The demons could not sense any aura of their own kind from the creature; there was only a cold, foul stench. However, magic patterns were a symbol of strength and status in the Demon Realm. A higher demon killing a lower demon was simply the law of the jungle, a natural rule—the weak did not deserve to live!
Yet... this was fundamentally different.
Just as the demons were frozen in uncertainty, not knowing how to act, a dull boom resounded as a gargantuan entity fell from the sky! It was covered in long black fur with a pair of bull horns atop its head, one of which was snapped. Its frame was as massive as a mountain, yet it moved with the agility of a bear, and fierce green flames burned within its eyes.
Before it even steadied itself, it lunged forward. Wherever it passed, demons were reduced to meat paste; there was no force capable of stopping it.
Finally, under this series of upheavals, a high-tier Rank 6 Great Demon reacted. It let out a roar signaling an enemy attack, its body glowing with a red light as it proactively charged toward the monster that looked like a cross between a bull and a bear. Following its howl, the demon army woke as if from a dream. Battle cries rang out, transmitting far into the distance in an instant.
The demon horde bared claws and fangs, swarming toward the enemy.
"Roar—ga!"
The howling Great Demon's voice cut off abruptly. It stiffened and looked down to see its chest pierced through, the edges of the wound still sizzling. Large gulps of black blood sprayed from its mouth. It looked up blankly and, in a daze, finally saw a massive eyeball that had flown above its head at some unknown moment.
the giant eyeball possessed two pairs of wings made of black muscle and nine tails entangled with pitch-black blood vessels; its appearance was exceptionally evil and bizarre. Just by meeting those eyes, the demon felt as if it were being dragged into the Yellow Springs by the flames burning within the pupil.
The Yellow Springs swirled downward, piercing through endless worlds. Within it floated countless corpses, emitting shrill wails and screaming as they clung to one another, reaching out to drag the demon down. It was powerless to struggle, submerged in the Yellow Springs until it was covered, its last shred of consciousness dissipating.
A high-tier Rank 6 Great Demon, a hegemon in its own right within the Demon World, was insta-killed just like that. From beginning to end, it hadn't offered a sliver of resistance before collapsing. As its body fell, black blood gurgled out, winding its way down to join the blood of countless other demons, eventually forming a lake.
Wei Huan's vision descended upon the Magic Eye Lord. He looked down at the blood-soaked battlefield with eyes devoid of emotion, filled only with cold indifference.
The Pseudo-God-level undead struck with overwhelming force, shattering the demons' defenses and breaking their mental resolve. Following them, the half-step Pseudo-God "Gut-Bro" and the Black Dragon Shura Horse led their tribes in a grand charge. The resistance they encountered was extremely limited.
The Heavenly Demon Race had clearly sent the powerful demons to the Beast World early on. The remaining demon army at the rear, though vast in number, was fragile. Wei Huan could easily hunt Rank 7 demons; these "old, weak, and disabled" demon troops stood no chance.
Wherever the Undead Calamity passed, not a blade of grass remained. Only green flames burned rapidly, linking together in sheets that reached the heavens. Big Foot led the Void Bugs into the fray to harvest the lives of high-level demons. Yake continued to pilot the vehicle and provide long-range assistance, unleashing a Rank 7 Forbidden Curse scroll when necessary. Brother Hammer remained silently by Wei Huan's side, focused and vigilant.
Wei Huan stood at the edge of Dot Mom's shell. With a casual sweep of his hand, countless souls were grasped in his palm. He crushed these souls, turning them into pure death energy and casting them into the Great Tomb.
As the Great Tomb was nourished, the Nether Soil on the ground became increasingly active. The dark earth that previously clung to Wei Huan's feet even transformed into dense, crawling ghosts, twisting and tangling in an incredibly evil fashion.
Until a certain moment, Wei Huan suddenly snapped back to his senses and discovered that his Initial Great Tomb was spreading outward. The distance between it and the nearest neighboring Great Tomb had, at some point, shrunk to half its original length.
'So, will these isolated island-like Great Tombs eventually link together?'
Once this annexation and fusion were complete—until the islands turned into a continent—would he be able to advance to Sequence 7?
Wei Huan had remained at Sequence 6 for nearly two years. While he hadn't been in a rush to level up, preferring to focus on comprehending the Laws of Death, "not being in a rush" and "not finding a way" were two different concepts. Previously, he thought he only needed to continue occupying tombs and controlling enough undead to advance.
It wasn't until the gate to upgrade appeared before him that he realized he had been wrong all along! The Initial Great Tomb was his foundation. If the foundation wasn't nurtured, how could the tree grow tall?
Fortunately, he had never stopped nourishing the Initial Great Tomb. Now, through this war, the tomb had finally undergone a qualitative change, opening the door to Sequence 7.
Gravedigger Sequence 7: Apostle of Calamity. Advancement was close at hand!
At first, Wei Huan had loathed this war, feeling it hindered his cultivation and caused him to worry about Mu Zhong. Whenever he was still, his mind would wander. Occasionally, when thinking of bad outcomes, he hated the Heavenly Demon Race so much he wanted to tear them into ten thousand pieces.
But now, he suddenly found that everything wasn't so bad. This crisis was also an opportunity, one that made him truly understand what a "Gravedigger" was.
A Gravedigger was never a messenger of peace. He toyed with the dead and controlled walking corpses; even the most powerful life, once dead, could be easily crushed in his palm. How could such an evil existence advance in a conventional manner?
Looking from the Sequence 6 [Plague Spreader] to the Sequence 7 [Apostle of Calamity], every stage pointed toward a disaster that would sweep through the world. Only war and death were his future.
He would bring war to every world, to the Thousand-Race Battlefield. He would build a throne from countless heads and souls, and use curses and plagues to condense the gems on his crown. He had to slaughter all races to sit high upon that throne and lead humanity to transcendence.
Peaceful development? Deep cultivation? That might be the path for others. But he... he was destined to be reborn for the sake of triggering the Great War of All Races. Other paths no longer suited him.
The path to strength was right before him; Wei Huan had no reason to stay his hand. Moreover, he was facing enemies—a group that wanted to annihilate the human race. Mercy should not be wasted on enemies.
The undead army pushed forward like a bulldozer, leaving a trail of corpses. Wei Huan followed closely, refining the undead and using the souls of these aliens to nourish his tomb, feeling the process of himself becoming clearly, bit by bit, stronger.
This feeling was excellent.
---
"Is it done?"
"It's done!"
Inside the garrison base, cheers erupted as people watched the video of the headquarters exploding, leaving the ground covered in the severed limbs of demons. From the day they evacuated the headquarters, they had waited agonizingly for so many days. Finally, they heard the expected blast and saw the mass slaughter of demons without costing them a single soldier.
The number of Rank 7 scrolls Mu Zhong had left in the headquarters was so vast it had nearly emptied all the points they had accumulated over the years. But the effect was remarkably gratifying. A rough estimate suggested that of the 200,000 demon troops, at least half had lost their lives there.
Mu Zhong said, "The Heavenly Demons gathered an army of a hundred million, yet only sent a portion to attack our headquarters. This group was likely an elite vanguard or special forces. Leaving half their lives here makes this ambush a huge win!"
Commander William Fang nodded beside him. "Commander Mu's ambush was brilliant. Not only was the placement of the scrolls clever, but the timing was perfect. Forcing the demon army to lose 100,000 elites will definitely play a crucial role in the coming battle."
Mu Zhong nodded and was about to speak when his gaze suddenly froze. William Fang looked over in confusion, and the smile vanished from his face as well.
From the ruins, eerie white tree-like objects seemed to grow, reaching a towering height in an instant. Looking from afar, they realized this was actually a Heavenly Demon. This demon also had a humanoid upper body with hands but no feet. Though naked, it felt strange rather than indecent due to its lack of gender characteristics. Instead, its excessively smooth skin and silver-shimmering body had a mysterious, demonic allure.
It was hairless, and atop its bald head were three pairs of tentacles—one large and two small. The tentacles swayed as a pair of pitch-black eyes, far too large for its face, stared directly at the screen—as if it knew which camera was currently watching it.
Those eyes were too dark; they seemed to contain a black universe within, making one feel as if they were falling into them upon making eye contact.
"Careful," Mu Zhong warned, worried this Heavenly Demon might possess the same illusion-creating abilities as the long-dead Nine-Tailed Fox. Even without such abilities, those eyes were terrifying. Furthermore, this race seemed to have the power to speak directly into human minds, so mental attacks wouldn't be surprising.
"I'm fine," William Fang said. "I don't feel anything strange."
Mu Zhong remarked, "Technological products are indeed effective at blocking spiritual-type attacks."
As soon as he spoke, the Heavenly Demon seemed to realize this as well. In a fit of rage, its entire body suddenly stretched out, flattening into a sheet that blanketed the sky before lunging downward. Most of the screens went black instantly. Only a few surviving cameras remained, filming the broken mountain from a distance. On the mountain, the Heavenly Demon, which had expanded its body like a piece of cloth, began to retract and shrink rapidly.
"Send more over," Mu Zhong ordered.
William Fang replied, "They'll probably just be destroyed again."
"Try it."
A camera drone was controlled to fly back toward the mountain, but before it could get close, a demon flew up and smashed it.
"It seems they won't let us watch," Mu Zhong said, deciding not to send the few remaining cameras. "Just monitor for movements from a distance, especially within a thousand-kilometer radius of the base."
William Fang said, "They will definitely come."
Mu Zhong nodded. "Yes. They will definitely come."
"They want revenge," William Fang added.
Mu Zhong said, "As a self-proclaimed superior race, how could they tolerate losing to humans they look down upon? Our success with the ambush relied precisely on their contempt for us."
"Perhaps it's contempt, or perhaps they simply don't value demon lives."
"Whatever the reason, the next encounter won't be so simple."
The two fell silent for a long time, their minds racing. The unspoken words were: they likely couldn't withstand a Rank 9 Heavenly Demon. If they didn't want to retreat back into the Challenge World, they could only rely on Wei Huan.
The pioneer army plus the garrison totaled only 130,000 people. How could they fight a hundred million demons? Even if Wei Huan came, the human wave tactics they took pride in held no advantage in this battle.
Yet, they simply believed that as long as Wei Huan was there, humanity would not lose this fight.
---
Wei Huan had been gnawing at the tail of the demon army, surrounding and killing them from the rear for three hours, and the demons had yet to mount any effective resistance. The high-level demons were all at the front; those left at the back were fodder. It seemed the Heavenly Demon Race viewed these demons as expendable, but an army of a hundred million always looked impressive, and even the smallest fly provides meat.
This worked out perfectly, as a single gathering helped Wei Huan cultivate.
Beings in the Challenge World had no souls—this included the "captured" Blue Planet and the Dark Beast plane. Although they seemed to have left the Challenge World, they possessed no spirits when killed. This was a fact many couldn't accept after learning the truth. They thought they were still fighting the Challenge World, when in fact they had long since become a part of it. No wonder deceased humans could be recruited by Dark Beast Lords; their souls were no longer their own, toyed with by the Challenge World.
Wei Huan was the human race's only [Gravedigger]. For the first six Sequences, he only needed to cultivate step-by-step in the professional temple gifted to him by the Challenge World. Now at Sequence 7, he had to jump out of the Challenge World's framework and find a true direction for cultivation.
At Sequence 7, many professions gained the ability to traverse space. Even without the World Tree opening a path to the True World, they would eventually come into contact with it. If Wei Huan wanted to become stronger, he was destined to descend upon every world like a calamity, carrying absolute malice. He never considered himself the "righteous" side; he didn't care if he destroyed a world, as long as humanity endured!
Countless souls were held in his hand. He didn't even look at the struggling spirits; he clenched his palm with force. The souls emitted shrill screams and transformed into pure Nether Qi, which, along with their massive energy, irrigated the Great Tomb.
The Nether Qi in the Great Tomb world became dense. The soil on the ground seemed to turn into ghosts, struggling and crawling upward, wailing to escape this boundless hell. The undead army remained unmoved, trampling over the wailing spirits as they descended through the gate to the living world to fight for their master!
Wails filled the land amidst an eerie, thick atmosphere. Scattered ghosts recoiled and crawled into the distance, moving through the Nether Mist, climbing over the bodies of the dead, desperately trying to escape—only to be overwhelmed by more ghosts a second later. Layer upon layer, never ceasing, the area of the Great Tomb expanded bit by bit in this process.
Finally, just as Wei Huan scattered Nether Power onto the Great Tomb once more, the tomb emitted an "ah-ah-ah" cry of monstrous joy. It was the Nether ghosts finally grasping onto something they could cling to in the void.
The two Great Tombs were finally connected!
The Nether ghosts let out shrill screams. As if trying to escape or swallow the other side, dragging more ghosts down into ruin, they spread rapidly. Soon, they devoured the neighboring tomb.
On the tomb, the undead army recruited by Wei Huan remained indifferent. They merely lifted their hooves or feet to shake off the Nether ghosts that curled around them, easily throwing them off. However, due to time constraints and limited Nether Power, Wei Huan had not recruited every undead on the tombs other than the Initial one.
Thus, the undead not recruited by Wei Huan were swept up by the Nether ghosts. Without resistance, they easily fell, transforming into monsters resembling sludge. The Nether ghosts continued to spread. Suddenly, mounds began to bulge in the soil, which then broke open as pitch-black arms reached out, pulling themselves up.
It was a Shura Horse. The green fire in its eyes had been ignited, as if a corpse sleeping in a grave had been awakened. It gazed loyally at the sky, looking toward its only master.
The Shura Horses lived; the Running Wolves lived; even the Bone Hidden Cats and Bone Violent Bears that Wei Huan looked down upon and couldn't be bothered to waste energy on were all ignited with the Fire of Death after being swept by the Impure Soil, becoming Wei Huan's summons. Hundreds, thousands—in the blink of an eye, tens of thousands of undead woke and crawled out of their graves, staring at the sky with pairs of eerie green eyes.
And Wei Huan had not consumed a single thread of Nether Power.
Wei Huan gazed at the changes in his tomb, looking at the masses of awakened undead and the Nether ghosts still spreading. He completely understood what "Plague" and "Apostle of Calamity" meant!
Wherever the Impure Soil reaches, all becomes the Nether Domain!
More undead surged out of the teleportation gates—Bone Hidden Cats, Bone Violent Bears, and many un-upgraded low-tier Bone Running Wolves. These undead reincarnated from the Impure Soil were the lowest rank in the army, but their numbers were staggering and their presence terrifying. They poured out incessantly, truly linking Wei Huan's army into a tidal wave of calamity.
Perhaps dozens or hundreds of them couldn't kill an ordinary Rank 4 demon, but their resurrection cost Wei Huan no energy. They came from the Impure Soil, and the Impure Soil would naturally reincarnate them. Yet, they would obey Wei Huan's orders 100%, gushing forth from the kingdom of the dead once more to sweep through the living world.
There were too many. The sheer number was overwhelming.
Even Wei Huan's subordinates couldn't help but be stunned. Although Wei Huan had never said exactly how many undead he had, as his closest core warriors, they had an idea. Wei Huan could recruit around 200,000, and Dot Mom had over 300,000. Half a million elite undead were enough to handle most battlefields. But what were these things appearing now? A bunch of trash, true cannon fodder?
The problem was the sheer quantity. Since the ten teleportation gates opened, they had been pouring out without a moment's rest. Even though massive amounts of these low-tier undead died at the hands of demons, the gates never stopped.
And this absolute numerical suppression was not without effect. The demons were separated by the fodder undead, gathered in groups of several or a dozen. Once they encountered elite undead, they couldn't escape their fate. Elite undead could move freely through this calamity, but the demons couldn't; they were constrained, constantly bitten and harried by the fodder when fighting elites. Though the fodder's attack power wasn't high, it was incredibly annoying, distracting their attention.
The battlefield progressed significantly faster.
"Boss?" Yake looked at the undead blanketing the battlefield, the front line having pushed 50 kilometers ahead. The sight of the dense, white skeletons made his scalp tingle. But his face held a look of realization and joy. "You've had another breakthrough?"
Wei Huan nodded. "I have a lead on Sequence 7."
"Congratulations, Boss!" Yake was genuinely happy. "This breakthrough feels very distinct."
"A result of long accumulation," Wei Huan said.
Wei Huan didn't think this was luck. Without his nearly two years of comprehension while staying at Sequence 6 and his research into the Nether Laws, even if he were given such massive energy to nourish the tomb, he likely wouldn't have reached this level instantly. Although his cultivation differed from others—requiring slaughter, conquest, and vast amounts of souls—it still needed a gradual process. Today's breakthrough was the fruit of the last two years of cultivation.
As the Nether ghosts on the Initial Great Tomb swallowed the surrounding tombs, he occupied four neighboring tombs in one breath. The five Great Tombs linked together, forming a small continent. This continent was covered in Impure Soil under his control, and thus the continent itself was entirely within his grasp. On this land, there were no longer any uncontrolled undead. Even those he hadn't recruited were swallowed by the Impure Soil and reappeared with the Fire of Death ignited, driven by his will.
This caused his summon count to explode to 800,000. If he added the undead controlled by Dot Mom, his count had completely exceeded 1,000,000! Even if the new undead were low-tier and took up space as fodder, their sheer numbers were undeniable, and they didn't require Wei Huan to waste energy for resurrection.
Most importantly, this newly appeared Initial Continent, under the influence of the Impure Soil, also possessed the function of nourishing the undead. Over time, even if Wei Huan didn't put them in the Undead Pasture to feed, they would level up, slowly turning from fodder into a powerful regular undead army.
Wei Huan was indeed very happy and didn't hold back in collecting souls. Having linked four tombs, he now had a world the size of five Great Tombs. Divided into parts outside and inside the tombs, the total area was larger than the land area of Daxia.
However, Wei Huan also discovered that expanding further wouldn't be easy. Firstly, as the area grew, the energy required to expand further was immense. Secondly, while the Impure Soil automatically reincarnated fodder undead, it consumed stored energy. This consumption might not be much, but it prevented rapid expansion. To link to the next ring of graveyards, he would likely need to slaughter this entire army of 100 million demons.
Six days had passed, and more than half of the demon army had completed the crossing. Particularly the powerful high-level demons with more energy—they were mostly on the other side of the tunnel. What remained here was not enough for Wei Huan to level up again.
Not enough. I want more! More! MORE!!
Suddenly, Wei Huan's mind, which was almost obsessed with power, snapped into clarity. He blinked slowly, and the green flame in his left eye flared up. Through the eyes of the Magic Eye Lord, he saw the Snail Heavenly Demon—twisted and enlarged—slaughtering wildly ten kilometers away.
It had finally arrived!