Otherworldly Affairs Office

If this Devouring Demon only had such limited abilities, it wouldn't have been worth his effort. The real surprise for him and the sects' alliance was the contagious nature of these beings who were neither human nor ghost.

These mortals, in the process of being refined into Devouring Demons, undergo inhumane torment both physically and mentally. Most of their souls and consciousness are extracted post-transformation to be further refined into Magical Artifacts, making them easier to control and manipulate.

Perhaps it is due to this reason, or maybe other factors during the refining process, that the sect discovered, once the soul control over these Devouring Demons is fully lifted and the soul returns to the body, it may incite a certain level of rebellion against the controller, leading to a possibility of revolt.

However, in such a state, if a Devouring Demon is killed and the soul inside their body is slain, it will transform into a venomous miasma that invades the killer's body, tainting their Spirit Vein and destroying their Spirit Root. Eventually, the enemy, unable to resist the erosion, loses their mind, turning into a zombie-like servant for others to manipulate, much like the Devouring Demon.

Unfortunately, the only drawback of this dark smoke is its effectiveness; it influences low-level cultivators the best, has moderate impact on Three Corpses Slasher Cultivators, and its effectiveness gradually decreases on those with higher power.

Even so, this discovery was already an unexpected delight for the sect. After all, the foundation of major sects is comprised of these disciples with Three Corpses Slasher cultivation. If the Devouring Demons could be mass-produced, it would certainly lay a solid foundation for the sect's future plans.

The infuriating part, however, is that because these Devouring Demons are a product of joint research from the two planes, the researchers from the Keystone Plane have tightly grasped the crucial steps within their technological domain, limiting the sect's potential to grow the number of Devouring Demons.

Although this move infuriated the sect leaders within the alliance, they had no choice. After all, they still needed the unfortunate furor of these mortals to balance the power against the Immortal Palace, until the day the sects take control in the future!

Thinking of this, Li Songtao couldn't help but coldly snort while shifting his gaze towards the field. His task was to lead these Devouring Demons, participating in this first probe against the Keystone Plane by the underground radical forces from all four planes simultaneously.

The reason he, being in a high position, took on this task was merely to observe the actual combat effectiveness of these Devouring Demons against cultivators and supernatural beings, and then to take a good stroll and look around in the Keystone Plane.

Therefore, he was not planning to make a move personally today, instead looking forward to the despairing expressions of cultivators and supernatural beings being besieged by the Devouring Demons he unleashed, which would be a perfect experience for him on this journey. Yet this experience was suddenly interrupted by a metal-clad greenhorn.

Judging from his performance in combat just now, this lad's strength wasn't high, yet he could absorb and devour the dark smoke without being affected! Could this be another bizarre ability born among these ants?

Such tedium! Clearly just a group of ants, and merely obtaining a trace of power by chance they dared oppose the celestial might. Truly they knew not their own limits, similar to that detestable one-eyed man!

Recalling the one-eyed man who arrogantly came to negotiate with the sect, claiming the title of the Divine Desire Leader, and his disdainful demeanor, the Black-robed Man felt a nameless fury arise within. His right hand lifted lightly, and a talisman appeared at his fingertip spontaneously. With a slight flick, the surrounding air speedily condensed around the talisman, followed by a faint pop, as the talisman shattered into a darting ice arrow.

At this moment, Pei Yan was still unaware of the approaching crisis. Having just finished absorbing the black smoke from Liang Qian, he exhaled a sigh of relief, feeling that this journey hadn't been in vain, as he contributed significantly to the team!

Just as he was feeling pleased and ready to reengage in the battle, Shangxing's exclamation reached his ears, "Pei Yan, watch out!"

Only then did he react, suddenly turning his head to see an ice arrow breaking through the air, rushing straight at him. Pei Yan's reactions weren't slow; countless steel plates abruptly emerged, solidly shielding his head, neck, and other vital parts, while he popped out two cameras to observe the situation outside.

"Thunk!" No sooner had he done this than Pei Yan felt as if his head had been struck by a car, the powerful momentum sending him flying straight back, before his body crashed heavily against the protective array at the pond's edge.

This collision had him spewing a mouthful of blood inside his mask. Despite being dizzy and disoriented, he managed to command the system to check the status of the protective panels. The system's response left him utterly shocked!

The multi-layered steel plate, sufficient to withstand ordinary cannon shelling, had been pierced by this seemingly simple ice arrow, almost breaking through the steel plate to stab into his eyes.

"Pei Yan, run!" Barely reacting from the dizziness, Xia Yu's exclamation came again!

Pei Yan didn't have time to consider whether his body was under his control. Directly asking the system if it could autonomously control his body, and upon receiving an affirmative answer from the system via his visor, he immediately ordered the system to control his body, with the sole command: run!

Subsequently, his body leapt forward fiercely, as the sound of bombardment and the soil and ice shards patting against his back alerted him; he had narrowly dodged another deadly attack just now.

Only then did he have time to clearly see who was attacking him. Through the camera lens, he clearly saw the Black-robed Man, his fingertips constantly shimmering with light, each ice arrow poised to be released towards him.

"That Black-robed Man has targeted Pei Yan! He can't die. If these weirdos invade our world in the future, Pei Yan's ability will be our method of resistance!" Shangxing stated as he kicked away a monster in front of him, pulled out the Jiezhi Space and strode briskly towards Pei Yan.

The last resort was to hide Pei Yan temporarily within Jiezhi Space. Though this couldn't hide him for long, at least it could prolong his life a bit longer. No matter what, keeping him alive until reinforcements arrived was essential!

But at that moment, Pei Yan was already cornered. Twelve ice arrows sealed his exits vertically and horizontally, leaving no chance to escape no matter how he tried. In desperation, he gritted his teeth, planting his feet firmly on the ground, while anchors emerged from his waist and neck embedding into the ground to provide support. Layers upon layers of steel plates thickened in front of him, readying to withstand this wave of attacks!

Thunk! Thunk! Thunk! Three muffled blasts reverberated, each causing Pei Yan's body to tremble violently. But these three impacts had brought his newly erected steel plates to the brink of collapse, his restoration rate unable to keep pace with the destruction. Was he not going to make it?

At the critical moment, Ye Jiumu rushed forth, sweeping his hand to cast a massive bat shadow photo shield in front of Pei Yan, absorbing several subsequent ice arrows into the photo.

Immediately following, in front of the Black-robed Man, another large photo materialized out of thin air, from which over a dozen ice arrows whistled out heading directly towards the Black-robed Man's body.

Observing his own attacks turning back against him, Li Songtao frowned, casually waving his hand, causing the ice arrows to instantly turn into fragments of ice in front of him.

"Dust explosion!"

BOOM!