Chapter Thirty-Four: The Battle Begins

The roars of the beast kings from both the northern and southern fronts made the faces of those just emerging from the palace change dramatically; they hurried to their battle posts.

The City of Snow was divided into four smaller cities—east, west, south, and north—each connected to the central palace city by walls.

Ye Bai and five other entry-level warriors stood guard over the northern city. Now, the six of them stood atop the city wall, gazing down at the countless mutant beasts below, all eerily silent for the first time, crouched motionless upon the ground.

A deep, thunderous roar echoed as a winged dragon soared over the snowy horizon. It had just risen above the snowline, yet in the blink of an eye, it nearly reached the base of the City of Snow. Its massive head appeared out of the haze, causing Ye Bai to gasp. Two round, glaring eyes, filled with merciless destruction, fixed upon those on the city wall. Twin rows of razor-sharp fangs glistened with dragon drool, which dripped onto the snow with a menacing hiss, the sight grotesque. Twin long whiskers swayed gently, and atop its head was a tuft of something neither hair nor water, swaying with the breeze. Its body, long and thick, stretched below, and four steel talons glinted with a cold light, each barbed and seemingly capable of tearing a person apart with ease.

The frost dragon opened its maw and unleashed an earth-shaking roar, spraying viscous saliva in all directions—though it was blocked by the city’s protective barrier, sending ripples across its surface.

The dragon’s snowy wings beat powerfully, the gales whipping at the faces of Ye Bai and his companions. Suddenly, the wings began to tremble, and white vortices formed along their edges.

The swirling white grew rapidly before their eyes, gathering elemental energy from the air. In no time, hundreds of icicles materialized.

A red light flashed in the dragon’s eyes as it roared again, as if signaling the mutant beasts below to attack. Instantly, the horde surged forward, battering at the barrier. At the same time, the icicles struck the shield in unison.

In the southern city, a man trailed behind a woman in blue, calling out repeatedly, "Ice Princess, Ice Princess."

"Lemon, do you think we’ll survive this time?" the woman turned, her blue eyes returning to black, her face etched with worry as she looked past the woman in red behind her.

"I don't know," the blue-clad woman replied, taking her friend’s hand, "Judging by the murals in the city, each Day of Purification seems to be a cataclysm. Mi’er, you must be careful this time—after all, you’re not even entry-level now."

Suddenly, Xing Qingning’s gaze shifted from Wang Mi’s face, focusing on the distant horizon where a figure appeared, her expression shifting dramatically.

Noticing this, Wang Mi turned to look as well. Reflected in her dark eyes, a white pillar of light grew rapidly, draining the color from her cheeks. She raised an arm to shield herself from the unknown attack.

There was a faint pop as the white light struck the barrier and vanished, leaving ripples that quickly faded as the shield restored itself.

A sharp, clear phoenix’s cry echoed from afar, approaching the City of Snow at incredible speed, sending plumes of snow billowing in its wake.

Wang Mi, gripping Xing Qingning’s hand, retreated, her red crystal heels clacking sharply against the city wall.

"Is… is that a phoenix?"

"No, it isn’t," Xing Qingning replied, gently patting Wang Mi’s hand, her red lips curving slightly. "This should be a Honghu." Her words seemed to work some magic, soothing the anxious Wang Mi.

"I’ve read in my family’s ancient texts: among the five phoenix forms, the red is the Phoenix; the yellow, the Yuanqu; the blue, the Luan; the purple, the Yuanzhuo; and the white, the Honghu. This one must be the Honghu among phoenixes."

Xing Qingning watched the Honghu circle above the barrier, blue waves of fighting spirit surging in her eyes. She was already calculating the fifty merit points awarded for slaying such a king beast.

In both the eastern and western cities, the mutant beasts crouched low, poised to strike. From the wall, Shalong could see saliva glistening between the snapping jaws of the beasts.

The cries of dragon and phoenix echoed from north and south, and at last, the bestial frenzy that had been building outside the City of Snow erupted.

Ye Bai watched as a dire wolf leaped at the barrier, claws outstretched, only to be repelled by the shield. In an instant, the surging horde behind crushed the wolf into paste.

Again and again, they surged forward, dying and then being replaced. In less than a minute, uncountable beasts perished before the city; blood spurted through the dense bodies, pooling along the barrier and streaming away in a crimson rivulet.

Ye Bai grimaced. He had killed often, but never before had he witnessed so many mutant beasts throwing themselves to their deaths in a suicidal frenzy. Lifting his gaze to the frost dragon, he noticed the ice crystals encrusting its body seemed to have solidified, making the king beast appear even larger.

The frost dragon roared ferociously, and the shards of ice that hovered around it fell to the ground, drawn toward the blood below. As they merged, the blood began to boil.

Ye Bai’s face blanched in shock. What had he just seen? A head emerged from the blood, only to sink back into the crimson pool without support.

Next, a bloodied hand reached up, grabbing a nearby blue-crystal mouse mid-sprint. Instantly, the snowy-furred mouse fused with the bloody hand, its blue and white fur stained scarlet, before it smashed against the barrier, hissing as it burned.

Clearly, the ice shards infused with mutant blood now had a corrosive effect on the shield.

"Fallen God Cannons, ready!" Atop the highest point of the city wall, Liu Xin pointed at the mutant horde, veins bulging on his face as he roared his command.

Across the wall, several captains raised white tokens high, speaking in unison: "By the king’s command, let the northern city’s guardian sacred beast awaken and fight its final battle for the king!"

Dozens of tokens began to glow blue. The white stone beast statue, which had stood atop the wall for nearly a thousand years, flashed crimson in its eyes; its stiff wings slowly began to move.

At that moment, in the central palace, the king, sensing the awakening of the four stone beasts, slowly opened his eyes, his gaze piercing the window to the now-blurred sun.

"My old friends, you fought with me in the last era. In this one, you go before me; your old master will catch up soon enough."

With those words, the king closed his eyes again, lost in memories of his times with the four guardian beasts.

At the northern gate, Liu Xin gave a single command: "Kill!"

The guardian sacred beast at the peak unfurled its white wings and shot toward the frost dragon. Atop the wall, the row of Fallen God Cannons fired in unison, their red blasts tearing into the densest part of the beast tide.

Liu Xin charged first through the gates into the horde, with squads of warriors pouring after him, plunging into the fray.

In the sky above the southern city, the Honghu’s form flashed again and again, a white statue sacred beast in hot pursuit—though now a chunk of flesh was missing from its flank.

The Honghu wheeled, skimming low toward the barrier, while the stone beast spat white energy spheres, slaughtering swathes of mutant beasts below.

Sea Princess Xing Qingning wielded her twin whips among the horde, reaping the mutant beasts’ lives one after another.

The east city presented a different scene than the north and south.

A man in yellow robes seemed a demon risen from hell, surrounded by sand dragons that devoured mutant beasts incessantly. The points on his armband flickered continuously, yet despite all his kills, the merit points he received were pitifully few.

Above, the stone sacred beast in the sky resembled an angel of death, slaughtering all in its path.

Compared to the other three, the west city was another story entirely.

Here, there were no powerful star-core warriors, yet the defenders held the mutant horde at bay, even showing signs of pushing them back.

The City of Snow had weathered countless "Days of Purification" across the ages, and every warrior alive here existed for this war and its legacy.

Each generation studied the weaknesses of mutant beasts, devising counter-formations against their tides.

Today, as in battles past, teams of six formed squads, two squads made a unit, and so on, creating small and then larger formations, each face young yet steeled, burning with the desire to fight. Not a single warrior retreated; instead, each unleashed the full force of their strength upon the beasts before them.

At times the lines faltered, a few warriors wounded at the edge of a formation; instantly, a white stream from the rear would wrap the injured, healing them quickly so they could return to battle.

These restored warriors glanced back with gratitude at a woman in white at the rear, then turned and plunged once more into the fray.