Facing the sandstorm attack of the Sand Demon, Ling Feng's eyes narrowed. His true qi poured out, easily dispelling the sandstorm.
The Sand Demon hadn't expected this little human to be so capable.
"Inch Punch · Heaven Breaker!"
Before the Sand Demon could attack again, Ling Feng unleashed a punch.
"Tricks of a mere ant!"
The Sand Demon gathered rock elemental energy in his right arm and threw a punch at Ling Feng.
*Bang!*
The two fists collided, immediately stirring up a monstrous wave of energy.
Many combatants below were sent flying by this energy surge.
"Ant, die!"
The Sand Demon brought down his other hand, palm striking towards Ling Feng's crown.
Ling Feng slightly raised his other hand. The nearby seawater suddenly boiled as if heated.
The next moment, a water dragon soared into the sky, meeting the sandy giant palm.
*Bang!*
The massive sand palm was sent flying back, while the water dragon was shattered by a palm strike, dissolving into water droplets that fell onto the battlefield.
"Hah!!!"
The Sand Demon spread his giant palm, dust and wind swirling. Fists formed from sand attacked Ling Feng.
*Grasp!*
With a "swish," a dense rain of sand fists rained down on Ling Feng.
"Ling!"
"Lord Ling!"
Sasa Lily, defending the position, saw this and frantically adjusted the direction of her Thunder-String Harp, aiming at the dense sand-palm attack.
Chiyo, after killing a sand creature with a slash, also noticed Ling Feng was in trouble.
Before either of them could attack, Ling Feng clenched his right hand in the air, and a broadsword glowing with deep blue light appeared.
"Blaze!"
The deep blue light turned fiery red, and fierce flames erupted.
A dazzling blaze shot up into the sky.
As Ling Feng swung his sword.
In an instant, a violent firestorm swept out, engulfing the dense sand-palms.
The dust within was incinerated to ash by the extreme heat of the flames.
"You're a worthy opponent!"
Ling Feng's greatsword vanished, replaced by a blood-red sword and a blue-white sword.
"Dragon Soul!"
Ling Feng took a step forward, his eyes momentarily turning draconic as he faced the Sand Demon.
A surge of dragon might pressed down on the Sand Demon's heart, causing him to falter, a hint of fear in his expression.
In this brief momentary void, a golden light appeared on Ling Feng's outer form. His feet seemed to tread on air, his knees bent slightly, and then...
With a "boom," he shot forward.
In an instant, Ling Feng, wielding twin swords, appeared directly before the Sand Demon's forehead.
"Starfall Meteor Stream!"
In that moment, a star-like, dazzling starlight flashed.
The appearance of the twin swords changed, as if adorned with celestial maps, deep and mysterious, yet dotted with myriad stars.
The waves of energy from this move buffeted Ling Feng's white robes, making them ripple.
At this point, the Sand Demon finally felt the terrifying, threatening aura emanating from Ling Feng.
"Immense Rock Cliff!"
The Sand Demon poured out the rock and wind elemental forces within his body.
The ground became like a turbulent sea, waves of sand surging forward.
The spray kicked up by the sand waves grew larger and larger, eventually high enough to obscure the sky.
Even the sunlight was blocked for a time.
Then, the sand waves crashed down upon Ling Feng like a tidal wave, as if seeking to devour him.
One sword!
Two swords!
Ling Feng calmly unleashed two swords, crossed in an X. The starlight sword energy was incredibly sharp and destructive, as if it sliced through space wherever it passed.
The layers of sand waves were shattered by the starlight sword energy.
In the cultivation world, starlight power ranked very high in terms of penetration alone.
The sand waves fell harmlessly around Ling Feng, accidentally killing many people on both sides.
This indiscriminate attack spared no one, not even allies.
"Your attack is finished! Now, it's my turn, isn't it?"
Ling Feng danced with his twin swords, each strike incredibly sharp as he hacked at the Sand Demon's massive body, one after another.
Sword light raged, sword energy crisscrossed!
After finishing his sword techniques, Ling Feng performed a backflip, sliding back several meters.
More than a dozen white lines appeared on the Sand Demon's colossal body, dividing it into several sections.
The next moment, the Sand Demon exploded, countless grains of sand raining down upon the earth.
"Hoo... what a shame."
Ling Feng exhaled a cloud of turbid air, looking down at his hands, which were trembling slightly as they gripped the sword hilts.
Even though he had reached the Golden Core stage, he still couldn't unleash the final strike of Starfall Meteor Stream.
His true essence was sufficient, but his starlight power was not.
*Swish!*
Suddenly, a giant figure materialized behind Ling Feng and punched towards him.
Though Ling Feng sensed it, it was too late.
*Bang!*
Ling Feng slid from mid-air, performed a somersault, landed on his feet, and skidded back over ten meters, gouging a trench in the ground.
"Pah, almost forgot, you're a Sand Person."
Ling Feng spat out a mouthful of blood, stood up again, and looked up at the reconstituted Sand Demon.
That punch from before must have been his full power. Fortunately, his physical body was strong, and this attack hadn't caused him severe injury.
Ling Feng admitted that he had underestimated this Demon God's kin.
Furthermore, the lack of life-or-death combat for an extended period had loosened his mental resolve.
He had initially thought the Gravel Demon God was only at the mid-Nascent Soul stage, so its kin shouldn't be much stronger.
And in fact, that was true, but its sand manipulation ability was exceptionally disgusting.
The Sand Demon, seeing how robust Ling Feng's physical body was, only spitting out a mouthful of phlegm after a sneak attack with its full power.
Was this even human?
Initially, the Sand Demon thought Ling Feng had strong combat power but weak defenses. It had expected him to vomit a pool of blood from that full-power punch.
"However, even if you can reform from sand, you probably can't neutralize starlight power. Therefore... you must have also sustained significant injuries."
The Sand Demon was startled. It was indeed as Ling Feng said.
Even though its body had reformed, a peculiar power within was relentlessly grinding at its core.
"Since you're a Sand Person, what about this move?"
Ling Feng's Fen Ji vanished from his right hand, replaced by Wu Feng.
As Ling Feng willed it, the misty mist in his hand transformed into a mass of fog, disappearing without a trace.
Just as the Sand Demon was confused, it suddenly noticed a faint white mist rising all around, enveloping it completely.
Simultaneously, it lost all external perception. Before its eyes, there was nothing but dense fog.
Even the deafening sounds of battle from the outside had vanished, as if it had entered an empty void.
The Sand Demon sensed that something was wrong; this mist was too bizarre.
"I need to get out of here."
As an elemental being with wind affinity, the Sand Demon could fly.
One minute later, the Sand Demon stopped, its brow furrowed as it looked at the surrounding dense fog.
This area of thick mist seemed to have no end.
"Sand Tornado!"
The Sand Demon simultaneously utilized its wind and rock elements, conjuring a fierce wind and swirling sand all around.
The sand tornado spun faster and faster, its suction growing stronger, attempting to draw the dense mist into itself.
Another minute passed. The sand-mist tornado grew larger and larger, but the dense mist seemed endless, flowing in continuously, remaining the same.
"What on earth is this place?"
The Sand Demon stopped the tornado and descended to the ground. It was better to conserve energy than to waste it like this.
The human who trapped it in this cursed place was probably waiting for it to deplete its strength, after which that scoundrel could defeat it effortlessly.
Although it could reform from sand, without power, death would be final. Reforming its body also required strength.
Moreover, the power within its body was continuously eroding its core, making it weaker.
"Not struggling anymore? Then the performance should end!"
The Sand Demon, already on high alert, was startled by this sudden voice.
The Sand Demon looked around but couldn't find the accursed human.
The voice seemed to come from all directions, making it impossible to discern its origin.
"Sand Transformation!"
The Sand Demon decided to play it safe. By transforming into sand, it wouldn't have to worry about being ambushed by Ling Feng, and its energy consumption would be minimized.
"Sand Transformation? Unfortunately, it's useless."
Ling Feng's voice echoed again. The Sand Demon, who had been vigilant, suddenly noticed the still, unmoving mist begin to flow.
A fierce wind rose from the ground, sweeping it into the sky.
Not only that, but the mist from all directions began to compress towards it.
Although the Sand Demon didn't understand what Ling Feng was trying to do, its instincts screamed danger! Extreme danger!
"You're not the only one with wind elemental power!"
The Sand Demon roared, pouring out the wind elemental power within its body.
The sand wind and mist wind collided, the sounds of "bang bang bang!" like the air exploding under the pressure of this force.
"Earth Fire!"
As the Sand Demon struggled against the mist wind, a roaring earth fire erupted beneath it, its immense heat capable of incinerating even sand!
Helpless, the Sand Demon had to revert to its original form, expending a large amount of energy and multitasking to condense a piece of rock beneath its feet for resistance.
At this moment, the Sand Demon was like a roasting delicacy on a barbecue grill.
"Damn it! Show yourself, let's have a one-on-one duel. What kind of skill is this sneak attack!"
Suffering continuous setbacks, the Sand Demon was enraged.
To resist three forces, the Sand Demon's energy consumption was now immense.
*Clang!*
Suddenly, a flash of sword light streaked across the sky and earth, appearing and disappearing in a blink.
The Sand Demon's loud shouts abruptly ceased.
Upon closer inspection, a hole had appeared on the Sand Demon's forehead. The Sand Demon felt as if it were in the deepest winter, swimming in the abyssal ocean.
Only one thought remained in its consciousness.
Cold!
So cold!
In the Tatara suna, a place shrouded in mist, a beam of sword light retreated into Ling Feng's sword-nurturing gourd.
Hearing the system's kill notification, Ling Feng, within the dense fog, saw a flash of light from the Wu Feng sword in his right hand. The thick mist slowly dissipated.
Ling Feng waved his hand, and Wu Feng also retreated into the sword-nurturing gourd. Where the Sand Demon had been, only a pile of ice shards remained.
Ling Feng looked around and found that Ying had already dealt with the Gravel Demon God.
The battle on Tatara suna had concluded, and the Shogunate army was clearing the battlefield.
"Hoo... indeed, one cannot underestimate a Demon God's kin. None of them are ordinary to be chosen as such."
Ling Feng mused.
To completely kill the Sand Demon just now, he had used almost all his means except his trump cards.
Wu Feng's inherent skill, Misty Wind Kill.
It claimed to create a wind-mist that blocked perception, but in reality, it was more akin to opening a small dimension, trapping the enemy within to attack, similar to a formation.
This move wouldn't hold for long against someone proficient in formations whose strength far surpassed his.
For instance, Ying. He had tried this move on Ying before, and Ying had shattered the small dimension with just a fraction of her true power.
Ying's attacks had long since been powerful enough to shatter space.
There was also the final killing blow against the Sand Demon, which involved the flying sword · Proud Snow.
Proud Snow was an ice-attribute flying sword. Being wounded by it meant experiencing bone-chilling cold.
This was not even Proud Snow's innate divine ability, but its passive effect.
The Sand Demon was easy to wound but difficult to kill permanently.
"Ling!"
Ying, Chiyo, and Sasa Lily descended from the sky.
The three of them observed Ling Feng, seeing him grinning, they knew he was unharmed.
However, Ling Feng's unauthorized entry into the battle displeased all three of them.
"Ling, as the commander, rushing onto the battlefield is a grave mistake."
Ying admonished.
"That's right, and he stole my opponent."
Chiyo chimed in, as the Sand Demon should have been her opponent.
"Uh, you guys have said everything, so what's left for me to say?"
Ling Feng and the other two stared at Sasa Lily, causing her to look puzzled. Then, all three of them smiled simultaneously.
With the battle concluded, the four of them walked together into the main tent on the defensive line to discuss the next phase of the campaign.
As for clearing the battlefield and rescuing the civilians from the Gravel Demon God, that was left to the Shogunate army.
The affiliated races of the Gravel Demon God were either mostly dead or had fled.
That night, in the main tent, Ling Feng and the other three silently perused the casualty report.
Total Deaths: 470
Although they had achieved absolute dominance in this great battle, in any war, casualties were inevitable.
After a long silence, Ling Feng sighed and looked at Sasa Lily.
"Doggy, for the fallen soldiers, implement the post-mortem processing regulations I wrote. Especially provide ample resources and comfort to elderly parents who only have this one child. After all, their children entrusted their lives to us. If there are any issues, you can ask Zhen; Zhen will handle it properly."
"Alright, I'll go now."
Sasa Lily nodded and rose to leave the main tent.
Ling Feng, Ying, and Chiyo observed a moment of silence for the fallen soldiers before refocusing their attention on discussing their next objective.
The war against the Demon Gods was far from over.
Tatara suna had been captured. Their next choices were to continue west to Kannazuka, or south to Seirai Island.
They had already captured most of Kannazuka, with only one remaining Demon God, Nanakamado no Matsuri.
The Demon Gods in Kannazuka were not strong, easily handled by Ying.
The powerful Demon Gods were on Yashiori Island and Seirai Island.
In the end, the three decided to rest for a period and attack Yashiori Island first, then Seirai Island.
Yashiori Island had few Demon Gods and was easy to conquer. Seirai Island, on the other hand, was where most Demon Gods resided, with constant battles.
As for Watatsumi Island, it was absent from the map.
Since it wasn't there, Ling Feng didn't intend to reveal its existence; it would happen in due time.