"A fourth-tier NPC suddenly appeared in Ancient Rock City, and the whole place turned into a nest of evil demons? How is that even possible?" Shi Feng's face shifted with surprise at Shui Se Qiang Wei's words, but a possibility suddenly struck him. "Do you have any recent images from Ancient Rock City on your end?"
"I do. Sending them over now." Shui Se Qiang Wei nodded.
Ancient Rock City's sudden transformation into a demon nest had left the major factions seething. They'd wanted to reclaim it too, so they'd dispatched plenty of scouts to investigate, and Zero Wing had picked up a good deal of intelligence from those factions in the process.
Shi Feng immediately re-entered the virtual reality capsule's rest area.
Inside the rest area, players could still communicate and exchange information with others in the Divine Realm — being in a special zone didn't cut off contact.
Once Shi Feng settled into the rest area, Shui Se Qiang Wei sent over not just image files but video recordings as well, along with data on the current distribution and approximate numbers of the demon forces occupying Ancient Rock City.
"These numbers are staggering." Shi Feng studied the video footage, his mind reeling.
All across Ancient Rock City — on the walls, inside the buildings — evil demons and demonic beasts packed every surface. The total easily exceeded a million, far beyond what any individual player could possibly control.
The intelligence gathered from the various factions estimated the demon garrison in Ancient Rock City at roughly three million, and that number was still climbing.
If the sheer volume wasn't alarming enough, the real problem was their levels!
The weakest monsters in the city were level 50, and the strongest reached level 80. Among them were not only Legendary-rank demonic beasts but also Legendary-rank evil demons — over ten confirmed Legendary creatures in total.
And on top of that, a level 80, fourth-tier NPC stood guard inside the city. Compared to the Legendary-rank demons and beasts, this fourth-tier NPC was practically a god of death for players. The NPC wielded a fourth-tier Domain skill, and before players could even get close, they'd already fallen to their knees at the NPC's feet, transformed into evil demons…
"As expected." Shi Feng studied the towering temple rising from the center of Ancient Rock City in the footage and furrowed his brow. "They actually went through with it — setting up a subsidiary temple of the Evil God right inside Ancient Rock City!"
In the Divine Realm, the Evil God Temple's members could mass-produce evil demons and demonic beasts, but all of it required a foundation: sacrifices. Without sacrifices, nothing could be created.
The only way to suddenly transform an entire city into a nest of evil demons was to deploy a subsidiary temple. It could instantly teleport every evil demon and demonic beast cultivated in the Evil God Temple to the location, bringing the army there in one fell swoop.
But deploying a subsidiary temple was extraordinarily difficult. First, there couldn't be any interference from defensive magic formations. Second, it required vast quantities of rare special materials and souls.
And once a subsidiary temple was deployed, the occupied city was completely ruined.
Though it was only a subsidiary temple, the demonic energy it could concentrate was still terrifying. Unless a Tier 5 High Priest could be brought in for purification, the entire territory consumed by the subsidiary temple would become wasteland — completely uninhabitable for ordinary players.
Now that the subsidiary temple was deployed, Ancient Rock City was finished. It was doomed to be nothing more than a nest of evil demons, and the chances of it ever becoming a guild city were virtually zero.
"Guild Master, what are we going to do about this?" Shui Se Qiang Wei's voice carried a note of urgency. "The direction these evil demons and demonic beasts are spreading points straight at Zero Wing City. Even if the Kingdom's army tries to hold them at the front lines, their suppression won't keep pace with how fast the demons are growing. If this horde actually reaches the walls of Zero Wing City, we're going to be in serious trouble."
If such a terrifying number of evil demons and demonic beasts actually showed up at Zero Wing City, even though the city had powerful defensive magic formations that Stone Forest Town lacked, their destruction would only be a matter of time.
Among these monsters were Legendary-rank existences. Even if the city's defensive magic formations could hold, the duration would be extremely limited. Once the formations broke, players facing such an army of evil demons would be throwing eggs against a stone.
If they didn't find a way to stop this now, Zero Wing City was truly done for.
Staring at the densely packed sea of evil demons, Shi Feng couldn't help but feel a headache coming on.
He hadn't expected the Beast Emperor and the Sky Burial Guild to be this formidable — actually producing a subsidiary temple. That wasn't something you could just conjure up; the cost involved was beyond imagination.
The Evil God Temple's subsidiary temples served one primary purpose: concealing the main temple's location. If the Beast Emperor and Sky Burial Guild had simply deployed an army of evil demons from the Evil God Temple within the Star Moon Kingdom's borders, such a massive commotion would have been detected — even if Shi Feng did nothing, the Star Moon Kingdom's NPCs would have found the Evil God Temple and immediately sent an army to wipe it out.
But a subsidiary temple was a completely different story. All the monsters were teleported directly from the main temple, so nobody knew where the main temple actually was. Even if the subsidiary temple was destroyed, the demon army could continue operating freely, untouchable.
"Contact Bai Qingxue immediately. Have the guild's strongest fighters coordinate with the Kingdom's army to intercept the demon army as best they can. At the same time, find ways to collect magic crystals — as many as possible. Before I get back, make sure everyone — other guilds and independent players alike — gets as far away from the demon army as possible. Don't let them become sacrifice fodder." Shi Feng thought for a moment, then spoke.
The Evil God Temple had always been the great scourge of every major faction in the Divine Realm, and the main reason was its endlessly growing army of evil demons. Without sufficient strength, going there would only make you food for the demon horde. There were only two ways to stop it: first, use overwhelming force to annihilate them completely; second, destroy the Evil God Temple itself.
The Evil God Temples scattered across the Divine Realm's continent were essentially demonic energy transmission devices, continuously funneling demonic energy into the continent so that evil demons and demonic beasts could thrive. As long as a temple was destroyed, the transmitted demonic energy would disappear, and the residual energy in the surrounding area would become rootless water — gradually thinning until the evil demons and demonic beasts grew deeply uncomfortable. The weaker ones would die outright, and even the stronger ones would steadily weaken until they became easy to deal with.
But since the Evil God Temple's location was unknown and destroying the heavily fortified subsidiary temple was impossible, the only option was to send powerful fighters to coordinate with NPC armies, steadily whittling down the demon army. After all, the demon army needed sacrifices to grow and multiply — their expansion wasn't without limits.
"Understood. I'll get in touch with Qingxue right away." Shui Se Qiang Wei nodded and ended the call.
Shi Feng didn't dare waste any more time. He logged directly into the Divine Realm and resumed farming Dark Crystals.
Meanwhile, in a forest along the border of the Stone Forest Town map in the Star Moon Kingdom, a massive crowd of players had gathered — over five hundred thousand strong. More than a hundred thousand of them wore the Sky Burial Guild's emblem. Every one stood with a solemn expression, all at level 47 or above, their equipment dazzling.
"Beast Emperor, I've got the four hundred thousand you asked for all lined up. I hope you'll honor your deal!" Standing on a hillside, Yi Xiao Du Zang addressed the middle-aged man beside him — dark gray skin etched with magic patterns, a pitch-black jade staff clutched in his hand.
This middle-aged man was none other than the Beast Emperor himself, who had formerly been known for always being wrapped in bandages.
"Relax. When have I ever gone back on my word?" The Beast Emperor smiled and turned his gaze toward the army of players gathered below the hill. "Good. Then let's begin!"