40: Fierce battle in the city

North of the city, deep within the dim alleys.

"Argh!"

Mu Long's burly frame flew backward like a tattered sack, slamming violently into a high wall made of bluestone!

The iron-hard wall collapsed in a large section upon impact, sending rubble flying everywhere!

"Pfft—!"

Mu Long forced down the metallic taste of blood welling up in his throat, his eyes as crimson as blood!

Under the strange devouring power of the withered demonic cultivator and the fierce onslaught of the Twin Fiends, the Nascent Soul power within his body...

...was draining away rapidly, like air from a punctured balloon!

The crimson Protective Aura surrounding him was flickering and dimming, covered in cracks!

"Old Liu! Take Baitie and go! Activate the Heaven-Overturning Sea-Flipping Formation! Hurry—!"

Mu Long roared hoarsely, his voice sounding like the howl of a dying Vicious Beast!

He slammed a hand against his chest, spitting out a mouthful of heart-blood essence.

The blood mist merged with a longan-sized, entirely crimson Medicinal Pill in his palm that radiated a violent Aura of destruction!

The Blood Nascent Pill!

Without hesitation, he stuffed the pill into his mouth!

"Boom—!"

An Aura far more violent and ferocious than before erupted within him like a dormant volcano!

Fine beads of blood instantly seeped from his pores, and his originally bronze skin turned a deep crimson.

Veins and blood vessels bulged out prominently, looking as if they might burst at any moment!

A powerful pressure far exceeding that of a typical Early Nascent Soul Stage cultivator soared into the sky!

The price was heavy! This pill burned essence blood and damaged the Dao foundation; once the medicinal effects wore off, he would surely suffer a backlash.

His cultivation would plummet, and he might even lose all hope of ever advancing again in his lifetime!

"Kill!"

Mu Long let out a mad roar, his crimson figure resembling a burning meteor.

Carrying a tragic Aura of mutual destruction, he lunged toward the withered, blood-robed demonic cultivator!

He struck out with both fists; wherever his fist-winds passed, space distorted, and he actually forced back the blood-robed demonic cultivator's ghostly, withered claws!

Seizing this gap, he delivered a kick with controlled force to the chest of the terrified Mu Baitie behind him!

"Pfft!" Mu Baitie screamed, spitting blood as he flew backward, straight toward Liu Tiezhu's position!

"Old Liu! Catch him! Take Baitie and go! Go activate the grand Formation!" Mu Long's voice carried an unquestionable resolve!

Liu Tiezhu's eyes felt like they were splitting! He saw Mu Long's face age ten years in an instant and felt that life-burning, violent Aura!

Without a moment's hesitation, he caught the flying Mu Baitie.

"Go!" Liu Tiezhu bellowed, his body erupting with golden light as his Golden Core Great Perfection cultivation burst forth without reserve.

He transformed into a sharp golden streak of light, crashing through several pouncing vengeful spirits and ghosts, fleeing desperately toward the City Lord's Manor!

Several loyal personal guards also roared as they unleashed their power, standing firm to block the path of the Twin Fiends attacking the escaping light!

"You want to run?!" White Fiend shrieked, the green light on his fingers surging as several poisoned silk threads shot toward the golden light like venomous snakes!

"Leave the pill behind!" Black Fiend shook his bone banner, and a massive skeletal ghost hand condensed out of thin air, clutching downward!

“Hmph!” Mu Long, acting like a madman, charged with his body wreathed in blood-flames, physically shattering the poison threads and the ghost hand!

He tightly entangled the blood-robed demonic cultivator, fighting with a wound-for-wound desperation to buy that sliver of life for Liu Tiezhu!

A flash of anger crossed the blood-robed demonic cultivator's murky eyes.

His figure flickered, dodging Mu Long's life-burning punch, and his withered fingers traced a strange blood-colored rune in the air.

"Soul Devour!"

The rune suddenly lit up, and an invisible suction force that made the Soul tremble erupted!

Mu Long felt a sharp pain in his Sea of Consciousness, and even his Nascent Soul became unstable. His lunging figure suddenly jerked to a halt!

"Squelch—!"

In that instant of hesitation, the blood-robed demonic cultivator's withered, eagle-claw-like right hand, accompanied by the sharp sound of tearing space...

...had already ghosted its way right in front of Mu Long! Fast! Ruthless! Accurate!

Mu Long's pupils shrank to pinpricks! He twisted his body with all his might, but the outer side of his left arm was still grazed by those fingertips wreathed in deathly black Qi!

"Rip!"

A tooth-gritting sound of tearing!

Blood splattered!

Mu Long's left arm, covered in crimson scales and containing great power, was actually severed as if it were rotten wood!

The severed arm flew high into the air, trailing a spray of blood!

"Argh—!" Mu Long let out a shrill, agonized scream, blood geysering from the stump!

The violent momentum brought by burning his life force faltered! The intense pain almost made him faint!

At this moment, inside the secret room of the White Cloud Merchant Guild, sweat soaked his black robes, clinging to his withered frame.

His face was as pale as paper, and his lips were even slightly blue, but those eyes were startlingly bright, like red-hot stars!

The earth fire spirit nurturing furnace floated before him, its body trembling slightly and emitting a low hum.

Inside the furnace, the heavenly vein ganoderma had been refined into the purest life Origin, and a trace of Heavenly Dao Qi faintly appeared within the Pill Furnace.

The essences of several already processed auxiliary herbs circled outside like stars, radiating their own spiritual brilliance.

Now was the most critical step—Pill Condensation!

Yao Delong's fingers moved like fluttering butterflies, reaching extreme speeds as he sketched out profound Alchemy Seal runes in the void!

As each rune fell, it triggered a different hum from the earth fire spirit nurturing furnace, causing the medicinal essences inside to churn and vibrate violently!

This process was incredibly dangerous! The drain on his energy was like an open floodgate! The requirement for Pill Fire control was even more demanding, down to the hairsbreadth!

"One revolution... two revolutions... three revolutions..." he counted silently in his heart, his teeth gritting together.

North of the city, the battlefield.

"City Lord!"

"Protect the City Lord!"

Several powerful Auras rapidly approached! Liu Tiezhu had returned!

He had not only brought the two Late Golden Core Stage Venerables staying at the City Lord's Manor but also dozens of fierce-looking elite City Guards formed into a battle Formation!

Reinforcements had finally arrived!

"Kill!" Liu Tiezhu's eyes were bloodshot. Seeing Mu Long bloodied with a severed arm and a wildly fading Aura, he completely lost it!

He roared like a mountain tiger, his entire body's golden light transforming into a massive mountain-splitting axe, which he swung violently at the blood-robed demonic cultivator who was about to lunge at Mu Long again!

The two Venerables also summoned their strongest Magic Treasures to attack the White Cloud Twin Fiends!

"Form Formation! Defend!" the City Guard commander bellowed, and a massive golden light shield instantly condensed above the street, blocking the sky full of poison needles!

"Dammit!" Black Fiend cursed, shaking his bone banner as more ghosts swarmed out to entangle with the City Guards.

"Humph! No matter how many ants there are, they are still ants!" the blood-robed demonic cultivator's voice was raspy. Facing Liu Tiezhu's giant axe...

...he didn't even dodge, reaching out his withered palm directly toward the axe blade!

"Clang—!"

A deafening sound of metal clashing! The violent shockwave collapsed large sections of the walls on both sides!

The blood-robed demonic cultivator's body swayed slightly, black Qi churning on his palm, yet he was completely unharmed!

On the other hand, Liu Tiezhu was sent reeling by an irresistible counter-shock force, his blood and Qi churning, and fine cracks appeared on the golden giant axe in his hand!

"Blood Sacrifice!" The blood-robed demonic cultivator's eyes flashed with blood-light as he shouted harshly!

Hearing this, a flash of ruthlessness and resolve crossed the faces of the White Cloud Twin Fiends simultaneously!

The two of them spat out a mouthful of essence blood, merging it into the bone banner and the green light of their fingers respectively!

"Jie jie jie! Ten Thousand Ghosts Soul Devour!" Black Fiend laughed wildly. The bone banner instantly expanded as countless ghosts merged...

...transforming into a hideously ferocious, hundred-zhang-tall phantom of a Ghost King, its Evil Qi overwhelming!

"Bone-Eroding Soul-Wither!" White Fiend flicked his fingers repeatedly, and countless ghastly green poison threads instantly condensed into a massive poison web that blotted out the sun.

It emitted a foul stench capable of even corroding spiritual power!

The blood-robed demonic cultivator's own robes billowed, and a thick, inescapable scent of blood permeated the air.

Behind him appeared a blurred but infinitely evil and greedy phantom of a Demon God!

The Auras of the three exploded instantly! Their combined strike, like the coming of doomsday, pressed down heavily upon the people from the City Lord's Manor!

"Hold on!" Liu Tiezhu's eyes were nearly splitting as he roared, burning his Golden Core Origin to make the golden light even more intense!

"Pfft!" Mu Long spat out another large mouthful of blood, forcibly channeling his remaining Nascent Soul power.

Swinging his only remaining right arm, he struck out several crimson giant palms of fire toward the Demon God phantom!

But his Aura was already like a candle in the wind; his power was greatly diminished!

The battlefield was instantly submerged in a torrent of violent Devilish Qi, ghost Qi, poison mist, and chaotic spiritual power!

The street was completely destroyed, turned into a field of ruins! Screams and roars echoed incessantly!

Mu Long fought while retreating; his objective was clear—toward the City Lord's Manor!

The "Heaven-Overturning Sea-Flipping Formation" within the manor, set up at immense cost, was their only path to survival!

As long as they stepped within a hundred zhang of the manor gates, they could activate a portion of the Formation!

The distance was constantly shrinking!

Nine hundred zhang... eight hundred zhang... seven hundred zhang...