At that moment, a muffled, rumbling boom suddenly emanated from beyond the stone doors. Immediately after, the surrounding walls shimmered with a layer of milky-white restriction light that flickered wildly. The ground lurched violently, as though the entire hall were on the verge of collapsing.
"What's going on—what happened?!"
The tremors naturally couldn't have posed any real threat to the people present, but the three still felt their expressions shift. The green-skinned alien let out a cry of shock and anger. He and the large-headed alien exchanged a glance, and almost simultaneously unleashed their movement techniques—one transforming into a streak of azure light that shot outward, while the other blurred slightly and vanished from the spot.
Although the plaza was fitted with flight-restriction formations, for cultivators of their caliber, forcibly mobilizing their spiritual power within their bodies was more than enough to overcome such restrictions and employ escape techniques. It merely cost a bit more Magical Power.
Han Li wasted no time either. His gaze swept over the formation array for a moment, and after a brief hesitation, he flicked his sleeve sharply. A bolt of azure light shot out, circled the formation, and returned.
A series of "pops" rang out as the azure light sliced the formation to pieces in an instant, then flashed back toward him. Only then did spiritual light ignite across Han Li's body, and he followed after the others in a streak of light trailing afterimages.
The moment his figure emerged beyond the stone doors, he saw that the plaza had descended into chaos. The humanoid inhabitants were frantically flooding into the surrounding buildings for shelter.
High above the plaza, a pale blue barrier of light had appeared at some point, blanketing the entire city. Beyond the barrier, from some unknown height in the distant sky above, countless white orbs of light the size of human heads were raining down like a torrential storm.
Brilliant bursts of blinding light erupted across the barrier's surface, accompanied by unceasing thunderous booms that sent the protective shield shuddering violently—it looked as though it could barely hold.
Han Li's heart jolted. He quickly raised his head and peered intently beyond the barrier, blue light flashing wildly within his pupils.
After a moment, his brow twitched several times, and he drew in a sharp breath.
Through the aid of his Spirit Eye ability, he could now see the source of these attacks with perfect clarity.
Roughly three to four thousand zhang overhead, a colossal "island" had appeared out of nowhere.
That was right. It was a "silver island" that gleamed as though forged from pure silver, easily approaching ten thousand zhang in size. The entire underside of the island was covered in a dense forest of white crystal pillars, their surfaces covered in flickering runes, each one spewing out orbs of light that plummeted downward in a relentless cascade.
"That's bad—it's a Jiao Chi Clan colossal war vessel! How is this possible? Could the Jiao Chi Clan's main army have arrived ahead of schedule?" The large-headed alien had, at some point, produced a blue mirror. After staring into it for a few moments, he blurted out in alarm.
"What good does saying that do now? We need to flee for our lives. Brother Yuan, you've been stationed in this city for so many years—you must know a few secret passages out of the city." The green-skinned alien had arrived nearby as well, and upon hearing this, he pressed urgently.
"I do indeed know of a passage that leads silently to a small hill about ten li west of the city. However, with so many fellow cultivators of various clans still in the city, we can't simply abandon them. I'll have everyone gather at the city gates at once, and let each person take their chances. If fortune smiles, some portion of them might actually make it out alive." A flicker of hesitation crossed the large-headed alien's face, but then he gritted his teeth and declared.
"Good—let's do it that way." The red-glow alien shot over from the other side of the plaza and, hearing this, immediately voiced his agreement.
Han Li and the green-skinned alien had no objections whatsoever.
Seeing this, the large-headed alien wasted no more time.
A flash of yellow light erupted across his body's surface, and suddenly a beam of yellow radiance shot forth from within him. It flickered once, transforming into an enormous phantom figure a hundred zhang tall.
Its face and attire were identical to those of the large-headed alien himself.
The phantom was so massive and its entire form so brilliantly illuminated by yellow light that it was naturally impossible to miss.
Suddenly, a deep voice boomed from the phantom's mouth, resonating like the toll of an ancient bell. Every person who heard it felt their spiritual sense quiver, and the panic that had gripped their hearts eased considerably in an instant.
In the blink of an eye, tens of thousands of gazes throughout the plaza locked onto the phantom figure hovering high overhead.
Then the large-headed alien's phantom spoke with a solemn expression:
"Fellow cultivators, there is no need to panic. The city's grand protective formation can hold for a considerable period—it will not be breached immediately. Everyone, proceed to the four city gates at once. In one quarter of an hour, I will immediately lift the restrictions at the gates and allow all of you to flee. However, before you go, I must warn you all—the Jiao Chi Clan has launched this undeclared assault with the full intention of exterminating our Thirteen Heavenly Cloud Tribes. Do not harbor any foolish thoughts of surrendering or submitting as a temporary measure. From what I know, those who are captured are either thrown into the Jiao Chi Clan's Ice-Fire Black Prison as slaves or immediately subjected to soul-searching and infant extraction to serve as ingredients for pill refining and artifact crafting."
The large-headed alien's words carried an exceptionally grim tone.
The alien inhabitants in the plaza stared at one another in stunned silence, and then, following some unknown shout, the entire crowd scattered in every direction.
The moment they left the plaza, every last one transformed into dense streams of light heading toward the four city gates.
The large-headed alien formed a hand seal, and the phantom figure hovering above immediately dissolved and vanished. He then turned his head and addressed Han Li and the others:
"Fellow Daoists, follow me. Our group is too conspicuous to mix in with the crowd."
The others nodded in agreement without hesitation.
And so the four of them transformed into four streaks of light and shot out of the plaza in an instant.