The White Bone Demon Lord looked incredibly awkward. He had never expected that dealing with a mere Foundation Establishment brat would result in him being repeatedly toyed with, only for the opponent to vanish without a trace. He had not only scanned with his divine sense but also deployed several secret arts in succession, yet still came up completely empty. That Foundation Establishment youth seemed to have vanished into thin air, leaving not even a wisp of trace behind.

Unwilling to accept defeat, the White Bone Demon Lord scoured the area spanning several dozen li, his true energy pulverizing countless weak creatures living in the sand, but he could not find a single feather belonging to Lei Dong. Just as he was about to leave, seemingly annoyed, a faint, unusual sensation reached his divine sense. The slightly dejected aura instantly sharpened, and a murderous glare crossed his sinister face: "Who dares trespass?"

"Welcome, Demon Lord, to the edge of the Great Barren Desert." Daqi, whose imposing build and strangely bold attire made him seem as if he had materialized from a mound of yellow sand, laughed heartily. "As the master of the tribe that guards the Great Barren Desert, I apologize for not greeting you sooner. Demon Lord, you truly live up to your reputation; you managed to see through my Sand Evasion Technique." While Daqi was the chieftain of the Barbarian tribe and outwardly rough, he was in fact a meticulous person, speaking the Zhaozhou dialect with flawless clarity.

The White Bone Demon Lord's expression shifted slightly, yet he remained composed and calm. "So it is the Barbarian Chieftain. Why have you left the Great Barren Desert to come to my Zhaozhou?" Meanwhile, he was inwardly assessing that the strength of these Barbarians could not be underestimated; not only had Daqi managed to approach him unnoticed until this point, but the aura emanating from him carried a subtle yet oppressive weight.

"Demon Lord, that is an unfair assessment. Firstly, this area still belongs to the Desert region. Secondly, with your knowledge and experience, you must know that tens of thousands of years ago, our Guardian Clan resided here on this beautiful and fertile land generation after generation. It is you Zhaozhou people who are the true invaders." As Daqi mentioned this, the corner of his mouth twitched slightly, clearly still bothered by the history.

"Hmph, the victor takes the spoils; it is merely survival of the fittest." The White Bone Demon Lord, having achieved so much and lived so long, naturally knew a thing or two about Zhaozhou's secrets. What Daqi said was true; long ago, these Barbarians did indeed inhabit the lands now known as Zhaozhou. But what did that signify? Under heaven, there were countless laws, but the most fundamental law was nothing more than simple superiority weeding out the inferior.

"Well said, Demon Lord." Daqi laughed loudly while applauding, but the smile quickly vanished, replaced by a cold, sinister chuckle. "But now, our Guardian Clan intends to reclaim what is ours. I suggest the Demon Lord surrender peaceably to avoid any unpleasantness between us."

"Arrogant fool." The White Bone Demon Lord's face darkened, and he spat the word out angrily. "With merely the strength of you backward barbarians, you think you can capture this Venerable One?" With that, his imposing aura tightened, and gusts of eerie black wind began to swirl around him, filled with incessant cries like ghosts wailing and wolves howling. Simultaneously, thousands of seemingly real yet illusory white skeletons roared out, covering the sky, charging toward Daqi with formidable might.

"Well met." Seeing the immense momentum of the white bones, Daqi's eyes lit up with appreciation. Facing the vicious wind and the skeletal horde, he neither dodged nor retreated. He simply planted his feet firmly on the sand and threw a single punch.

That seemingly ordinary punch instantly stirred up the yellow sand, creating a blinding, sun-obscuring curtain of ochre that rapidly spread outwards. At the same time, the swirling grit coalesced, transforming into a massive earthen-yellow dragon, exquisitely lifelike, its eyes shining brightly. It reared its head back and roared, unleashing a deafening dragon's cry.

Concurrently, a fan-shaped wave of earthen-yellow energy surged toward the white bone skeletons. The front ranks of the skeletons instantly exploded into countless specks of white light. This single blow annihilated half of the skeletal army.

The White Bone Demon Lord remained utterly unmoved, hands clasped behind his back, letting out a faint, cold snort. He formed a hand seal, and a ghostly white luminescence enveloped his body. The scattered white energy instantly reformed into a brand-new skeletal army, all erupting with terrifying, grating screeches. They charged directly at the earthen-yellow dragon. In mere breaths, the white skeletons swarmed over the dragon's back, their pointed teeth viciously and shamelessly tearing and devouring.

The dragon roared repeatedly, twisting and flailing in the air. Skeletons were continuously flung off, shattering into fragments amidst the surging energy. The illusory earthen-yellow dragon was severely wounded by the frenzied consumption of ten thousand skeletons and could no longer maintain its form.

The White Bone Demon Lord and Daqi, having exchanged only a single move, waited for the outcome. Moments later, with a final mournful cry from the earthen-yellow dragon, it dissolved amidst the billowing dust back into a vast expanse of yellow sand, the vortex hissing as it slowly settled back into the desert. The White Bone Demon Lord's skeletal army was also utterly depleted by the dragon's counterattack. This exchange was truly a draw, an even match.

"Excellent, excellent! Truly worthy of being the renowned White Bone Demon Lord of Zhaozhou," Daqi chuckled heartily. "The power of ten thousand skeletons in a single strike is extraordinary."

"Hmph, I never expected you to master the Barbarian Clan's Great Sand Art to this extent," the White Bone Demon Lord sneered. "Today I have seen it. If there is another opportunity, we shall spar again another day."

"Under normal circumstances," Daqi's expression suddenly turned regretful and serious, "Daqi would sincerely seek to befriend a heroic figure such as the Demon Lord who dominates the world. Unfortunately, today Daqi is under orders to capture the Demon Lord. I ask for your understanding regarding this base tactic. After all, this is a battlefield; all is fair in war."

As the White Bone Demon Lord projected his divine sense, his face immediately contorted. At some unknown time, the surroundings for ten li had become densely packed with menacing and terrifying Shadow Stalking Bugs. His divine sense probed outwards: the number of Shadow Stalking Bugs likely exceeded ten thousand.

The White Bone Demon Lord had long heard rumors of these insects. They were common ferocious pests in the Great Barren Desert, yet they could be harnessed by the Barbarians. Once mobilized in an army, their power was extraordinary. Every time they attacked Zhaozhou, the Barbarians used these bugs as the vanguard. However, even for the Barbarians, taming these insects was no easy feat, so their numbers were usually limited to a few thousand. Ten thousand would spell catastrophe.

After all, even Nascent Soul cultivators, though not terrified by such vicious insects, could not directly confront such a massive swarm and would have to retreat three steps. Even if they attempted guerrilla warfare against the Shadow Stalking Bugs, the Barbarian warriors were no pushovers. Survival in the barren lands was difficult; under the law of the jungle, any Barbarian slightly below par simply could not survive in the Great Barren Desert. Those who lived long enough to qualify for attack were mostly formidable entities.

What made the White Bone Demon Lord's heart sink further was the sudden realization that he was still within the range of the Anti-Sky Formation. Even as a Nascent Soul cultivator, he could hardly contend with the restrictions of such a large-scale formation. Unable to fly up and escape, confronting the siege of ten thousand Shadow Stalking Bugs head-on, the White Bone Demon Lord knew, was a dead end. He might slay a thousand or two, but under such an absolute numerical suppression, he would inevitably be consumed by the swarm. Furthermore, the powerful Barbarian warriors were watching hungrily. The Demon Lord regretted deeply that the spatial talisman he kept for life preservation had been expended while pursuing Lei Dong; otherwise, he might have attempted an escape.

Seeing the constant change in the White Bone Demon Lord's expression, Daqi knew his scheme had succeeded. Someone of his status had managed to pin down the Demon Lord, making him focus entirely on Daqi, thereby overlooking the stealth of the Shadow Stalking Bugs. These insects were inherently terrifying entities of the Great Barren Desert, specializing in sneaking and ambushing prey, making them impossible to guard against. They excelled at collective action, often moving in hundreds or thousands at a time. Even the Barbarian people had suffered immense losses at the hands of the Shadow Stalking Bugs over the millennia of desert life.

"Demon Lord, Daqi respects you as a distinguished Demon Venerable," Daqi sighed. "If you would surrender, Daqi would treat you as an honored guest. We could drink and talk merrily—wouldn't that be delightful?"

"Surrender?" The White Bone Demon Lord let out continuous cold laughter. "Though this Venerable One is a notorious, universally despised demon fiend who has run rampant in Zhaozhou, if you expect this Venerable One to surrender to the Barbarians, Daqi, you gravely underestimate me." As he spoke the last word, the air for several li around the White Bone Demon Lord vibrated. His imposing aura surged upward. He formed a hand seal, and another army of several thousand skeletons materialized.

Simultaneously, his divine sense connected with his Spirit Beast Pouch, and amidst wolf howls, a Twin-Headed Silver Wolf appeared out of thin air, its fur sleek and shining, radiating a cold and ruthless aura. He then executed rapid hand movements in the void, summoning two formidable Ninth-Rank Ghost Generals, who displayed an overwhelmingly dominant temperament, cold and ferocious. Ghost Generals cultivated to this level were undoubtedly Superior-Grade Spirit Ghosts. As for Peak-Grade Spirit Ghosts, they were much harder to obtain, even for a cultivator at the Nascent Soul stage.

Under extreme pressure, the White Bone Demon Lord brought out every last thing he had in reserve.

Daqi watched all this coldly, showing no sign of interference, merely letting out a soft, regretful sigh at the end. "Demon Lord, forgive me for offending." With that, no one knew how he commanded the swarm. The ten thousand-plus Shadow Stalking Bugs charged toward the White Bone Demon Lord, who was surrounded, like a tempestuous storm.

The White Bone Demon Lord laughed coldly. "This Venerable One has roamed Zhaozhou for nearly a thousand years; my lifespan has long reached its limit. Let this Venerable One personally experience the might of the Shadow Stalking Bug tide."

Boom—The skeletal army fiercely met the insect tide. One white, one dark—the two surging floods collided violently.

……