Result

It is an unwritten rule on the Yulan Continent that Saint-level powerhouses do not participate in the secular wars between nations.

Under normal circumstances, everyone abides by this, though there are, of course, exceptions.

For instance, if both sides harbor an irreconcilable, life-or-death hatred, there is no room for negotiation.

Another example is the Day of Destruction, when not only Saint-level humans but even God-level magical beasts took to the field.

However, ever since the fall of Fenlai City, the magical beast side has refrained from deploying Saint-level magical beasts.

During the battle at the border of the Hess Kingdom, the Saint-level powerhouses from both the magical beast side and the Holy See side tacitly agreed not to intervene.

"What are those three Saint-level magical beasts planning? Could it be that they want to intervene directly because they haven't been able to take the city after such a long siege?" Liewen frowned. If the Saint-level magical beasts attacked, the walls of Hess City would not be able to hold them back.

Saint-level magical beasts are generally stronger than human Saint-level powerhouses; even a beast that has just entered the Saint-level requires a peak Saint-level human to contend with it.

Just as the three Saint-level magical beasts appeared, six streaks of white light shot out from within Hess City.

Liewen looked closely and saw that these streaks of light were angels radiating a soft, holy glow, each possessing four pure white wings.

"So these are the descended angels?"

This was the first time Liewen had seen an angel of the Radiant Church.

The Radiant Church searches everywhere for those with pure souls, all to offer them to the Lord of Light so that angels may be born.

In the Plane of Light where the Lord of Light resides, there is an Angel Rebirth Pool. Countless pure souls offered up from material planes like the Yulan Continent enter the Angel Rebirth Pool and are transformed into angels.

The lowest-ranking angels are two-winged angels, equivalent to an early-stage Saint.

The highest-ranking angels are twelve-winged God angels, which are terrifying existences even among Highgods.

The purer the soul, the stronger the reborn angel will be.

Linley's mother was offered by the Radiant Church and reborn as a twelve-winged angel.

The six angels that appeared at Hess City were all four-winged, equivalent to mid-stage Saints.

For an angel to descend, a physical vessel is required; the stronger the vessel, the greater the power the angel can exert.

If an angel descends into a sixth-rank body, they can only exert the combat power of a ninth-rank. If they disregard the limits of the body and forcibly manifest their angel form, they can exert their original strength, but the body will collapse before long.

These six angels appeared in their four-winged forms, indicating that their current vessels were at least seventh-rank, which is the minimum required to withstand the power of a Saint-level entity.

The six four-winged angels streaked across the sky, confronting the three Saint-level magical beasts from a distance.

The Radiant Church is deploying angels; it seems they are determined to hold back the beast tide at Hess City, Liewen thought to himself.

Angels are a type of humanoid weapon. Once born from the Angel Rebirth Pool, they lose all memories and obey the Lord of Light completely, without any selfish desires.

Once an angel descends to the Yulan Continent, they naturally obey the Radiant Church.

Human Saint-level powerhouses might hesitate or waver when facing powerful Saint-level magical beasts, but angels do not. If the Radiant Church orders them to defend Hess City to the death, they will not retreat, even if it means their destruction.

The appearance of the angels signaled the Radiant Church's determination to defend the city.

Angels are indeed very useful tools, but they have a serious flaw: after rebirth, an angel's strength can no longer increase. If they start as a four-winged angel, they will remain a four-winged angel forever.

Therefore, in the eyes of the Radiant Church, Saint-level angels are still less valuable than human Saint-level powerhouses who have the potential for growth.

The Saint-level powerhouses from both sides confronted each other in the air, seemingly communicating about something.

Liewen stood on the ground, unable to hear them, but he saw the white light radiating from the six four-winged angels suddenly connect, forming a hexagram pattern.

"It's an Angel Battle Formation!" Liewen recognized it.

This was a famous joint-attack formation from the original records. Composed of six people, once the formation was set, the attack and defense of all six members would be greatly enhanced.

Many experts within the Radiant Church also knew this type of joint-attack formation.

Previously, the six special deacons of the Religious Inquisition who besieged Linley and Bebe were able to leave them helpless precisely because they used this formation, which eventually led to Doehring Cowart sacrificing himself to save Linley.

This Angel Battle Formation, when executed by angels, was even more terrifying than when used by those six special deacons.

In a simple one-on-one, a four-winged angel is no match for a Saint-level magical beast, but once they form the Angel Battle Formation, the angel side is not at all inferior to the three Saint-level magical beasts.

Liewen watched the beams of white light connecting the six angels, and a flash of inspiration suddenly crossed his mind.

"Light... rays... that's it!"

Liewen's eyes brightened. He had been struggling with whether there was a better way to utilize the Profundity of Purification.

Now, watching the Angel Battle Formation, he had an idea.

Liewen had always released the Profundity of Purification in a 360-degree radius, only able to control the range the light covered.

However, light can be refracted. When sunlight passes through a convex lens, it converges, focusing the light onto a single point.

"If I can focus the light of the Profundity of Purification onto a single point, its power will definitely increase significantly. I could also freely control the direction of the attack, rather than just attacking indiscriminately."

Liewen stood rooted to the spot, various ideas bubbling up in his mind as he entered a state of epiphany.

He could no longer feel the passage of time. Subconsciously, he began to test his theory, and white light began to radiate from his body.

It was the Profundity of Purification.

But this time was different from before; the light began to converge, eventually transforming into 256 distinct rays.

These rays shot out in every direction, and Liewen tried to control them to focus on a single point, but he failed.

Liewen's eyes shifted as he snapped out of his state of epiphany, and all the light vanished.

Reflecting on what had just occurred, Liewen felt exhilarated; although he had ultimately failed to concentrate all the light into a single direction, he had found the path for cultivating the Profundity of Purification.

High above Hess City, the three Saint-level magical beasts and the six four-winged angels did not end up clashing; both sides seemed to have reached an agreement and retreated.

The magical beasts' wave of attacks was thus declared over.

However, the magical beast side did not give up, and half a month later, they returned in full force.

The Radiant Church's army defended Hess City once again.

One month later... two months later...

Over the span of half a year, the magical beasts launched several offensives, only to return home defeated each time.

In the end, they seemed to realize that without Saint-level or even God-level experts intervening, they could no longer seize any more territory from the Holy Union.

The sea-like horde of magical beasts outside Hess City slowly retreated.

Seeing this scene, the Radiant Church soldiers standing on the walls of Hess City erupted into thunderous cheers.

Many had tears in their eyes.

Over these past six months, although they had repelled the magical beast attacks several times, their own casualties had been tragic.

The four ace knight orders deployed by the Radiant Church had lost more than half their numbers and would not be able to return to their former scale for thirty or forty years.

The number of other soldiers who had fallen in battle was even more staggering.

Though they had survived, many of their brothers and friends had died under the sharp claws of the magical beasts.

For half a year, they had kept their nerves tightly wound, but now that they saw the magical beasts retreating, they could finally relax.

Another half a year passed, and upon discovering that the magical beasts truly were not launching any more attacks, the refugees began to return one after another, and Hess City gradually regained its former vitality.