The firelight on the city wall illuminated a hundred zhang into the distance, while beyond that hundred zhang lay pitch-black darkness, forming a sharply defined boundary between light and dark.
One by one, hideous, twisted figures crossed that boundary and charged toward Meishan County.
"Enemy attack!!!"
The piercing alarm spread throughout the entire city, rousing every person within.
Zombies were strong and fast, moving through the darkness like fish in water. Their speed increased by another thirty percent at night. They charged toward the city walls, leaping several times before driving their sharp claws into the bricks and scrambling up the walls.
It was not only zombies. Large numbers of evil ghosts were also heading toward the city. They were even faster than zombies, and they could travel through the air, flying straight over.
Li Yuan noticed that once these Evil Creatures approached within ten zhang of the city wall, countless fine runes suddenly appeared around their bodies. The runes flickered with phosphorescent light and radiated scorching pure Yang power. As they fell onto the zombies and evil ghosts, they instantly exploded into bursts of searing flames!
"Graaah—"
"Graaah graaah—"
The Evil Creatures immediately let out shrill screams.
This was Meishan County's defensive formation. Every city had a formation arranged by Spirit Masters, and the larger the city, the stronger its defensive formation.
Any sinister creature that approached the city would inevitably trigger a response from the defensive formation. Runes would appear and bombard the Evil Creatures.
The formation barrier was not limited to the city walls. It also enveloped the sky and the ground. Evil ghosts could fly through the heavens and burrow through the earth, so this kind of formation was primarily meant to defend against them.
The formation's runic bombardment was not particularly powerful. The Evil Creatures endured the tiny runes constantly exploding across their bodies and leaped onto the city wall, where they began slaughtering the people stationed there.
A zombie came charging toward Li Yuan, its entire body ablaze as it snarled. Li Yuan slightly furrowed his brows. Even if he ignored it, the zombie would be burned to ashes within several dozen breaths.
The Rune Soldier Longsword left its sheath. With a tremor of the tip, a deep-white Sword Qi shot out and cleaved the zombie in two!
The mangled corpse fell to the ground and stopped moving. The flames grew fiercer and would soon burn it to nothing.
Holding his sword, Li Yuan swept his gaze around. More and more zombies and evil ghosts were surging onto the city wall, and the martial artists and Spirit Masters who had been waiting there for a long time immediately clashed with them.
Spirit Masters were the most efficient at killing Evil Creatures. The spiritual arts they wielded were powerful and covered a wide area; a single strike could instantly kill dozens or even hundreds of zombies and evil ghosts.
Martial artists came next. True Qi Realm martial artists possessed formidable combat strength, and their true qi could leave their bodies, allowing them to easily kill a large swath of Evil Creatures.
Inner Force Realm martial artists possessed inner force and could likewise kill zombies and evil ghosts with ease.
The Body Tempering Realm martial artists were the ones who truly suffered.
They found it extremely difficult to kill even a single Evil Creature. That was the helplessness of their situation.
Cultivating inner force was no easy task. Take Zhengyang Martial Arts School, for example. Over the years, it had expelled quite a few people. Their potential was limited, and they struggled to cultivate inner force, leaving many of them trapped in the Body Tempering Realm for their entire lives.
This was the true reflection of the countless people who practiced martial arts.
Martial artists capable of cultivating inner force were a minority, and those capable of cultivating Martial Arts True Qi were even rarer!
As for martial artists who could advance all the way to the True Essence Realm... they were dragons among men!
Those who lacked even inner force made up the largest group among all martial artists. No matter how weak they were, when Evil Creatures pressed against the city, they still had to fight.
Among them were civilian martial artists, city guards permanently stationed here, and descendants of the various Lineages in the area!
When facing Evil Creatures, Body Tempering Realm martial artists struggled to hold their ground, and the slightest misstep could cost them their lives.
Yet even so, these people still stepped forward without hesitation. Not a single one retreated!
When Evil Creatures attacked, no one could stand apart from the disaster!
When the nest was overturned, how could any eggs remain unbroken?
If the city fell, everyone within it would die!
With a single glance, Li Yuan saw several Body Tempering Realm martial artists staggering under the strain, already teetering on the brink of death beneath the Evil Creatures' attacks.
Li Yuan let out a soft sigh. His longsword turned in his hand, and he slashed out several streams of Sword Qi!
The Sword Qi twisted and danced, crossing a distance of a hundred paces before precisely killing several zombies and evil ghosts and relieving several Inner Force Realm martial artists of their predicament.
"What was that just now? I think I saw a flash of white light!"
"It was Sword Qi! A True Qi Realm expert has taken action!"
"That Sword Qi just crossed a hundred paces and precisely killed those Evil Creatures!"
"Hiss... What terrifying swordsmanship!"
Everyone present practiced martial arts. They were all seasoned fighters who had repeatedly battled the Evil Creatures with their lives on the line, so they understood perfectly how difficult Li Yuan's attack had been.
Figures crowded the city wall, and chaos reigned. The difficulty of precisely killing several Evil Creatures from a distance amid such a mass of people was self-evident.
If he had made even the slightest mistake, if the Sword Qi had deviated by even a little, it would have been people—not Evil Creatures—who were killed.
Only martial artists with extraordinarily profound swordsmanship could accomplish this!
Li Yuan's Cloud Stream Sword Record had long since reached perfection, with nowhere further to advance. Every sword technique had already become instinctive, ready to flow from his hand the instant his thoughts turned. There was absolutely no possibility of failure!
The several Body Tempering Realm martial artists he had rescued looked gratefully in Li Yuan's direction and offered their thanks from afar. Li Yuan also nodded in acknowledgment.
Li Yuan had just killed seven zombies and two evil ghosts. Nine wisps of faint black qi, like snakes, twisted their way toward him before sinking into the black jade at his waist.
Runes flickered across the black jade at his waist. It was clearly a Rune Artifact as well. Every martial artist participating in the defense of the city wall had been issued one of these black jade Rune Artifacts.
Each time an Evil Creature was killed, the black jade Rune Artifact could absorb a wisp of the baleful aura that dispersed upon its death.
The amount of baleful qi within the black jade Rune Artifact represented the number of Evil Creatures killed.
This was used to tally the number of Evil Creatures killed by each martial artist and Spirit Master. Later, rewards would be distributed according to the amount of baleful qi accumulated!
Li Yuan swept his gaze around, his brows faintly furrowing. He saw even more Evil Creatures leaping onto the city wall and engaging everyone in battle. Still more evil ghosts flew higher, intending to pass through the defensive formation from above and burrow into the city.
Because the defensive formation covered such a vast area—an entire city—the formation's power was severely dispersed, leaving it insufficiently lethal against the Evil Creatures.
If too many Evil Creatures concentrated their attacks on one part of the formation, they might truly blast open a breach and rush into the city.
The moment a large number of Evil Creatures were discovered gathering in one place, they had to be scattered in the shortest possible time.
Several hundred translucent evil ghosts gathered together, transforming into a long dragon that wound upward along the defensive formation's barrier!
The sheer aura radiating from these ghosts was enough to make one's heart tremble!
If so many evil ghosts were really allowed to ram the formation, they might actually break through it!
They had to be stopped immediately!
Li Yuan gave a cold snort. His wrist turned, and the Rune Soldier Longsword swept horizontally before him. The true qi within his body surged violently, coiling around the blade!
More and more true qi gathered on the blade, causing it to emit dazzling white light!
Li Yuan drew a breath and shouted, then slashed out!
Cloud Stream Sword Record—Cloud Cutting Shadow!
Brilliant Sword Qi illuminated half of Meishan City, making the entire area as bright as day and leaving people unable to look directly at it!
The Sword Qi moved at astonishing speed, and the sword light soon vanished.
The sky turned dark once more!
Yet the long dragon of evil ghosts clinging to the formation barrier in midair... had already been cleaved into several sections!
The scattered Sword Qi rampaged through the evil ghosts. Soon, half of them had been shredded by the Sword Qi and reduced to nothingness!
Dense baleful aura gathered into a small river, winding down from midair before streaming into the black jade at Li Yuan's waist!
Such fierce Sword Qi!
Such dazzling sword light!
Everyone present was stunned. Even the zombies and evil ghosts were intimidated by the Sword Qi Li Yuan had just unleashed, freezing for an instant.
Kong Zhuohua stared at Li Yuan in disbelief. The situation had been critical just now, and he had been about to act, but Li Yuan had moved even faster than he had!
"This man... actually possesses such swordsmanship?!"
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