Volume 2 - Chapter 72: Battling the Horde of Demon Kings Alone
The enormous body of the Dragon Gate Demon King was sent flying, crashing heavily onto the ground.
Facing the numerous Demon Kings, the Heavenly Avatar roared silently. Its arms swept through the air, unleashing terrifying punches, each imbued with transformative phenomena of nature—lightning and thunder, storms and surging flames—all hurtling toward the Demon Kings in a furious onslaught.
The Demon Kings revealed their ferocious forms and clashed violently with the Heavenly Avatar, evoking an intense feeling of ancient demons waging war against a true god.
Rushing forward at full speed, Li Tiangang's expression shifted constantly.
The familiar sight of the Heavenly Avatar brought back memories of the battle in Qingzhou.
At that time, the conflict had shaken heaven and earth, a fight that raged from the Divine General Mansion to the outskirts of the city, culminating in a sky-shattering battle above Qingzhou City.
That once arrogant and spirited youth had been subdued by his own unyielding might.
Now, however, the power radiating from this Heavenly Avatar far surpassed that of the past.
The suffocating aura emanating from the Avatar left even him, now at the Fourth Pillar Realm, feeling deeply uneasy.
...
This was no longer youthful recklessness but an undeniable majesty!
Boom! Boom! Boom!
With relentless punches and kicks, Li Hao's Heavenly Avatar fought the assembled Demon Kings alone. The force of their clashes tore the ground beneath the Avatar’s feet into fissures resembling the claw marks of an immense beast.
Although the Heavenly Avatar’s body was torn by the Demon Kings’ attacks, it healed instantaneously, absorbing an endless stream of energy.
On the other hand, the Demon Kings were sent flying or toppled over repeatedly by the Heavenly Avatar, unable to get close enough to harm Li Hao.
“Begone!”
Li Hao’s eyes gleamed cold as lightning, and with a sweep of the Avatar’s arms, he unleashed a strength of 100,000 tons in a devastating arc.
A Demon King resembling a giant mountain ape, just about to lunge, was struck directly in the face by a punch and sent flying.
Another Demon King, a winged giant crocodile, swooped down but was kicked mid-air by Li Hao. It was sent crashing several miles away.
Raising its hand, the Heavenly Avatar summoned the power of heaven and earth, condensing it into a pure sword of energy in its palm. With a sudden flick, a rain of countless sword-like droplets swept forth.
The rain, sharp as blades and as relentless as a tidal wave, slashed toward the Demon Kings.
The Demon Kings, furious, struck back to shatter the rain of sword energy, but the torrent was endless, forcing several Demon Kings to retreat under its assault.
One of the Demon Kings from Dragon Gate, a half-dragon with a body as tough as divine iron and scales impervious to weapons, roared and charged through the sword tide, attempting to disrupt Li Hao’s sword momentum.
Suddenly, as the droplets of sword energy splattered against its scales and dissipated, a strange force seeped through.
The half-dragon Demon King abruptly felt its strength stagnate as if its soul was being ensnared. Its body grew unbearably heavy, as though crushed under the weight of a thousand mountains. With a loud thud, its charging body crashed to the ground at the feet of Li Hao’s Heavenly Avatar, lifeless.
Such a bizarre scene left the remaining Demon Kings horrified. They immediately realized that the sword tide concealed a deadly technique, akin to the lethal strike within Li Hao’s Haotian Banner.
Unfathomable, indefensible—the only option was to avoid it entirely.
“Do not let that sword energy touch you!”
“He’s using some strange attack!”
The Demon Kings of the Void Realm roared in fear, desperately unleashing their demonic power to shatter the droplets before they could come close.
But the torrential sword energy remained relentless. As they fought, they retreated, forced back over fifty miles by Li Hao’s indomitable power.
The Heavenly Avatar drove back the Demon Kings, raising its hand suddenly. The sword of condensed energy in its grasp slashed toward the storm clouds that Lu Yuan had conjured.
Furious, Lu Yuan watched as the gathered Demon Kings failed to stop Li Hao. The eerie attack left him unnerved—he couldn’t figure out how the half-dragon elder had died.
If the elder had been crushed by a punch, he could have accepted it; such a death would have been visible. But the sword tide, while potent, should not have had the power to kill a Demon King outright.
Yet the elder was dead.
The unknown filled him with dread.
At that moment, the energy sword pierced the storm clouds. Lu Yuan roared, summoning the lightning within the clouds to coil around the sword like a whip, shattering it.
Even so, the sword had obliterated countless bolts of lightning, delaying the ultimate technique brewing within the storm clouds.
“Attack now! Or do you plan to wait for death?!” Lu Yuan bellowed.
The Demon Kings looked grim but knew hesitating would only worsen their situation.
“Kill!”
They roared and charged again, attacking from multiple directions to encircle Li Hao.
Meanwhile, Li Tiangang had arrived on the battlefield. He shouted anxiously, “Hao’er, run!”
Li Hao, poised to strike at Lu Yuan, frowned slightly at the call. He turned his head, his brows furrowing deeper when he spotted Li Tiangang, but he quickly relaxed and looked away, continuing his advance toward Lu Yuan.
Seeing Li Hao ignore him, Li Tiangang grew both furious and desperate. He yelled at the Demon Kings, “Come at me if you dare!”
“I’ll take you on!”
Standing nearby, Bai Shenjun hesitated. He had been contemplating whether or not to intervene. Not joining the fight would certainly draw Dragon Gate’s wrath later, but entering the fray carried the very real risk of death.
Now, seeing Li Tiangang approach, the man he had battled for years in Yanbei, Bai Shenjun suddenly found him endearing. It was better to have an active role than to remain an awkward observer.
As Li Tiangang stepped forward, Bai Shenjun moved to intercept him.
“Get out of my way!” Li Tiangang shouted in anger, swinging his divine blade in a fierce arc.
Bai Shenjun flicked a finger, releasing a burst of sword light that shattered the divine blade’s radiance.
With a faint sneer, he said, “You’ve only just stepped into the Dao Heart Realm, yet you’re already this arrogant. Typical of the Li family. But compared to your son, you’re far from worthy of facing me!”
“Then try me!” Li Tiangang’s gaze turned icy. His entire being surged with divine might, blazing like flames as his aura climbed higher. He unleashed the Nine Steps Against Heaven, each step raising his momentum to mountainous heights.
Bai Shenjun stopped holding back. Manifesting his true god form, his enormous figure lunged at Li Tiangang with overwhelming force.
The two clashed ferociously, their battle igniting in an instant.
...
Meanwhile, on the city walls, Li Xuanli was not idle. He swiftly commanded the others to activate the formation nodes, taking the opportunity to strike the Demon hordes outside the defensive lines and force the Demon Kings to retreat.
With Daoist Ganji overseeing the battle, reinforcements were available to counter any Demon Kings who rushed in, ensuring a safe withdrawal if necessary.
Soon, a powerful charge erupted from the city walls, as though an army of thousands surged forth to meet the enemy.
The Demon hordes, led by Three Immortals Realm demons, controlled the legions. Their anger flared when they saw the humans daring to take the offensive. They roared orders for their forces to retaliate.
At the forefront of the human charge was Li Hongzhuang, brandishing the Haotian Banner as she charged into the Demon hordes.
She hurled three battle flags into the mass of demons, each exploding with soaring sword energy that swept across the battlefield. Countless demons were instantly slain, unable to offer any resistance.
Even the Three Immortals Realm demons within the horde were caught in the sword energy's blast. Despite mustering all their strength to defend their imperishable forms, the energy sliced through them, severing their bodies.
Each battle flag erupted like a depth charge in the sea of demons, leaving gory craters dozens of miles wide.
The devastating impact caused panic among the Demon hordes.
...
Back on the battlefield, Li Hao, surrounded by Demon Kings, bent down and picked up the lifeless body of the half-dragon Demon King. With a sudden swing, he wielded the corpse like a whip.
Bang! Bang!
The dragon’s body lashed out, striking other Demon Kings and leaving their flesh torn and battered.
The Demon Kings were sent flying one after another, unable to close the distance.
After several more swings, Li Hao’s frustration grew as the Demon Kings continued their assaults. His anger flared. With a leap, he unleashed the Heaven and Earth Unbounded Technique, vanishing in an instant and reappearing before a Demon King.
Without hesitation, he delivered a crushing punch.
The Demon King, startled by Li Hao’s sudden appearance, was too terrified to evade. Li Hao’s punch sent it crashing to the ground.
He pressed his advantage, raining blows on the Demon King. The earth shook as its head was pounded into a bloody pulp.
The other Demon Kings roared in anger and retaliated, but their attacks were futile. Li Hao’s body, tempered by seven rounds of divine forging, was as indestructible as a divine weapon. They couldn’t harm him.
Bang!
With one final blow, Li Hao crushed the Demon King’s head, and as its soul emerged in an attempt to flee, the Heavenly Avatar grabbed it and roared, crushing the soul in its grasp.
A Dao Heart Realm Demon King stood no chance before Li Hao.
The sheer ferocity left the other Demon Kings in terror. This human youth, rumored to be ferocious, was even more fearsome than they had imagined—like the reincarnation of an ancient Demon King.
Sensing their hesitation, Li Hao grabbed the mutilated body of the fallen Demon King and merged with the Heavenly Avatar, channeling its remaining energy to fuel his own.
His aura surged, and he launched himself toward Lu Yuan.
With a swift motion, Li Hao hurled the battered corpse into Lu Yuan’s storm clouds, ripping a hole through the dense clouds.
Countless lightning strikes converged on the corpse, obliterating it entirely.
Seizing the moment, Li Hao threw a devastating punch toward Lu Yuan, condensing immense power into a collapsing fist shadow that hurtled forward with unstoppable momentum.
Roaring with fury, Lu Yuan directed his gathered energy to counter.
An endless lightning storm coalesced into a massive thunder dragon, charging at Li Hao’s attack.
Neither combatant defended against the other’s strikes, each choosing to exchange blows directly.
With a cold and determined gaze, Li Hao stood firm as the thunder dragon struck him. His flesh and blood surged with energy, the effects of countless body-forging techniques operating at their peak. Waves of qi rippled outward from his body.
Bang! Bang!
Two deafening crashes resounded. Li Hao was blasted by the thunder dragon, his body plowing a trench several miles long into the ground.
Simultaneously, Lu Yuan was struck by Li Hao’s punch, vomiting blood as he fell from the sky, his body writhing in agony.
“Hao’er!”
From the corner of his eye, Li Tiangang saw the clash and paled in shock and anger.
The sheer power Li Hao wielded defied his expectations. To think that his son could fight off the combined might of the Demon Kings and even injure Lu Yuan, a master at the Absolute Technique Stage, was beyond belief.
How could he have grown so strong in just over a year?
“You dare be distracted!”
Bai Shenjun roared, taking advantage of the moment to strike. His massive claw slammed down on Li Tiangang, sending him crashing into the ground.
He dived after him, his furious shout echoing. This was the perfect chance to vent his years of frustration accumulated in Yanbei.
...
Li Tiangang, battered and bleeding, retaliated fiercely, his eyes blazing with defiance. Yet Bai Shenjun, unrelenting, sneered.
“Your Li family truly deserves to die. But compared to your son, you’re far inferior,” he said coldly.
“If your son had guarded Yanbei, there would have been no need for years of fighting.”
“But it’s fortunate. That little monster was born too late to matter back then. Had he been around earlier, I might have fallen at his hands.”
As he spoke, his killing intent surged, and he lunged at Li Tiangang once more.
Shaken by Bai Shenjun’s words, Li Tiangang’s expression darkened. Seeing the incoming attack, he roared in fury and swung his blade upward.