Chapter 469: Cruel War

The Myriad Beast Domain was a shattered world, refined by the Heavenly Secret with mysterious means into a secret realm, allowing cultivators from the Nine Provinces to enter and temper themselves.

As a shattered world, in its original history, Two Realms City would inevitably have fallen.

However, with the addition of cultivators from the Nine Provinces, the situation had shifted slightly. After all, there were at least eight hundred, if not a thousand, cultivators from the Nine Provinces who had entered the secret realm this time, and every single one was at the Cloud River Realm. Such a force was undeniably powerful.

At this moment, cultivators from the Nine Provinces had ascended various sections of the city walls, coordinating with the cultivators of the Myriad Beast Domain to defend against the enemy.

On Section A3 of the city wall, another thunderous roar erupted, causing the entire wall to tremble violently.

A dazzling beam of light pierced through several miles, slamming into the most densely populated area of demon beasts, instantly evaporating them into a bloody mist.

The Thunder Roar unleashed its power once more.

Cultivators from the Myriad Beast Sect and the Scarlet Flame Camp were also fighting valiantly. Under the torrent of spirit tools and magical spells, demon beasts fell one by one along their charge.

Below the city walls, demon beast corpses piled up like mountains. More demon beasts advanced over this mountain of corpses, fearlessly charging towards Section A3 of the city wall.

Lu Ye's arm was numb from wielding his saber. Beside him, both Lan Ziyi and Shen Xiaomao were panting heavily, their faces pale.

This high-intensity combat was unsustainable even for Cloud River Realm cultivators like them. Yet, the intensity of the demon beast siege showed no signs of diminishing. The overwhelming swarm of demon beasts seemed endless.

Even Xia Qianqian, a ninth-level Cloud River Realm cultivator, could no longer unleash attacks with her previous ferocity.

Each Cloud River Realm cultivator defending the city was nearing exhaustion. If the situation didn't change within half an hour, this section of the wall's defenses would inevitably fall.

Two Realms City had already made arrangements for this scenario.

A moment later, an inexplicable roar suddenly sounded, and Fang Zhun's voice rang out nearby: "Everyone, hold on! The formation is closing!"

Lu Ye looked up and saw that the protective grand formation, which had a gap open at Section A3 of the city wall, was now slowly closing. Clearly, someone was controlling the formation.

As the formation continued to close, the area where demon beasts could attack steadily shrank, making it much easier for everyone to defend.

Moments later, the grand formation completely closed, and a solid protective barrier of light appeared in front of everyone. All charging demon beasts were blocked by this barrier, unable to advance an inch.

On Section A3 of the city wall, the tense expressions of the cultivators relaxed. They slumped to the ground, but there was no time to rest. They quickly took out spirit pills and swallowed them to recover.

Simultaneously, on an adjacent section of the city wall, where the protective grand formation had previously been seamless, a gap slowly opened. Many cultivators were already waiting there, and as the demon beast army surged into the opening, a bloody battle began!

Faced with a demon beast siege of this magnitude, Two Realms City understood the principle that it's better to guide than to block. However, they couldn't fully open the protective grand formation; doing so would likely result in Two Realms City being instantly overrun by the demon beast army.

Therefore, they could only manipulate the protective grand formation to intermittently open gaps along various sections of the city wall, guiding the direction of the demon beast attacks. This approach allowed for more targeted defense.

While the cultivators on Section A3 had been fighting fiercely, those on the adjacent walls had been resting and conserving energy. Now, as the adjacent cultivators were fighting fiercely, it was the turn of those on Section A3 to recuperate and recover.

This alternating defense not only increased the margin for error but also significantly improved the cultivators' ability to sustain combat. One had to admit that whoever made these arrangements possessed a strong sense of strategic planning.

On Section A3 of the city wall, almost everyone was sitting cross-legged, recovering. Only Lu Ye sat before the Thunder Roar, observing the surrounding formations with great interest.

The formation master who set up this array was undoubtedly far more skilled in array techniques than him. Although Lu Ye, with his current proficiency, could also set up such a formation, he wouldn't be able to handle certain intricate details as well as the original creator.

Furthermore, he was very interested in this type of offensive formation that used a spirit treasure as its core. He had witnessed the power unleashed by the Thunder Roar on several occasions, and it could be said that the Thunder Roar positioned here accounted for at least thirty percent of the credit for Section A3's ability to withstand the demon beast attacks.

As he was studying, Xia Qianqian suddenly came over and sat beside him. "Why aren't you quickly recovering? What are you busy with here?"

"Just looking around."

While others needed to concentrate fully to recover, simultaneously digesting the effects of spirit pills and absorbing the spiritual energy of heaven and earth, Lu Ye never needed such a complicated process. He simply swallowed the spirit pills.

"Save some energy for yourself, don't fight too fiercely," Xia Qianqian reminded him.

"What do you mean?"

"This city won't hold. It will fall sooner or later. Have you thought about what to do after the city falls?"

"Does Fellow Daoist Xia have any advice to share?"

Xia Qianqian shook her head. "I don't have much to share. It's just that after the city falls, we'll probably have to flee."

Lu Ye frowned. "But now the entire Myriad Beast Domain is under the control of demon beasts. Even if we flee, where can we go?"

"That's why we have to leave before the city falls!" Xia Qianqian sighed. "I've experienced quite a few secret realms, but this one feels particularly unsolvable."

Humanity across the entire world was on the verge of extinction. Under such overwhelming circumstances, individual strength was truly insignificant.

"What are other secret realms like?" Lu Ye's interest was piqued. Unlike Xia Qianqian, who was at the ninth level of the Cloud River Realm, he was only at the second level. He would continue to operate in the Cloud River battlefield in the future, so gaining more experience from Xia Qianqian would help him better handle crises.

"The situations in each secret realm are different. And none of the secret realms I've experienced before were at a point where the entire world was heading towards destruction."

"I remember you said earlier that the training in such secret realms requires solving problems from their root, with the ultimate goal of resolving the crisis faced by the world and thereby saving it?"

"That's what's said, but the Myriad Beast Domain is currently facing frenzied demon beasts. I've observed that we don't even know why these demon beasts went mad. How can we solve the problem?"

Why did the demon beasts go mad? Everything happened too quickly. In just one year, an incalculable number of demon beasts across the Myriad Beast Domain suddenly succumbed to madness and began attacking humanity.

This madness, which most demon beasts couldn't resist, surely had a source. To solve this problem, they would need to find that source.

But where was the source?

The cultivators of the Myriad Beast Domain never figured it out, which is why the Myriad Beast Domain was shattered, became history, and transformed into a secret realm.

The only certainty now was that this madness was highly infectious, yet not instantly triggered upon contact. This was because the cultivators of the Myriad Beast Sect were fighting alongside their demon beasts, and so far, their beasts were all fine, showing no signs of falling ill.

Amber, too, showed no abnormalities.

"Don't overthink it. Given the current situation, we can only take things one step at a time. For now, focus on recovering," Xia Qianqian said again, then closed her eyes to meditate.

Lu Ye popped two more Origin Spirit Pills into his mouth and slowly chewed them.

Over an hour later, Fang Zhun's hoarse shout rang out: "Everyone, prepare for battle!"

The cultivators from Scarlet Flame Camp and Myriad Beast Sect, who hadn't fully recovered, rose to their feet, waiting vigilantly. The cultivators specifically responsible for the Thunder Beasts also quickly took their positions, activating the power of the formations.

The grand formation hummed to life.

On the adjacent city wall, the gap in the grand formation slowly closed. At Section A3, the tightly closed grand formation gradually opened a gap, and the nearby demon beasts surged forward.

Battle erupted once more!

With this defensive strategy, Lu Ye and the others had a chance to rest and recover every one to two hours. However, even with this, the cultivators' energy and strength were constantly being depleted. One or two hours of recovery time was simply too short to allow for a full recuperation.

The demon beasts had been attacking the city since noon, continuing through the night until dawn...

The cultivators on Section A3 and the adjacent walls had rotated five or six times, yet the intensity of the demon beast siege remained unchanged.

The Thunder Roar was temporarily out of commission; Lu Ye was urgently maintaining its formation.

Prolonged use had not only exhausted the cultivators but also damaged the formation. Fortunately, Lu Ye had previously observed how the formation operated, otherwise, he wouldn't have known where to start with the repairs.

It took a full half-hour to repair the Thunder Roar's formation, allowing it to unleash its roar once more.

A moment later, the grand formation closed again, and it was the turn of the cultivators on the adjacent wall to defend.

Lu Ye slumped to the ground. The brief period when the Thunder Roar's formation was inactive had been truly perilous; the defense line here was almost breached by the surging demon beast army. Fortunately, the cultivators resisted desperately, stabilizing the front line.

He didn't hear the voice of the cultivator named Fang Zhun, who usually shouted at his comrades to quickly recover during every break.

Lu Ye looked around, his gaze fixed on a demon beast corpse about a dozen zhang away. Before its death, the beast had opened its maw, its jaws having crushed half a skull. The person pinned beneath its body was none other than Fang Zhun!

The commander of the Scarlet Flame Camp had fallen in battle!

He wasn't the only one who had died. By now, the Scarlet Flame Camp had lost more than half its cultivators, and only six members of the Myriad Beast Sect remained.

Although Lu Ye and his three companions were not in mortal danger, everyone was wounded. Shen Xiaomao, in particular, had blood staining her clothes from a wound on her lower abdomen, and her face was pale. She was currently leaning against Lu Ye, staring blankly in one direction, unmoving.

She had experienced many dangers, having cultivated to the fifth level of the Cloud River Realm, but a battle as brutal as this was her first.

The cruelty of this siege battle far exceeded any scene she had witnessed before.

Amber, who had been crouching on Lu Ye's shoulder, suddenly twisted its body restlessly, emitting an indistinct growl from its throat. As a hint of crimson flashed in its amber eyes, it hastily leaped down from Lu Ye's shoulder.

Demonic energy surged, and Amber revealed its true form, its crimson eyes fixed on Lu Ye, who was close by.