Chapter 180: Yan Pojun

The battle between the Gu Kings was earth-shattering. Soon, the sky transformed into a sea of fire, blanketing the entire space above Black Stone City like a massive, burning cloud. Countless mutated microorganisms in the air were buried within this vast inferno.

The plague corpses on the ground were also buried in waves within the sea of fire. Outside the city walls, fire was everywhere, the scorching heat roasting the earth and incinerating the sky.

Everyone inside the city was drenched in sweat, staring in terror at the sea of fire filling the heavens.

Was this the scale of a battle between Gu Kings? Was this Yan Pojun's destructive power? Long Xuan watched in shock.

He wondered if Yan Pojun had been pushed to the brink, to the point of disregarding the cost just to release such a massive sea of fire to burn away all the microorganisms in the air.

Could the microorganisms in the air have become strong enough to break through the defenses of a peak Gu King? That seemed unlikely, Long Xuan thought with a start.

At this moment, the group of Yan Clan Gu cultivators all wore grim expressions.

"What on earth happened? To force the City Lord to use his 'Yang Flame' technique!"

"It seems Shi Haojun released something from an insect-breeding bag—it looked like meticulously cultivated microbial Gu. This batch of microbial Gu already possesses terrifying attack power capable of threatening a peak Gu King."

"The City Lord couldn't pinpoint the location of these microbial Gu. To protect the other Gu Kings, he had no choice but to disregard the cost and use his ultimate move to incinerate all the microbial Gu in the air."

"The situation is dire. Yang Flame is a forbidden technique. Once the City Lord uses it, his body will suffer immense trauma. Has the situation really become this critical?"

The Yan Clan Gu cultivators discussed among themselves, their faces filled with worry. The situation on the battlefield did not seem optimistic, and many already looked pessimistic.

"It's a disaster." Long Yuanshan walked over to Long Xuan, his face heavy as he said, "Yang Flame is a forbidden technique that requires the fusion of nine types of spirit fire."

"You know as well as I do how dangerous it is to have nine types of spirit fire inside one person's body. Yan Pojun only became the strongest in the Western Lands by relying on those nine great spirit fires."

"Just now, Yan Pojun not only used Yang Flame but also detonated three of his spirit fires. He would never do this unless the situation had reached a critical point."

"Black Stone City is likely facing a crisis of collapse. Tonight, you should use the space hut to escape back to the Far West Region."

"You are a rare prodigy of our Long Clan, one who appears once in ten thousand years. You must not perish here."

Hearing this, Long Xuan was shocked. Had the situation really become that critical?

He couldn't believe it. With so many Gu Kings attacking one person, they were still losing? Was Shi Haojun's combat power really that outrageous?

Did a forbidden Gu really have such immense power? And one had to remember, this was only an abridged version.

He finally felt a sense of urgency and hurriedly asked, "Isn't it a bit late to leave tonight? Should I go back now?"

He was finally worried; Shi Haojun's exaggerated combat power had truly frightened him.

Long Yuanshan rolled his eyes at him. If he weren't a genius of the Western Lands Long Clan, he would have no right to lecture him; otherwise, he would have taught this coward a lesson. How could a dignified genius of the Long Clan be a coward afraid of death?

"Rest assured. Even if all the Gu Kings outside were to die, Black Stone City cannot be broken within a month."

"Beneath Black Stone City lies a spirit vein. The city-protecting great array uses this massive spirit vein as its formation eye. Even if Shi Haojun worked himself to death, he wouldn't be able to break this array in a short time."

"Black Stone City is the sturdiest city in the Western Lands. From ancient times until now, it has never been breached. You can rest easy regarding the city's defenses."

"Never mind leaving today; even if you left a month from now, it would be perfectly safe."

"That's good then." Hearing this, Long Xuan finally felt at ease and continued to watch the battle in the distance.

However, when he looked at the battlefield again, he discovered that the great battle had already ended. The group of Gu Kings were running back for their lives, sprinting desperately.

Following closely behind was a sea of fire, a tsunami-like inferno sweeping over from the rear, swallowing all the fleeing Gu Kings. Soon, the screams of Gu Kings echoed from within the sea of fire.

Seeing this, everyone in the city was terrified and retreated, fearing that if the Gu Kings rushed into the city, the flames would spread to them.

Long Yuanshan's expression turned heavy, and he sighed, "Has the second plan already been initiated?"

Long Xuan's gaze sharpened. Of course, he knew what the second plan for this operation was.

It was that if they were defeated, all the Gu Kings would flee into the city-protecting great array to save their lives.

To prevent them from carrying the plague on their bodies, the City Lord would unleash a great fire to burn them, incinerating all microorganisms on their surfaces.

But at the same time, Gu Kings with weak defenses would be unable to withstand the burning flames and would perish in the sea of fire.

It was a cruel plan, but at the time, no one took it seriously, and they had readily signed the life-and-death agreement.

They didn't think they would lose this battle. How could they lose when so many Gu Kings were ganging up on one person?

Yet, things exceeded everyone's expectations; they really had lost.

A single plague demon Gu, so small it was completely invisible, could slaughter people in the crowd. Coupled with a large group of Gu King-level plague corpses obstructing them, not many Gu Kings were actually able to surround Shi Haojun.

Thus, they lost this battle, and they lost quickly. The ground was left littered with the corpses of Gu Kings. They were defeated, abandoning their armor and weapons, and in the blink of an eye, a total rout occurred, with all the Gu Kings fleeing in a sorry state.

Everyone was stunned.

They hadn't expected that the second plan would actually be used. The sudden sea of fire struck from behind, catching them off guard.

Yan Pojun was ruthless. Facing such a terrifying plague, he dared not hold back, using ten percent of his power for this sea of fire.

He had self-detonated three of his nine great spirit fires, leaving six. These six spirit fires fused together to form a deep red flame. The temperature of the flames was terrifying; it was no longer an ordinary fire, and even a Gu King could not easily withstand it.

Immediately, more than a dozen Gu Kings were burned to ashes in this sea of fire. At this moment, they were only a few steps away from the city-protecting great array.

The surviving Gu Kings, with ferocious expressions, frantically lunged into the city-protecting great array. Each of them was covered in flames; even if they survived, they would likely lose half their lives.

After entering the city-protecting great array, the Gu cultivators inside rushed over, splashing specially made water onto them to extinguish the flames on their bodies.

The fire Yan Pojun created by fusing the six great spirit fires was too terrifying to be extinguished by ordinary water; only specially made spirit water could work.

After the flames on the Gu Kings were extinguished, the painful expressions on their faces finally eased significantly. Then, as if exhausted, they lay heavily on the ground, gasping for air, their faces showing expressions of having survived a catastrophe.

A group of alchemists from the Yao and Dan clans also ran over quickly, checking their injuries while confirming whether there was any residual plague on their bodies.

Although they had been burned by such terrifying flames, the plague demon Gu was too frightening. No one could guarantee that the plague it created would be one hundred percent burned away by the flames; no one dared to make such a promise.

The matter was of great importance, concerning the lives of everyone in the city. No one dared to gamble, and they could only be as careful as possible.

At this moment, all of this was taking place outside the city walls. According to the second plan, once defeated, all Gu Kings had to be quarantined outside the city walls for a while and could only enter the city after being checked by alchemists and confirmed to be safe.

Yan Pojun was the last to enter the city-protecting great array. A human torch suddenly rushed into the array, and the flames on his body slowly dissipated, revealing the City Lord. He stumbled a few steps, and people from the Yan Clan hurriedly rushed to support him.

"City Lord!"

"City Lord!"

"How is it possible? How could he be so strong! Isn't the plague demon Gu incomplete? How could it be so strong?" Yan Pojun's gaze was dull, his face pale, and he muttered to himself as if he had lost his mind.

He suddenly pushed away the crowd supporting him and looked at the surviving Gu Kings.

At this look, his heart instantly turned cold.

The casualties were too heavy. All ten clans of the Western Lands had Gu Kings fall in this battle. A total of over 150 Gu Kings had gone out, but only 90-plus returned; the number had already fallen below 100.

One of the four peak Gu Kings had also fallen. Now, besides himself, only Cai Xuan and Jiu Kang remained.

Moreover, both of their conditions were not good. Even after he had used his forbidden technique, they were more severely injured than he was.

Several Jiu Clan Gu cultivators gathered around Jiu Kang, sobbing.

People from the other clans also had dull gazes and low spirits, and the atmosphere at the scene was heavy.

Over a hundred Gu Kings had joined forces and still lost. This was something no one had expected. They all felt as if they were dreaming or hallucinating.

If they couldn't win even with a hundred Gu Kings joining forces, and now that nearly half had been lost, organizing a second attack would be even more impossible.

Everyone understood what this meant: it meant that no one could stop Shi Haojun. Black Stone City would likely be slaughtered by him, and the countdown to the city's destruction had likely begun. Everyone still in the city would die.

The mood among the Gu cultivators of all clans at the scene was very low, and many felt pessimistic about their own fate.

The outside was now surrounded by the plague; even if they wanted to break out, it was impossible. They could only be trapped here and die.

The food and water in the city were limited. Even if Shi Haojun couldn't break in for a short time, how long could they hold out? Everyone showed expressions of despair.

"City Lord! What should we do next?"

At this moment, someone in the crowd suddenly asked in a low voice.

Yan Pojun looked at the sky and sighed heavily: "Hold on to the death. All we can do now is hold on to the death."

"We must not leave the city again. It's impossible to win."

"Shi Haojun has completely become a climate; I fear there are few in the world who can stop him."

"We can only wait, wait for reinforcements. Shi Haojun has refined a forbidden Gu; those who refine forbidden Gu will be surrounded and suppressed by the whole world."

"Long before the city was sealed, I had already left a hand, sending people to spread this news."

"Facing an old demon who slaughters cities everywhere to refine Gu, the Gu Imperial City cannot ignore it. They will definitely launch a Demon-Slaying Order and use a massive number of Gu Kings to surround and suppress Shi Haojun."

"We just need to hold out until the Gu Imperial City launches the Demon-Slaying Order. Either Shi Haojun will have to fight the Gu Kings of the whole world, or he will retreat. The crisis of Black Stone City will naturally be resolved."

"It's just that this place is too remote. I fear it will take a long time for the news to reach the Gu Imperial City in the Central Region, and gathering Gu Kings from various places will take even longer."

"Drag it out. Drag it out as long as we can. From this moment on, everyone in the city is to switch to one meal every two days. Collect all urine as well; do not throw it away."

"Everyone in the city must comply, regardless of wealth or status. Those who disobey will be executed."

"Prepare for a protracted war. If we don't hold out until reinforcements arrive, then let us burn with the city..."

(End of chapter) ===== CHAPTER 181 =====