One group after another, the Loyal Heart Alliance’s martial arts masters and the wind spirits defeated Demon God Serpent’s demonic beasts. They eventually took down Serpent as well, ending his invasion. The other Spirit Kings did the same to their respective regions, leaving no hostiles behind.

They still had to deal with the remaining two caves’ Demon Gods and demonic beast, which were still running rampant. Hence, the ice and earth spirits immediately hunted down the Demon God and demonic beasts pouring out from the cave in Mount Nankun, Fujian Province, while the wind and fire spirits dealt with the ones that had come out of the cave in Mount Dabie, Henan Province. As they did earlier, the Loyal Heart Alliance collaborated with the wind spirits again.

One elemental group of spirits was already strong enough to stop a Demon God and demonic beasts. With two of their groups combined, eliminating their opponents became a lot easier.

Unfortunately, despite their quick response, the enemy still managed to severely damage the Central Plains in the short duration that they had been left unattended. Dozens of cities were destroyed, and hundreds of thousands of people were killed. If not for the spirits, their world would have suffered even more losses.

The sudden appearance of the Demon Gods and demonic beasts frightened the people of the Central Plains. The thought of their world being destroyed instilled even more fear in them.

If the spirits had taken too long in exterminating the Demon Gods and demonic beasts, that fear would have spread throughout the Central Plains, plunging it into great chaos. They had to consider themselves fortunate to have only suffered this much devastation.

The people of the Central Plains began to revere the Loyal Heart Alliance’s martial arts masters even more, thinking they were the ones who stopped the Demon Gods and demonic beasts, not the spirits. As a result, the reputation of the Loyal Heart Alliance grew further.

While the spirits and the martial artists were stopping the Demon Gods and demonic beasts, Mu-Gun focused on sealing the caves that the spirits had discovered. In response, the Eternal Heavenly Demon Sect attempted to open up several more caves, but Mu-Gun took down the Demon Gods faster than they could progress with their plan.

* * *

Inside the Eternal Heavenly Demon Sect’s grand hall, Jo Geuk-Sang listened to Dong Cheon-Bang’s report with a dejected expression.

“What? There are only three Demon God Caves left?” he questioned.

“Yes. Only the caves at Mount Tian of Xinjiang Province, Mount Kunlun of Qinghai Province, and Mount Qilian of Gansu Province remain. They have yet to be discovered because they are located on the outskirts of the Central Plains, but considering the movements of the Thunder God’s incarnation, it’s only a matter of time before he finds them as well.”

“How long until the Demon God Cave at Mount Tian opens?” Geuk-Sang asked again.

“We still have to wait for another month.”

“A month, huh… If we can hold on for that long, Demon God Chaos will be able to descend safely. That would allow us to return the humiliation we have suffered all at once. Unfortunately, I’m not sure if we can last that long.”

“I don’t know about the other two caves, but it would be difficult to find the Demon God Cave on Mount Tian even for the Thunder God’s incarnation. Chaos himself has created a barrier to completely conceal the energy coming out of it.”

“I know, but I still cannot help but be worried. That man has repeatedly exceeded our expectations.”

“Even so, he cannot possibly see through the barrier of Chaos, one of Hell Realm’s Great Demon Gods. There is no need for concern. If you are so worried, we can buy some time by unlocking the caves at Mount Kunlun and Mount Qilian,” Cheon-Bang suggested.

“That plan has already failed, has it not?”“Those caves have progressed far more than the ones we opened earlier. Consequently, the Demon Gods they house have also regained the majority of their power. Even if the forced opening restricts their power, they will not be as weak. Moreover, the purpose of those caves’ demonic beasts is to stall for time. If they scatter as far as they can while wreaking havoc, it will likely take a month for the opposition to eradicate them. By the time they are done, the Demon God Cave at Mount Tian would already be opened in a complete state.”

Geuk-Sang nodded, concluding that Cheon-Bang’s suggestion was their best option right now.

“Alright. Unlock the caves at Mount Kunlun and Mount Qilian.”

“Your wish is my command.”

Cheon-Bang immediately sprang into action.

* * *

After destroying twenty-four caves and wiping out all the Demon Gods and demonic beasts that had managed to invade the Central Plains, Mu-Gun focused on looking for the remaining three caves. However, they proved far more difficult to locate compared to the others.

Mu-Gun was not even entirely sure that there would be thirty-six caves. He simply assumed that all Thirty-Six Demon Gods would attempt to descend. If, contrary to his expectations, only thirty-three did, then he would have been searching for something nonexistent. However, that was unlikely to be the case.

It would be too complacent to conclude that there were only thirty-three caves. After all, that would mean three Demon Gods would be left doing nothing. Hence, Mu-Gun refused to give up the search. On the contrary, he expanded it to the outskirts of the Central Plains instead.

Around the same time, he received reports that a cave in Mount Kunlun and Mount Qilian each had opened. Moreover, the Demon Gods and demonic beasts pouring out of them had split into small groups and scattered in various directions, carrying out surprise attacks.

It reminded Mu-Gun of the method that the demons back in Avalon had used. Hence, it did not take much for him to notice that they were trying to stall for time so they could unlock the last cave in a complete state.

Considering the last Demon God was important and powerful enough for Mu-Gun’s opponents to sacrifice other Demon Gods, Mu-Gun left the invading Demon Gods and demonic beasts to the spirits and the Loyal Heart Alliance’s martial artists, then focused on finding the last unopened cave.

He initially considered leaving the search to the wind and earth spirits, but since they still had not found it, he concluded that his enemies had likely enveloped it with a special barrier. No matter how hard the spirits searched for it, a barrier far stronger than they were would prevent them from producing any results. Moreover, unlike them, Mu-Gun possessed the Thunder God's Heavenly Eyes. He should be able to easily see through any barrier around it.

As Mu-Gun looked for the last cave himself, the Loyal Heart Alliance, the four Spirit Kings, and the other spirits spared no effort chasing and annihilating the Demon Gods and the demonic beasts scattered throughout Qinghai Province and Gansu Province.

Unfortunately, tracking down small groups of monsters proved difficult, especially since they were moving at high speeds and constantly lying in ambushes. Although their efforts were not fruitless since the spirits chased down every pack they could catch on to until they had wiped them all out, there were simply far too many groups.

At the rate they were going, it would take them a considerable amount of time to wipe out all demonic beasts. The longer they took, the more damage the Central Plains would suffer. If the existence of the Demon Gods and demonic beasts spread throughout the Central Plains, it would be thrown into a pandemonium.

Needing to somehow eradicate the foreign beings before then, the Loyal Heart Alliance’s martial artists and the spirits did their best to wipe out the demonic beasts. However, the demonic beasts had spread out so far and took such irregular movements that the Central Plains’ forces still had trouble taking them all out.

More and more damage accumulated as time passed. To make matters worse, the demonic beasts had already gone beyond Qinghai and Gansu Provinces, extending their destruction to Sichuan and Shaanxi Provinces.

Having closely watched the situation in Qinghai and Gansu Provinces, the Sichuan Province’s Sichuan Tang Family, Ami Sect, and Qingcheng Sect and Shaanxi Province’s Mount Hua Sect and Zongnan Sect had prepared against the invasion of the demonic beasts in advance.Since they were part of the Nine Prominent Sects and Seven Great Families, they assumed that they could wipe out the demonic beasts, especially since they had many martial arts masters in their ranks and had made a lot of preparations. However, the demonic beasts proved far superior to them.

The murim forces of Sichuan and Shaanxi Provinces were helplessly wiped out.

The demonic beasts rampaged all over Sichuan and Shaanxi Provinces to their heart’s content, plunging a total of four provinces into disarray. They killed countless people and destroyed one city after another. People trembled in fear for days on end, with many abandoning everything they had to flee to other provinces.

Upon learning about the demonic beasts, the people of the other provinces froze in fear, rendering them unable to do anything. Eventually, the demonic beasts successfully spread terror across the entire Central Plains.

Hearing the news, Mu-Gun, who had been focusing on finding the final cave, realized he had made a mistake. Although there would be some damage, he thought that the four Spirit Kings would be enough to slay all of the demonic beasts. However, the demonic beasts were stronger than he expected.

If he let the damage continue to accumulate, they would find themselves in a predicament. Although finding the last cave was important, he had to focus on the immediate threat for now. Hence, Mu-Gun temporarily stopped his search efforts and began to annihilate the Demon Gods and demonic beasts threatening the Central Plains.

Mu-Gun’s intervention swiftly turned the tide. Across the east and the west, he eradicated every demonic beast he could find, significantly decreasing their numbers. He also took out the two Demon Gods with ease.

The Demon Gods had become so strong that all the Spirit Kings could do was prevent them from running wild. Being tied down to keeping them in check was one of the reasons the spirits had difficulty in subjugating the demonic beasts. In return, they did manage to reduce the damages the Central Plains would have sustained by stopping them from reaching the people.

Unfortunately, by the time Mu-Gun exterminated most of the demonic beasts and killed the Demon Gods, they had already caused far too much destruction. Most of the regions around the Qinghai and Gansu Provinces now lie in ruins, and a big part of the Sichuan and Shaanxi Provinces had been destroyed.

Above all, more than a million people lost their lives. Mu-Gun couldn’t help but blame himself. If he handled the Demon Gods and demonic beasts from the very beginning, their losses would not have been this severe. However, there was no use crying over spilled milk.

With one cave yet to be found, the threat of the Hell Realm was yet to be eliminated. For now, he had to focus on stopping the last Demon God.

Mu-Gun and the spirits spared no effort in finding the final cave. Since the two caves that opened recently were found in the Qinghai and Gansu Provinces, they conducted an extensive search around the Tibet and Xinjiang Provinces.

However, no matter how hard he searched, he did not find anything worthy of note. Hence, he eventually concluded that the last cave was not in the Tibet or Xinjiang Provinces and turned his attention to the Yunnan and Guangxi Provinces, which were less searched compared to the other places. When he failed to find anything there either, he began to feel troubled.

“Where on earth is it?”

Mu-Gun tried his best to rack his brains, but he came up with nothing. He knew that there was one last cave hidden out there somewhere. Without any clues or guesses, all he could do was randomly search around, but it was better than doing nothing.

* * *

At a grand canyon at Mount Tian of Xinjiang Province, one side of the earthen wall suddenly shook, seemingly threatening to collapse. A moment later, a black, oval-shaped portal appeared. A giant with huge horns and the face of an angry monkey jumped out of it, revealing pitch-black energy swirling around him like armor.

Having regained all his strength, Demon God Chaos descended onto the world. Following him, creatures with the face and torso of a monkey and the lower body of a giant came pouring out.

Chaos had four types of demonic beasts under him. The strongest and largest among them were the Golden Demonic Apes, and the weakest and smallest were the Blue Demonic Apes. The other two were the Silver Demonic Apes and the Crimson Demonic Apes.

The strength of his forces befitted his status as one of the Hell Realm’s Great Demon Gods. The Blue Demonic Apes possessed Absolute-Realm power despite being the weakest, while the Golden Demonic Apes were as strong as other Demon Gods.

Chaos waited until all the demonic beasts under his control had come out of the Demon God Cave and properly assembled behind him. Once everyone was out, the black portal disappeared.

Turning back to his subordinates, Chaos shouted, “Finally, our most awaited moment has arrived! I grant you all freedom to destroy and violate this world to your heart’s content!”

His three thousand demonic beasts roared with joy and jumped down from Mount Tai. Once they were all gone, Chaos himself began to descend as well.