Demons, stimulated by some unknown force, began attacking the demon beasts. The humans, seeing this as an opportunity, joined the demons in attacking the demon beasts.
Within a hundred years, the demon race's strength was halved. The turning point came when the Demon Emperor was attacked by the top-tier demons.
There were at least eighteen top-tier great demons at that time, equivalent to the Human race's Celestial Realm cultivators.
One could imagine the ferocity of eighteen great demons ganging up on a Celestial Realm Demon Emperor. The Demon Emperor died with great regret, but being a formidable figure, he detonated himself, inflicting varying degrees of damage on all eighteen great demons.
At that time, humanity had twenty-four Celestial Realm martial artists who launched an assault on the eighteen great demons, who were already weakened from fighting the Demon Emperor.
Having been injured in the prior battle against the Demon Emperor, they could not withstand the onslaught of the human Celestial Realm powerhouses.
After all, the blood qi of human martial artists had a significant advantage against demons.
That battle took place in the demon race's territory, shattering thousands of miles of land and rendering it lifeless for a century.
Ultimately, six of the eighteen great demons died, and two of the twenty-four human Celestial Realm martial artists lost their lives.
This was a pyrrhic victory for humanity. The demon race was severely weakened and began frantically capturing demon beasts for replenishment. A large number of demon beasts perished, and over hundreds of years, the demon race was annihilated.
Only ordinary wild beasts remained, no longer necessary for the demons to absorb.
Subsequently, the demons occupied the demon race's territory and began to recuperate. A hundred years later, they directly advanced into human territory.
The Ten Great Sects jointly issued a proclamation against the demons, summoning most of the martial artists from human territories to the border to resist them.
This war raged for three hundred years.
Three hundred years later, twelve great demons reappeared, and twenty-two human Celestial Realm cultivators also emerged to confront them.
This battle was a fight for survival. The demons launched a full-scale assault on humanity, unlike the previous skirmishes and small-scale conflicts.
This was a war where all demons participated. Humanity, sensing the unusual nature of this conflict, deployed nearly eighty percent of its forces to fight the demons.
The high-tier battlefield was where the Celestial Realm cultivators clashed with the great demons.
This battle lasted for three days and three nights, with both armies suffering heavy casualties. The high-tier battlefield, however, presented a different scene.
Twenty-two Celestial Realm martial artists fought against twelve great demons, resulting in approximately two humans per demon.
In this engagement, the number of great demons was reduced to eight, while humanity's number dropped to eighteen.
Both sides, severely wounded, sounded the retreat.
The eighteen Celestial Realm martial artists returned to their respective factions. Two of them suffered damage to their vital blood qi, their foundations were injured, and they succumbed to their wounds, having no choice but to pass away.
The remaining sixteen Celestial Realm martial artists, in conjunction with martial artists from various regions, gathered the blood qi of humanity to construct a formation that completely isolated human territory.
This defensive formation was created by the sixteen Celestial Realm martial artists' blood qi, which burned like the scorching sun, combined with the blood qi of humanity throughout the world.
It could effectively prevent demons from descending into human territory and even prevent them from entering.
After the grand formation was set up, several human Celestial Realm martial artists found their foundations irreparably damaged. Seeing no hope of recovery, they set out to locate the great demons.
The sixteen Celestial Realm martial artists launched another offensive, joined by human martial artists, initiating a full-scale attack. This war was meant to usher in an era of peace for future generations of humanity.
The twenty-four Celestial Realm martial artists, regardless of their past affiliations, as the ancestors of the Ten Great Sects, did not falter in the face of a threat to their race.
They were willing to sacrifice their lives, demonstrating the unwavering spirit of humanity. Despite any internal conflicts, they united against a common enemy.
This is because martial cultivators cannot harbor excessive cunning or treachery; otherwise, they would not achieve profound martial cultivation.
Much less reach the pinnacle of this world's cultivation realms.
This time, humanity took the initiative, led by the sixteen Celestial Realm martial artists, to annihilate the demons and push human territory forward by eight thousand miles.
This was not a push in a single direction but across the entire border where human and demon territories met.
The great demons could no longer remain hidden and appeared in full force, declaring war on humanity.
This time, humanity did not let a single great demon escape.
All eight great demons were slain, but humanity also suffered grievous losses. The great demons' final desperate counterattack cost humanity twelve Celestial Realm martial artists.
In the area where the eight great demons were killed, due to the various effects of the battle, all life was extinguished, and it took centuries to recover.
The remaining Celestial Realm martial artists continued to lead the human martial artists in combat.
After pushing human territory forward by ten thousand miles, they retreated back into human territory.
The remaining four Celestial Realm martial artists returned to their respective factions, all severely injured, knowing they would not live much longer. They gathered together and began to compile techniques and insights for slaying demons.
After the four of them completed a work titled "The Book of Demon Slaying," they returned to their factions and passed away.
Thus, the Ten Great Sects had no more Celestial Realm martial artists, and the entire human territory was devoid of such powerful beings.
Without the suppression of the topmost powerful individuals, and with the demon race crippled by humanity,
humanity's inherent tendency towards internal strife erupted. The Ten Great Sects vied for territories, and feudal lords emerged across the land.
A hundred years of contention followed, and the world's populace rallied under the Great Qin dynasty!
Thus, humanity's first dynasty, Great Qin, appeared. Emperor Qin, with his strategic brilliance, standardized writing and currency, unifying humanity.
He organized martial artists to construct the legendary structure of that era: the Great Wall!
A million martial artists were mobilized to build the Great Wall. Within decades, thanks to the involvement of transcendent martial artists, the Great Wall was constructed with remarkable speed. Some cultivators in the Guiyi realm even shattered mountains to obtain large quantities of stone for its construction, serving as a barrier against demons.
During this period, human dynasties continued to rise and fall until the current Great Gan.
Thousands of years passed. The formation established by the sixteen Celestial Realm martial artists had deteriorated, leading to the descent of demons and malevolent spirits into human territory.
Throughout this time, multiple dynasties attempted to repair it, but the formation diagrams had vanished without a trace, and the matter was put aside.
Gu Yuan listened to Guan Ye recount the past eras, his heart stirred. Those twenty-four Celestial Realm martial artists were indeed heroes of their time!