Translator: Silavin & Ashish
Translation Checker: PewPewLazerGun
Editor and Proofreader: Leo of Zion Mountain & Dhael Ligerkeys
As expected, the Demon Race remained quiet for a time. One month passed by without anything happening after Tiger Roar City had repelled the million-strong Demon Race Army.
After one month, the Defensive Array of the city was up and running once again, and when the light curtain finally covered the entire city, the cultivators inside felt safe. This Spirit Array was arranged by Nanmen Da Jun personally, so its performance was far better than the original Array of Tiger Roar City. Even if another million Demons came to attack, Tiger Roar City would be able to deal with them with this Spirit Array.
Not only that, but a good piece of news had also come from High Heaven Palace, and that was that the first batch of cultivators who had entered the Thousand Illusions Dreamworld had emerged. Although only one-tenth of them had cultivated Shaman Strength, it was proof in itself that this method was feasible. All they needed to do was continue to feed cultivators into the Thousand Illusions Dreamworld, and sooner or later, the Star Boundary would have enough Shamans to deal with the war between the two worlds.
Anyone who could cultivate Shaman Strength fell directly under Yang Yan’s jurisdiction, but perhaps because she felt guilty because she couldn’t provide Yang Kai with any help last time, she directly assigned two Shaman Grandmasters to Tiger Roar City.
In the current situation, two Shaman Grandmasters could only be regarded as adding flowers to a bouquet. Nonetheless, it was better than nothing. At least they could provide some practical Shamanic Spells to Tiger Roar City’s cultivators, helping Yang Kai save some energy.
Tiger Roar City had maintained contact with other cities of the Western Territory all this time so they knew that the overall situation was far from hopeful. Many small and medium-sized cities had already been occupied and the Star Boundary had suffered many casualties. The surviving cultivators were forced to flee to other cities and converge with their defence forces. Some people had also come to Tiger Roar City; not too many, but not too few either. Tiger Roar City had accepted a few tens of thousands of refugees, bolstering their defences further.
Since the beginning of the war between the two worlds, the Star Boundary’s casualties had already exceeded a few million, but the Demon Race had taken far more losses than that. Nonetheless, the Demon Race continued to pour more soldiers into the fight, as if they would never run out of fresh bodies and such losses meant nothing to them. Everyone was now struggling to deal with the situation.
A few days later, Yang Kai, who was in retreat inside the City Lord’s Mansion, suddenly opened his eyes and took out his communication artifact. After checking it, a frown appeared on his brow as stood up before his figure flickered.
The next moment, Yang Kai appeared on the city wall as a team of Emperor Realm Masters saluted him, one after another.
“What’s going on?” Yang Kai asked, looking into the distance.
Li Jiao replied, “The Demon Race is back.”
“How many?”
“Not too many, only a few hundred thousand.”
Chi Gui sneered, “When we have already repulsed an army of a million soldiers, what could a few hundred thousand achieve?” Last time, when the Defensive Array wasn’t even functional, Tiger Roar City had achieved a stunning victory, so now that they had the support of the Array and Tiger Roar City had gained tens of thousands more Masters, Chi Gui was naturally filled with confidence.
“Don’t be careless!” Yang Kai warned in a grim voice, “Since the Demon Race dared to return, they must be counting on something.”
Suddenly, something clicked as Gao Xue Ting voiced her concern, a little startled, “Do you mean to say…”
Yang Kai replied, “I hope I’m wrong, otherwise it won’t be an easy fight.” He turned to Ma Yin and ordered, “Send some people out to scout if there are other Demon Race Armies in the vicinity.”
Ma Yin responded before quickly descending the city wall and making arrangements.
Not long after, a dozen or so figures rushed out of Tiger Roar City, heading in various directions.
Half an hour later, Ma Yin came to report back, “City Lord, there is no trace of any Demons within a thousand kilometres of Tiger Roar City other than the army before us.”
Yang Kai nodded before shouting aloud, “Relay my order, prepare for battle!”
The war horn was blown as Tiger Roar City started mobilizing at full speed. Nearly 200,000 cultivators performed their respective duties and under the command of the Emperor Realm Masters, everyone stood in square formations, guarding all directions of the city wall, waiting for the Demon Race to approach.
Reports kept coming from the scouts stationed outside that the Demon Race Army was steadily approaching Tiger Roar City, apparently heading straight for them.
The atmosphere on the city wall was solemn as many Emperors were gazing into the distance.
Slowly, the Demon Race Army appeared in everyone’s field of vision. The intelligence was indeed correct as there were less than a million of them, and because it was much less than last time, presumably it was mainly composed of the same army which was routed last time.
But that very army that had suffered such huge casualties against Tiger Roar City was actually advancing with vigour and arrogance, carrying an unprecedented momentum with them, which was quite puzzling to most.
Time slowly trickled by until the Demon Race Army came to a halt fifty kilometres away from Tiger Roar City, whereupon it parted right down the middle and a figure riding a Demon Flame Horse rode out in neither a hurried nor slow manner.
The Demon Flame Horse had wicked flames rising from its hooves, making it look exceptionally fierce. At first glance, it looked a few heads taller than an ordinary horse, giving it a majestic and imposing air.
Riding the horse was a single Demon who swayed left and right slightly, like he was drunk. His eyes were closed as he slowly approached Tiger Roar City along with his mount.
Everyone’s gaze was focused on this Demon Race Master and many people started to furrow their brows as no one was able to gauge the depth of this individual’s strength. At first glance, this Demon Race Master seemed no different than an ordinary man, but why would an ordinary man come here to seek his death at this point?
The only reason that made sense was because the cultivation of this Demon was exceptionally high.
Da da da…
The sound of hooves kicking the ground in a relaxed manner rang out until finally that Demon Race Master, riding his Demon Flame Horse, arrived not too far away from the city walls and stopped.
Finally, the Demon Race Master yawned before he slowly opened his eyes.
Immediately, light flashed across the depths of this man’s eyes, seemingly causing the surrounding world to tremble as a heavy pressure descended from above like an invisible mountain pressing on the chests of the Emperor Realm Masters, making it difficult for them to breathe.
“Pseudo-Great Emperor!” Li Jiao cried in shock.
Gao Xue Ting and the others’ expressions also drastically changed.
Yang Kai became equally gloomy. Although he had expected that the Demon Race would definitely be prepared this time, and might even dispatch a Pseudo-Great Emperor level Master, when one such Master really appeared before his eyes, Yang Kai felt his head ache a little.
Tiger Roar City wasn’t a big city, nor was it located in a strategically important position, so the Demon Race shouldn’t be too concerned about it. However, after suffering such a big loss not once, but twice against Tiger Roar City, losing countless soldiers, perhaps the higher-ups were attracted and they deployed a Pseudo-Great Emperor level Master to deal with it.
As expected, taller trees attract more wind!
“Pseudo-Great Emperor?” Obviously, that Demon Race Master had heard Li Jiao and focused his gaze on him and chuckled. His smile was bright and hearty, and coupled with the air of vicissitudes of life on his face, it carried a charm of its own. He slowly raised his finger and shook it left and right, refuting, “Wrong, wrong, wrong, completely wrong. Pseudo-Great Emperor is what you call us on your side, on our side, Masters like me are called Half-Saints!”
No matter whether it was a Pseudo-Great Emperor or Half-Saint though, it was just a difference in name. In either case, both were just a step away from becoming a Great Emperor or Demon Saint, incomparable to ordinary Emperor Realm Masters.
Yang Kai grit his teeth, cursing Qiong Qi a hundred times in his heart. Had he not taken Yang Xiao and Yang Xue to the Four Seasons Realm on his own initiative, he wouldn’t be lacking high-end Masters right now. By relying on Qiong Qi and Liu Yan, it might not have been that hard to deal with the Half-Saint before him.
[Alright, now that they have dispatched a Half-Saint, my Embodiment and I will have to go all out to deal with him. Even so, the rest of Tiger Roar City will probably suffer heavy casualties to defeat the rest of the Demon Race Army.]
Not to mention it was still difficult to say whether they could win or not. The last two battles were won with such ease mainly because of Yang Kai’s presence on the battlefield. Without him, Tiger Roar City’s combat power would definitely take a dive.
Suddenly, the Half-Saint pointed at Li Jiao and stated, arrogantly laughing, “Old dog, since you talk a lot, you will die first. This Old Master will give you a quick and peaceful death!”
Li Jiao’s face turned ashen after hearing this. [I should die first just because I spoke first!? What kind of reasoning is that?]
Yang Kai calmly stated, “Your Excellency is quite arrogant. Whether it’s a Pseudo-Great Emperor or Half-Saint, if you want us to die, you’ll need to prove you're capable of killing us first!”
The Half-Saint immediately focused his gaze on Yang Kai after hearing this, his sharp eyes even giving off a piercing light as he gently nodded and proclaimed, “You will be the second one to die…” Then he pointed at the others one by one, “You will be third, you fourth…”
He continued on in such a manner for quite a while, angering many in the process. From the way he spoke, he really sounded like everyone who was pointed at by him should just step out and offer their necks to him.
While he was pointing at the cultivators of Tiger Roar City one by one though, the Demon Race Half-Saint suddenly froze with his hand pointed in a certain direction. A moment later, he nervously gulped as he squinted in the direction of a certain part of the city wall, remaining silent for a long time after.
Everyone on the city wall was confused as they looked in the direction this man was gazing, wondering what he was staring at.
A moment later, the Half-Saint retracted his hand and stated, embarrassingly smiling, “This King suddenly remembered he has something urgent to attend to. En, I will take my leave first!”
Saying so, he really turned his horse around and galloped back the very same way he came, rapidly at that.
[What the Hell?]
Li Jiao and the others were completely dumbfounded, feeling as if this Half-Saint of the Demon Race had some problems with his head! He came so aggressively and arrogantly, listing off the people he would kill right before their eyes, but in the end, it was like a thunderclap with no rain!
Was this idiot really a Half-Saint? Was it just some fool pretending to be one? However, his aura was not inferior to a Pseudo-Great Emperor, and that couldn’t be faked.
The situation was so strange that everyone didn’t know how they should deal with it and all slowly turned to Yang Kai, waiting for his orders.
Yang Kai’s brow furrowed for a moment before a light flickered across his eyes and he made up his mind, “Open the Array! Attack!”
Gao Xue Ting hurriedly exhorted, “Yang Kai, be careful of a trap!”
The Half-Saint’s behaviour just now was too strange, making it difficult to not think he had some plot in mind, like trying to draw everyone out of the city where they would be easier to deal with. It was already extremely difficult to confront a Half-Saint, but if they also lost the protection of the Defensive Array, all the Emperor Realm Masters present still might not be enough to kill him.
It wasn’t only Gao Xue Ting who had such concerns, most others were also worried about this.
Yang Kai, however, turned to Gao Xue Ting and said in a sombre voice, “Trust me!”
Gao Xue Ting hesitated for a moment before nodding and shouting, “Open the Array!”
The Defensive Array around the city then came down with a low rumbling noise.
The next moment, profound and abstruse verses rang out as the Bloodlust Spell and Life Chains bloomed, covering the army in the city.
