Chapter 1024

Ignorant of life and death. The so-called Demon-Subduing Office Heavenly Monarch, with hands clasped behind his back, stood beside the battered Ji Chan, whose face was ruined and whose bones were broken inch by inch, and said in a low voice: "Trash, you can't even subdue these ants?"

Ji Chan's shattered bones all over his body emitted a crisp 'crack-crack' sound, as fragments quickly reconnected and healed; he rose to his feet, stood humbly beside the middle-aged man, and said in a low voice: "Heavenly Monarch, it's not that I'm incompetent; the enemy struck viciously, and... and... truly speaking of battlefield slaughter experience, my Thunder Division troops are truly inferior to theirs."

The middle-aged man stared, opened his mouth, and said nothing.

Xiang Feixie's flesh and blood exploded apart, leaving only a dark skeleton emanating a rich Blood Light flying backward.

The Xiang family's Overlord Cauldron Lifting Technique is also a top-tier body cultivation method, emphasizing the tempering of tendons, bones, and flesh; among the many clans and aristocratic families under Wu Tie's command, the Xiang family's cultivated 'Overlord War Body' ranks among the top three in terms of defense and strength.

Xiang Feixie is also one of the few ancient monsters among the Xiang ancestors with the greatest strength, his body like steel and iron bones; ordinary spiritual weapons can hardly injure his body.

With such a formidable body, it was actually blown apart by a single punch!

The Wuguo commanders, rich in combat experience, all let out long whistles, quickly abandoning their engaged enemies and swiftly gathering beside Xiahou Wuming.

Xiang Feixie's skeleton slammed heavily into Xiahou Wuming's flagship; two Wuguo commanders gently caught him, then crushed several emergency Grand Dao treasure pills, turning strands of rich medicinal qi into visible dragon-shaped currents that swiftly merged into his body.

On Xiang Feixie's skeleton, a layer of membrane quickly sprouted, then a thin layer of muscle and blood vessels rapidly grew.

However, when the flesh had just grown to a thickness of half a finger, the residual lightning on his skeleton boomed with a loud 'rumble'; Xiang Feixie grunted, two points of firelight flickered in his eye sockets, and the newly grown flesh instantly turned into green smoke and dissipated.

Among the many Wuguo commanders present, in terms of foundation, strength, and cultivation and combat power after condensing Dao seals, Xiahou Wuming is undoubtedly the strongest. Seeing the anomaly on Xiang Feixie's body, Xiahou Wuming flashed to his side and pressed a palm onto his head.

"Get out, you scum, for this commander!" Behind Xiahou Wuming, a phantom of a Wu tribe demon god flickered and vanished. A lightning seal appeared on his head, and large amounts of fine electric light burst from Xiang Feixie's skeleton, being forcibly gathered by Xiahou Wuming into his palm.

A mass of lightning about a chi in diameter hovered like flowing water in Xiahou Wuming's palm, throbbing incessantly.

Several more Grand Dao treasure pills were poured into Xiang Feixie's skeleton; this time his flesh and blood rapidly regenerated, roughly restoring his appearance within a few breaths. However, the newly grown flesh was obviously not as tough as the flesh tempered through countless hammerings, so his combat strength in the short term would drop by at least fifty percent.

"At a loss!" Xiang Feixie glared deathly at the middle-aged man, gritting his teeth and snarling lowly: "Sooner or later I'll get my revenge... hey, just wait and see."

Xiahou Wuming gave a cold chuckle, looking at the middle-aged man who had just struck and severely wounded Xiang Feixie: "What a fine move, such pure yang, utmost rigid divine lightning—what a fine move."

From his right hand's five fingers, streaks of incomparably sharp innate Geng-metal qi leapt out, transforming into piercing bolts of Geng-metal divine lightning that wrapped the ball of lightning in his palm; silvery bright electric currents sputtered, instantly dissipating that ball of lightning.

Xiahou Wuming unintentionally flaunted his lightning control technique, also flaunting that upon reaching the venerable level he had fully activated the primordial Wu tribe blood within his body, gaining the primordial innate Geng-metal demon god power, from which he further refined the Geng-metal divine lightning ability.

A gold Dao seal and a lightning Dao seal hovered above his head; waves of sharp aura spread outward, and the speed of blood flow in Xiahou Wuming's body suddenly accelerated, with the flowing blood faintly emitting the sound of hundreds of blades clashing and striking.

"You also have some ability." The middle-aged man looked at the two Dao seals on Xiahou Wuming's head and said coldly: "Geng Metal, Xin Metal, the innate and acquired Metal Grand Dao—using the Metal Grand Dao to condense the law of thunder and lightning... it's not the orthodox path of lightning arts, but it's somewhat clever."

He flicked his sleeve, raised his head, and said calmly: "I am Ji Ting, the Demon-Subduing Heavenly Monarch of the Demon-Subduing Office of the Thunder Division of the Heavenly Court."

"I will not investigate how you condensed Dao seals to reach the venerable level with a human body... but it's obvious that it must be demonic means, having committed countless sins."

"I give you a chance to atone: submit to me, join my Demon-Subduing Office... there are still many vacancies within my office. For instance, beside me lacks a Standard Army Commander, a rank above the 108 leaders; I think that suits your status."

Xiahou Wuming stared, then burst into hysterical laughter: "hahaha".

Previously, he ruled the Su Chao, commanding its tens of millions of troops, being second only to the emperor in Su Chao. After meeting Wu Tie, they became blood brothers of Wu tribe descent, so Su Chao was replaced by Wuguo, and Wu Tie hired him as Martial Minister.

He and Old Tie jointly commanded Wuguo's military affairs, his status only slightly inferior to Old Tie's.

However, Old Tie's focus was entirely on the Giant God Beast Legion; despite Wuguo's vast size, its enormous Heavenly Martial Army, countless fierce generals, and hundreds of millions of troops—far exceeding Su Chao's forces a hundredfold—were actually all under Xiahou Wuming's sole control.

The Xiahou clan of Wuguo now has nearly a thousand elite officials, each holding high authority; the clan's influence is flourishing, making it absolutely one of the top aristocratic families in Wuguo. Moreover, due to the Wu tribe bloodline, the Xiahou clan is directly regarded by Wuguo's many clans and aristocratic families as half a clan of the nation!

Has Xiahou Wuming lost his mind, abandoning everything of Wuguo to acknowledge Ji Ting as his lord?

"Do you deserve it?" Xiahou Wuming pointed at Ji Ting and laughed wildly: "Do you think you are the emperor of my Wuguo?"

"Ignorant." Ji Ting gave Xiahou Wuming a cold glance and said sternly: "If so, in the name of the Demon-Subduing Heavenly Monarch of the Demon-Subduing Office of the Thunder Division of the Heavenly Court, I sentence you... to death!"

"Your sins are unforgivable; together with your followers, you will all suffer the heavenly lightning soul-refining punishment, until your spirits are split apart by heavenly lightning, never to be reborn." Ji Ting's eyes lit up, and strands of electric light like flowing water silently seeped from his eyes, quickly forming a layer of piercing, swirling radiance around him.

Xiahou Wuming stared.

The Wuguo commanders gathered beside Xiahou Wuming all sneered simultaneously.

"Commander, these madmen aren't worth wasting words on—just slaughter them." A great general from the Wu clan of Wuguo shouted: "Utterly nonsensical—what the hell is the Heavenly Court, what the hell is the Thunder Division, what the hell is this broken Demon-Subduing Office? I've never even heard of such nonsense, yet you act like a big shot, showing off your might here!"

Another great general from the Xiang clan sneered: "Indeed, we have experienced tens of millions of battlefield slaughters; what demons and monsters haven't we seen? Pretending here, do you really think you can scare anyone?"

These commanders under Wu Tie, half from the Three Kingdoms aristocratic families and half from the Su Chao clans, whether from the Three Kingdoms chaotic wars or the countless years of campaigns against Su Chao's enemies, have all experienced a hundred battles, forged in blood and gore.

They are a bunch of veteran soldiers, a bunch of old killing embryos.

As they said, what demons and monsters haven't they seen? Ji Ting put on airs before them, self-righteously pronouncing their death sentence; to these veteran soldiers, he was nothing but a clown making a fool of himself here.

Ji Ting's face darkened.

He said in a deep voice: "Impudent, how dare you disregard the Heavenly Court's majesty? Today, you will all die, and I will surely pursue your kin and..."

With a "pfft", Ji Ting, who was loudly berating Xiahou Wuming and others, only cared about his impassioned scolding, completely neglecting his own defense.

Dao Qi Sha appeared like a ghost from behind him, a sword piercing through Ji Ting's occiput, the blade tip viciously stabbing out from his forehead.

Ji Chan, Ji Ming, and others screamed in shock and anger.

Ji Ting's body convulsed violently, countless bolts of lightning erupting frenziedly from his pores.

Dao Qi Sha's voice flickered and vanished; the next instant he was back on Xiahou Wuming's flagship. Hiding behind a Wuguo commander, using that commander's sturdy frame to shield himself, Dao Qi Sha let out a weird, yin-yang laugh.

"Where did this little chick come from? On the battlefield, where people die at any moment, do you still have the energy to chatter here? Bah!"

Ji Chan said nothing, grabbed the lightning-surge Ji Ting, and turned to leave.

Dao Qi Sha laughed triumphantly: "Too late, kid; the ancients gave you a lesson with the 'Soul-Shattering Style'—that sword absolutely shattered his innate spiritual light, and he cannot be saved."

"You might as well smash his skull, let him die early and reincarnate early, no need to struggle and suffer."

"Bah, he can't be saved, he can't be saved... even if we barely keep his body intact, he's just a living corpse—what's the point?"

Ji Ming, with a hole pierced through his chest and his five viscera evaporated, screamed: "Belonging to the Demon-Subduing Office, kill! Slaughter this herd of heretical demons... the dignity of the Heavenly Court cannot be compromised here!"

Earlier, when Ji Ting was fishing, the man who had been transmitting military intel to him gritted his teeth and suddenly raised a radiant, lightning-emitting seal.

"Belonging to the Demon-Subduing Office, kill!"

With a "boom", over a hundred million heavily armored soldiers on the floating clouds rose in unison, forming square ten-thousand-man formations that blanketed the sky and earth as they charged toward Xiahou Wuming's fleet.

The million armored troops brought by Ji Chan and Ji Ming also formed battle arrays and joined the formal ranks; the severely wounded Ji Ming and several dozen other commanders gritted their teeth and charged at the forefront.

"Foolish!" Xiahou Wuming and the Wuguo commanders simultaneously shook their heads; the enemy's formation was so dense it was practically a live target served up on a platter.

Looking at their packed, shoulder-to-shoulder formation, not blasting a barrage into the center of their densest formation would be a sorry waste of the great expense Wuguo poured into these new warships.

Xiahou Wuming's flagship turned sideways, over a thousand warships lining up in a single row, their hulls' thick armor plates sliding aside to reveal the densely packed multifaceted crystal cannons within.

In the next instant, blinding streams of light tore through the void, slamming heavily into the dense formation of the Demon-Suppressing Command's infantry.

Blinding flames burst forth, and vast numbers of infantry turned to ash in the cannon barrage; the explosive shockwave tore open the dense formation, throwing the charging Demon-Suppressing Command army into disarray, left and right, in utter chaos.

On the ground, the armor plates on the chests of tens of thousands of Giant God Soldiers slid open, and nearly a million thumb-thick Chaos Fire Bolts screamed up into the sky.

On the warship brought by Xiahou Wuming, hundreds of thousands of Giant God Soldiers likewise released dense swarms of Chaos Fire Bolts, like a frenzied horde of hornets; these Chaos Fire Bolts plunged headfirst into the Demon-Suppressing Command army's formation and then erupted violently.

Each Chaos Fire Bolt's power equals only a single strike from a cultivator at the peak of the Embryo Storage Realm, but when dozens of them stack together, their force matches a full-powered blow from a master of the second or third heaven of the Divine Realm.

The explosive force of thousands, tens of thousands, hundreds of thousands, and millions of Chaos Fire Bolts piled together created a scene like heaven collapsing and earth splitting; the void within a radius of several hundred li before Xiahou Wuming and his companions was engulfed in flames, and countless figures of the Demon-Suppressing Command infantry vanished completely in the firelight.

"Add more strength!" Xiahou Wuming shouted loudly.

Nearly a hundred Wuguo Venerable-level experts present simultaneously mobilized their mana, releasing their strongest divine abilities and secret techniques into that rolling, writhing mass of firelight.

Bolts of lightning howled, flames rose, and sword shadows and sword qi stretching a thousand li swept across the void, while dense showers of arrows whistled away like a storm……

Only after a full cup of tea's time did the aftermath of the terrifying joint attack launched by the Wuguo army finally subside.

In midair, countless heavily armored soldiers huddled together, forming a spherical formation; the soldiers were identical, their vital energies linking as one, coalescing into a thick layer of light that solidly protected them within.

Xiahou Wuming and his companions, being experienced in battle, took one look at this spherical formation and roughly judged that, of the Demon-Suppressing Command army that had just numbered in the hundreds of millions, at least seventy percent of the troops had been wiped out in the previous frenzied assault, while only about thirty percent survived by relying on the formation's power.

"Arrogant lot…… constantly shouting about the dignity of the Heavenly Court, constantly shouting about subduing demons and eliminating evil, constantly shouting about condemnation and judgment…… I once thought they were formidable…… but it turns out, aside from their great numbers, they…… are nothing more than this." Xiahou Wuming stroked his beard and laughed long: "Generals, have you noticed…… they seem…… never to have truly set foot on a battlefield, basically lacking any battlefield experience?"

"Commander is right," Xiang Feixie nodded firmly, "these fellows' combat power does not match their cultivation at all…… that jerk who just called himself Ji Chan, his strength is greater than mine, yet I pressed him down and beat him badly——where did they come from?"

Xiahou Wuming shook his head, then pointed fiercely at the spherical formation within the pillar of light: "Annihilate them…… leave only the leaders one or two, subject them to harsh torture, and interrogate them about their origins."