The Dead City's Dread

Even from a great distance, it seemed the dragons could hear their words. Divine light struck down around them repeatedly, as if deliberately trying to drive them away.

Without hesitation, Xiao Chen dashed to the side of King of Reincarnation. Together with the three skeletons, he stared at the armored warriors inside the city of the dead.

A deathly stillness hung in the air. Both sides seemed locked in a delicate standoff.

Blood rain fell in torrents. The Celestial Soldiers and Underworld Soldiers all emanated an ancient, weathered air, as if they had lived for untold ages, as though ancient heroes had returned to the present world.

Divine light blazed, tearing through the curtain of blood as it slashed toward the city gate. Xiao Chen had no choice. He finally took the decisive step forward. Inside the city, the Celestial Soldiers and Underworld Soldiers had already ceased their drills. They stood there like enormous tombstones, staring coldly at him.

One step. Two steps. Three steps.

Xiao Chen entered the ancient city!

The dragons' attacks could no longer touch him.

The Celestial Soldiers and Underworld Soldiers in their ancient armor did not strike at him.

Liu Mu and Yizhen followed him in. Liu Ruyan, her face pale as ash, dragged Yan Qingcheng behind them. The three skeletons cautiously came to Xiao Chen's side.

A squad of Underworld Soldiers, their eyes deep and eerie, raised their ancient iron halberds in unison. Liu Ruyan's face went sheet-white. But the Underworld Soldiers did not attack; they simply continued their drills in the blood rain. The group breathed a long sigh of relief.

They dared not venture deep into the City of the Dead. They stood quietly just inside the gate. If not for the dragons bombarding them from outside, they would never have taken shelter here.

In the distance, the surviving cultivators saw the group safe inside the dead city. They all began to rush toward it.

The dragons did not stop them. It seemed they deliberately offered a path to survival, herding everyone into the ancient city to scout ahead.

Only a little over a hundred survivors remained within the city of the dead. The rest had been blasted into nothingness by the dragons.

And at that moment, the dragons' frenzied assault shifted from the Bone Ground to the City of the Dead.

Beams of divine light hammered the city walls, and many rays fell inside the city, spreading out.

Everyone was caught in the blast once more. Nearby, hundreds of Celestial Soldiers and Underworld Soldiers raised their ancient spears and halberds, thrusting them toward the beams in the sky.

The rusted, battered ancient weapons met the divine light and blocked most of it.

The divine light could not harm these Celestial Soldiers and Underworld Soldiers, but the force still knocked them off balance, their bodies swaying.

Xiao Chen keenly sensed that the ancient city radiated a heaven-piercing, eerie radiance. A sinister black light blocked the majority of the dragons' spell attacks. Otherwise, even these Celestial Soldiers and Underworld Soldiers might not have truly withstood the dragons' great divine abilities.

The City of the Dead was truly mysterious and terrifying! The dragons dared not approach it, and that perhaps said it all.

"Buddha…"

A profound Buddhist chant suddenly echoed, carrying a sense of boundless antiquity and vicissitude. A flood of Buddha light erupted from atop the gate tower, cascading down with brilliant splendor.

The Celestial Soldiers and Underworld Soldiers hastily withdrew. It was the Buddha's Dharma Wheel shining forth.

The great Dharma Wheel on the ancient city wall trembled continuously. An invisible sound wave surged like a monstrous tide, pushing everyone deep into the city streets.

Aside from Yizhen, no one could remain near the gate. Even the hundreds of Celestial Soldiers and Underworld Soldiers were forced to brandish their ancient weapons and retreat backward.

"Buddha…"

A second Buddhist chant sounded.

Buddha light enveloped Yizhen. The monk, his robes stained with blood, now sat with solemn dignity. He crossed his legs in meditation, hands pressed together in prayer. The sorrow and gloom that had marked him before were gone. Now he was serene, transcendent, and aloof.

In the Buddha light, Yizhen slowly rose from the ground. He sat cross-legged in the void, and around him materialized a colossal Buddha image. The vast, ancient aura emanated from that looming figure.

From afar,

Yizhen sat upon the giant hand of an ancient Buddha. His robes were blood-red, but his presence was ethereal, as if a true Buddha had been reborn. An aura of peace and compassion radiated from him.

"Buddha have mercy…" A low chant issued from Yizhen's lips. As if struck by sudden enlightenment, his entire demeanor transformed. Transcending the mundane was his true state in that moment.

He seemed to have forgotten his earlier grief, forgotten his elder brother's violent death. Now he was calm and tranquil.

Seated in the palm of the ancient Buddha statue, he softly chanted obscure, ancient scriptures.

His eyes closed, he entered a special meditative state.

In the distance, everyone envied Yizhen's fortune. Without doubt, the Buddha's relic had granted him this blessing.

No one knew exactly what benefit Yizhen had received. But the gift of the legendary peerless Buddha would stir even the hearts of those who had achieved Deathless Longevity!

Far away,

The dragons' heaven-shaking roars quieted briefly under the sacred light of the Buddha's relic. But not long after, the savage dragons roared again, and torrents of dragon spells swept toward the City of the Dead.

Though the sky above the dead city was already veiled in black light,

many beams of divine light still pierced through. All the Celestial Soldiers and Underworld Soldiers raised their ancient weapons to resist.

Except for Yizhen, who remained unharmed, the other cultivators were in dire straits. They had been forced into this mysterious, unknown, and terrifying ancient city, caught between a rock and a hard place.

Once again, Xiao Chen was the first to run along the ancient street, deeper into the city. Facing the dragons' spells would make even gods blanch. Though the city's black light greatly weakened the spells, they were still more than Xiao Chen and the others could withstand.

Liu Mu and the others followed Xiao Chen along the ancient street. Yan Qingcheng, for her part, was unusually cooperative, offering no resistance as she and Liu Ruyan pursued the group ahead. To survive, they had to flee the battlefield near the gate.

Those behind hesitated briefly, then all charged into the depths of the street. If they lingered any longer, the dragons' spells would annihilate them all. The Celestial Soldiers and Underworld Soldiers also withdrew, but still they did not attack the cultivators. They seemed like emotionless stone statues.

Yet, unease gradually crept over the cultivators. On the street, they saw many bleached bones! Had those who came before them also entered this ancient city, only to die here for unknown reasons? But there was no turning back. They could only wait quietly in the depths of the ancient street, hoping for calm.

But things did not settle down. They only grew worse.

The dragons' roars drew nearer, as vast as heaven and earth splitting apart. Many weaker cultivators could no longer bear it, their faces deathly pale.

Massive dragon shadows could be seen looming over the Bone Sea, just outside the City of the Dead. Their oppressive might surged like a furious sea, piercing through the city's black light, making everyone feel like a tiny boat in a storm.

The dragons seemed determined to destroy this city of the dead. Though they were wary and did not dare descend, their long-range spells rained down without mercy.

At this point, all the cultivators scattered, fleeing into the empty streets and alleys of the dead city. They had no choice but to take their chances.

Whether or not danger lurked inside the city, the priority was to avoid the dragons' bombardment.

The Celestial Soldiers and Underworld Soldiers could no longer hold their ground. Brandishing their rusted, ancient weapons, they too retreated deep into the city. A murderous aura filled the dead city. Blood water flowed through the streets, mingling with the scattered white bones.

It was truly a hell on earth.

"Ah…"

A blood-curdling scream came from a deep alley nearby. It was so piercing, as if the victim had been terrified beyond measure before death. It was not far from Xiao Chen and Liu Mu.

"What happened? There were no dragon spells striking there…" Liu Ruyan's voice trembled.

Xiao Chen and Liu Mu said nothing. They walked together along the ancient alley. The surrounding buildings were made of the same unknown material as the city walls, a color like dried bloodstains—blackish-red—but they gleamed with a sinister black light.

The alley grew narrower,

soon reaching its end. The ghastly scream just now came from an ordinary dwelling, its lingering echoes still hanging in the air. But another sound drew even more attention.

"Crunch, crunch…"

By instinct, it was the sound of gnawing, as if tearing at flesh and bone. They did not know what creature made it, and under these circumstances, they did not want to know.

Liu Ruyan's face was as white as paper. She covered her mouth tightly. Xiao Chen and Liu Mu exchanged a glance, then both chose to retreat.

They left that hair-raising ancient house behind.

The City of the Dead was indeed no safe place. It was filled with unknown, terrifying dangers!

"Ah…"

More screams rang out nearby, not from just one place. When Xiao Chen and the others rushed over, they found they all came from other ancient houses.

On both sides of the street, densely packed ancient houses gleamed with black light. Some were grand and towering,

some low and简陋, much like the layout of an ordinary city.

All the screams came from within those houses. Apparently, many cultivators had seen that the dragons' spells could not destroy the city's buildings,

so they had hidden inside, only to meet their deaths. No one yet knew how they died.

But Xiao Chen and the others had heard the "crunch, crunch" sounds before the houses. Clearly, there were terrifying creatures inside, devouring the cultivators' corpses.

This was a horrifying realization. The people who had entered the city were among the best cultivators, yet they had become food for something else…

"Clang, clang… clatter…"

From the depths of the ancient street came sounds of metal clashing. Xiao Chen saw two Spiritists, who could fly in the sky, locked in battle with divine swords conjured from spiritual force.

Even in this dire situation, they fought each other—their hatred must have been deep.

With a scream, one Spiritist was cut in half, falling from the sky. The other Spiritist fled into the distance. The two pieces of the corpse landed before a large mansion. The tall, blood-red gate creaked open a crack.

Xiao Chen clearly saw two points of eerie cyan light gleaming in the darkness. They were a pair of cold, terrible eyes! Then a gust of yin wind swept by. The two pieces of the corpse before the blood-red gate vanished. The ancient door slammed shut with a bang. From behind the blood door came more sounds of crunching.

This was a terrible sight they had witnessed firsthand. Though they had not seen what the凶物 was, it was enough to shock them. It seemed that every ancient house housed some kind of恐怖 creature—human, beast, or ghostly demon.

"What is that?" Yan Qingcheng, whose beauty could topple nations, could not hide her fear. Her beautiful eyes stared fixedly at the blood-red gate.

Liu Ruyan, ever "diligent," lectured Yan Qingcheng, "Better worry about yourself."

The dragons' spell attacks grew fiercer. Some had even flown directly above the City of the Dead, raining down divine light. Several Celestial Soldiers and Underworld Soldiers had been blasted into nothingness.

But it seemed the dragons had not yet unleashed their full power. From their attacks, everything still seemed like probing.

The cultivators could not avoid the collateral damage. More died untimely deaths.

Xiao Chen and the others kept dodging through the ancient streets. Soon, on a main road, they saw two top experts locked in battle. A mysterious man shrouded in black mist was fighting fiercely against a woman veiled in rainbow clouds. Their combat was extraordinary.

In the man's hand, a divine sword swept across the eight directions, exuding an aura of dominating the world and a sense of invincibility. Even space warped around his blade, forming a special "domain." Within that area, he seemed to be the sovereign.

And the woman in rainbow clouds was equally mysterious. The space enveloped by her hazy light was utterly unique. Even when the mysterious man's long sword pierced into it, it became sluggish, gradually losing its unstoppable force. That space shrouded in luminous mist seemed to be an independent little world.