"By the spirit of the Moon's darkness, I swear this 'Raging' (Enchanting) Martial Path! From this day forward, I pledge eternal loyalty to Lord Jing! Should I break this oath, may my soul be shattered!" A resounding voice erupted from the four demons, their eyes burning with resolute conviction.

Under the current Heavenly Dao rules of the Celestial Realm, any oath was immutable, especially since the vow made by these four demons was utterly sincere, drawn from the depths of their beings.

They all understood that Ye Jingyu had come here for Kuang; had it not been to rescue them, he would never have recklessly deployed that terrifying grand formation. If he hadn't deployed it, his identity wouldn't have been exposed.

Everything he had done was solely for them. Especially recalling that line Ye Jingyu had spoken—Whoever dares harm my people, I will wipe out their entire clan—at first, they had dismissed it as mere polite talk. But now, everything Ye Jingyu had done proved the weight of those words: for their sake, even against a powerful figure, he would annihilate an entire lineage.

To have such a considerate subordinate in a Lord—even if he was human? What did it matter if they gave their lives for him? After all, there were countless demon races; thus, races other than their own, including humans, were merely outside races, not fundamentally different.

As the four demons knelt, the tens of thousands of remaining demons also prostrated themselves, simultaneously swearing allegiance to Ye Jingyu.

In an instant, Ye Jingyu felt streams of wondrous thoughts flood into his body, as if the spiritual consciousness of every single demon had settled into his hands...

He suddenly possessed the sensation of having complete dominion over the life and death of these demons—a marvelous feeling, one he had never experienced before.

Was this what it felt like to be loyally served? Was this the effect of the current Heavenly Dao rules? But why hadn't he felt this when Xie Zuomiao and the others pledged loyalty to him?

Ye Jingyu pondered deeply and finally realized that he had felt something similar before, but because the numbers back then were so small, that sliver of faith had been too thin. Now, with tens of thousands swearing allegiance simultaneously, the conviction was naturally far stronger.

Vaguely, he sensed that if he were to deploy the Cangsheng Seal again, its power might multiply several times over, and his cultivation seemed to have ascended a whole realm.

No wonder—no wonder both demons and immortals craved the fealty of others. This wave of belief could directly boost one's personal cultivation! He only wondered if Yuan had felt this way when he was the recipient of his allegiance.

"All of you, rise. From this day forward, we are all the best of brothers. From now on, anyone who offends my army shall be killed without mercy!" Seeing the fervent gazes of the demon leaders, Ye Jingyu stood firm in the void, his voice cool, confident, yet brimming with absolute dominance, rang out.

"Offend my army, kill without mercy!" Tens of thousands roared almost in unison, their ferocious laughter echoing across the entire sky...

Witnessing such a massive outburst, Xuan Ming's expression was one of surprise; even Hanba seemed momentarily stunned. In the Primordial Era, demons were inherently bloodthirsty. They could slay demons, they could enslave demons, but forcing demons to pledge sincere loyalty was utterly impossible. Even Fuxi, Nüwa, and Shennong—the Sages themselves—could not achieve this. Yet, Ye Jingyu had done it. Though there were only tens of thousands of demons, they were demons—beings devoid of humanity!

With a perplexed cry, Xuan Ming vanished back into the grand formation, deciding he needed to seek out other demons if he wished to continue his research.

Hanba also shook his head in utter astonishment before turning and slipping back into the formation. At this point, Little Taotao, Ni Bo, and Xueling approached Ye Jingyu, gazing together at the tens of thousands of demons pledging their oaths. Joy was etched on every one of their faces; Ye Jingyu had finally won the true loyalty of these demons.

He deactivated the Twelve Heavenly Witches Annihilation Grand Formation, surveying the devastated scene. Fortunately, no one else had discovered the location. This was thanks to Miao, who, while pursuing Kuang and the others, had deliberately dragged the confrontation far away from his Blazing Flame City to prevent the fallout of the battle from affecting his domain. Even with the battle that had just occurred, no one in Blazing Flame City had been alerted. Besides the remaining demons, no one could possibly leak Ye Jingyu's secrets.

However, secrets rarely remain buried forever, especially when the City Lord of Blazing Flame City, such a significant figure, has perished. Just as Ye Jingyu was preparing to lead the remaining sixty thousand-plus demons toward the Savage Forest for an extended drill, Ye Jingyu, acting as the army's commander, received an indictment from the Earth Alliance. The accusation charged him with murdering Miao, the City Lord of Blazing Flame City, and ordered him to report to Earth Fiend City for investigation.

Ye Jingyu was certainly not foolish enough to go to Earth Fiend City alone to face questioning. He personally led the army of sixty thousand demons, marching straight toward Earth Fiend City. Along the way, countless villages were destroyed. Any demon who joined the Blood Fiend Legion and possessed any fighting strength was handsomely rewarded; any who dared resist were executed outright.

Since they were only demons dying, he felt no grief. And when it came to slaughter, Xueling was the most zealous participant. Her own village had been mercilessly massacred by these demons; now, having the chance to butcher them, she was naturally thrilled.

People must experience certain things to grow. Ye Jingyu tacitly accepted Xueling's acts of catharsis, respecting her choice.

Acts of slaughtering villages like this were common occurrences throughout the Earth Alliance territories. After all, survival of the fittest prevailed; to demons, the weak were not worthy of pity—they were merely sustenance. It was like lions or wolves; though they might not prey on their own kind, they showed no mercy to other animals.

Although demons possessed considerable intelligence, this fundamental nature was no different from that of animals, except their actions manifested with greater bloodthirst and violence.

Standard cities were usually guarded by powerful City Lords and boasted formidable armies; no army would willingly provoke a city. Thus, villages became the easiest targets.

However, under normal circumstances, even demon armies would rarely slaughter more than one or two villages to replenish supplies. A figure like Ye Jingyu, slaughtering every village he encountered, was unprecedented in the many years since the Earth Alliance was established. Such conduct risked angering other demons, but Ye Jingyu did not care. He dared to kill a City Lord like Miao; what else would he fear doing? Didn't demons believe in the absolute rule of the strong? As long as he was strong enough, what was there to fear?

Finally, after Ye Jingyu had annihilated the eighteenth small village, bringing the numbers of the Blood Fiend Legion back up to one hundred thousand, they arrived at Earth Fiend City...