Chapter 645: 638

Four-direction City, located southwest of West Barbarian Mountain Territory, lay between there and Black Water Immortal Mountain, roughly six to seven thousand li away.

This small city wasn’t particularly large in scale. At its peak, the population had been between one and two million people.

However, now the homes within Four-direction City had long been mostly empty, and the population had sharply decreased.

Especially since the neighboring cities had been breached by the Demon Clan and destroyed in the blink of an eye, countless people, despite knowing the dangers of the wilderness, still took their families and moved elsewhere.

“Brothers, kill!”

“Behind you are your parents, your wives and children, your neighbors and fellow countrymen. If we don’t annihilate these demons, once the city is breached, they will all die!”

“Boss, there are too many demons, their strength is too great…”

“Scared of what, a dead man’s done with the world. Kill one to break even, kill two and it’s a gain. Anything’s better than being eaten by these beasts!”

…

Li Damao, covered in blood, stood atop the city wall. Screaming and roaring sounds constantly reached his ears.

He turned a deaf ear to everything around him; his bloodshot eyes were fixed solely on the outside of the city wall.

A green wolf, the size of a calf, leaped from the ground, just about to clear the span of ten or twenty meters over the city wall and land atop it.

Having waited for a long time, Li Damao let out a loud battle cry, and the ghostly gleam of his great saber flashed in his hand.

With a ‘thwack…’

The ferocious green wolf was cleaved in half by him.

Spilling from the wolf, its blood fell like torrential rain, drenching him from head to toe.

This green wolf, of some unknown strange breed, had highly corrosive blood. Drenched in wolf blood, Li Damao’s body emitted white smoke and sizzled.

“Damn it!” Li Damao grunted.

A yellow glow circulated his body several times before he finally managed to suppress the effects of the wolf’s blood. However, his body was already corroded and riddled with holes.

As a Loose Cultivator who had reached the Seventh Realm of Sky Control, he was certainly one of the absolute top-tier fighters among the Loose Cultivators.

Yet even a fighter like him, faced with the Demon Clan, was heavily wounded by merely a demon beast that hadn’t fully developed spiritual wisdom and was still partly in its beast form.

Outside the city, the diverse and oddly-shaped members of the Demon Clan swarmed densely, a seamless tide that seemed endless at a glance.

Below Li Damao, the span of ten or twenty meters of the city wall was but a minor obstacle for the lowest ranks of the cannon-fodder demon beasts.

The strength of the green wolf he had just killed was only equivalent to a cultivator of the Fourth or Fifth Realm; the city wall alone simply couldn’t stop their advance.

Corroded by the wolf blood, and grievously wounded, Li Damao turned around only to fell two demon beasts that had scaled the wall before a fiery red fox appeared from nowhere and tore him in two.

Like Li Damao, there were countless others on the city walls who bravely fought for the survival of Four-direction City.

“A different species holds different hearts,” an axiom long since passed down, everyone should be clear on what sort of end awaited those captured by the Demon Clan.

Those who wished to leave had already escaped Four-direction City. Those who truly wanted to stay, whether ordinary people or cultivators, had already resolved themselves: If the city stands, so will they; if the city falls, they too will perish.

Unfortunately, in the face of absolute strength, their resistance was nothing but futile.

With a True Level demon beast revealing its true form, transforming into a gigantic rhinoceros over a hundred zhang in size, it crashed violently into the city gate.

“Boom…” came a thunderous noise.

It wasn’t just the city gate; a whole section of the city wall had been directly collapsed, leaving a gaping breach.

With the wall for protection, most members of the Demon Clan had been held outside the city gates, and while the number of demon beasts capable of flying over the walls was not small, it was still just a fraction of the entire horde.

Now, with the gate broken and the wall crumbled, an uncountable number of demon beasts had surged into Four-direction City in an instant.

“To fight is to die; to not fight is also to die. Those who do not wish to be eaten as food, follow me in battle. If we must die, let it be in a blaze of glory.”

“There’s no escape from the demon beasts outside the city. If we fight courageously, perhaps we might still find a chance to live.”

“Mom, dad was swallowed whole by that Snake Demon. I’m going to slay the demon beasts and avenge dad.”

…

A Snake Demon opened its giant maw, spewing out countless streams of green gas, poisoning and killing swathes of Four-direction City’s people on the spot.

Rat Demons wreaked havoc, leaving a trail of mutilated corpses in their wake.

Cat Demons, swift as lightning, darted through the crowds, slicing the citizens of Four-direction City into pieces.

The remaining people in Four-direction City, although some were cultivators, were mostly ordinary humans.

Against the demon beasts, no matter how fiercely these people resisted, their efforts were extremely limited.

It only took a few breaths’ time for Four-direction City to transform into a true hell on earth.

“The screams of agony, the wails of despair, the curses of defiance, such a delightful symphony.”

“Weak humans like these can’t stand a single blow in the face of our Demon Clan. It’s a disgrace for our kind that such trash could drive us into the Ten Thousand Mountains and occupy the West Barbarian Mountain Territory for countless years.”

“Issue the order: those who resist shall be shown no mercy.”

“Those who are willing to submit to our Demon Clan might be spared, at least temporarily. We’ll keep them alive, so we can enjoy fresh meat anytime we please!”

…

Sporting a tiger’s head atop a human body, Red Tiger, with a cultivator in hand and surrounded by several True Demons, walked leisurely into the city through the destroyed part of the wall.

As he spoke, he brutally tore off the cultivator’s thigh, munching on it with a ravenous gusto while listening to the cultivator’s furious howls and curses, his tiger face expressing utter indulgence.

“My lord, your prowess is unmatched. Only with you overseeing the siege could an attack on Four-direction City be this effortless.”

“Indeed, there are some tough ones among the human cultivators, but with you, my lord, unleashing your divine might and slaughtering several True Immortals and True Demons, terrifying them utterly, the humans of Four-direction City would not have become so weak.”

“It’s said that the troops headed to the other Territories are not having it easy. Even Demon King Chili himself had to rush over. It’s only under your leadership, my lord, that we have been able to sweep through without resistance!”

As Red Tiger spoke, the True Demons encircling him promptly voiced their agreement.

At first, when their troops invaded the West Barbarian Mountain Territory, they proceeded with caution, retreating to the Ten Thousand Mountains after conquering a city.

After several probes and crushing whatever little resistance there was with a wave of his paw, Red Tiger became more audacious, launching a brazen invasion of the West Barbarian Mountain Territory.

Under normal circumstances, Red Tiger, an Earth-level Great Demon like him, would not even show himself, only emerging during attacks to prevent any surprises.

This Four-direction City, not even being able to muster a single True Immortal or True Demon in its defense, naturally didn’t warrant his personal action.

Not just him—none of the True Demons with him had intervened since they smashed the city gates.

“Has another foolish True Immortal or True Demon come our way? Seems like they never learn.”

From the southeast, a tunneling light approached rapidly, and Red Tiger along with the True Demons beside him cast their gaze in unison towards the source.