3 Changes (2/2)

A demon appeared in front of Shura. It held a sword with both hands and walked toward him. It was getting closer and closer.

Shura was unarmed. He couldn't do anything by just punching and kicking the demon. Or could he?

Fighting intent soared inside of his mind. He would live and fight or die fighting, but he would fight nonetheless.

The demon swung down the sword at Shura. Shura dodged to the side and punched the wrist of the demon with all of his strength.

The demon loosened its hand and Shura punched again, forcing the sword out of the demon's hand.

The demon growled at him, showing its ugly mouth with sharp teeth dyed with blood.

Shura quickly came up to the sword and picked it up. He slashed the sword at the neck of the demon. This strike used all of his remaining strength and it instantly reached the demon before it could react. The sword went through the demon's neck instantly without obstruction. It had cut cleanly. The neck fell from the body and blood spurted out of the demon's body.

A pink ball of light came out of the demon's corpse and entered into Shura's body. It was demonic energy. The only way to become as strong as the demons and defend oneself from them was to get demonic energy. Only demonic energy would allow a person to be able to survive against demons. All other forms of cultivation energy would dissipate and be rendered inert upon coming contact with demonic energy.

The battle with just a single demon had drained everything he had. Shura wasn't in a condition to fight another demon. He needed to leave quickly. The city was doomed from the moment the demons appeared. The only way to survive was to get as far away as possible.

Shura came to a stable that still had horses. The horses were neighing in terror. Shura came up to one of them and calmed it down. He got on the horse and sped through the city. Soon the gate came into his view.

Fortunately the gate was open, otherwise there would be more tragedies today. He swiftly left through the city gate. All around him people were either fleeing, getting slaughtered by demons, or both.

Only after traveling for a long time did Shura finally relax. There were no demons or place of human habitation nearby. But he also had no food or water, or even an idea of what to do next.

…

Black holes—spatial passages—similar to one above Cloudfree city appeared all over the continent. It looked like countless eyes were judging the world before disappearing. Countless demons appeared in the sky and descended upon humanity. Cultivators of all levels and factions of all sizes and influences were immediately devastated.

Aggradise Continent was a super-massive continent, there were over 40 billion people living on it. The descent and devastation of the demons had killed over 90 percent of the population. Only 4 billion people were still alive, and the number was still decreasing.

The cultivation civilization was toppled within one day. Beautiful cities with massive and beautiful palaces were now deserted and in ruins. Blood dyed magnificent sects atop mountains red.

Most of the demons ascended back into the spatial holes when there were only smoldering ruins left and corpses littered the land. Those who had clean deaths were lucky, others were not so fortunate. They were reanimated by demonic energy to become ghouls—the living dead that hungered for flesh and blood. Those who were consumed by them would turn into ghouls themselves after death.

The land was forever changed, now tainted by demonic energy. Qi no longer flowed. All magical devices and instruments became useless. Long-distance communication was cut. Cultivators were no longer cultivators, and humans were no longer humans.

Mankind had now become frail and weak and were no longer the masters of their lives or their surroundings.

A dark era had descended upon the people of this world. It was as if the heavens were rebuking men for their hubris. Their desire for strength and longevity, their arrogance and excesses had triggered a divine punishment.

Stripped of their powers, the cultivators were now faced with the ultimate tribulation. Did they truly have what it take to survive this crisis? Were they truly worthy of whatever cultivations that they had before?

A dark and bloody time awaited the surviving cultivators.