The Tower of Ten Thousand Demons

Now, the massive hand known as the Guiyuan Group was exerting its force once again.

This was a matter he had to resolve.

In the plaza, An Changqing's gaze was involuntarily drawn to the figure walking toward death.

An Changqing was about to forcefully organize a defensive line, but upon seeing Chen Guan, all his prepared words caught in his throat.

He watched that back.

There were no heroic declarations, no passionate rallies.

He didn't even look back.

There was only action.

While everyone else was plunged into chaos and fleeing, that man had already made the only choice.

An Changqing stared blankly. Then, all the hesitation in his eyes faded away, leaving only a kind of ignited resolve.

He turned his head, his voice reaching Long Ao's ears clearly:

"Yuehe, Long Ao, let's follow him!"

Long Ao paused, following An Changqing's line of sight, and also saw that solitary, resolute figure.

The anger that had filled his chest was replaced by something far more scorching.

While he was still stubbornly trying to organize the cowards, a brave man had already gone ahead alone.

Let's just fight!

Long Ao grinned, revealing stark white teeth as his battle intent surged. "Now that's more like it!"

He ignored the crowd behind him and strode after him.

Su Yuehe, however, looked toward the top of the tower. Compared to An Changqing and Long Ao, she saw much more.

Was this really something they could handle?

Hesitating in her heart, images flashed through Su Yuehe's mind of An Changqing, Long Ao, and Chen Guan standing in front of her.

It seemed she didn't need to hesitate.

Just as they had never hesitated.

Not far away, Yin Chen was already wreathed in wind elements. He softly said to Hong Yuan beside him, "Looks like we're being left out again this time."

Hong Yuan's giant axe dragged along the ground, sparking blindingly. She gave a cold harrumph. "Not necessarily."

The two didn't say another word, but having reached a consensus, they followed closely without hesitation.

A few instructors who had rushed over were hoarsely calling out to count the numbers. One of them held an electronic roster, his face deathly pale as he looked at the sea of grayed-out names.

"Wei Zhe! Who saw Wei Zhe from the Magic City Academy?! Answer me!"

Before his questioning voice could even land, it was entirely swallowed by an earth-shattering beastly roar.

Accompanied by that roar, another new rift appeared on the walls of the Myriad Demon Tower.

The entrance to the Myriad Demon Tower was pitch black, like the gaping maw of a silent behemoth. A foul wind, a mixture of rotting corpses and old, tainted blood, rushed out to hit them in the face.

"Ugh... what the hell is that smell!" Long Ao had barely taken a step inside when he was staggered by the demonic aura, which was so heavy it felt like it could drown a person.

He raised an arm to cover his nose and mouth, complaining in a muffled voice, "It's like tossing hundreds of demonic beasts into a cesspit and marinating them for a hundred years."

"The foundation of the Demon Suppression Stone Array has shattered."

An Changqing's voice sounded from behind, his sword blade gleaming faintly in the dim light. His tone grew heavy. "The residual array circuits are mixed with the out-of-control demonic aura. Watch your step, the force field here will slow down your movements."

Just as he finished speaking, several low-tier mobs lunged out from the darkness. However, before they could even touch the corner of Chen Guan's clothes, they were pierced through the throat by a few fleeting flashes of sword light and pinned dead to the wall.

Chen Guan turned a deaf ear to the commotion behind him. Carrying a black coffin on his back, he was like a blade cutting through muddy waters, walking straight past the low-tier demonic creatures that were screaming and fleeing for their lives. His gaze pierced through the dense darkness, locking onto the spiral staircase leading to the upper levels.

"Does this guy only have eyes for the stairs?" Hong Yuan dragged her giant axe, the blade pulling a long trail of sparks across the floor. She snorted, a hint of indignation in her voice.

"Keep up with him and cut the chatter." Yin Chen whispered beside her. A current of air supported his body, allowing him to nimbly dodge a charging demonic pig before turning back to kill it with a wind blade. "We'll handle clearing the flanks."

"I don't need you to tell me that!"

Despite her words, the two had already taken positions on the left and right. Wind blades and the giant axe wove into a net, and in the blink of an eye, they cleared a clean path behind Chen Guan.

The person who understands you best is often your enemy. The two had been fighting each other since childhood and couldn't be more familiar with one another.

"Ha! Good timing!" Long Ao's voice rang out at the entrance of the stairs. The muscles in his arms bulged, veins winding around them, as he caught a lunging Tier 4 demonic cat barehanded. Amidst a scalp-numbing sound of bones cracking, he forcefully tore it into two halves.

The stairs were quickly covered with a slippery layer of demonic beast chunks.

"Stop." An Changqing's voice suddenly echoed, the tip of his sword hovering in the air.

Long Ao was right in the middle of a killing spree, but at An Changqing's shout, he held back and looked around. "Is there some danger?"

"It's not that." An Changqing ignored his question, using the tip of his sword to gently lift the corpse of a demonic beast. It was a Tier 4 Ironclad Rhino, famous for its thick and tough hide. "Look at this."

Long Ao leaned in, his brows knitting together. "...What the hell is this? Air-dried?"

The Ironclad Rhino's corpse had completely shriveled up. Its heavy hide was wrinkled and tightly wrapped around the contours of its skeleton underneath. Its massive eye sockets stared emptily toward the ceiling, and not a single wound could be found on its entire body.

"There are some over here too," Yin Chen's voice came from the corner of the stairs. He pointed to several other demonic beast corpses of different species. "The manner of death is exactly the same."

Hong Yuan walked over and curiously poked the corpse of a jackal demon with the handle of her axe.

Under the touch of the axe handle, the seemingly intact corpse collapsed instantly, turning into a pile of pale gray bone dust on the ground.

"Hiss..." Even someone like Hong Yuan couldn't help but draw a sharp breath. "This is even more sinister than just chopping them up."

Su Yuehe crouched down, pinched a bit of the powder, and stood up a moment later, shaking her head with a grim expression. "Their flesh, blood, demonic cores, everything... it seems like it was all sucked dry in the blink of an eye."

Just as a chill ran through everyone's hearts, Chen Guan's flat tone drifted down from above.

"All the answers are up there."

Without anyone noticing, he had already climbed a dozen steps alone and was looking down at another dried corpse at his feet.

After speaking, he continued upward without looking back.

Long Ao was about to speak, but An Changqing raised a hand to stop him.

"He's right." An Changqing sheathed his sword. "Let's go. It's time to see the answer to this riddle."

...

Top of the Myriad Demon Tower.

"An Changqing, you're here."

A voice filled with morbid excitement rang out from the center of the hall.

Wei Zhe stood there with his hands behind his back.

He had changed into a brand-new outfit. The former unwillingness on his face was gone, replaced only by the arrogance of someone fully in control.

Beside him stood two burly demon kin. One had the head of a tiger and the body of a man, its muscles bulging. Just standing there, the aura it exuded made Long Ao feel a suppressive weight in his bloodline.

The other was entirely cloaked in a black robe, with only a pair of ghastly green slitted pupils opening and closing beneath the hood.

"Tier 7..." Yin Chen's voice was a bit tight. "Two of them."

He subconsciously looked toward Chen Guan. In the past, he would have cowered when encountering a Tier 7, but now, with Chen Guan here, he lacked nothing.