Cultivation begins in Qingfeng Market.

Tianhao raised his hand and waved it forward: "Let's go."

The army of cultivators began to move, with dozens of Core Formation cultivators driving chariots at the forefront, forming a battle line a hundred miles wide.

The chariots maintained a fixed distance from each other, their spiritual lights echoing each other, bringing the area within a hundred miles ahead into their support range.

Tens of thousands of Foundation Establishment cultivators followed closely behind in spirit boats and flying boats, their formation orderly and their speed uniform.

Further back, many Qi Refining cultivators hung in the distance—some were rogue cultivators, some were scions of small families, not qualified to join the formal expeditionary force, and could only follow behind picking up scraps that the main army disdained to collect.

As the army marched forward, the scenery on the ground flashed past beneath the chariots.

Below lies the unique terrain of the Southern Continent—the Hundred Thousand Mountains, a continuous range of steep slopes, ancient trees reaching for the sky, their canopies so dense that even sunlight cannot penetrate. Among the forests, shadowy figures of beasts dart about, occasionally peeking out from the treetops to roar at the legion above, only to be quickly swept away into a bloody mist by the spiritual light of the vanguard chariots.

After traveling thousands of miles, they encountered many small outposts of the Ten Thousand Beasts Spirit Lord's Mansion along the way—totem poles built from the bones of giant beasts, giant beast nests embedded in the mountains, and barbarian sentinels whose bodies were covered with blood-red patterns.

But these strongholds are not even stumbling blocks in the face of a monk legion of this size.

The totem pole was smashed in half by the chariot, and the beast's nest was blown to pieces by the overwhelming attack of the spirit boat. A behemoth comparable to a mountain rose from the valley to fight back, but was hit in the chest by several chariots at the same time. Its huge body flew backward and collapsed half of the mountain. Before it could stand up, it was overwhelmed by the wave of magic from the cultivators behind it.

The army hardly stopped; the vanguard chariots rolled over the ruins, and the spirit boats emerged from the dust and smoke, maintaining their formation from beginning to end.

The following Qi Refining cultivators swarmed forward, searching the ground for remaining fragments of spiritual objects, bones of demonic beasts, and broken remnants of magical artifacts.

These things are beneath the notice of Core Formation cultivators, and Foundation Establishment cultivators are too lazy to linger, but to Qi Refining cultivators, each one is a treasure.

The monk legion didn't drive them away; they wouldn't linger there.

Rather than letting the underground monsters benefit from it, it's better to leave it for these Qi Refining cultivators. Perhaps in the future, there will be a few more Foundation Establishment cultivators. After the army crossed tens of thousands of miles, the number of Qi Refining cultivators following behind began to decrease significantly.

Ten thousand miles is a watershed moment. Once you cross this line, the monsters you encounter will no longer be something that a Qi Refining stage cultivator can handle.

The demon-hunting teams began to break away from the main force and disperse in all directions. Some went to hunt down any demons they found, while others went to explore places where spiritual materials might be found. The spirit ships of the large demon-hunting groups, on the other hand, always maintained their formation. They were the core fighting force of the expeditionary force.

After crossing thousands of miles and completely leaving the area of ​​influence of Wanshuzhen Rock Fortress, the army began to encounter attacks.

They were a group of barbarians.

They leaped up from the mountains and forests, their bodies covered in blood-red patterns. They had no spirit armor or magical artifacts, and jumped up bare-handed. One of them punched the protective shield of the flying boat, causing it to tremble violently and crack.

This physical strength is comparable to that of a Foundation Establishment cultivator.

After one group of barbarians was killed, even more poured out of the mountains and forests, one after another.

Tianhao's chariot was always alongside Lin Zhao's. He glanced at the barbarians below whose bodies were covered in blood-red markings and explained, "These are the humans of the Southern Continent. They have all been tamed by the Myriad Beasts Spirit Lord's Palace. They worship demonic beasts as their faith and consider dying in battle against them as the highest honor."

He pointed to the barbarians whose bodies were covered in particularly dense blood patterns, "Those are totem warriors, cultivated using the essence of demonic beasts, sacrificing their lifespan for combat power. They generally don't live past thirty."

Even if they survive, their ultimate fate is to be completely devoured by the monsters, their flesh and soul returning to the monsters.

Third-tier demonic beasts can easily grow to hundreds or even thousands of such totem warriors. They don't require spiritual roots or aptitude; anyone can be human. Using these cannon fodder to deplete the cultivators' manpower is a highly profitable strategy.

The Southern Continent has trillions of mortals, divided into 50,000 tribes. The sole purpose of these tribes is to feed demonic beasts.

Tianhao's voice was calm, but every word sounded as if it had been pulled out of icy water: "The mortals of the Southern Continent are used to feed the demon beasts, the demon beasts support the cultivators, and the cultivators rule over the mortals."

The Southern Continent is a breeding ground specially set up by the Myriad Beasts Spirit Venerable's Palace to support the so-called Divine Transformation Clan. Mortals without spiritual roots have no value in their eyes and are not even considered their own kind.

He paused for a moment, then said, "Therefore, the Ten Thousand Beasts Spirit Lord's Palace must be eradicated. This is not a simple struggle for interests or territory; it is a struggle for humanity."

Lin Zhao didn't say anything. He already knew all this, but he still wanted to come and see for himself.

He stood on the Purple Dragon Pattern Chariot, watching the blood-soaked barbarians below roar as they charged towards the spirit ship like moths to a flame.

Tianhao said no more.

-----

The target of this expedition is a tribe called Manxiao, which has been passed down for thousands of years. The third-tier demon beast they worship in this generation is about to break through to the fourth tier. If the demon beast wants to advance to the fourth tier, it will devour all the tens of millions of mortals in the entire tribe. We must eliminate it before it advances.

The legion fought its way through the tribe and finally encountered real resistance on the outskirts of the tribe.

More than a dozen totem poles rose from the ground, each hundreds of feet tall, pieced together from the bones of countless giant beasts. Beneath the totem poles were pools of blood, the water bubbling with thick blood bubbles.

Driven by the barbarian high priest, millions of tribesmen lined up to enter the blood pool, their flesh and blood melting into the water and transforming into streams of scarlet energy that flowed into the totem pole.

More than a dozen third-tier totem monsters emerged from the totem poles—they were all powerful monsters hunted by the Barbarian Tribe over thousands of years. After their deaths, their skeletons were made into totem poles, and their souls were sealed within them. They could be forcibly revived through human blood sacrifice.

Thousands of totem warriors surged in from all directions, joining the charge against the monsters.

The chariots of dozens of Core Formation cultivators attacked simultaneously, instantly turning the area within a radius of hundreds of miles into a chaotic battlefield. Spiritual light, flames, lightning, sword energy, the roars of demonic beasts, and the battle cries of barbarians intertwined, and the ground was blasted into one huge crater after another.

But the barbarian high priest continued to send more and more of his people into the blood pool, one after another, pouring them into the pool like water. There was no fear on their faces, only fanatical excitement, as if being melted by the blood pool was not death, but some kind of supreme glory.

The battle was intense, but it lasted only a short time.

This army of cultivators was too strong. Dozens of totem monsters were shattered one after another by the chariots of the Core Formation cultivators, and thousands of totem warriors fell in droves under the saturation of magic.