Chapter 186: The End of Hunters
2:59 PM.
The trial was about to begin.
Billions of citizens across the entire Star Glory Federation were closely watching the war tribunal of Verdant Tarn City through a live telecast on the Spiritual Nexus.
Each and every bustling city, which had previously been hustling and bustling with traffic, had now become deserted and quiet. Every flying car floated motionless in the air as everyone watched the live telecast through the hologram inside the car.
Many people also stood on the road as they stretched their necks to watch the huge hologram installed on sky-rise buildings with mouths agape.
These holograms originally used to telecast ads, but at present, all of them were telecasting the war tribunal of Verdant Tarn City, focusing on the savage-looking Demon King who appeared fierce, but was devoid of his strength.
Every place was full of noisy crowds. Teahouses, restaurants, pubs, and other establishments were all burning with ardor. However, no one was speaking loudly, everyone had their fists clenched and breath held as they waited for the coming of justice.
The Star Glory Federation believed in one justice and one justice alone.
Tooth for a tooth, eye for an eye, blood for blood.
Under the burning hot gazes of 100,000 citizens, twenty demon clan commanders led by Demon King Pieu who were imprisoned in special restrictive barriers gradually rose to the center of the war tribunal from underground.
Demon King Pieu was condemned by resenting masses, dragged from his high and aloof position in the Blood Demon Sector to that of a prisoner. He was now surrounded by a furious mob and was soon to be punished under human laws. He felt powerless; this feeling of not being able to control his own destiny was not something he had ever experienced.
Even under the restrictive barrier, Demon King Pieu straightened up his chest. He wanted to release a huge amount of demonic energy to deter these insignificant ants.
However, all of his tendons had been cut off and 1,800 demon locking nails were embedded inside his flesh and blood. How could he still muster up any demonic energy?
When the Demon King discovered a teenager with one arm on his hip, while the other pointed at his nose as he cursed and spat towards him, the great dignity and arrogance of the Demon King was finally shaken.
The Demon King was a bit terrified as he gnashed his teeth towards the teenager. He proceeded to sit down in a trance at the center of the restrictive barrier.
Now the Demon King had finally realized that all the might, ferocity, honor, and glory in his life had come to an end in the hands of these insignificant ants.
At 3:00 PM, the trial officially began.
Three judges dressed in blood-colored robes sat down on the bench seats. First of all, they each drew an incomparably sharp longsword from their waist and lightly touched their forehead.
It was the custom of Star Glory Federation.
The judges of war tribunal were the most aggressive, most bloodthirsty, and most crazy powerhouses from the army. They were dressed in blood-red robes that were lacking any fancy shades. Before the hearing, touching their forehead with a sharp blade signified that they would act as the sharpest blade for the federation and implement the harshest laws of human civilization. Any alien fallen in their hands would have one end and one end only, and that was death!
"Whoosh! Whoosh! Whoosh! Whoosh!"
A couple dozen huge holograms appeared in the sky before playing the early videos of the beast tide outbreak.
The video showed the quiet and peaceful city, where countless citizens were working, studying, participating in recreational activities, spending their money...
A mother, with her baby in her warm embrace, leisurely strolling down a boulevard. In a secluded location, a young boy and girl, who seemed to have skipped their classes, were billing and cooing.
Suddenly, countless manhole covers flew up to the sky as demon beasts like black fountains surged out from the ground.
Even from the exit of the underground crystal train, countless demon beasts charged out before they began a bloody slaughter.
Despite the fact that the video wasn't accompanied by any sound and all the gory details were blurred, everyone was still terrified as though it was the end of days.
The center of the hologram was filled with a black background, painted upon which were white characters. It was showing the names of thousands upon thousands of victims; it was like a long river, which was quietly flowing to no end.
Having watched these videos, billions of humans in the entire federation were extremely furious.
Even Li Yao's breathing became quicker as he involuntarily clenched his fists. His face was terribly hot, the anger seemed to have materialized into lava and filled his chest.
"One day, we humans will invade the Blood Demon Sector like a torrential current of iron and steel, and make bastards pay a hundred times over!"
Li Yao silently thought.
The war judge began to read the counts of the twenty demon clan commanders, which lasted for a whole three hours.
Starting from the beginning of the second hour, the video playing on the hologram changed as it switched to the videos of joint street fighting of the army and the cultivators.
The whole federation, which had fallen into a solemn mood, began to recover their fighting spirit after watching the bloody slaughter for an hour.
Countless ordinary people on the streets, in the restaurants, tea houses, pubs, wherever they were, began to cheer for the heroic performance of army and the cultivators.
"Long live the federation army!"
"Long live the cultivators!"
"Long live the Star Glory Federation!"
"Long live the human civilization!"
Having watched the videos, Li Yao's mind too was astir as his blood began to boil.
He also saw himself in one of the pictures among the videos.
It was the scene after an intense battle; he was laden with dust, leaving only his white teeth visible as he laughed like a fool while carrying the Six Barrel Rotary Cannon.
Hearing everyone cheering at the top of their lungs, Li Yao suddenly came to realize that among the cheers raised by hundreds of thousands of people, some of the many people were also cheering for him.
This made him very, very, very proud.
Following that, the videos slowly began to show the underground battle which was just starting to get bloody.
In the underground battlefield that was meticulously constructed by the high-rank demon clan experts, countless experts fell!
Especially during the last fight with the Demon King Peiu, where seven Building Foundation Stage cultivators had lost their lives in his hand, and a dozen people were left grievously injured!
"Cultivators aren't afraid of death; if they are, they shouldn't embark on the road of cultivation!"
This sentence was often hanging on Yuan Manqiu's lips.
Only at this moment did Li Yao finally came to completely understand what kind of righteous ardor and sacrifice did these sixteen simple words entail.
Watching the cultivators swooping towards the Demon King regardless of the increasing death tolls, a deep pride once again began to rise in Li Yao's heart.
"After becoming a cultivator, I can be associated with these heroes. This is so awesome!"
At last—
After the trial continued for five entire hours, the chief judge once again drew the sharp sword and pointed at Demon King Pieu and the nineteen Demon Generals.
"The tribunal has reached a verdict. We, the tribunal court, find the defendant Demon King Pieu on the count of war crimes, guilty, on the count of crimes against humanity, guilty, and on the count of massacre, guilty. The war tribunal sentences Demon King Pieu to death, which is to be carried out immediately. His demon soul shall be scattered, never to be born again!"
"We, the tribunal court, find the defendant Demon General Gulun on the count of war crimes, guilty, on the count of crimes against humanity, guilty, on the count of massacre, guilty. The war tribunal sentences Demon General Gulun to death, which is to be carried out immediately. His demon soul shall be scattered, never to be born again!"
"We, the tribunal court, find the defendant Demon General Suoshan, on the count of war crimes, guilty, on the count of crimes against humanity, guilty, on the count of massacre, guilty. The war tribunal sentences Demon General Suoshan to death, which is to be carried out immediately. His demon soul shall be scattered, nevermore to be born again!"
"We, the tribunal court, find the defendant Demon General Qitian..."
Once the verdict was announced, the tribunal, in the blink of an eye, changed into an execution ground without the slightest bit of nonsense. An execution platform built from crystal rose from the underground, sketched upon which were hundreds of thousands of glyphs that ultimately formed a huge array.
The Spirit Gathering Slaughtering Demon Array could gather the spiritual energy of countless cultivators, which, after being compressed to the extreme, could be shot instantly. The power of countless low-level cultivators would be superimposed, and it would blast with a huge amount of energy which was comparable to a shot from a high-level cultivator using all his strength!
Demon King Pieu was the first to be pushed upon the execution platform.
Until now, this fiend remained calm. He shook his head as though he disdained this Spirit Gathering Slaughtering Demon Array.
However, the constantly twitching corners of his eyes betrayed him as it revealed the struggle in the depth of his heart.
A crystal ball was present in front of five hundred low-level cultivators who were to act as his executioners. At this moment, the crystal ball began to flash.
Recalling the wanton slaughter carried out by the beast tide on the ground as well as the cultivators throwing themselves at Demon King Pieu without care for their lives in the final battle, only to fall one by one...
Li Yao, without a sliver of hesitation, placed his hands on the crystal ball before he burned his life force to the max; thereupon, his spiritual energy madly surged into the crystal ball, down the thick crystal tube, and was gathered at the Spirit Gathering Slaughtering Demon Array.
"Swish!"
A tiny ball of light appeared upon the Spirit Gathering Slaughtering Demon Array, which slightly trembled, giving the impression of holding a life. Following that, it constantly grew and became brighter and brighter, just like a rising sun.
The spiritual energy provided by the five hundred low-level cultivators burning their life forces gathered into a huge mass of spiritual energy.
The five hundred ordinary people who had been chosen through the lottery also had a crystal ball in front of them which simultaneously began to flash, sketching out the outline of a palm.
This was a special trigger mechanism. When all five hundred ordinary people had placed their palm on the crystal ball, Demon King Pieu's head would be suddenly blasted by the huge mass of spiritual energy; he would be thoroughly killed by the explosion.
This means that the five hundred ordinary people would "personally" kill the culprit, taking revenge for their relatives who had lost their lives during the beast tide!
At this moment, Demon King Pieu finally started screaming at the top of his lungs:
"Do you think that these ants are worthy of killing this King?"
"You just wait and watch, Verdant Tarn City is just the beginning. Someday, my Demon Beast Empire will rise again in the endless cosmos. You, ants, are destined to be food and slaves for my demon clan! Slaves, nothing more!"
In response to his outcry, slight beeping sounds rang.
"Beep!"
Yao Guifen, a middle-aged female worker of Verdant Tarn City's Second Woolen Mill had triggered the array.
"Beep!"
Mao Xiaowei, a 3rd class student of Verdant Tarn City's No.12 High School had triggered the array.
"Beep!"
Yang Shuijin, the owner as well as the chef of Verdant Tarn City's Unforgetful Stewed Meat Shop at the Red Star Farmers' Market on the Eastern Happy Street had triggered the array.
"Beep! Beep! Beep! Beep! Beep! Beep! Beep!"
All five hundred ordinary people had placed their palm on the crystal ball.
The Spirit Gathering Slaughtering Demon Array was completely energized. The light ball jumped up as it stretched into a long arrow of light which pierced the head of Demon King Pieu in the blink of an eye.
Demon King Pieu's roars came to an abrupt stop before being replaced by desolate screams. The huge mass of spiritual energy tumbled around left and right inside his head before it broke the entire skull into pieces in the blink of an eye, distorting his face to the extreme.
Thereupon, Demon King Pieu's body constantly expanded, as his true form was revealed under the stimulation of extreme pain—a ten-meter-long giant beast that seemed to be a cross between a scaly dragon and a lizard.
Regardless of how he struggled, from beginning to end, he was firmly locked in place by the barrier. Finally, his body stopped expanding, but his head grew bigger and bigger as strange bulges appeared one by one.
"Swish, swish, swish, swish!"
The bulges began to rupture as numerous streams of spiritual aura intermingled with blood gushed out; the entire head of Demon King Pieu exploded.
"Rumble!"
At the same time, a bolt of lightning flashed in the sky, followed by a light drizzle.
Watching the gradually stiffening corpse of Demon King Pieu amid the drizzle, Li Yao felt incredibly excited. His hands kept on shaking, and he was unable to calm them down no matter what he did.
Before coming to the Verdant Tarn City, how could he have ever thought that he would actually get the chance to personally kill a Demon King?
"Today, I could only behead a Demon King by the virtue of the execution ground."
"However, someday, I will fight on a true battlefield with a peerless saber in my hand, and butcher the Demon Kings just like pigs!"
"The battle of Verdant Tarn City is already over. Now, I have to embark on a new journey. I still have three months' time to accumulate around ten thousand more credits. It's not impossible, but I must work harder and harder!"
"I have to keep on moving forward for my dream!"