"Yes, Master," the five giant bats immediately replied before flapping their wings and vanis.h.i.+ng again as five gusts of wind.
A cold smile appeared on the cow-headed giant"s face upon seeing this, and he suddenly flipped a hand over to produce a golden horn before bringing it to his lips and blowing vigorously into it.
A long continuous note immediately rang out, and it was imbued with an indescribable primal aura.
As soon as they heard this sound, the eyes of the giant azure cows in the distance immediately turned bright red. Steam began to billow out of their mouths and nostrils, and they snarled ferociously as they charged out of the surging black Qi before converging toward the giant.
The sound from the horn then suddenly changed, and the sound of metal clas.h.i.+ng against metal abruptly rang out alongside that single continuous note. Immediately thereafter, the giant flew away into the distance as a streak of silver light, and tens of thousands of Lightning Cows followed along behind him like an unstoppable wave.
The young man"s lips twitched slightly upon seeing this, and he also let loose a sharp cry. A stir immediately ran through the Devilish Bats as well upon hearing this sound, and they dispersed in all directions as a dozen or so crimson clouds as if they had all been issued an order.
The number of Devilish Bats exceeded that of the Lightning Cows by more than tenfold, and even though they had been split up into a dozen or so groups, each group still had over 10,000 Devilish Bats.
Two of the groups immediately flew in the same direction the horde of Lightning Cows had just departed toward, seemingly completely unconcerned about being discovered by the Lightning Cows.
Meanwhile, the young man himself flew into the largest of the crimson clouds as a streak of crimson light, and not longer after that, all of the devilish beasts that had emerged from the sea of devilish Qi had departed from the scene, allowing peace and quiet to return to the area.
However, no more than 10 minutes later, a burst of loud hissing suddenly rang out as the devilish Qi surged violently, and a series of giant glossy black pythons emerged from within. These pythons ranged from around 200 feet in length to as long as over 1,000 feet. Furthermore, all of these pythons had a crimson eye on each of their foreheads; this was a horde of extremely rare Three-eyed Devilish Pythons.
There were clearly far fewer giant pythons than there had been Lightning Cows and Devilish Bats with only around 5,000 to 6,000 of them in total. However, the collective aura they were releasing was far more fearsome than the previous two types of devilish beasts.
The largest of the pythons was over 3,000 feet in length, and standing atop its head was a high-grade devilish being wearing a black mask and a suit of menacing azure armor.
He had his arms crossed as he inspected his surroundings, and he seemed to be rather taken aback by the absence of the two types of devilish beasts that had emerged before the giant pythons.
However, he then abruptly stomped down onto the devilish python beneath his feet, and the python immediately reared up with its upper body before letting loose a thunderous hissing sound.
Crimson light then flashed from the ma.s.sive python"s forehead, and a pair of strange crimson horns appeared on its head, while its back bulged and writhed before a pair of fleshy azure wings emerged.
All of the surrounding Three-eyed Devilish Pythons immediately rushed out of the devilish Qi upon seeing this, then raised their heads and hissed in unison as if they were paying homage to their king.
Only the azure-armored devilish being remained completely still on the giant python"s head with an extremely cold look in his eyes.
"It"s only been 10,000 years since we last met, yet this bonded python of yours has evolved once again; it"s probably powerful enough to oppose an early-Body Integration Stage being now, right, Brother Wei?" A male voice suddenly rang out after all of the pythons had emerged from the devilish Qi.
Immediately thereafter, a gust of wind blew past, and a strange insect that was over 10 feet in length appeared.
This insect had a purple body and a pair of long and thin feelers. Its mouth was filled with sharp fangs, and it had a pair of front limbs that resembled giant blades, much like those of a praying mantis.
There was also a small humanoid figure who was only around three feet tall standing atop the giant insect. This was a young child who appeared to only be around seven to eight years of age, and his hair was arranged into a pair of braids that pointed directly upward. He wore a green Daoist robe with three small golden swords strapped to each shoulder, and his large bright eyes were very adorable to behold.
"Greetings, Brother Hun Zhu. My bonded python was only able to reach this stage after I fed it a rare spirit herb that I unintentionally stumbled upon. It seems that your powers have also been enhanced since we last met," the azure-armored devilish being said in a cold voice as he turned his frosty gaze toward the young child.
"I"ve been preparing for many years for this trip into the Spirit Realm, so it"s only natural that I"ve improved somewhat," the young child replied with a smile.
"Seeing as our two races have both arrived, let"s join forces. I"m sure even the most powerful of the human cultivators in this area won"t be able to withstand our collective forces," the azure-armored devilish being suggested.
"My thoughts, exactly," the young child agreed to the proposal in an elated manner before suddenly yelling into the devilish Qi, "Come on out, my children!"
As soon as his voice trailed off, a buzzing sound rang out from within the sea of devilish Qi. Initially, it wasn"t very loud, but the sound quickly crescendoed as countless devilish insects surged out of the black Qi in a frenzy.
These devilish insects were each around the size of a human head, and they were like identical miniature replicas of the giant praying mantis beneath the young child"s feet. There were so many of them that they virtually encompa.s.sed the entire heavens, and the torrential outpour of devilish insects continued for a long while before finally drawing to a halt.
These insects flapped their short purple wings as they hovered at a low alt.i.tude beneath the devilish Qi, and there were around 700,000 to 800,000 of them. Such an enormous swarm of insects would present an extremely harrowing sight even to a Body Integration cultivator.
However, the azure-armored devilish being wasn"t alarmed by this at all. He let loose a low cry, and all of the Three-eyed Devilish Pythons around him immediately surged downward, then vanished into the soil amid flashes of spiritual light.
After that, he tapped his foot against his giant python steed, and it flew off toward a certain direction as a burst of azure light.
The young child chuckled upon seeing this before letting loose a long cry, then sped off toward the same direction atop his giant devilish insect steed.
A stir ran through the fearsome swarm of insects upon hearing this sound, and they immediately followed along as an enormous sea of insects.
After that, more hordes of devilish beasts of different numbers and appearances emerged from the devilish Qi, then rushed off toward different directions, led by high-grade devilish beings from their respective races.
Judging from their erratic actions, it seemed that they didn"t have any set targets.
After a total of 13 waves of devilish beasts had emerged from the sea of churning devilish Qi, peace and quiet resumed once again.
On this occasion, a full hour pa.s.sed before the devilish Qi began to churn again.
The sound of dull drumming rang out from within, followed by a series of resounding booms. The entire sea of devilish Qi was stirred up into a frenzy, and arcs of silver lightning appeared without any warning alongside rumbling thunderclaps.
At the same time, violent spatial fluctuations erupted forth, and the gargantuan sea of devilish Qi suddenly expanded by over a third of its original size.
Immediately thereafter, hundreds of ma.s.sive objects slowly emerged from the depths of the devilish Qi. These objects resembled inky-black pyramids with giant s.h.i.+mmering silver runes engraved onto their surfaces.
The undersides of these pyramids were several tens of kilometers in size, and they descended from the heavens like a series of small cities.
However, it wasn"t a simple matter for these gigantic structures to descend; as soon as they appeared, they were bombarded relentlessly by the silver lightning within the devilish Qi. Furthermore, ripples were constantly surging and warping over their surfaces, as if they were threatening to tear the structures apart.
The silver runes on these giant pyramids lit up to ward off all of the resistance, and they finally began to slowly land on the ground amid earth-shattering booms, instantly erasing all of the mountains, forests, and rivers beneath them.
Only after close to two hours did these gigantic objects finally all complete their landings, and immediately thereafter, a resounding boom rang out as the silver runes on one of the faces of each pyramid lit up.
A series of ma.s.sive silver gates then appeared on those faces before slowly opening outward, and the sound of rumbling drumming erupted from within the gargantuan pyramids.
One glossy black canoe after another surged out of the huge silver gates, and each canoe was only just over 100 feet in length.
They were all entirely enshrouded in layers of black light, and there was an extremely menacing fiendcelestial carved onto the front of the each of the canoes, while a dozen or so extremely sharp and long blades were protruding out of each of the canoes" two sides.
Through the black light, one could just barely make out five or six armored devilish beings seated on each canoe while holding sharp blades.
These canoes didn"t fly for very far; they merely began to revolve in the air around the giant pyramid they had each emerged from.
After over 100 black canoes had been released out of each pyramid, groups of red-armored winged devilish beings began to emerge.
They were either wielding long halberds or bows and arrows, and in the instant they surged out of the silver gates, they rose up into the air before dispersing in all directions as if they were standing guard.
Spiritual light then flashed from the silver gates, and streaks of light of different colors erupted forth from within.
As the light faded, a series of humanoid figures appeared in mid-air.
These humanoid figures were comprised of both men and women, and some of them wore long robes, some were clad in suits of armor, and there were even some who were wearing nothing on their upper bodies.
However, one thing that they had in common was that all of them were enshrouded in churning devilish Qi. A series of cracks and pops rang out from the bodies of several of these humanoid figures, and they quickly transformed into devilish beings with two heads and four arms.
Their original heads retained their initial appearance, but their second heads were all extremely sinister and terrifying to behold.
Following their transformations, these devilish beings raised their heads and roared up into the heavens with excitement and bloodl.u.s.t, as if they could barely hold back their desire for slaughter.