Chapter 323: Practicing Formations

The atmosphere of the Greater Xia Cultivation Bureau was eerily quiet; even the dripping sound of icicles melting outside the eaves could be clearly heard, and all the leaders looked extremely solemn.

No one knew how long had passed before Hua Tiancheng sighed and finally broke the silence.

"Notify everyone to stay vigilant, intensify cultivation, and continue guarding against the possible disaster that may arise."

Actually, there's no need for any official warning from Greater Xia!

Among those in Greater Xia who had cultivated basic techniques, when the global ice and snow melted, they felt a faint, elusive pressure.

Moreover, as time passed, this pressure did not diminish but instead grew stronger.

An unimaginable force is frantically condensing and surging within the Earth!

Unlike the force they felt on Dragon Origin Star last time, this force, though vast and mysterious and carrying immense oppression, poses no threat.

Now this force is like a shadow looming over their heads.

Although the visible blizzard clouds have dissipated, the truly chilling radiation remains, hidden like a lurking beast in the darkness, staring at them with tiger-like intensity.

Endless power surges like an underground current within the Earth, like a volcano that could erupt at any moment, overturning heaven and earth and devouring all living beings.

Feeling this pressure, everyone's breathing grew hurried, and their gazes became especially solemn.

It felt as if two great mountains weighed on their hearts, making their whole bodies extremely uneasy!

This feeling was even more obvious than when the blizzard arrived, simply making people feel as if a thorn poked their backs, unable to sit or stand still.

True horror is about to arrive!

The present calm is merely a fleeting illusion, like a frenzied undercurrent that could at any moment unleash a danger that devours everything.

Everyone who had cultivated basic techniques understood this: the current global calm after the disaster is merely the lull before the storm.

What happens afterward is the true mass extinction!

Compared to this, the earlier global freeze was merely a precursor to disaster!

Countless Greater Xia citizens retreated to their homes, seizing the time to cultivate, daring not to act arbitrarily outside, for no one knew when the true disaster would erupt.

Many disciples of the Horizontal Severed Mountain Range, such as the Holy Imperial Prince, Golden Eagle, and Great Turtle, among other monsters, suffered almost no harm during the global freeze disaster under the protection of the formation.

But now they have all become serious, their expressions solemn to the utmost extreme!

Compared to the tense atmosphere within Greater Xia, other countries are jubilant, with foreign peoples still immersed in the joy of the disaster's disappearance.

If they are unprepared by then, when the true disaster arrives it will be a deadly blow to them.

Faced with all this, after repeated discussions, the relevant departments of the Greater Xia High Officials still could not bear to watch countless foreign civilians perish pointlessly.

Although some foreign officials behaved improperly, which they disliked, the majority of the populace were innocent; after much deliberation, the Greater Xia leadership issued a global announcement.

【Global freeze, blizzard dissipated, extreme cold receded, but this is not the end of heavenly and earthly disaster—it is merely another beginning! Please, all peoples of the world, do not venture out recklessly, do not lower your guard, and best prepare!】

Is a true heavenly and earthly catastrophe about to arrive?

Upon seeing the announcement transmitted from within Greater Xia, the departments of all countries were all stunned for a moment.

What's going on? What is Greater Xia up to again?

Having just ended a terrifying disaster, the result is not an end but the true beginning.

Could there be a mistake? Where do all these disasters in the world come from?

Many countries worldwide were immersed in the joy of danger's passing and rebuilding their homes, looking to the future with hope, yet Greater Xia's announcement was like a bucket of cold water poured over their heads, chilling their hearts completely.

Everyone who saw the announcement turned deathly pale.

"What? Another disaster is about to fall?"

"I don't believe it! This is pure alarmism; the global freeze ended just a few days ago!"

"Could it be a mistake? Everything is clearly over—what disaster could appear? Anyway, I don't believe it; on what basis does Greater Xia predict all this?"

"But if it were true? Initially, Greater Xia was the first to know of the disaster's arrival and had prepared in advance; maybe this time it's also true."

"That was then, this is now; I admit Greater Xia has some tricks, but one can't always be clairvoyant, and besides, this is too unbelievable."

In just a few short hours, Greater Xia's announcement topped major websites across all global regions, stirring up an unimaginable uproar!

Seeing these news, if it were before the Ice Age arrived, many peoples of the world might think Greater Xia was needlessly worrying and seeking fame here.

After all, this is utterly unfounded, with no scientific basis whatsoever and no evidence to prove it.

But now!

No one dares to ignore this announcement.

After all, the means displayed by Greater Xia in this upheaval are truly miraculous, completely overturning their worldview.

Upon seeing this news, one's heart involuntarily skipped a beat, and even the senior members of other countries worldwide widened their eyes, their expressions extremely grim!

After finally surviving the ice disaster, now another disaster?!

They almost immediately halted their work, ordering numerous scientists to gather and recalculate Earth's orbit and regional conditions in detail!

But this time, no matter how they calculated and deduced, they still detected no problem.

Faced with this situation, they might have ignored it before, but now it's different!

Because in repeated heavenly and earthly changes, amid disaster's arrival, Greater Xia has perfectly interpreted its own predictions of disaster!

During this heavenly and earthly change, in the era of global freezing, they of each country struggled to survive, barely making it day by day on the line between life and death.

But Greater Xia possessed abundant materials and resources, with countless miraculous means that seemed endless, all frantically resisting everything.

Even extreme cold of minus two hundred degrees or more caused them no excessive casualties.

This global freeze extinction seemed aimed at the whole world, with no living being able to escape, yet in fact only the peoples of other countries died.

In this catastrophe, Greater Xia suffered hardly any casualties, while the casualties of countless countries worldwide were nearly half!

Only Greater Xia, with losses amounting to less than one percent, or even less than one per mille!

What a horrifying figure!

Compared like this, it becomes quite clear: the news that Greater Xia suffered few casualties is known only to each country's top leaders, who dare not explain it clearly to the multitude of peoples.

Especially when public sentiment is unstable and the credibility and appeal of many countries are waning.

If this news were to be spread, it would surely cause the reputation of the entire nation to collapse completely.

If everyone were the same, at least they'd be roughly equal, but the existence of an outstanding figure in Great Xia makes them look especially incompetent and useless by comparison.

In fact, the leaders of all countries have already exerted their utmost effort; it's not that they are too useless, but rather Great Xia's methods are too superb, simply leaving people in the dust.

"What is this situation? Could it be even more serious than before?"

"The global ice disaster has already killed so many people; if there were a disaster worse than the ice disaster, wouldn't the global population be reduced again! At that point, will there still be life on Earth?!"

"Why can't we find anything happening? Clearly the feedback from below says everything is normal, so where exactly is the problem?!"

Faced with Great Xia's warning, countries worldwide are anxiously seeking countermeasures, wanting to know what this is all about, but they simply cannot find any fault.

The world is calm, all disasters have ceased, no danger occurs, yet within this calm there lingers an indescribable hint of terror.

Only the cultivators of Great Xia can sense this terror, and their faces gradually turn grim.

Seeing that because of this announcement from Great Xia, the global populace has fallen into panic, governments of all countries have no choice but to speak again to calm the people.

Miguo: "The global disaster has completely ended; according to our country's aerospace department's detection, the global ice has completely disappeared, making a comeback impossible."

Eagle Country: "Exactly, all global climate, temperature, geology, and sea conditions are shifting toward normal; it is absolutely impossible for a large-scale disaster to occur."

A San Country: "After this global freezing, the vitality of life everywhere has noticeably increased; just like by our Henghe River, new plants have already sprouted—this is a miracle of life!"

Tsarist Country: "Our country believes the world has returned to peace; humanity should rebuild its homeland."

French Empire: "Exactly, according to our top experts, the upcoming era will be the most glorious and splendid era for humanity."

Seeing the statements of various countries, many people are half-believing, half-doubting.

Is it really just false?

Does this world really have no problems?

They harbor doubts to the extreme; this heavenly and earthly catastrophe has already devastated the credibility of many countries around the world, while Great Xia's display of great power and its ability to handle disasters makes them feel drawn to it.

Especially after they scaled the wall and saw online many remarks from Great Xia's populace.

They all expressed worries about the future and an inexplicable fear, all hiding away, shrinking in their homes and not going out.

You should know that the people of Great Xia can exist running around everywhere in extreme cold of over two hundred degrees below zero; even before the Elixir appeared, some people had launched various challenges.

It seems nothing can stop their footsteps when they go out to explore; one could say it leaves foreign peoples in awe.

But now, compared to the previous bustle, Daxia's internet looks somewhat desolate; from their messages we can see that everyone is at home, and those who used to be conspicuous are as quiet as chickens.

Foreigners aren't stupid; their inner scales have long tipped toward Daxia, feeling that this is most likely true.

What on earth are our nation's leaders doing!

Daxia has already issued a notice, and its people have all hidden away, shrinking in their homes and not going out. Yet you still stare wide-eyed and say everything's fine—even if you want to put on a brave front, it shouldn't be like this!

The populace chattered endlessly, obviously not taking the government's reassurances seriously; in fact, leaders of many countries worldwide aren't fools either!

They naturally know that Daxia's announcement this time is made with over ninety percent confidence, otherwise they wouldn't dare say it like that!

But what else can they do?

Are they supposed to go around telling the masses that another disaster is imminent?

「Don't joke! If we tell them another disaster is coming now, everything will surely be turned upside down! 」

「We must find the correct way to deal with the disaster! For now, we can only first calm things down! 」

「Perhaps the second disaster won't come that swiftly; if we just get a little more time, that would be enough! 」

While all countries were scrambling to come up with countermeasures, Daxia had already begun to act; their speed of action is always the fastest, leading the forefront—only regrettably, the time left for them is now short.

As the ice age ended, the heavens' dark clouds dispersed, but the sunshine was miserly and didn't linger long.

Daxia's demon capital.

A mass of black fog, without any omen, suddenly descended upon this city; at the same time, this strange fog appeared all over the world.

Within this thick fog, there also permeated a black ash like that left after burning paper.

These fragments floated down from the air in abundance; from afar, the whole city seemed to be shrouded in a thick black cloud, with black ash falling everywhere, an oppressive and heavy atmosphere permeating the demon capital, making people inexplicably anxious, as if mourning the world.

All the demon capital's citizens felt from this black ash a sense of malice and disaster, as well as the terror before a crisis arrives.

They could only hide in their rooms, continuously circulating their cultivation techniques, hoping to slightly ease the pressure on their shoulders that was almost making breathing impossible.

After an unknown period, several figures finally appeared on the street, wearing uniform attire, with stern expressions and grave gazes—they were members of Daxia's 749 Bureau.

They held pens, using a special kind of ink, earnestly inscribing various runes on the main thoroughfares of the demon capital.

If there were people from the Cultivation Academy and Longyuan Immortal Sect here, it would be easy to notice that many streets of the demon capital emit a faint glow.

These lights faintly formed a formation, not overly complicated or complex, with the demon capital's central municipal building as its core, covering the entire demon capital and a radius of dozens of li.

Naturally they cannot match the effective designs drawn by Ye Qin, but after this period of study they can at least produce something presentable.

Since the heavenly and earthly catastrophe descended, Daxia has never ceased cultivation and study; of course, the highest cultivation level belongs to the many great demons in the Longyuan Mountain Range, followed by Longyuan Immortal Sect, then the Cultivation Academy and the 749 Bureau.

The people of Daxia can already control and use some of the simplest runes and formations, including the refinement of various elixirs.

Black ash drifted down; the Bund, once crowded with people, is now empty and devoid of anyone.

The Oriental Pearl Tower, as a landmark of the demon capital, can be said to have suffered a tumultuous fate; part of it was destroyed when Ye Qin broke through, and after spending a lot of money to repair it not long later, it encountered the ice age, and the glass on it shattered again from freezing.

Fortunately, as a landmark building, the Oriental Pearl Tower's construction materials are still quite solid.

Now the Oriental Pearl Tower is engraved with minute, dense, complex patterns that draw a mysterious power, gathering the runes carved into the streets and ground of the demon capital.

Sheet after sheet of faint light, like starlight falling, drawn by the Oriental Pearl Tower, transformed from all directions into flowing light that fell into the demon capital's municipal hall.

「Tick—」

The clock ticked slowly forward; on the topmost floor of the demon capital's municipal hall, dozens of youths stood here.

Each of them was enveloped in extremely rich heavenly and earthly spiritual energy, wearing the uniform of Daxia's 749 Bureau, exuding a faint yet present dignity.

「How prepared are we? 」

「According to the estimates of the Hengduan Mountains, it should be in these few days; we must speed up our progress. 」

The speaker was a young man standing on an altar resembling a clock face; the patterns and textures on the altar were even more complex, and three black hands on it were continuously moving forward.

As these pointers advanced, countless starlight lines spread around the youth, connecting the magic formations carved throughout Magic City and linking them all together.

"Report! We've already dispatched most of our personnel, and even requested support from the Cultivation Academy and the Longyuan Immortal Sect, but Magic City is too big."

"Even operating at full capacity, engraving the magic formation patterns throughout Magic City's urban area still requires a bit more time."

The leading youth frowned slightly, "I understand. Pass the order down—let everyone speed up!"

"Yes."

More than ten members of the Great Xia Cultivation 749 Bureau respectfully nodded, then transformed into streams of light that tore through the sky and vanished.

(End of chapter)