Turns Out, I’m In A Villain Clan! Chapter 380 Demonic Cultivators Join in!

By this time, a palpable shift had occurred in the mood among the Desolate Heaven Empire’s battalions.

The Beast Tide was no longer viewed as a world-ending disaster—not after Bai Zihan had transformed the slaughter into a literal harvest.

"Look at that!"

A junior cultivator spoke in hushed tones as Bai Zihan dispatched yet another Grade-9 beast with effortless grace.

"They are basically lining up just to be killed."

"Don't these monsters learn?" another snorted. "Piling up more corpses won't change their fate!"

"In all honesty, are we certain this is actually a High-Level Beast Tide?"

An inner disciple clutching a spear added his thoughts.

Laughter began to ripple through the ranks.

Even the austere Elders allowed small smiles to grace their faces.

During the previous encounter, the sheer scale of the swarm had left them paralyzed with fear.

But this time?

Observing Bai Zihan annihilate wave after wave of Grade-9 beasts allowed them to unwind—perhaps to a dangerous degree.

Some soldiers even began treating the carnage like a theatrical performance between their own strikes, shouting remarks that were nearly playful:

"Look, the next pack is approaching! Anyone want to guess how fast he'll wipe them out?"

"I'll wager my entire allowance on ten breaths!"

"Ten breaths? How dare you insult Young Master Bai? He'll do it in five breaths at most!"

The suffocating pressure that had weighed on them for days was finally evaporating.

Strictly speaking, they weren't under much strain to finish off the enemy themselves.

As long as they could hold the line, Bai Zihan would continue thinning the Grade-9 Demonic Beasts, making it simple for the Elders to step in and assist.

If the battle maintained this rhythm, an absolute victory was undoubtedly within their grasp.

But then—

A horrific sound sliced through the noise of the battlefield.

SLASH—SLASH—SLASH!

A series of sharp, violent cracks echoed across the eastern flank, followed immediately by fountains of blood and collapsing forms.

"AAAHHHHH!"

Agonized shrieks shattered the air instantly.

Cultivators who had been joking seconds ago were suddenly butchered—some were sliced clean in half, while others fell like marionettes with their strings cut. Severed limbs littered the earth.

A crimson mist hung heavy in the air.

The defensive formation buckled as dozens of Desolate Heaven Empire warriors fell before they could even identify the source of the attack.

A wave of panic surged outward as survivors scrambled back, eyes wide with terror at the slaughter unfolding in their midst.

Nobody could immediately process what had occurred.

The entire battlefield, already brimming with tension, seemed to grind to a halt.

Every head turned toward the eastern flank, where mutilated corpses lay in the dirt, their fresh blood steaming against the chilly air.

Then—

Thousands of strands of demonic Qi exploded outward like a blooming flower of death.

"Hehehe... such easy prey..."

"See how easily they break..."

"Carve them up—let not a single soul survive..."

The voices were shrill and dripping with insanity and bloodlust, sounding like shards of glass grating against bone.

A cold shiver raced through the hearts of the Desolate Heaven Empire's army.

In that moment, the truth became clear to everyone.

These casualties weren't the work of beasts.

It was Demonic Cultivators.

They had successfully infiltrated the battle, lurking within the shadows of the Beast Tide and waiting for the optimal moment to strike—and now, their wicked laughter filled the air as their dark silhouettes emerged from the murky haze.

They had arrived without a single warning.

Without a sound.

Without being detected by any sense.

Commander Wei Zongyuan’s face morphed from relaxed self-assurance into a mask of shock and rage.

"What... what were the scouts doing!?"

He bellowed, his Qi flaring out in a violent surge.

"How did a force of Demonic Cultivators this large penetrate our formation without—"

Commander Wei initially wanted to curse the scouts for their incompetence, but a sudden realization left him truly shaken.

If such a massive number of Demonic Cultivators had managed to sneak in, it meant that even the experts in the Immortal Realm had failed to detect them.

If the experts had sensed anything, a warning would have been issued long ago.

This implied that whatever technique they employed was capable of masking their Qi even from the eyes of an Immortal Cultivator.

Just then, a blood-soaked scout stumbled into the open, gasping for breath as he collapsed to one knee before the Commander.

"R-report!"

Wei Zongyuan barked, "Speak now!"

The scout’s voice was trembling violently.

"Commander... we—the forward units—we... we've just found..."

He gulped, visibly shaken.

Even uttering the next words seemed to fill him with dread.

"...massive groups of Demonic Cultivators... they have us surrounded on all sides."

Wei Zongyuan’s expression turned grim.

Who could have guessed that the Demonic Cultivators, who were nowhere to be seen, had managed to encircle them in the blink of an eye?

They knew the Demonic Cultivators wouldn't simply stand by and watch the Beast Tide be decimated again.

If they did, their long-standing schemes would come to nothing.

Though they had prepared contingencies for this exact event, Commander Wei Zongyuan could not suppress the gnawing anxiety in his gut—especially after witnessing how these enemies had drawn so close without detection.

Wei Zongyuan took a slow breath. Regardless, they had to execute the countermeasures they had established.

His voice suddenly boomed across the field like a clarion call.

"Reserve units—ADVANCE!!"

Every reserve force that had been held in wait surged toward the front lines.

"As I suspected," Wei Zongyuan hissed, his voice low and sharp, "the Demonic Cultivators weren't going to just watch their monsters perish."

He gestured broadly toward the encroaching demonic fog.

"They intended to use this chaos to grab the Desolate Heaven Empire’s lands... to usurp the title of the world's strongest power."

He let out a short, dry laugh.

"But they have walked straight into our trap."

Surveying his troops, his confidence returned.

After all, they possessed the elite of the Desolate Heaven Empire; there was no possibility of defeat.

Commanders began shouting orders, shifting the formation to handle a war on two fronts.

The atmosphere—previously lax and careless—snapped tight like a bowstring drawn to its breaking point.

Scouts rushed into their assigned spots.

Immortal Realm elders moved toward the front, though they did not engage immediately. They were obligated to wait for the Immortal Realm combatants from the enemy side to reveal themselves.

The reserves plugged the holes in the eastern flank where bodies were scattered across the grass.

Wei Zongyuan hoisted his blade high, his Qi radiating like a pillar of fire.

"Today," he thundered, "we shall eradicate both plagues of the Desolate Heaven Empire!"

His killing intent surged outward in an explosion of power.

"THE BEAST TIDE AND THE DEMONIC CULTIVATORS—"

"WE SHALL WIPE THEM OUT TOGETHER!"

The soldiers, though rattled, rallied with a fierce cry of agreement.

War drums began to pound from the rear lines.

Qi swelled like a massive, rising tide. The true war had finally begun!