"That goes without saying. We will fight with everything we have in this battle. We won't dare claim we'll share the fate of Heavenly Abyss City to the very end, but so long as there's even the slightest chance of victory, we will never give up." The black-robed demon cultivator snorted coldly upon hearing this and spoke.
The other elders from both races who were present all nodded repeatedly, their expressions turning deeply solemn.
The silver-haired elder, seeing this, nodded with satisfaction and turned to send a quiet voice transmission to Han Li.
After hearing it, Han Li considered for a moment, then gave a slight nod.
The silver-haired elder clapped his hands in delight, and immediately a guard clad in golden battle armor flew up from the base of the stone tower. His escape light faded as he appeared before the group, and he bowed respectfully to the elder.
"Take Fellow Daoist Han there at once and carry out everything according to the original arrangements. There must be no mistakes whatsoever!" the elder commanded in an authoritative tone.
"As you command. Senior Han, please come with this junior." The guard replied and addressed Han Li with deep respect.
Han Li said nothing. A flash of azure light enveloped his body as he transformed into a brilliant rainbow and shot downward.
The golden-armored guard hurriedly followed, flying after him. After a brief moment, he surged slightly ahead and led Han Li away from the palace to a heavily guarded pavilion not far from the city wall below.
In the first-floor hall of the pavilion, thirty-six male cultivators of varying heights sat cross-legged around a massive formation array inscribed on the ground.
These men wore identical azure combat uniforms and appeared to be around thirty or forty years of age, but their skin had a faint greenish tint seeping through from within — a clear sign that they all cultivated the same peculiar technique, which produced such visible symptoms.
However, their cultivation was not particularly high — they were merely at the Deity Transformation stage.
After Han Li probed them with his spiritual sense, his brows furrowed unconsciously.
Their auras were extremely unstable. It was obvious that their current realm had not been achieved through years of bitter cultivation but rather through some method of forced advancement.
"Senior, we pay our respects!"
Upon seeing Han Li and the Void Refining stage golden guard enter, the cultivators rose one after another and stepped forward to pay their respects, their expressions somewhat cold and distant.
"This is Senior Han, the one you will be assisting in this great battle. From now on, all of your actions must be coordinated with Senior Han. Come and pay your respects." The golden guard said solemnly.
"Thirty-Six Azure Cloud Guards pay their respects to Senior Han!"
The azure-robed cultivators seemed to have already been informed of some news and showed no surprise upon hearing this.
"Rise. I hear that when you work together to deploy a certain grand formation, even a demon lord trapped within it cannot break free for a considerable time. Is this true?" Han Li scanned the male cultivators and asked slowly.
"Reporting to Senior — since we first stepped onto the path of cultivation, we have trained for this very formation. We won't claim that the thirty-six of us are of one mind, but when working together, our mastery of this formation is absolutely flawless, with no openings to speak of. The Azure True Radiance Grand Formation is one of the ancient secret formations. While its offensive power is not exceptional, its ability to trap enemies is remarkably profound. Dealing with an ordinary demon lord poses no problem whatsoever." The leading azure-robed cultivator answered honestly.
"Good. If that's the case, then I'm at ease. When the operation begins, you will follow my orders." Han Li nodded, a hint of satisfaction crossing his face.
The thirty-six cultivators naturally agreed without hesitation.
For the time that followed, Han Li went nowhere else. He sat directly in the center of the massive formation array, his expression blank as he waited in silence for something.
The golden guard who had guided him quietly withdrew from the hall.
Although the entire pavilion was shielded by a layer of protective restrictions, before long the faint rumbling of beast roars like a tidal wave could still be heard erupting suddenly from outside.
Then came a tremendous roar of noise as countless fluctuations radiated outward from all around Heavenly Abyss City. The pavilion was affected as well, its floor trembling slightly as if from an earthquake.
It was clear that the beast army had already begun its assault on the city, and the defenders of both races on the walls had launched their desperate counterattacks.
The curtain on the great battle had been raised!
The thirty-six azure-robed male cultivators each sat with their eyes closed, motionless, turning a blind eye to all of it.
Seeing this, Han Li shifted his gaze. His massive spiritual sense pierced through the restrictions in an instant, capturing most of the situation outside within his perception.
With the current strength of Han Li's spiritual sense, covering a radius of over ten thousand li without interference would have been effortless. However, with all of Heavenly Abyss City's formation arrays and restrictions operating at full power, and the chaotic fluctuations of the battlefield filling the sky in every direction, his range of perception was severely limited — he could only probe a few hundred li at most.
But such a large area was already sufficient for him to grasp the general situation of the battle's outbreak.
Under Han Li's perception, he found that not only were the beast army surging toward the city walls in relentless waves, but the high-ranking beasts at the Transformation stage were also wielding various supernatural powers on the front lines. The weakest among these high-ranking beasts were at the Void Refining stage, and a few even possessed early Integration stage cultivation. With them directing operations from the middle, the losses among the ordinary beasts were greatly reduced.
Meanwhile, the super beasts, using the cover of the lower-ranked beasts, had become exceedingly cunning. They actually gathered in groups of four or five, providing cover for one another and launching attacks in rotation.
As a result, the damage inflicted on them by Heavenly Abyss City's defenders was negligible.