Chapter 78: Siege

It opened its gaping maw and roared, unleashing a red sound wave that swept towards Liu Yuerong, who was closest to it. At the sound, the three felt as if their heads had been pricked by needles, and their spiritual consciousness was suddenly struck with an intense pain, leaving them unable to react. By the time they reacted, the red sound wave had already reached Liu Yuerong.

Liu Yuerong's beautiful face changed drastically, and her heart leaped into her throat. Just then, a blue light suddenly shone from her chest. It was a blue jade pendant, intricately carved with a lifelike turtle. The turtle seemed to come alive, opening its mouth to spew out a beam of blue light that transformed into a thick blue energy barrier, enveloping Liu Yuerong. Liu Hongguang, having a daughter late in life, doted on Liu Yuerong immensely. He had asked a Core Formation cultivator from Medicine King Valley to craft a protective magical artifact for her, which would automatically activate to defend her if it sensed danger. This artifact was Liu Yuerong's confidence in venturing deep into the Hundred Beasts Mountain Range.

The red sound wave struck the blue energy barrier, causing it to immediately indent. Its spiritual light flickered wildly and dimmed. Liu Yuerong also reacted at this moment. With a single hand seal, a dazzling five-colored spiritual light shone around her body, and an even thicker five-colored spiritual shield appeared close to her, forming a second layer of protection. In addition to the protective magical artifact, she was also wearing a high-grade magical armor, the Five-Radiance Armor.

The blue energy barrier flickered a few times before shattering, and the blue jade pendant shattered along with it. The red sound wave struck the five-colored spiritual shield. The five-colored shield flickered wildly and dimmed, and the red sound wave also dissipated.

The Flying Flame Tiger was about to use other abilities when a dozen Iron Thorns shot towards it, landing around its body and transforming into a dozen spiky brambles that entangled its limbs.

"Junior Sister Liu, quick, leave!" Nangong Chen shouted, quickly crushing an Earth Evasion Talisman. Enveloped in a yellow light, he vanished into the ground.

Liu Yuerong quickly took out a Fire Evasion Talisman from her pocket, crushed it, and her entire being dissolved into specks of red light and vanished.

Wu Tianhu also took out a Fire Evasion Talisman. However, before he could crush it, a deafening roar erupted. He felt as if his head had been pricked by a needle, his hand movements faltered, and a giant crimson fireball shot towards him, striking him violently.

"Boom!" With a loud bang, Wu Tianhu was incinerated to ash by the blazing flames. The crimson fireball was no ordinary flame; it was the demonic flame spewed by the Flying Flame Tiger. As an inherently fire-attributed demonic beast, its demonic flames became exceptionally potent after advancing to the third tier, which Wu Tianhu naturally could not withstand.

The Flying Flame Tiger looked at its mate's corpse and let out a mournful roar. A large expanse of crimson flames appeared on its body, burning through the brambles that entangled it. Relying on the continuous spiritual energy emanating from the stone cave, the Flying Flame Tiger had been able to advance to the third tier. It had not expected that while it was out foraging for food, its mate and offspring would be killed by humans. It wanted to avenge itself on humans, demanding blood for blood, tooth for tooth. Third-tier demonic beasts are equivalent to Core Formation cultivators. Although they cannot yet assume human form, they already possess a certain level of intelligence.

Exiting the cave, the Flying Flame Tiger spread its wings and flew towards the deeper parts of the Hundred Beasts Mountain Range.

On a flat piece of land tens of miles away, the ground became uneven as Nangong Chen emerged from underground.

"I wonder how Junior Sister Liu and Wu Tianhu are doing," Nangong Chen mumbled to himself. "Never mind them. Better a dead fellow Daoist than a dead me. It's more important to return to Immortal Fate City. As long as I report the news of the spirit stone mine, it will be a great merit."

The Flying Flame Tiger could fly, so Nangong Chen dared not use a flying magical artifact. He cast a Wind Control Art and sped towards Immortal Fate City. Before long, he vanished into the vast mountains.

Two hours later, roars of large demonic beasts echoed throughout the Hundred Beasts Mountain Range as tens of thousands of demonic beasts emerged from their lairs and charged towards Immortal Fate City. Cultivators hunting demonic beasts in the Hundred Beasts Mountain Range were the first to notice the anomaly. Except for a few who narrowly escaped, most cultivators met a tragic end in the mouths of the demonic beasts.

Wang Yangming was two hundred and thirty years old this year. He came from a scholarly family in Qufu County, Luzhou, a region known for its strong scholarly atmosphere where over thirty percent of the imperial court's officials hailed from. Wang Yangming began his education at three, and by five, he could fluently recite the *Three Character Classic*, *Hundred Family Surnames*, and *Thousand Character Classic*. By seven, he could recite all three hundred Tang Poems backward, earning him the title of child prodigy. At the age of ten, Wang Yangming accompanied his father to visit Liu Qingshu, the dean of Green Mountain Academy. Liu Qingshu, a steward disciple of White Deer Academy, discovered that Wang Yangming possessed spiritual roots and had a very strong "Haoran" Qi. With Wang Yangming's father's consent, Liu Qingshu brought him into White Deer Academy.

Most cultivation techniques practiced by White Deer Academy disciples required the aid of Haoran Qi. With his exceptionally strong Haoran Qi, Wang Yangming achieved twice the results with half the effort when cultivating Confucian sect techniques. Eight years after joining, he successfully entered the Foundation Establishment stage. He formed his core at ninety-five and was now at the fourth layer of Core Formation. He was responsible for guarding Immortal Fate City and was its only Core Formation cultivator.

Wang Yangming had been in Immortal Fate City for over a century, and during this time, no major incidents had ever occurred. This allowed him to remain in seclusion in his secret chamber, focusing on cultivation. One day, a sound transmission talisman flew into Wang Yangming's secluded cultivation chamber. Wang Yangming seemed to sense something and opened his eyes. He drew the sound transmission talisman into his hand and crushed it. A panicked male voice echoed: "Martial Uncle Wang, this is bad! A large number of demonic beasts have appeared outside Immortal Fate City, numbering in the tens of thousands!"

Hearing this, Wang Yangming was greatly surprised. He had been stationed in Immortal Fate City for over a century, and never once had there been a demonic beast siege. He dared not delay and immediately left his secret chamber.

Before long, Wang Yangming appeared on the city wall of Immortal Fate City. At this time, Immortal Fate City's gates were tightly shut, and hundreds of disciples from the four sects were gathered on the city wall. Each of their faces was grim. Wang Yangming could clearly see tens of thousands of demonic beasts charging from all directions towards Immortal Fate City, their target squarely the city itself.

"Junior Nephew Li, what's going on? Why are there so many demonic beasts attacking the city?" Wang Yangming asked with a grim face, addressing a handsome scholar in a blue robe.

"This disciple is not sure," the scholar in blue said with a bitter expression, his eyes filled with worry. "These demonic beasts, for some unknown reason, suddenly charged out from the Hundred Beasts Mountain Range. Martial Uncle Wang, please quickly ask the sect for reinforcements!"

Tens of thousands of demonic beasts were enough to level Immortal Fate City.

"Hmph, to be able to command so many demonic beasts to attack the city, there must be a third-tier demonic beast behind them," Wang Yangming stated calmly, issuing multiple commands. "Third-tier demonic beasts already possess some intelligence; without reason, they wouldn't actively attack cultivators. Someone must have provoked them. Immediately activate the Nine Palaces Eight Trigrams Array. Organize all cultivators above the fifth layer of Qi Refinement in Immortal Fate City to defend on the city walls. If we just sit by and watch so many demonic beasts attack, even a fourth-tier defensive formation won't hold. Furthermore, collect all self-detonating spiritual artifacts, magical artifacts, powerful talismans, and formations – in short, gather everything that can harm demonic beasts. We will compensate the shopkeepers afterward. Those who disobey will be executed without mercy. Also, use the third-tier communication array to notify the Four Great Sects and have them send Core Formation cultivators. I am the only Core Formation cultivator in Immortal Fate City; I cannot hold out for long."

"Yes, Martial Uncle Wang," the scholar in blue replied, acknowledging the order. He then descended the city wall with a dozen fellow disciples.

Wang Changsheng was in his room refining puppet beasts. After his spiritual sense increased, his success rate in refining puppet beasts had indeed improved. When the puppet beast absorbed the demonic beast's soul, this first-tier mid-grade puppet beast was successfully refined. He put away the puppet beast, opened his door, and walked out. First-tier mid-grade puppet beasts were in high demand and sold out quickly once placed on the shelves.

As Wang Changsheng came downstairs, an arrogant middle-aged man happened to walk in. The middle-aged man, holding a booklet, shouted loudly: "Listen up, everyone! Demonic beasts are attacking the city! All cultivators above the fifth layer of Qi Refinement, report to the west side of the city for duty. Those who disobey will be executed without mercy!"

"Demonic beasts attacking the city? For no reason at all, how could demonic beasts attack the city?" Wang Yaolong asked cautiously, his face full of doubt.

The middle-aged man gave Wang Yaolong a glance and retorted impatiently: "You ask me? Who am I supposed to ask? Quickly call out everyone in the shop. Anyone who dares to hide will be killed on sight. Involved shops will be immediately shut down, and involved families will not be allowed to open shops in Immortal Fate City. Also, all powerful spiritual artifacts and puppet beasts in the shop will be requisitioned, with compensation provided afterward."

Hearing this, Wang Yaolong dared not delay and quickly called out all the cultivators in the shop. The middle-aged man registered the names, ages, and origins of everyone in the shop. Both Wang Changsheng and Wang Mingcan were conscripted.

"Alright, you two, head to the west side of the city immediately," the middle-aged man stated coldly. "Roll call will be taken there. If you don't go, you will be severely punished. All shops of the Azure Lotus Wang family will be shut down, and you will not be allowed to do business in Immortal Fate City." With that, he turned and left for the next shop.