A Bitter Ascetic

If the area around South Town City, where it bordered the restricted zone, had been lifeless, the zone's center was a true hell on earth.

The land was crawling with monsters, thick and endless as far as the eye could see, stretching all the way to the horizon. Most had once been humans tainted by corpse poison; the rest were animals, likewise corrupted.

The endless horde charged South Town City. Outside its walls, a human coalition numbering in the millions held the line against them.

The battlefield was a terrifying meat grinder. Every moment, thousands upon thousands of people were torn apart and devoured by monsters. The human coalition, in turn, slaughtered countless monsters.

Blood ran like rivers, and bones piled into mountains.

The monsters did not rely solely on instinctive close combat. The most powerful among them could unleash devastating long-range attacks over wide areas. In the blink of an eye, Bai Yang saw a monstrous wolf, hundreds of meters long, its body black and bristling with wicked bone spikes. It opened its jaws and spewed a cloud of black poison into the human ranks. The dark fog swept down like a curtain from the sky, and every human it touched was corroded into a heap of bones.

Elsewhere, a thousand-meter-long black Giant Python opened its jaws and spat out thick, inky venom. It surged like a river, melting rocks and earth, and poisoned hundreds of people in the blink of an eye.

Monsters of similar strength were everywhere, endlessly assaulting South Town City.

Of course, the human side had its share of formidable fighters. One person unleashed a sword beam that lit up heaven and earth, carving a vast rift through the monster horde and pulverizing everything in its path. A divine path cultivator swept out a hand