Hundreds of rays of light burst from the city wall, hurtling toward them. The group of Foundation Establishment cultivators immediately unleashed their respective magic tools, aggressively charging toward these beams of light.

Boom, boom, boom!

These hundreds of dazzling beams of light collided with the more than a hundred radiant magic tools suspended in mid-air, resulting in violent roars that illuminated the entire underground area.

The Foundation Establishment cultivators at the very front were caught in the shockwave of this immense power. They staggered violently before stabilizing themselves, their faces filled with alarm. If they had taken a direct hit from these beams, they certainly didn't have the confidence to withstand it.

Startled, they quickly retreated, falling back into the dense formation composed of the other Foundation Establishment cultivators, trying their best to avoid facing this devastating Hongtian Pao (Sky-Blasting Cannon) battery alone.

They formed ranks for defense, using their magic tools to intercept the incoming attacks. If they could just survive this two-li stretch, they would reach the southeast corner of the city wall. Once the wall was secured, they would immediately destroy all the Stone Puppets and Hongtian Pao!

Leading the charge was Shi Hanyang, the Lord of the Setting Sun Sect. While rapidly directing his disciples, he hurled out a giant shield artifact and personally absorbed nearly ten direct strikes from the beams. He was forcefully repelled dozens of zhang (units of length), yet he remained utterly fearless. His fighting spirit surged, and he pressed forward toward the city wall with the crowd.

Ye Qin, hidden within the formation, was currently piloting his magic tool with relative ease, warding off the incoming light. Although the Hongtian Pao possessed terrifying power, with numerous high and mid-level Foundation Establishment cultivators blocking in front, he was perfectly safe. There was absolutely no need for a mere third-layer Foundation Establishment cultivator like himself to be at the spearhead.

Outwardly, his expression remained neutral, but inwardly, a tempest raged.

The walls of the Royal Tomb City boasted a Hongtian Pao battery!

He was well aware of the efficacy of a single Hongtian Pao. That thing was immensely powerful, but its firing rate was agonizingly slow. Even a Qi Refining cultivator could easily dodge it and destroy it.

But now, he realized with a sudden shock that when two or three hundred Hongtian Pao combined into a battery, capable of covering a massive area with saturation fire, their combined power was incomparable. In such a scenario, cultivators could not dodge; they could only endure the terrifying bombardment.

Even a group of over a hundred Foundation Establishment cultivators could only form a defensive circle for mutual protection, daring not face the horrifying cannon array alone. This way, if someone was injured, they could shelter behind the formation.

They were still about two or three li away from the Royal Tomb. This short distance, he feared, would demand a significant price to cross.

At this range, they could begin to discern the situation on the city walls through the faint light.

The city walls surrounding the Royal Tomb ruins were densely packed with Hongtian Pao of various sizes.

And manning these Hongtian Pao on the walls were unmistakably Stone Puppets, their numbers so vast they made one's scalp tingle, impossible to count. These Stone Puppets moved clumsily as they operated the city wall cannons, unleashing their bombardment upon the attackers.

The Hongtian Pao on the wall were divided into two types: large and small.

One type was the light Hongtian Pao, with muzzles only the size of a bowl, possessing slightly less power.

The other type was the heavy Hongtian Pao, with muzzles as large as a wooden basin, possessing enough power to blast a Foundation Establishment cultivator fifty zhang away with a single shot—no one could withstand it head-on except for the strongest high-level cultivators at the eighth or ninth layer of Foundation Establishment. Even they could only endure one blast.

Fortunately, there were only three or four heavy Hongtian Pao on each section of the wall; the rest were light models. Otherwise, for them, this would be an absolute nightmare.

Ye Qin finally understood why Lord Shi Hanyang of the Setting Sun Sect had mustered such a large contingent of Foundation Establishment cultivators once the passage to the Royal Tomb ruins opened. It was because if too few people came, they wouldn't be enough to even stuff the gaps in the Royal Tomb city wall's cannon defenses.

But they harbored a deep confusion: since a batch of Foundation Establishment cultivators came here every fifty years, why hadn't the Stone Puppets in this place been cleared out? This mystery remained stubbornly impenetrable.

As Ye Qin pondered, one wave of light finished its bombardment, and before the cultivators could catch their breath, another wave swept in.

This time, Shi Hanyang also retreated in alarm back into the formation. He yielded the front line to Ma Dongyan, another of the strongest high-level cultivators, who led the assault toward the city wall. To breach the Royal Tomb, their personal grievances had no bearing on their cooperation.

In a matter of breaths, after enduring several waves of concentrated fire, the group of Foundation Establishment cultivators finally landed on the southeast corner of the Royal Tomb wall, rapidly clearing the dozens of Stone Puppets stationed there.

These Stone Puppets were low-grade constructs, very weak; a single strike from a magic tool shattered them to pieces.

Ye Qin followed the group onto the wall and surveyed the Hongtian Pao batteries here. These cannons were fixed to the ramparts, integrated with the wall structure, making them impossible to remove. Ye Qin struck one with his magic tool, only managing to carve a shallow nick—he had intended to dig them out, but it seemed that wish would not be easily granted.

Although they had seized the southeast section of the wall, the light beams bombarding them from other directions prevented them from resting easy on the parapet. They couldn't relax until every single Stone Puppet was eliminated.

Whoosh, whoosh! With a rustling sound, a large flock of strange birds suddenly soared up from various parts of the city. Each was several zhang large, beating its wings as it rushed toward the southeast wall. Their wings were actually made of wood, they possessed wooden beaks and talons, and their eyes were inlaid with black stones, glittering with a dark, fierce light. This flock of Wooden Monster Birds numbered three to four hundred, a massive, oppressive black cloud.

"Sect Lord Shi, what are those things?"

"They look like flying Wooden Bird Puppets! What are they doing?!"

"Whatever they are, just wipe them out!"

Many cultivators cried out in alarm upon seeing the strange birds emerge from the city interior. Those who had never seen such things stared with wide eyes.

"Those are Sky-Flying Thunder Kites! How can there be so many? The last time I was here, I didn't see so many Thunder Kites fleeing! Don't try to withstand them!"

Shi Hanyang's heart lurched as he watched the flock of wooden birds stream out from the city. The memory of facing these creatures in the past brought a look of stark white to his face as he roared the warning.

Then, abandoning any pretense of flying, he leaped down from the wall and scrambled into the ruins inside the city. For the dignified Lord of the Setting Sun Sect, a peak ninth-layer Foundation Establishment cultivator, to flee from a flock of wooden birds by literally jumping down and running—it was an unheard-of spectacle.

But at this moment, no one dared mock him.

All the cultivators on the wall watched as the strange wooden birds, still hundreds of zhang away, suddenly opened their beaks and spat out clusters of inky black spheres of light. These spheres floated in the air, the size of fists, emitting a hissing sound. Their speed wasn't excessively fast, but they were terrifying.

"Black Thunder! Magic spheres potent enough to shatter the Nascent Soul!"

The faces of the cultivators paled in horror. Casting aside any semblance of Foundation Establishment decorum, they instantly summoned every ounce of strength and scattered in haste, following Shi Hanyang as they leaped into the ruins of the Royal Tomb city. Since achieving the Foundation Establishment realm, they had rarely resorted to this undignified method of running for their lives on foot.

Even if they formed a defensive array, they lacked the confidence to withstand hundreds of these Black Thunder spheres. At this moment, their only recourse was to disperse as widely as possible and find cover to evade the dense bombardment of the Sky-Flying Thunder Kites.

BOOM—!

Vast swathes of Black Thunder enveloped the spot where the cultivators had just stood on the wall. Accompanied by a world-shaking thunderous tremor, a massive section of the hundreds of zhang thick, hard bluestone rampart was pulverized into dust by the Black Thunder. Not even a few shards remained. A deep cavity was gouged out at the base of the wall.

If they had tried to resist that Black Thunder, their fate would likely not have been much better than the city wall's.

Several screams rang out simultaneously. A few Foundation Establishment cultivators who failed to escape the wall in time were thrown off by the residual force of the Black Thunder, sustaining minor injuries. At this moment, no one had the leisure to care about their well-being.

If the Royal Tomb interior had contained only Stone Puppets and Hongtian Pao, the cultivators could have moved slowly on the ground; the puppets’ speed would not have matched that of Foundation Establishment experts. Even if overwhelmed, they could have taken to their swords and flown away.

But this flock of Sky-Flying Thunder Kites circled in the air at terrifying speed, spitting out devastating Black Thunder spheres. It was difficult for them to simply flee this area; they had to find ways to survive.

In truth, if they had decided to fight head-on, they still felt confident they could destroy these three or four hundred Sky-Flying Thunder Kites, along with the Stone Puppets here. However, doing so would certainly come at a gruesome cost—at least half the cultivators would perish on this spot.

They had come to the Royal Tomb seeking treasure, not to seek death. If casualties could be avoided, they would be avoided. The cultivators abandoned the city wall and charged into the ruins inside the Royal Tomb to seek shelter.

All puppets shared one weakness: neither the Stone Puppets nor the Wooden Kites possessed sufficient scouting ability or spiritual sense, and they certainly lacked true thought. As long as they vanished from their line of sight, they would be safe. "Everyone enter the city, evade their vision, find hidden ruins to hide, and then try to sneak toward the central main hall of the inner palace. We will regroup there. Brothers, look after yourselves! Your Sect Lord is departing!"

Shi Hanyang shouted urgently toward the crowd while sprinting through the Royal Tomb city. In just a few blinks, he vanished like a phantom into the ruins. The Royal Tomb was enormous, capable of housing ten thousand people, easily accommodating their hundred-plus members.

The Royal Tomb city held numerous palaces, pavilions, and residences, many already collapsed and damaged. The hundred-plus Foundation Establishment cultivators dispersed, melting into the structures, quickly concealing themselves from view. Once the targets vanished from sight, most of the Stone Puppets halted in confusion, returning to their respective positions on the city wall, gradually falling silent. Only a small number of Stone figures continued to patrol within the city, while the Sky-Flying Thunder Kites soared overhead in the Royal Tomb sky.

The Royal Tomb ruins sank back into darkness and silence, as if the fierce battle had never occurred.