Volume 1, Chapter 267 – The City Falls

Shi Lan glanced over it and did not rashly step forward.

With her cultivation, interfering in a battle between Nascent Soul Realm experts was far too dangerous. At the slightest mistake, her soul would be ground to pieces by the overwhelming power of their Nascent Souls.

Quite a few people noticed that Shi Lan had returned, and they could not help letting out a sigh of relief.

Boom!

A thunderous peal suddenly exploded, as if heaven and earth were splitting apart. The curtain of light shrouding the sky filled with cracks like a sheet of ice, then burst apart. The Xianwu Yin-Yang Grand Array, which had held on for so long, had finally reached its limit and shattered.

“Skree—”

“Skree—”

The flocks of avian demon beasts that had been kept a thousand zhang away by the array swept in like dark clouds blotting out the heavens and instantly drowned the sky as they dove into Xianwu City.

Shi Lan put away her battle halberd and drew the Thunderclap Bow. Drawing the bow and setting an arrow, she loosed a Shattering Void Arrow. It shot out like a thunder dragon bursting from the sea, shredding swath after swath of hawks and falcons, but compared to the terrifying number of flying beasts, it was no more than a drop in the bucket.

At present, most of the martial artists in Xianwu City were on the city walls. Inside the city were mostly mortals, or the old, weak, sick, and wounded who had little combat strength left. In the blink of an eye, countless lives were lost.

Shi Lan’s heart tightened. There were no real experts left in the Shi Residence now. It was highly likely that disaster and bloodshed would strike there.

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Most of the blood-soaked martial artists on the city wall stopped wielding their magical treasures and divine weapons, then, without the slightest hesitation, lunged toward Xianwu City.

The walls were almost instantly lost, and great swarms of beasts poured into the city right behind them.

High in the sky, the power of the laws had woven itself into an impenetrable net. The Heaven-Men and Heaven Demons had almost killed until their eyes were red, and none of them had any spare attention to care about what was happening below.

Among the Demon-Suppressing Army were many newcomers like Shi Lan who had joined only recently. Their homes were in Chengtian Domain itself, and they still had family in Xianwu City. At that moment, they too could not help stopping their weapons and looking toward the city. Some even followed those martial artists who had already turned back and rushed toward the city.

At the sight of this, the Demon-Suppressing Generals at the Nascent Soul Realm and above almost immediately drew personnel from the ranks and formed enforcement squads.

“Any member of the Demon-Suppressing Army who retreats… shall be killed without mercy! Punishment by implication for all three clans!”

The enforcement squads did not go to stop the martial artists from the various other factions. First, the Demon-Suppressing Army simply did not have numbers comparable to those martial artists. If they tried to stop them by force, they would never succeed and would only add to the casualties. Second, once those people broke away from the army formations, they could very easily cause the formations to collapse completely and create a rout that would bury the entire Demon-Suppressing Army here.

Once one joined the Demon-Suppressing Army, one carried an extra duty on one’s shoulders. Leaving it again was no easy matter.

Shi Lan frowned slightly and halted her steps toward the city. After a moment’s hesitation, she gritted her teeth and returned to the army formation. If she forced her way back now, the result might be even worse.

The enforcement squads showed no mercy at all. They beheaded nearly a hundred men in succession, stabilizing the formation that had almost fallen apart.

Though the formation had stabilized again, the Demon-Suppressing Generals had no intention of stubbornly defending to the bitter end. They were isolated and without support, and now that the city had been breached, there was no point in dying to hold a stretch of wall. Falling back into the city and relying on the various defensive arrays scattered throughout it to contend with the demon race was the wiser course.

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The army formation crushed countless demon beasts beneath it and slowly withdrew toward the city, trampling over flesh and bone.

When Shi Lan returned to the formation and sensed that it meant to retreat, she could not help letting out a breath of relief. As long as they were not being left here to fight to the death, there was still a sliver of hope.

“General Bai hasn’t broken free yet! How can we retreat?”

A furious shout rang out, though against the overwhelming beast roars it sounded incomparably faint.

Shi Lan lifted her eyes and saw Bai Weiyang trapped deep within the beast tide, his situation fraught with danger.

Crack—bang!

Bai Weiyang raised his hand and killed a transformed Demon King with a single stroke of his sword. Before he even had time to catch his breath, the four-chi jade sword in his hand let out a low cry and then shattered inch by inch.

At the sight, Bai Weiyang tightened his fingers around the hilt, and an uncommon trace of sorrow flashed through his eyes. That sword had been with him since childhood, at his side day and night, and it had long since developed sentience.

The sword had shattered, and its spirit had died. He had lost a friend bound to him through life and death.

Several Demon Kings, along with a few Nascent Soul great demons, had imperceptibly dragged Bai Weiyang deep into the beast horde and far from the army formation. Looking in any direction, all one could see was the beast tide.

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At the instant Bai Weiyang’s sword blade shattered, Yan Mobei, who was in the sky battling several Heaven Demons, seemed to sense something. He lowered his gaze, and when he saw Bai Weiyang’s plight, he frowned and wanted to go to his aid.

But there were four or five Heaven Demons hemming him in. For the moment, he simply could not break free.

Though his sword was broken, Bai Weiyang did not draw another weapon. Everything he had cultivated in his life was in that single sword. He had nothing else.

The Demon Kings and Nascent Soul great demons surrounding him could not help having their eyes light up.

Bai Weiyang lowered his head slightly, tucked the remaining sword hilt into his robe, glanced once at the distant army formation, and then, with resolute eyes, ignited the Human Emperor blood within his body without the slightest hesitation.

A blood-colored sword mark appeared between his brows. His fair, jade-like skin instantly turned crimson, and tiny blood-red swords as fine as ox hair burst through his body one after another. The terrifying aura of his bloodline suppressed everything in all directions and even alarmed the mighty experts battling above.

“Cut!”

Bai Weiyang’s bloodshot eyes held not the slightest trace of emotion. He formed a sword with two fingers and pointed from afar.

The blood-red swords shot out with a howl and swelled violently against the wind. In the blink of an eye, they turned into a sea of bloody swords that enveloped several Demon Kings and even one Nascent Soul great demon.

As the sword qi screamed through the air, it tore open the void. The Demon Kings had no power to resist whatsoever and were instantly riddled like sieves by the blood-red sword qi, their souls destroyed along with their bodies. That Nascent Soul great demon lasted only a few breaths more before the blood-red sword qi crushed it into bloody paste.

After that sword strike, Bai Weiyang’s steps turned unsteady and his body swayed, clearly having spent too much strength. He had very little combat power left.

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The remaining Demon Kings around him exchanged glances. For a moment, they hesitated and did not advance.

The Demon-Suppressing Army formation did not pause for even an instant because of that furious shout. It continued to withdraw slowly. One Demon-Suppressing General and several million soldiers of the Demon-Suppressing Army—there was no need to compare which mattered more.

Shi Lan’s gaze sharpened, and she stopped in place, weighing the choice.

With her cultivation, charging in would be little more than seeking death. Even though her combat strength far exceeded others of her realm and she had the ability to fight above her level, her chances of surviving were minuscule. But Bai Weiyang had treated her well. Shi Lan could not simply stand there and watch him die.

“At worst, I have only a few decades of lifespan left anyway.”

A few breaths later, Shi Lan shook her head slightly and stepped out of the army formation.

Boom!

A figure fell like a meteor and crashed down not far from Bai Weiyang, sending up a vast cloud of dust.

When the dust cleared, it revealed a nonhuman figure nearly three zhang tall, with pointed ears, beast pupils, and ghastly white fangs. Its aura was as deep as the sea and the abyss, even more terrifying than that of a Nascent Soul great demon. It was unmistakably a Heaven Demon that had already transformed into a half-demon form.

“Get lost!”