Chapter 3666: Facing the Demon

"First use the rune formation to control them, then strike!"

Ye Liuyun immediately reminded everyone nearby to prepare for battle. After all, it was his first time dealing with these guys, and he wouldn't dare be careless.

Everyone stood ready in formation, and Gu Changhong and others had already set up some formations in advance. Liu Xingyang and Pang Hongyu hid behind the group, trembling and praying that the demons had no special attacks.

"Fortunately, none exceed the Second Stage of Dong Tian in strength."

Ye Liuyun, after spotting their silhouettes, judged their strength from the size of the Crystal Core on their heads.

He assigned his Clone Puppet to face one demon, and gave the other four to the Demon King, Bà Tiān, Qian Huan, and Zhan Kong respectively. Gu Changhong, Black Tiger, and Enchantress led the Monster Beasts against the Demon Beasts. The Demon Beasts here were also formidable, with several at Cave Heaven Realm strength.

This time Ye Liuyun held back, intending to observe carefully what abilities these demons possessed.

Seeing so many of Ye Liuyun's side, the demons' eyes glazed with greed, they let out a low roar and charged forward with their Demon Beasts, appearing rather unintelligent.

Those around Ye Liuyun surged forward, each meeting their opponents.

His Clone Puppet was the fastest, slashing at a demon with a single strike. The demon narrowed its pupil, sensed his aura, and instantly drew a shield from its Storage Ring, blocking the attack.

Nevertheless, the demon was blasted back by the Clone Puppet's blow, even bleeding from its palm.

Qian Huan employed illusion magic to strike the demon that kept roaring to summon Demon Beasts, quickly trapping it in an Illusion Realm and silencing it, then slashed its neck with twin swords.

The demon wielded a bone whip; if it were to swing it, the danger would be great.

The Demon King and Bà Tiān both engaged their foes head‑on. The Demon King brandished his war halberd and thrust at his opponent, who felt overmatched as a shield‑shaped mark on his chest suddenly emitted Golden Light.

The Golden Light coalesced into a massive defense shield, like a formation, blocking the Demon King's attack.

Although Bà Tiān's opponent was not strong, the spiked club he wielded was inlaid with a ruby; when it clashed with Bà Tiān's spear, it nearly knocked the spear from his hand.

Only Zhan Kong killed his opponent the fastest; with a single flash he appeared behind the foe and beheaded him before the opponent could react. Afterwards Zhan Kong went to aid the Demon King, while Qian Huan assisted Bà Tiān.

"Aoo!"

At that moment, the demon battling the Clone Puppet let out a wailing howl like a fierce ghost, and in an instant the surrounding yin qi thickened as nearby Demon Beast yin souls surged forward to join the fight.

Seeing this, Ye Liuyun immediately deployed a Sealing Demon Tablet toward the demon, then used the wan‑zi sigil to emit a dazzling Buddha Light that melted all the yin qi and yin souls.

After the Sealing Demon Tablet pinned the demon, terror flashed in its eyes. The yin ghost it summoned was instantly slain, and the tablet rapidly absorbed its Demon Qi.

The Sealing Demon Tablet is not a living thing; it is unfazed by the malicious qi mixed in its Demon Qi, and can even convert that harmful qi into absorbable energy.

Thus, when confronted with this, it was momentarily at a loss, unsure how to defend. Just as it tried to howl again and summon more yin souls, its power surged, only to be instantly drawn away by the Sealing Demon Tablet.

Startled, it failed to utter the sound, and the wail became its own lament.

At this point, Ye Liuyun and the Clone Puppet used their Red Pupils to cast illusion magic on it, forcing its Soul to burst forth and rush into Ye Liuyun's Sea of Consciousness.

Ye Liuyun then tried Soul Search and planting a Slave Seal, but ended up shattering the demon's Soul, gaining no information and failing to control the demon.

The others' battles also concluded; under the joint strike of the two, the opponents of the Demon King and Bà Tiān were swiftly slain. The Demon Beasts, with Gu Changhong, Black Tiger, and Enchantress present, were easily

suppressed by rune formations, and were quickly exterminated by the Monster Beasts.

Ye Liuyun immediately moved close to inspect the demons' weapons and bodily traits, especially the demon bearing a mark.

He discovered that the mark on that demon resembled a painted shield from a distance, but up close it was a formation etched with secret script.

He instantly used Divine Core to draw a formation, replicating that array, which indeed could become a large shield for defense.

However, the mark's strokes were far more numerous, making it far more complex than a simple rune formation. Yet it had an advantage: a small input of Divine Core could trigger the array without any other medium.

Ye Liuyun immediately shared this discovery with Gu Changhong and others, even copying the array to Sun Que, enabling him to develop this defensive formation that can be inscribed onto puppets or bodies to boost defense.

He then inscribed this formation onto everyone nearby, granting them an extra layer of defense.

Afterwards he began inspecting each person's combat gear, and the corpses were all thrown to the Sealing Demon Tablet for absorption.

The leading demon's Storage Ring had limited space, containing a weapon and various colored Crystal Stones for cultivation.

Ye Liuyun sampled each, finding the blue stone enhanced Soul purity, the gold one refined the body, and the earth‑yellow stone was the type he had previously unearthed, used for cultivation to raise realms.

There was also a green Crystal Stone that increased vitality, and a purple Crystal Stone; after Ye Liuyun absorbed it, there was no immediate effect, but later he realized the purple energy was taken up by his Special Eye Pupil.

Not only did his Golden Pupil improve from absorbing the purple energy, but his Soul's Red Pupil and Purple Pupil also felt a slight boost.

"Finally found something good!" Ye Liuyun couldn't help but laugh.

The others' storage bags contained a myriad of items—cultivation resources, metal materials, even wood and live Demon Beasts, plus a Demon Beast Egg.

In one person's bag, there was even a Human Martial Cultivator's Storage Ring, still full of resources. Ye Liuyun didn't know why that demon hadn't opened it.

The live Demon Beast, with fangs and claws, resembled a pterosaur, but Ye Liuyun couldn't control it and ultimately had to kill it, preserving its Crystal Core to power the Demon Beast Egg.

As for the Demon Beast Egg it guarded, Ye Liuyun set it aside for now, uncertain whether it could be hatched.

Ye Liuyun also devised an ancient method: inject a strand of Demon Qi into the Demon Beast Egg and drip a drop of blood onto it; if that still fails, there is no other way. (The last sentence is a meta note about coding and reading mode.)