The Meat Grinder of War, Devouring Everything

The Realm Blood War entered its third month.

The frontlines had devolved into a meat grinder-like stalemate.

Both the Righteous and Demonic factions were seeing red. Every day, hundreds, if not thousands, of cultivators were reduced to ashes on the battlefield.

On this blood-soaked land, Shen Fei had found his perfect role: the battlefield cleaner.

The Eastern Front.

Dusk.

The setting sun was the color of blood, casting a glaring red hue over the mountains of corpses on the ground.

A tragic and fierce skirmish had just ended.

The Righteous Alliance had lost three Early Nascent Soul geniuses and over a hundred Golden Core disciples. The demonic cultivators had also left behind a field littered with bodies.

"Senior Brother Chu, let's retreat. The demonic cultivators' reinforcements might arrive soon."

A disciple of the Lingxiao Pavilion, clutching his severed arm with a pale face, said to Shen Fei.

Dressed in a bloodstained moon-white battle robe, Shen Fei stood leaning on his longsword amidst a pile of corpses.

He was panting heavily, looking completely exhausted and drained of spiritual energy.

"Take the wounded and retreat to the main camp first."

Shen Fei's voice was hoarse, filled with grief and resolve.

"I will stay behind to cover the rear. And... I will collect the remains of our junior brothers. I can't let their bodies be exposed to the wilderness."

The disciples of the Lingxiao Pavilion were moved to tears.

"Senior Brother Chu is truly righteous!"

"Take care, Senior Brother!"

The righteous cultivators supported each other as they swiftly evacuated the battlefield.

Only when everyone's backs had disappeared from sight.

The exhaustion and grief on Shen Fei's face vanished without a trace.

He straightened his back.

He casually tossed the chipped longsword onto the ground.

A cold, dark glint flashed through his pitch-black eyes.

He turned around and looked at the corpses of the three righteous geniuses on the ground.

These three had been severely wounded by the demonic cultivators' killing array during the battle and had died less than half an incense stick of time ago.

Although the Nascent Souls within their bodies were shattered, that pure origin energy and the remnant karmic luck on them had not yet fully dissipated into heaven and earth.

Shen Fei walked over.

He didn't touch their bodies.

He merely stood beside the corpses and slowly opened his hands.

Heaven Devouring Demonic Art.

Operating at minimum power.

No black vortex appeared in Shen Fei's palms, nor did any terrifying demonic aura erupt.

Instead, an invisible, dense, giant net formed, undetectable to the naked eye.

This net silently enveloped the three corpses.

"Hiss—"

A faint suction sound.

The Pure Yang origin and karmic luck dissipating from the three righteous geniuses were like iron filings drawn to a magnet.

Thread by thread, they were forcibly pulled out.

Following that invisible net, they surged endlessly into Shen Fei's body.

Shen Fei closed his eyes.

Feeling the injection of this pure energy.

His cultivation base steadily advanced a small step within the Early Nascent Soul realm.

It did not trigger any heavenly phenomena, nor did it leave any traces of being devoured by a demonic art.

The corpses still looked just as tragically killed by the demonic cultivators' spells.

This was Shen Fei's method of harvesting on the battlefield.

Covert.

Efficient.

Like a greedy parasite clinging to the wounds of war, quietly sucking blood.

Having drained the origin of the righteous geniuses.

Shen Fei did not stop.

He turned his head and looked at the pile of demonic cultivators' corpses not far away.

Among them were two renowned Holy Sons from the demonic faction.

"Cultivating both the Righteous and the Demonic."

Shen Fei sneered.

The Heavenly Demonic Body's perverse attribute of absorbing absolutely everything meant he didn't need to be a picky eater at all.

He walked up to the corpse of the demonic cultivator.

Following the same method as before.

He absorbed all the berserk demonic origin and baleful yin energy into his body, converting them into nourishment for his Heavenly Demon spiritual power.

An incense stick's time later.

The battlefield was completely cleared.

The spiritual power within Shen Fei's body was brimming to its absolute peak, showing faint signs of breaking through to the mid-Nascent Soul stage.

He cast a glance at the dried husks littering the ground.

Turning around, he transformed into a streak of light and flew toward the direction of the righteous path's main camp.

...

Half a month later.

The main tent of the central army at the demonic cultivators' camp.

The atmosphere was oppressively heavy, chilling to the freezing point.

Hanya sat on his throne, his face ashen.

Laid out before him was a mangled corpse.

It was the third-ranked Holy Son of the demonic faction, Blood Butcher.

A cultivator at the mid-Nascent Soul stage.

Last night, during a mission to ambush the righteous path's supply lines, he had been besieged and killed by their experts.

Have you found out who did this? Hanya asked through gritted teeth.

Reporting to the Holy Son, it... it was Chu Yuan from the Lingxiao Pavilion.

A demonic intelligence officer standing below answered, trembling with fear.

Chu Yuan led a team and set up an ambush along the supply line in advance. Holy Son Blood Butcher fought with all his might but was outmatched, and Chu Yuan pierced his heart with a single sword strike.

Hanya slammed his hand onto the armrest, instantly shattering the throne of white bones.

Chu Yuan! It's this Chu Yuan again!

Hanya roared in fury.

Over the past three months, this name had practically become a nightmare for the demonic faction.

Whenever Chu Yuan led a battle, the demonic cultivators had almost never won. It was as if he could see through all their deployments, striking accurately at their weak points every single time.

Pass down my orders! Put a bounty on Chu Yuan's head! Whoever can kill him will be rewarded by this Holy Son with one hundred thousand top-grade demonic crystals!

Hanya's rage echoed throughout the tent.

But he had absolutely no idea.

That the righteous hero Chu Yuan, whom he hated to the very marrow of his bones.

Was currently wearing a black mask.

Quietly standing in the shadows of his very own tent under the identity of the Dark Night Demon Lord.

Shen Fei watched the furious Hanya.

There was not a single ripple of emotion in his eyes.

The death of Blood Butcher was, of course, single-handedly orchestrated by him.

Using the intelligence from the Net, he had sold Blood Butcher's ambush route to the Righteous Alliance. Then, he led the team to lay the trap himself.

At the final, critical moment of the battle.

He killed Blood Butcher with his own hands.

Moreover, without anyone noticing, he used the Heaven Devouring Demonic Art to suck Blood Butcher's mid-Nascent Soul demonic origin completely dry.

This was his true objective.

Killing was merely to harvest the meat.

Hanya.

Shen Fei stepped out from the shadows.

His hoarse, deep voice echoed inside the tent.

Hanya shuddered all over, instantly withdrawing his anger and respectfully bowing his head.

Demon Lord.

He had now developed a deep reliance on this mysterious Demon Lord. If it weren't for the intelligence provided by the Net, he would have lost his position in the demonic faction a long time ago.

Blood Butcher is dead. The forces and resources under his command are now without an owner.

Shen Fei walked up to Hanya.

He tossed out a jade slip.

Here are the coordinates of three secret treasuries that Blood Butcher had hidden in the rear while he was alive. It also contains the fatal weaknesses of several of his trusted confidants.

Shen Fei looked at Hanya.

Go and take over his forces. Further concentrate the power of the demonic faction into your own hands.

Hanya received the jade slip, a light of wild ecstasy erupting in his eyes.

Thank you, Demon Lord!

With these things, he could completely swallow up Blood Butcher's forces and become one of the true decision-makers in the demonic faction!

There is no need to thank me. We are merely taking what we each need.

Shen Fei turned around, preparing to leave.

"Demon Lord, please wait!"

Hanya suddenly spoke up, his tone carrying a trace of hesitation mixed with ruthlessness.

"That Chu Yuan from the righteous path... is truly a menace. Your intelligence network spans the world, Demon Lord; I wonder if you could find out his weakness? I want to make a move personally and slaughter him!"

Shen Fei stopped in his tracks.

The eyes behind the mask looked at Hanya.

Kill himself?

What a uniquely bizarre request.

"You don't need to worry about Chu Yuan."

Shen Fei's voice was icy.

"He won't live much longer."

"Just do your own job. In three days, I will give you the detailed plan for the Righteous Alliance's general offensive on the southern front."

With that said.

Shen Fei lifted the door curtain and vanished into the night.

Hanya tightly gripped the jade slip in his hand, his eyes brimming with ambition.

He thought he was about to step onto the pinnacle of the demonic path.

But little did he know.

He, along with the entire demonic cultivator faction.

Were nothing more than fat pigs kept in Shen Fei's pen.

Once they were fattened up.

It would be time for the slaughter.

...

After leaving the demonic cultivator camp.

Shen Fei did not return to the Righteous Alliance.

He arrived at a desolate, uninhabited deep valley.

This was the place he had prepared for his breakthrough.

Over the past three months.

On the battlefield, he had drained the origin essence of no less than fifty prodigies and holy sons from both the righteous and demonic paths.

The Heavenly Demon spiritual energy within his body had long reached the absolute limit of the early Nascent Soul stage.

Even the barrier to the mid Nascent Soul stage was already crumbling under the continuous wash of massive energy.

Shen Fei sat cross-legged in the center of the deep valley.

He closed his eyes.

"Break."

He coldly spat out a single word in his mind.

Boom!

The terrifying spiritual energy that had been suppressed for so long within him surged like a breached dam, violently crashing into that invisible realm barrier.

There was no heavenly tribulation lightning.

There were no unusual phenomena.

Because of the Heaven-Swallowing Demonic Art's shielding, the Heavenly Dao was completely unable to detect his breakthrough at this moment.

Crack.

A crisp shattering sound echoed in his sea of consciousness.

Mid Nascent Soul stage!

It happened naturally, as water flows into a channel.

Shen Fei opened his eyes, feeling the terrifying power within him double.

But he was not satisfied.

He brought out the cluster of mid Nascent Soul demonic origin essence he had absorbed from Blood Butcher, which was not yet fully refined.

"Continue."

Shen Fei opened his mouth.

And directly swallowed that cluster of origin essence into his stomach.

The Heavenly Demon Devour operated at maximum output!

Berserk energy exploded within his body once again.

Peak of the mid Nascent Soul stage...

Late Nascent Soul stage!

Overnight.

He broke through two major realms in a row!

When the first ray of morning light shone into the deep valley.

Shen Fei stood up.

The aura radiating from his body had become profound to a terrifying degree.

Late Nascent Soul stage.

Combined with his SS+ rank Heavenly Demon Physique.

The current him had the strength to put up a fight even against an early Soul Formation stage old monster.

Shen Fei changed into his moon-white battle robe.

He put on Chu Yuan's Thousand Illusions Mask.

"The war is almost over."

Shen Fei looked at the smoke-filled battlefield in the distance.

His eyes revealed the cold ruthlessness of a hunter about to draw in his net.

"It is time for the final, large-scale harvest."