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Alba was overwhelmed with emotion.
The sudden appearance of spatial coordinates and the summoning of the Demon Gate had caused him to lose his composure.
The origin of those coordinates was incredibly weak, forcing Alba to expend tremendous energy to establish and stabilize the spatial channel.
After exhausting a great deal of his strength, leaving him in a weakened state, he was suddenly bombarded by a missile.
Then, four humans rushed into the domain of the great demon lord Alba, swiftly repelling him and seizing control of the area around the Demon Gate.
Having weathered countless storms and witnessed numerous demonic battlefields, Alba was well aware of the current situation.
A counter-invasion!
He had been outmaneuvered by the humans of the Douluo Plane—they had launched a reverse invasion!
In theory, this scenario was possible, but with the spatial channel so fragile, Alba hadn't prepared for it.
Yes, it was too fragile.
Even after Alba's reinforcement, this channel could only accommodate beings at the Great Demon level.
However, Ya Li and her group of four demonstrated to Alba that even beings equivalent to Great Demons on this side could unleash power rivaling that of a Demon Lord.
"Damn humans!"
Alba roared in anger and charged forward, engaging Ya Li in a fierce battle for ten rounds.
After ten exchanges, Alba left behind a threatening remark and quickly retreated.
His nine strongest Great Demons had just stabilized the channel when they lost contact. Then these humans appeared, wielding power equal to his own—and worse, the leading woman's abilities were particularly repulsive. Alba knew deep down that he had suffered a major defeat.
Time to relocate again.
Damn it!
"The cultivators from the Douluo Plane must be soul masters, right? Have soul masters really mastered such techniques already?"
Under their combined efforts, four beings at the Great Demon level could unleash power equivalent to a Demon Lord?
"I need to get this information to the other guys as soon as possible."
One successful counter-invasion from the Douluo Plane was enough—they couldn't afford to give these people more opportunities to establish additional channels. Warning the other Demon Lords was absolutely necessary.
As experts in invasions, the Demon Lords of the Demon Plane were highly experienced.
When an invasion succeeded, they could spread demonic power across the entire world, conquer it, proliferate the demon race, and cultivate demonic strength.
Of course, there were also failed cases—these were far more common.
Among the failures, there was a rare category: being counter-invaded.
Currently, there were nine native Demon Lords in the Demon Plane, and each of them had experienced counter-invasions.
This wasn't uncommon.
After all, although life-bearing planets were rare in the vast universe, there were still quite a few. Among them, semi-planes were as numerous as grains of sand. The Demon Plane had invaded countless semi-planes and hundreds of life-bearing planetary planes.
This was the direction of the Demon Plane's development.
Yet, Alba—a quasi-deity level being—had managed to create a spatial channel spanning immense distances, all based on a trace of bloodline he had accidentally scattered long ago!
This was the innate talent of demons.
The root cause of Alba's easy counter-invasion lay in the low capacity of the channel and the fact that he, as a Demon Lord, had personally overseen it.
"Even beings at the Great Demon level can resist a Demon Lord if they pass through the channel. I need to warn the others—they can't afford to be careless anymore."
As experts in invasions, the Demon Lords shared a consensus:
Being counter-invaded was one thing, but being repeatedly counter-invaded by the same plane would lead to the collapse of the Demon Plane.
"Hmph, the Douluo Plane, huh? Soul masters, huh? How dare you invade the domain of the great Lord Alba! You'll taste the fires of hell!"
Alba declared that he no longer wanted to suppress the hellish passages on that side.
Watching the Demon Lord retreat decisively, Ya Li and the other three exchanged grave looks.
"They fell back so easily?"
It was hard to believe.
According to their earlier plans, establishing a foothold in the Demon Plane would require immense sacrifices. Simply displaying power equal to a Demon Lord shouldn't have been enough.
However, after a brief moment of concern, they quickly directed the many inner court disciples of Shrek to begin setting up a base in the surrounding area.
Soon, within a ten-kilometer radius around the channel, a massive soul-guided formation was erected.
The ambient energy of the Demon Plane was far too chaotic. If soul masters absorbed it carelessly, their internal meridians could be damaged.
The power of the golden ancient tree spread, enveloping the area within the formation. The tree filtered out some of the chaotic elements in the ambient energy, making it safer for the soul masters to absorb.
Though the energy here was still more turbulent than the natural energy of the Douluo Planet, it was much gentler than before.
Moreover, this slightly more chaotic energy had an exceptionally pronounced effect on tempering the body!
"Now, the golden ancient tree's power can recover rapidly," Xu Yuan thought to himself.
Its influence had extended even to the Demon Plane and could partially alter the environment. Clearly, the golden ancient tree could also devour and absorb energy from this side.
The energy it had previously provided to Xu Yuan and Tang Wulin had consumed half of its accumulated reserves over ten thousand years.
Now, connected to the Demon Plane, it would recover much faster.
It wasn't that the golden ancient tree was extracting the essence of the Demon Plane—at this stage, it was only absorbing stray energy dispersed between heaven and earth.
The reason for its rapid recovery lay in the method.
Previously, the golden ancient tree's accumulation came from fulfilling its "duties." While it gathered the forces of heaven and earth, creating an optimal environment on Sea God Island, its annual accumulation was actually limited.
This was akin to living comfortably but seeing slow growth in savings.
But now, absorbing energy from the Demon Plane was pure profit—directly plundered and funneled into its reserves.
There was no deduction by the heavens, nor did it need to nourish its surroundings. Everything it devoured went straight to its gains.
"Xiao Yuan, the environment of the Demon Plane is harsher than we imagined, but the benefits here far exceed our expectations. Thus, exploring the Demon Plane cannot wait."
Ya Li's expression was solemn.
Before the retreating Demon Lord launched a counterattack, they needed to gather information quickly and understand the situation in the Demon Plane.
From the way Alba had retreated so decisively, Ya Li felt an ominous premonition.
"After Elder Shu's modifications, the ambient energy here is remarkably effective for physical conditioning. However, exploring outside the modified area will expose us to the raw, chaotic energy of this plane. Absorbing it while distracted or injured could result in backlash."
"So, you want Wulin and me to explore?" Xu Yuan didn't seem surprised.
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