As soon as the Beast Emperor finished speaking, he began writing divine runes and chanting a spell.
Instantly, a massive magic circle formed beneath the Beast Emperor's feet, continuously expanding outward until it reached a radius of over five hundred yards before stopping. The terrifying magical power it drew was far beyond anything a single player could achieve.
Once the magic circle was fully formed, the Beast Emperor drove his Black Jade Staff directly into its center, allowing the staff to serve as the core of the entire formation.
"Have them enter the magic circle one by one in order. Don't go too fast—if the pace is too quick, the circle won't have time to absorb the Immortal Souls, and they'll be wasted." The Beast Emperor glanced at Yi Xiao Du Zang beside him and spoke calmly. "During this process, you must not let anyone destroy the circle's core, or all previous efforts will be for nothing."
"Don't worry. I've brought quite a few guild experts this time, plus an elite army of a hundred thousand spread across the surroundings. Even if someone tries to ambush us, I can still activate the magic circle's defenses." Yi Xiao Du Zang nodded, then turned his gaze toward the direction of Stone Forest Town, his eyes filled with bone-chilling coldness. "Just you wait, Black Flame! You dared to destroy my Gu Yan City—I'll make you watch with your own eyes as the guild you built is obliterated, erased from the Divine Realm forever!"
Gu Yan City had been seized by various major powers, leaving him no choice but to turn it into a nest for demons.
The Sky Burial Guild had lost Gu Yan City, a massive source of support, and the damage was severe. Even several investing corporations had withdrawn their funding, shattering Sky Burial's dream of catapulting into a superpower overnight. The consortium's upper echelons had been deeply divided over the matter—had it not been for him and Lei Jingyang, the major consortia would likely have slashed their investments in Sky Burial outright.
This was an irreconcilable grudge!
The original plan had been to execute this at Zero Wing City, but after the battle at Gu Yan City, he had changed his mind. He wanted every member of the Zero Wing Guild to taste the feeling of their dreams being crushed piece by piece. First Stone Forest Town, then Zero Wing City. Without the financial support of these two locations, and with a massive number of Zero Wing members killed, the guild wouldn't be able to hold together. At that point, Black Flame would have no choice but to watch as Zero Wing collapsed, and Stone Forest Town and Zero Wing City were claimed by the Sky Burial Guild.
From that day forward, Sky Burial would replace Zero Wing in the Star Moon Kingdom, becoming its undisputed overlord!
The Beast Emperor said nothing more. He summoned another Legendary-grade demon and hid it in the shadows to guard the magic circle. Compared to player experts, a Legendary-grade demon was far more reassuring. After all, he had paid a considerable price to obtain the Black Jade Staff, and acquiring a second one would be extremely difficult.
With everything arranged, the Beast Emperor took out a teleportation scroll and departed directly from the great forest. All that remained was to quietly wait for the magic circle to absorb a sufficient number of Immortal Souls.
Naturally, commotion of this scale did not escape the intelligence networks of the Star Moon Kingdom's major powers, and it was quickly discovered.
"What is the Sky Burial Guild gathering so many people near Stone Forest Town for?"
"Could it be that because Gu Yan City was destroyed, they're preparing to take it out on Zero Wing's Stone Forest Town?"
"No way! That's Stone Forest Town—its town defenses are no joke. They're more formidable than an NPC stronghold, and I've heard that among the NPCs guarding Stone Forest Town alone, there are already four hundred Tier Two NPCs. How could it possibly be easy to take? It's not as if Sky Burial hasn't tried before."
"Sky Burial must have some other trump card."
…
The major powers detected Sky Burial's movements and discussed them one after another, deeply curious about what the guild was planning.
"Vice Leader, it looks like the Sky Burial Guild is about to move against Stone Forest Town. What should we do?"
The Zero Wing members stationed in Stone Forest Town were all deeply concerned. From Sky Burial's behavior, it was clear that a guild war was about to erupt. Right now, Sky Burial wasn't fully prepared yet—but once they were, they would attack without hesitation.
"For the time being, no one is to leave the town recklessly, lest we be ambushed by Sky Burial's demon army. At the same time, keep close watch on Sky Burial's movements and report anything immediately!" Water Violet Rose issued her orders at once. She also instructed Gloomy Smile to reinforce Stone Forest Town's defenses—build more turrets and transfer the small ballista carts they had crafted to Stone Forest Town as a precaution.
On one side, a demon army was pressing toward the Star Moon Kingdom's border. On the other, Sky Burial was massing a great force outside Stone Forest Town. If they didn't send experts to eliminate the demon army, the demons would break through the defensive line and enter the kingdom even faster, making them far harder to deal with. But if they went directly after Sky Burial's army, the demon army might seize the opportunity to launch a sneak attack.
All they could do now was slow the demon army's advance, strengthen the town's defenses—there was no better solution. Charging recklessly toward Sky Burial's forces risked being caught off guard by a suddenly summoned demon army. Without a town's defenses and NPC guards, players alone stood no chance against the current demon army.
In an instant, the atmosphere across the entire Star Moon Kingdom shifted. Not only did the Zero Wing Guild enter combat preparation mode, but every other guild also began gearing up for war. No one knew what Sky Burial intended to do—if they went on a rampage, there was no telling how many guild towns they might seize.
Although the kingdom had intensified its efforts against the demons, the royal army could only be mobilized with concrete evidence—meaning they had to see the demon army appear in person before they would deploy. And it would take considerable time for the royal army to reach the scene; they couldn't arrive instantly.
If they couldn't hold out until the royal army arrived to eliminate the threat, then notifying the kingdom would be pointless. So every guild began strengthening its town defenses.
Meanwhile, in the Dark World, Shi Feng was grinding High Great Lords at an accelerated pace. With two Ancient Spirits joining the fight, along with three Tier Three demons and Anna, slaying High Great Lords around level seventy had become considerably easier. However, while the Dark World's monsters were powerful, they were few in number, and finding a High Great Lord was no simple task.
Under his frenzied killing spree, he had effectively wiped out every High Great Lord on the entire map. Not a single one remained, earning Shi Feng fifty-two Dark Crystals and three hundred eighty-six Dark Crystal Shards. If he wanted to continue hunting High Great Lords, he had only two options.
The first was to wait for them to respawn. However, the respawn time ranged from two to three days. His killing speed had been so fast that he had literally run out of monsters to farm—a bitter irony that Shi Feng could only laugh at. Who told Anna to be so overpowered?
The second was to travel to another map where the High Great Lords hadn't been touched yet, still alive and thriving. The only complication was that the Dark World operated differently from the Divine Realm continent.
On the Divine Realm continent, traveling to other maps posed no obstacles. But in a place like the Dark World, there was a strict level-based system—you couldn't simply go wherever you wanted. It was the same as in the Frost Crystal World: you had to defeat the boss guarding the passage to the next map, or you'd be stuck there forever.
For most players who ventured into the Dark World, this was rarely an issue. Surviving was hard enough, let alone traveling to other maps—they simply couldn't afford to. But Shi Feng was the exception.
"Looks like I'll have to force my way through." Shi Feng eyed the enormous creature standing guard at the canyon path—over thirty meters tall, deep in slumber—then walked forward with Anna.
With the demon army advancing relentlessly into the Star Moon Kingdom and growing stronger by the day, he couldn't afford to waste time waiting for High Great Lords to respawn. His only option was to break through by force. Once he passed, he could move on to other areas and continue the hunt.