Chaos shot through the city as its citizens began reacting to the bells. The streets emptied out as the civilians ran for safety within their own homes while the soul cultivators prepared for battle.

Streaks of light shot this way and that as the soul cultivators gathered. Some leaped from rooftop to rooftop while others skywalked to converge on the walls protecting the city.

Distortions in space appeared as Soul Kings stepped out from them one after another. The roars of several soulbeasts alerted everyone to the presence of the class seven familiars with them.

“Damn! It hasn’t even been a day, why are they attacking so fast!”

Dan Teng cursed to himself with a quick glance over to Bai Yunfei’s room. “Did...did they realize something’s happening with Bai Yunfei?!”

Wu Dijian glanced at the elemental fire spreading in the sky. “It’s possible. Perhaps they decided it was better to attack now than wait later and be greeted with a different problem.”

He looked over to the faraway walls. “This will be their second assault. Have...reinforcements arrived then? Or have they decided to use whatever trump cards they were initially hiding?”

“I have to join this fight! I leave Bai Yunfei to you, brother Wu!”

“You can leave it to me!” Wu Dijian nodded. “Stall for time if possible. Our best case scenario is to force them to retreat. That’ll give Bai Yunfei time to recover and me to join in the fight!”

Dan Teng waved his hand to open up a distortion in the space in front of him. Nodding one last time to Wu Dijian, he stepped through it and appeared several kilometers away towards the area where everyone else was gathered at.

Hundreds of the disciples of the Yao clan were gathered upon those walls by now. And nearly a thousand familiars were also standing by their side with their auras showing. At a glance, the walls were completely filled with man and beast and the skies above peppered with Soul Exalts.

And above those Soul Exalts stood the Soul Kings. Yao Wuchen, Yao Tianji, and the other Soul Kings were all floating there with their familiars.

A few of the Soul Kings looked unwell. They were still recovering from the previous battle and had yet to resume their full fighting strength. But still, they managed to recover just enough strength to add a considerable amount of firepower to their side—the recovery of a Soul King was still astoundingly fast.

Dan Teng appeared in the sky next to Yao Tianji. “Brother.” He greeted the man.

“Hn.”

Yao Tianji’s eyes gazed over to the back of Yao City. “How is that Bai Yunfei?”

“His condition has stabilized, he should be fine now. I estimate a full recovery after a day.”

“A day...” The strong aura emanating from the enemy side made Yao Tianji a little unsettled. “I’m afraid the enemies won’t be giving us that much time...”

“Are there only Soul Kings? Where are the others?” Dan Teng commented upon observing the state of the enemies.

On the other side of the battlefield stood not even ten glows of light. Qin Bangjie stood among those numbers along with the other Soul Kings of their allied forces.

But not a single Soul Exalt, Soul Ancestor, or even Soul Sprite could be seen standing with them.

“Perhaps they don’t wish for any more casualties to their forces...” Yao Tianji muttered. “It matters little for the weaker forces to take part as long as we Soul Kings are here. That’s fine...that means none of our clansmen will have to sacrifice themselves...”

“That is one way of looking at it, yes,” Dan Teng muttered, “we just need to bide enough time for Bai Yunfei to recover. We can use the Core Stone to protect the civilians from harm. From there, we can fight without reserve and break free from this besiegement!”

“Bide time until he recovers...” A determined light started to shine in Yao Tianji’s eyes. “Then...we defend this place to our deaths!!”

Any misgivings or concerns he had about the enemy forces was useless to think about. The survival of the Yao clan and the civilians of Yao City was resting entirely on Bai Yunfei’s shoulders. They just had to have confidence in him!

“Are there no new Soul Kings among them? What could they be thinking about?!”

Dan Teng exclaimed. Judging by what his soulsense was telling him, the number of Soul Kings on the other side was exactly the same as when they retreated the first time!

It didn’t even matter if the Soul Kings from the Beast Taming School were to release their class seven soulbeast puppets—the number of Soul King-leveled fighters from the enemy side was lower than the ones from Yao City! If they excluded Qin Bangjie from the equation, then the fighting force of both sides was essentially equivalent...

“It’s possible they’ve more hiding somewhere. Be careful when you fight!” Yao Tianji growled with concern. “Prioritize your defenses. Don’t pursue them and just stall for time. A battle of attrition or forcing them to withdraw suits us best!”

Today, the clan was devoting all their efforts to prolonging the battle. They had fast-acting pills to quickly recover their soulforce, so they had the advantage in terms of endurance. Things would be fine as long as they endured.

“Just as we expected!”

On the other side, the Soul Kings from the allied schools were all staring past Yao Tianji and the others. Behind him in the city was an area with a large amount of red light pulsating outwards.

“Is someone cultivating there? Are they trying to make a breakthrough? Is this a technique of the Yao clan? Why is it so peculiar?”

As the strongest and most familiar with the attempt to become a Soul Emperor, Qin Bangjie was the one most familiar with what this strange red light meant. The light felt mysterious to him, but also extremely powerful as though some type of great power was hidden inside of it. It felt suffocating almost.

And if it was ‘suffocating’ to a Half-emperor like him, then that meant this type of phenomenon was something to be alarmed about.

“All of the Yao clan’s Soul Kings are here, so...is that someone they were hiding? Did he not participate so he could focus on breaking through? Is this...him about to break through?!”

The idea of a Soul Emperor being born here flustered Qin Bangjie. “Will there be a Soul Emperor here?! It’s not impossible...hmph! What wishful thinking, to put up the last resistance here!”

𝘧𝘳𝘦ℯ𝓌𝘦𝒷𝘯𝑜𝑣𝘦𝓁.𝒸𝘰𝓂

A burst of killing intent flew out from his body. He was determined to do battle now. Kicking off against his foothold, Qin Bangjie flew towards Yao Wuchen and the others with a cry!

“Kill them!!”

Powerful auras exploded one after another as the allied Soul Kings flew at the Yao clan Soul Kings!

The skies became a mixture of color as Soul Kings from both sides exploded with light. The light from the Yao clan overlayed one another as the Soul Kings stood there in a single line, like an impenetrable fortress to fend off the invaders!

No words were spoken after Qin Bangjie. It was time for the second battle for the city!