"Boom! Boom! Boom~~~"
Deep blue barriers surged up from the city walls, continually interlocking with one another. In the blink of an eye, they encircled the city walls, separating Jiuyou City from the outside cultivation world.
The barriers were being erected by a group of array masters dressed in uniforms of the City Lord Mansion, all of whom were organized cultivators within Guiru City.
Ning Daoran and the others were slightly taken aback, their hearts filled with astonishment. Indeed, Ning Tianyi’s meticulous attention to detail was undeniable. Even this had been anticipated. To govern Guiru City for so many years, his mind must be astoundingly shrewd and thorough.
"Spirit Light Cannons!"
Longque Wanderer roared, "Aim into the city and fire at will! Kill every one of those stone warriors!"
Immediately, an endless barrage of explosions resounded from the city walls.
"Cack, cack~~~"
Inside the city, countless late-stage Baodan stone warriors wielding long swords and spears leaped into the air. After years of silence, they had lost the ability to speak and could only cackle malevolently, like stereotypical villains, while brandishing their weapons and charging towards the walls at their perceived enemies.
In the skies above, countless canon shells rained down, colliding incessantly with the onrushing stone warriors. Along the eastern part of the wall, one explosion after another erupted, flames blooming across the battlefield in waves. The thunderous roars merged into a stunningly chaotic yet awe-inspiring scene!
It was an intensity surpassing even the border wars of past years!
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True Monarch Du’e lamented, clenching his fists. "When refining the Evil Crossing Immortal Boat back then, I should have equipped it with Spirit Light Cannons... Now I truly feel at a total loss, utterly regretful..."
Ning Daoran, however, summoned his Golden Silk Sword with a chuckle. "Though we lack Spirit Light Cannons, our treasures remain unsealed. What talk is there of regret? Come, Brother Du’e, fight alongside me and slay the enemy!"
"Indeed!"
True Monarch Du’e burst into hearty laughter, immediately summoning the Seven Treasures Heavenly Umbrella to shield his front before launching consecutive flying sword attacks!
True Monarch Liu Yun hurled down a White Dragon Sea Splitting Formation towards the area ahead, slaughtering a large swath of stone warriors while simultaneously casting several spiritual treasures in succession, easing the pressure on the defenders atop the city walls.
Ning Daoran, meanwhile, cast a Stacked Formation combining the Falling Star Array and the White Dragon Sea Splitting Formation, freely wreaking havoc among the stone warriors. He also followed up by deploying numerous Class A Paperfolk to assist in battle. For a moment, these animated paperfolk surged into the fray, exchanging their lives in brutal combat against the late-stage Baodan stone warriors!
At the same time, the Golden Silk Sword transformed into a golden ribbon that descended into the crowd of stone warriors, cutting them down indiscriminately. With the Fire God Sword, Blood-drinking Sword, and Thunder Sword following suit to specifically target individual enemies, and with Ning Daoran’s mana reinforcing their attacks, these spiritual treasures, designed for high-damage single-target blows, were able to instantly kill late-stage Baodan stone warriors!
...
Half a day passed in the blink of an eye.
The fierce battle around the inner perimeter of Jiuyou City’s walls escalated further. Ning Tianyi had underestimated the sheer number of the city’s stone warrior armies. Although at least a hundred thousand stone warriors had already fallen, an increasing number continued to pour forth from the underground tunnels within the city.
In exchange, the Human Clan cultivators had suffered immense losses: over twenty thousand cultivators were confirmed dead, a remarkably heavy toll for killing one hundred thousand stone warriors.
If this pattern of attrition continued, it was possible that the Human Clan’s entire army would perish here before even catching sight of the Nine Hells’ Emperor.
"Why do they seem endless, as though killing them has no end?"
True Monarch Du’e’s face was growing pale. His mana reserves were heavily depleted to the point where even maintaining the Seven Treasures Heavenly Umbrella was becoming difficult.
Likewise, True Monarch Liu Yun appeared pale and sorrowful over the destruction of multiple killing arrays she had deployed earlier. She knew that Guiru City would likely not reimburse her for these losses.
Though Ning Daoran remained calm outwardly, he too was growing vexed internally.
The sheer number of stone warriors within the city was overwhelming; a solution to this problem had to be found.
But if Ning Tianyi, a Divinity Transformation Stage great cultivator, was at a loss, what could someone like him, a mere Nascent Soul Early Stage cultivator, possibly do?
At that moment, a faint, broken voice echoed from the distant battlefield.
"You beasts... Old man will die taking you down..."
Suddenly, with a resounding "Boom—", a dark-red blaze exploded into a shockwave, spreading outward and engulfing dozens of nearby stone warriors.
"Ahhh..."
Flames clung to the bodies of these stone warriors, refusing to extinguish. The fire seeped through their stone exteriors, igniting them from within. One after another, the stone warriors fell to the ground, writhing in agony before succumbing to the inferno.
This single blast annihilated at least a thousand stone warriors!
"That’s..."
Ning Daoran frowned, puzzled.
"It’s Guangling Spiritual Taoist Master, one of Guiru City’s patrol cultivators..."
True Monarch Liu Yun spoke with a heavy tone. "Guangling Taoist is a cultivator from Yunzhou in Xia Country. He joined Guiru City a mere century ago. For the sake of revenge, he once cultivated a Golden Core self-detonation technique. It seems he was surrounded by stone warriors earlier and had no choice but to detonate his Golden Core."
Ning Daoran frowned and said, "Logically, even a late-stage Golden Core’s self-detonation shouldn’t be able to kill so many late-stage Baodan stone warriors at once. Could it be... these stone warriors have a particular vulnerability?"
"It’s the Divine Soul Fire."
True Monarch Du’e mused aloud, "I’ve finally figured it out. That’s why we Nascent Soul cultivators find fire-attribute techniques ineffective against these stone warriors, yet some Golden Core cultivators can kill multiple stone warriors at once using fire-attribute techniques. Their secret technique must be different."
"Exactly!"
Ning Tianyi’s voice rang out. "Taoist Du’e’s observation is correct. It’s the Divine Soul Fire. Only flames imbued with Divine Fire can effectively kill these stone warriors."
He continued in a grave tone, "Everyone, Guangling Taoist has sacrificed his life to uncover this critical clue for us. If any among you know how to wield Divine Soul Fire, there’s no better time to act than now!"
Immediately, a few cultivators on the city walls summoned their Divine Soul Fire. Tiny sparks shot into the city, igniting massive infernos spanning areas of several to over ten zhang, rapidly consuming dozens of stone warriors.
However, these cultivators could only perform this technique once or twice before collapsing from exhaustion as the Divine Soul consumption proved overwhelming.
"Sigh..."
Ning Tianyi let out a heavy sigh. Despite this breakthrough, it was merely a stopgap measure and had not fundamentally resolved the crisis posed by the stone warriors.
...
Meanwhile, Ning Daoran hovered in mid-air, his flying swords spinning around him, continuously cutting down the stone warriors that charged at him. Despite the fierce combat, his mind began to wander. Immersed in the Divine Soul world, Ning Daoran’s attention was fixed on the vigorously growing Fierce Sun Divine Tree.
This tree now bore numerous fire-red seeds, with tendrils of flame rising from its roots and bathing the entire tree in a radiant blaze.
Rooted within his Divine Soul, the flames it produced were naturally Divine Soul Flames.
Nourished by the Eternal Green Technique, Ning Daoran’s Divine Soul Power far exceeded that of ordinary cultivators. Furthermore, the Fierce Sun Divine Tree was a boon bequeathed by the Fire God Remnant Body in the Taixu Secret Realm. If he were to pluck and detonate its seeds, would it yield unexpected results?
The thought energized him with a newfound sense of optimism.
"Let’s see!"
Reaching out, Ning Daoran plucked three seeds from the Fierce Sun Divine Tree. As his consciousness returned from the Divine Soul world to his physical body, three glowing fire-red seeds now rested in his palm, surrounded by light and blazing with brilliance.
"Go!"
With a flick of his finger, he sent one seed hurtling outward!
It whistled through the air, streaking nearly five li into the heart of Jiuyou City and gently landing.
In the next moment, a crimson blaze erupted skyward. Chaos erupted as flames spread like a waking Fire Dragon, tearing through the city. In mere moments, that single seed ignited a sea of fire spanning ten li, reducing countless stone warriors to ashes amidst their agonized screams.
"This is..."
From the deck of the Sea Dragon Immortal Boat, Ning Tianyi’s gaze turned sharply toward Ning Daoran.
He saw Ning Daoran casually flick his fingers again, sending two more seeds in separate directions. With two muffled explosions, blazing infernos erupted in those areas as well. The fire drove stone warriors to their doom at an astonishing speed!
"Young Friend Ning..."
Ning Tianyi’s face was filled with shock as he transmitted a message. "What are those..."
"No need to conceal the truth, City Lord. These are a fortuitous found treasure I obtained during a Secret Realm expedition—a kind of fate deeply rooted within my Divine Soul. Who would have thought these seeds could be so effective against the stone warriors?"
Ning Daoran deliberately withheld some crucial details. Revealing too much would inevitably attract envy and trouble. After all, the Fierce Sun Divine Tree seeds were treasures more precious than even the Nine Dragon Treasure Mirror!
"I see..."
Ning Tianyi’s face lit up with joy. "The specifics of this fortune are unimportant. What matters is that Young Friend Ning’s actions today are saving Guiru City and even half the Eastern Wasteland Cultivation World. On behalf of all cultivators in the land, I extend my heartfelt thanks!"
"I, too, am part of the Eastern Wasteland Cultivation World. Naturally, I cannot ignore the plight of Jiuyou City. City Lord need not thank me."
Looking ahead, Ning Daoran added, "The outward winds within the city seem to have dissipated along with the stone warriors. City Lord, we can now advance into the city. I still have more seeds; after advancing, I will eliminate the remaining stone warriors."
"Excellent! Let’s move forward!"
...
With Ning Tianyi’s command, countless Spirit Boats and Immortal Boats moved into the city. As expected, the previous gale that had hindered their advance was no longer present. The remaining wind had flowed with the annihilation of the dark puppets, a subset of the stone warriors burned away by Ning Daoran’s flames.
Meanwhile, many of the cultivators were ecstatic upon seeing the infernos roaring within the city. However, few knew who was responsible for them. Most assumed, quite naturally, that Ning Tianyi, with his superior Divinity Transformation Stage cultivation, had unleashed the flames since he was the most powerful among them.
As for Ning Daoran, his actions had been discreet. Coated in Chaotic Power, the seeds of the Fierce Sun Divine Tree were cast so subtly that none but Ning Tianyi, the sole Divinity Transformation cultivator present, had noticed his involvement.
Aboard the Evil Crossing Immortal Boat, Ning Daoran plucked and launched another trio of seeds. Soon, the outer city’s remaining dark puppets were completely eradicated by the flames.
However, using six of the Fierce Sun Divine Tree’s seeds left Ning Daoran feeling a faint headache. Though the damage to his Divine Soul wasn’t severe, it would take ten to fifteen days of nurturing to fully recover.
"Who conjured these Divine Soul Flames?"
At the ship’s bow, True Monarch Du’e remained filled with doubt.
"No idea."
Ning Daoran shook his head, his expression utterly serious.
Behind him, however, True Monarch Liu Yun let out a soft chuckle. Being quicker of wit than Du’e, she had already pieced together some bits of the truth. After all, among the crowd, only three people had ever seen the Fierce Sun Divine Tree seeds, and she was one of them.