The copy has 0 error tolerance, and the last words on the ground are all wrong for me.

Chapter 440 Humans and Demons Cannot Coexist

After explaining the contents of the trial, Tao Hexuan continued:

"Of course, if Your Excellency Peace disdains doing these trivial matters, you may choose a faction under the Humanitarian Alliance and join as a guest elder."

"At that time, you will only need a letter of introduction to skip the most basic trials and join the Demon-Slaying Army directly."

"However, since you come from overseas, you are not familiar with the Great Xuan and demons. In my opinion, you should go to the edge of the Demon Realm and take a look for yourself. This will save you a lot of trouble when you invade the Demon Realm in the future."

World instances are real-world instances. Although they are called games, they are not like video games where quests can be refreshed infinitely.

Judging from the map Tao Hexuan presented, the number of trial missions available to join the Demon-Slaying Army is limited, with a maximum of no more than a thousand.

If all the trial tasks are completed, players who want to join the Demon-Slaying Army will either need to complete trials of lower difficulty or follow the referral route mentioned later by Tao Hexuan.

His original identity as the Tang Sect Master wasn't considered a big shot in the Human Alliance, but it wouldn't be difficult for him to write a letter of recommendation to allow his true self to join the Demon-Slaying Army directly.

However, Wu Chang did not do that. It is obvious that this kind of limited task, which is on a first-come, first-served basis, is related to contribution points and extra benefits, so there is no reason to miss it.

He said, "Thank you for your kindness, Daoist Master. In that case, I will choose to complete the trial."

Tao Hexuan's smile widened, very satisfied with Wu Chang's choice. What the Great Xuan needed were powerful Celestials. If they didn't even dare to participate in the trials and only dared to act arrogantly because of their Celestial status, what use were they?
"Based on intelligence gathered by the Humanitarian Alliance scouts, we categorize the difficulty of clearing away demonic energy into five levels, from one to five. You..."

Wu Chang said directly:

“There is a saying in my hometown: With great power comes great responsibility. Since we have come here to save the common people, please choose the most difficult place for me, Daoist.”

"Fellow Daoist, you are truly virtuous." Tao Hexuan cupped his hands in greeting to Wu Chang, then ordered someone to bring him an envelope containing the location of the trial, as well as a small stone tablet.

Item Name: Demon-Suppressing Stele

Item Type: Special

"Item Description: The stone tablet contains the fortune of humanity. If it is erected and guards the area for one hour without falling, humanity will prevail over evil and dispel the evil energy within the area."

As Wu Chang demonstrated his compassion for saving the world, Tao Hexuan's attitude shifted from formal politeness to a more intimate one, and he began to treat him as one of his own.

"Fellow Daoist, once you enter the trial site, you only need to place this Demon-Suppressing Stele on the ground to protect it from being destroyed by demons. Once the demonic energy dissipates, the trial will be complete."

"Before the demonic aura dissipates, fellow Daoist, there is no need to be too aggressive. Focus on defense and wait for the demonic aura to dissipate before fighting the demons. This will make things much easier."

Tao Hexuan then took out a token from his robes and handed it to Wu Chang, saying:

"I see that you are new to the Great Xuan realm and do not have a suitable mount. Traveling back and forth will waste a lot of time. If you take this token to the Beast Taming Pavilion, someone will arrange a mount for you."

Wu Chang put away the items and said, "Thank you, Daoist Master."

After Wu Chang left, Tao Hexuan quickly summoned a cultivator from the Human Dao Alliance and instructed him:

"Quickly go back and report to the sect leader that the celestial beings have begun to appear. Tell him to prepare immediately. Especially that He Ping from earlier, he is the first celestial being to appear in the world. No matter the cost, we must win him over to become a respected member of the sect."

While Tao Hexuan sent his fellow disciples back to deliver the message, at the city gate, twenty or thirty cultivators from different sects were also rushing to their respective sects.

The appearance of celestial beings is no less important than the Ziwei Exorcising Array in breaking through the demon realm.

In particular, according to rumors in the martial arts world, the overseas immortal mountains are extremely far away from the Great Xuan, and the earlier a celestial being appears in the Great Xuan, the more powerful their cultivation will be.

As the first celestial being to appear in Da Xuan, Wu Chang's appearance was bound to attract attention and lead to fierce competition from all sides.

Wu Chang was unaware that his appearance would cause a stir in Zhenyue City after he left. At this moment, he was in front of the Beast Taming Pavilion, receiving the mount prepared for him by the Human Alliance.

The Beast Taming Pavilion is an institution within the Human Alliance that specializes in training exotic beasts and mounts. All cultivators of the Human Alliance can come here to exchange for corresponding mounts once they have accumulated a certain amount of contribution points.

According to the cultivators guarding the Beast Taming Pavilion, the token Wu Chang held was an opportunity token. When he entered the pavilion with the token in his hand, the token would select a suitable mount for him based on his aura.

Simply put, it's a lottery.

There are many mounts in the Beast Taming Pavilion, and what you get depends entirely on luck.

Perhaps because he was the first celestial being to appear in the Great Xuan, or perhaps because his 30 points of luck that he always had were put to use, he drew a giant white crane.

The white crane has spiritual energy circulating within its body and possesses the bloodline of an ancient spirit beast. Its wingspan exceeds three meters, enough to carry two ordinary-sized cultivators at high speed.

With Wu Changzhen's physique, it was a bit strenuous for Baihe to carry him, but as a spirit beast, as long as Wu Chang could provide it with energy, Baihe's mobility would be guaranteed.

As Wu Chang and Bai He completed the ceremony of recognizing each other as masters, Bai He looked at him with more affection and obediently lay down on the ground, waiting for Wu Chang to ride it.

According to the cultivators of the Beast Taming Pavilion, the white crane has already developed intelligence and can understand human speech in a simple way.

Wu Chang sat on the back of the white crane, opened the envelope about the trial grounds, and saw that the place he was going to was called Cuiyang County.

He pointed out the direction to the white crane, and without needing any further instructions, the crane flapped its wings and carried Wu Chang toward Cuiyang County.

Cuiyang County is 700 li away from Zhenyue City. It would take two days to travel there and back by ordinary fast horse in the Beast Taming Pavilion. For ordinary players, these two days would be a fixed amount of time.

However, Wu Chang could reach Cuiyang County in just over an hour by riding a white crane, which shows how precious flying mounts are.

Cuiyang County is located on a major transportation route and was originally an important hub between the three giant cities of Tianlan Province. If this place is occupied by demons, the connection between the remaining two giant cities will have to take a long detour, which will be extremely inconvenient.

As the most difficult trial designated by Wu Chang, Cuiyang County is not only geographically important, but also has demon generals of the second-highest level, second only to the demon king, hidden in the deep mountains surrounding it.

Immediately after the fall of Cuiyang County, the Humanitarian Alliance dispatched two Grandmasters and one Great Grandmaster, but due to the harassment of the demon generals, they were unable to dispel the demonic aura and instead lost a Grandmaster.

If the Celestials don't arrive soon, the Human Alliance will need to send at least two Grandmasters to reclaim Cuiyang County.

The difficulty of world dungeons is extremely high. Due to the revival of spiritual energy, the extraordinary power of the Great Xuan is rampant. In terms of dungeon difficulty, world dungeons are more difficult than many low-difficulty dungeons in the Realm of Reason.

However, no matter what, the world instance is still in the desolate realm, and the number of top experts is very limited. The number of grandmasters in the Humanity Alliance is no more than fifteen.

The mere existence of Cuiyang County would require the attention of two Grandmasters, putting immense pressure on the Humanitarian Alliance's front in Tianlan Province.

That is why the trial Wu Chang chose was considered the most difficult.

The information prepared by the Humanitarian Alliance details how to complete the trial.

He first landed in a village on the border of Cuiyang County, leaving Baihe and others outside, and then walked into Cuiyang County.

As soon as he entered Cuiyang County, he understood why Tao Hexuan had recommended that he come and see the Demon Realm for himself.

Cuiyang County, corrupted by demonic energy, is filled with a faint black energy, brimming with negative emotions such as coldness, madness, and ominousness.

If nothing unexpected happens, the pale black energy he saw was the demonic energy that the cultivators were talking about.

The demonic energy seemed to be alive; it gathered there on its own when it sensed living people approaching.

A dense aura of demonic energy enveloped him, slowing his perception of the outside world and reducing the speed of energy circulation within his body. Even using skills required more energy.

He took out the Omniscient Crystal and asked about the situation in Cuiyang County. The Omniscient Crystal's answer was very simple.

Plane rules.

Like the Steampunk dungeons, world dungeons also have dimensional rules.

The world rules of Steampunk are to suppress the extraordinary system other than mechanical power, while the dimensional rules of the world dungeons are that humans and demons cannot coexist.

The saying "humans and demons cannot coexist" does not simply mean that humans and demons have different stances and only one of them can survive. It also refers to the fact that the two types of energy that humans and demons rely on, namely spiritual energy and demonic energy, cannot coexist.

Spiritual energy and demonic energy share the same origin, and under certain circumstances, they can even transform into each other.

If spiritual energy dominates the same area, it will either devour and transform the demonic energy within the area or drive it away, eventually leaving only spiritual energy in the area.

Conversely, once demonic energy takes over, spiritual energy will be completely dispelled.

For example, the demonic domain that has just taken shape in Tianlan Province, or Cuiyang County in front of Wu Chang, are both manifestations of demonic energy driving away spiritual energy. Once a space is occupied by demonic energy, human cultivators who enter it will be restricted by the demonic energy.

The sluggish perception and increased energy consumption he felt were all manifestations of the restriction of demonic energy.

For players, the impact of demonic energy is not serious, but for the natives of the world dungeon, it is deadly.

Being in the demon realm not only means no spiritual energy replenishment, but also means that every bit of energy consumed in the body is lost. Unable to resonate with the heavens and earth through spiritual energy, cultivators' abilities are greatly diminished.

If a cultivator cannot reach the level of a second-rate master whose internal spiritual energy circulates independently and does not dissipate, they will find it difficult to even form spells in the Demon Realm.

Only top-tier masters who can transform their outward spiritual energy into inward energy can barely maintain 70% of their combat power in the Demon Realm.

Such severe restrictions meant that even with An Rong, who had obtained a celestial destiny, leading the team, it was difficult to defeat the Fire Demon King Zhu Yin Hai when exploring the Demon Realm.

Therefore, if the Human Alliance wants to break through the core of the Demon Realm, it must first establish the Ziwei Exorcising Array to create a gap in the Demon Realm where spiritual energy dominates, so that it can reach the core of the Demon Realm through the gap.

Having understood the rules of the plane, Wu Chang understood why the Human Alliance set up trials and why they were so enthusiastic about the Celestials.

With Da Xuan's own strength, it would be difficult to deal with the demons without the help of the celestial beings.

He sighed and wandered around Cuiyang County with the Omniscient Crystal.

As a vital transportation hub, Cuiyang County was once very prosperous, as evidenced by the bustling streets and houses within the county.

Unfortunately, with the appearance of the monster, all the people in the county had fled, and the city was deathly silent. Apart from Wu Chang, there were no other living creatures.

Under the guidance of the Omniscient Crystal, he chose a good, open location, dug a shallow pit in the ground with a wooden stick, and buried the Demon-Suppressing Stele in it.

As soon as the Demon-Suppressing Stele touched the ground, the humanistic energy within it was activated, and the characters on the stele began to flash with white light.

Under the influence of the Demon-Suppressing Stele, the demonic energy in Cuiyang County began to fluctuate. It seemed as if two invisible hands appeared in the air. One hand grabbed the demonic energy and stuffed it into the Demon-Suppressing Stele to refine it, while the other hand pushed the excess demonic energy that could not be refined out of Cuiyang County.

As the demonic energy surged, a wisp of spiritual energy emerged around the Demon-Suppressing Stele, standing out conspicuously within Cuiyang County.

Boom!

With a muffled thud, the ground in Cuiyang County began to tremble, and a mound rose from the mountains within the county, rolling all the way to the vicinity of the Demon-Suppressing Stele.

Immediately afterwards, the mound broke open, and a monster, six or seven meters tall and shimmering with yellow light, emerged from it.

The spirits are neither human nor human, and are tall, but their proportions are very strange.

It has a huge head, a human face and limbs, but no neck. Its body parts are not proportional at all, and it is wide at the top and narrow at the bottom, like a beautiful radish that has come to life.

It is covered with a thick layer of mud, forming an armor, as if it was just dug out of the mud. If it were placed in a supermarket and labeled "fresh" or "organic," it could definitely sell for several times more than ordinary radishes.

The radish spirit glared at Wu Chang and shouted, cursing:
"Grandpa finally fell asleep, and you woke me up again. You human cultivators really never learn."

"Once is never enough, twice is never enough, but a third time is not allowed. This time you're all going to die. After I smash that broken monument, I'll take you all down one by one..."

The radish spirit was speaking when it suddenly noticed that only Wu Chang was standing beside the stone tablet. It first lay down on the ground, listened intently for a while, and then asked in confusion:

"Are you the only one who came this time?"

Wu Chang looked at the Radish Spirit and thought to himself, no wonder the Grandmaster had failed to take back Cuiyang County. The Radish Spirit looked comical, but its body was emanating a strong aura of primal power.

In terms of sheer strength, the Radish Spirit is no less than a Grandmaster. In addition, being in the Demon Realm and having the advantage of terrain, it would be difficult for an ordinary Grandmaster to defend the Demon-Suppressing Stele.

He asked, "Are you a demon general?"

After his initial morning grumpiness subsided, the Radish Spirit began to observe Wu Chang and said, "Grandpa, I am Hongxin, a demon general under the Earth Demon King. Which Grandmaster of the Human Alliance are you? I've never heard of you before."

Wu Chang asked him the same questions the radish spirit had asked him earlier, and said:

"Are you the only demon general here?"

Wu Chang's tone was tinged with regret, as if he were telling a child, "I told you to call your parents over."

The radish spirit Hongxin couldn't stand the provocation, so it immediately burrowed into the ground, transformed into an earth dragon, and charged towards the demon-suppressing stele buried underground by Wu Changhe.

Wu Chang strode forward and punched the bulging mound of earth.

Having activated his Sea Giant transformation, his strength attribute now exceeds 400 points. Without needing any fancy skills, he smashed the ground with a single slash, nearly crushing the Carrot Spirit.

Although Wu Chang was powerful, the Radish Spirit, being a demon general, would not be so easily defeated.

The Radish Spirit was under the command of the Earth Demon King, and the power of its origin was also related to earth. Relying on this power, it deflected most of the force of Wu Chang's attack into the earth. The remaining force only shattered the mud armor on its body and did not damage its essence.

Taking advantage of the moment when the force dissipated, the radish spirit emerged from the ground and retreated rapidly, creating distance between itself and Wu Chang.

Experts will know if there is one as soon as they take action.

The radish spirit knew from just one punch that Wu Chang was not to be trifled with and was far from being just an ordinary grandmaster.

Even the Earth Demon King, known for his strength, couldn't deliver such a fatal punch with brute force alone.

The radish spirit was sweating. If it could, it would like to burrow into the soil and escape immediately, but the Earth Demon King had ordered it to guard Cuiyang County.

After a moment's thought, it used its power to condense mud armor on its body again, and then burrowed underground.

This time it burrowed deeper, without forming a mound on the surface, and its goal changed from killing Wu Chang to simply knocking down the demon-suppressing stele.

If it can't defeat the mobile Wu Chang, can't it at least push down the immovable Demon-Suppressing Stele?
Wu Chang frowned slightly as he watched the radish spirit re-enter the ground.

The radish spirit's earth-遁 (earth-遁 is a type of magic that allows it to escape through the earth) is not very powerful, but it has one very troublesome feature: it can use the earth to block his vision.

Unable to lock onto the Carrot Demon with his gaze, he was unable to unleash the Mamba Iron Elbow and could only attack it from across the ground.

Unfortunately, the Radish Spirit possesses the power of earth element, has extremely thick armor on its body, and can also use the earth to deflect force, making it difficult for him to inflict effective damage.

In other dimensions, it wouldn't be impossible to deal with the Carrot Demon. He would reveal his true form as an 800-meter-tall sea giant, and with one punch, even if the Carrot Demon burrowed deep into the ground, he could dig it out along with the entire ground and crush it in one gulp.

However, the sea giant's transformed appearance is too sensitive. If the Human Alliance mistakes it for a demon, then there will be trouble later.

How can we pull out the radish spirit from the ground?

At this moment, the main body had already dealt with Zhu Yinhai and obtained the Burning Heart Worm. He immediately took out the Burning Heart Worm and absorbed it, gaining Zhu Yinhai's signature skill from it.

Skill Name: Heartfire

Skill Level: A

Skill Description: Releases a special spiritual flame. The Heart Flame is highly concealed during its incubation period, making it difficult for the target to detect. When detonated, it uses the target's fear and anxiety as fuel, burning the target's spirit and soul. If the Heart Flame detonates inside the target's body, the damage is doubled.

The target will suffer additional damage if they have severe inner demons or are currently experiencing severe negative emotions. The damage from Heart Inflammation depends on the difference between the user's inspiration and the target's will.

Wu Chang used his intuition to locate the radish spirit underground. Once the spirit entered the range of the Heart Flame release, he immediately unleashed a Heart Flame at it.

Heart Flame is a spiritual flame that cannot be blocked by the ground and lands precisely on the Radish Spirit.

Heart Flame is the signature move of the Fire Demon King Zhuyinhai, and its base damage is already extremely high. The Radish Spirit is currently filled with fear, so it will suffer additional damage.

In addition, Wu Chang's inspiration value of nearly 200 points directly pierced through the Radish Spirit's will.

The earth elemental power of the radish spirit could only dissipate the physical damage it suffered. The mental attack was too much for it to handle. It could not withstand the heat, so it burst out of the ground and tried to fight Wu Chang to the death.

But as soon as it showed its head, Wu Chang, who had been waiting on the ground, immediately swung his elbow.

"Man!"

(End of this chapter)