Zhu Yu had been in high spirits recently, leading the Flying Celestial Boat on guerrilla raids across demon territory.
As a guerrilla operation, it naturally involved avoiding strengths and attacking weaknesses, specifically targeting the demons' vulnerable points.
The previous loss of two beloved women to the demons had inflicted bone-deep pain on Zhu Yu, planting a profound hatred in his heart.
Consequently, wherever his flying boat ventured, the demons met a particularly gruesome end, with few of their collected corpses remaining intact.
Previously, when the Flying Celestial Boat operated in the Eastern Continent, they had been cautious of encountering demon Nascent Soul stage experts.
Now that they had a Nascent Soul stage expert overseeing them, as long as they weren't surrounded by several such experts, they could roam the Eastern Continent freely.
However, a few days ago, Zhu Yu received news that the demon army was besieging Meteor Island.
Zhu Yu was now leading his flying boat at full speed to reinforce Meteor Island.
Meteor Island was currently the human race's rear base, where most of the human elite were gathered, essentially serving as the last foothold for humanity.
Furthermore, Meteor Island also bore the significant responsibility of trade with the Eastern Sea, providing the material foundation for human cultivators who had lost their territories.
However, halfway to their destination, Zhu Yu was intercepted by a ghost cultivator who delivered a jade slip to him.
After reading it, Zhu Yu hesitated for only a moment before ordering the flying boat to change course.
"Senior Zhu, where are we going? Aren't we going back to rescue Meteor Island?" a Nascent Soul cultivator inquired.
"Meteor Island cannot be saved for the moment. The more we try to save it now, the more dangerous it will become. From now on, we can only help Meteor Island by striking the demons with all our might and inflicting heavy blows," Zhu Yu explained without going into detail. Standing on the deck of the flying boat, he waved his hand forward, and under his command, the boat flew towards an important demon stronghold.
Previously, they had been deterred from attacking this stronghold due to the presence of several Nascent Soul stage experts in its vicinity.
Now, they had learned that all the Nascent Soul stage demons surrounding this stronghold had been dispatched to the Eastern Sea to attack Meteor Island.
Apart from Zhu Yu's guerrilla team, all other guerrilla teams active on the Eastern Continent had received news of the demon attack on Meteor Island.
Just as everyone was preparing to go to Meteor Island's rescue, they were all persuaded to turn back.
Then, these guerrilla teams went mad, launching full-scale assaults on demon garrisons across various locations.
Suddenly, the Eastern Continent was filled with wails, countless demon strongholds were breached, and the human race, fueled by their suppressed anger, launched the most frenzied retaliation against the demons.
With a large number of their experts drawn away by the Demon Dragon, the demons found themselves steadily retreating under the counterattack of the human cultivators.
Unbeknownst to them, the human race had reclaimed much of their lost territory from the demons.
However, at this point, no one expected to hold onto these territories. Whatever could be taken from each conquered area was carried away, and whatever could not be taken was destroyed.
The goal was to leave not a single inch of intact territory for the demons.
During this recent period, the Demon Dragon guarding the Eastern Sea had been flying into a rage daily, finding fault with everyone.
For some reason, the human guerrilla teams had not yet come to rescue Meteor Island. Did they not care about Meteor Island's safety at all?
Furthermore, a full contingent of his forces, including two Nascent Soul stage experts and 250 Nascent Soul cultivators, had been annihilated by Meteor Island a while ago.
He wanted revenge, but Meteor Island was now heavily fortified, and his smaller forces could not gain any advantage.
If he sent more people to attack, he feared it would scare away the reinforcements, ruining his brilliant plan.
This had led to the stalemate in the battle for Meteor Island.
One day, a messenger delivered a jade slip. The Demon Dragon took it and glanced at it, immediately crushing the slip into powder in his rage.
According to the intelligence, the human cultivators roaming the Eastern Continent had originally planned to come to Meteor Island's rescue.
But for some unknown reason, they had all turned back midway and then launched fierce attacks on demon outposts scattered across various locations.
This resulted in many territories on the Eastern Continent being plundered by the human race, and the demon forces suffered significant losses.
"Issue an order: starting now, we will attack Meteor Island daily, gradually increasing our forces. On the fifteenth day, we will flatten Meteor Island, leaving no survivors!"
In his fury, the Demon Dragon still left a sliver of opportunity, intending to gradually increase the pressure on Meteor Island to lure other human cultivators to its aid.
If other human cultivators did not come to their rescue, he would proceed to annihilate everyone on Meteor Island, which would still be a worthwhile outcome.
With over a dozen Nascent Soul stage experts under his command, along with numerous Nascent Soul and Golden Core cultivators, flattening the island was a simple matter.
...
On the edge of the heavy demon encirclement, a golden carp about a foot long suddenly accelerated, passing through a gap in the demon blockade.
By the time the demon guard realized what had happened, the fish had already gone far into the distance and was beyond pursuit.
The demon cultivator looked around. No one had noticed his situation, so he pretended as if nothing had happened and continued his watch.
Since this had already occurred, as long as he kept quiet, no one would know. If he reported it, he would likely be punished. It was better to avoid trouble.
The flying fish escaped the encirclement without alerting the demons.
Due to its speed and excellent underwater skills, it had been dispatched by Xiao Fei many times.
While it had delivered messages on previous occasions, recently Xiao Fei had entrusted it with a crucial secret mission, one that concerned the safety of the entire Meteor Island.
After leaving Meteor Island, the flying fish continued to swim deeper into the Eastern Sea.
Meteor Island was located closer to the Eastern Continent, where human activity was more prevalent and demonic activity was less common.
However, about 1000 li further east from here was the true territory of the Eastern Sea demons, where one would be hard-pressed to find a single human shadow in decades.
From this point eastward, the spiritual energy gradually became richer, and various rare heavenly treasures increased in number, as did the density of the demon population residing here.
The flying fish swam to an underwater market. While not particularly large in scale, it was situated on a major thoroughfare, and demons traveling from south to north would often stop here to look around and browse.
At this moment, many sea demons were setting up stalls in the market, trading rare spiritual items.
As the flying fish swam towards the market entrance, it appeared to have drunk too much spiritual wine. It flew unsteadily, and a large wine bottle hanging from its waist bumped against a large rock, shattering instantly.
The aroma of wine instantly filled the air, and the spiritual wine from the bottle dissolved into the surrounding seawater, causing passersby to involuntarily inhale more seawater.
The flying fish shook its head, cursed the roadside rock for a long time, and then, still shaking its head, departed.
Half a day later, the flying fish appeared in a sea valley abundant with spiritual items, holding another large bottle in its hand.