System, do you have any pigs

Gu Changyuan did not stay for long. He transformed into a streak of flowing light and continued speeding toward the southeastern horizon.

Two days later.

At the boundary where heaven and earth met, the surging sea of clouds reached its peak and abruptly broke off.

A massive black rift stretching across the void lay quietly ahead.

At the edges of the rift, the laws of space were chaotic and distorted, with tiny spatial fissures flickering in and out of existence from time to time.

This was the entrance between the Demon Realm and the Human Realm—the Demon Abyss Rift.

Without the slightest hesitation, Gu Changyuan's figure flashed as he flew straight into the dark rift that seemed capable of swallowing everything.

The moment he passed through that spatial membrane, which was as thin as a cicada's wing yet separated two realms—

Buzz—

A halo of light silently surfaced on his body, instantly covering him like flowing water.

This halo completely isolated him from the overwhelming demonic qi surging from the outside, which was potent enough to corrode one's soul.

As far as the eye could see, endless demonic qi, so thick it could not be dissolved, filled the sky and the land, permeating every inch of space.

The demonic qi here was cold, overbearing, and highly corrosive.

If an ordinary cultivator came into contact with even the slightest bit, the demonic qi would drill into their body through their pores, infecting their meridians and corroding their soul.

In mild cases, their cultivation would plummet and they would suffer qi deviation. In severe cases, their soul would be destroyed, and they would be reduced to a mindless fiend that only knew how to slaughter, completely losing their sanity.

Because of this, ordinary cultivators who wished to enter the Demon Realm had to prepare high-tier protective magical treasures in advance.

Alternatively, they had to channel their strongest defensive cultivation methods to cast a thick protective barrier around themselves to block the erosion of the demonic qi. The slightest carelessness would lead to eternal damnation.

The sky was eternally a gloomy leaden gray, and it was rare to see a trace of true light.

The sun seemed to be nothing more than a blurry patch of light, obscured by heavy demonic mist, and the radiance it cast carried a bizarre dark red hue.

The earth was mostly covered in somber colors like dark brown, deep purple, and blackish-green.

The vegetation had ferocious shapes. The edges of the leaves mostly bore jagged teeth or poisonous thorns, and the branches were twisted. Many even emitted a faint phosphorescent glow—a sign of deadly poison.

However, it was precisely this extreme environment of the Demon Realm that nurtured many extreme cultivation resources that were difficult to find in the outside world.

Demon Abyss Adamantine, Nether Profound Water, Soul Crystals, Blood Jade...

Any one of these taken outside would be a rare treasure enough to make outside cultivators fight to the death over it.

Even though they were tainted with heavy demonic qi, as long as they were processed through specific secret techniques or repeatedly tempered and cleansed with spiritual items, they could still be used by cultivators of the Human and Demon races.

This was exactly why countless outside cultivators were willing to brave extreme dangers to set foot in this perilous land.

Gu Changyuan paid no mind to those resource extraction points.

He briefly identified his bearings, locked onto the coordinates of the Heavenly Demon Sect's mountain gate, and continued speeding toward the hinterlands of the Demon Realm.

While passing over a vast black forest, he raised an eyebrow slightly.

Below, there was a fight.

His divine sense spread out like invisible ripples of water, instantly enveloping the entire area.

In a clearing deep within the forest, a group of Ghost Race beings with bizarre figures were frantically besieging another group of cultivators.

Those Ghost Race beings looked hideous and terrifying. Most of them leaned toward a humanoid shape but possessed obvious Ghost Race traits.

Some had faces as pale as paper, pitch-black eyes without pupils, and faint ghost fire lingering around their bodies.

Others had one or more pairs of pitch-black curved horns growing on their heads, blue-black skin, nails as sharp as blades, and sharp fangs protruding from the corners of their mouths.

The group of cultivators being besieged numbered about twenty. Their composition was mixed, including humans, ghosts, and souls.

The physical differences between the three races were extremely obvious.

Their attire varied, and their cultivation levels were uneven, ranging from the Nascent Soul realm to the Soul Formation realm.

But at this moment, hanging at everyone's waist was a palm-sized, pitch-black token engraved on the front with the character "Heaven" twisted like a demonic flame—

That was the identity token of Heavenly Demon Sect disciples.

Without a doubt, this group being besieged were disciples of his Heavenly Demon Sect.

And those besieging them were a bunch of other Ghost Race scums, clearly coming prepared.

Gu Changyuan's divine sense swept carefully across the area. The surroundings of this clearing were covered in densely packed concealment arrays.

The arrays exuded a dense demonic qi. Not only could they hide one's tracks, but they also suppressed a cultivator's spiritual energy and soul, preventing the besieged from unleashing their full strength.

Furthermore, the magical treasures in the hands of the Ghost Race group were all targeted, specifically meant to counter soul bodies and a cultivator's spiritual energy. It was obvious that they had long figured out the composition of the Heavenly Demon Sect disciples and prepared these killing moves specifically for them.

At this moment, the Heavenly Demon Sect disciples were clearly at an absolute disadvantage.

Of the twenty or so people, more than half were injured. Some had broken arms, while others had their chests pierced by ghost weapons. Blood dyed their robes red, their auras were chaotic, and their faces were as pale as paper.

The few who remained unscathed were completely tense, putting all their effort into blocking the Ghost Race's attacks. Their foreheads were covered in cold sweat, and their eyes were filled with exhaustion.

"Senior Sister, this can't go on. We are trapped by the arrays, and our spiritual energy is getting weaker. If we keep dragging this out, everyone will die here!"

A young human disciple cried out. His arm had been scratched by a ghost claw, and the wound was turning black, clearly poisoned.

"That's right, Senior Sister! This group of ghosts came prepared. The arrays counter us, and their magical treasures are highly targeted. We simply can't break out!"

A Soul Race disciple said, his soul body already becoming somewhat illusory.

The one leading the team was a woman dressed in a tight black outfit. Her face was cold and her features sharp. A massive long horn on her forehead was particularly eye-catching, and the aura around her was much more formidable than the other disciples.

She quickly scanned the battlefield, calculating the gap between the enemy and themselves as well as the probability of breaking out. Then, she made a decision.

"Junior Brother Zhou, Junior Sister Liu, and Junior Sister You,"

She lowered her voice, speaking extremely fast:

"The three of you are in relatively the best condition.

In a moment, I and the rest of our fellow disciples will simultaneously detonate our Demon Seeds to create the largest possible demonic qi shockwave and tear open a corner of the array.

Do not worry about us. Break out at all costs."

The three disciples wanted to argue, but were immediately rebuked by another human senior sister.

"Shut up!"

The female cultivator shouted sternly, her voice resolute and decisive.

"This is an order! If we all fall here and can't even send back word, then we truly die for nothing!

Break out, return to the sect to deliver the message, and report the situation here truthfully to the elders—"

She paused, her voice trembling imperceptibly, but it was immediately covered by an even greater determination:

"—And then, lead a team back to avenge us."

The eyes of the surrounding disciples turned red, but no one argued further.

They gripped their magical treasures tightly, their demonic qi about to flow in reverse into their Demon Seeds.

Twisted and berserk energy fluctuations began to permeate the air.

However—

BOOM!!!

A figure, like a meteorite from beyond the heavens, crashed into the center of the battlefield without any warning.

The instant he landed, a ring of visible transparent ripples violently swept out in all directions with him at the center.

All the besieging Ghost Race beings, whether in the Nascent Soul or Soul Formation realm, and even the leader hiding in the dark with an aura reaching the Void Refinement realm, simultaneously collapsed to the ground in that instant.

All the Heavenly Demon Sect disciples stood in place, completely unharmed.

The berserk demonic power around them that was about to detonate was actually directly pressed back by a force the moment this suppressing power descended.

Gu Changyuan raised his right hand and gave it a casual wave.

"Pop—!"

Countless low, muffled sounds, like bursting bubbles, erupted all at once. Every single hostile ghost clan member was instantly wiped out.

Shaking his hand, Gu Changyuan couldn't help but complain to the system,

"System, why is it that everywhere I go, I run into my disciples trying to blow themselves up? Got any clues?"

The system replied with six dots.

[......]