Time flew.
Five days passed in the blink of an eye.
It was late at night outside Purple Cloud City in central Purple Cloud Prefecture, where a curfew was already in effect.
A dazzling streak of fire tore through the air and slammed into Purple Cloud City's City-Protecting Grand Formation.
"Boom...!"
A thunderous explosion resounded through the night sky.
The next instant.
"Whoosh, whoosh, whoosh...!"
Hundreds upon thousands of streaks of fire shot in from all sides of Purple Cloud City, like meteors cutting across the night sky, launching a concentrated assault on its City-Protecting Grand Formation.
"Boom, boom, boom...!"
For a moment, a sea of flames shrouded the entire sky above Purple Cloud City.
The violent commotion alarmed those inside and outside the city, and the earth shook for a hundred miles around.
Almost in an instant.
Atop the gate towers on all four sides of Purple Cloud City.
"Dong, dong, dong...!"
Deafening bells rang throughout the city.
The city guards swiftly took their positions atop the gate towers. War drums thundered, and layers of restriction light barriers appeared over the City-Protecting Grand Formation.
Purple Cloud City instantly went on high alert.
Talismans flashed atop the gate towers on all four sides. Fireballs, ice spikes, wind blades...
A dense barrage swept out in every direction, launching a fierce counterattack against the areas from which the hidden attackers were striking.
The bombardment also lit up restriction light barriers in the air, making them ripple violently.
As with the scenes preceding any great battle, this large-scale, concentrated bombardment was the prelude to all-out war.
At that moment, in a remote mountain ridge a hundred miles outside Purple Cloud City.
Among the dense branches of an ancient pine growing on a sheer cliff.
A pair of faintly gleaming eyes reflected the