42: Yuji City in Crisis, Human Race's Hero (Long Chapter)

"Senior Yan! We haven't met in a few days, how could you be forced into such a state by a mere Nightmare Grade Demon/Monster?" Xiao Zhuo's gaze swept over Yan Yuxing's terrifying penetrating wound on his abdomen, his brows slightly furrowed.

"Xiao...Xiao Zhuo?!" Yan Yuxing's eyes widened in shock as he recognized the newcomer's face, almost believing he was dreaming!

The young man who was only in the True Essence Realm ten days ago could now instantly kill three Nightmare Grade Tiger Demons, who had driven him to despair, as if cutting melons and vegetables!

This incredible leap in strength made his throat tighten, leaving him utterly shocked!

Immediately, an intense desire to survive and a sense of responsibility overwhelmed everything else!

He suddenly grabbed Xiao Zhuo's wrist, his fingernails almost digging into the other's flesh from the force, and shouted hoarsely: "Quick! Come with me to Yuji City! The demons are attacking the city! They want to perform a blood sacrifice on the entire city! Although I've drawn away these three beasts, there are still thousands of Tiger Demons rampaging in the city, and a Calamity-rank Demon is besieging City Lord Luo! If we're late... Yuji City will be finished!"

His eyes were bloodshot, full of urgency and pleading, as if he had grasped the last straw of hope.

"Yuji City is under attack?!" Xiao Zhuo's sword-like brows raised, his heart filled with surprise and doubt.

Although Yuji City was not as grand as Qingyang City, it still had a Gui Zhen Realm (Return to Simplicity Realm - Cultivation Realm) City Lord presiding over it, and a population of several million!

Had the demons become so rampant that they dared to directly attack such a large city?

"City Lord Luo is fighting two Calamity-Grade Tiger Demons alone! He was already showing signs of fatigue when I left! There are at least five more Nightmare Grade Demons/Monsters in the city! Xiao Zhuo, I beg you! I'll explain more on the way!" Yan Yuxing spoke extremely fast, his voice trembling from his injuries and anxiety, clutching Xiao Zhuo's arm tightly, afraid he would refuse.

Xiao Zhuo pondered for a moment.

While the request for aid from Jizhou City was important, Yuji City was close at hand, and the main force of the demons consisted only of Calamity-Grade and Nightmare Grade Demons/Monsters. With his current strength, a quick victory shouldn't take too much time.

"Let's go!" He nodded decisively.

A blue light rose again, enveloping Yan Yuxing, and the two of them, like two shooting stars in reverse, tore through the sky, rushing towards the northeast!

In the fierce wind, Xiao Zhuo's nostrils were filled with the faint scent of blood emanating from Yan Yuxing.

The latter endured his pain, intermittently recounting the tragic battle: Yuji City's sudden fierce attack, City Lord Luo's struggle against two demons, and his own act of luring away the pursuers.

A moment later, the sky in the northeast was no longer pure azure, but was stained by an eerie and sinister purple glow!

A dull roar, like rolling thunder, faintly reached them even from tens of miles away, shaking their hearts!

At the edge of their vision, the outline of a massive city, engulfed in thick smoke and raging fire, had already appeared!

Many sections of the city wall had collapsed, flames soared into the sky within the city, and thick smoke billowed upwards!

Above the city, several streaks of light were intensely colliding and clashing!

More precisely, a purple-robed man, covered in blood, was being frantically besieged by several massive demonic shadows!

That purple-robed man was none other than Luo Xing, the City Lord of Yuji City!

The black long spear in his hand danced like a Dragon, but the golden light emanating from its tip was as dim as a flickering candle in the wind, on the verge of extinguishing!

The two demons attacking him had revealed their terrifying Main Body, ten zhang tall—ferocious giant tigers covered in black bone armor and densely packed with crimson demonic patterns!

Around them, sticky, inky demonic Qi surged, exuding an overwhelming, ferocious pressure far exceeding that of Nightmare Grade!

They were indeed two powerful Calamity-Grade Devil Kings—Tiger Flame and Tiger Void!

In addition, there were three slightly smaller but equally brutal Nightmare Grade Tiger Demons, circling the periphery of the battle like hyenas, constantly unleashing insidious claw winds and demonic Qi impacts, disrupting Luo Xing's defenses!

"Xiao Zhuo! That's City Lord Luo!" Yan Yuxing's eyes were bloodshot, and he pointed at the figure fighting desperately, shouting hoarsely.

"I see him!" Xiao Zhuo's eyes suddenly sharpened like saber edges!

The blue light beneath his feet erupted, increasing his speed, pulling a long sonic boom cloud ring in the air, and with a piercing shriek, he boldly charged towards the core of that tragic battlefield!

"Hu Yan! Hu Xu! If you slaughter my Yuji City today, you are declaring war on my Human Race in Jizhou! If this city falls, the Jizhou Demon Suppression Division will never stand idly by! You will not escape reckoning!" Luo Xing roared hoarsely, his voice raspy from exhausted True Essence and injuries.

He barely managed to deflect a fiery claw that tore through space, his figure staggering back, his purple robe already soaked with blood and covered in bone-deep wounds.

"Luo Xing! Fool!" The giant tiger Hu Yan on the left let out a deafening roar, its tiger eyes filled with human-like mockery, "Do you think our race has endured until now because we feared your Yuji City? Feared Jizhou City?"

It suddenly swiped a claw, and three terrifying claw winds, burning with dark purple demonic flames, tore through the air, carrying an Aura of annihilation as they blasted towards Luo Xing!

"Let me tell you! The entire Jizhou will soon prostrate itself at the feet of my demons! The Human Race is only fit to be blood food raised by our race! Hahahaha!" Hu Xu on the right laughed maniacally, stomping its four claws on the Void Realm, emitting dull Qi explosions, its massive body like a black meteorite, accurately cutting off Luo Xing's escape route!

Boom!

Luo Xing barely managed to parry Hu Yan's demonic flame claw wind with his spear shaft, and dazzling sparks, accompanied by the groans of overburdened bones, splattered!

The immense impact sent his body reeling back, only to meet Hu Xu's long-prepared pounce!

Pfft!

Blocking with his spear in haste, Luo Xing was hit as if by a mountain, spitting out mouthfuls of blood, his entire body sent flying like a broken kite!

While in the air, he forcefully gathered his last bit of True Essence, his long spear like a venomous Dragon emerging from its lair, accurately striking a Nightmare Grade Tiger Demon that was trying to sneak attack, breaking its bones and tendons, sending it flying backward!

However, this was already the end of his tether! Hu Xu's words, "Jizhou has fallen," were like a curse, shaking his mind, causing a fatal moment of hesitation in his movements!

"Haha! You won't live past today anyway, so let me tell you before you die! The Silver Moon Venerable King is about to..." Hu Xu laughed triumphantly, about to reveal a shocking secret.

"Hu Xu! Shut up!" Hu Yan sharply interrupted, murderous intent surging in his fierce eyes, "Finish him quickly!"

The attacks of the two Calamity-Grade Tiger Demons instantly intensified several times over!

Claw shadows filled the sky, and demonic Qi surged like a tide!

Luo Xing was like a small boat in a raging sea; in an instant, several more bone-deep wounds appeared on his body, and blood stained half the sky!

His True Essence was almost exhausted, his vision began to blur, and a desperate sadness rose in his heart.

Out of the corner of his eye, however, he caught sight of a dazzling blue light in the sky, approaching at an incredible speed!

"Human Race reinforcements?" Hu Yan and Hu Xu also noticed the rapidly approaching Aura; though surprised, they didn't pay too much attention. "Just a little bug in the Condensing Aperture Realm! You three, go tear them apart!" Hu Yan ordered the three Nightmare Grade Tiger Demons.

"Yes, Your Majesty!" The three Nightmare Grade Tiger Demons let out bloodthirsty roars, abandoning Luo Xing, transforming into three black and yellow demonic shadows, and pounced with sinister grins towards the seemingly "weak" blue light!

Although the harassment from the three Nightmare Grade Tiger Demons was gone, Luo Xing's condition had plummeted to rock bottom. Under the full-force assault of Hu Yan and Hu Xu, the two Calamity Level Demons/Monsters, he only had the strength to parry, and each block felt like it was burning his life force!

"Rumble—!"

Claw shadows, burning with demonic flames, tore through the clouds, sealing off all of Luo Xing's escape routes! Deadly cold light enveloped an area of several miles!

There was no escape! A look of determination flashed in Luo Xing's eyes, and he suddenly crushed a warm jade pendant at his waist!

Buzz!

A solid golden bell phantom instantly appeared, protecting him within it!

However—

Crack! Boom!!!

The golden bell phantom only lasted for less than a breath before it exploded under the combined attack of the two Calamity Level Demons/Monsters! The violent energy impact slammed hard into Luo Xing!

"Pfft—!" He spurted blood like a rag doll hit by a giant hammer, his protective True Essence completely disintegrated, and his body, trailing a dazzling line of blood, fell helplessly from high in the sky!

"City Lord—!" Countless Yuji City warriors, fighting desperately against the demons on the city walls and in the ruins, witnessed this scene, their eyes bloodshot!

Their hands beneath their armor clenched until their knuckles turned white, emitting a beast-like wail of sorrow!

"Jing Xuan, be careful!" Cen Jue roared, pushing away Yu Jingxuan, who had lost her composure!

Rip!

An insidious tiger claw suddenly extended from the side, fiercely tearing open Cen Jue's chest! Blood gushed out!

The two tumbled like gourds, falling beneath a pile of broken walls and rubble. Cen Jue's massive chest wound was bone-deep, and blood instantly soaked the green bricks and broken tiles beneath him.

Just at this moment when despair permeated the entire city—

"Ultimate Skill—Tiangang Saber Domain!"

A voice, clear as an icy spring yet imbued with supreme majesty, pierced through the overcast clouds and clamor, clearly echoing in the ears of every living being in Yuji City!

Buzz!

A translucent Saber Intent Domain, tens of zhang in diameter, suddenly unfolded, like an invisible cage, instantly enveloping Tiger Flame, the Calamity-Grade Devil King, who was about to pursue Luo Xing with monstrous ferocity!

It turned out that, at the very moment Tiger Flame and Tiger Void were focused on killing Luo Xing, the azure stream of light had already swept across the battlefield like a ghost!

Three Nightmare Grade tiger demons, who had been ordered to intercept, didn't even get a clear look at the newcomer's movements before they silently turned into charred black fragments in seven streams of fiery saber light, descending like a heavenly punishment, and fell to the dust!

Xiao Zhuo had already cast aside Yan Yuxing, transforming into an azure lightning bolt that tore through space, and fiercely charged into the Calamity Level tiger demon's battle circle!

His target was directly Tiger Flame!

“Condensing Aperture Realm?! Saber Intent Domain?!” Tiger Flame, enveloped by the Domain, felt an overwhelming suppressive force bear down on him, instantly reducing his strength by thirty percent!

What made his Soul Flying Away and Spirit Scattering even more was that the ubiquitous and incomparably sharp free-floating Saber Intent within the Domain, like billions of steel needles, stimulated his tough fur, causing waves of stinging pain!

Among the demon race, only Venerable King-level existences could control a Domain!

“Seven Stars Severing Peaks! Slash!” Xiao Zhuo's figure flickered with azure light, appearing like a ghost beneath Tiger Flame's relatively soft abdomen!

Above the meteoric iron long saber, a hazy starlight suddenly flared, as if it had stirred the Nine Heavens' Star River!

Twenty percent of his Saber Intent was poured into it without reservation, and the Heavenly Dipper Transformation to Zenith Saber Technique's strongest killing move erupted fiercely!

Buzz!

A terrifying Saber Qi, thirty feet long, condensed like a solid, and burning with brilliant starlight, tore through the air, carrying the destructive power to cleave mountains, and fiercely slashed down towards Tiger Flame's massive body!

“Roar—!!” Tiger Flame felt an unprecedented threat of death!

He roared, frantically condensing all of his demonic energy in front of him, forming a black demonic barrier as thick as a city wall! This was his strongest defense!

However, the moment the starlight-burning Saber Qi violently collided with the demonic barrier—

Tiger Flame's fierce tiger eyes suddenly bulged, his pupils shrinking to pinpricks! A thought that made his liver and guts split open exploded in his mind:

“Can't stop it!”

“Absolutely can't stop it!!”

“Crack—!!!”

A crisp, heart-pounding sound of shattering rang out!

The seemingly indestructible demonic barrier, before the star-glowing Saber Qi containing unparalleled sharpness, shattered like fragile glass!

The starlight flashed and disappeared!

Pfft!

The Saber Qi passed through Tiger Flame's massive brow without obstruction, continuing down along his spine!

His enormous tiger body, like a small mountain, was cleanly split in two in mid-air!

The rampant Saber Qi instantly invaded his body, shattering the Calamity-Grade primordial elixir that contained most of his life's Origin!

Instant kill!

Under Xiao Zhuo's full power, a Calamity-rank Demon powerhouse, capable of annihilating a city, was instantly killed by his single saber strike!

The Tiangang Saber Domain slowly dissipated.

The black-clad young man stood in the Void Realm, his robes moving without wind, exuding a majestic Aura as stable as a deep pool and a towering Peak.

His gaze, as cold as ten thousand years of ice, turned towards the other Calamity Level tiger Devil King, Tiger Void, who was already scared to the point of his Soul Flying Away and Spirit Scattering!

“Demons... all must die!”

Crushing!

“Hu... Tiger Flame!!” Tiger Void witnessed the terrifying sight of his companion being dismembered by a single saber strike and his primordial elixir destroyed; immense fear, like ice water poured over him, instantly engulfed him!

A Peak Condensing Aperture Realm instantly killing a Middle Stage Calamity Level?! And also possessing a Saber Intent Domain?! This was simply a monster that defied all understanding!

He was slightly weaker than Tiger Flame; what could he use to resist?

Flee! He must flee immediately!

Tiger Void completely disregarded the tiger demon horde still frantically attacking the city below; his massive tiger body erupted with unprecedented speed, his four claws frantically shattering the Void Realm, creating a series of sonic booms, as he desperately fled in the direction away from Yuji City!

City attacks, blood sacrifices—none of it mattered in the face of death!

However, the moment he turned and focused all his attention on escaping—

“Perish!”

In Xiao Zhuo's pupils, platinum Divine Runes flashed and vanished!

Four formless, intangible Thorn of Nothingness, condensed with terrifying Divine Soul killing power, had already quietly lurked near Tiger Void's massive head and now erupted!

Pfft! Pfft! Pfft! Pfft!

The four sharp cones ignored physical defenses and ruthlessly pierced into Tiger Void's fragile Soul Origin!

“Ow—!” Tiger Void's massive body suddenly stiffened, his frantic dash coming to an abrupt halt!

The fierce light in his eyes was instantly replaced by extreme pain and bewilderment; his huge tiger head drooped powerlessly, like a marionette with broken strings, and he plummeted towards the earth below with a crash!

Yan Yuxing had already flown down, exerting all his strength to catch Luo Xing, who was falling from high in the sky.

And Xiao Zhuo, transforming into an azure lightning bolt of death, fiercely charged into the still chaotic battlefield below!

Wherever the azure light passed, blood waves surged!

Tiger demons below Nightmare Grade were like grass before him!

Saber light crisscrossed, fists and palms were like mountains! Demon limbs and severed arms, mixed with foul-smelling blood, splattered everywhere like a downpour!

Wherever he went, swathes of demons fell like harvested wheat, and even the stubbornly resisting Nightmare Grade ones couldn't last three rounds!

Yu Jingxuan supported the heavily injured Cen Jue, leaning against a broken wall.

Her blood-stained fingertips dug deeply into the cold brick cracks, watching the azure-clad figure, who was stirring up a bloody storm and was invincible among the demon horde, her blood-stained lips trembling slightly: “This… what kind of cultivation is this? Sea of Consciousness?”

Beside her, Cen Jue, despite the severe pain in his chest and difficulty breathing, also erupted with a light of exhilaration from surviving a disaster: “We're saved... Yuji City... is saved!”

As if to confirm their words, when the last stubbornly resisting Nightmare Grade tiger demon was split in half by a saber light descending from the sky, the entire Yuji City first fell into a deathly silence.

Then—

“We won!!!”

“The demons are all dead!!”

“We won!!!”

Earth-shattering cheers erupted like a long-dormant volcano, resonating through the clouds!

White-haired old soldiers hugged the cold bodies of their comrades, crying and laughing; a one-armed youth waved his blood-stained long spear with his remaining arm, shouting hoarsely;

Countless survivors rushed out from their hiding places, embracing each other with tears streaming down their faces, yelling the same word—“won”!

Above the ruins, joy and sorrow intertwined, cries and laughter merging into one.

And Xiao Zhuo had already returned like a ghost to the rooftop where Yan Yuxing was.

On the eaves, Luo Xing lay in Yan Yuxing's arms, his throat emitting difficult gasps like a broken bellows.

His purple robe was long since stained beyond recognition by blood and dust, his sternum was severely caved in, his limbs twisted at unnatural angles, over eighty percent of his bones were broken, and there was hardly a single piece of intact flesh on his body.

The flame of life was like a flickering candle in the wind.

“Th-thank you! Young Hero Xiao… for the timely… rescue!” Each word he uttered was accompanied by blood foam overflowing from the corner of his mouth, yet his eyes were exceptionally bright, staring intently at Xiao Zhuo.

“I'm sorry, City Lord Luo, I came late!” Xiao Zhuo knelt on one knee, his voice low.

He had already used his Divine Sense to examine Luo Xing's injuries, knowing that it was beyond saving.

The warm and pure Nine Revolutions Profound Essence True Essence continuously poured into the other's shattered body, only able to barely prolong his last moments.

A heavy, unresolvable sorrow weighed heavily on his heart.

“Not… late!” Luo Xing shook his head with difficulty, a final burst of light erupting from his unfocused pupils, and with all his remaining strength, he grabbed Xiao Zhuo's wrist, his fingernails digging in deeply, “Hurry… go… inform… Jizhou City… the demons… are about to launch a major… attack! The entire… Jizhou… is in danger!”

This was the intelligence he had exchanged with his life, his final obsession!

Xiao Zhuo clasped the cold, blood-stained hand tightly, his gaze as firm as a rock, and solemnly promised, word by word: “City Lord Luo, rest assured! I, Xiao Zhuo, will surely deliver this message to Jizhou City! Not an inch of Human Race territory shall be yielded!”

“Good… good!!” A faint but relieved light suddenly flickered in Luo Xing's unfocused pupils, as if he had completed his life's mission.

His blood-stained lips twitched with extreme difficulty, as if he wanted to show a smile.

His gaze slowly moved towards the sky, piercing through the lingering smoke and dust.

Just then, the heavy, gloomy clouds were pierced by a golden ray of sunlight, coming from an unknown source and possessing extreme penetrative power, like a sacred sword of light, shining directly on his pale, blood-stained face.

That light was warm and holy.

Luo Xing gazed at the golden light piercing the darkness, and the last trace of vitality completely dissipated from his fixed gaze.

The hand that had been clutching Xiao Zhuo's, veins bulging, finally lost all strength, falling heavily and silently onto the cold tiles.

A heroic spirit, drifted away with the wind.

Only that golden light remained, quietly enveloping his shattered but content smile at the corner of his mouth.