Neltharion did not enter the camp of the captives recklessly. Instead, it took a circle around the north of the lone island. The perimeter of the northern half of the island spanned approximately ten kilometers, and the camp of the captives on the ground already had a coverage of almost three square kilometers. It was quite huge.

　　Three layers of obstacles had been established out of the captive camp.

　　The first layer of obstacles was made of frost thorns that could resist extremely low temperature. They interweaved with each other like countless icy pitons and constituted a high wall more than twenty meters tall. Whenever a captive was close to the wall, the thorns would extend out and shake like vipers.

　　Behind the frost thorns was a high-voltage electric web with bluish electric arcs flowing through thick wires. Occasionally, two electric arcs would collide, resulting in brilliant sparks.

　　Behind the high-voltage electric web were clusters of weird demonic plants, which, at first glance, appeared to be organs of a certain enormous demon beast. They were almost four floors high and bright blue with translucent lumps growing on them that were pulsating like hearts. The giant petals on their top were like bloody mouths that had been widely opened. The sharp thorns around the petals were as sharp as tusks. Deep inside the flower, icy mist was spurting out and congregated into a vague cloud in the air.

　　The weird demonic plants had been cultivated all around the captive camp with a span of hundreds of meters. The icy mist they generated enshrouded the captive camp and lingered.

　　In Li Yao’s experience, they probably possessed air-attacking abilities.

　　The frost thorns, high-voltage electric web, and air-attacking demonic plants that could spurt icy mist. Even if a captive passed through the three layers of obstacles, they would still find themselves surrounded by a gloomy, creepy ice ocean that was thousands of kilometers offshore. They could not run away even if they had grown wings!

　　However, they were still not the most powerful barrier of the captive camp!

　　In the middle of the frost thorns and the high-voltage electric web, a bronze pillar had been established every few dozen meters. Together, they seemed to be hundreds of giants in heavy armor that were eyeing all the captives coldly.

　　All the bronze pillars were carved with complicated, vintage runes.

　　Li Yao thought quickly. Judging from the style and the method of engravement, they were all ancient runes from forty thousand years ago.

　　The hundred and eight pillars integrated into an ancient array. Right. It must be an ancient array that was set up by Ba Yanzhi’s ‘Chaos Demons’ in order to confine certain brutal demon beasts, or even… the ‘Ultimate One Demons’!

　　Li Yao was greatly refreshed. Naturally, an ancient rune array was always made of ancient magical equipment and the most classical ancient spiritual stripes.

　　Analyzing ancient spiritual stripes, dismantling the ancient magical equipment, and cracking the ancient rune arrays were all his specialties!

　　It appeared that the ancient rune array was the pivot of the captive camp. If that was the case, he might be able to rescue all the captives after he destroyed the rune array!

　　Steering Neltharion, Li Yao scanned every pattern on the hundred and eight bronze pillars before moving into the captive camp prudently.

　　All the captives, be they human beings or demons, were confined with silver shackles and manacles on their necks, wrists, and ankles. There was also the weight that they carried for their training. Every lock was embedded with shining crystals that were surrounded by sophisticated spiritual stripes.

　　Although the locks were modern magical equipment that were newly made, the spiritual stripes on them were in the distinctive characteristics of the ancient Cultivators and apparently belonged to the same system as those on the bronze pillars.

　　It seems that the locks must work with the hundred and eight bronze pillars. Judging from the pattern of the spiritual stripes, such devices can trigger super powerful electric arcs, but it’s hard to say whether or not that are other mysteries to them.

　　Li Yao was going to observe more carefully when a riot suddenly broke out at the front.

　　As it turned out, some of the captives on the demons’ side had trained themselves so hard that a few broken pieces of ice had splashed to the human beings’ side and hit the head of a captive precisely.

　　There was grudge between the two sides of captives in the first place. Now, the tiny fuse immediately triggered an overwhelming fire. All the captives jumped to their feet and glared at each other across the invisible boundary, cursing and calling each other’s name.

　　Very soon, a brawny individual dashed out of from each of the two sides!

　　What was odd was that, the leader who walked out of the federal soldiers had a green face and long tusks. His body was dark, and his arms were exceptionally long, dangling down by his ankles and growing black scales. He also had a bone tail that looked like a long hammer in his back.

　　He looked even more hideous than a yaksha ¹ .

　　However, he was wearing a federal soldier’s hat on his head neatly. Although the hat had been riddled with holes, he had managed to patch it up and wash it clean.

　　At the center of the hat was a medal of the federal army. It was a red star surrounded by two silver dragons.

　　The guy who strode out of the demons’ side proudly, on the other side, turned out to be a handsome middle-aged man with a square face and broad eyes. Other than his chin that was slighting protruding and his canine teeth that bared out of his mouth, Li Yao could not see any features of demons on him at all.

　　Are those two guys on the wrong side of the boundary?

　　Li Yao scratched his head.

　　“Suo Chaolong!”

　　The ‘yaksha’ who walked out of the human captives and had a military hat on his head roared furiously, “What the f*ck is the meaning of this? You didn’t take enough of a beating last week, and you want me to blow out your newly grown molars again, right?”

　　“Han Tuhu, don’t make a fuss here. My guys only splashed a tiny bit of ice by accident when they were training. Your people were yelling and cursing first!”

　　The leader of the demon captives, who was the square-faced, middle-aged man, chuckled aloud. “You are crying for help when you were hit by nothing but a few scraps of ice. What a bunch of losers! No wonder you collapsed all the way from the Dark Desolate Domain to the Giant Blade Pass without even having the courage to fight back at all!”

　　“Hahahaha!”

　　Han Tuhu, who appeared to be a yaksha, laughed and spat on the ground brutally. His saliva was frozen quickly in the air and crashed into pieces when it hit the ground. “Collapsed without having the courage to fight back? Exactly. I wonder, who was it that threw all their belongings and fled all the way north from the Giant Blade Pass back to the Dark Desolate Domain when my ‘Flying Tigers Legion’ launched counterattack?”

　　Suo Chaolong, the leader of the demon captives, widened his eyes and bellowed, “It was the lowly black-blood demons and the chaotic-blood demons who fled! My ‘Blood Lion Battalion’ is exclusively made of the toughest bronze-blood soldiers and the noble silver-blood demons. We only made a strategical retreat because of the burden of the scumbags!

　　“After we reached the Dark Desolate Domain and were no longer burdened by the scumbags, did we not crush your ‘Flying Cats Legion’ as easy as pie?”

　　“Crush?”

　　Han Tuhu’s eyes, eyebrow, and nose scrunched together because of his fury. “You do know the arts of bragging well. You suffered as many losses as I did. In the end, we were fished up indiscriminately and brought to this freezing hell for the horrid experiments. Yesterday alone, yet another three of my brothers were killed. Three best brothers!”

　　“Pei!” Suo Chaolong spat on the ground, equally noisily. “It was only because the ‘Flying Cats Legion’ was biting us too hard and trying to perish together with us at any moment. That was too f*cking stupid! Two of my subordinates were killed yesterday, too. The day before that, four!”

　　Han Tuhu sneered. “You are merely answering for your own folly. When you invaded the Heaven’s Origin Sector, a ‘noble silver-blood demon’ such as yourself did not see this coming at all, did you?”

　　Brutality beamed out of Suo Chaolong’s eyes. “For the last time, it was not an invasion; it was a comeback! Our ancestors lived in the Grand Desolate Plateau a thousand years ago. We are the rightful owners of the Grand Desolate Plateau!

　　“Even to this day, the relics of the demon cities left by our ancestors can still be found on the Grand Desolate Plateau. Do you dare deny it?

　　“It was the cunning, sordid, greedy army of the Star Glory Federation that invaded the Grand Desolate Plateau! You destroyed our home and annihilated the vast majority of our ancestors. Only the most fortunate one percent were able to flee to the Blood Demon Sector through wormholes!

　　“If you are talking about an invasion, the federal citizens such as you are the really invaders! We are merely taking back our ancestral home a thousand years ago!”

　　“Your ancestors lived in the Grand Desolate Plateau a thousand years ago,” Han Tulu declared loudly, “but the ancestors of human being owned the entire sea of stars forty thousand years ago! The traces of activity of human beings left forty thousand years ago can still be found on the Grand Desolate Plateau! There are countless exhumed relics that can prove that. How are you going to justify yourself?”

　　Suo Chaolong laughed coldly. “Alright, let’s leave the history aside. In the past ten years, the crystal warships of the Star Glory Federation have been getting into the water like dumplings. Your productivity of crystal suits is even higher than a rabbit’s fertility. Your military budget has been increased by thirty to fifty percent every year. Do not even tell me that you are actually peace-lovers, merely trying defend your own home, and you never planned to invade the Blood Demon Sector!”

　　Suo Chaolong pointed at the medal at the center of Han Tuhu’s hat. “The one you’ve got is the ‘Level 2 Red Star Medal’ of the federal army, right? According to the ‘Military Credit Act’ of the federal government, those who receive a ‘Level 2 Red Star Medal’ will be given twenty acres of Level 5 land in the Blood Demon Sector.

　　“Hehe. The ‘Military Credit Act’ was passed a hundred years ago. Right now, it has gone through dozens of amendments. Almost every blade of grass and tree of the Blood Demon Sector has been divided!

　　“I know for a fact that a lot of Cultivation sects of the Star Glory Federation are purchasing the ‘future land’ on a large scale from the veterans who have enough military credit. There are even land futures and shares that are tradable on the market.

　　“If I may ask, how are you going to get your twenty acres of land if you do not invade the Blood Demon Sector? If it is nothing but an honor, do those Cultivation sects have nothing better to do than purchasing the ungrounded ‘exploitation rights of future land’?

　　“Therefore, just admit it. You want to swallow us as much as we want to swallow you. It’s just that the Blood Demon Sector took action first. Survival of the fittest is the law of the universe. Do not think that human beings are more righteous and lenient than demons!”

　　Blushing, Han Tuhu gnashed his teeth. “Do not compare the great civilization of mankind to the atrocious civilization of demons!”

　　Suo Chaolong was amused. He pointed his canine teeth and said, “After I was tortured dozens of times by the scumbags, I still managed to keep some of the features of the demons. As for you, are you even similar to a human being? Just look at your pathetic portrait in your pee! You are shameless enough to say ‘great civilization of mankind’?

　　“Hey, Han Tuhu. I’ve been meaning to ask you a question for a long time.

　　“Do you really think you are even a human being?”