"She's here—Lord Chisha the scorpion demon!"
Li Yuzhi, Zhong Yuanfang, and the others imdiately noticed the shift. At the forefront of the demon horde was that alluring figure. But now was not the ti to appreciate the beauty of her human-like form—only a heavy sense of dread remained.
That was a demon who had lived for over a thousand years—an existence on the verge of becoming a full-fledged Demon King. In human terms, she was the equivalent of a grandmaster with the potential to break into the Nascent Soul stage.
"Let's go," the Lord Chisha said calmly, gazing down at the Crab Archipelago with disinterest. A place like this, a re spiritual land of so islands, ant little to her. Were it not for the death of her beloved Xuan Shui Demon, she would never have bothered to co.
Half-demons were already extrely rare. Many didn't survive past childhood due to bloodline conflicts, while others were slain by humans or sea demons before they could grow. Those who lived long enough to reach the Golden Core stage were rarer still.
Yet now, humans had killed one of the few surviving half-demons she had painstakingly collected—how could she not be furious? Her wrath could only be quenched through bloodshed.
As the Lord Chisha stepped into the bounds of the Crab Archipelago, the demons behind her surged in as well. Soon, they began devouring the ordinary people living on the islands along the way.
There were quite a number of mortals on the Crab Archipelago now—not only those who had relocated from the Crimson Coral Archipelago, but also others from surrounding islands who had migrated here with cultivators.
But they had barely enjoyed a few years of stability when this disaster suddenly struck, plunging them into utter despair.
BOOM!
A thunderous explosion rang out, halting one of the demons mid-feast. Its belly had been blasted open, and even its inner demon core was blown out—instantly killing it.
"What happened?!"
The sudden incident startled the other demons, who quickly scanned their surroundings, convinced a human cultivator had launched a sneak attack. Yet no matter how they searched, they could find no trace of the attacker.
"He must've escaped. A sneak attack like that probably took everything he had. If he didn't flee, he'd only get surrounded and killed." Since no culprit was found, the demons assud the attacker had already fled.
Without delay, another demon began devouring more mortals.
BOOM!
But again, that sa familiar explosion echoed through the air. A second demon fell.
Now, unease rippled through the demon ranks. One death could be chalked up to a surprise attack—but two? And they had been on high alert!
This wasn't the work of human cultivators.
The mortals must be poisoned!
Of course, the ordinary people on the Crab Archipelago weren't actually poisoned—they had cherry bombs.
Knowing the Lord Chisha would likely attack, Gu Mo had instructed Shi Yuwei to distribute cherry bombs to the mortals on the archipelago.
If any demon dared to devour them, they'd unknowingly ingest the bombs along with them.
If they could kill just a few demons this way, it would be enough to make the others wary of targeting mortals—this was Gu Mo's thod of protecting the people.
Sure enough, once the demons realized sothing was wrong, they stopped attacking the mortals. Losing two of their own in an instant had thoroughly frightened them.
They were only here to back up the Lord Chisha—not to die.
"Not bad… he's got so tricks."
The Lord Chisha narrowed her eyes at the two fallen demons. She couldn't discern the thod used either. Had it been her, she likely would have been caught off guard as well.
"So this is the power of a grandmaster… truly mysterious!" Li Yuzhi and Zhong Yuanfang felt their confidence surge. The grandmaster's thods were indeed extraordinary.
He hadn't even shown his face, yet he'd already taken down two powerful demons.
The Crab Archipelago covered a wide area, but Lord Chisha tread upon the water with ease, each step spanning dozens of miles. In no ti, she reached the core ring island of the archipelago—and as she approached, the vast demonic cloud blanketed the sky.
"What's this…"
The Lord Chisha stared at the ring island now shrouded in mist, her expression growing grave. With her thousand years of life experience, she had seen much—and she had a deep interest in human techniques. As such, she was familiar with many of their skills.
She imdiately recognized the mist enveloping the ring island—it was a quasi–Tier-4 grand formation. A formation of this level would indeed be a major obstacle for her.
But only an obstacle—not a dead end.
Lord Chisha had a solid understanding of formations, and her skills in the art were far from shallow.
She could tell the formation hadn't been laid by a true formation master—there were slight delays in its flow.
Such minor flaws would be imperceptible to other demons without knowledge of formations—but not to her. She had already identified the formation's weak points. If she focused her power on attacking those, she could break through this quasi–Tier-4 formation.
"…Don't tell this Lord Chisha also knows formation techniques?!"
Inside the formation, Gu Mo gazed at the scorpion-tailed beauty carefully studying the grand array from the outside, a thought rising in his mind. The quasi-fourth-rank Mist Illusion Formation was sothing Gu Mo had barely learned to set up himself; it was certainly inferior compared to one laid down by a professional formation master.
But for dealing with sea demons, it was more than sufficient. After all, sea demons didn't understand formations. Even if there were so flaws, they wouldn't be able to detect them. That said, this Lord Chisha seed different.
Could this be the foundation of a old demon?
Since that was the case, Gu Mo couldn't allow her to freely attack the array. He wasn't a formation expert—if sothing went wrong with the Mist Illusion Formation, he wouldn't be able to fix it.
With that in mind, Gu Mo's figure flashed and appeared outside the array, locking eyes with the Lord Chisha.
"That great master looks quite young."
From afar, Li Yuzhi and Zhong Yuanfang—along with other Core Formation cultivators—widened their eyes when they saw Gu Mo step out. Although tales of Gu Mo's feats had long spread far and wide, very few had actually seen him in person.
This was the first ti Li Yuzhi, Zhong Yuanfang, and the others were laying eyes on the legendary grandmaster in the flesh—and Gu Mo's youth left them deeply shaken.
Cultivators, especially those in the Core Formation realm, could easily maintain a youthful appearance. But age among cultivators wasn't judged by looks—it was judged by one's aura.
A Core Formation cultivator who had lived for centuries radiated a completely different aura than one who was under a hundred. Experienced cultivators could discern this subtle difference.
The Lord Chisha, who had lived for a thousand years, was clearly one such experienced being. So when she laid eyes on Gu Mo, a trace of disbelief flickered in her gaze.
The human cultivator who had slain the Golden Claw General was this young—and his physical body was flawless.
The Lord Chisha, obsessed with human Dao bodies, was without a doubt an expert in such matters. She could instantly distinguish the quality of a Dao body with a single glance.
Mortal bodies were filled with impurities—utter trash. The Dao bodies of cultivators were sowhat better, but still too frail, far from perfection.
The Dao body of the Core Formation-level Xuan Shui Master, when combined with sea demon bloodline, had barely managed to catch her attention. But Gu Mo's body made the Lord Chisha's eyes light up.
Ever since stepping into cultivation, Gu Mo had continuously used perfected-level Cleansing Technique to refine his physique, forging a body of incredible resilience. It wouldn't be an exaggeration to say that his body was no weaker than a demonic beast of the sa rank.
"You're quite sothing, little human. Why don't you co with big sister?" The Lord Chisha licked her lips. If she could add such a perfect Dao body to her collection, it would surely bring her great inspiration.
Her words made Gu Mo pause for a mont before a smile crept onto his lips. "I'm short a servant girl. You interested?"
"Hmph, ignorant fool."
Lord Chisha's expression turned cold. She was about to strike and subdue this human cultivator on the spot. A Dao body this flawless was worth the effort.
As a water-attributed sea demon, her combat power surged in marine environnts. Lord Chisha was confident she could defeat this young human grandmaster.
But just as she was about to strike, her peripheral vision caught a flicker of light—a faint blue streak shooting toward her. In that instant, an overwhelming sense of danger welled up within her.
Without hesitation, Lord Chisha surged her power and conjured a water screen around herself.
Bang!
As soon as the water screen ford, the blue streak of light struck with pinpoint precision. At first, Lord Chisha paid it no mind—this water screen was her innate talent. Unless the attack was at the level of a Demon King, it shouldn't have posed a threat.
But then she realized sothing was wrong.
The mont the blue light struck the water screen, it instantly froze it solid—transforming it into a wall of ice that trapped her within.
Shocked, Lord Chishaquickly gathered demonic power to shatter the ice wall. At that mont, she couldn't help but feel grateful the water screen had taken the initial blow. If that blue attack had landed directly on her, she might have been frozen solid and completely immobilized.
Thanks to the water screen buffering the impact, she still had room to maneuver.
Crack, crack!
As she struck back, cracks rapidly spread across the frozen wall. The fact that even she couldn't break it with a single blow spoke volus about the attack's power.
Boom!
Monts later, the ice wall shattered. Just as the Lord Chisha prepared to retaliate, a blinding golden light—sharp enough to split the heavens—ca slashing down from above.
Gu Mo, having successfully trapped her using the third-rank high-grade Peashooter in tandem with the Icefla Tree Stump, did not hesitate. As the Demon shattered the ice and tried to break free, Gu Mo seized the brief opening and attacked.
He wielded a blade from the spiritual treasure-level Golden jiao Shears, executing the Heaven-Cleaving Sword Art and slashing downward.
It was his first ti channeling a sword art through a spiritual treasure. Though the treasure was damaged and had lost its spirit, its edge remained terrifyingly sharp.
From the golden arc of sword light, the Demon clearly felt a terrifying aura that threatened to tear everything apart.
But as a thousand-year-old demon, she had vast battle experience. Although Gu Mo's moves continued to catch her off guard, she still managed to make the optimal response.
She unleashed her strongest weapon—her scorpion tail—to intercept the strike.
Clang!
The golden sword light clashed with the scorpion tail, producing a thunderous explosion that shook the heavens. The shockwave left both the nearby sea demons and the observing human Core Formation cultivators pale with fear.
They knew that if they were in Gu Mo's place, they'd have been obliterated instantly.
After that clash, Gu Mo did not press the attack. He simply stared coldly at Lord Chisha, while she retracted her scorpion tail with a grim expression.
Her tail had been injured by the strike.
That scorpion tail—her most powerful weapon—had been refined over a thousand years, and yet it had sustained damage in this fight. The realization filled the Demon with dread.
anwhile, Gu Mo also felt a pang of regret. While the Golden jiao Shears were indeed sharp, he himself was still a bit lacking. If he had already stepped into the Core Formation realm, the power of the Heaven-Cleaving Sword Art would've risen another level. Perhaps then, he could have severed her tail outright.
But for now, Gu Mo had already used his strongest tools—the Ice Peashooter and the Golden Shears—and still hadn't brought her down. So, he had no choice but to cease the attack.
Unless the Demon insisted on continuing to fight, Gu Mo would only retaliate if necessary. He still had cards left to play, and his chances of victory weren't low. But if the battle dragged on, the Giant Crab Archipelago could be destroyed in the crossfire.
That was the real reason Gu Mo chose to pull back.
In his previous fight with the Golden Claw General, he had already ruined a third-rank water vein. He didn't want to see another high-grade third-rank spirit land destroyed.
As for whether the Demon might return for revenge after leaving—Gu Mo wasn't worried. The more ti passed, the stronger he would beco.
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