Chapter 254: Furious Thunder Descends upon the World, Thunder Strikes the Void

Corpse demons devouring humans, slaughtering across ten thousand miles—such tragedies have occurred countless times in the cultivation world over the past two thousand years; the longer a cultivator lives, the more they have seen.

Thus, although most low-level cultivators were gnashing their teeth and their eyes were splitting with rage, those True Monarchs and even Heavenly Monarchs merely wore icy expressions, waiting in silence.

What they were waiting for, naturally, was for Shi Mingkong outside to lead the demon horde to attack the Main City.

Although the Big Dipper Heavenly Star Kill Array integrates both offense and defense, its power range extends at most thirty to forty miles outside the array; now that the demon horde led by Shi Mingkong is ravaging over a hundred miles away, even activating the great array would not allow them to strike them.

Consequently, one could see that atop the walls of the vast Main City, thousands upon thousands of cultivators had reddened eyes, staring fixedly as the mortal dwellings over a hundred miles away were destroyed by the black demon horde, countless lives vanishing and turning into a blood-colored purgatory on earth.

During this time, there were naturally individual cultivators who were so furious their hair stood on end, wanting to charge out and fight the corpse demons, but the result was being scolded by higher-ranking cultivators, leaving them only able to stand rigidly atop the city walls.

The thousands of corpse demons did not seem many in number, but all were of the Corpse General level or above; in a short moment, they turned the mortal residential area on the outskirts into a ghost domain, simultaneously drawing more mortals from the inner city area to flee in terror, sprinting wildly toward the direction of the Main City.

The millions of dark, swarming refugees only made the corpse demons more excited; they hissed and howled as they sprinted and flew, the torrents of corpse aura and death aura they carried rolling over like a flood, engulfing large swaths of the crowd.

Men, women, the old, and the young collapsed and died instantly under the corpse aura, and even those who luckily avoided it were swallowed as food by those massive, hulking demon corpses.

Yet the most cruel and destructive were the two Heavenly Corpse Kings, the Bone Heavenly Demon and the Enchantress; unlike the demon corpses under their command, wherever they passed, they merely opened their mouths to inhale, and one could see yin winds swirling and corpse aura turning ghastly. Any mortal struck by the yin wind had their flesh and blood dissolve in an instant, the entire person turning into blood water, which was then swept up by the yin wind and corpse aura and delivered into the mouths of the two Heavenly Corpse Kings.

With every inhalation, they sucked hundreds of fleeing refugees turned into blood water into their mouths; in the short span of a single tea-time, the outer dozens of miles were completely lost.

However, whether it was these two Heavenly Corpse Kings with their towering arrogance or the rest of the corpse demons, they all seemed to have received some kind of order, ravaging only along the outer dozens of miles of the mortal residential area and never stepping into the fifty-mile radius of the Main City.

"Preposterous."

Atop the Dharma altar, Yang Xianlin, this commander-in-chief, was naturally furious:

"These beasts know of the array's existence, otherwise they would never be like this!"

Lingjian Tianjun scanned the distance with his Divine Sense, focusing particularly on Shi Mingkong, who remained leisurely as if he had no intention of launching a direct assault on the Main City of Beiling Immortal City, his brows furrowed tightly:

"The situation is somewhat wrong; the intelligence of a Heavenly Corpse King is not inferior to a normal cultivator. That Shi Mingkong should know that if he does not seize the time to attack the Immortal City, there will be no chance once the Immortal Alliance reinforcements arrive. Why is he..."

"Could it be that this beast has some other conspiracy?"

Zhuhuo Tianjun, who only had his Primordial Spirit body left, said coldly:

"Regardless of what conspiracy he has, this situation is actually to our advantage. Once Douzhan Tianjun arrives, it will be the death date of these beasts!"

While they were communicating, the corpse horde moved a little closer to the Main City; the two Heavenly Monarchs, wishing to test them, immediately passed orders to Yang Xianlin.

This Immortal City Lord immediately led the array-division cultivators, standing atop a Dharma altar at an array eye and forming hand seals; one could see the vast Big Dipper Heavenly Star Kill Array blooming with spiritual light, and immediately, pillars of starlight burst forth, instantly piercing through dozens of miles of void and sweeping into a group of powerful corpse demons that were ravaging crazily but had unknowingly ventured too deep.

Sss! Sss!

Hearing only a few explosive sounds, this group of corpse demons, which did not lack existences at the Corpse King level, were reduced to ashes in an instant under the starlight pillars; they did not even have time to let out a hiss before they vanished between Heaven and Earth.

Following this, the Big Dipper Heavenly Star Kill Array burst forth with streams of light again, but the overextended corpse demons retreated rapidly under the hisses of the two Heavenly Corpse Kings, resulting in only a few corpse demons turning to ash, and after leaving this range, the streams of light dissipated directly in the air, clearly exceeding the power range.

Seeing this, Lingjian Tianjun and Zhuhuo Tianjun sent cold Divine Sense transmissions sweeping across the horizon:

"Shi Mingkong, since you've come, what are you still waiting for? Isn't it your goal to turn the cultivation world into a boundless ghost kingdom?"

"We are right here; if you have the ability, come over and fight your Daoist master for three hundred rounds!"

In the void over a hundred miles away, on his throne, Shi Mingkong chuckled softly:

"Relying on this turtle-shell array, plus the fact that reinforcements are arriving, you are this confident? It is a pity; for the moment, I have no interest in you. By comparison, you are not even as important as these ten thousand ants outside the city."

As he spoke, the bone throne beneath him had countless pitch-black runes forming strange patterns; like array patterns, they spread rapidly across the void for dozens of miles around him, and subsequently, from the ground below—where corpses lay everywhere and it had already become a ghost domain—threads of imperceptible ghostly light rose up, rapidly merging into the array patterns.

Hm?

At this moment, the eyes of the two Heavenly Monarchs within the Immortal City narrowed:

"This is... extracting the death aura of living beings...?"

"Logically speaking, there is no great significance for a Heavenly Corpse King of this level to absorb death aura; why would he do this?"

"No, that's not right... that is not death aura, but the living souls of mortals! His aura is constantly rising!"

Being existences at the Spirit Severing level, the two of them quickly discovered the anomaly under the scan of their Divine Sense, and their expressions changed drastically one after another.

"Finally discovered it, have you?"

In the distance, Shi Mingkong laughed and said:

"Corpse aura, death aura, and even baleful aura and yin aura are all common; how can they compare to the profound mystery of the souls of living beings? Today, I shall use these millions upon millions of living souls to condense the cycle of life and death, and forge the foundation for the path of an Emperor!"

In an instant, the two Heavenly Monarchs were terrified:

"Not good, he wants to use the living souls of ten million mortals to advance to a Heavenly Corpse Emperor!"

Beside them, Yang Xianlin, Wei Bufan, and other True Monarchs were horrified upon hearing this:

"What!?" Among corpse demons, those capable of cultivation and advancement are already anomalies, and the cultivation methods of these anomalies are nothing more than absorbing Yin power, the essence and blood of living beings, death aura, earth vein baleful aura, or swallowing the corpse pills condensed by other Corpse Kings to achieve advancement.

Corpse demons have no souls or spirits, though there exist those that can swallow souls to strengthen their intelligence, but extracting countless living souls to break through from the Heavenly Corpse King level to a Heavenly Corpse Emperor comparable to the Return to Void level—such a thing is absolutely unheard of!

And that Shi Mingkong is already this terrifying at the Heavenly Corpse King level; if he were to advance to a Heavenly Corpse Emperor, how could all the defensive lines and various defensive Immortal Cities on this border continue to exist?

"This bastard..."

Including the two Heavenly Monarchs who finally understood Shi Mingkong's goal, they were now extremely shocked and furious.

They would very much like to take action to stop the other party from extracting the countless mortal living souls, but their current states were not good; Zhuhuo Tianjun only had his Primordial Spirit body left, and if he left the array to face the opponent head-on, he would by no means be a match, not to mention that Shi Mingkong had two Heavenly Corpse King helpers, the Bone Heavenly Demon and the Enchantress, by his side.

If they truly rushed out regardless of the consequences, the final result would only be their falling on the spot, and it might even implicate the entire Beiling Immortal City in being breached.

But if they did nothing, it would still take more than half an hour for Douzhan Tianjun and the other Heavenly Monarch from the Immortal Alliance to arrive; such a long time was enough for Shi Mingkong to lead the horde of demons to slaughter all the millions of mortals on the outermost perimeter of the Immortal City. If the other party truly advanced to the Heavenly Corpse Emperor realm because of this, they would be unable to answer to the Immortal Alliance!

And just as the two Heavenly Monarchs were caught in a dilemma.

Rumble...

At the bone throne and the place where thousands of demons were ravaging, layers upon layers of rolling dark clouds abruptly began to gather; like an avalanche, they expanded rapidly with a rumbling, muffled sound. The speed of the spread was truly unimaginable; in just this instant, it had already diffused to over ten miles.

Hm?

These dark clouds came so abruptly that both Shi Mingkong, who was on the bone throne, and the numerous cultivators in the Main City with their ashen faces, were all suddenly slightly startled.

The speed at which the dark clouds condensed was simply unimaginable; in the blink of an eye, the world turned completely dark. Dazzling light flashed incessantly within the vast, boundless cloud layer, as if lightning and thunder were brewing within the thick, dark clouds. And as the lightning flashed, the earth-shaking thunder grew louder and more terrifying! It was as if thousands upon thousands of ferocious, violent giant beasts were roaring in the sky at the same time, and it was also as if the firmament itself was enraged!

What?

Under the cover of the dark clouds, the corpse demons that were ravaging crazily stopped their actions as if wild beasts encountering a natural predator, looking at the firmament in fear. Even Heavenly Corpse Kings of the level of the Bone Heavenly Demon, the Enchantress, and even Shi Mingkong clearly felt a trembling that went deep into their marrow at this moment.

Because they could clearly feel that what was contained within those rolling dark clouds was not thunder condensed from the Dharma Power of cultivators, but the true, most rigid and most yang destructive Heavenly Thunder of Heaven and Earth, which restrains all yin and evil!

"Who is it!"

For the first time since appearing, Shi Mingkong suddenly sat up from the white bone throne, its fierce eyes scanning the surroundings; because it had no soul, it could only rely on instinct to sense:

"Show yourself to this seat."

Before the words were finished.

Crack!

As if the sky had shattered, a thick Heavenly Thunder, reaching from Heaven to earth and so dazzlingly bright that one could not look directly at it, struck down from the firmament like an angry dragon, crashing toward it!

With a boom that shook the heavens and split the earth—a deafening roar sufficient to shatter a person's eardrums—it was as if a star had exploded in mid-air. A blinding light, impossible to look at, flashed; the night sky twisted and shook violently amidst a series of intense explosions. Lightning splashed everywhere, and all the air collapsed layer by layer, forming a wave-like surge of air that rushed out in all directions!

Shi Mingkong, with its monstrous ferocity, was instantly submerged by the vast, destructive lightning. But this was far from over; immediately after, dozens or even hundreds of lightning bolts intertwined, tearing through the clouds and crashing down like the wrath of the Thunder God. Their target was Shi Mingkong, as well as the other two Heavenly Corpse kings and their subordinate Corpse Demons!

In an instant, thunder roared, and the void twisted and shattered like a mirror. The death energy and corpse energy that filled the world dissipated like snow meeting magma. Under the extremely rigid and extremely yang destructive power, ordinary Corpse Demons had no power to resist at all, turning into fly ash in a single moment. Even Heavenly Corpse kings like the Bone Heavenly Corpse and the Demon Maiden did their utmost to resist the thunderous dragons striking down from the firmament amidst their shocked and angry roars!

In an instant, the sky-tearing and earth-splitting thunder filled the world. The violently splashing lightning surged wildly in all directions like a tsunami, turning the space within a radius of more than ten miles into a purgatory of thunder in the blink of an eye. The many cultivators within the Main City of the Immortal City were left dumbfounded and shocked:

"What is going on?"

"This thunder-type Supernatural Power... could it be that senior who once helped us!?"

Lingjian Tianjun and Zhuhuo Tianjun also instantly recalled the situation Yang Xianlin had previously reported. They immediately scanned the void with their Divine Sense, but their Divine Sense was instantly shaken and annihilated by the surging power of the destructive Heavenly Thunder in the distance. They could only rely on their Primordial Spirit to sense the situation from afar, saying in extreme shock:

"What kind of Supernatural Power is this? Why is the trace of the cultivator who attacked not visible at all?"

"This thunder is by no means an ordinary thunder technique; it looks more like the legendary Heavenly Thunder..."

"Heavenly Thunder is a tribulation sent down by Heaven and Earth when a cultivator reaches Refining Spirit into Void, the Three Flowers Gather at the Crown, and the Five Qi Towards Origin; it is absolutely not something that can be controlled by human power!"

"What on earth is this!?"

As Heavenly Monarchs of the Transformation of Spirit realm, they were well-informed. They immediately sensed that the thunder in the distance contained a shocking, extremely rigid and extremely yang destructive power that could cleanse all demons; it was simply not a thunder technique or Supernatural Power that an ordinary cultivator could unleash.

The thunder they were seeing now was violent and unparalleled, shattering the universe; it was extremely similar to the Heavenly Thunder tribulation that a cultivator at the perfection of the Transformation of Spirit realm would face when taking the final step!

The problem was that within the entire Immortal Alliance, even Zixiao Tianjun, who was the most proficient in thunder-type Supernatural Powers, could not summon the power of Heavenly Thunder to attack an enemy. How did the cultivator who attacked manage to do it?

Regardless of how shocked and suspicious they were internally.

At this moment, in the distant void.

The sky-shattering and earth-splitting Heavenly Thunder bombardment continued. Countless lightning bolts surged and impacted all around, spreading far and near. For a time, the void could be seen trembling like waves. Everyone saw continuous, shocking thunder erupting, the sky filled with silver snakes dancing wildly, and fierce, brilliant electric light streaking across the sky, like countless crisscrossing thunder axes and electric swords, hacking and slashing with the force to split mountains and seas. For a time, the thunder energy exploded with crackling sounds; the spreading intense light alone made their eyes and Divine Sense ache.

In such terrifying and vast thunder, thousands of Corpse Demons wailed and turned to fly ash. The Bone Heavenly Corpse and the Demon Maiden, and even the other Heavenly Corpse king, would let out a painful and furious roar every time they resisted and endured a strike of Heavenly Thunder, to the point that they fled toward the outside of the thundercloud's coverage after only a few hits.

As for Shi Mingkong and the bone throne beneath it, they were the primary targets of the wild thunder filling the sky from beginning to end. Almost every blink of an eye, several huge thunder dragons struck down, continuous and unending, striking the void with thunder.

After a full dozen breaths.

As if having completely poured out its power, the overcast clouds filling the sky and the terrifying thunder that shook the void finally began to dissipate. After the blinding, brilliant lightning faded, Shi Mingkong's figure was finally revealed.

In the void at this moment, that evil white bone throne was already shattered beyond recognition, and the array patterns composed of thousands of runes that extracted living souls were all broken. Shi Mingkong before the throne looked even more ferocious, its entire body charred black, skin torn and flesh mangled, looking completely disheveled, entirely lacking the arrogant composure it had when it crushed the two great Heavenly Monarchs earlier.