Chapter 1905: Deadlock

These massive bricks were extraordinarily large, each one gleaming with a lustrous, jade-like smoothness, clearly the product of special refinement.

Not only did they instantly seal the breach, but under the incantations of the airborne cultivators, a flash of light between each brick caused them to merge seamlessly, as if they had always been one.

But that wasn’t all!

As the city wall’s gap vanished, some of Yitian City’s towering buildings, hundreds of feet high, suddenly blurred, their surfaces densely covered with countless runes.

The runes swirled and instantly formed intricate arrays of varying sizes. With a thunderous roar, these structures miraculously transformed into colossal earthen puppets.

Each puppet had a vague, indistinct face with only a single massive eye, yet they possessed fully formed limbs.

In the cavernous, house-sized hollows at their navels, several human cultivators could be faintly seen standing in a seven-star formation, holding strange artifacts with tense expressions as they channeled something.

The giants suddenly roared skyward, then leaped into the air. In just a few strides, they reached the sky above the city wall and, without hesitation, rubbed their hands together violently.

A frigid gale erupted, countless blue specks of light materializing within the wind and converging into their palms.

In the blink of an eye, crystalline ice spears, each a hundred feet long, appeared like towering pillars. The puppets seized them and hurled them downward with tremendous force.

Deafening explosions erupted!

The ice spears vanished in flashes of deep blue light, only to reappear moments later above the approaching horde of super demonic beasts.

With violent spatial fluctuations, a thousand blinding blue rays shot out from the void, piercing through the mountainous bodies of the beasts before detonating.

The extreme cold within the spears, forged by some unfathomable power, instantly transformed into vast clouds of blue mist, freezing the already wounded beasts into towering, crystalline blue icebergs.

Their protective spiritual light offered no resistance whatsoever!

Thunderous cracks resounded.

Hundreds of crimson lightning bolts, as thick as water vats, tore through the thick demonic miasma above without warning and struck down mercilessly.

The crisp sound of shattering filled the air as the icebergs fragmented under the terrifying might of the lightning.

All the super demonic beasts were annihilated on the spot, their souls unable to escape.

Inside a hidden chamber within one of the earthen puppets transformed from Yitian City’s massive structures, several human Nascent Soul cultivators relaxed their grips on the objects in their hands.

These turned out to be crimson talismans, inscribed with countless golden and silver runes, exuding an air of profound mystery.

Yet the moment they left the cultivators’ fingers, the talismans dimmed and dissipated into wisps of smoke, their power completely exhausted.

Almost simultaneously, the human warriors on the city walls, having depleted the energy of their weapons, swiftly retreated.

In their place, ranks of human cultivators clad in four-colored battle robes densely crowded the battlements, summoning glowing magical artifacts that unleashed waves of multicolored radiance upon the approaching low-tier demonic beasts.

Wherever the light passed, the low-tier beasts were reduced to ashes.

The power of these artifacts far surpassed that of the human warriors’ weapons. With so many cultivators attacking at once, even if few were high-tier, the sheer scale of their assault was enough to shake the heavens and earth.

Without the cover of the super demonic beasts, the low-tier horde, despite their overwhelming numbers, was swiftly decimated.

As the super demonic beasts and the low-tier army faltered, the Wanxiang Demon Riders behind them remained unfazed, their demonic clouds surging forward at doubled speed with eerie howls.

Under the commands of their high-ranking leaders, the human cultivators on the walls redirected the focus of their artifacts’ power without hesitation.

The artifacts shimmered like celestial stars as they unleashed their might toward the distant demonic clouds.

*Thud! Thud!*

The demonic clouds churned violently, disgorging fist-sized black runes that swirled in the air, forming massive black arrays.

The rain of artifacts struck the arrays, causing them to tremble slightly, yet they held firm, absorbing the onslaught.

At that moment, the demonic riders within the clouds raised their hands, black energy coalescing into long black blades that they swung skyward.

Countless ten-foot-long black blade rays surged from the clouds like dark streaks of light.

A tremendous explosion echoed across the heavens.

Tens of thousands of human artifacts shattered upon contact with the black rays, bursting into multicolored sparks that illuminated the sky.

But that wasn’t all—the demonic riders beneath the arrays roared and hurled their black blades into the massive formations above.

The arrays shrieked, black light flashing as they condensed into enormous black blades, dozens of feet long, standing upright before slashing toward the city walls.

The blades pulsed with dark energy, unleashing thousand-foot-long black arcs that reached the battlements in an instant, slicing down without a sound.

An overwhelming pressure descended.

Human cultivators caught in the terrifying spiritual pressure panicked, many attempting to flee, but it was too late.

The black arcs flashed, reducing them to bloody mist.

The city walls themselves were cleaved apart, leaving hundred-foot-wide gaps.

Nearly ten thousand cultivators perished in that single strike.

Chaos erupted among the remaining defenders. Some gritted their teeth and intensified their attacks on the demonic arrays, while others hastily summoned defensive artifacts.

After the devastating blow, the black blades at the arrays’ centers dissipated into motes of darkness.

A cold howl erupted from one of the massive demonic ships.

Hearing this, the demonic riders’ faces twisted with savagery. With low growls, they spurred their mounts and shot forward as streaks of blinding black light.

Covering miles in mere moments, they ignored most attacks, their armor deflecting blows with black shields. Only those struck by too many artifacts at once were knocked from their mounts with agonized cries.

In moments, the ten thousand demonic riders reached the city’s protective barrier, hacking at it with their massive weapons, unleashing waves of black energy.

Their mounts joined the assault, spewing fire or launching wind blades from their horns.

Under such an onslaught, Yitian City’s defenses flickered wildly, on the verge of collapse within breaths.

It seemed the Wanxiang Demon Riders would breach the walls in a single charge, while the low-tier human cultivators’ attacks proved utterly ineffective.

The human earthen puppets, having expended their initial strike, reverted to their original architectural forms.

But from a thousand-foot-tall tower, a series of clear chimes rang out. Space rippled, and thousands of human cultivators materialized in the surrounding air.

Their expressions grave, they swiftly formed a massive array centered on the tower, standing motionless with bowed heads as they chanted incantations.

Multicolored spiritual energy surged from their hands, pouring into the tower, which glowed brilliantly before emitting a resonant hum.

In response, the ground outside Yitian City’s walls quaked violently, splitting open to reveal dark tunnels from which emerged squads of two-foot-tall bronze automatons.

Clad in heavy armor, they wielded halberds, carried powerful bows, or rode unnamed bronze beasts. Some even drove ten-foot-long bronze chariots, charging expressionlessly toward the demonic riders.

The demonic leader aboard the ship seemed momentarily taken aback before snorting and issuing another sharp cry.

Hundreds of demonic riders bared their fangs and surged forward to meet the automaton army.

One side was fearless and nearly indestructible; the other, ferocious and immensely powerful.

The two forces clashed, quickly becoming entangled in a chaotic melee.

Seizing this respite, dazzling streaks of light appeared atop Yitian City’s walls, resolving into thousands of high-tier human cultivators. With a collective shout, they unleashed a storm of treasures into the fray.

Though the bronze automatons were clearly outmatched by the Wanxiang Demon Riders, the arrival of the high-tier cultivators stabilized the battle, even gaining a slight upper hand with the support of the low-tier defenders.

Yet strangely, the demonic leader refrained from deploying the Jialun War Demons waiting in reserve.

Only after hours of fighting, when both sides had suffered losses, did a deep gong sound.

The demonic riders immediately disengaged, retreating in tight formations toward their ships.

Then, the Jialun War Demons advanced, their cold gazes fixed on the human forces.