This Young Master is not Cannon Fodder

Despite the playful tone of the announcement, all the demons felt as if they had plunged into a pool of ice water. So cold was the chill that their bones froze over.

It was not that the Demon Clan didn’t consider the humans having another mobile fortress; just that the chance was too small.

The Demon Clan thought Shangri-La was a true realm artifact. It is said that all realm artifacts granted their master the full might of a realm, but that was simply a misconception. Realm artifacts refined from realm essence and an entire realm were two different concepts. Realm artifacts refined from realm essence were known as false realm artifacts, and those refined from a realm were true realm artifacts.

The late Demon Empress Bluefeather’s Sacred Fire Grotto was a false realm artifact, despite harboring a realm within itself. It was considered a special realm artifact because it could house a realm within itself, but the realm had its problem. It didn’t have pure spiritual qi, only fire spiritual qi. Creatures could still absorb it, but their conversion efficiency would be incredibly low except for the fire attribute.

The Realm Dragon Scales and Metal Source Talons had the same defects. Although their defensive and offensive means exceeded the Sacred Fire Grotto, they did not have an inner realm within them. And, they predominantly had wood spiritual qi and metal spiritual qi.

Shangri-La was different. It was all-accommodating, and only true realm artifacts could display this characteristic. And it was not forged from any ordinary realm, but a high realm infinitely close to an immortal rank realm, or an immortal rank realm. There was no way a regular high rank realm could sustain so many immortals and for so long.

In the Demon Clan’s estimation, it was impossible for Shangri-La to be refined from an immortal rank realm. Even when the primordial era first ended, there were only a few immortal rank realms. Because of war, a few shattered. The Buddhists took one, and the Demon Clan took one, which became the True Dragon Realm, Phoenix Realm, and Qilin Realm.

In their eyes, the Immortal Court must have refined the embryonic form of Shangri-La over a million years ago. Throughout the following years, they must have siphoned the realm essence of the Huang Realm or used many lower realms as materials to increase its power.

Such an act would obviously incur a large amount of Karmic Sin. In fact, the Demon Clan suspected the Immortal Court had trouble becoming the hegemon of the Huang Realm, while it was still the Buzhou Immortal Sect precisely because of their Karmic Sins. Why else would they be so unlucky and have so many opponents in the Huang Realm while the Numinous Sword Sect succeeded long ago?

The Demon Clan only created their mobile fortress using the realm beast, but now, it was impossible to restore the Void Continent in the short term. Hence their retreat. So, it was very logical for the Immortal Court to possess one mobile fortress, but what the demons currently saw defied their expectations.

In reality, the truth was much more simple. Tianyi simply brought out another asteroid from his inner universe.

Strictly speaking, Shangri-La was not really a realm artifact. It was simply a converter linked to Tianyi’s Nine Heavens Universe that broke down his true qi of immortal chaos into pure spiritual qi, but the Demon Clan didn’t know that.

Of course, that didn’t mean Shangri-La was easy for Tianyi to recreate. It was created through a large amount of resources and spiritual artifacts taken from the Immortal Court’s treasury. Otherwise, how could it seal the Black Tortoise?

Shangri-La II only appeared similar to the original. In fact, everything on it was a hasty creation Tianyi made before bringing it out. After he saw it was impossible to stop the Black Tortoise, he had been working overtime to recreate Shangri-La. The plants, mountains, and even buildings were just for appearance’s sake.

The second mobile fortress had the same basic qi restoration effect because it was reliant on Tianyi’s Nine Heavens Universe, not the materials and spiritual artifacts. But its defensive and offensive powers or means could not reach the same height as the original Shangri-La. In effect, the Demon Clan’s assault was not meaningless. It made the humans lose one of their cards against the realm beast.

Not that they knew that.

The Demon Clan’s morale, which had reached its crescendo, instantly plunged into the abyss. Everything they worked for, the hope they harbored, all of it was false.

“Wake up!” the Qilin Patriarch said. His powerful aura surged and enveloped all the demons, so that his voice boomed in their mind and hearts.

Although the three patriarchs ruled the Demon Clan, the Four Divine Beasts were the most revered among the Demon Clan. But with the advent of the current war, the Qilin Patriarch’s status rose until it vaguely eclipsed any one of the Four Divine Beasts, especially after Demon Emperor Blacktiger and Demon Empress Bluefeather’s death.

“Look closely, this is nothing more than the human’s bluff.” The Qilin Patriarch snorted, releasing steam from his nostrils. “Humans have always been cunning tricksters. Do not fall for their ploy!”

Upon hearing this, the demons regained a bit of their courage and spirit. A few had bitter expressions. Most of the demons were grasping at straws. If it wasn’t a trick, how could they win? How could they repel the humans? Still, none of them thought about leaving. They knew that if they ran away, the end result would be the same.

“We must punish these deceivers! Release the realm beast!” the Qilin Patriarch roared.

Silence answered the Qilian Patriarch’s orders. Finally, Demon Emperor Redraco stepped forward. “Is it really wise to do so? Once we unleash it, it won’t be so easy to contain again. It might even escape with his help, but he already said that he can’t interfere in this battle.”

“Do we have any other choice?” The Qilin Patriarch’s question stunned Demon Emperor Redraco and the other leaders. He was right, what other choice did they have? ṞаℕÓＢĚṥ

This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.

They already lost Demon Emperor Blacktiger, Demon Empress Bluefeather, and Demon Emperor Xuanwu was sealed. And his soul was in a state of decline because of San Jiuling’s death. They already lost a third of their high-end combat power, while the humans have not lost any of theirs. If nothing changed, their defeat would be inevitable.

Under their orders, the demons made a strategic retreat. Just because they decided to release the realm beast didn’t mean they could do it immediately. They couldn’t retreat too far, or the humans would invade their home realms.

The humans attacked ferociously. Even if deaths occurred, more demons died than humans. The side that focused on offense generally had the upper hand because it only took one mistake for the defending side to fall into a great disadvantage.

During this time, Tianyi continuously shot Stellar Silences like they were air. Without the Black Tortoise’s interference, his attacks were much more accurate. As he continuously attacked, he continuously refined his technique. A thought suddenly occurred to him.

Since he could apply the Three States of Qi to transform his giant form into a titan, why not apply it to his Stellar Silence or Constellation Cessation?

Tianyi experimented with Stellar Silence first since it was the simpler technique.

Soon, the demons discovered that the miniature suns the miniature galaxy shot out increased in power. Although their size remained the same, their radius of explosion tripled. The multiplier soon reached five, then seven, and finally ten. Now, any demon who could not escape its radius basically met certain death. Not even their souls were immune. If anything, unprotected souls were more likely to perish because of the strong yang nature of the spell.

“Roarlight!” a demon king with an ursine form and horns sprouting out of his head shouted. He rushed toward a white-furred lioness with a golden mark on her forehead.

The ursine demon king flew in front of the lioness demon queen and blocked the Stellar Silence coming at them. Upon contact, the demon king felt a tremendous force acting on him. It was as if what he blocked was not concentrated energy, but dense matter.

The miniature sun seared the demon king’s flesh and sent him crashing into the lioness demon queen. Both of them flew off for hundreds of meters before the miniature sun exploded. The explosion’s radius was a hundred times larger than the original Stellar Silence Tianyi unleashed. Not only that, but it emitted a powerful gravitation force that pulled any unlucky demon lords nearby into its fold.

That wasn’t the end. When the Stellar Silence ended, it didn’t just fizzle out of existence. Instead, it condensed again and formed a black hole that pulled everything with greater force than when it was still exploding. Many demons were caught off guard, expecting the Stellar Silence to end only for it to enter phase two.

Tianyi decided that Stellar Silence was no longer a suitable name for it when used with Yu. So he named it Nova Neutralizer.

After naming it, Tianyi continued to attack. Because Nova Neutralizer appeared almost exactly like Stellar Silence, none of the demons knew which one of the attacks he unleashed would contain this hidden blade, so all the demons dodged as if their life depended on it. No, not as if—their lives literally depended on it. Most demon kings, with their powerful flesh, would perish if the Nova Neutralizer struck them. Perhaps only those monstrous half-emperors could survive.

Even if the rate of Nova Neutralizers was only one out of ten thousand Stellar Silences, the demons still dodged with all their might. They didn’t dare to gamble. And even if they dodged the miniature sun, they still had to flee with all their might once the Nova Neutralizer exploded. Lest they be caught and pulled into the center, where certain death awaited.

The demons almost lost all semblance of order. Emperor Southsword, who saw this, couldn’t help but theorize if their war formations could withstand Tianyi’s attack. After some calculation, he estimated only top emperor or sovereign war formations could withstand the Nova Neutralizer.

War formations were only powerful if the formation was not disrupted. Although the Nova Neutralizer didn’t reveal its effect on war formations, it already displayed its powerful gravitational force, which was a natural formation disruptor.

The level of danger Tianyi represented shot much higher in Emperor Southsword’s heart. He was simply an army destroyer, the bane of armies. He stared at the miniature galaxy, thinking of what methods he could use to kill the latter after the war with the demons ended. However, to his dismay, he discovered that he was as helpless as Demon Emperor Redraco. Even if he had the Immortal Slaughtering Sword, Tianyi had the Immortal Confining Sword, and could activate more of its power than himself.

Tianyi simply had no weaknesses. Well, if he had one possible weakness, it was his soul. However, the Numinous Sword Sect had no sword emperors proficient in soul attacks.

Unaware of Emperor Southsword’s dark thoughts, Tianyi continued attacking. The more he attacked, the more proficient he became in forming Nova Neutralizers. The demons were simply at his mercy. Of course, the Demon Clan tried to stop him. The Qilin Patriarch, Dragon Patriarch, Phoenix Patriarch, Demon Emperor Redraco, and two other demon emperors all rushed forward to stop him, but Minister Everpast and the other emperors and emperor war formations blocked their way.

Finally, the situation changed. Out of nowhere, a giant landmass appeared on the battlefield.

“It’s the realm beast!” Minister Vastlight shouted. He could never forget that creature.

Tianyi stopped bombarding the scattered demons and focused all his firepower on the sealed realm beast. The demons who were escorting the realm beast did not stop him. They just flew as far away as possible.

Demon Emperor Redraco glared hatefully at Tianyi, and a dark joy blossomed in his heart. If anything, Tianyi was helping them. The realm beast shook under the barrage. The more Tianyi attacked, the greater the shaking became.

Tianyi also noticed this. However, he did not stop. Even if he stopped attacking, would the demons not unseal it themselves? Still, he noticed that even his Nova Neutralizers only left a mark on the realm beast’s scales. So he switched his attacks.

The Stellar Silences and Nova Neutalizer changed into Constellation Cessations. Tianyi hadn’t quite mastered using Yu as the energy to launch Constellation Cessation without blowing up in his face, so he settled with using Se. Even with using the liquid state of qi, his attacks only cracked the realm beast’s scales. It was like hitting a sturdier Black Tortoise.

Then, the void changed. An oppressive aura flowed from the realm beast as it opened its eyes, locking onto Tianyi.

It opened its jaws and roared. The roar caused all the true immortals, and even true demons, to feel their body rattle. It was only a cry, but it actually dealt damage to them.

After roaring, it charged straight at Tianyi.

Upon seeing this, Minister Everpast ordered his subordinates to quickly form a war formation. Emperor Southsword also did the same. Both forces had long come up with countermeasures against the realm beast, and now it was time to see if their plans failed or not.

However, they both stopped at Tianyi’s message. “Wait, let me deal with it!”

“Are you sure?” Minister Everpast asked.

Tianyi replied affirmative, so Minister Everpast ordered the immortals to avoid the realm beast and attack the demons. Emperor Southsword did the same, but not because he believed in Tianyi. Rather, he wanted to see what cards Tianyi hid. And if possible, have Tianyi fall in battle.

The miniature galaxy shifted back into its titan form and charged at the realm beast.