This army didn't just contain elite fighters from the territories of the three Demon Saints—it also included portions of the forces those same Demon Saints had absorbed over the previous decade and more.
All told, the army numbered two million strong.
The trouble was, they were all demons. In the heat of today's battle, Li Wuyi hadn't trusted himself to deploy them, so he'd ordered them to hold their positions.
Now, with the demons on the battlefield driven to frenzied madness, indiscriminate in their violence—even the two Demon Kings Yang Kai had summoned from the Small World hadn't been spared—nobody dared imagine what the two-million-strong army looked like.
When Yang Kai asked, Su Yan quickly pointed him in a direction. An instant later, his figure vanished, leaving behind only a single sentence: "Report this to Commander Li immediately!"
Several thousand li away, where Yu Rumeng and the others had established their army's encampment, chaos already reigned.
When Yang Kai arrived, he could see the two-million-strong army below—screams and roars blending into one deafening wall of sound. The camp was a wreck, demon corpses strewn everywhere, the earth soaked through with blood. Countless demons had lost themselves to their bloodlust, eyes blazing red, frantically attacking anything and everything around them.
Seeing this, Yang Kai sighed to himself. He'd feared as much.
In the midst of the chaos, nearly thirty figures had gathered together, hovering in midair. Every one of them stared blankly downward, eyes filled with bewilderment and grief—they were all Half-Saint-level powerhouses.
These thirty-odd Half-Saints were originally subordinates of Yu Rumeng and the other two Demon Saints, along with several Yang Kai had captured when he devoured the territory of the Flame Demon Saint, Chi Yan. Those particular Half-Saints had served Chi Yan, but once they fell into Yu Rumeng's hands, she'd had her ways of ensuring their obedience and loyalty.
In this moment, however, these thirty-odd Half-Saints were unaffected—just as Bai Zhuo and Bo Ya had been, everything was fine for them. But with the army suddenly thrown into upheaval, even they were at a loss.
There was simply no way to stop it. Over two million demons going mad all at once—how could anyone intervene? You'd have to slaughter them all. But could anyone kill that many? They had no idea how they would explain this to the three Demon Saints when they returned.
On the other side, over a hundred figures sat cross-legged, demonic energy churning across their bodies, their mental states turbulent. One sweep of his spiritual sense told Yang Kai that every one of them was a peak-rank Demon King.
They had clearly been affected as well, but their superior cultivation meant they hadn't entirely lost their minds—they were fighting it with everything they had.
Still, judging by the way things were going, Yang Kai estimated they wouldn't hold out much longer. It was only a matter of time before they succumbed.
He flickered forward and appeared above the peak-rank Demon Kings, issuing a low command: "Do not resist!"
He thrust his palm downward, his spiritual sense surging out like a tidal wave and enveloping all hundred-odd peak-rank Demon Kings. When he withdrew his hand, the Demon Kings who had been struggling to maintain their sanity had all vanished—sucked into the Small World.
"Lord Yang!" The Lotus Sisters flew over, looking at him as if he were a savior. They pleaded urgently: "My lord, please save them! They suddenly went mad for no reason."
Yang Kai didn't waste words. He nodded. "That's exactly why I'm here."
As he spoke, he swept his hand, and dozens of streaks of light shot toward the Half-Saints—one for each. The Half-Saints snatched them out of the air and found palm-sized pearls the size of a longan fruit, devoid of any energy fluctuation. They had no idea what these were and looked up at Yang Kai with puzzled expressions.
"You all know what World Pills are. These items function the same way—they can store living beings and can be used without any need for refinement. Split up and save as many as you can!"
The Half-Saints were overjoyed and clutched their one-world pearls tightly.
Yang Kai was already plunging into the ranks of the army, his spiritual sense rolling outward. Wherever he passed, huge swaths of demons vanished, swept into the Small World.
Storing living beings in World Pills had its rules. If the target didn't resist, the consumption wasn't especially great—just the energy needed to open the World Pill's dimensional barrier. But if the one being stored fought back, the required expenditure would skyrocket, varying with the strength of the resister.
And if the person being stored surpassed Yang Kai in cultivation, there was nothing he could do at all.
He vaguely remembered that the first time he'd stored the colossal Dharma Idol into the Small World, he had been completely drained in an instant.
The one-world pearls were crafted as replicas of World Pills and followed the same principles. None of the frenzied demons present exceeded Half-Saint level, so the pearls would definitely work in the hands of the Half-Saints.
As for Yang Kai, his soul cultivation far surpassed that of an ordinary Half-Saint, so even if the demons refused to cooperate, it would only delay the inevitable.
Yang Kai led the charge while the Half-Saints spread out across the battlefield, using their one-world pearls to store the frenzied demons.
Moments later, the World Pill—Gǔngǔn—had transformed, its massive round body blotting out the sky. It opened its grotesque maw, and with a single gulp, an entire swath of demons disappeared.
But this was the Star Realm, and Yang Kai didn't dare let Gǔngǔn devour freely. If it swallowed the Star Realm's heaven and earth in one bite, it would become an eternal sinner. So even with Gǔngǔn deployed, the problem couldn't be solved quickly.
To make matters worse, the two-million-plus demons were scattered far and wide. There was no way to collect them all in a short time.
The Half-Saints worked tirelessly, frantic with urgency. They all knew that every additional clansman they saved might spare several more from death.
But mortal strength had its limits. Even powerhouses as mighty as Half-Saints, forcibly storing uncooperative demons at such scale, suffered unimaginable expenditures.
Before long, every one of the Half-Saints had gone pale—the telltale sign of spiritual energy overexertion.
And when Yang Kai looked out across the battlefield, half the army still hadn't been collected.