66: Chapter 66 Myriad Machines Devouring Demon Array

At the very moment his command fell, on the open wasteland five miles outside the gates of Wangshan Town, layers of fine spiritual light suddenly rose from beneath the ground, flickering points of light igniting one after another, weaving into an elusive curtain of light in the dim twilight.

This was the second-tier trap Formation that the Li family had spent three years of manpower and resources, pouring their heart and soul into laying down — the Myriad-Mechanism Demon-Devouring Formation.

The Formation consisted of four layers, interlocking and advancing in sequence, combining offense and defense, entrapment and slaughter, with each layer concealing fatal lethality, specifically designed to withstand large-scale beast tides.

The first layer was the Black Iron Poison Thorn Trap.

Buried deep beneath the wasteland were tens of thousands of sharp spikes refined from dark iron, each one polished to be slender and razor-sharp, surpassing bamboo chopsticks in keenness, cold and fierce, enough to easily pierce the thick and tough scales of a Peak-level Yao Beast.

The tips were all soaked in the bone-corroding poison, cold and overbearing.

The mechanism was ingeniously hidden underground; as soon as a Yao Beast stepped into the Formation zone and triggered the mechanism with its weight, countless black iron poison thorns would shoot out like meteorites striking the earth, instantly piercing the Yao Beast's paws and penetrating flesh, sinew, and bone.

More importantly, the tips were impregnated with Blood-Drawing Fragrance year-round, so once stained with the Yao Beast's blood, the scent would spread wantonly, precisely attracting surrounding kin to swarm over, triggering chain stampedes and activating subsequent mechanisms, forming an inescapable chain of slaughter.

The second layer was the Demon-Binding Lock Trap.

Hundreds of black iron long cables forged with centennial Demon-Locking Vines were secretly buried beneath the soil layer.

One end of the ropes was firmly tied to the heavy winches atop the city walls, while the other end connected to the underground linkage mechanism, lying dormant in silence, waiting for prey.

Whenever a Yao Beast entered the trigger range, the tough and flexible Demon-Locking Vines would burst through the soil like countless dark green poisonous snakes, precisely entangling the Yao Beast's limbs, waist, and neck, tightening further with every struggle, cutting inch by inch into the skin and flesh.

The Demon-Locking Vines dissolved upon contact with blood, and the dissolved sap, carrying cold toxins, instantly invaded the Yao Beast's Meridians and Bloodline, freezing its spiritual power and stiffening its limbs and bones; no matter how immense its brute strength, it would instantly lose the power to move, becoming a lamb waiting for the slaughter.

The third layer was the Blazing Flame Incineration Trap.

The underground was hollowed out with densely packed pits, the bottoms of which were filled with hundreds of Earth-Splitting Fire Talismans, possessing formidable power.

The mouth of the pits was covered with mica flakes as thin as cicada wings and difficult to discern with the naked eye, while the surface was deliberately sprinkled with Spiritual Plants that Yao Beasts were most greedy for, using the exotic fragrance of the plants as bait to lure them into the trap.

Once the bloodthirsty and violent Yao Beasts were attracted by the rich spiritual fragrance and trampled on the thin mica flakes, the entire fire pit would instantly detonate.

The booming roar shook the surroundings, and flames shooting into the sky, accompanied by rolling heat waves, suddenly surged upward, a sea of fire instantly swallowing dozens of feet of the surrounding area, burning masses of Yao Beasts into charred ashes.

Hidden within the sea of fire was a persistent, soul-confusing smoke that disrupted the mind upon inhalation, causing the violent Yao Beasts to completely lose their sanity, crazily biting and crashing into their own kind, leading to endless internal strife and mutual slaughter.

The final layer was the near-city miniature defense trap, prepared specifically for small clusters of Yao Beasts.

Three-inch black iron nails, pitch black all over, had their heads quenched in Paralysis Powder, the medicinal properties of which were soft yet fierce.

Spiritual threads as thin as hair were firmly tied to the ends of the nails, with the other end connected to master-slave thunder bombs buried underground.

Small and agile Yao Beasts like Shadow Wolves, Poison-Tooth Rats, and Flying Lizards, once stepping on the nail heads, would have the Paralysis Powder permeate their skin and enter their bodies, instantly causing their limbs to go limp and forcing them to collapse to the ground, simultaneously triggering the spiritual thread mechanism.

The master bomb would explode with a bang, scattering dozens of sharp sub-nails in all directions, covering an area of several feet, capable of piercing through and pinning down any subsequent small Yao Beasts, preventing any stragglers from approaching the city wall...

Just as the Formation outside the city was fully activated—

A primal beast roar that shook the mountains and rivers suddenly exploded from the depths of the Ten Thousand Beast Mountain Range, robust and violent, making the surroundings hum.

Following the roar came a destructive momentum that covered the sky and earth.

At first, it was just a faint tremor beneath the feet, like an underground current surging; in an instant, the tremor intensified sharply, evolving into a booming roar as if heaven and earth were collapsing.

There was no sound of wind or human voices in the ears anymore, only the wild roars of thousands of Yao Beasts, the thundering of hooves on the earth, the hunting sound of wings beating in the air, and the sharp, minute sounds of scales rubbing together, weaving into a destructive symphony that swallowed everything and shook the soul.

The vast mountain forest seemed to have been split open by an invisible giant blade; a black army of Yao Beasts surged out from the depths of the dense forest like a broken dam of monstrous black floods, rushing and sweeping forward, unstoppable.

The earth trembled violently, and rocks along the way crumbled and collapsed.

The herd at the very front stampeded like thunder: Yao wolves with blood-red eyes and protruding fangs ran wildly in packs, kicking up dust; Ironclad Rhinoceroses, clad in thick black armor and possessing immense brute strength, charged headlong, crushing gravel and vegetation along the way.

Shadow Leopards, with their agile figures and strange speeds, darted rapidly through the gaps in the herd, looking for opportunities to break through.

There were even primal giant apes a full zhang tall, beating their knotted, bulging chests, their roars shaking the mountains and wilderness, each step leaving deep craters in the earth.

This was by no means a mindless flight.

Countless Yao Beasts had bloodthirsty and violent eyes, acting in perfect unison, under the control of an unknown terrifying will, charging in Formation with strict order, bearing a murderous aura to destroy everything, pointing directly at the human settlement.

High above, the murderous intent was equally overwhelming and omnipresent.

Countless iron-winged avian Yao Beasts blotted out the sky and sun, shielding the setting sun, their sharp, ear-piercing cries piercing the sky, cold claws gleaming with a chilling silver light, locking onto the city pass from above.

Flying snakes with cold scales and slender bodies slithered beneath the clouds, spitting black tongues, venom dripping like silk; there were even many Yao Beasts rarely seen in the Ten Thousand Beast Mountain Range, their bodies wreathed in phenomena of wind, fire, thunder, and lightning, pressing down from the sky, mobile disasters wandering the heavens, unrivaled.

The thick, foul, turbid air and the violently churning Demonic Qi diffused across the sky, pressing down heavily, almost suffocating.

Wherever the beast tide passed, centennial trees were broken, shallow streams and rivers were forced to change course, and the vast earth was left scarred, full of broken traces left by the trampling of Yao Beasts.

Their goal was extremely clear; they erupted from all directions of the Ten Thousand Beast Mountain Range, besieging all human strongholds.

Atop the city walls, all Cultivators could clearly see the black line that was constantly approaching and expanding at the end of the horizon, like an abyss swallowing all things; within the long line, countless bloodthirsty scarlet pupils were densely packed, flickering on and off, revealing a humanity-extinguishing malice.

Ironclad Rhinoceroses as large as small hills lowered their heads and ran wildly, their hard rhinoceros horns breaking through the air currents, each step shaking the earth with a rumbling sound, like thundering.

Iron-Feathered Eagles with a wingspan of three zhang circled high in the sky, their wings fanning up biting gales, and the wind blades they unleashed casually struck the city walls, smashing stone chips everywhere.

Countless Shadow Wolves and Swift Wind Wolves mingled in the herd, their figures ghostly, their speeds peerless, darting rapidly through the gaps in the flood, looking for opportunities to break through the defense line.

Faced with a life-and-death crisis, all Cultivators in Wangshan Town, regardless of past grudges or estrangements, put aside their differences at this moment, united against the enemy, and defended the city pass to the death.

On the city walls, brilliant spiritual lights of various colors shot into the sky one after another, Magical Artifacts chimed incessantly as they were unsheathed, the spiritual light of the Formation rose layer by layer, and steady, powerful commands and low warnings rose and fell, piercing through the continuous beast roars, echoing between heaven and earth.