Chapter 0708: The Blood Demon

If the orc coalition could have easily breached Xuanhuang City, then Little Behemoth wouldn't have cared—it would simply have added another glory to the orcs' reputation. Nothing too serious. But now, the two sides were evenly matched. Especially with the orcs attacking, they were suffering heavy casualties under Xuanhuang City's fierce arrow volleys. If this dragged on, both sides would be badly wounded.

Little Behemoth was furious.Furious at his own lack of strength. Furious at the sinister schemer who had orchestrated this.To stir up such a massive war with mere provocation—truly despicable.

That hidden manipulator clearly understood Xuanhuang City's strength, and also knew that once war broke out, both sides would suffer.

"I'm going to become a sinner of the orc race. I'll bring shame to the Behemoth Clan," Little Behemoth muttered bitterly.

The cloud ladders had only numbered a thousand before halting—not because they couldn't make more, but because all surrounding cloud essence had already been absorbed and refined. With no clouds in the sky, no more ladders could be formed.

A cloud ladder without clouds is just a ladder in name.Now, the battle had turned into a struggle over the control of the ladders.

These ladders were constructed by the orcs, but that didn't mean they belonged to them. Every attempt to ascend came at the cost of blood.

From the very beginning, the fight had reached a fever pitch.

Dense arrow volleys, talismans, and rune bombs repeatedly thwarted the orcs. Yet wave after wave still climbed the ladders, charging up to the walls, inflicting real damage in return.

This siege had turned into a meat grinder, swallowing countless lives.

The battle raged from dawn to dusk. The carnage was unimaginable.

Xuanhuang City split its defenders into two groups—one rested while the other fought. Even ordinary citizens manned the walls, wielding Divine Crossbows to aid the defense. Each citizen fired with ruthless precision, showing no mercy to the invading orcs.

These orcs were attacking their homeland. That made them the enemy. And enemies were to be slain.

The citizens of Xuanhuang City were not known for soft hearts—they were famously decisive and brutal when needed.

From day to night, the killing never ceased. The battlefield resounded with roars and screams, a never-ending tide of violence.

Many cultivators who had rushed in from afar climbed the Iron-Blood Great Wall, witnessing the slaughter firsthand. The shock in their hearts was beyond anything they had imagined.

Take the disciples of Cold Mountain Sword Sect, for instance. Upon seeing the battlefield, they turned pale. They had never dreamed that a city they had dismissed could possess such terrifying power.

This worldly warfare far exceeded anything they'd imagined—it shattered their assumptions.

"Is this still a mundane city? Are these really common people? Everyone's got cultivation, and they all dare to kill without hesitation. With a little training, they're elite soldiers."

"This is nothing like what the sects taught us. The mortal world really does produce countless heroes. Compared to sects, they're not inferior—maybe even stronger. This is a totally different path. The sects focus on cultivation; the mundane world grows through bloodshed."

"I hope we never face Xuanhuang City in battle. Against this kind of army, I'm not sure I'd even have the courage to stand. These are butchers born of mountains of corpses."

"I heard that in Xuanhuang City, merit determines all rewards and punishments. Military merit earns rewards, resources, and techniques. This 'war-feeds-war' system creates battlefield-hardened killers. Such an army—no spirit or ghost would dare block their path."

The pride of the Cold Mountain Sword Sect disciples was crushed under the sheer brutality of the war. They had never seen such a sea of corpses and rivers of blood.

On the walls, Yi Tianxing stood with Jia Xu and others, unmoved by the chaos. They observed the battle—the constant cycle of attacks and defense.

"Lord, the Behemoth King is using this as training," Jia Xu said meaningfully.

"I see it too," Yi Tianxing nodded. "Ever since the war beasts were killed, the Behemoth King changed tactics—sending wave after wave of orcs into battle. After some time, survivors are pulled back and rotated. The dead are the weak. The survivors are elite. He's sieving soldiers through blood."

Yi Tianxing sneered coldly. But even knowing this, he didn't stop it.

The orcs were training. But so was Xuanhuang City. This war would forge true elites. The dead? They were simply culled.

This was the cruel truth of a chaotic world.

"And that's not necessarily a bad thing," Jia Xu smiled. "It gives us the opportunity to move to the next stage. With the Behemoth King cooperating, we can definitely achieve our objective. In fact, he may want that outcome more than we do. He could have committed his full force—but instead, he's sending in wave after wave. That tells us he doesn't want all-out war with us either."

"Then let's fight for three full days," Yi Tianxing said calmly. "If the orcs want to stop, I don't."

This level of war, Xuanhuang City could handle.And its people needed to see blood. Those who hadn't fought before needed to feel the battlefield.

The war continued.

One day. Two days.

The battle intensity stayed constant. Again and again, the orcs assaulted the walls—only to be driven back. Blood had already dyed the battlefield red.

Pick up a handful of soil—it would drip blood.

Beneath this battlefield, however, was a hidden space.

There, a blood-red altar pulsed ominously. Covered in ancient, evil crimson runes, it looked like veins crawling over its surface. Horrifying to behold.

Atop the altar sat a figure cloaked in bloodlight. Their face was impossible to see, shrouded in red glow.

Around the altar stood many more blood-shrouded figures, rapidly absorbing the blood fiend aura in the air.

This altar had a strange power—it was continuously drawing blood fiend energy from the battlefield above. For these mysterious figures, this deadly aura was a delicacy.

"Excellent! Just as expected. Stirring a war between the orcs and humans was the right move. The more they die, the better. Without this war, how else would we get such pure blood fiend essence? This is divine!"

The figure on the altar laughed strangely, while greedily devouring the energy pouring in.

"Yes, Patriarch! The humans are fools, and the orcs are brainless brutes. Just a bit of manipulation sparked this massive war. They fight and die, while we feast. With this, your cultivation will soon break into the Law Manifestation Realm!"

"Indeed. A bloody stalemate between humans and orcs serves us best. Peace is useless. Only war brings us power."

These were members of the Blood Demon Clan.

This war was a banquet for them.

The Blood Demons were a strange race—born from blood fiend energy, cultivating by absorbing it. With enough essence, their strength skyrocketed.

"This is our time to rise. Use the gathered energy to hatch more kin. We must grow our clan!" the Blood Demon Patriarch declared.

All around the altar, blood-colored eggs could be seen—thousands upon thousands of them. Each pulsed with powerful life, devouring the blood energy ravenously.

Inside, new life stirred—on the brink of hatching.

These were the future of the Blood Demon Clan.

The Blood Demons were oviparous, birthed through eggs. To hatch, they required unfathomable amounts of blood fiend essence—life-forged energy.

That's why they'd hidden under the battlefield.

To them, the fighting above was the idiocy of ignorant prey—delivering themselves as food to feed the rise of a terrifying race.