As soon as Ling Tianlong and Lu Fengxian’s fists collided, the former recognized the 5th-stage cultivator’s face.

“Ding Bu!”

Lu Fengxian faintly smiled, “Oh? Do I know you?”

“I can tell from your smell. You’re one of the gifted people with a rare physique. Why are you fighting for the demons when you’re blessed by the heaven? Join me, and we shall slaughter all demons and free humans from their terror!”

“I don’t know what kind of drug you’ve had, but I’m not interested in that offer. You can shove it down your ass, or you can go home to complain to your mama.”

“I see. Since you’re not my friend, you’re my enemy!”

“I was wondering what kind of person were you, but it seems that I overestimated you as a human being. Everyone who said that was either an obstinate hypocrite or a naïve and selfish anti-social barbarian who never got out of their caves to experience the world.”

“Ha! Big words for a frog in a well. Let’s see how you can handle MY EXPERIENCE AND MY REALMS!”

Ling Tianlong summoned his immortal-grade sword, the Plum Monarch, to his hand. The pink-edge broadsword with crimson core was shot out of the scabbard and got into his hand.

Generating plum flowers around itself, the immortal-grade broadsword emitted the same pressure and power as Miaomiao’s soul sword. However, the colorful flower petals contained the will of the Plum Monarch, and they could be used as projectile weapons.

Seeing the immortal-grade weapon, Lu Fengxian grinned, “Hoh? Immortal-grade sword in this mortal realm? How fancy.”

Meanwhile, Lu Fengxian also came prepared. He had already borrowed Miaomiao’s soul sword from Jia Shan, just in case he needed to absorb the Soul Qi from the sword to reinforce his foundation and physique after he successfully advanced to the 6th-stage.

Unfortunately, he needed to use it to fight against another immortal-grade sword. He brandished it and faced the Plum Monarch Sword head-on while his eyes followed the red lines on Ling Tianlong’s body.

CLANK

The soul power clashed, causing a high-pitched screeching and sparks. Everything in the radius of a kilometer around both reincarnators was blown by the shockwave.

But that wasn’t the only shockwave.

CLANK

CLANK

CLANK

Every second, over 100 metal-clanking noises resounded and produced repeated shockwaves from the exchanged blows.

Despite being in mid-air, both men’s bodies flurried like the wind, rotating, swirling, and circling around their opponent in a dogfight. They also disappeared and reappeared randomly.

Both ex-immortals didn’t say anything. They stared at each other expressionlessly, reading each other’s weaknesses and attempting to outsmart the other without showing their trump cards or their real skills.

The mind game between the two strongest experts in Aves Continent had started.

…

CLANK

Because of the repeated shockwaves from the two monstrous cultivators, the protection arrays of Siren City were destroyed. Wooden structures and weak buildings were collapsed while the weak beastmen screamed in fright.

Noncombatants, commoners, traders, rogue cultivators, and small beastmen rushed to the city gate and evacuated into the inner city.

Ma Shoucheng and Pang Lingming organized the refugees and gathered them at the northern part of the inner city, where most monks and orcs had been using as their home.

Huangjin Monastery monks coordinated and watched over the temporary newcomers, preventing them from wandering around and getting closer to the heart of the city, aka the pylon tower and the Yin Slave Mansion.

Due to the panic, not many human cultivators noticed the thick Qi and Essence in the air. They crouched in fright, fearing for the stray projectile weapons from the two experts.

Still, a few of them paid attention to the tall tower that they had never seen before. An opportunist merchant snapped a picture of the tall tower with his phone and hid it.

Several commoners who had no Qi began to feel the suffocation as the Life Essence in the air was too much for them. Fortunately, several monks carried them out of the city to the north gate and took them to the north town, where they had constructed their monastery there.

Zhao Bao kicked the ground and flew from the west wall. He clapped his hand and transformed into a giant statue of a golden Buddha.

The 8th-stage monk’s hands increased from two to ten. Each hand carried a weapon.

However, instead of holding ancient weapons like a Hindu Goddess, he carried a modern Anti-Air artillery cannon in each hand as if they were miniature guns, pointing at the incoming flying sword in the sky.

“Namo Amituofo! Buddha praises peace and freedom!”

Zhao Bao muttered a short chant and a massive pillar of light manifested, covering the entire city and the outskirt areas surrounding the city.

As soon as the light pillar appeared, the shockwaves could no longer harm the citizens and the buildings within Siren City. It also protected everyone from stray energy slashes from the battle between ex-immortals.

However, Zhao Bao hadn’t done it. His ten hands injected Light Element Essence into the weapons while he loaded DU-shells in each cannon with his Qi.

Ma Moxi had taught Zhao Bao how he could operate these weapons. He also influenced the monk about the value of a certain right and how he could obtain it.

“Buddha is merciful. Buddha also loves to spread FREEDOM! FREEDOM FOR EVERYBODY!!”

BOOM BOOM BOOM

Ten cannons unleashed their might, shooting at the giant flying sword.

PU

PU

PU

Three of the armor-piercing shells punctured through the flying sword’s Qi barrier, a layer of a defensive array, Ling Cao’s energy shield, and three passengers on it. One of the unfortunate cultivators was a 6th-stage minor elder of the Mount Hua Sect.

Ling Cao’s jaw dropped in shock as he recognized these light-speed shells and their penetration power. He had seen them before.

He faced these bullets in Red Sun City’s dungeon!

“You! Were you the master of those monsters!?” Ling Cao glared at Zhao Bao, who was in control of the cannons.

The colossus Buddha statue slightly opened its eyes and gazed at the falling flying sword. His echoing voice vibrated.

“This monk has never met you. This monk doesn’t know what you’re on about. But since you’ve attacked our city, even Buddha cannot forgive you!”

Despite being warned by an 8th-stage cultivator, Ling Cao showed no fear. He brought out several earth-grade swords, talismans, and essence cores with inscriptions on them.

Ling Cao formed hand incantations as he cast several spells and arrays at once.

“Protection Array, release! Demon Essence Sealing Spell, release! Light Element Sealing Spell, go!”

Ling Cao came prepared. As he had already learned that Huangjin Monastery had joined forces with Siren City’s people, he came with a way to counter Zhao Bao’s abilities.

Mount Hua Sect’s disciples and elders leaped off the falling giant sword and landed on the ground, two kilometers away from the eastern outskirt town outside of Siren City’s walls.

Meanwhile, Ling Cao fired two talisman spells at once – One aimed at Zhao Bao’s light pillar while the other aimed at the outskirt town before them.

Grey smog appeared and covered the entire eastern outskirt town, where several beastmen and rogue cultivators had been busy running away toward the city gate. As for the other, it shot a dark beam at the light pillar.

RUMBLE

The light pillar trembled, and cracks appeared on the pillar surface.

Zhao Bao grinned as he circulated Life Essence in the air into the array. The next second, the pillar array was repaired.

“Naïve. You can’t destroy an 8th-stage cultivator’s element essence with a puny array! If you mongrel wants a piece of this monk, you need to bring at least a hundred 7th-stage cultivators! Now, my turn! Buddha SMASH!”

The 11th and the 12th floating golden hand of the colossus Buddha statue manifested above and below Ling Cao. They rapidly ascended and descended upon him as if they want to smash him like a tiny mosquito.

“!!!”

Ling Cao summoned a hard flower petal below his feet and kicked them, using it as a propeller. He jumped forward to dodge the two giant golden hands.

PA

The two hands hit each other, but it failed to smash Ling Cao.

However, the 13th hand appeared before the elder. It folded all golden fingers into a fist and shot at him.

BOOM

Ling Cao couldn’t dodge this time. It suffered a direct punch from the massive hand and got sent flying like a ragdoll.

Zhao Bao continued to laugh, “SMASH!”

The two Buddha hands earlier teleported and reappeared behind Ling Cao. As soon as the latter got close, they clasped!

PA

Ling Cao was smashed under the golden statue’s hands!

Yet

“HAAAA!!”

BOOM

Two pink and red energy swords punctured through the golden hands and caused two holes. The two floating hands disintegrated a second later.

Ling Cao spat a mouthful of blood and slowly flew toward the city. He also didn’t forget to trash talk, “Humph! Heretic techniques are no match against the righteous swords of Mount Hua Sect! Zhao Bao, your life ends here!”

Zhao Bao sneered, “Big words for a trashy 7th-stage sissy that only knows how to play with flowers! You? Righteous? You’re charging at us and threatening to kill innocent beastmen and cultivators out of nowhere, and you’re calling yourself righteous!? I only see a group of bloodthirsty bandits here!”

“You demon worshipers know nothing! Because of you, human cultivators are suffering! All beastmen and demons must die!”

“How disgusting. You pest are the one degrading the morale of humanity. Even children know what’s right and what’s wrong!”

100 Buddha statue’s floating hands, holding 100 massive golden knives appeared and surrounded Ling Cao. All of them was launched toward the elder at once.

Zhao Bao scolded Ling Cao one more time, “Talking to you gives me a headache. Just die and reincarnate somewhere else! Heavenly Goose Planet doesn’t welcome a hypocrite like you!”

“You’re the evil one! You will be the cause of human extinction!”

Ling Cao summoned a storm of pink flower petals and activated his domain power along with another light element sealing spell. Then, he fearlessly charged at the oncoming hands.

But instead of fighting against them all, Ling Cao kept dodging and continued charging toward the outskirt city, gunning toward Zhao Bao.

…

Although the battles between superpower cultivators seemed overwhelming, the inner disciples and Mount Hua Sect’s elders didn’t lose heart.

The leading elder pointed at the outskirt town in front of them, “Now that Zhao Bao and the unknown guardian of this city is occupied, we will erect killing arrays and destroy the city from a close distance! We’ll place the talismans and our prepared essence cores in that town over there. Now, disciples! Go kill the crippled demons and the demon worshipers and clear the path for us!”

One of the disciples looked at the sky, where Ling Tianlong and Lu Fengxian had been dueling, “Elder, shouldn’t we wait for Senior Ling to defeat his foe and be our vanguard?”

“He’s already drawing the attention of their top expert. We’ll use this opportunity to form killing arrays to weaken the people inside and help Elder Ling and Ling Tianlong at the same time!”

“Yes, sir! Let’s go wipe the town! By the way, can we capture some of the women?”

The elder smiled at his disciple, “Of course. They will be delighted if you make them your wives and carry our bloodline! It’s our job to convert them to the righteous side. You can kill the men and convert the women!”

“Hahaha! The elder is so understanding!”

“Enough chitchatting. Gather up and charge!”

Motivated by the promising wealth and the sexual perk, the disciples fearlessly charged at the outskirt town, where the grey smog had already enveloped it.

This grey miasma was the effect of the Demonic Essence Sealing Array. It disabled the demonic essence and demonic Qi of demons, weakening their power.

That should have worked if they fought against Wei Huang or the Xu Clan.

BANG

A yellowish needle-like light was shot from the top of Siren City’s eastern battlement, and two of the inner disciples behind the chargers fell.

Something penetrated through the first person’s skull and exited to the back of his head. The other one had a hole in his stomach, and his dantian was shattered.

Deep in the soil behind them, a sharp needle tip and a thick cylinder-like metal emitted white smoke, leaking the aura of DU element Qi.

The disciples and the elders looked at the dead men in shock. The elder in front of them shouted, “Raise your shields and create as many elemental barriers in front of you! Prepare for incoming ranged-atta-“

BANG

Half of the leading elder’s head exploded as if something fast had crushed it. He collapsed on his knees and died.

“W-What? Ready your shields! The enemies are using hidden weapons!”

The remaining inner disciples hesitated as they didn’t understand what had hit them.

One of them found a hole in the ground. He dug out a hot bullet head and picked it up with his hand.

“What’s this weapon!?”

BANG

The very disciple’s skull had a hole, and he fell as well.

The two remaining 7th-stage elders and five 6th-stage elders looked at the dead bodies in shock. He ordered the remaining 5th-stage disciples in a panic.

“Something is not right! Summon your dao avatar! We’ll use our domain power to protect everyone!”

BANG

BANG

BANG

More disciples of Mount Hua Sect continued to get their heads blown by a strange metal object every time the thunderous noise came.

Strangely, no matter how much they strengthened their domain shields or barriers, the little bullet penetrated through their protective shields like papers and killed one of them.

Everybody’s faces were pale as they were afraid of the gunshot sound. Their feet and legs were frozen, and their mind went blank.

Then, they heard the voice of Ling Tianlong in their mind.

“There’s an assassin on top of the wall with a mysterious long-range weapon! He can only attack once every four to five breaths. Scatter and take cover as you approach the city! Also, be wary of other assassins on the wall!”

As soon as they heard their leader’s voice, everyone got their courage back. They ground their teeth and spread out, following Ling Tianlong’s instruction.