The next day, we held a big feast, with roasted Dragon as the main course.

  In between hungry bites, I could hear bones crack and muscles stretch, Qi essence wave and wobble and Soul auras pulsing, as my Tower members gained levels after levels, including Elders Tang and Song who visited the Inner Tower for the grand occasion.

  It was quite amazing how much energy a Dragon's body could contain, and this was simple meat, without bone marrow and Divine blood, which would be doled out in tiny bits, starting with the Divine Realm cultivators, who were less likely to explode.

  The skin and scales would be used to make armor, and the claws, teeth and bones forged into Divine weapons.

  "I don't feel bad for the murder Dragon anymore." Romulus said after patting his round belly.

  "Good, because now we're all going to the Soul Array, as a group." I ordered with a glance towards the dreaded array.

  People groaned and moaned, fearing the Divine Demons, but they had no idea what awaited inside.

  I waited until everyone was loaded inside the array, armor and weapons at the ready, then said "Start"

  The first Demon that appeared was practically pulverized by our combined attacks, and the theme continued until wave 32, when the Demons started to outnumber us.

  I just pointed my Stormbolter and killed a dozen Demons rapidly to make things simpler, then waited until everyone scored a kill.

  Then wave 64 began, where things got dicey for a moment until our firepower reduced the enemy numbers to manageable levels.

  "Wow, Boss! You can take all of them by yourself, and win?" Kenta asked in amazement, just as the red portal appeared.

  "That's a demonic invasion, guys. I can't kill them all by myself, not yet." I answered, then pointed my Caliber bolters at the emerging Demons and started shooting.

  "Good thing I ate that Dragon earlier. I am full of energy right now!" Amelia exclaimed and released a cloud of Nether Venom, killing a hundred Demons in a single spell.

  I abstained to comment about collateral damage, because in a real Demon invasion, the entire world would die if we failed.

  Overkill might sound too much, but it really wasn't.

  Sadly, despite our new levels and equipment, the Demon numbers proved too much, and one by one the Tower members began to fall, either for being too weak and running out of soul energy, or by being brave and stupid like King Ji, and running in the middle of a company of Demons to show off, and getting torn to bits.

  "So this is your lesson, husband?" Mei asked while gasping for breath beside me.

  "This is the problem. How to stop a demonic invasion. Because we are not." I answered in a calm voice, then started walking, and butchering Demons like scything wheat.

  Perhaps with a dozen like me, we could stop the Demons at the portal, and try to figure a way to close it.

  Mei just walked behind me, keeping herself safe by the virtue of being behind the blender.

  All around us, the Tower members kept falling, until I stood alone in front of the portal.

  "If we can close the portal, there's a chance..." Mei whispered in a pained voice, then vanished as a chain ripped her soul body in half.

  I dropped my weapons and ignored the attacking Demons, focusing only on the portal. I had a good foundation in Formations by now, and things like portals were usually made via some Formation Array. Or just pure power by an Immortal Demon that could split dimensions apart.

  I was hoping for a Formation, so I started to try various separation arrays, while my skin began to split under thousands of demonic attacks.

  "This better not be a trick, and a portal that can never be closed, to prove I need more training. All problems have a solution." I muttered as all my arrays failed, and I got torn to bits.

  In the main plaza, my Tower members healed under the green runes, all except my wife Feng who was walking around already, looking fine. Hmmm. What did happen if a Phoenix ate a Dragon? They got stronger, most likely.

  Grandpa caught my eye, and just smiled. 'Birds eat snakes.' he sent to my mind, as if that was an actual explanation.

  I knew plenty of snakes who hunted birds too. Plus, a Dragon was much more than a snake, despite having similar looks and possibly morals.

  'Anything can eat anything, if they are hungry enough. That Dragon ate a thousand humans, or at least their hearts. Now we ate it too.' I countered while waiting for my wounds to close.

  Grandpa nodded, then turned his eyes on Bai, who was fluctuating wildly, and crossed into her level 8 soul, much sooner than expected. "Bai? Is everything all right?" I asked a bit worried.

  My white-haired wife just stood up, eyes focused on something. "I think I understand now." she spoke in a distant voice, then turned around and entered the soul array.

  Everyone counted in their minds, but I had Grandpa keeping the real count for me. 'Wave 2, wave 4, wave 8, wave 16, wave 32, ...wave 64!'

  I was getting worried she might reach the final level and die by exhaustion, but she eventually emerged from the array and sat down, still deep in thought. 'Only 102 kills. Got me worried for a minute.' grandpa said with a relieved voice.

  I just pointed my finger and wrote on the stone pillar with my sword intent. Bai-102, just above Ming with 100 kills.

  "What? But she's only a Saint!" King Ji exploded in outrage.

  "I am also only a Saint. And keep that in mind, there are also Demon Princes on the battlefield, even stronger than me, and still only Saints. Try to avoid those with long horns and spikes from their arms." I said with a sad voice.

  "Boss must have killed over a thousand in front of the portal." Kenta said in a proud voice.

  "It was 1315 kills, by the time I was done. And he stayed inside even longer. Might be over 2000." Mei said in an admiring voice.

  I felt two dozen pairs of eyes focus on me, waiting for an answer. "I didn't keep count, guys. I was only trying to close the portal. But failed." I said without care. Mei was probably right, too. I could kill 2000 Demons now.

  "I'm sure you can do it, Boss. You can ascend and become even stronger." Elder Song added in my defense.

  I looked around, until I found Xia brooding by herself. Her True Qi might be the key.

  "Come Xia. I'll cover your path to the portal." I decided on a hunch.

  This story is posted elsewhere by the author. Help them out by reading the authentic version.

  "We're coming too! Even if we're only buying you a few seconds..." King Shuang offered and stood up, quite bravely for him.

  "We're all going. Finding out if Xia can destabilize the portal is important." Ming spoke in a commanding voice, and everyone glanced at her kill count on the pillar. With a 100 kills by herself, she was too far ahead in soul power of almost everyone.

  And thus, we repeated the Soul array, and doing a tiny bit better now that everyone knew what to expect.

  Less wasted shots, fewer target duplications and all that. Army coordination was important for a good reason.

  We were not there yet, since nobody here had military training, but even so, with Ming in charge things got better.

  I kept my eye out for Bai, to see what changed, but she acted normally until we entered the invasion layer, when her eyes turned red, and she began blasting several Demons at once with powerful Vajra bolts, even stronger than mine.

  I nodded and kept fighting, now that I understood as well. She had achieved Transcendence with her Vajra combat technique, making her more powerful, while wasting less energy.

  Well, that was exactly the purpose of the training arrays, and Bai had just eaten some Dragon meat, which possibly activated her latent bloodline. And don't dismiss a bloodline as mere atavistic instincts waking up. A single gram of DNA contains a zettabyte of information. Genes decide everything for a body, from how strong the bones are, to how many teeth or what colors your eyes can see. Not to mention, in a cultivation world, some Celestial Spirit Beasts were strong enough to eat entire galaxies for lunch. That kind of genes had enormous power, all stored in a single drop of blood.

  "I'll clear the left side. Everyone go right!" Amelia yelled while summoning a giant cloud of toxins.

  We wisely fled to the right side of the portal, avoiding the fate of thousands of Demons melting in that toxic cloud.

  Now I was even happier that I found Amelia and helped her achieve her revenge. She was practically an army killer by herself, if her enemies were susceptible to her various toxins. And if they weren't, I could always buy Amelia even more poisons.

  We reached the portal and established a guard around Xia, who sent her True Qi into the portal to try and close it. After a minute, and losing half our members to constant Demon shouts and weapons, the portal cracked and began to spin, sending dead and bisected Demons all over the red desert.

  "I can't close it! Only make it jam like this." Xia said in a tired voice, then slumped in defeat.

  Well, it was still much better than before. I ran out and began murdering the Demons on the right side, until there was only the spinning portal and dead Demons coming out in half.

  "This could work too. A closed portal might get open again. But this jam will keep killing Demons forever." Mei noted with a snarky voice.

  I smiled at her outlandish plan, then held my hand up. "Stop."

  The portal stopped spinning, and the dead Demons stopped coming. "We can use this jam in an emergency. But an invasion will have multiple portals, and the demonic energy of the Netherworld would keep pouring in. Keep it open long enough, and the world would sink into the Netherworld anyway." I explained in a sad voice.

  The array vanished, and we all emerged in the main plaza, much less wounded than the first time.

  Of course, with a real invasion, you couldn't ask it to just stop, like I did.

  Amelia raised her hands, like calling for attention. "Well, I'm going back in. Going to set a new record by myself." she told us in a confident voice, then jumped into the Soul Array.

  We have all seen her kill half the Demons by herself, so nobody dared to comment.

  People began to spread out, and letting the gossip flow.

  Instead of anything else, I took my Outer Elders and shifted outside, into the Outer Tower.

  With a smile, I located my favorite new disciple and went to greet him. "Huang Luxian, I see your training is going well. Already level 2 in Body cultivation. It's only been 3 weeks, right?"

  The rude Young Master glared at me for a second. "Tower Master. I am busy training." he muttered and punched his sand ball, to show me his dedication.

  "Leave that, and sit with me." I ordered and sat at a stone table beside the training ground.

  "What now?" the boy asked in a sad voice.

  "You're 14 years old, and already so bitter? I understand puberty and hormones, but you have to see the good side of life. You were lucky enough to join my Tower, which is a guarantee for your early cultivation. Becoming a Saint is easy. What do you want to do after that?" I asked in a gentle voice.

  His eyes shifted around, likely trying to hide his real agenda. "Get even stronger, of course. I have to become a King." he said in a white lie. I knew those very well.

  "Maybe you heard, or at least the Divine Elder than brought you here did. King Ji and King Shuang also joined my Tower, to become stronger. In a few days, they are requested to join the Libra Army and will go to fight in the void battlefield. Thus, a King becomes a simple soldier, called as levy." I said while taking advantage of his weak cultivation to flick a Soul pill into his mouth.

  He waited for a minute for the pill to dissolve and spread into his body, then opened his eyes. "What pill was that? Tower Master..." Disciple Luxian added as an afterthought.

  "That was a Perfect Xiantian Soul pill. Made it myself. Feels good, right?" I wondered in a curious tone.

  "...Perfect? That's..." Disciple Luxian stammered a bit surprised.

  "I know. No backlash, no toxins. Pure growth. I doubt many sects have such pills." I said in a confident tone.

  "Isn't it expensive?" he asked looking around again.

  "It is. So, in exchange I will need you to recruit a hundred girls of good families. And if you do, you will get another pill, also a Perfect one." I proposed with a clear voice.

  The boy looked around again, finding a single girl, Miss Lin, among all the Tower's cultivators.

  "I get it, Tower Master. Recruit a hundred girls, and more boys will join too...good plan." Disciple Luxian said in a sneaky voice.

  Well, he wasn't wrong, but wasn't right either. "You have three days." I added in a friendly voice, then shifted back into the Inner Tower.