Chapter 711: Chapter 30: A Glimmer of Hope _3

However, this time, the number had more than doubled.

With such a deployment of forces, the Demon Race’s wild ambitions were all too apparent.

This sent a chill through the Marquis of An Hai’s heart–the gap in top-end combat power between the two sides was simply too great.

A hulking Demonic Cultivator clad in iron armor who had just appeared, nonchalantly swung his massive palm and directly snapped the three water pillars launched by the Marquis of An Hai in half.

Afterward, he revealed a fierce grin to the Marquis of An Hai, his fangs bared menacingly, “That’s it?”

On another front, a strange Demonic Cultivator, whose palm weirdly extended into five sharp short spears, suddenly flung his hand.

The next moment, the five short spears detached from his palm, turning into five trails of dark light that moved so fast they were nearly invisible, twisting through the void and heading straight for the Marquis of An Hai.

Confronted with this scene, the Marquis of An Hai’s expression did not change.

Pfft!

These five short spears turned into beams of black light, and upon entering his Dao Domain, it was as if they had sunk into a marsh, their progress slowed, their power continuously diminishing.

The Demon Cultivator who had launched the short spears, upon witnessing this scene, was unperturbed. He merely curled the corners of his mouth in mockery, “The turtle shell of the Human Race is still as disgusting as ever.”

The cultivation systems of the Human and Demon Races differ.

In the Human Cultivation system, any Integration Cultivator would cultivate a Dao Domain.

Within the Dao Domain, the Cultivator is the ruler, the king; other Cultivators, unless they have cultivated a Dao Domain of their own to contend with it, have almost no capacity to resist when within someone else’s Dao Domain.

This is also why Integration Cultivators can easily overpower Divine Transformation Cultivators.

But among the Demon Race, there’s no concept of Dao Domain; however, Seventh Grade Demonic Cultivators do not fear the Dao Domains of Human Cultivators.

This is because, even though there are no Dao Domains in the Demon Race’s cultivation system, all Seventh Grade Demons cultivate a Divine Demon Body.

Each Divine Demon Body of the Demon Race is unique, with a multitude of types, and the powers they possess vary greatly.

Some grant extreme combat capabilities, others terrifying speed, and some possess various Divine Skills…

However, all Divine Demon Bodies share one trait–extreme immunity to Divine Skills, impervious to all spells.

This allows them, to a great extent, to disregard the effects of the Human Cultivators’ Dao Domains and engage them in combat.

Therefore, in the eyes of the Demon Race, the Human Dao Domain isn’t much, at most just an annoying turtle shell.

…..

Boom! Boom! Boom!

The Integration Cultivators of Falling Goose Pass had collided with the Seventh Grade Demon Cultivators.

The battle was extremely fierce.

The Marquis of An Hai was extraordinarily powerful in combat, so for the moment he was unharmed, but the other Integration Cultivators who had left Li City with him did not have as profound cultivation as he did.

Against the numerous and powerful Demon Race, their Dao Domains were forced to shrink in size, adopting a passive defense, appearing rather embarrassed.

If it were one-on-one, it might be hard to say whether Dao Domains or Divine Demon Bodies were stronger, but unfortunately, there were far more Seventh Grade Demon Cultivators present than Human Integration Cultivators at this time.

Therefore, in just a short while, several Integration Cultivators of the Human Race had sustained minor injuries.

Whoosh!

Suddenly, a Shadow Demon that had been hidden in the shadows appeared unexpectedly in a Spring Rain Domain of a Human Cultivator.

He sneered with a Demon Stinger in hand, ripping through the void, penetrating the Dao Domain, aiming straight for the forehead of the Cultivator within the Domain.

The one utilizing the Spring Rain Domain was a female Spiritual Cultivator at the initial stage of Integration.

She was originally focused on battling with another Seventh Grade Demon Cultivator, and faced with an ambush from a Seventh Grade Shadow Demon, notorious as a Spiritual Cultivator killer, she was greatly alarmed and hastily retreated, but it seemed that she might be too late.

The situation was extremely critical!

Clang!

A blue lotus flower appropriately bloomed at that moment, blocking the Demon Stinger and averting the potentially fatal attack.

The Shadow Demon, failing to hit his mark, did not linger in battle and decisively vanished back into the shadows with a flash.

An unseen Shadow Demon is the most terrifying of all.

The female Spiritual Cultivator who narrowly escaped death turned her head to see that it was Deputy General Tang Ze of Falling Goose Pass who had intervened and blocked the Shadow Demon’s certain killing blow.

“Thank you,” the female Spiritual Cultivator said with lingering fear, extremely grateful.

Tang Ze waved his hand dismissively.

“Retreat!”

The Marquis of An Hai, realizing that the Human Cultivators were already in a state of panic and danger was imminent, quickly shouted and led everyone to rapidly retreat back to Falling Goose Pass.

The Demon Race, seizing the advantage, pursued the retreating Human Cultivators with relentless ferocity.

Fortunately, the Human Cultivators had not strayed too far, so they were quickly able to fall back inside Falling Goose Pass.

After following for a while, the Demonic Cultivators of the Demon Race, seeing that all the Human Cultivators had retreated back into Falling Goose Pass, stopped unwillingly.

The barrier of the sky halted their pursuit.

On the warship floating high at the rear of the Demon army, the Demon General Qing Ge stood on deck, his gaze fixed on the scene of the Human Cultivators voluntarily leaving the city, only to be disgracefully forced back to Falling Goose Pass, his sinister laughter ringing out as he loudly commanded.

“The mere Human Race, that’s all they are. Kill them all, breach this Guardian Formation!”

This Demon General Qing Ge, dearly favored by Ao Ren Demon Venerable, seeing the Demon army brutally attacking the barrier under his command, proudly flicked his non-existent long sleeves, placed his hands behind his back, and with his chin lifted, said in an airy tone, “With a flick of my fingers, Falling Goose Pass will vanish in smoke and ashes!”

…

The Marquis of An Hai, who had returned to Falling Goose Pass in disgrace, stood atop the city wall, gazing out at the Demon army with a somber look on his face.

“General, the Demon Race seems hell-bent on victory this time. It’s going to be difficult to break through…” Tang Ze said as he stared at the nearly fifty Seventh Grade Demon Cultivators hovering menacingly in the sky above, speaking with difficulty.

Blood was dripping from his wrist.

In the brief skirmish that had just taken place, he had already suffered no small injury.

Inside Falling Goose Pass, there were fewer than twenty Human Integration Cultivators.

Yet, the Demon Race had nearly fifty Seventh Grade Demon Cultivators.

Fifty against twenty.

With such a lopsided advantage in strength, how could they possibly break out?

The other Integration Cultivators were also silent at this moment.

Their assessment was identical to that of Tang Ze.

Falling Goose Pass had fallen into a hopeless situation where death seemed inevitable.

The day the Guardian Formation is broken will be the day they meet their end.

The pessimism of the Integration Cultivators also affected the other Human Cultivators.

Inside Falling Goose Pass, there was a deathly stillness.

Not even the battle drums could remedy the sense of despair.

As if sensing everyone’s hopelessness, the Marquis of An Hai shook his head, a gleam flashing in his eyes as he uttered each word distinctly, “No, we still have a chance!”

“A chance?!”

“Look…” The Marquis of An Hai’s gaze drifted towards the depths of the Demon army.

“That is…” The crowd quickly followed his gaze and then saw the bloodstained warship.

“I have been wondering why, despite the deployment of nearly fifty Seventh Grade Demon Cultivators, there didn’t seem to be a clear chain of command among them; obviously there was no leader present.

Who then is commanding the army, and why does he not show himself?”

“Until I saw him!” The Marquis of An Hai’s eyes penetrated the unending Demonic forces, shooting straight towards the Demon General Qing Ge, who stood on the warship, brazen and high-spirited as he directed the Demon army to attack.

“Who could have guessed that the leader of the Demon army, including nearly fifty Seventh Grade Demon Cultivators, would be a Sixth Grade Demon Cultivator…”

The Marquis of An Hai muttered, “It seems the abnormal behavior of the Demon Race this time must be due to this Sixth Grade Demon Cultivator.”

“This Demon Cultivator is no ordinary individual…”

Standing behind the Marquis of An Hai, Tang Ze’s eyes flickered, as if he had understood something, “Are you suggesting… ”

“Yes,” the Marquis of An Hai declared emphatically, “A Sixth Grade Demon Cultivator leading the Demon army indicates his status must be extraordinary.

And the more extraordinary his status, the more advantageous for us.

Because no matter how special his status, it cannot change the fact that he is only a mere Sixth Grade.

Capture the king first to capture the thieves. If we can find a way to approach that warship and capture him alive, we can use him as a hostage to forcibly compel the Demon army to retreat!”

As a veteran of many battles, the Marquis of An Hai, upon discovering that the Demon army was, in fact, under the command of a Sixth Grade Demon Cultivator, instantly saw through the fog of war and grasped the slender thread of opportunity that theoretically existed!