From the moment the giant serpent lunged out to its demise, only a few breaths had passed, leaving the soldiers and body refiners who had initially intended to assist utterly dumbfounded—though they quickly erupted in jubilation.
Given the astonishing display just witnessed, it was clear to all that Han Li was no ordinary body refiner. With such a formidable ally by their side, their chances of survival had skyrocketed. With a rallying cry, they turned their attention back to slaughtering the ordinary red-scaled serpents on the ground.
The battle between humans and serpents grew increasingly fierce, and the number of mutated giant serpents continued to rise.
Han Li wasn’t sure about other sections of the wall, but in the stretch he was defending, he had already slain five or six mutated serpents in a short span of time.
Learning from the tenacity of these mutated beasts, he ensured that every strike he delivered split the serpents into over a dozen pieces in a ghostly blur, leaving them no chance to retaliate.
With Han Li handling the mutated serpents, the other body refiners and soldiers could focus on the ordinary ones, making their task significantly easier.
However, the other sections of the wall lacked someone of Han Li’s terrifying skill. Amidst the chaos of hissing and tremors, mutated serpents thrashed and wreaked havoc. Only a few body refiners wielding heavy weapons dared to engage them directly, while most others struggled desperately.
Yet, Han Li’s effortless slaughter of multiple serpents seemed to draw the attention of the horde below. After several piercing shrieks, crimson shadows flickered, and three more giant serpents surged onto the wall, charging at Han Li with a foul stench in their wake.
Han Li’s brow twitched in surprise, but a cold smirk soon curled his lips. With a flick of his arm, he hurled his great blade at one of the serpents.
An ordinary thrown blade wouldn’t even scratch the serpent’s scales, but Han Li’s throw carried monstrous force, transforming the weapon into a razor-sharp divine artifact. The blade streaked through the air like a flash of cold light, piercing the serpent’s head and exiting its tail—slicing the beast cleanly in two.
In the next instant, Han Li’s figure blurred, splitting into two phantom-like figures that lunged at the remaining serpents.
A series of muffled booms erupted as golden light erupted across the serpents’ bodies, engulfing them entirely. The two figures flickered before merging back into one, the golden light dissipating just as swiftly.
The two serpents collapsed bonelessly to the ground, utterly paralyzed. In that split second, Han Li had shattered every bone in their bodies with precision force, rendering them immobile.
Nearby soldiers wasted no time swarming over the helpless serpents, hacking them to pieces.
With three more mutated serpents slain in Han Li’s section, the horde seemed to lose interest in this stretch of the wall, and no more serpents appeared near him for the time being.
This respite brought relief not only to the others but also to Han Li, who silently returned to his original position, keeping a wary eye on the skies.
Above the city walls, the stalemate between the cultivators and the leopard-winged beasts had finally broken, and a new development unfolded.
The barrage of feathered projectiles from the green mist suddenly ceased—apparently, even these demonic birds had their limits.
The human cultivators rejoiced, but before they could rally their spirit tools for a counterattack, the mist churned violently with eerie screeches. In the blink of an eye, it coalesced into an enormous, fog-like leopard-winged beast with emerald feathers and a savage panther-like head. With a flap of its wings, it surged toward the cultivators with overwhelming killing intent.
The cultivators paled in horror. Faced with such a monstrous beast, even the two late-Foundation Establishment pseudo-core cultivators dared not confront it head-on without knowing its strength. They scattered in disarray, hastily recalling their spirit tools to prepare for a brutal fight.
But what happened next stunned them all.
The mist-formed beast didn’t stop to attack the cultivators—instead, it shot past them like a meteor, plummeting toward the city wall below at terrifying speed.
“Damn it! We’ve been tricked—stop it!” The golden-robed man from the Golden Jade Sect bellowed, his face twisting in realization.
The other cultivators snapped to the same understanding, roaring in fury as they chased after the beast with their spirit tools.
But the colossal creature ignored their attacks, flapping its wings frantically as it descended.
Moments later, though half its body had been shredded by the pursuing spirit tools, it reached a spot just ten zhang above the wall. The gale-force winds it carried sent the human defenders tumbling, unable to stand.
Han Li gazed up at the encroaching green mass, his previously calm expression finally flickering with alarm.
By sheer misfortune, the mist-beast was heading straight for the section of the wall he was defending.
He cursed inwardly.
Against such a devastating attack, even mid-tier cultivators would struggle to survive, let alone ordinary body refiners. Though his fourth-layer Vajra Arts granted him formidable resilience, he had no certainty of escaping unscathed.
Without hesitation, his sleeve flicked, and a pitch-black orb rolled into his palm. But a flicker of hesitation crossed his face.
This Annihilation Pearl was his last resort against powerful foes. Using one now felt like a waste.
Moreover, he estimated that his fourth-layer Vajra Arts physique would likely spare him fatal injury—though severe wounds were probable.
These thoughts flashed through his mind in an instant. Resolving himself, he stowed the orb away and, instead of dodging, took a deep breath. His fists clenched, and golden light shimmered across his arms and face, turning his skin a radiant gold.
With a roar, he crouched slightly and punched the ground beneath him.
Though the strike was mighty, it was insignificant against the colossal mist-beast. Before its force could manifest, Han Li was swallowed by the green fog.
The mist-beast crashed into the wall with earth-shaking force.
Despite being specially reinforced, An Yuan City’s walls couldn’t withstand an impact comparable to a Core Formation cultivator’s strike. The ramparts shattered and collapsed in an instant.
As for the soldiers and body refiners on the wall, they no longer had anything to fear—they had already been crushed into paste by the beast’s descent.
Though the mist-beast perished alongside the wall, the thick demonic fog rapidly spread in all directions. Any human caught in it collapsed instantly, their bodies turning emerald-green corpses within moments.
Terrified, the nearby soldiers who had been rushing to seal the breach now scrambled backward in panic.
Simultaneously, strange cries erupted from the fog as swarms of leopard-winged beasts poured out. The red-scaled serpents waiting below raised their heads in unison before surging through the breach—strangely unbothered by the toxic mist.
Among the first wave were hundreds of mutated serpents, which easily shattered the hastily erected secondary barricade behind the wall. The serpent horde flooded into An Yuan City like a tidal wave.
Just like that, An Yuan City had fallen.
“Attack now! Seal the breach, and we can still save the city!” The human cultivators in the air were ashen-faced. The bald Core Formation pseudo-stage cultivator bellowed in frustration, urging his axe-like treasure toward the breach.
“Enough, Brother Wang. It’s too late. Even if the wall hadn’t collapsed, An Yuan City was doomed. The beasts would’ve broken through sooner or later.” The golden-robed man from the Golden Jade Sect interjected calmly, his gaze drifting toward the distant horizon.
“What do you mean? Wait—what’s that?” The bald man followed his gaze, and his face instantly turned deathly pale.
Beyond the serpent horde, plumes of yellow dust had appeared, accompanied by a distant rumbling like ten thousand galloping horses.
“Those… those are Sandworm Beasts! They must’ve come from the Green Luo Desert. This beast tide is a coordinated assault from four waves of demonic creatures. An Yuan City is truly finished.” A well-traveled cultivator gasped in horror.
The others’ expressions darkened.
Against such numbers, even a mid-sized city would struggle to hold, let alone a small one like An Yuan.
“Since it’s come to this, we must each act as we see fit. I have people to save—farewell.” The golden-robed man cupped his fists, summoned the Golden Jade Sect’s young disciples, and shot toward the city without a second glance at the beasts below.
“To think the Tian Yuan Region would lose its seventh city to a beast tide so soon. Once this is over, Tian Yuan City will surely investigate the cause—whether high-tier beasts were involved. We must report truthfully. I, too, must take my leave.” The bald man forced a bitter smile, exchanged a few parting words, and flew off in the opposite direction.
The remaining cultivators exchanged glances before scattering—some rushing into the city to rescue loved ones, others fleeing like the bald man.
Meanwhile, the yellow fog rolled closer, revealing massive insectoid beasts, each over ten feet long with crimson eyes and savage, grotesque forms…
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