A rough, muffled roar mixed with earth-shattering war drums echoed across the vast sky! Having lost the cover of their heavily armored vanguards, the Dragon-Sword Knights, who had been scattered and decimated, suddenly found their morale soaring with the appearance of the Nine Luminaries Divine True One.
They charged the city walls as if driven mad!
A dull, heavy reverberation shook the massive, thick walls, causing them to tremble slightly under the earth-shaking iron hooves of the Saber-Toothed Dragon Beasts, which were the size of small mountains.
The Dragon-Sword Knights who surged onto the wall didn't pause for an instant; they immediately launched their attack.
Yin Kong directed the mages and archers to execute a rapid retreat while simultaneously commanding the Shock Troops to fight to the death to intercept the enemy!
However, the warriors of the Purgatory Shock Troop and the Judgement Shock Troop simply could not withstand the terrifying impact force of the Saber-Toothed Dragon Beasts! In mere moments, they were routed and scattered!
Breaking through the defensive zone formed by the warriors, the Dragon-Sword Knights charged once more toward the retreating mages and archers!
"Third Battalion, provide cover." Yin Kong, a veteran of countless battles, became calmer and more collected precisely when the situation was most critical! In just an instant, he seized the opening created when the Dragon-Sword Knights’ momentum was broken by the interception of the Shock Troops, and launched his counterattack!
Whoosh, whoosh, whoosh, whoosh! From the second defensive wall, a full thirty meters back, the Third Battalion, which had been lying in wait, immediately unleashed powerful long-range magic and crossbow fire. The colossal catapults hurled countless specially made Mace-Balls with astonishing accuracy, slamming into the Dragon-Sword Knights still locked in the melee!
Terror-stricken screams erupted instantly. The specialized Mace-Balls were crafted specifically to counter the Dragon-Sword Knights. Their immense size, coupled with the sharp, jagged spikes covering their surfaces, and the incredible throwing power of the ballistae, gave the Mace-Balls devastating lethality. Any Dragon-Sword Knight struck was immediately grievously wounded, and many were smashed into shapeless masses of blood and flesh on the spot—a truly horrific sight! The once dense ranks of the Dragon-Sword Knights faltered momentarily in panic!
Seizing the opportunity, the defenders on the first wall quickly retreated down the stone steps!
But the heavily damaged Dragon-Sword Knights only became more ferocious in their rampage!
In just a few breaths, they recovered and pursued the retreating soldiers of Mancheng!
On the other side, the withdrawing Mancheng defenders crossed the thirty-meter buffer zone and swiftly ascended the second wall!
Mancheng, renowned across the land as an impregnable fortress, possessed an exceedingly unique defense system! To repel the invasions of the Baron Tribe, Mancheng had been constructed into a specialized fortress designed to counter the terrifyingly dominant military assets of the Dragon-Sword Knights and the Baron War Chariots.
The most famous feature was Mancheng's numerous layered defensive wall system.
The first wall, the outermost barrier, stood twenty meters high, but its gate was remarkably small in both height and width—only four meters high and a mere two meters wide!
This height was just barely enough for a high-furnace warhorse carrying a rider.
Beings as massive as the Saber-Toothed Dragon Beasts could not pass through such a gate under any circumstances!
Of course, to avoid hindering their own cavalry sorties, each wall featured four such gates.
This forced the Baron Tribe to rely on giant siege ladders to scale the walls and engage in close combat, as they could not breach the gates with cavalry to charge into the city. Even more ingenious was that these peculiar gates not only effectively blocked the cavalry charge of the Dragon-Sword Knights but also severely restricted the advance of the Baron War Chariots!
Indeed, due to their colossal size, the Baron War Chariots could not physically pass through the gates, meaning the outer wall, with its unique gate design alone, could keep the War Chariots locked outside!
Behind each wall, another similar wall and gate system was spaced every thirty meters. Furthermore, thanks to Mancheng's distinctive mountain terrain, each subsequent wall rose ten meters higher than the last, creating advantageous, commanding heights for defense.
There were ten such visible walls; Mancheng had clearly invested tremendous effort in defending against the Baron Tribe.
The entire city of Mancheng was built in a semi-circular arc, enclosed by these ten layers of walls.
Viewed from a distance, it resembled a colossal, tiered tower.
Consequently, Mancheng was popularly nicknamed the "Tower City."
This composite defensive wall system was fittingly dubbed the "Tower Defense Line." Even the Baron Tribe, famous for their siege warfare, found no easy shortcuts against this exceptionally formidable defense.
This meant that even if the Baron Tribe managed to conquer the first wall, it was functionally useless unless they could sequentially conquer the remaining nine walls!
However, while the first wall might be easily taken with the aid of Baron War Chariots, the subsequent nine walls would prove anything but simple to capture.
Because the sheer height of the first wall and its absurdly small gates prevented the Baron War Chariots from entering the city to participate in the fight for the second wall.
Even if the Dragon-Sword Knights managed to vault the first wall with their war mounts and engage at the second, they would be of limited use.
Without the support of the Baron War Chariots, the Dragon-Sword Knights could accomplish little of significance!
It could be said that starting from the second wall, the Baron forces could no longer rely on the assistance of their War Chariots to easily breach the defenses!
In such a scenario, the Dragon-Sword Knights of the Baron forces were reduced to being little more than ordinary cavalry units.
This was the famed Tower Defense Line of Mancheng.
The true battle was only just beginning!
The Baron Tribe understood this perfectly well!
Thus, their objective for this initial assault was to eliminate as many Mancheng defenders as possible on the first wall. Seeing the Mancheng troops retreating toward the second wall, the Dragon-Sword Knights were unwilling to let them escape easily!
"Catch them! Do not let a single one escape!" several commanding captains roared.
Countless Dragon-Sword Knights spurred their mounts into a furious pursuit, thundering down the stone steps!
On the other side!
Mo Luo Yin Feng, Teng Kui, and Teng Shuo stood side-by-side!
At this moment, Teng Kui and Teng Shuo had mounted their High-Furnace Warhorses. As mounts for Celestial Demon Warriors, these were naturally not ordinary horses; though perhaps not as magnificent as the Great Mammoth King ridden by the Nine Luminaries Divine True One, they were equally imposing and peerless steeds!
The three riders moved slowly, circling like hungry wolves observing a mighty tiger!
Indeed, no one dared to doubt the true strength of the Nine Luminaries Divine True One!
In the past, Teng Kui and Teng Shuo had always felt that the various rumors surrounding the Nine Luminaries Divine True One were greatly exaggerated. But only after witnessing his lightning-fast pursuit just now did they completely discard that notion.
No one understood the combat strength of Teng Ke and Teng Chong better than Teng Kui and Teng Shuo, yet those two battle-hardened Sky Rainbow Archmages had been instantly killed by the Nine Luminaries Divine True One right there and then.
If the past kills of Teng Xuan and Teng Jiao were attributed to a sneak attack, then Teng Ke and Teng Chong were clearly slain head-on by the Nine Luminaries Divine True One.
Although the method of attack was somewhat unexpected, it could hardly be called a sneak attack, as the Nine Luminaries Divine True One had not concealed his identity at all. It was simply that no one anticipated his speed reaching such a terrifying level. Even though the two Sky Rainbow Archmages were already on guard, he still managed to hunt them down successfully. More astonishingly, Mo Luo Yin Feng’s attempted rescue proved fruitless and nearly cost him his own life! Had he not reacted quickly enough, Mo Luo Yin Feng himself might have suffered the same fate!
Facing such a terrifying opponent, ordinary logic no longer applied.
Therefore, the three had to be extremely cautious! Their swords were already sheathed; they had long since switched to the dragon lances specialized for mounted combat!
The three riders moved slowly, seeking any exploitable weakness!
However, the Nine Luminaries Divine True One and his Great Mammoth King remained completely unmoved. Their pair of grim eyes were fixed solely on Mo Luo Yin Feng, as if Teng Kui and Teng Shuo were nothing more than inanimate objects!
This greatly displeased Teng Kui and Teng Shuo!
Yes, every warrior who achieved the rank of Celestial Demon was an elite expert of extraordinary skill, and experts possessed pride and arrogance. They could not tolerate the Nine Luminaries Divine True One’s dismissive disregard!
Roar! With a fierce yell, Teng Kui’s High-Furnace Warhorse shot forward like lightning, his silver dragon lance manifesting into a sky full of spear shadows, sweeping toward the man and mount before him!
Seemingly having not anticipated Teng Kui would strike first, a flicker of impatience and icy killing intent flashed in the dark eyes of the Nine Luminaries Divine True One!
The Great Mammoth King, as if sensing the Nine Luminaries Divine True One’s irritation, subtly swayed its massive head. Its four thick legs stamped the ground lightly a few times, emitting a muffled roar!
Whoosh, whoosh, whoosh!
The deluge of spear shadows struck instantly! The angles were tricky, and the speed was astonishing, resembling countless wildly writhing vipers—impossible to defend against or evade!
"Hmph," the Nine Luminaries Divine True One coldly snorted. "Seeking death!" With a mere gentle wave of his dragon lance, infused with potent Blazing Fire Battle Qi, it transformed into a dazzling streak of golden lightning!
Roar! With a fierce cry, the Great Mammoth King merely shifted slightly, seemingly vanishing into thin air!
The mass of spear shadows swept through nothing but a residual afterimage lingering in the void!
"Ah! So fast!" Teng Kui was greatly alarmed! Immediately, a sharp whistle sounded from his side! A strange, dazzling arc of light flashed across his peripheral vision, flying directly toward the back of his neck!
"Ah! Watch out!" Teng Shuo, providing support from the side, cried out, instantly sweeping his dragon lance toward the sudden golden light!
Clang! Rumbledown!
Amidst the blinding light explosion, dull, heavy thuds echoed!
Teng Shuo felt his dragon lance hit something like cotton—it had no purchase point! The frustration of being unable to exert his strength nearly drove him mad!
Before he could comprehend what was happening, the black dragon lance, which he had managed to parry against his own shaft, suddenly moved like a fish swimming upstream, flowing along the lance and stabbing toward his chest!
"Ah! What kind of spear technique is this!" Teng Shuo, a veteran of countless battles and a lifetime in arms, had never witnessed such an esoteric spear art! But his reaction speed was astonishingly swift!
He violently tightened his grip with both hands!
Clang! The black shadow that had been running along his lance was violently repelled, but it astonishingly shifted course at incredible speed toward his throat!
A cascade of sudden changes occurred simultaneously in the blink of an eye!
Teng Shuo could only instinctively lean backward!
Swish! The black, gleaming long lance scraped past Teng Shuo’s nose tip, missing its mark! But the missed lance suddenly curved in a graceful half-circle, as if it had anticipated Teng Shuo’s defensive maneuver, changing its thrust to a chop!
It slammed down fiercely toward Teng Shuo’s cheek! The thick black dragon lance moved like an agile great snake, possessing unparalleled fluidity and grace. Its speed and angle of attack were masterful, leaving no room for defense!
"Ah!" Teng Shuo could only thrust his spear upwards in a block!
Clang! The heavy downward chop was intercepted by Teng Shuo’s spear!
But the immense force nearly jarred the tightly held spear from Teng Shuo’s grasp! In terms of raw power, Teng Shuo was certainly not inferior to the Nine Luminaries Divine True One, but the latter's spear was too fast, too bizarre. The previous sequence of events had already dispersed Teng Shuo’s concentration, and the necessity of leaning back to evade the throat-stabbing blow meant he could not properly adjust his posture to block the incoming chop with full force!
And the Nine Luminaries Divine True One’s change of attack was unbelievably fast! The moment the dragon lance was knocked aside, with a subtle tug, the lance that had flown out instantly transformed back into a horizontal sweep aimed at Teng Shuo! This sweep cleverly leveraged the recoil force from Teng Shuo’s full-force block, combined with the Nine Luminaries Divine True One’s own power!
It was truly power enough to split mountains, majestic and unparalleled! Its speed was terrifying; the very space seemed to be sliced open by this devastating strike, emitting a sharp, piercing whistle!
"Ah!" Teng Shuo was aghast, having no time to switch techniques. He could only forcibly channel his Battle Qi, gripping his spear with one hand to guard his left side!
"Roar!" But just then, another silver gleam flashed!
The tip of a bright, sharp spear materialized out of thin air near the Nine Luminaries Divine True One’s chest, like a phantom!
"So fast!" For the first time, a trace of shock appeared on the Nine Luminaries Divine True One’s expressionless, grim face!
Roar! However, the Great Mammoth King took a sudden sidestep, flashing six meters away in the blink of an eye!
Whoosh!
This frighteningly fast spear struck empty air!
Naturally, the blow the Nine Luminaries Divine True One had aimed at Teng Shuo also came to nothing!
But before the Nine Luminaries Divine True One could catch his breath, a black cloud swept toward him!
No one could describe the sheer ferocity and brutality of this assault—it was like the approach of a mountain storm! The black cloud, surging violently within the gale, churned and billowed, appearing as if an utterly chaotic wind was rotating and surging to form a massive vortex of black clouds.
"Die," Teng Kui’s thunderous roar echoed from within the swirling black cloud, accompanied by a suffocating aura of murderous intent: "Black Cloud Vortex!"
"Hmph," the Nine Luminaries Divine True One snorted lightly! Without turning his head, his thick dragon lance executed a simple, yet supremely piercing thrust! It resembled a black dragon charging and roaming unchecked within the dark clouds—utterly unrestrained and arrogant!
The swirling Black Cloud Vortex was ripped open by a fissure, like a wound blown open by the wind.
"Ah!" Teng Kui’s cold eyes involuntarily narrowed slightly!
This Black Cloud Vortex was his signature ultimate technique! It relied on the centrifugal force generated by the high-speed rotation of the dragon lance to create a massive vortex field! Combined with his potent Battle Qi energy, any ordinary opponent caught within it would surely perish. He never expected the Nine Luminaries Divine True One to see through the weakness with a single glance! This seemingly simple thrust pierced directly through the center of the vortex!
"Be careful!" Mo Luo Yin Feng’s face paled dramatically. No one understood the horror of the Nine Luminaries Divine True One better than him, knowledge gained from countless studies and analyses of the True One’s skills, specializations, and every battle he had fought.
The Vortex Black Cloud was a powerful killing move harnessing the force generated by the rotational field, possessing unparalleled destructive power—its principle was identical to the Mad Dragon World Annihilation executed by the Mo Luo Battle Hawk during the Battle of Yuncheng!
However, Mo Luo Yin Feng knew that the Mad Dragon World Annihilation had been easily countered by Ji Du! And Ji Du had only managed this because he received guidance from the Nine Luminaries Divine True One himself!
It was clear that similar ultimate skills stood no chance of harming the Nine Luminaries Divine True One. Thus, the moment Teng Kui unleashed the Vortex Black Cloud, Mo Luo Yin Feng knew disaster was imminent!
Through the rent in the cloud, a streak of black light shot out! It was like lightning piercing the dark clouds—sharp, uncanny, and infused with the deepest killing intent, instantly stabbing toward Teng Kui’s throat!
"Ah! Too fast!" This speed far exceeded Teng Kui’s reaction time! He could only watch helplessly as the unstoppable spear surged toward his throat!
"Roar!"
But at this very moment! A streak of silvery-white light flashed out from within the black cloud, resembling an exquisitely crafted shield of light! In that split second, it appeared precisely at the gap torn in the black clouds!
Clang! Rumbledown!
Accompanying the collision was a dull, heavy thud, and the entire mass of black clouds seemed to scatter everywhere under the shockwave! All that remained was a single, lonely black dragon lance! The Nine Luminaries Divine True One’s icy gaze slowly moved, finally resting upon the thick, silver dragon lance held in Mo Luo Yin Feng’s hand!
If Mo Luo Yin Feng hadn't cleverly parried the Nine Luminaries Divine True One’s strike just now, Teng Kui would have been utterly doomed.
"Everyone, be careful. Don't let them pick us off one by one," Mo Luo Yin Feng stated gravely.
"..." Teng Kui and Teng Shuo looked on in horror. In just a few brief exchanges, their trio had gained no advantage and had nearly been instantly annihilated by the Nine Luminaries Divine True One.
"Hmph, if you don't want to die, come at me together," the Nine Luminaries Divine True One stated calmly.
On the other side!
"Detonate the Hell Lightning Fire Wall Traps!" Yin Kong’s grim face flashed with a cold killing intent. "Intensify the barrage of Mace-Balls."
"Yes!"
Innumerable explosive flames and lightning spells rained down like a tempest upon the thirty-meter buffer zone between the two walls!
The narrow space was instantly engulfed by terrifying explosions! The magical traps set in the buffer zone—the Hell Lightning and the Fire Walls—were detonated simultaneously! Countless screams mingled with dazzling blue electricity and fierce, burning flames, creating a scene of utter, tragic carnage!
And the giant Mace-Balls poured down like a violent storm!
Roar! Boom! Rumbledown!
The horrific roars of the Saber-Toothed Dragon Beasts, mixed with the piercing screams of the Dragon-Sword Knights and the booming echoes of the magical explosions, utterly submerged the world!
In the blink of an eye, a large section of the Dragon-Sword Knights charging the wall fell!
"Retreat!" Several captains issued the order simultaneously!
Whoosh! Whoosh!
Several sharp whistles sliced through the air, and four blue signal flares shot into the sky!
These were the magical retreat signals released by the messengers!
The surviving Dragon-Sword Knights who had rushed down the wall swiftly withdrew back onto the fortifications!
Thus, the two armies faced each other across the thirty-meter buffer zone, but the second wall stood a full ten meters taller than the outer first wall!
Consequently, the Mancheng defenders, holding the height advantage, immediately launched a furious counterattack!
Innumerable boulders, logs, and spells descended from above!
The first wall, which the Baron War Chariots had managed to secure, was quickly riddled with holes, reduced to ruins!
Faced with the relentless magical heavy arrows and catapult fire, the Baron forces were quickly forced into retreat!
At this moment, they held no advantage whatsoever!
The wall they had just seized was soon abandoned!
Roar! Roar! Roar!
The Mancheng defenders let out earth-shaking cheers!
It must be said that ever since facing the Baron Tribe’s monstrous War Chariots, the soldiers of Mancheng had suffered greatly. Now, finally driving them back, they were all immensely exhilarated!
Of course, this outcome was not unexpected by Yin Shuang and the others.
After all, the Baron Tribe and Mancheng understood each other too well.
Yin Shuang and the others were well aware that the struggle for Mancheng would not conclude in a single day!
The conventional infantry engagement had now reached a stalemate; the final outcome would depend on the combat strength of the heavy armored vanguards!