Ominous Signs

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 defense of Mingzhu City had also begun.

Under Feng Laixian's arrangements, the Awakened formed groups of three to defend different weak points along the city wall. Dedicated personnel were assigned to healers and logistics as well. For a time, the southern wall was orderly and well-organized, showing that Feng Laixian's command and coordination abilities were far from lacking.

"The Living Corpses are still three hundred meters from the wall. Everyone, pay attention: do not let them get within two hundred meters. Otherwise, the Living Corpses with ranged abilities will threaten the safety of the wall," Bai De shouted.

Feng Laixian stood atop the city wall. He narrowed his eyes and said, "Start attacking once the Living Corpses enter within two hundred and fifty meters. Let's first test what they're made of."

"Yes!"

Bai De answered, then swiftly relayed the order below.

Because he was worried about Zhang Ping and Liu Tiefeng's safety, Qiu Qiang had also remained at the southern wall. Once the Living Corpses attacking the city were 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 dense mass of Living Corpses draw closer like a black tide. He said softly, "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 reacted first and launched their attacks. Some drew their bows and fired arrows, while others hurled spears. The other Awakened were not slow to react, but they were unused to taking orders from strangers. Once the instructors took the lead, they also attacked. In an instant, lightning flashed, thunder rumbled, and flames shot across the southern wall.

More than two hundred and fifty meters away, a Living Corpse took a step forward. A Fireball the size of a human head flew straight at it. With a deafening boom, the upper half of its body was blasted away, leaving only its lower half standing for a moment before it finally collapsed.

Then the other Living Corpses were attacked as well. A huge gorilla Living Corpse was split in two by a blade of energy, yet its body could still move. Both halves crawled forward, grotesque and terrifying.

Suddenly, all the Living Corpses seemed to wake from sleep and raised their heads to look at the living people atop the wall.

The ghostly green light in their eyes brightened at once. They all became incomparably agile and charged directly at the city wall.

"Roar!"

A three-meter-tall giant ape opened its long-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 at once, countless fragments scattering to the ground.

The giant ape roared again. Just then, a monkey ran past it, and it grabbed the monkey by the tail and flung it into the air. The monkey let out a howl and actually landed on the city wall. Though one of its legs had been broken by the fall, it still scrambled on all fours toward an Awakened.

Qiu Qiang kicked the monkey off the city wall. His gaze locked onto the giant ape, but just as he prepared to jump down, Bai De pressed a hand on his shoulder and said calmly, "Watch Hall 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 like an inflated balloon. The next moment, Feng Laixian opened his mouth and expelled a stream of red air.

The giant ape beneath the wall sensed danger and immediately grabbed a Living Corpse to shield itself. But the Living Corpse was instantly carbonized by the heat, then crumbled into ash.

The giant ape was struck head-on by the red airflow. Its flesh was blown away at once, exposing its thick bones. Yet the bones lasted only a few seconds under the intense heat before following the Living Corpse's fate.

After its Corpse vanished, the ground melted under the high temperature, forming a lava pit two meters in diameter.

"Is this the ultimate technique of Beast King Fist Hall, Chaos Breath?" someone in the know could not help exclaiming.

Bai De said proudly, "Chaos Breath itself has no attribute. It is merely a pure airflow attack, cultivated from a breath of Chaos Qi. The Hall Master has combined his Chaos Breath with his own ability, which is why it possesses such tremendous heat."

"It can even be combined with one's own ability?" some of the less experienced Awakened asked in surprise.

"Of course it can," Bai De said proudly. "Otherwise, why would Beast King Fist Hall charge such exorbitant fees? Each of the nine forms of Beast King Fist has its own merits, while the ultimate technique, Chaos Breath, possesses the grandeur to swallow the heavens. If you can learn the complete Beast King Fist, it is equivalent to gaining another superpower!"

Quite a few Awakened were tempted after hearing Bai De's words and considered enrolling at Beast King Fist Hall in the future.

Why were the hall masters willing to shoulder the main responsibility of defense? It was precisely because this was an excellent opportunity for publicity. As long as they could hold the wall and demonstrate 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 solemnly into the distance without relaxing in the slightest.

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, the captain of the Patrol Team, was nowhere to be found, while the city lord had not shown himself for a long time. If the hall masters did not shoulder the responsibility of protecting Mingzhu City, the city could very well be breached.

All the Awakened present were natives born and raised in Mingzhu City. Mingzhu City was everyone's home.

Defending one's home was everyone's responsibility.

The instructors would handle attracting business to the martial halls, and witnesses would help spread the word. 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 as strong as a High-Level Awakened.

He was searching for the true enemy, something that could genuinely threaten Mingzhu City.

Below the wall, Living Corpses gradually piled into mountains. Yet many of them had also caused some damage to the wall, leaving it riddled with pits and dents, with bloodstains in quite a few places.

The Awakened took turns attacking, while those who had exhausted their strength retreated behind the wall and ate the food prepared by the logistics staff.

Suddenly, a bolt of green lightning shot from outside the wall to within it. Three Awakened in its path failed to evade in time, and their bodies exploded on the spot. A piece of scalp happened to land 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 casualties?

This was only the beginning.

Qiu Qiang was not confident that he would survive. He turned and handed the rabbit to a female Awakened in charge of logistics. "Sorry for the trouble, please take good care of it. It can contact one of our brothers scouting outside the city. If there is any new information, come find me immediately."

"Mm. You should be careful too," the female Awakened said gently as she took the rabbit and nodded.

Qiu Qiang answered, turned, and walked to the wall to replace the Awakened who had been blown apart. He picked up a spear, aimed, and hurled it in an instant.

Living Corpses attacked all four sides of the city wall. Cries of battle, calls for help, and explosions rose and fell without end. The residents of Mingzhu City had long been awakened, but most ordinary people could only wait, regardless of whether the outcome would be victory or defeat.

Inside the City Lord's Manor, Zhu Zeming was likewise watching the situation develop.

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 beyond his control.

Gritting his teeth, he left his room and quietly approached Chen Juntaing's room. He planned to move Chen Juntaing first tonight, before anything else.

Chen Juntaing was an extremely crucial part of the family's plan. Only by controlling her could they be confident of dealing with Situ Shibai and possibly seize control of Mingzhu City quickly.

However, before he had gone far, he saw Prince Yue.

In the corridor, Prince Yue's tall body was bathed in moonlight.

It was holding Chen Juntaing in its arms. Its eyes seemed somewhat clouded as it raised its head to look at the bright moon in the sky.

Zhu Zeming could not help stepping back.

He saw something seemingly squirming continuously beneath Prince Yue's back. A sense of ominous foreboding enveloped his heart.