["Aaaaaah! Don't refine me into blood water!!"]

["I was wrong! I was wrong! Demonbane! Spare my miserable life! I really am a dog demon!"]

["The higher-ups lied to us! They said the defenses in this direction were the weakest, do they call this guy 'weak defense'?!"]

One by one, the members of the Demon Tribe, their bodies uncontrollable, flew towards the sky, flying into the gigantic Demon Refining Pot.

It was like the scene from "Calabash Brothers" where the seventh brother uses his treasure gourd to suck his six older brothers inside.

The demons screamed in agony and begged for mercy.

But you turned a deaf ear.

Demon Kings and above are sealed, those below Demon King are refined!

As the saying goes, if you want the Demon Tribe and humanity to shake hands and make peace, you have to beat them into submission first! Make them hurt! Make them afraid!

This was just the beginning.

The chaotic pleas for mercy around gradually quieted.

The world returned to calm.

All that remained outside Wangshan Town were vast swathes of crimson demon blood, along with scattered Spirit Artifact fragments and demon corpses.

You slowly crouched down, gasping for breath, your face somewhat pale.

Using the Demon Refining Pot's "Pot Within a Cave Heaven" technique with your Spirit Condensation realm cultivation was a bit of an overextension for you.

Fortunately, you had used the "Seven Divine Starry Steps" earlier to intimidate these demons.

Otherwise, if they had struggled desperately during the absorption process, it would have drained you even more, possibly even causing the absorption to fail.

The Primordial Chaos Armor on your body asked naively, "Hey, buddy, are you really our Emperor's servant?"

The Immortal-Binding Rope was even more blunt, "Big brother, what realm are you actually at? I feel like even a Martial Saint might not be as awesome as you."

The Heavenly Dragon Blade was full of pride, "The few of us are just too strong!"

You coughed once, continuing to be the man behind the Ten Thousand Souls Banner.

"Of course I am the Ten Thousand Souls Banner Emperor's most loyal servant."

At this moment, the Ten Thousand Souls Banner was floating in mid-air, wreathed in billowing black energy, delivering a victory speech to the Spirit Artifacts below and the residents of Wangshan Town.

"Under Zhen's brilliant leadership, this defense of Wangshan Town has achieved a perfect success!

You don't need to kneel, no need to kneel!

Ah, how embarrassing to have you kneel in gratitude?

You really aren't kneeling..."

The townsfolk were sweating bullets, somewhat unable to comprehend the abstract nature of the Ten Thousand Souls Banner.

Meanwhile, in the sky not far away, four Flying Swords hovered in the air, upon which stood the Sword Lord and the other three who had come to provide support.

Actually, not long after you made your move, this area had already entered the attack range of the Sword Lord and his group.

But for some reason, they felt they couldn't get involved.

You were so busy.

Rushing back and forth across the battlefield, slashing your way in and out, killing your way up and down.

With you being so busy running around, it wasn't convenient for them to act, fearing they might accidentally injure you.

Strictly speaking, not counting those Spirit Artifacts, you were just one person.

How did you manage to unleash the momentum of a thousand troops?

Especially when you used the pot to swallow the demons, the Sword Lord nodded repeatedly.

"I told you the Demon Refining Pot should be used by him!"

Seeing you achieve such results, Chen Jing rubbed his eyes.

"What's going on? Didn't my fourth brother say he was going to break through to the Spirit Condensation realm? I feel like he's already at the Martial King realm, or even... Martial Saint? I'm only at Martial King!"

Li Chengqian seemed to know a little something.

"Brother Chen is indeed at the Spirit Condensation realm, but he has always been this ruthless when killing demons. He seems to counter them."

The Sword Lord wore an expression of someone in the know.

"He has a special constitution, the Demon Tribe's Bane!"

The Female Emperor, however, looked puzzled.

"Special constitution?"

She knew her man's constitution very well; he shouldn't have a special physique, right?

Seemingly noticing the Female Emperor's confusion, the Sword Lord said.

"Actually, my divine sense has never been able to discern exactly what constitution Chen Yi has.

The result of divine sense perception is that it's an ordinary physique. In the past, he even had Low-Grade Bone Structure.

But judging by his combat power when dealing with demons, it seems somewhat unreasonable if he doesn't have a special constitution.

It's probably some kind of constitution that has never appeared before, which is why we can't identify it."

The Female Emperor said no more. She was never interested in your secrets, nor did she wish for you to attract others' attention.

Chen Jing glanced at the sinister, ghostly Ten Thousand Souls Banner hovering over Wangshan Town.

"Isn't that the evil artifact, the Ten Thousand Souls Banner?"

The Female Emperor refuted.

"Elder Brother is mistaken. That is Chen Lang's Human Emperor Banner."

Chen Jing was stunned for a moment, then nodded repeatedly.

"Oh, right, right, right... This is the long-lost Human Emperor Banner of our human world!

Legend has it that in ancient times, when our race still had a Human Emperor, the Human Emperor used this Immortal Artifact to liberate all living beings, presiding over the cycle of reincarnation of an entire realm!"

Li Chengqian added details.

"Although the Human Emperor has been lost to the currents of history, the Human Emperor Banner was passed down. I see in Brother Chen some of the heroic bearing of the Human Emperor who protected humanity in his time!"

The few of them exchanged glances.

Their stories were aligned; this is what they would tell their subordinates later.

The Sword Lord and the other three then came to your side.

The Female Emperor, seeing your weakness, supported you with a hand while channeling a stream of true qi into your body.

You immediately felt your Three Energies recover by more than half, and the weak feeling of exhaustion dissipated greatly.

"Thank you."

"Between us, there's no need for thanks."

You responded with a smile.

The Sword Lord gestured for you to look behind.

You turned to see the defenders and commoners of Wangshan Town kneeling in worship towards you at the town gate.

At that moment, you felt something strange, as if your cultivation had improved a little.

The increase was very small, but it seemed something else had risen too. You couldn't identify this power.

"I transferred this merit to you."

The Female Emperor said, but you didn't quite understand what she meant specifically.

She explained it to you.

Saving people is a form of merit.

You saved many people this time.

But normally, with your cultivation method, you cannot perceive merit, nor can you obtain it.

But the Female Emperor can.

Because Wangshan Town has a temple dedicated to her.

When merit has no one to claim it, those who can claim it can take it.

In fact, this counts as stealing merit.

But the Female Emperor didn't take advantage of you. She used the power of the Faith Dao to transfer the merit back to you, turning it into a bit of your cultivation.

"Saving so many people only yields this little bit of cultivation..."

You even thought it was too little.

The Female Emperor laughed.

"The Faith Dao is inherently difficult to cultivate. Otherwise, it wouldn't have become extinct in the human world. Previously, many practitioners in Xiliang revered some superficial aspects of the Faith Dao as the ultimate standard, only to end up at the bottom of the Five Regions."

"But you are very strong, and you cultivate quickly... Ah, right, you have the Faith Sacred Physique."

"The Sacred Physique allows me to gather faith and merit more efficiently than others, greatly compensating for the flaws and limitations of the Faith Dao."

Li Chengqian spoke up and asked.

"Brother Chen, it seems you didn't kill those Demon Kings. What are your plans for the next step?"

You looked at the Sword Lord and said.

"Sect Master, both you and I understand that regarding this demon attack, peace is preferable to war."

"I have tried my best to mediate, but the demons have been driven into a killing frenzy. It's difficult."

"I have a plan."