All the people on the streets were heading in the direction of a huge plaza near a city wall. The city was facing the hoard of azure wolves.
Tens of thousands of empty-handed strong men, a few uniformed troops, and scattered body refiners were already gathered together. There were even a few mounted horned wolves there, but their numbers didn’t match the cavalrymen of the Heavenly East Enterprise. Surrounding the plaza were a few fully-armed An Yuan City guards keeping order.
A silver-armored middle-aged man stood at the other end of the plaza. He was speaking with a Confucian scholar and a Buddhist monk at his side.
When Han Li saw this person, he recognized him as the officer he had seen watching the gate.
The scholar and the monk were the two cultivators that inspected their troops. The silver-armored middle-aged man had some sort of skill to keep behind the two cultivators.
At that moment, the silver-armored man noticed that enough people had gathered together and he waved his arm.
The soldiers behind him roared, utter a string of orders that were already prepared.
The first order was to organize a division of cavalrymen. Afterwards, a group of land tortoise carriages rushed into the plaza, carrying a large quantity of weapons and some armor. They began to distribute them to the strong men.
As for the body refiners, they didn’t hold common weapons in their eye and they stood in place with a detached gaze.
For the time being, private troops such as Han Li and the lone body refiners remained to the side.
Then, the private troops and body refiners were bewildered by the long wolf cries outside the city. They were resounding and harsh as if brimming with violent energy.
Han Li narrowed his eyes when he heard this. The myriad of wolf howls soared through the heavens like rumbling thunder.
The body refiners were better off with only changes in expression, but the commoners felt overwhelmed as the scream filled the world.
But that was only the start. They soon heard hissing and strange bird cries from other directions.
Although these sounds weren’t as overwhelming as the wolf howls, they still sent shivers down people’s spines.
At that moment, gongs sounded from all the city walls at nearly the same time. A man’s voice then filled the air. It wasn’t particularly loud, but it reached the ears of everyone in the plaza, “Be Careful, the beasts have begun to move.” It was a sound transmission that came from a grey-robed Foundation Establishment cultivator riding on a flying sword. There appeared to be other flying cultivators giving warnings throughout different districts of the city.
Suddenly, an uproar rose through An Yuan City and squads of idle soldiers sprung into action. They immediately scaled the walls, manned the ballistas, and readied themselves for battle.
Chapter 1281: Wild Beast Torrent (2)
Following a brief stupor, the weapon distribution process was sped up following a loud instruction from the middle-aged man clad in silver armor.
Someone finally also began to organize Han Li and all of the new body refinement warriors into groups.
Due to the fact that a battle was imminent, all of the body refinement warriors, who were normally quite uncouth and uncooperative, had set aside their egos for the greater good. Thus, it only took a short while for the roughly 200 body refinement warriors present to be split up into a dozen or so groups.
The Heavenly East Enterprise also had over 200 members, so they naturally formed a branch of their own.
The young and inexperienced mortals remained as a backup squad, and weren't deployed right away. Instead, body refinement warriors and trained warriors were deployed onto the city wall to assist the soldiers of An Yuan City.
Perhaps it was because the group of people from the Heavenly East Enterprise were too eye-catching, but they were chosen to be among the first batch of warriors deployed onto the city walls.
As such, Han Li and the other members of the Heavenly East Enterprise were sent to one of the four city walls, having been assigned the duty of guarding that city wall with the soldiers who were already stationed there, of which there were more than 1,000.
Han Li stood on the city wall and cast his gaze into the distance. The pack of azure wolves had already stopped howling and were slowly converging toward them. There was no end in sight to their vast numbers, making it appear as if a set of azure plains were traveling toward the city.
The collective rustling from countless wolf paws scratching against the ground was audible even from their perch on the city wall, creating quite an intimidating symphony that struck all of the onlooking warriors with an indescribable sense of pressure.
Many of the soldiers had already paled with fright. However, no one felt the need to deliver a motivational speech or an address to lift everyone's spirits.
If the city fell, their families would all be reduced to prey for these vicious wolves. As such, even though they were absolutely petrified, there was no way that any of them would back down. Thus, the low-level military officials on the city wall merely issued a few instructions to prepare for the upcoming battle before everyone waited in silence.
The wolf pack didn't appear to be moving very quickly, but they were slowly becoming clearer to everyone as they approached.
The most noticeable wolves within the pack were those mutated wolf beasts that were almost twice as large as normal azure wolves.
These huge wolves were dispersed in various locations all over the wolf pack, and even though their fur retained their original azure hue, their eyes had turned from black into a rather unsettling green color. Through those menacing green eyes, a hint of spiritual nature could be gleaned.
Han Li's brows furrowed upon seeing this. Those mutated wolf beasts were going to be rather troublesome to deal with. Furthermore, there were also a great number of them. At this moment, Han Li was standing next to a giant of a man who was around 20 feet tall, and both of them were situated behind the An Yuan City military official that was responsible for guarding this wall. This was a suggestion raised by Zhang Kui, who had experienced several Beast Torrents. He knew the importance of commanders during these perilous events, so he had sent these two to protect the military official. After all, if this official were to fall, the situation on this entire city wall would be plunged into turmoil.
The huge man standing next to Han Li was also a body refinement warrior from the Heavenly East Enterprise by the name of Du Xiao. He was using a rather strange cultivation art that made his body grow to a massive size while also granting him immense strength and power. The bigger he became, the more astonishing his strength would be. Apparently, he had already practiced that cultivation art to an extremely high level. Prior to Han Li's arrival, he was the most powerful warrior among Heavenly East Enterprise.
Back when Han Li was given the role of deputy squad leader, he was one of the people who had challenged his authority.
However, following a demonstration of strength where Han Li had picked up a massive rock weighing several tons before hurling it into the air with ease, Du Xiao had conceded his inferiority and bowed to Han Li's authority.
At present, Han Li was wielding what appeared to be an ordinary thick blade in his hand. Meanwhile, Du Xiao was carrying a custom-made mace that was around 20 feet in length, and each of them was standing on either of the aforementioned military official.
The official appeared to be around 30 years of age with a slightly thin build. He wore a suit of metal armor and even though his facial features were quite mundane and nondescript, he had a pair of bright and piercing eyes and a naturally intimidating aura.
Even though he was only an ordinary official in the army, he was also quite a powerful body refinement warrior.
That wasn't anything to be perplexed about. After all, most body refinement warriors among the mortals of the Spirit Realm chose to join the armies of their respective cities. There was no lack of fearsome individuals among them who had cultivated their body refi
nement arts to the extreme, and even high-grade cultivators had to be wary of them.
Just as Han Li was appraising the torrent of azure wolves approaching the city in an expressionless manner, a series of low yet explosive thumps suddenly erupted from behind him. Immediately thereafter, over 100 crimson fireballs, each of which was several tens of feet in size, flew forth from a certain point within the city, crashing viciously into the wolf pack that was only several kilometers away from the city walls.
Thunderous booms rang out in rapid succession as hundreds of balls of flames exploded among the wolf pack, creating a scene of absolute carnage. Even though these were only normal flames, these wolf beasts were only normal beasts themselves, so they were completely defenseless against this scorching fire.
Han Li's expression changed slightly upon seeing this before he turned to glance back toward a certain direction behind him.
There, on a vacant patch of land not far away from the city wall, over 100 catapults had been set up side by side.
There was a large horde of warriors placing spherical crimson objects onto the catapults before these objects were launched in unison following a loud command. As these objects were launched through the air, they transformed into giant fireballs, arcing through the air before landing among the wolf pack on the other side of the city wall.
Countless more azure wolves were instantly reduced to charred carcasses.
After just two waves of these attacks, close to 20,000 azure wolves had been slain. Just as Han Li was feeling slightly surprised by the destructive power of these catapults, the attacks suddenly stopped and no further waves of fireballs were launched following the second wave.
Just as a contemplative look had appeared on Han Li's face, the wolf pack in the distance began to let loose a series of vigorous howls, as if they had been enraged by the previous two waves of attacks. All of the mutated wolf beasts began to lead from the front, and the entire wolf pack began to accelerate.
The scratching of countless wolf paws on the ground had turned into a thunderous rumbling, and the wolf pack covered a distance of around 500 meters in virtually the blink of an eye before launching ferocious attacks against the city walls.
One azure wolf after another sprang into the air, digging their sharp claws into the smooth surface fo the city wall. Their claws were able to embed themselves around an inch deep into the wall, and they were able to gallop up the wall using their claws as makeshift climbing holds.
Following a series of loud instructions from the military officials atop the city walls, all types of arrows began to rain down like a torrential storm, striking and felling countless azure wolves.
The mortals of the Spirit Realm were a lot more powerful than those of the human world, and their destructive power was naturally also quite immense.
However, there were simply far too many azure wolves attacking the city walls. All of them ignored their fallen comrades as they attacked the wall in a maddened frenzy, and it didn't take long before some wolf beasts made it to the top of the walls.
The human warriors on had been eagerly awaiting for their arrival, and as soon as one azure wolf clambered onto the top of the city wall, it would be met by three or four spear or halberd weapons at once, instantly puncturing its vitals before it had any chance to wreak further havoc. Arrows fell like rain while the clanging of countless weapons intermingled with the war cries from the human warriors as well as the howls of the oncoming wolf beasts.
Meanwhile, Han Li refrained from engaging in battle. He merely followed the military official that he had been tasked with protecting as the latter strode back and forth along the city wall, barking vehement instructions at his soldiers.
In his eyes, the ordinary azure wolves appeared to be quite ferocious, but they didn't actually pose a substantial threat to the city. The truly arduous battle was still yet to come.
On another city wall that was being attacked by crimson pythons, it was too far away for Han Li to be able to clearly discern what was happening, but the sounds of battle ringing out from that direction suggested that the crimson python beasts had also begun to launch their assault.
The battle commenced at noon and continued well into the afternoon, enshrouding the entirety of An Yuan City in an aura of blood and gore.
The light in the sky was beginning to dim as one sun disappeared after another, gradually being replaced by their moon counterparts.
However, the assault from the wolf pack showed no signs of stopping, and had instead become even more violently and ferocious. As beasts that hadn't yet attained intelligence, they would only begin to tap into their full potential at the height of their bloodlust.
The calm expression worn by the military official that Han Li was guarding had begun to darken. After just half a day of battle, a third of the normal soldier's on the city wall had already perished. There were even 20 members of the Heavenly East Enterprise that had fallen in battle.
Right at this moment, two sharp wolf howls erupted from the rear of the azure wolf pack. The mutated wolf beasts that had disappeared into the pack once the assault against the city had commenced had finally revealed themselves once again.
These massive wolves were easily 50 to 60 feet tall, and they galloped as fast as lightning. The arrows fired by ordinary soldiers were almost completely ineffective against them, and they raced up the city wall as fast as the wind. The soldiers stationed atop the city wall naturally immediately lashed out with their weapons, but these giant wolves simply sprang up high in the air in the response, leaping over their soldiers before turning around to attack them from behind.
As soon as these mutated wolf beasts entered the fray, the number of casualties within the human camp immediately spiked drastically.
A few mutated wolf beasts had also made it onto the city wall that Han Li was situated on, and around a dozen soldiers were slain in the blink of an eye.
The military official immediately instructed the body refinement warriors of the Heavenly East Enterprise to combat these wolf beasts, while the normal soldiers continued to ward off the normal azure wolves.
Sure enough, Zhang Kui and the group of a dozen or so body refinement warriors were able to quickly contain the situation.
However, a cry of surprise suddenly rang out from a group of soldiers nearby, following which two mutated wolf beasts sprang over the patch of the city wall that was closest to the military official. As soon as they descended atop the city wall, the two massive wolf beasts swept aside the soldiers in their way and pounced toward the military official.
They were intelligent enough to know that this armored man was the leader of the humans, and had even set up a diversion that allowed them to launch a surprise attack against him.
"Piss off!"
Du Xiao let loose an almighty roar as he swung his mace toward the oncoming wolf beasts with astonishing might.
These mutated wolf beasts possessed far more powerful bodies than normal azure wolves, but there was no way that they were going to survive a direct attack from such a devastating mace blow.
Chapter 1282: Wild Beast Torrent (3)
Just as the first wolf beast was about to be steamrolled by Du Xiao's huge mace, an incredible turn of events suddenly unfolded.
A burst of faint azure light suddenly radiated from that wolf beast's body, following which it shrank down to the same size as a normal azure wolf.
As such, the mace merely glanced past above its head, completely missing its target. A vicious light flashed through the azure wolf's eyes as its speed suddenly increased by twofold, allowing it to rapidly skirt around Du Xiao as it pounced toward the military official.
"That's a demonic wolf!"
The military official's expression changed drastically at the sight of the azure wolf's bizarre transformation, and he immediately drew his longsword without any hesitation.
White spiritual light then flashed from a spirit tool ring on his finger, and the longsword transformed into a swath of sword
projections that shielded his body within.
It turned out that this seemingly nondescript military official was carrying a low-grade spirit tool with him.
In the face of the barrier of sword projections conjured up by the low-grade spirit tool, a hint of disdain flashed through the oncoming wolf beat's eyes. It merely raised its two front paws before swiping them rapidly through the air several times, upon which azure claw projections were sent hurtling toward the official from all directions.
As soon as the claws projections struck the barrier of sword projections, the latter was destroyed almost without any capacity for resistance amid a series of loud booms. In contrast, the azure claw projections were only slowed down minutely before continuing to descend toward the military official.
The military official unleashed a resilient swing of his sword in response, but he knew that his resistance would prove to be completely futile, and his face had already turned deathly pale in the face of impending death.
Right at this moment, a humanoid figure suddenly swayed beside him as another person rushed into the inescapable net of claw projections. The figure let loose a cold harrumph, and even though it wasn't very loud, the military official felt as if a bell were tolling directly beside his ear, completley jerking him out of his horror and despair.
The figure then raised a hand, and a swath of golden light met the oncoming claw projections.
An earthshattering boom erupted as all of the azure claw projections were shattered into nothingness by the golden light.
The military official was ecstatic upon seeing this, and only then did he catch a clear glimpse of his savior. It was none other than the other man who had been deployed to protect him, Han Li.
Han Li was currently in the process of slowly withdrawing a fist that was shimmering with golden light. At the same time, he was appraising the azure demonic wolf that was hovering in mid-air in a completely expressionless manner.
The demonic wolf had stopped itself cold in its tracks, and was staring at Han Li with a hint of bewilderment in its eyes. All of the azure hackles on its back had stood up on end, and it seemed to be extremely wary toward Han Li.
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