“This place is really a shithole…”

Zhang Dong gave out a sigh while looking at a giant sandworm attacking a bunch of traveling merchants. The monster in itself wasn’t that strong as it was on the lower spectrum of foundation establishment but there was more than one. The people it was attacking were fighting back and actually winning but this didn’t take away from the fact that this was a place not meant to live in.

He had ventured out of the coastal city and began his main infiltration mission. First, he needed to find a good spot to bring his troops in and then scout the main city layout. Wang Long’s whereabouts were known to him but he could always flee. With the system in his grasp, there was always an option to teleport out. However, there was a way to block the escape and this was thanks to his hacked system and Bob.

This was one reason why he was willing to move in with his whole army. They needed to surround the entire area and bring it under his control. Only then could he use a faction option that would prevent his enemy from escaping. Only then would he be able to have a proper one-on-one battle to end it all.

In theory, he would be successful but there was no way of knowing if Wang Long hadn’t advanced passed him already. This was a possibility with his new demonic techniques that ignored human suffering while giving the user imaginable power. Normally even demonic cultivators didn’t go overboard, there was a certain limit of how much a human soul could handle.

If too many evil acts were done in a short amount of time, the user could suffer a blow to their psyche. It wasn’t strange for such a person to go on a rampage before becoming fully mad before a quick death. Yet Wang Long possessed the system and its store, it wouldn’t be hard to find techniques in there that could prevent the user from being taken over by heart demons.

But it didn’t seem that everyone on this island was a being filled with murderous intent. The people he was looking at didn’t seem much different from the ones back home. Their Qi was demonic in nature but that was just the side effect of their cultivation method. They mostly used demonic beasts to nourish their power.

It was quite the cycle, the beasts would eat smaller creatures and also humans to gain their own cultivation. Then cultivators would hunt them for the same reason, sometimes they would come out victorious but sometimes the beasts caused widespread massacres. Both sides were eating each other just so they could survive for a bit longer.

‘I won’t need to help them at least, good. The Qi in the air is faint but it is slightly tainted with demonic energies.’

One thing was for certain, while there were fewer cultivators and people living in these lands. On average, they were stronger than the people from the mainland. Stealing Qi from the defeated enemies was a lot faster than absorbing it from pills or air.

‘Didn’t expect to meet those two though, they really made a run for it…’

One of the reasons that the demonic sandworms were being slain was due to two certain bodyguards. They were the grandfather and granddaughter pair that he had run into at open sea. Just as they claimed they made a run for it the moment he went to the restaurant. Now they were acting as caravan guards while going towards the next big settlement.

‘That old fart could use a flying sword… is he perhaps scared to reveal his true cultivation level?’

The man was just one core formation elder. Without a proper backing, he would be seen as an easy target to steal Qi from. If both of them pretended that they were weaker then the enemies that would appear would also be weaker.

‘They will probably try to lay low in a region owned by a different demon or sect… but that’s not something I should worry about, this place will go through a big change after I’m through with it…’

While Zhang Dong felt bad for turning these people's world upside down, it was a necessary evil. He didn’t fool himself into believing that everything could be taken care of without any bloodshed. This he could only minimize by putting himself in more danger. If he did things half-heartedly then perhaps more casualties would arise. Thus while camouflaging himself up in the clouds he ventured into the huge desert.

‘This Island really doesn’t have much going for itself, does it?’

He had examined a few maps that he got from the port city. This vast desert area covered almost half of the island's surface. There were a few large settlements near pockets of underground water that were spread out between each other. The merchants that he saw earned their money by traveling between these huge cities.

One of them he could even see from here. Its walls were truly massive as they went for around two hundred meters up and were slung around the city like a giant snake. All around it, he could also see many monster carcasses that belonged to sand worms or huge beast variants that looked like scorpions.

‘No wonder they only have one nascent soul master per location, there aren't that many to go around…’

For the time being, he decided to gain altitude while ignoring this city. With little to no resources, there wasn’t much to go around even for the leader of such a city-state. It was probably more useful for a nascent soul master to create their own cities for funneling resources towards them instead.

‘I wonder if the citisens would migrate to the mainland if they could?’

It wasn’t that easy to travel from this island to the lands of the orthodox sects. There were many deadly barriers that prevented anyone from leaving. The most deadly one was the barrier of poisonous mist that also affected souls. Only powerful cultivators could resist it and enter the lands rich with Qi.

“Hm… I don’t think that I'm even powerful enough to affect these natural phenomena… I would probably need to go a step beyond.”

The fabled immortal stage felt like it was around the corner and yet also really far away. If he divided known cultivation into stages then the immortal realm would be at stage three. For now, he was only stuck at stage one while stage two had been locked by the people that created the rules.

‘I wonder what will happen when I finally get there…’

Zhnag Dong stopped in mid-air and looked in all directions. He could see a good chunk of the island that was probably bigger than the planet that he originally came from. When glancing from here he started to worry. Not about if he could defeat Wang Dong but what would happen after that victory.

After beating the Demi-human Emperor he felt that this war wouldn’t pose much of a problem. His true enemy was still Wang Long and not the setting that was created to achieve a breakthrough. The true meaning behind this would only be revealed after he ascends just as the person in the secret ground mentioned it.

‘What will happen to them?’

He asked himself this question several times but he didn’t know the answer. What would happen to his family if he was forcefully rejected from this world. Would they be able to continue their lives without a worry or would another system holder arrive that could potentially destroy them. Would this world perhaps be reset by an administrator and destroyed?

All of these unanswered questions were slowly getting to him as he didn’t want to end it. Yet unless he cleared up things here then the whole place would be destroyed anyway. If he waited for too long Wang Long would quickly amass so much power that it wouldn’t be possible to win. This was his best chance at victory and he needed to take it.

Thus he sped into the distance while consulting his own man for directions. He had marked a few spots that were close enough to the capital city where the Chaos Demon was supposed to be. The meeting with all the demonic leaders would be taking place in less than two weeks and he needed to prepare. That event could be a dead end but he could not ignore it. Wang Long was said to appear and if he actually managed to attack before he organized his people then he would have a leg to stand on.

‘Wish my dear brother could step in to cover my ass but I’m not sure I can trust him.’

The work on the walls to keep out the demi-humans was still an ongoing project. He wanted to let his people build up defenses before coming over here in full force. If he abandoned the project then there was a possibility of demi-human remnants causing some trouble. Yet this could be a risk that he needed to take.

‘This looks like a good spot…’

He finally stopped after spotting something interesting. While the outside looked like a scorching desert there was something underground. Quickly he turned into a glowing drill that plunged itself into the ground. There after going through a layer of about a hundred meters of sand and hard rock he burst forth to a large open cavern.

There wasn’t that much air in here and he couldn’t feel any wind but it was something that he could work with. After gathering a bit of Qi onto his finger he produced a large glowing sphere of light. It was flung up to illuminate the whole place but as a side effect, it awoke the original inhabitants of this place.

“Good morning I guess?”

This place was partially dug up by sandworms, it looked to be a resting place for their kind. There were large tunnels going in many directions as well as eggs. It was a breeding ground for the monsters that plagued the desert.

“You’ll have to excuse me, but I need this place for my teleportation array, would you be so kind to leave?”

“GUOOOH!”

One of the larger variants opened up its huge mouth and instantly dived for the glowing human. Zhang Dong didn’t dodge but instead just surrounded himself with a thick layer of radiant Qi. The moment the teeth collided with it the worm's whole head exploded along with part of its body. It was still an evil monster and not able to stomach the holy energy that he radiated.

“I guess that’s a no?”

Some beats gained some intelligence with age but these monsters were certainly not one of them. Before he got to work on the array he needed to get rid of the inconvenience. The parts from these sandworms could also be used for various elixirs, pills, and even weapons.

“Well then, it’s time for some worm extermination!”

He shouted while pointing out with his finger towards the wiggling beasts. On its tip, a radiant glow appeared once more. Soon a beam of light erupted that split apart into many smaller ones that gave chase. In a matter of seconds, the entire area turned into a graveyard filled with worm entrails.

“Hm… I think I’ll need to purify the air … those worms stink…”

Zhang Dong shielded his nose with his spiritual energy after the massacre was done. Some cleaning would be in order first and soon after it was time to get some of his people over and take the fight to Wang Long.