Chapter 120: Earthly Fiend Slays Demons, Scorching Fiend Exterminates Gods

A streak of light pierced through the clouds and sun, heading straight for the flat plateau atop Mount Luoxiang.

Because of a previous battle between immortals, the peak of Mount Luoxiang had been sheared off. After this flat plateau was carved out, the "troglodytes" of the mountain would frequently sweep the area to keep it clear of vegetation and animals, and they refrained from building any structures there. Later, they even inscribed various talismans to ensure the surface remained perfectly smooth and level.

By now, Luo Zu had turned this location into a communication coordinate between the "Troglodyte" tribe and the Heat-Witch tribe. The Heat-Witch tribe would transmit their latest news, which would land precisely on this plateau. Whenever the "Troglodytes" saw a stream of light arriving, they would come to retrieve the messages. Typically, the dispatches from the Heat-Witch tribe were tied to sturdy stone arrows using unknown animal hides.

However, this time, it was not a stone arrow that arrived, but Tang, whom he had not seen for a long time.

Luo Zu had sensed her arrival the moment the stone arrow—or rather, the messenger—approached within a thousand miles of Luoxiang. Three days of separation warrant a new perspective; Luo Zu was now able to track the trajectory of such arrows, and if he were so inclined, he could even intercept them mid-flight. This was only because these messenger arrows lacked offensive power; otherwise, Luo Zu would not have been able to track them, at best only detecting the launch and then scrambling to find a way to defend himself.

Tang had only visited Luoxiang once before, yet she was quite familiar with the place. To the astonishment of the tribesmen guarding the plateau, she descended the mountain immediately to seek out Luo Zu for business. Luo Zu was not one to stand on ceremony, so he hurried from his cave to the summit.

"Why have you come? ...Has something happened?" Seeing the grave expression on her face, Luo Zu set aside his light tone and asked with concern.

"The Demon race launched a sneak attack on the Moon-Witch tribe," Tang said, her face grim.

"What?!" Luo Zu was shocked.

Tang had previously gifted him a map. Within a radius of ten million miles, there were five small Witch tribes and one medium-sized one; there were only three small Demon tribes and one medium-sized one. The Moon-Witch tribe was that medium-sized tribe. The Moon-Witch tribe possessed several Witch Priests and even an Earth-Witch, and an Earth-Witch was a figure comparable to a Profound Immortal among the Demons.

Although Luo Zu's horizons had broadened, he had yet to touch the realm of Celestial Immortals, let alone the distant realm of Profound Immortals. He did not know how miraculous the methods of a Profound Immortal could be. However, he had seen the methods of a Witch Priest—Shi, for instance, came from the Moon-Witch tribe and was a tribesman who had touched the threshold of the Witch Priest realm. He had even mastered Hou Yi’s archery, having once shot down Qiu Zhi, who was already a Celestial Immortal at the time.

Not long ago, the Moon-Witch tribe had completed a purge of the local Demon tribes, driving away three small ones—including Qiu Zhi's faction—and was preparing to tighten the encirclement around the medium-sized Demon tribe. This was what Shi had explained in their correspondence. Shi had wanted to signal to Luo Zu that the Witch race’s dominance in the region was established, urging him to join the Heat-Witch tribe quickly.

Yet, in the blink of an eye, their home had been raided by the Demons. Could it be that the fires of war from afar had already spread here? Luo Zu could not help but glance at the deep ravine not far away. Was that a signal?

"Did the Moon-Witch tribe suffer heavy casualties?" Luo Zu quickly calmed his mind and asked solemnly.

Tang replied, "The Red-Buttock Demon tribe mobilized the power of the celestial demon stars to mask the movements of their massive army, bypassing the Moon-Witch tribe's perimeter to raid their base. The Witch army on the front lines has already turned back, and orders have been issued to five tribes, including the Heat-Witch tribe, to surround the Moon-Witch tribe's base and annihilate the Red-Buttock Demon tribe in the Landang Mountains."

The Landang Mountains were located five million miles east of Mount Luoxiang on the Witch map, which was also the direction of the Moon-Witch tribe's base. These mountains were even more massive than the Ziyuan Mountains, stretching a million miles from north to south and three hundred thousand miles from east to west. They stood there, having once blocked Luo Zu’s view.

"Did Shi go as well?" Luo Zu asked.

Tang nodded, confirming it.

"What does Shi intend to do about this?" Luo Zu asked again.

"He said that there is no safe place in Dayi Township anymore, and it is impossible for us to leave. Furthermore, the Demon race has fully mobilized, making it difficult to hide. Now, the only way to achieve true safety is to fight the Demons until they are defeated," Tang relayed Shi's words earnestly.

"Defeat the Demon race?" Luo Zu found this unrealistic. The Demons had come aggressively and were clearly well-prepared. Their ability to call upon the stars in the sky suggested that the Demon Heavenly Court was supporting this war. Consequently, this would not be a minor skirmish between small tribes; it would be a protracted Great War of Witches and Demons, potentially escalating into a full-scale conflict that would not be confined to Dayi Township. Thinking back to that terrifying war ten billion miles away, he feared that was merely the fuse for this larger catastrophe.

The Human race... Luo Zu couldn't help but sigh. He would have preferred a peaceful environment rather than the current chaos, which was highly unfavorable for the development of the Human race. The humans now had to face not only a harsh natural environment but also the cruelty of war. It was highly likely that the humans would become cannon fodder in this conflict, perhaps without even causing a ripple.

"Luo, what do you want to do?" Tang stared at him intently. She was asking for herself, independent of Shi or the Witch race.

"Tang, we don't have many choices," Luo Zu said helplessly.

Tang nodded dejectedly. She was not a fool; having heard so much, how could she not understand the current situation?

"Luo, I heard you have become an immortal?" Tang asked again. Luo Zu had never concealed this good news, though he hadn't publicized it either. However, Shi would certainly have had ways of knowing, so Luo Zu was not surprised.

"I have achieved something, but I am still lacking," Luo Zu replied.

"You are truly amazing." The look in Tang's eyes was now filled with admiration.

Luo Zu smiled. "I think so too."

"What is an immortal like?" Tang continued, "Can you show me?"

"..."

How to show her? Luo Zu couldn't quite say, but it was certainly not the way everyone imagined.

Regarding this, Luo Zu indicated that absolutely nothing happened.

Tang stayed at Luoxiang for a day before returning to the Heat-Witch tribe. She had many things to attend to. After obtaining Luo Zu's permission, she had taught the Qi-refining method to the humans of the Heat-Witch tribe. Now, the humans of the Heat-Witch tribe had their own methods; they no longer just performed the most menial labor, but had begun to touch upon the middle-tier affairs of the tribe. For instance, they collected the chaotic energy of heaven and earth, harvested the earthly miasma from the mountains and rivers, and refined them into resources for the Witches' cultivation, or crafted minor components for the Heat-Witch tribe’s signature artifacts.

As for the signature artifact of the Heat-Witch tribe, it was a tool called the "Heat-Witch Sword."

"I bought this for you." Tang took a Heat-Witch Sword from her storage animal hide.

The design of the Heat-Witch Sword was peculiar—it looked like a pot-bellied moth, three meters long, one meter wide, and five centimeters thick. It was not sharpened; the blade consisted entirely of pure Witch runes and煞 (lethal) energy, appearing a dark, reddish color. The Witch runes were sacrificial texts that, when forged together, trapped scorching, poisonous volcanic miasma within.

"It kills demons very quickly," Tang said.

Luo felt curious. He took the Heat-Witch Sword and analyzed it carefully from the inside out. He was no longer the novice he once was; these Witch sacrificial texts were no longer strange, illegible scribbles to him. He could perceive the aura connecting them to heaven and earth. He didn't even need to borrow the analytical power of his seventy-two spiritual brains; his own immortal body and primordial spirit were enough to decipher them.

"Earthly miasma kills demons; heat-煞 obliterates spirits," Luo Zu summarized after interpreting the information in the runes.

However, since this was Dayi Township, most tribes here were skilled in archery, so the artifacts they crafted were related to arrow techniques. The Heat-Witch tribe had another signature artifact, the "Fire-Kill Arrow." One could tell it was no simple item just by the name. According to Tang, both the Heat-Witch Sword and the Fire-Kill Arrow were devastating against the Demon race, being thirty to forty percent more effective than the artifacts forged by other Witch tribes.

It was precisely for this reason that the Heat-Witch tribe had been targeted for annihilation by the Qiu Zhi Demon tribe. It was a pity that while the Qiu Zhi Demon tribe's methods were thunderous, their execution was not clean enough, leading to the current outcome. As for how the Heat-Witch tribe crafted these artifacts, Tang did not know. The process was strictly guarded; the Witches would never reveal it to outsiders, and even within the Heat-Witch tribe, few knew the full method, with only the Chieftain and the Elders possessing the complete knowledge. It was likely that Shi had been sent to the Heat-Witch tribe primarily to reorganize them.

He wondered how many elders capable of crafting these two demon-slaying artifacts remained in the Heat-Witch tribe now.

"It is quite different from my Demon-Slaying Sword," Luo Zu mused, touching the Heat-Witch Sword as he watched Tang transform into a streak of light and shoot away.

"A mountain rain is about to fall."

No, the mountain rain had already arrived.

Boom! Rumble!!