High Martial: I Grind Professions

Chapter 266: Chapter 164: Another Identity, Part 3

”Oh no! Retreat—”

”He’s not—”

”He’s at the Great Sun Realm?!”

The remaining demon generals were scared out of their wits, their courage utterly shattered. Not a shred of fighting spirit remained.

Only one thought remained in their minds—escape!

Escape back to the Star Gate, escape back to the Demon Realm!

Unfortunately, their hopes were a luxury reality would not afford them.

After slaying the four demon generals, the purple figure didn’t pause for even a moment.

A soft sound echoed through the air again, like the shriek of air compressed to its absolute limit.

This time, only a single flash of purple light appeared.

But this single flash of purple seemed to appear simultaneously behind every Bright Moon Realm demon general trying to flee toward the Star Gate.

It didn’t matter if they had reacted the fastest and already fled several miles, or if they had just turned and were a bit slower.

SHINK! SHINK! SHINK! SHINK! SHINK!

The remaining few demon generals froze instantly. Fine cracks, marked by faint, scorched-black traces, appeared on their vital spots—their chests, necks, and the centers of their backs.

Amplified to the extreme by his speed, the Thunder Fiend power within Li Wen’s True Essence had already pierced their defenses—whether through his weapon or his fingertips—and instantly annihilated their life force.

They couldn’t even let out a scream before their bodies, as if every bone had been removed, limply plummeted from the sky, their eyes frozen with boundless horror and profound bewilderment.

Even in death, they couldn’t understand how a late-stage Bright Moon Realm human could possess such crushing speed and killing power that even escaping was an unattainable dream.

Without the command and suppression of the Bright Moon Realm demon generals, the remaining Flying Star Level demon soldiers on the battlefield descended into complete chaos.

Terrified shrieks and desperate roars echoed all around.

Like loose sand, they instinctively routed and fled toward the Star Gate.

Li Wen was like a tiger among sheep. Every time the cold light of his blade flashed, several demon soldiers would silently perish, like ashes scattered by the wind.

His despair-inducing speed made it difficult for ordinary Flying Star Realm demon soldiers to even track his direction of movement.

However, there were simply too many Flying Star Level demon soldiers, and they scattered in all directions like an ant colony from a collapsing dam.

Li Wen’s main targets were always the high-level combatants who posed the greatest threat. The long blade in his hand became a series of deathly arcs, and wherever he passed, demon soldiers fell in swathes.

But in the end, about a dozen particularly cunning Flying Star Level demon soldiers, or those on the fringes of the battlefield, took advantage of the moment Li Wen slew the last demon general. They scrambled desperately toward the still-swirling spatial vortex.

SHH! SHH! SHH!

Several more demon soldiers were caught and shredded by the blade qi, but seven or eight figures still managed to disappear wretchedly into the Star Gate at the last second.

The spatial fluctuations within the Star Gate gradually subsided.

Li Wen sheathed his blade and stood silently, surveying the wreckage and soaring flames of Nanzha County’s outer district.

The air was thick with the pungent stench of blood, scorched flesh, and venom.

His gaze swept over the lifeless bodies of gods and demons, over the gruesome scenes occasionally visible beneath the distant rubble, and finally settled on the ominous vortex leading to the Demon Realm.

The cold, baleful aura swirling around him seemed to intensify, and the depths of his eyes were like ten-thousand-year-old ice, devoid of any warmth.

The blade in his hand, having somehow drunk its fill of demon blood, was once again pristine and cold. Yet, upon its edge, a layer of irresolvable darkness seemed to have settled.

...

On the other side of the Star Gate.

This was a scorched, brown wasteland wracked by chaotic energy storms. The distorted air seemed to burn with invisible flames.

A colossal fortress, built from some kind of ghastly white bone, sat at the edge of the wasteland.

The Stargate was embedded in the center of a great hall, deep within the fortress’s main structure.

A withered, grim-faced old man sat cross-legged on a high platform not far from the Star Gate.

He had a bizarre goat’s head, eyes as eerie green as will-o’-the-wisps, and a sparse, gray goatee hanging from his chin.

He was none other than the one in charge of this invasion, the Marquis Level Demon King—the Evil-eyed Demon King.

At this moment, he was resting with his eyes closed, calmly awaiting news of the spoils his demon army would bring back.

Suddenly, the light of the Star Gate fluctuated violently.

A staggering figure stumbled out of it, falling heavily onto the black, gravel-strewn ground. He was covered in blood, his face a mask of terror from having just escaped death.

”Hm?” The Evil-eyed Demon King’s eyes snapped open, his eerie green pupils flaring like ignited phosphorus.

His domain’s pressure spread out silently, causing the Flying Star Realm demon soldier who had just escaped with his life to instantly collapse, trembling like a leaf.

”Why the panic? What happened? What is the situation at the front?”

The Evil-eyed Demon King’s voice was hoarse and carried an unquestionable authority, slithering into the demon soldier’s mind like a venomous snake. ”Why have you returned alone?”

”My... My King, spare me!” The demon soldier was scared witless, his words tumbling out incoherently.

”The... the Human Race reinforcements arrived! A... a late-stage Bright Moon Realm human! So terrifying! Red Scale Commander and the others... they’re all dead! He killed them in an instant! He... he’s nothing like a Bright Moon Realm expert! He’s too fast, like lightning...”

”Nonsense!” The Evil-eyed Demon King’s face darkened, his demonic energy boiling around him. ”A mere late-stage Bright Moon Realm human can kill several of my great generals?”

Killing intent flared in his eyes. He was about to raise a withered claw and crush this fool who was disrupting the army’s morale into a bloody pulp.

Just then—THUD! THUD! THUD...

One after another, several more Flying Star Level demon soldiers came scrambling out of the Star Gate like beaten dogs.

Every one of them was a wretched sight, their faces a mixture of bone-deep terror and the relief of having escaped with their lives.

The Evil-eyed Demon King’s cold gaze swept over this group of trembling, defeated soldiers.

”Speak!” he said, looking at the other demon soldiers who had just escaped. ”What in the world happened at the front? Was what this one said true or false?”

”My... My King! It’s true! It’s all true!”