Chapter 487

Chapter 487: Fight to the Death (Part 1)

At dusk, the Sand Guard stood tall.

The sunset’s glow illuminated the majestic city walls, where black rocks shimmered with a metallic sheen. The true seal characters carved on the surface faintly emerged, appearing profoundly mysterious.

Fully armed battle cultivators patrolled back and forth on the wide walls, vigilantly watching the Gobi desert ahead.

“What is that?”

Suddenly, a battle cultivator stopped, his gaze fixed on the horizon’s end.

It seemed as though a raging blaze erupted along the line where the sky met the desert, with vast billowing flames rising up, casting thousands of beams of light.

The burning clouds multiplied, and in the blink of an eye, they occupied a large expanse of the sky.

And they swiftly approached the Sand Guard!

Such an unusual sight naturally captured the attention of the battle cultivators defending the walls.

Everyone instinctively sensed danger, and the runes on the city walls began to glow one by one.

This was the sign that the city defense formations had activated.

Under normal circumstances, to minimize the consumption of spiritual veins and spirit stones, the core of the city defense formations, laid beneath Daying City, remained dormant, with only a small portion of sub-formations operating at a low level.

However, once danger arose or an attack was detected, this powerful large protective formation would automatically activate.

This highly intelligent defense mechanism was composed of the formation spirit and the battle cultivators guarding the Sand Guard.

In other words, when a significant number of battle cultivators sensed danger, the city defense formations would enter a defensive state without needing the authority of the Grand Commander or the Grand Celestial Guardian.

Moreover, the level of response would escalate in conjunction with the threat!

The true master of this formation was, in fact, the formation spirit!

Once the formation activated, the battle cultivators felt secure, each at their posts, ready for combat at any moment.

But the anticipated attack did not occur; the burning clouds in the sky halted after spreading hundreds of miles, and golden Udumbara flowers began to flutter down.

These Udumbara flowers did not exist in reality, but were manifestations of magical power.

They silently fell onto the barren, dry soil, instantly sinking into the mud and disappearing, and in the blink of an eye, they gave birth to vast expanses of green grass and wildflowers.

With the dense mass of Udumbara flowers, large areas of greenery formed.

What was once a lifeless Gobi turned into a prairie!

At the same time, waves of chanting floated into all the battle cultivators’ ears!

Serenity, tranquility, compassion, mercy…

The power contained in this voice made them want to lay down their weapons and kneel in worship.

“Damn bald donkey!”

Some strong-willed battle cultivators spat dismissively, allowing the sounds to enter one ear and exit the other without any effect.

But a few others showed signs of struggle, beads of cold sweat forming on their foreheads.

Thud! Thud! Thud!

At that moment, a deep and resonant drumbeat suddenly echoed from behind the city walls.

The majestic rhythm stirred the blood, easily overpowering the celestial chants from afar!

Many battle cultivators, nearly swayed, immediately regained their senses.

Grand Commander Kou Shihai appeared on the city walls.

As soon as he received the news, he hurried over, observing the strange phenomena in the west, guarded by dozens of cultivators.

The scene before him caused this eighth-layer Purple Palace extraordinary practitioner to frown.

Without a doubt, such Evil Spirits’ tricks could only be orchestrated by the Western Buddhist Sect; the Sand People lacked such capabilities.

The problem was that the Western Buddhist Sect always prided itself on being non-confrontational, never publicly involving itself in battles between the Sand Tribe and Daying City, constantly presenting a compassionate facade.

Although everyone knew about the Buddhist Sect’s virtues, Kou Shihai wondered what reason they had to display such a futile show—had they eaten too many sand melons?

Despite this, Kou Shihai still ordered everyone to stand alert and urgently dispatched an elite group of Dao soldiers to the city walls.

Dao soldiers, protectors of the Daoist way, were meticulously selected from battle cultivators, trained in battle arrays and methods, equipped with higher-level weapons and artifacts, meant for combat.

Compared to ordinary battle cultivators, a group of Dao soldiers could vanquish three to four times as many of the same rank.

In battle arrays, Dao soldiers could even cross borders to strike the enemy!

Just as Kou Shihai was mobilizing forces, a golden Udumbara flower slowly drifted down toward the city walls.

It surprisingly passed through the magical barrier of the city defense formations.

Kou Shihai’s gaze sharpened as he reached out and drew the Udumbara flower to his palm.

At the moment it touched his hand, the flower transformed into a thin golden plaque, embossed with the red seal characters for “life and death,” along with a swastika stamp!

Kou Shihai narrowed his eyes, his divine sense sweeping over the plaque, instantly understanding its contents.

At this moment, the thick burning clouds in the sky swiftly retreated, and the lush grass and wildflowers on the Gobi landscape visibly withered.

With a gust of wind, they turned to ashes.

The celestial chants and Udumbara flowers drifting down vanished entirely.

Kou Shihai waved his hand, signaling everyone to stay alert while communicating with the formation spirit to lower the alert level.

Each activation of the city defense formations consumed a significant amount of spirit stones, even at medium to low levels of Defense.

With the danger lifted, there was no need to waste resources.

In the next moment, the Grand Commander soared into the air, transforming into a streak of light toward the Seven Star Pavilion.

At the top of the Seven Star Pavilion, Kou Shihai met Wang Chen.

When the city defense formations had activated earlier, Wang Chen was meditating in the quiet room.

Sensing the warning transmitted by the formation spirit, he immediately halted his practice and rushed to take command at the top of the Seven Star Pavilion.

But instead of the enemy, Kou Shihai had arrived.

“Junior Brother Wang…”

Kou Shihai wasted no time and directly handed Wang Chen a golden plaque, smiling, “You’ve angered those sand-eating folks.”

Wang Chen received the plaque and, after reading its contents, realized what had happened!

During this recent period, he had been stationed at the Seven Star Pavilion, practicing the Thunderbolt sword technique day and night.

In fact, Wang Chen had already achieved perfect mastery of the Thunderbolt sword technique, but now he was leveraging the power of the formations and the Qing Qian Kun Mirror to showcase terrifying destructive power with this relatively low-rank swordsmanship.

Any Sand People who entered within a hundred miles of the Sand Guard, once targeted by Wang Chen, were instantaneously slain by a single sword strike.

As his mastery of the formations and the treasure mirror deepened, the range of his flying sword attacks expanded.

One hundred miles, one hundred fifty miles, two hundred miles…

This stirred alarm among several Sand People tribes, making them consider fleeing their homes!

The arrival of this golden plaque, or rather a declaration of battle, indicated that the Sand People’s leadership could no longer sit idly by; they needed to deal with him as a threat.

A duel to the death?

Wang Chen chuckled, “Brother Kou, can I refuse?”

Kou Shihai hesitated for a moment before responding, “Of course!”

Wang Chen keenly sensed his reaction and couldn’t help but ask, “Is there a problem?”

Kou Shihai smiled wryly, “There is, indeed.”