483: Nine meteors roared, and the city was filled with soldiers.

"A bunch of good-for-nothings!"

A bone-chilling voice exploded in the shattered Void Realm.

Where the dark giant palm dissipated, a blurry figure descended, treading on Chaos.

He was shrouded in rolling Chaos mist, with only a pair of dark golden flames for eyes faintly visible. Simply by standing there, the surrounding space continuously collapsed and reformed, as if unable to bear his existence.

This terrifying existence looked down at the battlefield: the vanguard suffered more than half casualties, with only less than ten million of the hundreds of millions of Tianyang aliens remaining; five Half-Ancestors were heavily wounded, and Black Crystal Half-Ancestor's crystal core even had permanent cracks.

As for Outpost One, only obsidian wreckage emitting black smoke remained... "I personally intervened, yet you still ended up like this."

The voice from the Chaos carried a bone-chilling coldness, and the dark golden flames surged, "What use are you?"

"Old Ancestor, please calm your wrath!" Black Crystal Half-Ancestor hurriedly prostrated himself, his body trembling with fear, "That Human Race grand formation was strange, we..."

"Silence!"

With a cold harrumph, Black Crystal Half-Ancestor was struck as if by lightning, half of his body exploded. He curled up in pain, but dared not make a sound.

The Chaos figure raised a hand and waved, and countless portals suddenly split open in the shattered Void Realm.

More Tianyang aliens surged out like a tide, including siege Vicious Beasts hundreds of millions of feet tall, Blood Knights riding bone Dragons, and dozens of terrifying existences emitting Half-Ancestor fluctuations.

"Continue forward." He ordered indifferently, his voice echoing like a death knell in the Chaos Sea, "Flatten all outposts along the way for me."

Following this command, the newly arrived Tianyang army let out an earth-shattering roar.

They trampled over the corpses of the vanguard, crushed the last remnants of Outpost One, and surged towards Tianyang Pass.

The Chaos figure took one last look in the direction of Tianyang Pass, a flicker of inexplicable fluctuation in his dark golden eyes.

Then his figure gradually dissipated.

Pass City Number Seven stood amidst the raging waves of the Chaos Sea. Unlike the grand magnificence of Main City Number One, the beauty here carried a flavor of iron and blood, and vicissitude.

The entire city was built against the mountains, its city walls not straight and towering, but like a coiling giant Dragon, winding among the undulating mountains.

The walls were not a monotonous gray-black, but constructed from "Crimson Blood Obsidian." This special stone absorbed the Qi and blood of fallen warriors on the battlefield, emitting a faint golden-red luster under the sun. From afar, the entire city wall resembled a ribbon formed from the evening glow.

The buildings within the city were scattered in an orderly fashion, with "Jade Blood Parasol Trees" planted along both sides of the streets.

The leaves of these low-grade Spirit Trees were crimson all year round, but their trunks were as black as iron. Whenever the Chaos wind blew, the collision of the leaves produced not a rustling sound, but a crisp clang similar to metal striking metal.

The most peculiar thing was that these parasol trees absorbed Killing Intent from the battlefield, blooming blood-colored flowers on the night of the full moon. The falling petals could condense in the air into fleeting battlefield scenes.

The City Lord's Mansion was located on "Wangyuan Cliff," the highest point. In the center of the plaza in front of the mansion, a giant sword ten thousand zhang long was plunged into the ground.

This was "Lone City," the personal sword of the first City Lord. The sword body was engraved with the names of fallen warriors from successive generations. Every dusk, the sword body would emit a low hum, as if singing a battle song that no one understood.

At this moment, City Lord Sword Slaughter stood alone on the stargazing platform.

He wore a dark red battle robe, his white hair casually tied with a broken arrow. A hideous scar, extending from his brow to his chin, marred his resolute face—a scar left by a Tianyang alien of the same Dao Ancestor Realm.

With his Cultivation, he could naturally remove the scar, but he had sworn that until the Tianyang aliens were eradicated, this scar would never heal.

On the star chart before him, the "Garrison Star," representing Outpost One, had already extinguished.

Sword Slaughter's rough fingers gently traced the dim star, his fingertips trembling slightly.

He knew all too well what this meant; only when Outpost One's grand formation initiated its self-destruction would the Garrison Star completely lose its light.

"Little Stone... have you also left us...?"

He mumbled in a low voice, his voice hoarse like sandpaper rubbing together.

Sword Slaughter quietly looked into the distance.

The city's alarm bell suddenly rang, each chime more urgent than the last. In the distance, the beacon towers of Tianyang Pass lit up one after another, dyeing half the sky blood-red.

From the distant dark lands, black tides could be vaguely seen approaching.

Moreover, the stars on the star chart were extinguishing one after another, which meant that the Tianyang alien army was rapidly approaching, indicating that in this era's great war, the Tianyang aliens had chosen Pass City Number Seven!

Sword Slaughter turned around, his face having recovered its usual sternness.

"Clang—"

The first bell chime spread from the "Meteorite Bell" of the City Lord's Mansion. The deep sound wave swept across the entire Pass City like a tangible entity. In the street-side taverns, several warriors who were drinking heartily suddenly froze, their wine bowls suspended in mid-air, the amber liquid trembling slightly.

"Clang—"

When the second chime came, the old craftsman in the blacksmith's shop had already put down the glowing red iron blank. His calloused hand pulled out a long saber wrapped in gray cloth from the bottom of the furnace. The moment the blade was unsheathed, all the weapons in the shop hummed.

"Clang—"

Amidst the third bell chime, the flower girl at the street corner packed up her stall. Her slender fingers brushed over the "Blood Soul Flowers," and the petals fell off, condensing into a small blood-colored shield in her hand. The little girl beside her silently untied her hair tie, which transformed into a cold-glowing chain.

The bell continued to echo:

"Clang—"

At the fourth chime, the storyteller in the teahouse closed the scroll in his hand. The pages of the book were actually a chaotic spiritual treasure.

"Clang—"

At the fifth chime, playing children stopped their frolic, each leaving and quietly returning home.

"Clang—"

At the sixth chime, the tavern owner's wife smashed the counter and took out a set of blood-glowing bows and arrows;

When the seventh bell chime sounded, the entire Pass City had transformed.

The wooden signboards of shops flipped over, revealing defensive array diagrams carved on their backs; blood-colored patterns lit up in the cracks of the street flagstones, as the battle formations buried underground were activated; even the wind chimes under the eaves automatically reorganized, forming Flying Swords suspended in the air as warnings.

"Clang—"

The eighth bell chime was particularly heavy.

The defenders on the city walls were all in position. They silently checked their weapons, no one spoke, only the crisp clang of metal reverberated on the city wall.

A recruit's hand trembled, but an old soldier pressed it down. The one-eyed old soldier said nothing, only pointed outside the city wall. There, the petals of the Crimson Blood Parasol Trees danced against the Chaos wind, as if performing an elegy in advance.

"Clang!!!"

The ninth chime exploded like a thunderclap.

The giant sword "Lone City" atop the City Lord's Mansion suddenly burst forth with dazzling blood-red light, enveloping the entire city in a blood-colored barrier. At this moment, Pass City Number Seven was like an awakened primordial Vicious Beast, every brick and stone exuding Killing Intent.

At the street corner, an old man with a broken leg, sitting in a wheelchair, slowly unrolled a scroll.

The scroll was covered with dense names, with the words "Register of Heroes" written at the top. His withered fingers gently traced the names not yet stained with blood, and a faint light flickered in his cloudy eyes.

"It's starting again..., I wonder how many names in this Register of Heroes will be stained with blood!"

His murmur was drowned out by the sudden sound of war drums.

At the city gate, the last batch of merchant caravans were orderly withdrawing, while more figures moved against the flow. These were the Cultivators scattered throughout the city, silently converging towards the nearest military camps.

No one panicked, no one cried. Even three-year-old children clutched the talismans given by their mothers, which were actually miniature explosive talismans.

In this Pass City that had witnessed too much life and death, even goodbyes seemed superfluous.

Outside the blood-colored barrier, the waves of the Chaos Sea grew more urgent.

Inside the city, all windows lit up with lamps. These were ever-burning lamps refined with the owner's soul read. Even if the owner died in battle, the lamp would continue to burn for three years and six months.