The First Venerable of All Paths

The old site of Yejiacun is quite a distance from Fengming Mountain.

Moreover, it is located deep in the mountains, filled with miasma and teeming with monsters, making it extremely dangerous.

Fortunately, when they escaped, they found a small path that could not only shorten the time but also help them avoid the monsters.

Thus, it took Fang Xuan and the others a full day and night to finally arrive at this remote mountain village.

It's called a small mountain village, but it's really just a few dozen houses nestled on the mountainside.

The fields that had been cultivated around the village had already been utterly destroyed when the beast tide broke out.

At this time, Ye Village was in ruins, with houses collapsed and many monsters still visible, occasionally roaming through the village.

"Awooo!"

Just as everyone stepped into Ye Village, the roar of beasts rang out.

Immediately afterwards, a monstrous beast exuding a bloody aura burst forth from the dense forest and pounced on the group.

This is a monster with a head shaped like a hyena.

It moved extremely fast, closing in on the crowd in the blink of an eye.

"That's it!"

"That's what ate Xiaoyue!" Nannan exclaimed.

Xiaoyue is her best friend, and they are about the same age.

When the beast tide broke out, it was this hyena monster that bit Xiaoyue's neck off.

"Kill it!"

Fang Xuan spoke coldly.

This is a hyena blood demon, a social monster with a cruel nature.

The hyena-like blood demon in front of us is only at the mid-stage of the second tier.

Equivalent to a martial artist at the fifth level of the Body Refinement Realm.

Upon hearing this, the little girl rushed out and threw a punch at the charging hyena blood demon.

Although the hyena blood demon was not large, Nannan looked like a tiny speck compared to it.

Those delicate, pink fists were utterly harmless.

However, when Nannan's fist slammed into the head of the hyena blood demon, there was a muffled thud.

The hyena blood demon let out a mournful howl as its head exploded like a watermelon.

The hyena blood demon's corpse fell heavily to the ground, twitched a few times, and then died.

The mid-stage second-tier demon beast was killed by Nannan with a single punch.

"Roar roar roar!"

However, this was like stirring up a hornet's nest; dozens of blood demon hyenas emerged from all directions, their eyes bloodshot, and charged towards the group.

"kill!"

At Fang Xuan's command, Ye Zhuang and the others, who couldn't wait any longer, charged out like a pack of ferocious beasts.

Ye Zhuang dodged the hyena blood demon's claw, grabbed its forelimbs, and with a roar, tore it in two.

The lame Gouwa, with a leap, kicked out with one leg in succession, smashing the two hyena blood demons to pieces.

With his arm severed, Gou Sheng, clutching a giant log, swept his arm around, sending the three-headed hyena blood demon flying.

The blind man used sound to locate objects, occasionally flicking out steel balls from his hand.

"Pfft pfft pfft!"

Any hyena-like blood demon that attempted to rush towards Fang Xuan had its eyes pierced by steel balls.

The mute woman wandered among the demons like a ghost.

Each palm strike sent the opponent flying.

Then the deaf youth would punch each opponent, breaking their spines.

In the blink of an eye, these dozens of hyena blood demons were completely wiped out.

Ye Zhuang and the others also showed an extremely pleasant expression on their faces.

Several months later, they were finally able to avenge the dead villagers.

"Don't get too excited yet, there's a big one hidden inside."

Fang Xuan spoke calmly, his gaze fixed on the center of the mountain village.

He could sense a powerful aura slowly awakening there.

"Awooo!"

The next moment, angry roars echoed through the village.

Immediately afterwards, an even larger hyena blood demon flew out of the village.

Yes, it flew out!

"A mutated hyena blood demon!"

Upon seeing this, Fang Xuan's expression changed slightly.

This hyena blood demon had sprouted two wings from its back, and its aura was incredibly powerful, reaching at least the fourth level.

Demon King!

The Blood Demon King, a hyena, landed on the rooftop, its blood-red eyes fixed on Fang Xuan and the others, and it let out another extremely ferocious roar.

The roar sounded like a command.

As soon as they landed, hundreds of hyena-like blood demons surged towards them like a flood from the dilapidated houses.

Among them, there were quite a few demonic beasts at the third-tier commander level.

"Why are there so many?"

Ye Zhuang's expression changed drastically, and he said, "I remember there were only a few dozen demonic beasts at most back then."

"The hyena blood demon has an extremely fast reproductive ability; it can grow rapidly simply by consuming flesh and blood."

Fang Xuan explained, "You've been gone for so long, these beasts have naturally multiplied wildly."

"Young master, are we going to run away?"

Ye Zhuang was a little nervous.

"They are the ones who want to escape."

Fang Xuan's lips curled into a cold smile, and he then untied the sword box behind him and slammed it heavily onto the ground.

"Ten Thousand Swords Return to Nothingness, Go!"

As soon as he finished speaking, streaks of dazzling sword energy, like flowing light, roared out of the sword box, forming a sea of ​​swords that swept across the sky and slashed at the hyena-like blood demons.

"Pfft pfft pfft!"

The sword energy was extremely fast, almost as fast as lightning.

In the blink of an eye, nearly a third of the hyena blood demons were killed by the sword energy.

Upon seeing this, the Blood Demon King, a hyena on the roof, turned even more bloodshot.

With a deep roar, six Tier 3 Hyena Blood Demons, each leading the remaining ordinary Hyena Blood Demons, charged towards Fang Xuan and the others from four directions.

"These beasts are quite intelligent; they even know how to change formation."

Fang Xuan's lips curled up, and then he formed a hand seal.

"Sword Bone, move!"

The golden sword energy surged from between his hands and merged with the sword energy inside the sword box, striking towards the hyena-like blood demons.

This time, the sword energy was faster and sharper than before.

Countless hyenas and blood demons were cut down like grass, falling to the ground and unable to rise.

At this moment, the Blood Demon King of the Hyena finally realized that if Fang Xuan was not dealt with, all of its people would be wiped out.

Then, its eyes gleamed, and it let out a mournful roar to the sky.

The roar seemed to possess the power to pierce through metal and stone.

Ye Zhuang and the others immediately showed expressions of pain.

"Sonic attack?"

Fang Xuan was surprised again.

He could ignore these sonic attacks, but Ye Zhuang and the others could not.

Thinking of this, Fang Xuan whistled without saying a word.

"Knock knock knock!"

The ground shook, and a few breaths later, a colossal creature burst forth from the forest like a meteorite, crashing down on the Blood Demon King of the Hyena.

It is the Brown Bear Demon King!

Ever since entering the Lost Souls Mountain Range, the brown bear demon king has been silently following us.

Without Fang Xuan's command, it would never have shown itself.

At that moment, the Brown Bear Demon King appeared and smashed towards the Hyena Blood Demon King with thunderous force.

"roar!"

Upon seeing the Demon King in danger, the three commander-level hyena blood demons leaped up, attempting to stop the brown bear demon king.

The brown bear demon king roared and slammed its sharp claws down.

"Pfft pfft pfft!"

The three-headed hyena blood demon crumbled like tofu.

But at that moment, the Blood Demon King of the Hyenas took flight, its sharp claws aimed directly at the head of the Brown Bear Demon King.

"Bang!"

The brown bear demon king reacted very quickly, immediately extending its claws to defend itself.

However, lacking the ability to fly, the Brown Bear Demon King was knocked to the ground by the Hyena Demon King, its hind legs sinking deep into the ground.

A dozen or so ordinary hyena blood demons immediately pounced on them.

The hyena demon king wouldn't let this opportunity pass, and released another sonic attack to affect the brown bear demon king.

Seeing the brown bear demon king in danger, Fang Xuan, who was not far away, turned cold.

A gash appeared on his palm, and his blood flowed into the sword case.

"Whoosh!"

A streak of blood-red light burst forth from the sword scabbard, flashing across the sky at a speed imperceptible to the naked eye, slashing straight toward the hyena demon king.

"Buzz!"

The sharp sword energy made the hyena demon king's fur stand on end, and it flapped its wings to fly backward, trying to avoid the sword.

"Too late!"

Fang Xuan snorted coldly and formed a sword incantation with his fingers.

"Ten thousand swords return to nothingness, the sword cleaves heaven and earth, slash!"

The blood-red sword embryo vanished in a flash in the air.

When it appeared, it was already behind the hyena demon king. Sword energy bloomed on the sword embryo, and it slashed down fiercely.

"Sizzle!"

The sword strike was swift and powerful. Although the Hyena Demon King reacted quickly enough, one of his wings was still severed.

The hyena demon king let out a mournful howl and staggered, falling directly to the ground.

Just then, the Brown Bear Demon King leaped high into the air, grabbed one of the Hyena Demon King's legs, and slammed it hard onto the stone house below.

"Boom!"

The brown bear demon king treated the hyena demon king like a toy, swinging and smashing him violently, venting his savage killing intent.

After a dozen or so blows, the hyena demon king was reduced to a pile of rotten flesh and died completely.

Seeing this, the other hyena blood demons immediately clamped their legs together and fled into the depths of the dense forest.

The brown bear demon king roared and took off after him.

Fang Xuan ignored him, put the blood-red sword embryo into the sword box, and carried it on his back.

"Let's go in and take a look."

Fang Xuan led the group into the village.

The entire village was already in ruins.

There wasn't a single intact house to be seen.

However, Fang Xuan did see quite a few scattered bones.

It should belong to the villagers of Ye Village.

Ye Zhuang led everyone to silently collect the remains, preparing to take them back to the secret realm for burial.

Since Ye Village is already in this state, leaving the remains of our loved ones here will only lead to them being dug up and devoured by monsters sooner or later.

"Nannan, is there anything important in your Ye Village?"

Fang Xuan asked the girl beside him, "For example, ancestral halls and the like."

No.

The little girl's eyes were still red. After thinking for a moment, she said, "If it's a more important place, there's a small temple on the back mountain. Every autumn harvest, Grandpa Village Chief would take us to the back mountain to offer sacrifices."

"Oh?"

Fang Xuan raised an eyebrow and said, "Take me to see."

It's called the back mountain, but it's actually right behind Ye Village.

The so-called small temple has long since been reduced to ruins.

As for the statues enshrined inside, they were broken into several pieces and were nothing special.

Fang Xuan frowned deeply.

"Am I overthinking it?"

Given the unique physical constitution of the villagers in Ye Village, he assumed that Ye Village itself must also have something special about it.

But after sensing it, I found that it was just an ordinary mountain village.

"Let's go."

Fang Xuan turned to leave, but suddenly stopped.

"wrong!"

He suddenly looked at the statue, which was broken into several pieces, as if he had discovered something extraordinary.

Then, under Nannan's strange gaze, he slowly walked towards the small temple, reached out and pushed aside the fallen leaves and wood carvings to reveal a stone slab underneath.

This stone slab should be the base of the statue.

However, several lines were carved on this stone slab, as if...

"Array patterns!"

Fang Xuan carefully examined the array patterns, his eyes growing brighter and brighter.

"Just as I expected!"

Fang Xuan muttered to himself, "A master has set up another formation, which is why the villagers of Ye Village can live peacefully here without being affected by the demonic beasts."

The reason why a beast tide occurred in Ye Village was because the foundation of this formation had reached its limit and could no longer be maintained.

"The array on this stone slab, while not as powerful as Empress Zhenxiao's legacy, could be improved if it were infused with new energy..."

Fang Xuan suppressed his excitement: "This is equivalent to possessing a fifth-grade formation!"