"Mu... Bing... Ling." The little girl repeated the three syllables very seriously, then the corners of her mouth lifted slightly, and she nodded at Bi Wan. "Mm."
Bi Wan lovingly stroked the little girl’s head and then said, "Since fate has brought us together, I’ll take you as my adopted daughter. You can call me ’Mother’ just like Chen’Er. Would you like that?"
"Uhm... I... I." After a moment of silence, the little girl suddenly said softly, "Mother..."
"Hehe... I have a daughter! I, Bi Wan, have a daughter!" As if this had been her plan all along, Bi Wan’s eyes crinkled with laughter after successfully coaxing the girl to call her ’Mother’. She gently lifted the little girl from the bed and said to Mu Chen, "Chen’Er, you won’t be lonely anymore. From now on, Bing’Er will be your older sister!"
"Older sister?!" Mu Chen froze for a moment, then shouted, "Is she like a big brother? An older sister who will play with me and talk to me?"
"Yes, exactly that kind of older sister!"
"Wow! I have an older sister! I finally don’t have to play the game of talking to myself anymore! Older sister! Older sister!"
Listening to the little guy’s cheerful calls, watching him jump around with his small left arm and frail body, Mu Bingling suddenly felt, ’This little guy is pretty cute.’
At this very moment, on the Extreme Martial Continent, two gears that had once turned independently locked tightly together. The wheel of fate began to turn on its new path...
"A mere Two-Ring Martial Venerable. All beasts, ignore those insignificant humans and attack the city with all your might! Our goal is to trample these wretched human territories into dust!"
At the very rear of all the Magical Beasts, the Dark Kui Ox raised its sharp, curved horns, tilted its head back, and let out a furious roar. Its crimson eyes suddenly fixed on Di Cang!
Di Cang suddenly realized a red glow was enveloping his body. Then he discovered that he had completely lost control of his body! Focusing his gaze forward, he was horrified to find that the giant Dark Kui Ox was staring him down. Terror seized his heart.
’Damn it, it’s the Death Gaze! To think this giant ox can use such a Secret Technique!’
With his body out of his control, Di Cang was naturally unable to exert his full Primordial Power to maintain the barrier. Besides, as sturdy as the barrier was, it could only hold for a few seconds against tens of thousands of ferocious Magical Beasts!
"Now! All units, charge!!"
"ROAR!!"
A synchronized roar erupted from the mouth of every Magical Beast, shaking the walls of Luofeng City!
The thunderous sound of trampling was endless. Although Mu Chen and the others blocked a portion of the charging Magical Beasts, their efforts seemed futile against an army of tens of thousands! Moreover, as Mu Chen, Little Tiger, Qin Garden, and the others cut them down, large numbers of Low-level Magical Beasts in the horde perished, but this only highlighted the vast number of High-level Magical Beasts.
To their utter astonishment, over eighty percent of these Magical Beasts were no weaker than the Sect Realm! It seemed the scale of this Beast Tide was truly terrifying!
"We can’t hold on much longer!"
Even Mu Chen, who was already displaying his full strength, couldn’t help but feel overwhelmed at this moment! He was strong, but no matter how strong he was, he couldn’t compare to Qin Garden, who had already reached the Venerable Realm. Even Qin Garden could only block a small fraction of the charging beasts, so what hope did they have?
"What do we do?" Qing Lei asked after killing a charging Magical Beast with his dual blades. He stood back-to-back with Mu Chen, glancing warily at their surroundings. "The Demon Beast Army will be at the city gates in ten seconds, tops. Dean Di Cang’s defense is completely useless. Luofeng City is about to fall!"
Hearing Qing Lei’s words, a cold glint flashed in Mu Chen’s Ice Extreme Demon Pupils, but it quickly faded. He sighed and said, "You’re right. The disparity in this battle is too great. The Xuanling Empire has always been a Low-level Lower Empire, so we have very few Guardian Elders to begin with. Including Dean Di Cang, our Empire only has two Venerable Realm Martial Artists. Damn it! Why isn’t Elder Mu making a move?"
"Because Elder Mu told us he seems to have signed some kind of contract regarding this Beast Tide uprising. Martial Artists or Magical Beasts at the Saint Realm or above are forbidden from participating in the battle." Suddenly, a figure descended from the sky. Beside this figure was Mo Qing, who had just left. And the figure, of course, was Xuan Yin.
"Your Majesty," Mu Chen exclaimed upon seeing him. "Are you saying Elder Mu can’t help defend the city?"
Xuan Yin nodded. Watching the countless Magical Beasts that had already surged past him, his expression was tinged with sorrow. "This ten-thousand-year-old empire will likely become history today. Thankfully, you’ve held them off for this long. All the Empire’s residents and elite students who needed to evacuate have already done so. Even if the Magical Beasts break into the city, we don’t need to be overly concerned."
CRACK!
With a crisp snap, the Elemental Barrier Di Cang had deployed shattered. But as soon as it broke, another Elemental Barrier materialized where it had been!
"Heh! Although you beasts are fated to break through the city, as long as I still have Primordial Power, I will absolutely not let you pass so easily!"
A weathered but excited voice sounded from behind Di Cang. Di Cang turned his head in astonishment and saw that the newcomer was none other than Wu Changqing, who had just broken through to the Venerable Realm!
"Junior Brother Wu, you...!"
The moment Di Cang turned his head, the Death Gaze on him was completely dispelled. Looking at Wu Changqing, a silver Martial Ring flashing beneath his feet, Di Cang was filled with emotion.
’The Xuanling Empire... it seems to be growing stronger and stronger.’
This was Di Cang’s first thought. But how could a newly advanced Martial Venerable possibly withstand the charge of tens of thousands of Magical Beasts? His Elemental Barrier was broken by the beasts in less than a second. But when the beasts shattered Wu Changqing’s Elemental Barrier, another one—this one water-blue—appeared!
"Heh... Don’t forget, there isn’t just one Martial Venerable here. You want to set foot in our human territory? Fine! But it absolutely won’t be that easy!"
She spread her hands, fingers outstretched. Primordial Power gushed forth like a spring. Qin Garden’s determined expression stunned both Di Cang and Wu Changqing!
"Ha, Old Cang, do you think we’re going to lose to a woman?" Wu Changqing also stretched out his hands, and a pale green Elemental Barrier appeared.
"Heh, are you kidding? Lose to a woman? Then I would have been a man for all these years for nothing, ha!"
The three barriers stacked one inside the other. Primordial Power of the Wind, Fire, and Water Attributes constantly intertwined. At this moment, they unexpectedly produced a strange effect!
"They’re fusing!"
That’s right. The three types of Primordial Power, with completely unrelated attributes, actually fused together before everyone’s eyes. Red, blue, and green blended together, forming a massive and solid black barrier!
"What is this?"
The three of them said in unison. The scene before them was simply unbelievable. But because of this development, the Magical Beasts’ fierce offensive was instantly neutralized.
"Such powerful Defense Power!"
Xuan Yin, who had been standing outside the city walls, sensed the fluctuation of Primordial Power released behind him. He was utterly astonished, but his face was filled with excitement. In his heart, it seemed there was still a glimmer of hope for Luofeng City!
"ROOOAR!!"
Unable to break through after a long assault, the tens of thousands of Magical Beasts seemed to receive some kind of command and simultaneously took a step back. Each Magical Beast opened its massive maw! Orbs of Primordial Power of varying colors gathered in their mouths, forming a powerful fluctuation of Primordial Power in no way weaker than the black barrier!
SWOOSH!!
It didn’t take much time to gather the Elemental Power Cannons. Tens of thousands of Elemental Power Cannons fired in a single volley. In an instant, they bombarded the enormous black Elemental Barrier. Countless ripples spread across the black barrier, and at almost the same time, tiny cracks began to spread across its surface!
"It’s not working! The Magical Beasts’ attack is too ferocious. Although their individual power is very weak, under the combined fire of tens of thousands of Elemental Power Cannons, this Defense Barrier won’t hold for long!" Di Cang said with a frown, looking at the distinct cracks on the Elemental Barrier.
"I can feel it without you telling me. But if it breaks, it breaks. Before that happens, we should drain as much of these Magical Beasts’ Primordial Power as we can. Maybe that will buy more time for the civilians and children evacuating behind us to escape!" Wu Changqing had been assigned to organize the evacuation teams in the first place, so in his mind, holding off the Magical Beasts for any amount of time meant gaining another chance at survival!
Of course, more importantly, he was waiting—waiting for the other empires to dispatch reinforcements to support the Xuanling Empire. After all, in this Beast Tide uprising, the Xuanling Empire was the first line of defense. If the Xuanling Empire fell, the empires behind it would surely be toppled like dominoes! Because subconsciously, humans were still afraid of Magical Beasts! Especially when an army of tens, or even hundreds of thousands of Magical Beasts invaded human cities at once!
"Elder Wu is right. It seems we can’t give up just yet!" Qin Garden nodded and increased the output speed of her Primordial Power once more.
Seeing that the Magical Beasts were all focused on breaking the Elemental Barrier, Mu Chen and the others decided to take advantage of the situation. When else would be a better time to launch a sneak attack? Using an Elemental Power Cannon was just like using a Combat Skill. If the release was interrupted, the user would suffer immense backlash. In such a situation, the Magical Beasts would be in an extremely vulnerable state. Any random attack could potentially inflict heavy damage!
"Everyone, go!"
With a low shout, Mu Chen snapped open his dual blades with a CLANG and rushed forward! But just as he swung his Giant Fan to unleash the first Fan Blade, the black Elemental Barrier suddenly let out a loud CRACK-CRACK.
Huge cracks appeared on the barrier, and with a deafening BOOM, it completely collapsed!
"ROAR!!!"
Countless Magical Beasts roared in unison and instantly tore the northern wall of Luofeng City to shreds! In the blink of an eye, they had breached Luofeng City!