Clan Cultivation: Starting from Foundation Establishment on Mount Luoxia

For the next two weeks, Li Xiaoyao followed Zhen Yue to every corner of the border.

From the gravel belt in the north to the Netherfire Sea in the south, from the Immortal Sect's defense line in the east to the Demon Kingdom's border in the west.

He learned to identify the traces of demons, to track the remnants of demonic power in the void, and to use the terrain and assess the relative strength of the enemy and himself in skirmishes.

He also learned to wait.

The demons don't come every day. Sometimes, for several days in a row, the border is calm and peaceful, and not a single demon can be seen.

But Zhenyue says that such calm is often the prelude to a storm.

"They're testing us." Zhenyue stood at the edge of the gravel belt, looking at the dark void in the distance.

"They're testing our reaction speed, testing our troop deployment, testing our bottom line. Once they've tested us enough, they'll launch a major attack."

Li Xiaoyao remained silent. He too was gazing at the void. It was dark and gloomy, like a lurking beast, poised to pounce at any moment.

"Do you think those three little demon kings of the Blood Wolf Tribe are too weak?" Zhen Yue suddenly asked.

Li Xiaoyao thought for a moment and nodded.

"That's because you haven't met someone truly strong."

Zhen Yue turned around and looked at him. "The leader of the Blood Wolf Tribe, that Blood Wolf Demon King at the mid-stage of the Purple Mansion realm, is called Blood Fang."

He has cultivated for eight hundred years, possessing profound demonic power. His innate supernatural ability, Blood Moon Wolf Shadow, allows him to create three clones of equal strength to his original body in a short period of time.

Four against one, can you handle it?

Li Xiaoyao remained silent.

"And he also has three lesser demon kings under his command. Four are at the mid-stage of the Purple Mansion realm, and three are at the early stage—how can you possibly fight them alone?"

"So I won't fight alone. Don't I still have you?"

Zhen Yue paused for a moment, then suddenly smiled. That was the first time Li Xiaoyao had ever seen him smile.

"Yes, and me too. So next time they come, signal them immediately, don't rush in alone."

Li Xiaoyao nodded.

A few days later, the opportunity came.

That evening, Li Xiaoyao was patrolling the gravel belt to the north by himself.

Zhenyue was dealing with another matter in the south, and the two were tens of thousands of miles apart. It would take at least half an hour for Zhenyue to provide support.

The patrol token suddenly vibrated. It wasn't a distress signal, but a demonic alarm—a demon had crossed the border.

Li Xiaoyao stopped and dispersed his divine sense.

Deep within the gravel belt, three demonic energies were moving rapidly, approaching the Immortal Sect. Each of them was at the early stage of the Purple Mansion realm.

Three little demon kings.

Same as last time.

But this time, they were smarter.

They did not scatter and encircle, nor did they rush forward rashly. Instead, they maintained a tight formation and supported each other, as if they had practiced countless times.

Li Xiaoyao didn't send a signal. He was waiting, waiting for them to get closer.

The three demonic auras drew ever closer. Countless void fragments of varying sizes floated within the gravel belt, providing perfect natural cover.

He concealed his presence, moved slowly close to the largest piece of gravel, and circled around to their flank.

The three demon kings, with wolf heads and human bodies, were clad in blood-red armor and each held a weapon.

The one at the very front is the one who escaped from him last time.

Li Xiaoyao emerged from behind the rubble, raising his hand to unleash a burst of light.

【彩华谌】.

Clad in ceremonial robes, bathed in radiant light, the demon king at the very front reacted swiftly, dodging the direct attack.

But the glow of the sunset was not an attack, it was an envelopment.

The seventy-two rays of light on the robe lit up simultaneously, illuminating the surrounding space within a hundred feet as if it were daytime.

The three demon kings were enveloped in the glow of the sunset, and their figures froze simultaneously.

"It's you again!" The demon king who escaped last time gritted his teeth. "Send the signal! Call the Great King here!"

Another demon king took out a bone talisman from his robes and was about to crush it when Li Xiaoyao raised his hand and pointed, a beam of light accurately striking its wrist, and the bone talisman flew out of its hand.

He flashed again, grabbed the bone talisman in his hand, and put it into his storage ring.

"Even if your king comes, it won't make a difference." He looked at the three demon kings, his voice calm. "He's here, kill him all at once."

The three demon kings exchanged a glance and pounced at the same time.

Li Xiaoyao advanced instead of retreating.

The radiant light on his robes swirled, and when the weapons of the three demon kings struck him, the spiritual light instantly dimmed, leaving him looking like a few pieces of scrap iron.

They were stunned for a moment—just like last time, the spiritual power of the weapons was wiped away by the robes, and they couldn't even hold them.

"What kind of sorcery is this!" a demon king exclaimed.

Li Xiaoyao did not answer. He struck the chest of the nearest demon king with his palm, and a burst of light poured in, shattering the demonic energy shield as if it were made of paper.

The demon king spat out blood and flew backward, smashing through several pieces of void debris.

The second demon king turned and fled, but Li Xiaoyao caught up with him and struck him on the back with a palm.

The third one—the one that escaped last time—has already run a hundred feet away.

Li Xiaoyao did not chase after it, but simply raised his hand, and a beam of light shot out from his palm, accurately striking its back.

The demon king let out a miserable scream, his body tumbling several times in the void before finally hanging on a piece of broken rock, his fate unknown.

All three demon kings were dealt with.

Li Xiaoyao withdrew his hand and looked down at his palm.

They're still too weak. These three little demon kings are far inferior to the demigods of the Heavenly Demon Realm. He needs stronger opponents.

Just then, the patrol token jolted violently.

It's a distress signal. To the south, in the direction of Zhenyue.

Li Xiaoyao's expression changed, and he turned around and flew south at full speed.

In the southern void, Zhenyue is engaged in a fierce battle.

His only opponent was a demon. That demon was twice the size of an ordinary demon king, covered in dark red scales, with exposed fangs and bloodshot eyes.

Its aura was as deep as an abyss, clearly indicating it was at the late stage of the Purple Mansion realm.

Late stage of the Purple Mansion realm?

When Li Xiaoyao arrived, Zhen Yue was already covered in wounds. Most of his black armor was shattered, and his left arm hung down at his side, clearly broken.

But he kept fighting, his longsword transforming into a silvery-white light screen in his hand, desperately blocking every attack from the demon king.

"What are you doing here!" Zhen Yue's expression changed when he saw him. "Run! It's not from the Blood Wolf Clan!"

Li Xiaoyao didn't leave. He stared at the demon king in the late stage of the Purple Mansion realm, his pupils slightly contracting. The late stage of the Purple Mansion realm meant even greater strength than the leader of the Blood Wolf tribe.

How could something like this appear on the border?

The demon king also saw him, grinned, and said, "Another one has arrived. Perfect, let's kill them all together."

It abandoned Zhenyue and pounced on Li Xiaoyao.

Li Xiaoyao does not retreat.

[Caihua Chen] activated his full power, and seventy-two rays of light flowed around his body, transforming into an incomparably solid robe.

The demon king's claws gripped the robe, causing the radiant light to tremble violently. The light on the robe swirled wildly, dissolving the demon king's demonic power layer by layer.

"Hmm?" The Demon King paused for a moment. "This is interesting."

It retracted its claws, opened its mouth and spat out a beam of blood that shot straight toward Li Xiaoyao's face.

That's its innate divine power—Blood Demon Light, which is specifically designed to break through protective spiritual light.

Li Xiaoyao dodged quickly, avoiding a direct confrontation, but a flash of blood grazed his shoulder, tearing a hole in his robe.

The rosy light surged wildly, closing the gap, but Li Xiaoyao already sensed that [Caihua Chen] couldn't withstand a second attack.

He withdrew.

He has no choice but to retreat. A demon king at the late stage of the Purple Mansion realm is not someone he can confront head-on at his current level.

His [Caihua Chen] can neutralize the Five Elements Daoist techniques and knock down magical artifacts and spirit weapons, but its effectiveness is greatly reduced when facing pure demonic power.

The difference in their levels of understanding is undeniable and cannot be bridged by supernatural powers.

"Run?" the demon king sneered. "Do you think you can escape?"

It was about to give chase when it suddenly stopped.

In the void, one aura after another was rapidly approaching—it was other patrol envoys who had received the distress signal and were rushing over from all directions.

Three, five, seven... In the end, nine auras at the Purple Mansion level surrounded this void.

The demon king glanced at it, snorted coldly, and turned to disappear into the depths of the void.