At the section of the wall where Yang Kai was stationed, the warriors there were also stunned for a brief moment. Fortunately, Yang Kai had warned them in time, so everyone had some mental preparation. After a short pause, even more violent secret arts and martial techniques were blasted outward, swept into the demonic qi and vanishing without a trace.
Yang Kai himself flicked all ten fingers, sending strand after strand of golden blood threads dancing under his divine sense control — as灵活 as his own limbs, writhing like dragons and snakes, trailing arcs of golden light through the pitch-black demonic qi.
Most of Maple Forest City's defensive formations were one-way, meaning that when activated, they would block attacks from outside the city, but attacks launched from within could pass straight through the formation's protection and strike outward.
Most city defense formations were of this type. There were also two-way formations, but such formations would never be deployed lightly — not unless absolutely necessary.
Once they were activated, it meant the city had reached its final line of defense. When these formations went up, the warriors inside could no longer reach the outside with their attacks. They could only sit and await death.
*Chi chi chi chi* — amid flashes of golden light, the demonic beasts and demonic humans that had been charging furiously toward the wall were torn apart one after another, reduced to countless chunks of flesh and blood that rained down from the sky.
In an instant, the area a dozen zhang before Yang Kai had been cleared into an empty zone.
These beings, corrupted by the demonic qi of the Great Ancient Demon and transformed into demonic beasts and demonic humans, were actually not weak. Every one of them had received tremendous physical enhancement. Not only were they violent by nature, but they could also wield the various abilities they had possessed in life. Against warriors of the same level, they would win a hundred percent of the time.
But… Yang Kai was, after all, a Dao Source Realm cultivator!
Before their corruption, these demonic beasts and humans had been rather unremarkable — at most the Void King Realm. So under the wild dance of the golden blood threads, they crumbled as fragile as tofu.
The surrounding warriors, seeing this, were greatly emboldened. One after another they unleashed their signature techniques, striking outward with all their might.
For a moment, the section of wall Yang Kai was defending appeared utterly impregnable, and the surrounding warriors grew even more confident.
But Yang Kai's expression was grave. As far as the eye could see, the number of demonic beasts and humans was simply too vast — stretching beyond the edge of sight, all hidden within the pitch-black demonic qi, seizing the moment as it churned to launch their assaults.
One moment of carelessness, and the wall's defensive formation would lose considerable power, its glow dimming.
As his fingers danced, Yang Kai had a sudden realization.
He understood now why only demonic qi besieging the city had been visible on the first day, while countless demonic humans and beasts had appeared on the second.
Obviously, the ancient demonic qi that had dispersed earlier had been corrupting all living creatures around Maple Forest City, which was why no demonic beasts or humans had been sighted on the first day.
At this point, perhaps no living creature near Maple Forest City had been spared — though it was impossible to tell how far this catastrophe had spread.
Just as he was focused on holding back the demonic creatures, the message compass at his chest suddenly trembled. His expression shifted slightly, and he hurriedly pulled it out to check the message inside.
"Situation has changed at the southwest corner! Brother Yang, come quickly!"
The command of City Lord Duan Yuanshan came through the message compass.
Yang Kai put the compass away and turned toward the southwest corner, but the distance was too great. He could see nothing — only that the demonic qi over there was impossibly dense, and faint traces of furious roars could just barely be heard.
As he was peering into the distance, a figure suddenly flashed past beside him. The moment the figure appeared, he called out urgently: "Go, Brother Yang! This old man will take charge of this section of the wall!"
The speaker was none other than Maple Forest City's Vice City Lord — the Drunken Old Man.
With those words, the Drunken Old Man suddenly pulled the large cyan gourd from his waist, took a fierce swig of strong liquor, then rapidly formed hand seals. His face flushed crimson.
In the next instant, he puffed out his cheeks and blew forcefully forward.
Boundless flames erupted from his mouth, rolling and surging with unimaginable scorching power. Any demonic human or beast touched by the flames screamed and retreated, but no matter what they did, they could not extinguish the fire clinging to them. Within three breaths of struggling, they had been reduced to charred husks.
A nauseating stench of burning spread through the air.
But it wasn't over yet. The Drunken Old Man tilted his head slightly, and the flames pouring from his mouth swayed with the movement, forming a wall of fire more than thirty zhang long before the city.
The firelight blazed up to the heavens, illuminating the nine skies above, as if it would burn the very firmament red.
The demonic creatures retreated en masse, not daring to come a single step closer.
The Drunken Old Man drew back his breath and swayed slightly, as if that technique had been quite a drain and he couldn't use it again anytime soon.
Seeing this, Yang Kai nodded to the Drunken Old Man, then vanished from where he stood with a flicker of movement.
He had been in the eastern part of the city, and the southwest corner was quite far away. But for Yang Kai, who could execute spatial secret arts, he could arrive in the shortest possible time.
After a few flickers, Yang Kai — disregarding the expenditure of Source Power — had already reached the southwest corner.
He looked out, and his eyes narrowed.
Right here, right now, a hole several zhang across had opened up in the wall's defensive formation. The rolling demonic qi surged through it like a cat catching the scent of fish, pouring through the breach. Numerous demonic creatures, hidden within the qi, scrambled onto the wall and immediately launched attacks on the nearby warriors.
Dozens of corpses already lay on the ground, and wisps of demonic qi — like spirit serpents — burrowed into the bodies through their mouths and noses.