Chapter 1204: The Sound of War Drums

The superior realm beast looked like a rhinoceros. It bore three horns on its head that were fifteen thousand kilometers long—the point of impact between its head and the curtain.

Crackle!

The curtain that’d just snapped into place disintegrated out of existence, along with the enormous rhinoceros.

That sent the tide of beasts into a crazed frenzy against the city. They were all intelligent arcane beasts, and it enraged them to see one of their superior realm peers die.

“Activate another,” Zhuo Bufan repeated his words from earlier with a frown.

Hummm.

A third golden curtain blossomed and swept toward the hordes outside the city.

The beasts were beside themselves with fury and frustration. Rebud City was just a border city in Redbud Plains. They should’ve been able to run right over it. When had it become so mighty?!

The beasts at the front of the horde were once more obliterated when the golden curtain brushed over them. The ones at the rear slowed down, dogged by indecision. They weren’t afraid of death, but to mindlessly die like this was a fatal blow to their confidence.

“Moooooooo!” rasped out as a titanic golden cow landed from above. It smashed right into the curtain and went down in a fiery shower of mutual destruction.

The cow was another superior realm arcane beast!

This time, however, no one stepped forward to take its place. All of the beasts remained standing where they were and silently looked on, fearful of the fourth curtain blooming from the city.

“Ahem!” Lu Yun suddenly spoke from his position on the city walls. “The golden curtain is part of the Nineturns Sky Curtain Formation and there’s nine layers of defenses to the formation. Oh, another one? So there’s five left now. Good luck and work hard!”

He pumped his fist in the air for the tide of beasts while the fifth sparkling curtain slowly traveled through the outskirts of the city and halted solidly five hundred thousand kilometers out.

The entire tide rolled to a halt and the attackers looked at each other, unwilling to move further.

Hoots of laughter sounded from Redbud’s citizens when they saw Lu Yun’s exaggerated movements. Their mirth swept away the gloomy atmosphere that’d hung over the city. What had been bleak despair moments ago was now airy, boundless hope.

The Nineturns Sky Curtain Formation!

Though none of them had known about the formation before, its current performance was absolutely worthy of the name “sky curtain”.

……

“Despicable cultivators,” cursed the arcane beasts in front of the curtain. But as much as they sneered and snarled, none dared come forward to pointless deaths any longer.

Each curtain took the life of a superior realm beast! This was absolutely ludicrous! They were all familiar with the defensive formations that cultivators harnessed, but they’d never run into such an uncanny formation. One that was useful both defensively and offensively? Needing to use lives and fresh blood to break them??

Just who was the formation grandmaster in the city?!

Apart from the occasional vengeful ghost and spirit that appeared in the Hongmeng, the third realm was partitioned into two main camps.

The first camp was the cultivators. They were born weak and had to grow into their strength through cultivation. Command of secret methods and powerful combat arts were a necessity for their arsenal.

The second camp was the arcane beasts currently in front of the city. They were born incredibly strong and naturally possessed cultivation realms, which would grow with their physical development. They had no need to cultivate. In fact, they couldn’t cultivate or use combat arts, but could make use of innate talents and abilities.

What were known as Hongmeng beasts were also arcane beasts. Hongmeng beasts were called thus because they were juicy, fragrant, and full of qi. Thus, cultivators specifically labeled them differently and raised them as livestock.

When Hongmeng beasts entered the chaos realm, they became known as chaos beasts, but there was no difference between the two.

When Lu Yun and the three others entered the chaos, the little fox had instinctively grabbed a chaos beast and cooked it, thus breaking through to chaos realm. Qing Yu had also made use of the qi inside the chaos beasts to break through to empyrean realm as well.

……

With the fifth curtain in front of them, the endless tide of Hongmeng beasts came to a stop and didn’t dare further challenge the formation.

“Bastard!” An enormous claw probed out from the rear of the horde and smashed down on the golden curtain.

Boom!

The golden curtain fell apart, as did the gigantic claw.

“Kill! Kill! Kill! Whoever dares take a step back will see their entire race exterminated!” the owner of the claw roared. It was another superior realm beast, but a great powerhouse of the realm. The sky curtain had only destroyed one of its fore claws.

Boom!

Boom!

Boom!

Earthshaking pounding from a war drum traveled from the rear. When the beasts heard the ferocious drumming, their eyes turned red with bloodlust. Heaven-shattering shrieks and roars rose from the hordes and, roused by the new stimulation, the beasts threw themselves at the city without regard for their own lives.

A sixth sky curtain immediately materialized, as did a bloody claw. It raked down on the golden shimmer of light and destroyed it, yet the ruined curtain also took the claw with it.

The owner of the claw had acted again—its strength far outstripped the capabilities of a regular Hongmeng superior.

It destroyed the next couple of curtains in short order through this most simplistic manner, but fell silent after the ninth. Backlash from the nine layers of the Nineturns Sky Curtain Formation had inflicted grave injuries on it as well.

After negating the formation, the unending waves of arcane beasts once more reached the city walls and rammed the gates. Setting their sights on footholds in the walls, beasts scrambled upwards to overwhelm the guards on the walls.

Poised to meet them in battle, the city defenders had recovered their courage and could now face the terrifying enemy. Though they were still afraid, it was more hope that occupied their hearts. The tide of beasts wasn’t insurmountable!

“All of you, stand down,” Lu Yun said softly. “I etched three formation disks.”

He turned around to look at Zhuo Bufan, who nodded, and then…

Hummm.

A tenth sky curtain appeared. The huge beasts that’d just scaled the walls were spontaneously annihilated.

The extraordinarily strong arcane beast to the rear of the flood howled with wrath, but didn’t make a move. Its doom was assured if it attacked the curtain again!

While jubilation rose from the cultivators in the city, the drum behind the beasts pounded with increasing ferocity. The beasts lost all reason and fear, surging into feral waves with the drumming and crashing into the sky curtain.

It was no longer a scene of superior realm beasts sacrificing themselves to the formation, but one of attrition through sheer numbers!

Boom!

The eleventh curtain went down!

The twelfth curtain went down!

The thirteenth curtain went down!

The purple hues of the Redbud Plains turned into red as a sea of fresh blood grew in front of Redbud City. The sky curtains continued to appear and the arcane beasts grew ever more frenzied.

The twenty-eighth curtain went down!

The twenty-ninth curtain went down!

Rumble—

The ground itself began to quake as arcane beasts gathered from all directions, feverishly slamming themselves against the city. The metropolis as large as a blazing sun began to rock and sway like a skiff in a storm. Numerous flying beasts dove from the sky, but Redbud City’s original aerial defenses held them at bay. Redbud cultivators gripped their treasures tight, ready to make their final stand with the enemy.

RUMBLE!

𝘧𝓇ℯℯ𝑤ℯ𝘣𝓃ℴ𝓋𝑒𝑙.𝑐𝘰𝑚

Another deafening explosion sounded from the city as a purple ripple burst from a tiny foundation point. It oscillated into undulations of pure force that unfurled in all directions beyond the city; a full hundred million beasts met their end at this purple ripple.

“Ai, what a pity.” Lu Yun shook his head gently. “I didn’t have enough time. I could only do so much with three days.”

He’d etched three Nineturns Sky Curtain Formation disks during this time, fortified the city’s defensive formation, etched the domineering Detonation Talisman that’d just ripped through the beasts, as well as refined multiple weapons that bristled on the city walls.

He hadn’t had time to prepare anything else beyond that.

Time hadn’t been on his side, neither had his stamina. He was only a creator, just a lowly inferior being in the Hongmeng.

“I leave the rest to you. You will not lose this city even if you die!” he shouted at the defenders around him.

“Understood!” they roared back. Having seen the exalted enforcer expunge all beasts within fifty million miles using just a talisman, the millions of city guards on the walls were flush with adrenaline. This illustrious enforcer was almost a king, if not one already.

The tide of beasts took a moment to gather themselves, giving the Redbud cultivators additional time to prepare.

Soon enough, the war drum crescendoed and a black tide of beasts was upon them once more. This time, they were even more manic than before.