Invasion of Red Rock

One hour later.

Three hundred thousand armored soldiers surged out of the city and headed north. The earth trembled violently under the iron hooves of the warhorses, and the murderous aura condensed into blood clouds, obscuring the rising sun.

Chen Fan rode a magnificent Eighth-Order Armored Scale Horse, leading the entire army, with the black and red Fire Crow Battle Banner and the Xuanming City Blackwater Heavy Banner behind him.

Black Wind Gorge is a narrow passage, with howling winds.

The army swept through the canyon like a giant steel python, and as they looked into the distance, the towering city walls of Red Rock Main City boulders, came into view.

The alarm bells of Red Rock City rang from dawn until late morning without stopping.

The nine massive bronze bells, each weighing ten thousand catties, were struck with all their might by the defending soldiers. The sound carried for miles, yet it sounded like a death knell, each chime more muffled and more desperate than the last.

On the city wall, more than 40,000 defenders stood in formation, their long halberds and crossbows trembling.

It's not because of the cold.

Red Rock City on the mountainside of an active volcano, where the earth's spiritual fire burns year-round, keeping the city's temperature as high as midsummer.

They trembled because of the endless torrent of black armored soldiers below the city.

Three hundred thousand.

Three hundred thousand heavily armored cavalrymen formed twelve massive steel formations, stretching from the Black Wind Gorge all the way to the moat of Red Rock City.

Warhorses snorted and paved the ground with their iron hooves; the neighing of hundreds of thousands of wild beasts merged into a low-frequency rumble, and the ground never stopped trembling.

The Xuanming City's Blackwater Heavy Banner and the Fire Crow Tribe's black-and-red-patterned battle banners were arranged alternately, fluttering in the morning breeze.

At the very front of the army, a Seventh Rank Armored Scale Horse carried a slender young man as they slowly approached the moat.

This was originally the mount of the Profound Nether City Lord, but now it has become Chen Fan's own mount.

The boy carried a chipped, broken Broken Saber on his shoulder, and chewed on a blade of grass he'd somehow acquired, as if he were admiring the scenery rather than preparing for battle.

The commander of the defending troops on the city wall gripped the battlements tightly with both hands, his knuckles turning white.

Ten years old.

The guy leading the group opposite them was only ten years old.

Yet this ten-year-old brat, just half a month ago, cleaved three Eighth-Order Peak ancestors of Red Rock City in two with a single strike, and carried their heads to the Profound Nether Main City for a "tea" (a euphemism for a visit to the city).

Now, they have brought 300,000 iron cavalry to the city gates.

"Where is Flame Venerable? Where is the Ancestor?!" The garrison commander roared as he turned around, his voice distorted.

Before the words were finished, a crimson streak of Stream of Light shot into the sky from the direction of the City Lord's Mansion.

A wave of scalding heat swept across the city wall, forcing the garrison commander to take three steps back. He raised his hand to shield his eyes before he could barely make out the figure.

A gaunt old man dressed in a dark red robe stood in mid-air, his white hair moving without wind, and visible lava currents surrounding his body.

Flame Venerable.

The last peak Eighth-Order Peak ancestor of Red Rock City, and also the sole pillar of the entire main city at this moment.

He looked down at the boy below the city wall, who was chewing on a blade of grass, his eyes almost overflowing with bloodlust.

No nonsense.

Flame Venerable bit his tongue, spraying a mouthful of his Lifeblood Essence, mixed with golden threads, onto the core of the great formation.

"Red Earth Molten Gold Formation - Activate!"

At the base of the city wall, countless ancient array patterns lit up, and the ground within a radius of ten miles of Red Rock City suddenly cracked, with scalding magma gushing out from the fissures.

Driven by the essence of blood, the ancient Protective City Formation was fully awakened, and a thousand-foot giant formed from lava and crimson gold rose from behind the city wall.

The giant was clad in armor forged from volcanic rock, his eyes were two blazing white flames from the earth's core, and the lava beneath his feet flowed into rivers, the heat waves distorting half the sky.

The figure of Flame Venerable embedded itself in the core of the giant's chest cavity, man and formation becoming one, and his aura surged.

Half-Step Ninth Tier.

Behind the Xuanming army, Tuo Ba Lie tightened his grip on his spear, and Gu Yuan's breathing became heavy.

This old guy is risking his life.

The thousand-foot-tall lava giant raised its right arm, its crimson-gold fist radiating a destructive heat powerful enough to evaporate a great river. With an aura that could shake mountains and rivers, it crashed down on the ten-year-old boy below the city.

Wherever the fist passed, the air was burned into a vacuum, and the moat evaporated instantly.

The warhorses of the 300,000 iron cavalry neighed violently in unison, and the faces of tens of thousands of soldiers in the front ranks were red from the heat, causing them to involuntarily rein in their horses and retreat.

"Stand still."

The boy's voice wasn't loud, but everyone present could hear it clearly.

Chen Fan spat out the grass stem in his mouth, took the Broken Saber from his shoulder, and casually swung it.

There was no build-up of momentum, no stance, and they didn't even dismount.

A gray and red blade of light tore through the blade and silently struck the thousand-foot-long giant arm.

It precisely struck the line connecting the giant's arm and shoulder armor, the line where the flow of lava Qi and Blood was thinnest.

Boom!

The explosion came a beat late.

The colossal arm, thousands of feet long, snapped off at its shoulder, transforming into a rain of fire that poured down upon Red Rock City, collapsing the rooftops of half a street.

The great formation shook violently, and Flame Venerable, embedded in the giant's chest cavity, let out a muffled groan, a golden line of blood spilling from the corner of his mouth.

He stared at his Lava Dharma Form, now missing an arm, his pupils contracting to their maximum.

"You..."

"You have violated the Great Wilderness Blood Oath Pact!"

The Flame Venerable roared fiercely, his voice carrying far and wide with the power of the great formation.

"Wars that annihilate cities are strictly forbidden between main cities! This is an ironclad rule that has stood for millennia! The Giant Spirit Main City will never stand idly by! If you dare to step into Red Rock City today, you will face certain death and the extermination of your entire clan tomorrow!"

Outwardly fierce but inwardly weak.

After listening, Chen Fan stuck the Broken Saber into the back of the scaled horse and looked up at the broken, thousand-foot-tall giant.

Then he laughed.

Laughter rose from low to high, echoing from the foot of the city to the top, and from the top back into the city, reverberating in every street and alley of Red Rock City.

"A pact?"

Chen Fan stopped laughing and pointed towards the city wall.

"When you three old bastards from Red Rock used the Three-Aspect Heaven-Burning Fragment to burn me, where was the alliance?"

"Where was the covenant when half of my body was burned away?"

The boy's voice was still not loud, but every word struck Flame Venerable's face, making it turn pale and then red.

"Alliance is made by the strong."

Chen Fan withdrew his finger and casually patted off non-existent dust from his body.

"Today, I'm here to revise it."

He turned his head and waved behind him.

"Come over."

Under the watchful eyes of 300,000 troops, a figure leaped out from the central army formation and landed steadily three steps in front of Chen Fan's horse.

The tens of thousands of soldiers guarding the walls of Red Rock City fell silent the moment they saw who it was.

Profound Nether City Lord.

The Lord of Xuanming, who commanded 300,000 iron cavalry, possessed twelve garrison cities, and had a Xuanming level of Half-Step Ninth Tier, knelt down with a respectful expression under the gaze of hundreds of thousands of soldiers from both armies.

Both knees touched the ground.

I prostrate myself in admiration.

His forehead slammed heavily against the cracked, scorched earth, producing a dull thud.

"This old servant greets his master."

The sound wasn't loud, but it was loud enough for everyone to hear.

On the city wall, the garrison commander's halberd slipped from his hand and fell, hitting his own foot without him even feeling the pain.

The eyes of the 40,000 defenders were about to pop out of their sockets.

The Profound Nether City Lord... knelt down?

Kneeling before a ten-year-old child?

He calls himself... an old servant?