Chapter 80: Defending the City (Part Two)

Upon hearing this, Wang Changsheng and the others looked up to see a flock of enormous red demonic birds swooping down towards their position.

These demonic birds resembled large roosters from the mortal world, possessing three legs, two dark red fleshy crests on their heads, and several red scales on their necks. They breathed scarlet flames from their mouths.

"Flowery Scaled Rooster-Crested Beasts!"

Flowery Scaled Rooster-Crested Beasts are a common type of demonic bird found in the Hundred Beasts Mountain Range. Despite "Beast" being in their name, they are indeed demonic birds. Their meat is delicious and highly favored by spiritual chefs.

Flowery Scaled Rooster-Crested Beasts are not particularly strong, but they possess a strong reproductive capability, appearing in numbers ranging from dozens to hundreds.

Over a hundred Flowery Scaled Rooster-Crested Beasts swooped down, flying incredibly fast and breathing finger-thick scarlet flames from their mouths. The combined power of a hundred such flames was astonishing; over a dozen spiritual artifacts were incinerated into molten iron by them.

Lu Qian pulled out a dazzling golden talisman. Judging by the astonishing spiritual energy emanating from it, it was clearly a second-tier talisman. With a flick of his wrist, the golden talisman flew out of his hand and successfully passed through the two-colored barrier.

With a muffled bang, the golden talisman exploded, transforming into hundreds of foot-long golden short swords that surged forward, vying to strike the incoming Flowery Scaled Rooster-Crested Beasts.

A series of piercing screams erupted as dozens of Flowery Scaled Rooster-Crested Beasts were impaled by the golden short swords and fell from the sky.

Wang Ruyan put away her azure pipa. With a flip of her delicate hand, a foot-long emerald flute appeared in her grasp. Accompanying a low flute melody, a hazy azure sound wave flew out from the emerald flute, swiftly sweeping towards the Flowery Scaled Rooster-Crested Beasts.

The demonic flames breathed by the Flowery Scaled Rooster-Crested Beasts dissipated upon contact with the azure sound wave.

Wang Changsheng seized the opportunity, flicking his fingers repeatedly. Several white lights shot out, two of them striking the heads of two Flowery Scaled Rooster-Crested Beasts. Their heads quickly froze, blinding them and causing them to collide with other Flowery Scaled Rooster-Crested Beasts.

At the same time, Wang Mingzhan and the others were not idle, either unleashing powerful spiritual artifacts or casting spells.

The demonic beasts charged forward relentlessly, as if fearless of death, desperately attacking the two-colored barrier. The Nine Palaces Eight Trigrams Formation was, after all, a third-tier defensive array with extremely strong defensive capabilities. Most of the attacking demonic beasts were first-tier, unable to break through the formation.

As time passed, one first-tier demonic beast after another perished beneath the walls of Xianyuan City. The air was filled with a strong smell of blood.

Wang Changsheng's spiritual power was depleted, and his squad had retreated, replaced by other squads. Lu Qian distributed ten spirit stones to each Qi Refining cultivator, instructing them to absorb the spiritual energy from the stones to restore their spiritual power as quickly as possible.

"Senior Lu, can we hold Xianyuan City?" a rogue cultivator asked with some concern. "There are too many demonic beasts, and these are just first-tier ones. When the second-tier demonic beasts arrive, the intensity of the attack will likely be even greater."

"We can definitely hold it," Lu Qian said confidently, encouraging Wang Changsheng and the others. "When Xianyuan City was first established, this situation was considered. The four sects jointly created a treasury, storing a vast amount of treasures. Currently, only first-tier demonic beasts are attacking Xianyuan City, so we won't use the treasury's items so soon. Don't hold back; once the demonic beasts are repelled, Senior Wang will reward you according to your contributions.”

"First, first-tier demonic beasts, then second-tier ones. It seems there are third-tier demonic beasts commanding them, right? I wonder how many there are." A hint of worry appeared in Wang Ruyan's beautiful eyes.

"The four sects regularly clear out the Hundred Beasts Mountain Range, so even if some third-tier demonic beasts have evaded detection, there shouldn't be too many. Senior Wang has already used the communication array to notify the four sects, and their Golden Core cultivators will arrive soon. The premise is that we must hold Xianyuan City. Senior Wang possesses immense abilities; otherwise, he wouldn't have been sent to guard Xianyuan City, so rest assured.”

"By the way, young friend Wang, which cultivation family do you hail from? You've managed to cultivate several basic spells to the Grand Completion realm. Few people nowadays spend significant time cultivating spells, as talismans or spiritual artifacts can easily achieve the same effect.”

"We are disciples of the Wang Family from Qinglian Mountain in Ning Prefecture. Our Wang Family is a small one, Senior Lu, so you likely haven't heard of us. However, Fairy Wang comes from the prestigious Wang Family, a major cultivation clan, and is skilled in musical arts. Fairy Wang eliminated many demonic beasts just now, and we are all deeply impressed.” Wang Mingzhan, concerned that Lu Qian might assign Wang Changsheng the heavy responsibility of dealing with the demonic beasts, began praising Wang Ruyan instead.

"It was just the spiritual artifact being powerful; it doesn't warrant such praise from Fellow Daoist Wang.” Wang Ruyan said humbly, her tone somewhat indifferent.

Lu Qian smiled faintly, about to say something, when someone suddenly shouted, "The second-tier demonic beasts are here! Quickly, everyone!”

"Oh no, the second-tier demonic beasts are here! Quick, everyone, follow me up!”

Wang Changsheng and the others did not dare to delay, following Lu Qian back to the city wall.

One second-tier demonic beast after another charged towards Xianyuan City. Most noticeable was a pack of over two hundred earth-yellow demonic wolves, with more than a dozen of them being second-tier. Demonic wolves, demonic tigers, giant pythons, and other demonic beasts rushed towards Xianyuan City from all directions. The ground shook violently, creating a terrifying momentum.

These were just the ground-based demonic beasts. In the sky, over a thousand demonic birds, led by dozens of second-tier demonic birds, plunged down towards Xianyuan City. They either unleashed wind blades or breathed flames, attacking the two-colored barrier. Continuous explosions rattled the two-colored barrier, causing it to shake violently and its light to dim.

Wang Changsheng and the others all took action to deal with the second-tier demonic beasts. Second-tier demonic beasts were much harder to deal with than first-tier ones. Even with over a dozen spiritual artifacts focusing their attacks on a single second-tier demonic beast, they failed to kill it. Instead, the spells unleashed by the second-tier demonic beasts destroyed some of the cultivators' spiritual artifacts and magical tools.

Wang Yangming, who had been guarding the city wall, saw the second-tier demonic beasts begin their assault, and his expression grew increasingly solemn. Whether Xianyuan City could be held depended on whether they could withstand the attacks of the second-tier demonic beasts.

"Don't hold back. All four factions, simultaneously unleash your treasures to kill as many second-tier demonic beasts as possible, crush their arrogance, and boost our morale.” Soon, Wang Yangming's order was relayed.

Wang Yangming divided Xianyuan City into four regions: East, South, West, and North. Each of the four sects was responsible for one region. Any region that was breached first by the demonic beasts would face severe punishment, while the region that eliminated the most demonic beasts would receive substantial rewards.

The western section of the city was overseen by disciples of the Qingyang Sect. They subdivided this area into multiple smaller sections, forming numerous teams with the Qingyang Sect's Foundation Establishment cultivators as the core and other Foundation Establishment cultivators as support, to resist the demonic beasts' assault.

Xiao Feng, a disciple of the Qingyang Sect's Sect Master, was responsible for recruiting disciples in Xianyuan City and also managed the western defense sector. Xiao Feng being sent to Xianyuan City to recruit disciples naturally meant he possessed considerable skill.

Upon receiving Wang Yangming's order, Xiao Feng and nine other Qingyang Sect disciples each took out a watermelon-sized golden orb, covered in intricate patterns. Xiao Feng and the other Qingyang Sect disciples exchanged glances and nodded to each other. They then threw their golden orbs forward and each cast a hand seal upon them.

After a series of mechanical noises, the ten golden orbs rapidly expanded, transforming into ten enormous puppet beasts. These ten puppet beasts represented different forms: tiger, human, lizard, ape, turtle, giant python, mantis, black eagle, fire crow, and elephant. The most striking among them was the humanoid puppet. The humanoid puppet was entirely golden, over ten zhang tall, and wielded a dazzling golden spiked club in its left hand, presenting a formidable appearance. Each of these ten puppet beasts was a top-grade second-tier, possessing immense power.

The ten Qingyang Sect disciples, led by Xiao Feng, controlled the ten top-grade second-tier puppet beasts and charged towards the incoming second-tier demonic beasts.