This child... possesses such swordsmanship?

The firelight on the city walls illuminated a hundred zhang into the distance. Beyond that, it was pitch black, creating a clear boundary between light and dark.

And now, one by one, grotesque, twisted figures were crossing this boundary, charging towards Meishan County city.

"Enemy attack!!!"

The piercing alarm sounded throughout the city, waking everyone within.

Zombies were strong and fast. In the darkness, they were like fish in water, their speed increasing by thirty percent. They charged at the city, and with a few leaps, their sharp claws dug into the city wall's bricks, allowing them to climb the wall in moments.

Not only zombies, but a large number of evil ghosts were also heading towards the city. They were not only faster than zombies but could also fly, directly soaring over.

Li Yuan noticed that as these evil creatures approached within ten zhang of the city walls, dense runes materialized out of thin air around them. The runes flickered with a fluorescent glow, emitting scorching pure Yang energy. When they landed on the zombies and evil ghosts, they instantly exploded into bursts of searing flame!

"Aaaargh—"

"Aaaargh, aaargh—"

The evil creatures immediately let out screams of agony.

This was Meishan County's defensive formation. Every city was equipped with formations laid out by Spirit Masters. The larger the city, the stronger its defensive formation.

Any yin and evil creatures that approached the city would inevitably trigger the defensive formation's response. Runes would appear and bombard these evil creatures.

The formation's barrier wasn't just on the city walls; it extended to the sky and underground. Evil ghosts could fly and burrow, so this formation was primarily designed to defend against them.

The runes' bombardment wasn't particularly strong. The evil creatures, enduring the small runes exploding on their bodies, climbed the city walls and began fighting the people stationed there.

A zombie, its body engulfed in flames, roared and charged at Li Yuan. Li Yuan frowned slightly. Even if he ignored this zombie, it would have been burned to ashes within a few dozen breaths.

The Rune Soldier Longsword was drawn from its sheath. With a flick of the sword's tip, a deep white sword energy shot out, slicing the zombie in half!

The mangled corpse fell to the ground, no longer moving. The flames grew larger, and it would soon be reduced to ashes.

Li Yuan held his sword and looked around. More and more zombies and evil ghosts were rushing onto the city walls. The martial artists and Spirit Masters who had been waiting on the walls for a long time immediately engaged these evil creatures in battle.

Spirit Masters were the most efficient at killing evil creatures. The spiritual arts they mastered were powerful and had a wide area of effect. A single strike could instantly kill dozens or even hundreds of zombies and evil ghosts.

Next were the martial artists. True Qi Realm martial artists were powerful combatants. Their True Qi could leave their bodies, easily killing large groups of evil creatures.

Martial artists in the Inner Force Realm, possessing Internal Energy, could also easily kill zombies and evil ghosts.

It was the Body Tempering Realm martial artists who suffered the most.

It was very difficult for them to kill a single evil creature, which was their unfortunate reality.

Cultivating Internal Energy was not easy. Take Zhengyang Martial Arts School, for example. They had expelled quite a few people over the years. Those individuals had limited potential and found it difficult to cultivate Internal Energy, with many remaining stuck in the Body Tempering Realm their entire lives.

This was the true depiction of many martial arts practitioners.

Martial artists who could cultivate Internal Energy were a minority, and those who could cultivate Martial Arts True Qi were even fewer!

And those who could advance all the way to the True Essence Realm were truly exceptional individuals!

Those without even Internal Energy were the largest group among all martial artists. Even though their strength was weak, when evil creatures attacked the city, they still had to fight.

Among them were commoner martial artists, the permanent city guards, and the disciples of the various prominent families in the area!

Facing the evil creatures, Body Tempering Realm practitioners struggled to cope, with the risk of death looming with any slight mistake.

Yet, despite this, these individuals charged forward without hesitation, not a single one retreating!

When evil creatures attacked, no one could stand idly by!

If the nest is overturned, how can any eggs remain intact?

If the city were breached, everyone in the city would perish!

Li Yuan glanced around and saw several Body Tempering Realm martial artists struggling desperately, in a precarious situation under the onslaught of the evil creatures.

Li Yuan let out a soft sigh. He shifted his long sword, unleashing several streams of sword energy!

The sword energy danced and weaved, crossing a distance of a hundred paces, precisely killing several zombies and evil ghosts, rescuing the Inner Force Realm martial artists.

"What was that just now? I think I saw a flash of white light!"

"It's sword energy! A True Qi Realm expert made a move!"

"That sword energy just now crossed a hundred paces and accurately killed those evil creatures!"

"Hiss... What terrifying swordsmanship is this!"

They were all martial artists, veterans who had repeatedly risked their lives fighting evil creatures. They all knew how difficult Li Yuan's previous move was.

The city walls were crowded with figures, chaotic. The difficulty of precisely killing a few evil creatures from a distance within the throng was unimaginable.

If there was even a slight miscalculation, if the sword energy veered even a little, it would be people, not evil creatures, who would be killed.

Only a martial artist with extremely high swordsmanship could achieve this!

Li Yuan's Cloud Stream Sword Record had long since reached perfection, with no room for further advancement. All his sword techniques had become ingrained in his body as instinct. With a mere thought, he could execute them flawlessly, with no possibility of failure!

The Body Tempering Realm martial artists who had been rescued looked gratefully in Li Yuan's direction and thanked him from afar. Li Yuan nodded in acknowledgment.

After Li Yuan had killed seven zombies and two evil ghosts, a total of nine faint wisps of black energy snaked towards him like serpents before disappearing into a piece of black jade at his waist.

The black jade at his waist had runes flickering on it, clearly another Rune Artifact. All the martial artists participating in the city wall defense had been issued such a black jade Rune Artifact.

With each evil creature killed, this black jade Rune Artifact could absorb a wisp of the malevolent energy that dispersed after the creature's death.

The number of wisps of evil energy within the dark jade rune artifact represents the number of evil creatures killed.

This is to quantify the number of evil creatures killed by each warrior and Spirit Master, and then rewards will be given based on the amount of evil energy!

Li Yuan scanned his surroundings, his brow furrowing slightly. He saw more evil creatures leaping onto the city walls, engaging in combat with everyone, and even more Evil Ghosts flying towards higher ground, intending to pass through the defensive formation from above and infiltrate the city.

Because the defensive formation covered such a vast area, an entire city, its power was severely dispersed, resulting in insufficient damage to the evil creatures.

If too many evil creatures concentrated their attacks on a single point of the formation, it was possible they could break through a gap and enter the city.

Once a large number of evil creatures were found gathered in one area, they had to be dispersed in the shortest possible time.

Hundreds of semi-transparent Evil Ghosts gathered together, forming a long dragon that snaked its way up the defensive formation's arm!

The mere aura emanating from these creatures made one's heart tremble!

If so many Evil Ghosts were allowed to impact the formation, they might actually break it open!

They had to be stopped immediately!

Li Yuan let out a cold snort, his wrist turning. The Rune Soldier Longsword was held horizontally in front of him, and the True Qi within his body surged violently, coiling around the sword's body!

More and more True Qi gathered on the sword's body, causing it to emit a dazzling white light!

Li Yuan exhaled and slashed out with his sword!

[Cloud Stream Sword Record]'s [Cloud Cutting Shadow]!

The brilliant sword energy illuminated half of Meishan City, making this area as bright as day! It was difficult to look directly at it!

This sword energy was extremely fast, and the sword light quickly vanished!

The sky once again turned to night!

And the dragon of Evil Ghosts clinging to the formation's barrier in the air... had already been cut into several sections!

The overflowing sword energy rampaged among these Evil Ghosts, and soon half of them were shredded by the sword energy, turning into nothingness!

Dense evil energy transformed into a small river, winding down from mid-air and flowing into the dark jade at Li Yuan's waist!

Such fierce sword energy!

Such brilliant sword light!

It stunned everyone present. Even the Zombies and Evil Ghosts were momentarily awestruck by the sword energy Li Yuan had just unleashed, their movements faltering for an instant.

Kong Zhuohua looked at Li Yuan in disbelief. The situation had been critical, and he had been about to make a move, but Li Yuan had been faster than him!

"This kid... possesses such swordsmanship?!"