Cultivation Begins From The Desert

Chapter 642 - 627: Demon King Attacks!

Ninth-Layer Golden Core Cultivators striving for Nascent Soul Stage do not achieve results in just three or five years.

Even those cultivators who achieve results relatively quickly need over ten years to succeed, and it’s not unusual for success to come after twenty years.

This is why Zhouyang was anxious during his time on "Peach Blossom Island", urging Jiang Fengxian to prepare for Nascent Soul Formation.

Now Jiang Fengxian is in a death-like seclusion, striving for Nascent Soul Stage, while Zhouyang guards and protects his beloved while simultaneously comprehending the Divine Technique, the [Golden Sun Demon Suppression Spell].

This [Golden Sun Demon Suppression Spell] is a divine technique that anyone can cultivate, but achieving success requires gradual progress through persistent effort.

Moreover, the cultivation method of this divine technique is quite peculiar, requiring cultivators to bathe in sunlight, form a Dharma Seal with their hands, recite the True Technique, and daily gather the Great Sun Essence Qi to refine a "Demon-Suppressing Golden Light".

According to the divine cultivation technique deciphered by Zhouyang, for cultivators initially practicing this divine technique, continuous cultivation for a thousand days is necessary to achieve entry-level mastery, and achieving the Small Success Realm requires twenty to thirty years of cultivation.

However, Zhouyang unexpectedly discovered that he took only about five hundred days to succeed in entry-level mastery of the divine technique.

This unexpected discovery initially puzzled Zhouyang considerably, as the basic requirement of cultivating this [Golden Sun Demon Suppression Spell] clearly showed that this was definitely a divine technique without shortcuts for rapid success.

But when he had his daughter Jiang Yufeng try cultivating the divine technique and inquired about her cultivation experience, Zhouyang guessed the reason behind his speedy progress.

The reason is related to the Golden Core Phenomenon "Great Sun Embrace" achieved when he formed his core.

Because of the Golden Core Phenomenon "Great Sun Embrace", his Spiritual Root talent improved to Upper-Grade level, and his cultivation of Fire Element Divine Techniques became much smoother than ordinary cultivators.

Over the years, practicing various Fire Element Divine Techniques has indeed been smooth sailing, without encountering particularly difficult obstacles.

The [Golden Sun Demon Suppression Spell] requires the collection of Great Sun Essence Qi to refine "Demon-Suppressing Golden Light". If someone collects Great Sun Essence Qi faster than others, cultivation speed will naturally be faster.

Great Sun Essence Qi is not ordinary Heaven and Earth Spiritual Qi; under the same cultivation, each cultivator’s collection speed is similar, unaffected by Spiritual Root talent and Cultivation Technique factors.

Zhouyang is an exception. After pondering over it, he concluded that apart from the Golden Core Phenomenon "Great Sun Embrace", there was no other reason.

This discovery made him quite pleased.

His joy wasn’t just because it would save him half of the time in cultivating the divine technique; the more important reason was that he could finally exceed other cultivators in a certain cultivation talent.

Time flew by, and soon sixteen years of Jiang Fengxian’s seclusion for Nascent Soul Formation had passed.

During these sixteen years, Zhouyang diligently practiced the divine technique daily and had already cultivated the [Golden Sun Demon Suppression Spell] to the Small Success Realm, allowing it to be used effectively in battles.

This day, Zhouyang left the cave abode as usual and went to a secluded place on the island to perform his routine cultivation of [Golden Sun Demon Suppression Spell].

Having discovered his talent in cultivating this divine technique, of course, he couldn’t waste it and wouldn’t slack off just because the divine technique had reached a Small Success state.

Perhaps this divine technique will become his first to reach the Great Success Realm through self-cultivation.

However, halfway through his cultivation, Zhouyang’s expression suddenly changed. Originally reciting the True Technique with his mouth and forming a Dharma Seal with his hands, he suddenly loosened his hands, stood up, and looked towards the cave abode with joy in his eyes.

"Is she finally going to succeed?"

A flash of joy appeared on his face, and he quickly returned to the cave abode.

Upon returning to the cave abode, his daughter Jiang Yufeng came up with a face full of surprise.

"Father, the Heaven and Earth Spiritual Qi has changed; is it a sign that mother is about to succeed in forming her Nascent Soul?"

Full of excitement, Jiang Yufeng looked at Zhouyang with eyes filled with joy.

"Feng’er, don’t get too excited. This is the most critical moment; the Heaven and Earth Spiritual Qi changes, and the greater the commotion the further it progresses, many Demon Beasts will certainly be attracted, even alerting Demon Kings!"

Looking at his excited daughter, Zhouyang sternly cautioned: "Next, Father will go outside to guard. You must stay inside the cave abode at all costs, regardless of what happens outside; do not leave the cave abode!"

Upon hearing this, Jiang Yufeng’s excitement quickly subsided. Her eyes became firm as she nodded solemnly, saying, "I understand, Father. Don’t worry, even if I have to risk my life, I will ensure Mother isn’t disturbed!"

Just as Zhouyang had predicted, with the passage of time, the mutation of Heaven and Earth Spiritual Qi on "Demon Slaying Island" rapidly spread throughout the surrounding sea regions.

Demon Beasts living in those sea areas, upon discovering that all Spiritual Qi was converging towards "Demon Slaying Island", instinctively came over to investigate.

Demon Beasts from even further sea regions, witnessing the phenomenon of Heaven and Earth Spiritual Qi soaring into the sky and forming a Seven-Colored Spiritual Cloud over "Demon Slaying Island", would believe some Exotic Treasure had emerged here and thus hurried over to fight for it.

Initially, only some Middle-to-Low Tier Demon Beasts came over here. After Zhouyang let the [Water-Resistant Golden-Eyed Beast] kill them off for a while, they were deterred.

However, as the commotion grew louder, several Tier Five Demon Beasts from thousands of miles away sensed the changes here and could not resist traveling long distances to investigate the situation.

These Tier Five Demon Beasts possessed formidable intelligence. After arriving near "Demon Slaying Island," they quickly realized that there wasn’t an exotic treasure emerging, but rather a human cultivator was attempting to break through to the Tier Six Realm here.

Upon discovering this, how could these Tier Five Demon Beasts just stand by and watch?

Immediately, these Tier Five Demon Beasts sent the faster ones to the Demon King’s lair to report the situation to the Demon King stationed in the "Celestial Wave Outer Sea," while coordinating a large number of demon beasts to launch an attack on the island.

Under the command of the high-tier demon beasts, various shrimp, crabs, snakes, and fish continuously landed from all corners of "Demon Slaying Island," charging towards the central peak, acting as cannon fodder for probing attacks.

At this point, Zhouyang had already arranged several sets of arrays around the cave. As soon as these cannon fodder demon beasts stepped into the array zone, they would be killed by the attacks generated by the array.

However, he alone had limited energy and could not personally oversee so many arrays. Arrays without a cultivator to direct them, even if he recklessly used top-grade spirit stones as the power source for several arrays, could not withstand the onslaught of hundreds or thousands of demon beasts for long.

In less than three days, most of the arrays he had set up without any direct oversight were trampled flat by the demon beasts, leaving only one array, the [Water Dragon Fury Array], intact under his direct control.

The [Water Dragon Fury Array] was a Tier Five Top-Grade Killing Array, overseen by Zhouyang, a Ninth-Layer Golden Core Cultivator, not something that mere middle-to-low-tier demon beasts could shake.

The Tier Five Demon Beasts, lurking in the sea and driving demon beasts to attack the island, quickly grasped this fact after several attempts and had to stop driving the low-tier demon beasts to die.

In reality, they had no choice but to stop. Although there were many demon beasts in the sea, there was a limit.

In their haste, the demon beasts they could control were limited to those within a few thousand miles of the sea. Many had to be excluded due to their inability to fight on land, or because their combat power would be greatly reduced after landing, such as the fish demons.

Thus, the demon beasts they could command to attack the island numbered only in the thousands, and most had already perished in the previous assaults.

With low-tier demon beasts unusable, these Tier Five Demon Beasts could only take the stage themselves, along with some Tier Four demon beasts.

A total of six Tier Five Demon Beasts and over fifty Tier Four Demon Beasts appeared outside the [Water Dragon Fury Array] and launched various magical techniques and divine powers against the grand array.

Venom, lightning, wind blades, water arrows... the assault formed by dozens of high-tier demon beasts was indeed formidable.

The [Water Dragon Fury Array], not primarily defense-oriented, shook violently under this wave of attacks, seemingly on the brink of collapse.

However, before the attacking demon beasts could show any joy, twelve golden sword silks suddenly flew out from the array, instantly piercing through the skulls of twelve Tier Four Demon Beasts.

One strike, twelve kills!

Zhouyang’s counterattack was equally fierce.

Utilizing the advanced swordsmanship of "Flying Sword Silk," he struck down twelve Tier Four Demon Beasts with a single blow, then immediately formed and manipulated several sword arrays with a hand gesture, using the golden flying swords to massacre the demon beasts outside the array.

Meanwhile, the [Water-Resistant Golden-Eyed Beast] suddenly charged out from within the array. A flash of golden light from the golden horns atop its head instantly decapitated a lower-grade Tier Five Eel Demon.

With the combined efforts of Zhouyang and Bi’Er, they quickly intimidated the invading demon beasts. Soon, several Tier Four Demon Beasts were so terrified by those twelve golden executioner sword lights that they fled the battlefield with pained howls.

As Zhouyang then summoned the [Earth God Mountain] to smash another massive Tier Five Medium-Grade Fish Demon into a meat patty, the remaining Tier Five Demon Beasts lost their courage and dared not linger on the island any longer, fleeing back into the sea.

Zhouyang did not pursue them but stayed focused within the array, not moving an inch away.

He clearly understood that these demon beasts were just appetizers; the truly formidable demon beasts had yet to arrive.

He had to conserve his magical power and techniques to handle the formidable demon beasts that would arrive later.

"Master, among the more powerful Tier Five Demon Beasts in the nearby sea are the [Golden Claw Crab] from Cold Water Stream, the [Eight-Clawed Monster] from Dark Abyss, and the [Two-headed Python] from Black Forest. Each of them is only slightly weaker than me. If they all come together, I can at most fend off one of them!"

In the array, Bi’Er glanced at Zhouyang, who was sitting and recovering his magical power, and after a moment’s hesitation, quietly revealed the information it knew.

As the local spirit pet of "Demon Slaying Island," it was naturally well-aware of which powerful demon beasts inhabited the nearby sea.

"The demon beasts you mentioned are not worth fearing. The true threat to me is that Demon King."

Zhouyang glanced at the spirit pet that hadn’t fully pledged its loyalty yet and shook his head slightly, unfazed by its concern.

With his current strength, unless he faced an encirclement by dozens of Tier Five Demon Beasts, he didn’t need to worry about losing his ground.

But such a scenario was impossible.

Half a day later, a double-headed sea snake with black and blue heads appeared outside of "Demon Slaying Island." This was the [Two-headed Python] Bi’Er had mentioned, a powerful Tier Five Top-Grade Demon Beast.

Soon after, the [Golden Claw Crab] with two gleaming golden crab pincers, and the giant octopus demon with eight long tentacles, arrived outside the island in succession.

The arrival of these three Tier Five Top-Grade Demon Beasts greatly boosted the courage of the previously retreating Tier Five Demon Beasts, and they quickly regrouped around these powerful beasts for another assault on the island.

"Among those three demon beasts, you can choose any one to handle, leave the rest to me!"

Within the array, Zhouyang stood up, calmly gazing at the distant group of demons, softly announcing his decision.

Then he actively charged out of the array, heading straight towards the horde of demons.

Bang!

With a loud explosion, the hundred-foot tall Earth God Mountain smashed down on a massive blue shrimp, instantly crushing the Tier Five Middle-Grade Demon Beast into a bloody mess.

Following that, a dragon’s roar soared into the sky, and a cyan-golden Cyan Dragon roared furiously, instantly obliterating a faintly red Tier Five flying fish demon beast into a rain of blood that scattered down from the air.

After using the Cyan Dragon Transformation divine technique to turn into a half-dragon, half-human form, Zhouyang seemed like an unrivaled god of slaughter emerging from the Demon Realm, quickly stirring up havoc among the demon horde.

His physical body was stronger than any of the demon beasts here, and even in direct confrontation, no demon beast could withstand him.

He bore a golden treasure tower above his head, surrounded by golden light, neutralizing more than half of the demon beasts’ talent divine technique attacks. Even if some attacks managed to penetrate the golden light, they were blocked by the layer of cyan-golden dragon scales on his body.

However, not all demon beasts were as weak as those two. At least the Golden Claw Crab and the Eight-Clawed Monster were quite capable, able to exchange several blows with him.

The Golden Claw Crab not only had exceptionally strong defense but also sharp attacks.

Its double claws could release a linear golden light that sliced through everything, its power no weaker than the golden light emitted from the horns of the Water-Resistant Golden-Eyed Beast.

Meanwhile, the Eight-Clawed Monster’s eight tentacles were multifunctional, capable of issuing strong suction to capture foes and acting as whips for attacks, also possessing strong regenerative recovery abilities, serving as meat shields.

Initially, Zhouyang was somewhat embarrassed by the joint efforts of these two demon beasts.

But as he learned about the two demon beasts’ techniques, he quickly launched a counterattack targeting their weaknesses.

When the Golden Claw Crab clamped its claws again, activating the golden light divine technique towards him, with a thought, the golden treasure tower suspended above his head moved in front of him, using the hardness of the magical artifact to block the attack.

Then Zhouyang waved his fists, cyan-golden dragon shadows danced in the air, shattering and sweeping away all the tentacles that the Eight-Clawed Monster thrust toward him.

Unlike before, this time he didn’t give the Eight-Clawed Monster the chance to regenerate the tentacle injuries, directly hurling a large mass of golden true flames onto those tentacles.

The Qianyang True Flame was extremely fierce and yang, excelling at subduing demonic power and possessing high temperatures that could melt everything.

When these golden true flames landed on the Eight-Clawed Monster’s tentacles, the rich grilled aroma filled Zhouyang’s nose, reminding him of one of his past life’s favorite barbecues, "Charcoal-grilled Squid Tentacles."

Truly, such a long-lost memory!

He sighed in his heart, his body moved swiftly, appearing behind the Golden Claw Crab, where his cyan-golden dragon claws suddenly grasped one of its crab legs, using it as leverage to hurl it towards the Eight-Clawed Monster, which was wildly flailing its tentacles trying to extinguish the golden flames.

Even after transforming into half-human, half-dragon, Zhouyang was no more than a yard tall, while the Golden Claw Crab stood at over a dozen yards tall.

Yet he was able to lift and toss the colossal Golden Claw Crab!

Though it seemed unbelievable, it was natural.

A powerful body certainly grants powerful strength.

Brute force doesn’t play much of a role in fights with cultivators because cultivators don’t allow others the opportunity to land a punch.

However, in battles with demon beasts, brute force is equally useful, no less potent than some divine techniques or magical attacks.

The Eight-Clawed Monster and Golden Claw Crab, despite being allies, would still get hurt by each other’s attacks if they landed on each other.

In fact, because Zhouyang chose close combat, the other demon beasts dared not intervene in the battlefield he shared with the Golden Claw Crab and the Eight-Clawed Monster, instead supporting from afar with divine techniques and magic, fearing friendly fire.

Taking advantage of the entangled state of the two demon beasts, Zhouyang spat out several Profound Celestial Fire Thunder Pearls that simultaneously landed on both demon beasts.

Boom! Boom! Boom!

Blazing flames soared into the sky, the eight hundred-foot-long tentacles of the Eight-Clawed Monster were instantly blasted into countless pieces, strewn across the battlefield, leaving it with no quick recovery this time.

The Golden Claw Crab fared even worse, serving as the Eight-Clawed Monster’s shield and absorbing a significant portion of the explosion’s damage, its tough shell fractured with countless cracks, and all eight crab legs but the massive claws were blown off and sent flying.

A legless crab can still fly, but it can no longer pose any threat to Zhouyang.

"Go!"

Zhouyang waved his dragon claw, and the golden treasure tower hovering above his head suddenly hurled towards the two demon beasts.

This lifebound spiritual artifact of his, when used for striking, is not much weaker in power compared to the Earth God Mountain.

The tower descended from the sky, and the Golden Claw Crab instinctively raised its two large crab pincers to hold off the tower.

It also possessed immense strength, and despite lacking other crab legs for support, it managed to withstand the suppression of the tower, with its body only slightly sinking.

However, at this moment, the Eight-Clawed Monster, which had all eight tentacles blown off, suddenly spewed a large mass of pitch-black ink cloud, covering itself and the nearby Golden Claw Crab entirely, and then swiftly transformed into a black escape light, fleeing towards the sea outside the island.

This scene was not only beyond Zhouyang’s expectations but also startled the Golden Claw Crab and the other demon beasts.

In an instant, the few Tier Five demon beasts at the periphery, who were assisting in the battle, immediately disregarded everything and followed suit to escape to the sea.

Seeing this, Zhouyang’s gaze flickered, but ultimately he did not pursue them. Instead, he turned his attention to the Golden Claw Crab that had been betrayed by its companions.

"Let’s see how you can withstand this!"

With a faint smile on his face, Zhouyang waved his dragon claw, and the Earth God Mountain descended from the sky, stacking atop the golden treasure tower.

At this point, the Golden Claw Crab could no longer hold on and was immediately pressed to the ground, flattening into a crab pancake.

"Master’s might is unparalleled! This big crab dared to oppose the master, truly deserving of death!"

The Water-Resistant Golden-Eyed Beast came stepping on clouds, looking at the Golden Claw Crab crushed into a pancake on the ground. A flash of fear flickered in its eyes, then it quickly changed to a look of joy and loudly praised Zhouyang.

It turned out that after seeing the Eight-Clawed Monster and the other demon beasts flee, the Two-headed Python, which was fighting against it, also quickly made a break for it and escaped back to the sea, naturally not pursued by it.

"It’s good that you understand this!"

Zhouyang gave a deep look at this spirit pet, which had not yet fully pledged its allegiance, waved his hand to retrieve the two magical artifacts, and then stored the corpse of the Golden Claw Crab into the storage ring.

He might not care much for the corpses of other Tier Five demon beasts, but this Golden Claw Crab was different. Its two crab pincers, having absorbed a large amount of Five Elements Metal Qi, had turned into a special spiritual gold, an excellent material for refining flying swords.

In two consecutive island siege battles, several Tier Five demon beasts fell on the island. The sea-dwelling demon beasts, gathered because of Jiang Fengxian’s Nascent Soul formation, finally realized that their meager strength was utterly incapable of disrupting the Human Race cultivator’s Nascent Soul formation.

Therefore, in the following two days, these demon beasts did not launch any more attacks, focusing solely on waiting in the sea outside the island for the arrival of the Demon King stationed in the Celestial Wave Outer Sea.

During these two days, Zhouyang clearly sensed the aura of Jiang Fengxian within the cave dwelling was approaching what he had encountered with early-stage Nascent Soul cultivators, and by the morning of the third day, had reached its peak.

"By now, Fengxian should have begun undergoing the Heart Demon Tribulation, right?"

Zhouyang looked up at the rising morning sun in the sky, a hint of worry flashing in his eyes.

The Heart Demon Tribulation is the most formidable hurdle for nascent soul cultivators. Throughout history, countless brilliant geniuses have fallen at this stage, losing millennia of cultivation in a single day.

"Easy to form a nascent soul, hard to overcome the heart demon," is a widely circulated saying that even Foundation Establishment cultivators have heard.

Zhouyang knew Jiang Fengxian had two vulnerabilities. The first is being abandoned by her biological father before birth, causing her to hold a grudge ever since and vow to form a nascent soul in the future to find her father at the Celestial Phoenix Clan’s settlement and seek justice for her mother.

The second was being imprisoned by the Divine Lady Palace for decades, causing her daughter, Jiang Yufeng, to be sold as a commodity to the Dragon Taming Family, nearly becoming a lifelong regret.

These two vulnerabilities would undoubtedly be exploited by the heart demon during the Heart Demon Tribulation.

But because these vulnerabilities could not be resolved before Jiang Fengxian successfully formed a nascent soul, they instead became breakthroughs she could exploit.

If she could hold firm to her heart when the heart demon exploited these vulnerabilities, and see her true self clearly, she could turn danger into safety and directly overcome the Heart Demon Tribulation.

"It has arrived!"

Suddenly, Zhouyang stood up from the ground, looking at the sky above with an extremely solemn expression.

In the sky, a flash of blue water light revealed a strange person carrying a black long spear.

This person is called strange not only because their appearance seems human, but because their exposed skin is covered by a black keratin armor, and their head was simply that of a seahorse.

Zhouyang knew this was the guardian demon king of the Celestial Wave Outer Sea, the Tier Six Lower-grade Demon King "Black Bone Demon King."

This Black Bone Demon King had been a Tier Six Demon King for less than a millennium and could not even transform into a complete human form, making it relatively weak among the demon king ranks.

The Jiao Dragon Race placed it in the Celestial Wave Outer Sea with the intention of training it, as compared to the aged senior demons, a demon king like it, which couldn’t even fully transform, was still very young and needed much experience.