Double penetration: This Three Kingdoms has dragon energy

Chapter 167 Izumo Pattern
A volley of arrows killed or wounded most of the dozens of wolf demon knights, but the fact that the wolf demon knights had barely survived the arrow rain did not mean that they had escaped their fate.

Because what they are about to face is an even more brutal blow.

The siege was launched by Dian Wei and eight hundred halberd warriors.

Judging from the qualities these wolf demon knights displayed when they were attacked, their individual strength is probably no less than that of a peak seventh-rank scholar.

The wolf demon leader was no less powerful than a low-level fifth-rank scholar.

However, Dian Wei and the eight hundred halberd warriors who had just been brought over in the autumn were also extraordinary.

Dian Wei's current rank among scholars is only the middle level of the fifth rank.

However, his innate secret technique, Evil Possession, is most effective at dealing with demons.

Ji Qiu had discovered in the past when dealing with demonic beasts that when you use the Evil Possession Technique, it will produce additional damage to the demonic beast.

Therefore, when dealing with the demon race, he, a fifth-rank intermediate scholar, can at least be regarded as a third-rank intermediate scholar!
At the same time, each time Dian Wei killed a monster, it was as if he had taken a powerful tonic.

He can sustain his war effort by killing monsters!

The eight hundred halberd warriors were all elite soldiers who had cultivated the secret techniques of halberd warriors to the initial stage of the sixth rank.

Furthermore, he has also mastered three powerful military techniques: the Imperial Guard, the Yellow Turban Warrior, and the Gentleman's Technique. His overall combat strength has reached the level of a normal sixth-rank peak-level powerful army.

At the same time, their equipment was also the best, with all of them wearing black iron dragon-patterned armor.

The armor's surface was covered in dark gold runes; it was a sixth-grade dragon weapon crafted from primary sixth-grade black iron, refined steel, and platinum.

It contains a secret technique for solidification; even a peak sixth-grade divine weapon would only cause sparks to fly and cracks to appear when it strikes it.

Meanwhile, steel barbs are embedded in the gaps between the armor plates, capable of slashing and tearing flesh from close-range enemies.

The beast-headed mouths on the shoulders of the armor occasionally spew out eerie blue flames, as if they were sentient, vigilantly scanning their surroundings.

Their weapons are the sixth-grade low-level dragon weapon, the Purple Thunder Halberd, and the Netherworld Bow.

The former is made of two dragon energy materials, lightning-struck wood and refined gold. Its surface is wrapped with dark purple lightning patterns. The halberd blade is exceptionally sharp and gleams with a cold purple light. Tiny ice crystals are also condensed at the tip of the blade. Once it pierces into the enemy's body, it can release the power of lightning to paralyze the enemy's body.

The latter is made of demonic vines, with dragon tendons and ghost silk woven into a string. The bow is covered with faint ghost face patterns, and it emits a low whistling sound whenever the demonic wind blows.

The accompanying arrows were equally extraordinary. The shafts were made of meteorite iron, gleaming with a cold silver-gray hue. The arrowheads were inlaid with sharp wolf fangs, and the fletchings were bound with ghostly green feathers. Each arrow contained the power to tear through space.

The volley of arrows that just felled more than half of the wolf demon knights was fired by the Netherworld Bow.

In short, this is currently the strongest unit under Ji Qiu's command.

It is also the most skilled and powerful military force in dealing with cavalry.

At the same time, it is the only unit whose combat strength has reached the level of the core troops of high-level aristocratic families outside the city!
Ji Qiu's decision to bring them here to eliminate a mere few dozen wolf demon knights was akin to using an anti-aircraft gun to kill a mosquito.

But it doesn't matter. After all, this is Izumo's first battle, so we should fight cleanly and decisively, and win as we should.

"Form a battle formation and annihilate them!" Dian Wei slammed his twin halberds heavily into the ground, causing the ground to crack in a spiderweb-like pattern.

Eight hundred halberd warriors roared in unison, their armor scraping together with a piercing sound, as their thunder halberds pierced towards the remaining wolf demon knights like a forest.

The Netherworld Soul-Chasing Bow hummed once more, and the remaining arrows transformed into eerie green streaks of light, precisely piercing the wolf demon knight's throat and heart.

The wolf demons let out dying howls, their bodies, frozen by the lightning halberd, crumbled inch by inch under the moonlight, and the flying ice crystals mixed with black blood stained the altar into an eerie realm of frost and blood.

The wolf demon leader let out an inhuman roar. Half of its body had been pierced by arrows, yet it still wielded its giant wolf-tooth blade, which was burning with demonic flames, in an attempt to break through the encirclement.

With a roar, Dian Wei leaped into the air like a giant black bear, his twin halberds crossing in a cross shape as he slashed down. The moment the wolf-tooth blade collided with the twin halberds, a blinding golden light erupted, and the shockwave sent debris flying from all around.

The wolf demon leader's giant blade shattered inch by inch, and Dian Wei used the remaining momentum to spin around and sweep horizontally, the sharp halberd blade directly severing its neck.

The wolf demon leader's head fell to the ground in resentment, and the black blood it spat out congealed into a hideous ghost face on the ground, which was instantly burned to ashes by the runes on the black iron armor.

With their leader falling to the ground, the remaining wolf demon knights completely lost their will to fight. Under the onslaught of lightning spears and arrows, they turned into several more charred remains by the altar.

Dian Wei wiped the black blood off his twin halberds, looking at the mess on the ground. Even the wolf howls coming from afar seemed to have become a little weaker.

After the battle, Dian Wei leaned on his twin halberds, looking at the hundreds of fox-people huddled together on the bronze altar.

These fox-people were all trembling, their tails pressed tightly against their bodies in fear.

To them, the incredibly powerful wolf demon squad was so easily wiped out by Dian Wei and the eight hundred halberd warriors.

This filled them with genuine fear and awe.

Dian Wei stepped forward, wielding his twin halberds, and easily severed the chains binding these fox-people.

The fox-people then seemed to awaken from a dream. The leading fox-girl knelt on the ground, trembling, her nine crimson tails still stained with blood: "Thank you, General, for saving my life. I am willing to repay you with my life!"

She had a beautiful face, and a dot of cinnabar on her forehead added to her charm, but her pale face could not hide the fear of surviving a disaster.

But Dian Wei showed no emotion whatsoever. He simply waved his hand, picked up the fox-girl, and walked towards Ji Qiu.

"My lord, I have fulfilled my mission and have annihilated the wolf demon squad and brought this fox-woman back." Dian Wei threw the fox-woman girl on the ground and bowed to Ji Qiu.

Upon seeing this, the girl realized that Ji Qiu was the one truly in charge here.

Without hesitation, he prostrated himself and bowed deeply, saying, "Thank you so much for saving my life, sir..."

Her voice trembled slightly, her fox ears twitched gently, and the tips of her nine tails swayed restlessly, giving her an indescribable allure.

But Ji Qiu was not tempted at all. Instead, a flash of seven-colored light appeared in her eyes, and she used the Mind Bewitching Technique.

"Who are you calling? What is your name? Where did you come from? What do you want? Who are those wolf demon knights? What conflict do you have with them?" Ji Qiu asked calmly.

The fox-woman girl said with a confused look in her eyes, "My name is Ah Xiu, and I am the princess of the fox-woman clan. All the fox-women around me are my subjects."

Those wolf demon knights were all elite soldiers of the wolf clan, and the leader of the wolf demons was the wolf clan baron Matsushita Ono.

Matsushita Ono led his troops to conquer our fox-people village and brought us here to perform a sacrificial ceremony.

"A sacrificial ceremony to Heaven? Is it the great human sacrifice ceremony that the demon race uses to worship the ancient Heavenly Court?" Ji Qiu raised an eyebrow and blurted out the question.

Ah Xiu nodded and said, "However, it's that kind of sacrificial ceremony to heaven!"

This was not the first time Ji Qiu had heard the name of the Heaven-worshiping ceremony. He first heard the name when he captured Yu Ji.

Yu Ji told him that after the first war between humans and demons, the demon race found that it was difficult to directly eliminate the human race by force alone.

So they opted for a method involving cutting the meat with a knife.

This involved the widespread promotion of rituals involving human sacrifice.

They massacred humans by offering sacrifices to the demon race's heavenly court.

This not only allows them to slaughter humans, but also to devour the fortune of the sacrificed humans.

This kind of human sacrifice is called the Heaven-worshiping Ceremony!

However, after the second war between humans and demons, the demon race was defeated and driven out of the Nine Provinces.

The demon race's Heavenly Court was overthrown, and the human race's Heavenly Court was established.

From then on, the ritual of offering sacrifices to Heaven ceased to exist throughout the Nine Provinces. However, it was unexpected that although the ritual of offering sacrifices to Heaven was no longer practiced throughout the Nine Provinces...

Even outside of Kyushu, on Izumo Island, which is only separated by a sea, the ritual of offering sacrifices to the heavens still exists!

"Is it because the demon race's power outside the Nine Provinces is far greater than I imagined?"
Or is this Izumo Island the main base of the demon race? Ji Qiu wondered to himself.

However, he didn't ask that question directly. Instead, he asked another: "To perform the sacrificial ceremony, we first need a large number of humans. Are you still considered human?"

These fox-people in front of me all have some organs that resemble foxes, and they all have fox tails.

Judging solely from their physical form, it is indeed difficult to categorize them as human.

However, Ah Xiu nodded firmly and said, "Yes, of course we are human, because none of us have cultivated the demon transformation technique!"

"Demon Transformation Technique? What does that mean?" Ji Qiu asked, puzzled.

Ah Xiu said, "In Chuyun, the demon race is the ruler, and the human race is the slave."

There are no longer any pure humans here, only mixed-race humans.

Among the mixed-blooded humans enslaved by various demon tribes, male humans are not allowed to live.

Any child born to a male human would be immediately sacrificed by the various tribes of the demon race in exchange for magical power.

Human women, on the other hand, are able to reach adulthood smoothly.

But this is not a good thing for human women.

Because once human women reach adulthood, they are merely used as tools for venting their frustrations and for reproduction by various tribes of the demon race.

Because of generations of human-demon hybridization, the Izumo humans today all exhibit some demonic characteristics to varying degrees.

However, according to the rules, as long as they do not cultivate the art of demon transformation, they are not considered to be demons.

Once humans cultivate the art of demon transformation, they will completely abandon the ability to change their form and transform from humans into demons.

Just like those wolf demon knights from earlier, they were half-human hybrids who had cultivated demon-transformation techniques.

"I see." Ji Qiu understood.

He had long heard Zhang Zhongjing say that the human race's genes were extremely powerful.

As early as ancient times, they merged the genes of the witch and demon races through marriage, and later also merged some genes of the immortal race.

These genes endowed humankind with extraordinary powers.

However, regardless of which gene is fused, it cannot change the dominant position of human genes.

This is the main reason why the human race has continued to grow stronger and reach its peak, ultimately securing its position as the protagonist of the world.

However, even the most powerful genes have their limits.

Like Izumo, who has been practicing human-demon hybridization generation after generation without developing the dominant human genes, naturally the amount of demon genes in their bodies will increase.

This is why the body parts of the Izumo human race began to show characteristics of the demon race.

However, this is ultimately just a passive change.

Because of the power of human genes, it would take an extremely long time to achieve the goal of completely absorbing human genes through passive alteration.

In contrast, the Demon Transformation Technique is a method that allows cultivators to voluntarily relinquish the dominant human genes within their bodies, making demon genes the dominant genes.

It can rapidly increase the speed at which a human transforms into a demon.

However, the prerequisite is that humans must actively cultivate this demonic art.

In Izumo, the demon race is the ruler, and the human race is the slave.

If the demon race were to use incentives to entice humans to cultivate demonic transformation techniques, many humans would likely find it difficult to resist the temptation.

However, Ji Qiu does not believe that the demon race will promote the demon transformation technique on a large scale.

Therefore, for the long-term benefit of the demon race, completely annihilating the human race is not in their core interests.

Because they still need to devour the human race's fortune to grow.

If all humans were turned into demons, where would they go to absorb fortune?
The best solution would actually be to raise humans like livestock and perform regular sacrifices.

Therefore, at most, they select some elite talents from among the human race to cultivate the art of demon transformation and become members of the demon race.

"Alright, let's talk about the power structure on Cloud Island next."

"How many kinds of demon races are there here, and what is their approximate strength?" Ji Qiu continued to ask.

Ah Xiu said, "There are thirty-six tribes of demons on Izumo Island."

These thirty-six departments are further divided into three major king departments and thirty-three general departments.

The three major royal tribes are the Snake Tribe, the Wolf Tribe, and the Eagle Tribe.

Not only do they each have 10,000 ordinary demons, but each also has a powerful demon in charge!
As for the thirty-three general divisions, each had three thousand ordinary demons.

"So that's a total of 12.3 ordinary demons and three great demons? That's truly extraordinary!" Ji Qiu thought to himself.

The so-called ordinary demon race can actually be divided into two types.

Firstly, it refers to those humans who have cultivated the art of demon transformation.

Secondly, it refers to mid-level demonic beasts.

Once a demon beast reaches the intermediate level, it will develop intelligence. Although its intelligence is not comparable to that of an adult, it can be compared to that of a human child.

If one reaches a high level, one can directly gain intelligence comparable to that of an adult human.

The Great Demon is actually the true demon race in the real sense.

Every survivor of the ancient Heavenly Court was extraordinary and extremely powerful.

Conservatively speaking, their strength will surpass that of a top-tier scholar within Kyushu!
Therefore, the overall strength of Izumo Island, converted into data from within the Kyushu Barrier, is 12.3 combatants of the initial stage of the sixth rank or above, and three beings surpassing the peak of the first rank.

Such a powerful force is probably something that even Yuan Shao and Yuan Shu combined might not be able to defeat.

However, considering that these forces are scattered among the thirty-six demon tribes, and that these thirty-six demon tribes are never at peace with each other and are constantly fighting each other.

If we can properly use strategies such as dividing and winning over, forming alliances and counter-alliances, it is not impossible to conquer them.

Ji Qiu's main purpose in coming to Chuyun was to obtain the Qingzhou Cauldron, but if possible, he would not mind establishing a base within the Kyushu Barrier.

Whether it's defense or counter-attack, it will be very valuable in the future.

In any case, Ji Qiu has set aside a year for the Izumo Island strategy.

No external offensive missions were arranged within the Kyushu Barrier this year.

He will focus all his energy on Izumo Island this year!
(End of this chapter)