"Understood, Elder!" A nearby Gold Guard who had been standing with his hands clasped heard the order and moved without hesitation, transforming into a streak of rainbow light as he hurried down to relay the command.
"Two-Headed Lizards — those low-tier demonic beasts that can use both wind and fire attribute attacks and are counted among the Demon Realm's Ten Great Demonic Beasts?" Zen Master Jinyue asked thoughtfully.
"Indeed, that is the beast. Although these Two-Headed Demon Lizards are not high in rank — equivalent only to Qi Refining cultivators — they make up for it with staggering numbers. I've heard that in the Demon Realm itself, they number in the tens of millions. This time the demons broke through the boundary to invade; while they couldn't have brought all of them, even a small fraction would be no small trouble. As for those Venomous Demon Insects, they are equally troublesome. The venom they spit is not only devastating to low-tier cultivators, but can also corrode city walls."
"But since these are known demonic beasts, the people below should already know how to deal with them. Brother Gu need not worry too much." Zen Master Jinyue nodded and said with considerable composure.
"Let us hope so."
On one side of Heavenvoid City stood thousands of massive fortresses, each over a hundred zhang tall, garrisoned by over a hundred human cultivators who kept the city tightly shielded behind them.
Between the fortresses, fluctuating waves of restrictions could be seen flickering faintly, clearly hiding some deeper enchantment within.
The demons could not directly assault Heavenvoid City's walls without first clearing away these painstakingly constructed defenses.
This was precisely why the demon side had brought so many demonic beasts as cannon fodder. After all, having invaded human territory so many times before, these demons had learned quite a few effective methods for dealing with humanity's great cities.
In the distance, the two beast herds combined numbered some thirty to forty thousand. Of these, the Two-Headed Lizards — each roughly the size of a young calf — accounted for more than two-thirds.
The Venomous Demon Insects, on the other hand, looked like enormous emerald-green silkworms, their bodies grotesquely bloated and swollen — fully twice the size of the Two-Headed Demon Lizards — yet they kept pace with the lizards without falling behind in the slightest.
Behind these beast herds, over a hundred high-ranking demons clad in black armor had appeared at some point, following the beasts at an unhurried pace as though overseeing the battle.
In the blink of an eye, the tens of thousands of demonic beasts had advanced to within a dozen li of the human fortresses.
Suddenly, a majestic roar erupted from within the herd. The Two-Headed Demon Lizards, which had been trotting along, turned blood-red in the eyes. After letting out answering growls, the entire herd broke into a frenzied charge.
The Venomous Demon Insects mixed among them flashed with green light from their backs, and a pair of transparent wings split out from their bodies.
Then, with a rapid beating of their wings, the demon insects rose into the air one after another, their speed no less than the Two-Headed Demon Lizards running at full sprint.
Tens of thousands of demonic beasts charged forward — from a distance it looked like ten thousand horses galloping. A distance of over ten li was to them but a moment's matter, traversed in the blink of an eye.
At the same time, high-ranking demons in the air cast their spells, and a mass of black demonic miasma rolled downward like a dark dragon, plunging into the beast herd and detonating outward.
The previously clearly visible demonic beasts instantly became obscured within the billowing miasma.
The next instant, when the beasts were barely a li from the fortresses, a torrent of popping sounds erupted from within. Dense fireballs and wind blades surged out from the miasma, blanketing the area ahead as they hurtled toward the fortresses in a devastating barrage.
Such a terrifying assault — even fortresses reinforced with restrictions could not possibly withstand it unscathed.
Many human cultivators inside the fortresses saw this and their faces changed dramatically.
But just at that moment, a clear, music-like chime rang out from the white jade palace above Heavenvoid City. Then, the golden mirror atop the tallest structure trembled and shot forth a pillar of golden light, which spread out to form a shimmering golden barrier that materialized in front of the fortresses.
In an instant, the dense fireballs and wind blades struck the golden barrier like a violent storm, exploding one after another upon impact.
Thunderous booms erupted at once as red and white spheres of light blossomed across the barrier's surface. With the combined force of wind and fire, the assault's power multiplied severalfold, shaking the surrounding heaven and earth energy as though the sky were collapsing and the ground splitting apart.
High-ranking existences of both the human and demon races witnessed this scene and watched with solemn, unblinking attention.
When all the light finally subsided, that layer of golden barrier appeared before everyone once more, perfectly intact. Despite looking impossibly thin, this defense had not sustained so much as a scratch.
Many high-ranking demons hovering high in the sky were naturally somewhat startled by this sight.
But Zen Master Jinyue and the other Heavenvoid City cultivators showed no great surprise. Fairy Yinguang even let out a soft laugh and said to the white-robed elder:
"
"My treasure mirror was already a top-ranked Heaven-Leaping Spirit Treasure on the Chaotic Myriad Spirits Ranking. Even without my dedicated refinement, this level of attack would be no trouble at all. I'm actually curious to see how the demons plan to break through this treasure's defenses."
Standing nearby,
He saw that the treasure's surface was now blazing with dazzling golden light. A pillar of golden light as thick as a bowl's mouth was still pouring from it, connecting to the golden barrier that blanketed half the void in the distance.
Just as