Since the demons poured in from the gateway to the Demon Realm, the human world, stripped of its masters, proved utterly defenseless. The lands of the Atlantean Empire and the Varlong Empire were the first to fall. Yet, for reasons unknown, the demons made no move toward the Southern Wildwood, nor did they march directly from there toward the Nine Provinces; instead, they traveled vast distances, converging entirely before Storm City, just north of the current Southern Cloud Empire.

The immense grasslands had been overrun by the demons, and save for the territory east of the Tiangang Mountain Range, everything had become their domain. In every occupied area, the human populace lived lives more wretched than those of livestock.

What was truly strange was that the entirety of the Nine Provinces was suddenly encased by a powerful barrier, preventing the demons from entering anywhere else. Storm City had become the sole ingress point, and it was only due to this isolation that the remaining humans could barely hold back the demonic assault.

At this moment, upon the Crimson Plains outside Storm City, massed the Scorpion Demon Legion, the First Legion under Xiao, the Third Warlord of Destruction. This legion consisted entirely of centaur-like beings with the heads of scorpions and human torsos, numbering forty thousand—arguably Xiao’s strongest force.

Each soldier towered over ten feet tall, encased in thick, hardened carapaces that rendered them effectively immune to the arrows fired by human soldiers; at least, common arrows could inflict no damage. Only the massive ballistae mounted on the city walls possessed the power to harm these rank-and-file Scorpion Demons.

Beneath the ramparts of Storm City, the First Legion Commander, "Xie," coldly observed the colossal wall, fifty feet high. He wondered what material composed this structure to grant it such impregnable resilience; even several other legion commanders of his own rank, attacking personally, had managed only to score a slightly deeper mark upon the stone. How could humans construct such a formidable edifice?

Xie was, after all, a "Hong-level" master—above the primordial chaos of the cosmos, beyond the Yellow of Heaven—a being two tiers stronger than a typical "Tian-level" expert, one who had fully grasped the power of rules. Yet, he struggled to breach this seemingly ordinary wall. It was deeply unsettling.

Considering this, and the immensely powerful barrier that had materialized overhead at some unknown point—a barrier even seven Hong-level masters could not shatter with their full might—Xie’s surprise only deepened.

They had now discovered that this location was the barrier's weakest point. With the seven main Warlords absent, this might be their only chance to breach the territory. Seven Great Lords each maintained a forty-thousand-strong legion stationed here. However, Yan, the First Legion Commander under the Devouring Clan's Third Warlord, had vanished without a trace, his position subsequently filled by another Hong-level expert.

The seven legions fought their battles independently. Each was allotted one day to assault the fortifications; failure meant the next in line would take their turn. Six days had now passed, and the other six legions had failed to breach the walls. Only the legion under Xie remained.

Should his force succeed in breaching the defenses, they would claim dominion over this land. If they failed, the seven legions would unite for a final, overwhelming assault, after which everything within would be divided among them.

He had already dispatched riders to inform General Xiao. The intelligence gleaned from Xiao suggested that this place, the Nine Provinces, holding an ancient barrier from the Primordial Era, must contain numerous invaluable treasures left behind. For the demons, who suffered a severe shortage of weaponry, the allure of these relics was almost impossible to suppress. General Xiao’s directive was clear: seize this territory by any means necessary.

Therefore, Xie felt the immense pressure. He had to exert every ounce of his strength to shatter the wall today. Only then, according to their pact, would the Destroyer Demon Clan inherit everything here.

But the other six legions had already battered this section of the wall, suffering heavy losses among their soldiers, and still could not break it. Could he possibly succeed where they had failed?

Gazing at his subordinates, whose morale remained high despite the odds, Xie finally gave the order. He had to fulfill General Xiao’s command.

Above the battlements, Luo Ruofeng stood clad in imperial robes, a longsword belted at his waist, his long black hair tied back. Now possessing Tian-level cultivation, he appeared significantly younger, his gaze sharp and gleaming as he stared intently at the thousands of Scorpion Demons below, each possessing strength exceeding the Grandmaster level.

Behind him stood Nangong Shang, encased in armor. Thanks to the continuous supply of elixirs from Gongsun Xiangyi and a period of intense seclusion within the Landscape Painting of Rivers and Mountains (Shanhe Sheji Tu), his cultivation had ascended to the Celestial Immortal Realm. Though he lacked the Haotian Pearl, the Landscape Painting formed its own dimension, allowing him to undergo Heavenly Tribulations within its confines. Standing behind him were one hundred men whose power surpassed the Martial God level, each radiating a dense aura of killing intent.

These were the first cohort of prodigious youths inducted into the Landscape Painting. Three years had passed in the human world, but nearly a century had rushed by within the artifact. In that century, fueled by Gongsun Xiangyi's pills, reaching the Earth-level (Martial God) realm was not difficult.

Over a thousand individuals had reached the Martial God realm in that first batch, but nearly all had been slain in the battles of the preceding days. The hundred remaining were the strongest among them; several had already grasped the final layer of their discipline, poised, should they survive this conflict, to reach the Tian-level.

Yet, they understood that the demons arrayed before them possessed terrifying combat prowess; even if they reached the Tian-level now, survival was not guaranteed—let alone at their current strength. Still, not a single eye betrayed fear; they seemed utterly indifferent to the imminent danger.

Furthermore, along the expansive battlements stood other soldiers, none of them ordinary. These were men forcefully elevated to the Innate Martial Master, Master, or Grandmaster realms through medicinal aid. Only they could offer even tenuous resistance against the demonic onslaught. Of course, the demons who had retreated from the Demon Realm during the earlier incursions also stood positioned upon the walls.

In the eyes of men, these were once savage creatures, yet now they served as humanity’s staunchest protectors. It was only thanks to the sheer physical might of these former adversaries that this section of the wall could still be held.

Chi Yixiu sat atop the battlements. Having attained Tian-level power, he could now control his form, standing at a mere ten feet tall.

Beside him sat two other figures: Ying Kongshi and Yan Senxu. They had organized the demon armies to fight the encroaching demons in the Demon Realm for over a year, only to be defeated in the end. These two newly ascended Demon Kings looked utterly exhausted.