Two Realms: A giant of immortal martial arts emerges from low Wu Gan

"Cough cough, no wonder that monster Xuanming would personally guard this place."

At this moment, Daoist Lieyan also appeared beside Jiang Shu. He immediately knew what had happened and spoke up.

According to him, Xuanming was the holy son of the Kunpeng clan in the previous generation of Jiang Shu, and was going to succeed the ancestor of the Kunpeng clan. He was extremely powerful.

At this time, the human race was in high spirits after Jiang Shu's return, and the desolate desert was definitely their first target. Even so, Xuanming still risked a lot to come, which shows that the demon race must have its own plan.

The demon race did not completely abandon the desolate desert; they knew that holding out against it might result in heavy losses.

Leaving an empty shell can both delay the time for the human race to clean up and stabilize the area, deplete the human race's strength, and allow the core of the array to exist more concealed elsewhere.

Jiang Shu didn't show much frustration. If the key nodes of the demon race's great formation could be so easily removed, they wouldn't have been qualified to fight against the human race for so many years.

The reason I was able to destroy the array's core before was because the demon race underestimated me.

Unexpectedly, a Dao Lord of the Myriad Manifestations Realm who is not even a Dao Venerable dared to venture deep into the Demon Realm.

Now that they had grown stronger, they naturally wouldn't let them destroy the core of the formation.

So he spoke in a deep voice to the Xuanwu Daoist of the Zhenwu Sect and the Tianfu Daoist of the Danfu Sect, who had rushed over at great speed:
“Xuanming has been seriously injured and fled. The eye of this formation is a fake formation, and the core has been moved away by the Kunpeng secret technique.”

"I have sent a message to Daoist Hongyue to proceed with the original plan. Once we have completely captured the three dangerous locations in the desolate desert, we will focus on eliminating the remaining demons and stabilizing the space."

Although Jiang Shu rarely appeared in the Allied Forces and did not hold a fixed position, his reputation far surpassed that of ordinary Dao Venerables.

"A fine method for selecting Daoist masters!"

Xuanwu Daozun praised, his voice deep and thunderous.

"The demon race is cunning, but the overall situation is already decided!"

Heavenly Talisman Daoist swiftly flicked his finger, and several communication talismans shot out.

Without the resistance of Xuanming, the strongest core force, and several core demon lords, plus the arrival of top human reinforcements one after another.

After Jiang Shu returned to his command position, the remaining demon defenses in the desolate desert collapsed like an avalanche.

The human army swept through the desolate desert like a raging torrent, eliminating key nodes such as the Blood Fiend Rock one by one, and the remaining demons were either annihilated or captured.

A large number of array masters and weapon refiners thoroughly sorted out and reinforced the space of this land that had once bred countless dangers, to prevent the demon race from launching sneak attacks using the complex terrain again.

After that, the human race did not immediately launch another large-scale cross-realm offensive.

It is unwise for the Purple Extreme Daoist to stretch the battle lines too far. The primary task at present is to consolidate the newly acquired territory, digest the gains, and firmly grasp the Demon Realm coastal area in the hands of the human race. Using this as a springboard, a more stable front line can be established.

While Riftstone City remains an important core fortress, the most important city currently controlled by the human race is still Panhai City, which stands in the Chaotic Demon Sea. It will become the strongest fortress for the human race at the doorstep of the Demon Realm and the first outpost for monitoring the endless Demon Sea.

Panhai City sits atop a massive cliff. Above it is a spatial rift carved out by a powerful Dao Lord or Demon Lord realm expert, while below lies the turbulent and perpetually misty Chaotic Demon Sea.

This place was originally an extremely important coastal hub for the demon race, far larger and more fortified than the cities in the desolate desert.

The architectural style is rugged and mysterious, consisting mostly of huge black stone houses, totem poles engraved with demonic patterns, and palaces that imitate the skeletal structure of deep-sea monsters. The air is filled with a strong, salty sea breeze and the sulfurous stench unique to the demon race.

When Jiang Shu first came here, he had only recently achieved the position of Dao Lord, but in just under two years, he had already become a Dao Venerable, having transcended hundreds, or even thousands, of years of cultivation.

Panhai City, which was nearly destroyed by the aftermath of the battle, was rebuilt by the array masters.

One after another, grand formations rose up.

The captured demons had their cultivation suppressed. Before the great battle, these transformed demons, who were almost the overlords of an island in the endless sea, were all reduced to nodes where the great formation extracted energy.

Ordinary demons have no chance of survival at all.

They were all skinned and gutted by alchemists and weapon refiners, and then refined into pills and magical artifacts.

The aroma of medicine permeated the city.

As for those half-demons who did not step onto the battlefield but still possessed some human blood,

They were all gathered in one place, and everyone who joined the human alliance had to pass the test of the Heart-Questioning Array.

This method of operation is extremely skillful and swift.

Jiang Shu only glanced down for a moment before transforming into a streak of light and flying into the city lord's mansion.

The sea breeze, carrying a faint salty smell and the lingering scent of gunpowder from afar, seeped through the cracks in the rough stone walls and swirled in the empty and somber hall.

The hall was almost sparsely furnished, except for a large table in the very center, piled high with talisman array diagrams and jade slips containing intelligence on the front lines, which recorded various data about the current human alliance.

"The surface is calm, but undercurrents are surging beneath."

Jiang Shu murmured to himself.

At this time, Panhai City was not yet completely stable.

Since no Daoist master came to oversee the situation, he temporarily took over.

But it is precisely because of this takeover that everything done here must be done with caution.

Having reached his level, he naturally knew that the great war had progressed to this point without the intervention of powerful figures at the Dao Lord or Demon Lord levels.

The human race can almost be said to have won a great victory.

Since ancient times, self-interest has been a powerful motivator.

The greater the victory, the more likely various conflicts will arise in the distribution of benefits.

Just like Panhai City now, all eight major sects want it, and none of them are willing to give it up.

"What appears to be a great war between humans and demons is actually a struggle for interests."

"In times of crisis and life-or-death situations, everyone can unite as one. But once the crisis is truly resolved, self-interest becomes the standard by which everything is measured."

"Among the human race, there must be cultivators who will choose to cooperate with the demon race for the sake of profit."

“These types of cultivators include not only ordinary cultivators, but also Dao Lords and even Dao Venerables.”

"After all, once you reach this level, taking even one more step forward is extremely difficult."

"And some of the methods used by the demon race are indeed quite bizarre."

Jiang Shu's mind raced, and the images of the demon lords he had encountered involuntarily surfaced in his mind.

These demon lords shared almost identical understandings of the Great Dao of Space.

The world inside each body is much the same.

It doesn't seem like a demon lord who has truly comprehended the Great Dao of Space and opened up a world within his body.

Leaving aside the Great Dao of Space, their strength is not even comparable to that of a true half-step Demon Lord.

But the Demon Lord is still the Demon Lord, and he controls a portion of the Great Dao of Space.

When encountering a Dao Lord at the Myriad Manifestations Realm, they can almost always be completely suppressed and killed.

As the battle unfolds, the true nature of these demon lords will inevitably be discovered by some Dao Lords, or even Dao Venerables.

If they find that their cultivation has no hope of advancement, will they begin to cooperate with the demon race? His divine sense rapidly scanned through the files.

The cold, hard numbers record some unusual events that occurred after the human race took over Panhai City.

Seventeen critical supply transport routes were attacked, the source of which remains unknown, and the core runes of nine newly built defense nodes were silently destroyed.

The three Nirvana Realm cultivators stationed here were all ambushed while on patrol or resting, and their bodies were never found.

The words of the Purple Extreme Daoist Master before his departure still echoed in my ears.

"Panhai City is the throat of both the human and demon races. How could the demon race be willing to lose such an important town?"

"There must be some half-demons in private who are still willing to follow the demon race."

"Of course, more importantly, it's about people's hearts."

"Extraordinary times call for extraordinary measures. You must remain calm and, more importantly, be ruthless!"

To be ruthless, you must first leave some loopholes.

Only by leaving loopholes can some demons and people think that there is an opportunity to take advantage of this place.

Jiang Shu closed his eyes briefly, and when he opened them again, his eyes were filled with murderous intent.

With a slight thought, a grayish-white stone talisman shaped like a fox's head appeared in his palm. A wisp of extremely fine Yuan energy, carrying a hint of strange demonic energy, was injected into the stone talisman.

Half an hour had passed.

A series of footsteps quickly echoed outside the door.

Jiang Shu didn't even release his divine sense; he simply listened to the footsteps and quickly whispered:
"Enter."

In this city lord's mansion, without his permission, who would rush over?

The heavy wooden door opened and closed silently, and two figures knelt before the table almost without making a sound.

The leader was a slightly thin young man with the handsome features of a human, yet with a subtle upward curve at the corners of his eyes and brows, characteristic of the fox race. His eyes seemed to shimmer with a faint green light in the dim light. He was Hu Yi, the current patriarch of the half-fox fox race.

Beside him stood a hunched old man with sparse white hair and a deeply lined face. Only his eyes, which occasionally opened and closed, flashed with a murky yet undeniable light of wisdom, like a spark buried deep in the ashes.

The old man beside Hu Yi bowed deeply, his posture extremely humble, with only his withered body trembling slightly with a soft cough.

"Owner."

Hu Yi's voice was deep and clear, like a taut bowstring.

“You’re right. Panhai City may seem compliant now, but in reality, demonic energy still lingers. After you announced your intention to go into seclusion, things were peaceful at first, but now, some small actions have begun to take place.”

Jiang Shu's gaze swept past the old man and landed on Hu Yi.

"Have you figured out a few clues?"

"There's some progress."

Hu Yi looked up, took out a piece of jade as thin as a cicada's wing from his body, and respectfully presented it with both hands.

"The fox-people are, after all, half-demons. Some of their members have intermarried with other half-demon races, so they can naturally find out some information."

"Among the surrendered half-demons in the city, some had already secretly colluded with the wandering demon teams outside the city, hoping to unite the city's interior and exterior. Their main goal was to escape Panhai City, because in their view..."

"Humans will not treat them as their own. What seems like appeasement now will surely turn them into slaves in the future."

"It would be better to continue following the demon race."

"After all, they had already established a stable power base by following the demon race. The higher-ups among the half-demons enjoyed some powers that even humans did not have, so they were naturally unwilling to give them up."

"These petty actions have all stopped because of your arrival. They have been secretly passing on information from the city, and based on your movements, we have initially identified seven key locations."

The jade piece emitted a faint, warm luster at his fingertips, and the tiny characters engraved on it were clearly visible under Jiang Shu's powerful divine sense.

Among the human race, there are some Daoist masters who advocate winning over half-demons.

Therefore, at this stage, the system is still relatively lenient for half-demons who are willing to pledge allegiance to the human race.

In addition, Jiang Shu did this on purpose.

This led many half-demons to have ulterior motives and secretly contact the demon teams sent out by the imperial palace.

They want to regain their former power.

"only these?"

Jiang Shu simply scanned the area with his divine sense and memorized the locations. He then looked at Hu Yi, whose face was filled with fervor, and asked him a question.

Hu Yi paused for a moment, then shook his head and said:

“My lord, the half-demons are actually a minor matter. The most important thing is the demon race. After all, the potential of half-demons is limited, and some demons are hiding outside the city through various means.”

“The secret agents of pure-blooded great demons like the Azure Dragon Guard and the Black Serpent Hall are extremely secretive and use single-line dead agents. Unless you get to their core, it is extremely difficult to contact or detect them.”

"This list is the limit of what we can access; there are probably even deeper fish hiding in the mud that haven't surfaced yet."

"Moreover, in the intelligence reports from subordinates, they said they heard some very vague whispers."

"It seems that among the demon race, some powerful individuals have formed a force called Yao Xi. After a half-demon joins, not only can their bloodline power be enhanced, but they can also gain the support of the demon race in the future and have the potential to be completely integrated into the demon race."

"Yao Xi?"

The light of the demon race?
Jiang Shu's expression remained unchanged as he looked at Hu Yi and said:
"Your intelligence is very important. Send someone to keep an eye on things from the shadows. Report any suspicious activity to me immediately."

"Now, let's keep them in good condition, just make sure there's no major news leaking out."

After saying that, Jiang Shu flicked his finger and sent out a pill.

After he was stationed in Panhai City, his senior brother Ruyi sent him a large amount of supplies.

It contains many precious artifacts and elixirs.

These precious artifacts and elixirs were naturally useless to him at this moment.

But it can be used as a reward or favor.

"This pill is called the Enlightenment Pill. It gives cultivators in the Nirvana Realm the opportunity to comprehend a wisp of the Dao during their seclusion."

"Although relying on a single pill almost eliminates the chance of reaching the Myriad Manifestations Realm, it can help cultivators better comprehend the corresponding divine abilities of the Great Dao, laying a foundation for future advancement in their cultivation realm."

"This Taoist robe, though not a Taoist artifact, has the effect of concealing one's bloodline aura. Unless examined by a Dao Lord or Demon Lord, it is almost impossible to detect your half-demon identity."

Jiang Shu spoke slowly, and a stream of light emanated from his sleeve, condensing into a ball of light in the void.

Hu Yi was dumbfounded. He could clearly see the treasures corresponding to each of these clusters of light.

These treasures are coveted even by Nirvana Realm cultivators with great achievements.

And now, they were all appearing before his eyes! (End of Chapter)