Chapter 247: Blood‑Stained Painting! Firepower Reigns Supreme!

Xiao Jing Tian and his brother were implanted with a demonic seed by Chu Yang, obediently returned to East Ying, and, following Chu Yang's orders, prepared to unleash a slaughter there.

Before departing, Chu Yang gave Xiao Jing Tian the Mixed Heaven Five Absolutes to remedy the flaw in his own cultivation technique.

The two left, tears of gratitude streaming.

The millennium calamity ended before it even began.

It can be said that the late emperor's enterprise fell apart midway, before half completion.

After lying in bed for half a month, Xiao San Xiao gradually regained vigor, chose to depart without saying goodbye, probably frightened by Chu Yang's inquiries and unwilling to have his blood drawn.

Zhonghua Hall was smashed to pieces by Chu Yang and Xiao Jing Tian, and is now being rebuilt; nameless and troubled by reputation, they decided to relocate and handed Zhonghua Hall over to Chu Yang for management.

The Fengyun World entered a rare period of peace.

………

Soul Palace.

Fengyun Chu Yang handed the dragon vein that had absorbed Central Plains qi to Ming Empire Chu Yang.

The latter will return to his own world to continue drawing qi, then use the Alchemical Treasure Technique to forge the dragon vein into his spine.

Dragon, phoenix, qilin, and mysterious turtle—the four auspicious beasts—now only lack the mysterious turtle's power within Chu Yang; during Xiao San Xiao's half‑month recuperation, everyone worked overtime extracting mysterious turtle blood.

The extraction is just completed now.

After refining the dragon‑turtle blood, the auspicious beast blood in Chu Yang's body reacted, the four distinct forces balancing each other like the Mixed Heaven Four Absolutes.

The ferocity hidden in the auspicious beast blood gradually mellowed, even acquiring a hint of sanctity.

The four auspicious beasts further evolved toward the Four Sacred Beasts.

The feedback to the source martial true body naturally brought another surge of advancement.

After the auspicious beast blood was refined, Ming Empire Chu Yang, who had received the dragon vein from Fengyun Chu Yang, returned to his own world.

Today's Ming Empire, due to the promotion of alchemy, has burst forth with astonishing vitality.

From martial sects to ordinary folk, demon‑slaying has become a trend; regardless of talent, as long as you possess Demon Race flesh, you can exchange it for pills at the authorities.

With pills, martial cultivation advances a thousand miles a day, and even children without innate talent in common families have a chance to stand out.

The era of nationwide demon‑slaying has arrived.

The Demon calamities within Ming's borders are vanishing at a staggering speed; with the Qi Family Army pacifying the southern rebellion, the south is gradually stabilizing, and the people now have a right to live.

If the demon problem can be solved altogether, Ming will have no further worries, and people everywhere can live peacefully.

Chu Yang intends to eradicate demons completely, but unable to locate the source, he can only deal with the Demon Race first.

The Qi Family Army's armaments are ready; the entire force is equipped with new firearms, garrisoned at Wang Long City, facing East Ying across the sea.

The Demon Race has also shown signs of movement, seemingly unwilling to wait for death, stockpiling massive demon troops at sea; moreover, the Sea Race beneath the waves is stirring.

Qi Jiguang realized that ordinary warships might not withstand such conflict; brand‑new vessels are needed to confront the Demon Race and the Sea Race.

So shipbuilding became a major undertaking.

Almost overnight, a shipyard appeared near Wang Long City.

Even with a shipyard, the craftsmen of the firearms battalion find it hard to build new large ships quickly; they excel at firearms, and shipbuilding is only at a competent level.

Chu Yang thought it over and decided to reward with pills, inviting skilled artisans from across the land to Wang Long City to build ships.

At this very moment.

The Demon Race in East Ying are seen by countless people as precious pills; not to mention the pill rewards—anyone who can get a share of this war rushes in by the thousands!

Imperial notices posted in major cities sparked fierce reactions; any warrior who has ever hammered iron twice claimed to be a craftsman, sharpening their minds to meet the qualifications.

The once low‑rank occupations suddenly became scorching hot.

Besides craftsmen, formation masters also joined the invitation; like the new firearms, an excellent battlefield cannot do without formation support.

So the sects on the mountain could no longer sit idle, dispatching disciples and formation masters down.

Chu Yang had previously beheaded Mu Dao Ren in Seven Heroes Town; the elders of all major sects witnessed it, the warning effect was excellent, and everyone cooperated with the court's actions.

From the court down to the common folk, everyone pooled their efforts.

Regardless of purpose, when the entire Ming Empire's national strength concentrates at a point, it generates awe‑inspiring massive power.

Warships appeared on the sea one after another like dumplings being dropped, many of which the Qi Family Army built using Chu Yang's blueprints, employing steel.

The ships featured numerous eye‑catching steel giants.

Some even thought they were modern warships.

The bustling shipbuilding venture naturally could not be hidden from the Demon Race across the sea.

The Demon Race were both curious and fearful of the steel‑clad ships; the unknown provokes the greatest terror.

The current bottleneck means the Demon Race can no longer afford to gather information; they urged their northern allies to speed up, aiming to press Ming from both front and rear.

The Jian Nu's struggle against the Demon Race lasted long, but ultimately they were disastrously defeated due to lacking formation combination techniques; nearly two‑thirds of their people fell in battle, and the remaining survivors were transformed into demon‑people.

After becoming demon‑people, their lives and fortunes were controlled by the Demon Race, making them vassals serving the demons.

The surviving Jian Nu thought it was over, but the Demon Race forced them to siege a city the day after the transformation.

They attacked Wanli Xuanbing City on Ming's northern frontier! Including old and young, a massive force of one hundred thousand gathered to march on the border.

Upon hearing the news, Chu Yang dispatched Zhuge Zhengwo and Gu Santong, two grand masters, to reinforce Wanli Xuanbing City, primarily to deal with the Demon King entrenched in the north.

Guo Bu Jing volunteered, requesting to go along.

Chu Yang had refused him many times before, but his resolve forced Chu Yang to acquiesce.

Since the Divine Marquis Residence handles demon affairs and cannot act lightly, the three took part of the Six Gates' personnel northward.

Within days, Zheng Dongliu broke through the pass, successfully sweeping away inner demons, and, using Chu Yang's pills, ascended to the Grandmaster realm.

Coincidentally, the Six Gates and Divine Marquis Residence were leaderless, so Chu Yang ordered Zheng Dongliu to command the three major agencies, stabilize the Central Plains, and oversee the overall situation.

The news of the Demon Race besieging the northern frontier spread simultaneously, prompting many martial artists to band northward to slay demons, forming another new force.

Ten days later, the Demon Race's massive army drove the Jian Nu tribe to the foot of Wanli Xuanbing City, launching a fierce assault on the border.

Thousands of demon-exterminating crossbows were lined up in a row on the city wall; Li Chengliang ignored the cries of the Jurchen people beneath his feet, his face cold as he ordered the attack.

The crossbow bolts fell like rain!

Crossbow bolts capable of piercing a great demon's body displayed terrifying power in the crowd, often a single bolt could pierce several people! On the snow, strings of blood gourds were instantly hung up.

It was like a blood‑stained canvas……

The battle at Ten‑thousand‑li Mystic Ice City erupted; the warships on Wanglong City's side were also ready, with hundreds of thousands of troops fully equipped and awaiting deployment.

Inheriting the glorious tradition of the Zhu family, Chu Yang decided to personally lead the campaign.

Zhuge Zheng and our people were not in the capital, and no one managed him.

Besides the court's hundreds of warships, those prominent sects also secretly built a few each; altogether they probably numbered several dozen.

After lining up at sea, the scene was extremely grand.

Chu Yang's dragon ship took the center, like stars surrounding the moon.

The Demon Race was not to be outdone either, mustering its forces to await the enemy at ease.

Both sides met in the waters near Japan and launched a fierce battle. The Demon Race's warships were relatively backward, making it hard to approach under the Human Race's warships' fierce cannon fire; in the early stages of the war they remained in a passive, beaten‑down state.

The dozens of warships belonging to the jianghu sects, seeing their side held an absolute advantage, broke formation on their own and moved close to the Demon Race's warships.

Riches move the heart.

Every Demon Race corpse is a precious treasure; they thought it better to loot for themselves than to have the corpses torn apart by cannon fire.

This group of jianghu people seemed certain that Chu Yang would not fire on them.

After all, they had only recently helped the imperial court build so many warships.

Dozens of warships, feeling assured, approached the Demon Race's warships at top speed.

On the deck of the dragon ship, both Chu Yang and Qi Jiguang witnessed this scene.

Qi Jiguang, seeing this, worriedly said, "Your Majesty, shouldn't we warn them to return? The Demon Race clearly still has a trick up its sleeve."

"It's fine," Chu Yang waved his hand, saying, "Even if we told them, they wouldn't listen—look at those people, their eyes can't take in anything else, not even their own lives."

Qi Jiguang sighed, "But letting them die here would be a huge blow to morale, detrimental to the upcoming fighting."

"We should still give them some support; as for how many can come back alive, that's up to their fate."

Chu Yang nodded.

Just then, an anomaly occurred.

The sea surface suddenly resembled boiling water, with countless bubbles rising from the depths, and then everyone saw a sight that made their scalps tingle.

The undersides of the warships were swarming with dark figures! Some timid female disciples, upon seeing this, screamed aloud; their sharp cries were like a signal, causing not only chaos among the warships everywhere but also a reaction from beneath the sea.

Jet‑black figures erupted from the seabed, leapt straight onto the decks, and revealed their hideous, monstrous true forms.

Sea Race demon beasts are infinitely varied, far stranger than their land counterparts; the few humanoid sea demons there are, without exception, belong to royalty.

The Sea Race drove sea beasts to ram the warships; the violent shaking threw those standing at the deck's edge into the sea, the surface instantly turned blood‑red, scattered limbs floated on the water, and were soon swallowed by the sea beasts.

This scene filled everyone's view, feeling horrifying, so they all crowded toward the center.

The Sea Race beings that had leapt onto the decks, seeing this, immediately launched an attack, hoping to inflict massive casualties on the enemy while their minds were in disarray.

The clamor of slaughter echoed without cease.

A large number of warships, in their haste to turn and break away, ended up colliding one after another, putting them in dire peril.

The next moment.

The roar of artillery fire rang out!

The sea surface churned; countless Sea Race members died under the artillery barrage, their corpses drifting on the water.

The artillery focused on the sea surface; the Sea Race dared not show their heads, and the besieged warships gained a breathing space, racing back madly.

On some warship decks, large numbers of Sea Race beings still stood.

Yet those Sea Race beings never imagined that, as they brushed past the Qi family army, they would witness what hell is like.

The soldiers held new firearms, mounted on the deck's edge.

The huge gun barrel nearly matched the cannon's volume; the bullets trailed like chains on the ground, with wheel‑like pressure valves on either side, and the copper tubing resembled knotted muscles.

The gun barrel's interior was etched with formations; every bullet fired had astonishing power.

Of course.

The consumption of true essence by the user is equally astonishing.

The gunner's minimum requirement is also a top‑tier expert who has undergone sevenfold blood exchange.

In the past, few in the Qi family army could meet that standard, but now the Qi family army's elixir supply is of the Ming Empire's highest grade, and soldiers who have undergone sevenfold blood exchange are everywhere.

Thus, on each warship's deck, besides the cannons, they were packed with the firearms corps' newest development: the Ming Empire cyber machine gun.

Made using Chu Yang's given Maxim heavy machine gun as a blueprint.

The muzzle blast formed a continuous line of fire, brighter than a searchlight; the Sea Race beings on the deck instinctively shielded their eyes, and before they could even see what it was, their bodies were torn apart by the overwhelming firepower.

The people had been driven into the ship's cabins by the Sea Race, so the Qi family army could unleash firepower without restraint; in the blink of an eye, the decks of dozens of warships were cleared clean.

It left a ground soaked in blood.

The survivors emerged from the cabins, raising their arms in cheers, while others hid in corners weeping, mourning their fallen comrades.

After this, those dozens of warships representing the various major jianghu sects no longer dared to act recklessly; they obediently fell in behind the Qi family army.

Under relentless firepower suppression, the Sea Race and Demon Race suffered heavy losses, but they did not care.

Both races are vast in number and possess extremely strong reproductive capacity; no matter how many die, they will swiftly recover after the war, so it's hardly a pity.

As long as they can exhaust the warships' ammunition, they can wait for a chance to turn the tables—a conclusion drawn from years of fighting General Qi.

Unfortunately……

They did not know that the Qi family army's weapons had been upgraded; even if the ammunition ran out, the soldiers could still substitute true essence for bullets.

Even without true essence, there are other substitutes that provide energy.

In short, it's impossible to strike at nothing.

The cannon fire sounded all day, the nearby sea was dyed red, and the sea race doesn't know how many lives they left on this battlefield.

As time passed, their shadows gradually disappeared.

"Those sea demons were completely routed and fled this sea area."

Qi Jiguang observed the battlefield and gave his conclusion: the alliance between the Demon Race and the sea race has probably collapsed.

Without the sea race's restraint, the demon race's warships could not resist the Qi family army at all, being beaten back repeatedly until they retreated to their homeland.

At that very moment when the demon race collapsed and fled, seven terrifying auras rose simultaneously, pressing down on the Qi family army.

"Demon King!"

Qi Jiguang was very familiar with this aura; he had encountered it once before in Gazing Dragon City.

But there are actually seven of such auras!

The Twelve Demon Kings of the Myriad Demon Kingdom: two were slain by Chu Yang in Jinling City, three went north to attack the Ten-Thousand-Li Mystic Ice City, and the remaining seven are here! Seven massive, oppressively imposing figures hovered in the high sky, causing the Qi family army's soldiers to instinctively grip their weapons, cold sweat pouring.

Seven Demon Kings!

However, this isn't the end! After the seven demon kings, three even stronger auras rose above them!

The air was filled with the smell of blood.

It was as if a mountain of corpses and a sea of blood were surging forward.

Not to mention the inexperienced martial artists trembling, even the Qi family army had soldiers whose teeth were chattering.

"Get lost!"

The cold, clear voice thundered like a clap of lightning!

Chu Yang stepped forward, his form flickering, suddenly appearing before the seven demon kings.

Shouldering the sun and moon, dragon and elephant roaring in unison! Starlight flickered on his fist as he slammed it down fiercely!

In his Origin Martial True Form, Chu Yang unleashed a full-power strike without reservation, destroying everything before him! The seven demon kings didn't even have time to announce their names before being reduced to dust under that punch; heaven and earth fell suddenly silent! (End of chapter)