All Heavenly destiny reduced to ashes
Chapter 653 - 28: Feather Transformation Demon Man (2/4)

Chapter 653: Chapter 28: Feather Transformation Demon Man (2/4)

An Jing had encountered Demon Men before.

On the Broken Blade Peak, while guarding the Primordial Spirit Cave, he had faced off against a Demon Man from Iron Li. That Demon Man seemed no different from a human in any respect, save for his use of the Art of Magic that involved a few Heavenly Demon Divine Skills and the augmentation of Demonic Qi.

But the Demon Men of the Tianyuan Realm were quite different.

They appeared almost human, but they had almost nothing in common with humankind... if anything, they were more like Puppetry.

Their limbs were primarily constructed from a copious amount of mechanical prosthetics, and sprouting, vine-like roots of the Evergreen Wood, covered with jagged thorns, entwined around their bodies. They appeared as hybrid entities of metal and wood, the vegetal parts forming a network similar to veins, while the metal functioned as bones and flesh. Their skulls bore no facial features, only broken mechanical structures, or the strange vine-like tissues filling them, functioning like brains.

Their hands had transformed into long whips or sharp claws, even bizarre wings, each with a distinct but uniformly horrific and ferocious form.

And they were... by no means for show.

The first Demon Man to appear in everyone’s view was clutching a panic-stricken Wilderness Tribulation Cultivator. It opened its mouth, and its tongue had turned into a blood vine, piercing directly into the Tribulation Cultivator’s brain—The Tribulation Cultivator screamed momentarily but soon could no longer make a sound, his eyes rolled back completely white.

And the Demon Man’s hand also morphed into tree roots that plunged into the Tribulation Cultivator’s heart, causing this unfortunate Cultivator’s entire body to wither and shrivel up rapidly, turning into a corpse of skin and bones.

"Ah..."

Replenished with Essence Qi, the Demon Man shuddered and let out a satisfied moan, its vines turning even greener and more vibrant, while one after another, purple-black patterns materialized on its metallic body, forming an eerie totem.

Behind it, other Demon Men of various forms, all covered in fresh blood and obviously having already feasted within the depths of the fortress, began to emerge one after another.

Then, they greedily fixed their gaze on the flesh and blood before them.

The hunt had begun.

Demon Men possessed extraordinary life force, defense, and strength; they were extremely agile and fought crazily without fear of death. Qi Refinement Cultivators stood no chance of stopping them. The moment they arrived, they roared and lunged at the Wilderness tribes’ allied forces and Monsters/Demons advancing step by step toward the Fortress Area, causing massive casualties instantly.

Ignoring the barrage of Art of Magic cast at them, the Demon Men broke through the formation. Some of them bit into the arms of those at the forefront, others swung their sharp claws to sever heads, then gulped down the blood from the necks, while some crushed skulls with their mouths as if cracking open a sugar ball before swallowing it—these Demon Men were extremely pleased with the fresh blood and life-filled Spiritual Power. After tasting the deliciousness, they became more ferociously mad and lunged toward the Wilderness troops, which were now starting to fall into disarray.

"Feather Transformation maniacs!" "Heavenly Mechanism gone mad?" "Demon Men?! So many Demon Men?!"

The Wilderness people also cried out in panic. These Demon Men were Feather Transformation Dao Cultivators who had risen too high and, lacking proper maintenance by Cultivators, gradually lost their humanity, and were ultimately corrupted by Demonic Qi. They are the most dangerous type of all Demon Men, possessing immense strength, no weaknesses, swift movement, and immense ferocity.

Because they had replaced their entire bodies with Heavenly Mechanism Prosthetics and Evergreen Wood before their Demonization, they crave fresh Flesh and Blood even more after becoming Demon Men, hunting down like madmen upon seeing any humans.

[Something’s wrong, why are there so many of the most dangerous Feather Transformation Demon Men?]

On the other side, the Steel Skeleton Mercenary troop that was also in a defensive wait-and-see position noticed the Demon Men, and beyond the alarm felt in their hearts, a surge of confusion arose: [Aren’t all Feather Transformation Dao Cultivators either under the company’s protection or outright members of the company? The Demon Men in the Wilderness are almost all crazed fugitives from the company, or freaks who have illegally modified themselves... Who could have gathered so many Feather Transformation Demon Men?]

Facing the onslaught of a dozen or so Feather Transformation Demon Men, the teams preparing to attack the Fortress Area disintegrated, with even the Demon Spirits wary of these frenzied beasts.

"Retreat, retreat!"

The leader of the Wilderness Foundation Establishment Cultivators sounded the horn, signaling the retreat, while the tiger-like Ash Crows also howled in their own way, as they too were ’fresh Flesh and Blood’ for the Demon Men’s hunting, with many Wolf Demons already drained of their flesh and blood, and numerous Ash Crows pounced on by winged Demon Men.

But their retreat and the appearance of the Demon Men also triggered other lurking teams to emerge.

"Figures."

Several mercenary troops like the Steel Skeletons, who had been watching with detached interest before, now became excited: "It looks like there really are some treasures in this place!"

"I was a bit puzzled before. How could real treasures be guarded only by a bunch of weak Tribulation Cultivators with high-end gear they don’t even know how to use? Now it seems this place is likely a test site for the conglomerate, right? Are all these Feather Transformation Demon Men failed experiments?"

"I said it before, the group’s transformation of Magic Guards and Daoist Soldiers always meant human experimentation, it figures!"

In a flash, several more Foundation Establishment auras appeared, their presence unhidden, all targeting the center of the Fortress Area.

Taking advantage of the Demon Men still pursuing the previously exposed Demon Spirits and Wilderness teams, these Foundation Establishment Cultivators leaped into the air, steering various Art of Magic Magic Artifacts and mounts straight towards the fortress, stirring the situation in North Lake Marsh into chaos once again.

"Indeed, those who manage to live comfortably in the Wilderness aren’t fools."

Having already reached a high vantage point in the recess, with the Sword Box mounted at the fire support position, An Jing surveyed the entire periphery of the marsh and the situation in the Fortress Area from the observation scope.

Zhang Zhuo was laying mines in the vicinity, Xu Yue was deploying drones to gather information, while Mrs. Guang was by An Jing’s side, tasked with reinforcing him.

He had noticed during his parachute descent that the surrounding area was a veritable den of dragons and tigers, spotting over fifteen Foundation Establishment auras at a glance—and this was just a cursory observation by An Jing, with most of his attention focused on the result of the missile launch.

An Jing wasn’t afraid of this situation; instead, he understood very well that if a place had more than a dozen Foundation Establishment Cultivators, then the appearance of a Purple Mansion would become highly likely—a matter neither the Wilderness, Demon Spirits, nor Xuanye City would allow to spiral out of control.

Thinking this, An Jing turned his head and inquired of Mrs. Guang, "Is there any news from Third Middle School?"

Still not having come back to reality from the dramatic battle among the Foundation Establishment Cultivators, Mrs. Guang was startled for a moment before finally awakening as if from a dream and said, "The directors have been notified; there should be a response soon."

But it wasn’t just a response.

By now, Third Middle School had already turned into a mess due to the situation encountered by An Jing and others.

At the first sign of missile attack on the Space Shuttle, a security alert was triggered, and many senior school officials who were aware of this convened an emergency online meeting to discuss how to deal with the situation.