Gentlemen, it's time to enter the Banner of Ten Thousand Souls.

Chapter 437 The Black Dog Attack
Just as the "Reverse Star Sea Array" was fully formed, even the laws of heaven and earth were shaken.

Deep within the Ruins of Guixu, an indescribable aura of terror emanated.

The aura carried no killing intent, yet it was like an invisible mountain, pressing down on Fei Lian's soul, making it almost impossible for him to breathe.

As a cultivator at the Dao Integration Realm, Demon Lord Feilian is now particularly sensitive to these subtle changes.

Feilian was already terrified when none of the sea creatures around him reacted.

"Damn it! We've alerted it again!"

Fei Lian told Chen Ye about the black dog's awakening through the water mirror, actually hoping that Chen Ye would come up with a solution.

After all, in Fei Lian's view, Chen Ye and the black dog were of the same origin and had already transcended the Three Realms and were no longer within the Five Elements.

But Chen Ye's answer chilled Fei Lian's heart.

"Since you are in the Ruins of Return, I cannot help you. Please hold on for a moment, Lord, we will break the formation immediately."

Fei Lian's face was extremely grim. The original plan was to wait for Chen Ye's grand formation to be set up, then Fei Lian would help locate him within the Ruins of Return, allowing the power of the grand formation to accurately break through the Ruins of Return's restrictions and rescue him.

But now, Chen Ye's formation has just been set up, and Fei Lian's small formation hasn't even had time to be calibrated yet, and the black dog has already been alerted.

It will take at least one or two hours to correspond with the Reverse Star Sea Formation outside.

But can it be delayed for that long?

Helpless, Fei Lian could only spread his divine sense and issue a command.

"All of you, go to the depths of the Ruins and stop that thing at all costs!"

As the command was given, the sea surface exploded, and one after another enormous beasts burst out of the water. However, they were no longer simply imbued with spiritual energy, but were instead surrounded by dense demonic energy.

While Chen Ye was working hard to build the Reverse Star Sea Array outside, Fei Lian was not completely idle either.

In addition to setting up the corresponding smaller formations inside according to the array diagram, he also took the opportunity to teach those exceptionally talented sea beasts a lesson.

These sea beasts are mostly thick-skinned and have much stronger spiritual energy than ordinary cultivators.

However, most of them act on instinct and are unable to fully utilize their advantages.

Fei Lian then took some time to select a few exceptionally talented individuals for training. He not only helped them transform into human form but also taught these sea beasts many secret techniques of the demonic sect, thus gaining them a few more allies.

Today, among these behemoths are several humanoid sea beasts, whose auras are much stronger than their counterparts.

Leading the group was a demon general transformed from a killer whale, who called himself "Sea Devourer." He was three zhang tall, and his skin still retained black and white stripes. He wielded a white bone fork made from the spines of countless giant beasts.

Under Fei Lian's guidance, he learned to devour the essence and blood of living beings to strengthen his demonic power. In just a few months, he devoured many of his own kind, increasing his strength tenfold. He also used the flesh and blood of his kin to refine magical artifacts, and this white bone fork was his prized artifact.

Beside him was a woman with a graceful figure and charming face.

She was cultivated from a highly venomous sea serpent, named "You Ji". With each breath she exudes a poisonous miasma that can instantly turn even a Nascent Soul cultivator into pus and blood. Her peach blossom eyes are captivating, and she can unleash a vicious curse as long as she looks at her target.

The last one was a taciturn giant, who was transformed from a Xuan Turtle that had lived for tens of thousands of years. His body was covered with heavy, dark gold armor, and he was named "Iron Rock". His armor was made by combining countless hard ores found deep in the Ruins of Return, and was personally crafted by Fei Lian, who engraved magical patterns on it.

Tie Pan had absolute confidence in his defense; even Fei Lian would have to put in a lot of effort to break through it.

Led by the three of them, this newly formed army of demonic cultivators marched mightily into the depths of the Ruins of Return.

Before they even reached the ancient battlefield piled with countless corpses, nor did they see the magnificent gate to the Ruins of Return, they spotted a dark figure whose outline was barely discernible.

"This is all?"

The Orca Demon General Devouring the Sea was the first to let out a disdainful sneer.

In his view, the shadowy figure was smaller than his own body and rippled like water, appearing to be an illusion created by mirages.

He had suffered losses in illusion magic before, but now that he had mastered it, he no longer cared about it.

Eager to impress Fei Lian, the Orca Demon General brandished his white bone trident and addressed his sea beasts, "Let the Demon Lord see our prowess! Whoever tears it apart first will be rewarded with a thousand Blood Pills!"

The promise from the Orca Demon General instantly ignited the ferocity of all the sea beast demon cultivators.

A large group of swordfish-like sea creatures rushed towards the dark figure, their bodies transforming into dozens of incredibly fast silver streaks in the water, piercing straight towards the shadow.

This is the swordfish's innate ability, enough to pierce through any protective technique.

However, the dozens of silver lines stopped abruptly as they approached the dark figure.

It was as if you were stuck in extremely viscous mud, moving slower and slower the further you went, until you were finally stuck in one place.

Without making a move, the blurry black shadows caused these swordfish sea beasts, comparable to Nascent Soul cultivators, to fall into the sea like sand sculptures, disintegrating and shattering inch by inch from front to back, and finally disappearing completely into the seawater.

This bizarre scene startled all the sea creatures.

"Everyone be careful! This thing is too powerful to fight!"

The alluring Youji snorted coldly; she despised this kind of pure strength contest the most.

She moved with light, graceful steps, exhaling a cloud of pink mist.

This mist was silent and invisible, but it was the "Soul-Eating and Bone-Destroying Mist" that Fei Lian had instructed her to refine. It could corrode not only the physical body, but also the soul.

The mist spread rapidly, completely enveloping the dark figure.

Not only that, Youji also stared intently at the dark figure, wanting to cast a curse upon it.

This is also a secret technique of the demonic sect taught by Fei Lian, which can cause a person to rot rapidly from the inside out, and even the spiritual energy will be completely eroded.

The highly toxic miasma, enough to turn a sea area into a dead zone, melted away like ice and snow the moment it touched the shadow. Youji's curse was also useless, as if what she saw was a real abyss. No matter how much her curse fell into it, it was nothing more than being swallowed by the abyss.

The charming smile on Youji's face froze instantly.

"Go together!"

The Orca Demon General Devouring the Sea finally sensed something was wrong. He raised his white bone trident and roared, "Form the formation!"

The sea beast demon cultivators beside him immediately took their positions, their demonic energy connecting with each other to form a huge vortex.

At the center of the whirlpool is the sea itself.

He plunged the white bone fork into the vortex, gathering all his power into a thick, black beam of light that seemed capable of swallowing the heavens and earth, before crashing into the motionless black shadow.

This attack, combining the full power of hundreds of demonic cultivators and Devouring Sea, was so powerful that even Demon Lord Feilian had to avoid its edge.

However, the shadowy figure remained motionless in the face of this devastating attack.

As the beam of light hurtled towards it, the dark figure simply opened its mouth and swallowed it whole.

With one bite, all the sea beasts witnessed the void shatter.

For this dark figure, tearing through the void was as easy as tearing a piece of paper.

The black light, formed by the combined spiritual energy of a hundred sea beasts and demonic cultivators, was devoured without causing any damage.

But the shadowy figure was finally overwhelmed by the attacks; it was no longer a blurry mass, but slowly... extended a "claw".

The claw was also made of pure darkness and had no physical form, but as it gradually solidified, one could vaguely see several sharp edges on the claw.

From a distance of nearly a hundred feet, the black shadow lightly swung its claw. The demon general Tie Pan, who was transformed from the Xuan Turtle, suddenly narrowed his eyes. He poured all his power into his armor, and the dark golden demonic patterns shone brightly.

Before anyone could react, only Tie Pan, who was locked onto by the murderous aura of the shadowy figure, sensed the threat of death.

He activated his defense with all his might, and countless phantom images of tortoise shells appeared around him, radiating layers of golden light.

But it doesn't make any sense.

There was a crisp, clear cracking sound.

The thick tortoise shell, known as "Black Armor and Iron Bones" and supposedly indestructible, was easily crushed like an eggshell.

Beneath the tortoise shell, the massive iron-bodied body was completely wiped away by the black claw, leaving no trace.

One claw.

Just one claw.

The Ironclad, the strongest defensive unit under Fei Lian's command, vanished completely, leaving not even a trace of its flesh and blood behind.

Seeing his companion so easily annihilated, the orca demon general, who had just been smug, was stunned for a moment, and then filled with fear.

He disregarded the punishment from the Demon Lord Feilian and instinctively turned and fled.

The orca's escape immediately triggered a chain reaction, and other sea creatures also scattered in fear.

They were beasts to begin with, and even with Fei Lian's guidance, they still couldn't shake off their survival instincts.

If you can't win, you have to run away.

The demon army, which had just been so aggressive and eager to make a name for itself, collapsed instantly.

Without formation or command, this was a complete rout.

In this situation, the dark figure did not attack as if hunting prey, but instead drifted slowly forward, as if it did not know which one to chase for a moment.

However, the shadowy figure was also changing. With each step forward, its body seemed to stabilize and it began to reveal its true form.

It has no specific shape, as if it is formed by the aggregation of countless flowing shadows, but from that outline, one can vaguely distinguish the head and limbs of a dog.

At the eye's position, there were only two crimson beams of light, constantly blurring and reforming with the distorted shadows, as if nothing could be seen, yet as if nothing could escape the gaze of those red eyes.

Just as the first sea monster was about to escape the black dog's sight, this slow-moving, terrifying creature finally made a move.

The black dog made a running motion and appeared on the head of the fastest octopus sea monster in the next moment.

The sea monster's eight powerful tentacles were thrashing wildly, churning the seawater and propelling its massive body away at high speed.

However, when the black dog arrived, the seawater in front of it became viscous, like a piece of amber about to solidify.

He crashed headlong into it, his speed dropped drastically, and no matter how hard he struggled, he couldn't move forward an inch.

Then, the claws fell, and the giant octopus disappeared just like the Xuan Turtle Demon General.

There were no severed limbs, no splattered blood, and no screams. They simply vanished without a trace, as if their flesh and soul had been obliterated in an instant, leaving no trace whatsoever.

On the other side, the orca demon general, Devouring the Sea, was terrified.

He no longer cared about the dignity of a demon general, and directly revealed his true form, fleeing frantically in the form of an orca.

In his panic, he couldn't help but glance back. The dark figure was leisurely chasing after the other demonic cultivators, seemingly unaware of him.

A sliver of hope rose in his heart.

The instant this thought arose, a huge shadow loomed over him.

He looked up abruptly and saw an enormous black claw mark that had appeared above his head at some point, like a collapsing sky slowly pressing down.

"No!"

Devouring Sea let out a desperate roar, pouring all the demonic energy in his body into the White Bone Fork, attempting to meet the attack head-on.

The white bone fork, forged from the flesh and blood of countless kin, emitted a urging light and a sharp aura capable of piercing through metal and stone, but ultimately failed to stop the claw in the slightest.

Under the oppressive aura of the shadowy figure, Tunhai's body froze. His massive frame remained in an upward attacking posture, but the breath of life had completely vanished.

It was still a light, fleeting swipe of a claw, and it vanished without a trace.
This so-called sea-devouring orca demon also disappeared without leaving a trace.

The alluring You Ji had completely lost her seductive charm. She had transformed into her true form as a sea serpent, a hundred-foot-long, colorful venomous dragon, writhing and darting wildly through the sea.

She kept spewing out highly toxic miasma, trying to hinder the black dog, even if only for a moment.

The black dog seemed to be a little annoyed by this behavior.

It stopped and then opened its "mouth".

A pure, all-consuming vortex of darkness formed in its mouth.

An irresistible suction force enveloped the entire sea area. No matter how much the fleeing sea beasts and demonic cultivators struggled, they were all pulled by this force and involuntarily flew backwards towards the black vortex.

"Demon Lord, save me!"

"Ahhh!"

Screams, pleas for mercy, and desperate roars filled the air, but even the sounds couldn't escape the vortex of the black dog's mouth.

Yu Ji's enormous body was also firmly sucked in. She frantically lashed out at the surrounding space with her tail, trying to break free, but all her efforts were in vain.

She watched helplessly as she drew ever closer to the darkness that represented the end, until finally, she was completely swallowed by the vortex.

The other sea creatures were also fleeing; they had long lost the courage to resist and only wanted to escape as far as possible.

But the black dog had no intention of letting any sea beast escape. As soon as one of them tried to get out of the black dog's sight, this terrifying creature would instantly appear next to that sea beast, either with its claws or its mouth. In any case, it could easily kill these huge sea beasts.

Feilian was still at the other end of the distant Guixu, but he could sense that the sea beasts under his command were dying one after another.

The demonic cultivator army he had painstakingly trained was unable to stop this black dog for even a moment.

But Fei Lian also noticed a problem with the black dog; it seemed to lack intelligence.

Even the killing of sea monsters is purely instinctive; the faster you run, the faster you die.

So Fei Lian cast a spell, and all the sea beasts he had planted with control spells suddenly froze. No matter how hard they tried to struggle, they could not break free from Fei Lian's control.

Then, under Fei Lian's control, these sea monsters began to spread at an extremely slow rate.

The black dog seemed oblivious to the change, continuing to drift leisurely in the sea, only striking to eliminate any sea creature that approached or was about to disappear from sight.

If all the sea beasts panic and run around aimlessly, they will probably be killed by this elusive black dog in no time.

However, these sea monsters were controlled by Fei Lian, so their speed was much slower.

Fei Lian gritted his teeth and squeezed out, "Half an hour, just give me another half an hour and I can calibrate both the inner and outer formations!"

(End of this chapter)