Zhang Ping was truly exhausted. Seeing that the matter had been resolved, he closed his eyes, and his consciousness unknowingly returned to his main body. Leaning against a wooden crate, he slowly fell asleep.
The defensive battle for Mingzhu City began at this moment.
Under Feng Laixian's arrangements, the Awakened formed teams of three and defended different weak points along the city wall. Specialists with healing abilities and logistics personnel were also assigned dedicated responsibilities. For a time, the South Wall became orderly and well-organized, showing that Feng Laixian's command and coordination skills were no slouch.
"The Living Corpses are still three hundred meters from the wall. Everyone, stay alert. Do not let them get within two hundred meters, or the Living Corpses with long-range abilities will threaten the safety of the wall," Bai De shouted.
Standing high atop the wall, Feng Laixian narrowed his eyes and said, "Begin attacking once the Living Corpses enter within two hundred and fifty meters. Test their capabilities first."
"Yes!"
Bai De answered, then quickly passed the order down.
Because he was worried about Zhang Ping and Liu Tiefeng's safety, Qiu Qiang remained at the South Wall as well. Once the Living Corpses attacking the city had been dealt with, he would immediately leave the city to search for Zhang Ping and Liu Tiefeng.
At this moment, he held the rabbit and watched the densely packed Living Corpses gradually approach like a black tide. He said quietly, "Little Zhang, if I die in battle, remember to take good care of Uncle Liu."
There were simply too many Living Corpses. Their numbers stretched beyond sight.
In the darkness, green ghostly light shone from the Living Corpses' eyes as they swayed closer and closer.
"Attack!"
Feng Laixian shouted, and Bai De immediately echoed him with another loud cry.
The instructors Feng Laixian had brought with him reacted first and launched their attacks. Some drew bows and fired arrows, while others hurled spears. The other Awakened were not slow to react, merely unaccustomed to taking orders from strangers. Once the instructors led the attack, they too sprang into action. In an instant, lightning flashed, thunder rumbled, and flames burst across the South Wall.
Two hundred and fifty meters away, a Living Corpse stepped forward. A Fireball the size of a human head came hurtling toward it. With a thunderous boom, the Living Corpse's upper body was blown away, leaving only its lower half standing in place before it finally toppled over.
The other Living Corpses were attacked in turn. A massive gorilla Living Corpse was sliced in half by a blade of qi, yet its body could still move. Both halves crawled forward, grotesque and horrifying.
Suddenly, all the Living Corpses seemed to wake from sleep and raised their heads to look at the living people atop the wall.
The dim green light in their eyes flared brightly. They all became incomparably agile and charged straight at the wall.
"Roar!"
A three-meter-tall giant ape opened its already-torn mouth and let out a hoarse roar. The next moment, it grabbed a human Living Corpse beside it and simply hurled it at the wall like a cannonball.
However, the Living Corpse collided with a Fireball in midair and exploded instantly, countless fragments raining down to the ground.
The giant ape roared again. Just then, a Monkey ran past its side. It grabbed Monkey by the tail and flung him into the air. Monkey let out a series of roars and landed right on the wall. Though one of his legs had been broken by the fall, he still used both hands and feet to rapidly crawl toward an Awakened.
Qiu Qiang kicked Monkey off the wall, then locked his gaze on the giant ape. As he prepared to jump down, Bai De pressed a hand on his shoulder and said calmly, "Watch Master Feng. There's no need to engage them in close combat yet."
Boom!
A scorching aura erupted. Qiu Qiang immediately looked toward Feng Laixian and saw his upper body swell as if he were an inflated balloon. The next moment, Feng Laixian opened his mouth and spat out a stream of red air.
Sensing danger, the giant ape below the wall immediately grabbed a Living Corpse and held it in front of itself. Yet the Living Corpse was instantly carbonized by the extreme heat before crumbling into ashes.
The giant ape was struck head-on by the red airflow. Its flesh was blown away, exposing thick bones beneath, but those bones lasted only a few seconds under the extreme heat before meeting the same fate as the Living Corpse.
After its Corpse vanished, the ground had been melted by the heat, forming a lava pit two meters in diameter.
"So this is the ultimate technique of Beast King Fist Hall, Chaos Breath?" someone in the know exclaimed at the sight.
Bai De said proudly, "Chaos Breath itself has no attribute. It is merely a pure airflow attack, cultivated through a mouthful of Chaos Qi. The master's Chaos Breath is combined with his own ability, which is why it produces such high temperatures."
"It can even be combined with one's own ability?" a less experienced Awakened asked in surprise.
Bai De said proudly, "Of course. Otherwise, why would Beast King Fist Hall charge such high fees? The nine forms of Beast King Fist each have their own merits, while the ultimate technique, Chaos Breath, possesses the grandeur to swallow the heavens. If one can learn the complete Beast King Fist, it is equivalent to gaining another superpower!"
Quite a few Awakened were moved by Bai De's words and considered enrolling at Beast King Fist Hall in the future.
The reason the hall masters were willing to shoulder the main responsibility for defense was precisely because this was an excellent publicity opportunity. As long as they could hold the wall and display their strength, they would not have to worry about customers for decades to come.
Of course, that was only if they could hold it!
Feng Laixian stared gravely into the distance without relaxing.
He knew very well that tonight's Living Corpse siege was anything but simple. Everything about it carried the scent of a conspiracy.
The problem was that Lin Kedi, captain of the Patrol Team, had vanished without a trace, while the city lord had not shown himself for a long time. If the hall masters did not shoulder the responsibility of defending Mingzhu City, the city might very well be breached.
All the Awakened present were locals born and raised in Mingzhu City. To them, Mingzhu City was home.
Defending one's home was everyone's responsibility.
The instructors would handle bringing in business for the martial arts halls, while witnesses would help spread their reputations. What Feng Laixian needed to do was hold this wall.
The Living Corpses ahead were merely cannon fodder.
Even the giant ape Living Corpse he had just killed was only comparable in strength to a High-Level Awakened.
He was searching for the true enemy, something truly capable of threatening Mingzhu City.
Below the wall, Living Corpses gradually piled into mountains. Yet many had also inflicted damage on the wall, leaving it riddled with pits and dents, with bloodstains smeared across many places.
The Awakened took turns attacking. Those whose stamina had been exhausted retreated behind the wall and ate the food prepared by logistics.
Suddenly, a streak of green lightning shot from outside the wall to within it. Three Awakened were unable to dodge in time, and their bodies exploded on the spot. A piece of bloody scalp landed right on Qiu Qiang's shoulder.
He glanced at the bloodstained scalp, took a deep breath, then gently brushed it away with his hand.
With seventy or eighty thousand Living Corpses attacking the city, how could there possibly be no deaths?
This was only the beginning.
Qiu Qiang was not confident that he would survive. He turned and handed the rabbit to a female Awakened responsible for logistics, saying, "Sorry for the trouble, but please take good care of it. It can contact one of our brothers scouting outside the city. If there's any new information, come find me immediately."
"Mm, you be careful too," the female Awakened said gently as she took the rabbit and nodded.
Qiu Qiang gave a response, then turned and walked to the wall, replacing the Awakened who had been blown apart earlier. He took a spear, aimed, and hurled it in an instant.
Living Corpses attacked all four sides of the city wall. Shouts of battle, cries for help, and explosions rose and fell without end. The residents of Mingzhu City had long since been awakened, but most ordinary people could only wait, whether the result would be victory or defeat.
Inside the City Lord's Manor, Zhu Zeming was likewise watching the situation unfold.
This was absolutely beyond their expectations. Neither he nor the family behind him knew where these Living Corpses had come from or why they had come.
Vaguely, he felt that the situation was slipping out of control.
Gritting his teeth, he left his room and quietly approached Chen Juntaing's room. He planned to move Chen Juntaing first tonight.
Chen Juntaing was a crucial part of the family's plan. Only by controlling her could they be certain of dealing with Situ Shibai, and only then could they possibly seize control of Mingzhu City quickly.
However, he had not gone far when he saw Prince Yue.
In the corridor, Prince Yue's tall body stood bathed in moonlight.
He was holding Chen Juntaing in his arms. His eyes seemed somewhat clouded as he looked up at the bright moon in the sky.
Zhu Zeming could not help taking a step back.
He saw something seemingly writhing constantly beneath Prince Yue's back, and a sense of foreboding enveloped his heart.