I Pick Up Talents on the Interstellar Battlefield

Chapter 360: Chapter 324: A Single Shot Annihilates the Demon Cave

The Wind Carpet carried over a thousand warriors towards the first Demon Cave. The closer they got to the area, the thicker and heavier the air became, as if steeped in coagulated ink.

Sweat drenched the palms of the warriors as their breathing grew rapid. Their previous worries about the First and Third Battalions were overshadowed by their own fears — for beneath the first Demon Cave lay a terror tenfold greater than the second.

The number of demons in the first Demon Cave exceeded ten thousand, but what was more deadly were the over ten Tier Six demons entrenched within.

Even with Commander Yan Song’s Golden Level bloodline, and another Tier Six Soul Master by his side, the two faced demons five times as powerful.

"Commander... can we really do this?" A young warrior clenched his Battle Sword, his voice trembling.

The veteran next to him said nothing, just swallowed hard.

They understood that Yan Song must have his reasons for deciding this, yet in the face of such a formation, even the firmest resolve would inevitably waver.

At that moment, Yan Song stood at the front of the Wind Carpet, his body aglow with a gold-red halo, eyes locked on the valley shrouded in Demonic Qi, revealing no signs of wavering.

As the Wind Carpet pierced through the final layer of Demonic Qi clouds, all the warriors gasped, and even Yan Song’s pupils contracted slightly.

The first Demon Cave wasn’t a "cave" at all but a massive valley hollowed out by Demonic Qi.

At the center of the valley, a rift split heaven and earth, its movement violently trembling, like a giant beast’s throat opening wide. The rift swirled with ink-black Demonic Qi, at times surging with dark purple electric arcs and at times spewing gray vapors tinged with the scent of sulfur. The surrounding space warped into eerie curves, and even sunlight could not penetrate the area, casting only a dim halo at its edges.

This was the Demonic Qi Rift — the source from which demons poured ceaselessly, pulsating like a beating heart, every beat amplifying the concentration of Demonic Qi in the heavens and earth.

The surrounding rocks had long been eroded to gray-black, and the ground was filled with deep chasms, flowing with highly poisonous dark green slime. Occasionally, a Low level Demon slipped and fell, instantly corroded into a wisp of black smoke.

What truly numbed the scalp was the demon horde surrounding the rift.

Over ten thousand demons crowded the valley like a tide; Bone Wing Demons hovered at low altitude, the shadows of their flapping wings engulfing the sky. Nearly a dozen Flesh Demons, with bodies as large as Xiaoshan, lay on the ground, tearing into the corpses of their kind, their dark green blood flowing through their folds to form a foul stream on the ground. Countless Claw Demons weaved between them, their sharp claws scraping the rocks, emitting a teeth-grinding noise.

The aura of Tier Six demons was like a slumbering volcano scattered within — a Steel Demon Wolf over ten meters in length licked its claws, each claw-tip gleaming with metallic brightness.

A snake-bodied, human-faced Medusa coiled at the edge of the rift, her golden scales shimmering amidst the Demonic Qi, her gaze solidifying the air wherever it passed.

The Three-headed Magma Giant stood side-by-side, magma coursing over their bare skin, with each breath spewing forth scorching waves.

The roars of over ten thousand demons merged into a low-frequency hum, causing the Wind Carpet to tremble slightly. Warriors gripping their weapons found their hands shaking uncontrollably, some even instinctively retreating half a step, bumping into the comrades behind them.

Yan Song slowly raised his hand, the light of the Golden Bloodline suddenly blazing: "Hold your ground."

The two words thundered, overpowering the distant demon roars.

The warriors drew a deep breath, looking at the commanding figure of their leader, finally gripping their weapons tightly — no matter what kind of hell lay ahead, they had no path back.

Deep within the Demonic Qi Rift, a terrifying existence seemed to be stirred by this external Spiritual Energy, a muffled roar echoing faintly, causing the entire valley to tremble.

Screech~~

From the shadows beneath the Wind Carpet, hundreds of flying demons suddenly burst forth. Bone Wing Demons spread their sky-darkening wings, claws gleaming coldly, while the swarm of dark bats shrieked, crashing against the warriors’ Spirit Shields, and several Tier Five Wind Demon Demons manipulated Wind Blades to strike at the Wind Carpet’s center.

"Defend!"

With the command, warriors simultaneously released Spiritual Energy.

Earth Element practitioners summoned heavy rock barriers around the Wind Carpet, Fire Mages conjured fire dragons colliding with Wind Blades in showers of sparks, and melee warriors swung their weapons, shredding stray Bone Wing Demons, the luminescence of martial techniques erupting into a brilliant curtain of light at the Wind Carpet’s edge.

Amidst the chaos, Yan Song stood at the forefront of the Wind Carpet, his robe flapping wildly, yet his face was eerily calm. He gazed at the rapidly approaching demon horde below and whispered:

"It’s your turn to act."

As soon as the words fell, the ruby ring on the fingertip suddenly shone with an eerie red light.

"Buzz—"

Spiritual Energy surged into the ring like a breaking dam, making the patterns on the ruby’s surface instantly light up. The ring then expanded and deformed at a speed visible to the naked eye, transforming into a half-human-high fiery red cannon amid the sound of metal friction!

The cannon’s muzzle spiraled inward, and one could vaguely see the golden flames rolling inside, as if an infernal giant beast was ready to pounce. Vein-like energy patterns danced on the cannon’s body, exuding a scorching aura that distorted the surrounding air.

On the wind carpet, the warriors instinctively stepped back half a step. Their skin felt a stinging burn, and even their Spirit Shields sizzled under the heat wave.

"What is that..." a warrior exclaimed in amazement, watching Yan Song lift the daunting cannon with one arm, aiming directly at the Demon Cave below.

In an instant, the demons on the ground suddenly became restless. The aura of destruction emanating from the cannon instinctively made them feel the threat of death.

A dozen Tier Six demons awoke simultaneously, the steel claws of the demon wolves striking sparks on the rock walls, Medusa’s golden scales stood up like arrows, and the magma giant even spewed a hundred meters high column of fire, trying to interfere with the target in the sky—

But it was already too late.

Yan Song’s arm muscles bulged, the golden light of the Golden Bloodline intertwined with the red light of the cannon. The golden flames at the muzzle suddenly converged, turning into an extremely condensed beam of scorching light.

"Heaven Burning—Purgatory!"

He shouted loudly, pressing the grim trigger on the cannon.

The warriors on the wind carpet only felt a sudden flash of incandescent divine light before them, followed by a tearing roar in their eardrums—Yan Song’s fiery red cannon had already shot out a stream of destruction!

The beam, which was initially only as thick as a tree trunk, exploded into a fire dragon with a diameter of a hundred meters the moment it was fired. The heat wave from the muzzle tilted the wind carpet by thirty degrees, leaving scorch marks on the armor of the warriors in the front row.

Where the light beam passed, the air was compressed into visible shockwaves. The flying demons along the way didn’t even have time to scream before they were pulverized in the blinding light, not even leaving a wisp of black smoke.

"Boom——!!!"

When the beam struck the Demon Cave, the entire valley seemed to be gripped by an invisible giant hand, then mercilessly crushed!

First, the central area erupted with a mushroom cloud like a nuclear explosion, crimson gold flames mixed with dark green demonic qi soared into the sky, dyeing it a bizarre dark purple.

Next, the shockwave spread out in a circular shape, turning all rock within a thousand meters to powder, shaking mountains tens of thousands of meters away, and the air burst from the impact sent the warriors on the wind carpet tumbling over. Clutching tightly to the edge of the wind carpet, they barely stayed afloat.

The tens of thousands of demons on the ground were like ants before the pillar of light that pierced the heavens and earth.

The Tier Six steel demon wolves just attempted to leap skyward but were cut in half by the fiery torrent, their steel-like bones melting into ash in the high heat; Medusa’s golden scales instantly lost their sheen, and its serpent body, along with surrounding rocks, was vaporized; even the Three-headed Magma Giant didn’t have time to unleash magma before being consumed by the intense light, leaving the ground beneath it glazed like glass.

More terrifying was the demonic qi rift that emitted a shrill screech the moment the light beam touched it. The edges of the rift shattered like broken glass, layer by layer.

The ceaselessly emerging demonic qi was forced back by the flames, the rift dramatically contracting in the intense light, as if a giant unseen hand was forcibly pinching it closed, finally disappearing completely with a muffled detonation.

The explosion lasted an entire incense stick of time.

When the light finally dissipated, a massive crater over five kilometers in diameter had appeared below, with crimson magma flowing at the bottom. The edges of the crater were turned to obsidian by the intense heat, and the air was thick with the acrid smell of sulfur and metallic fumes.

The former Demon Cave, once host to tens of thousands of demons, now was nothing but a steaming giant crater, where even the hardiest demon bones had turned to ash at the bottom.

The wind carpet in the sky still trembled slightly. The warriors stared dumbfounded at the purgatorial scene below, many with mouths agape but unable to produce a sound, their hands gripping their weapons shaking uncontrollably.

Yan Song slowly lowered the smoking cannon, the ruby ring shrinking back to his fingertip, his pale face reflecting a sickly flush. He looked at the crater below, a reckless and wild grin forming on his lips.