Chapter 1174: Delaying as Much as Possible

Tens of thousands of Yin Soul elite soldiers surged out.

Around Stone City, the ferocious beasts were slain, their blood flowing like a river.

On the battlefield, the beasts' roars, their cries of agony, and the Yin Soul's fierce howls tangled into chaos.

The beast horde hadn't expected so many Yin Souls to appear suddenly.

For a moment they were beaten into a scattering retreat.

The Skeleton Puppet kept waving its Soul Banner, drawing in more ferocious-beast Yin Souls.

Now they needed quantity, caring little about quality.

Any ferocious-beast Yin Soul sucked into the Soul Banner could be released and reused when the next wave attacks.

When Ye Liuyun released Yin Souls here, the defensive pressure dropped instantly.

"Roar!"

The Beast King's roar sounded again; the ferocious beasts, hearing it, turned and fled, receding like the tide.

But they didn't go far, only away from the city's perimeter.

After the beasts withdrew, Ye Liuyun and the others gathered to discuss the situation.

They all guessed that the beasts were caught off guard by the Yin Souls, so they retreated temporarily; after recovering, they'd launch another attack.

So everyone immediately began supplying Spirit Stone to the Kuailei and Warship.

One Warship, besieged by flocks of birds, was heavily damaged and could only land on the ground to defend.

Its offensive capability remained, still usable; only the firing angle was limited.

The other Kuailei suffered almost no wear.

The Martial Cultivators' True Essence was heavily depleted, and they were rushing to recover.

The clone, under the protection of the Black Tortoise, left the city to inspect the Formation's damage, replenish its Spirit Stone, and stockpile some intact ferocious-beast corpses.

The Formation remained active; from outside one could not see inside, and Ye Liuyun wasn't worried about being spotted by the external beasts.

In this battle, the Warship, Kuailei, and Formation consumed a lot of Spirit Stone. Fortunately, they were all wealthy.

Moreover, the Seventh Prince's group had previously obtained many Spirit Stones. Seeking the city's protection, they contributed most of them to fill the energy gap, so Ye Liuyun himself had little consumption.

At this moment, the clone also sent a report.

"The Formation is almost undamaged. But if the beasts keep attacking continuously, it may not hold for long."

This Formation Flag was forged by Qiong Qi; even Zhu Youfu couldn't repair it. So once damaged, the Formation Flag is completely ruined.

Zhuge Feiyu then raised the question: "If the beasts disregard casualties and attack wildly in succession, how long can the external Formation hold?"

"At most one day!" Ye Liuyun didn't hide it from everyone, to prevent mistaken judgments.

The beasts' relentless successive attacks still make this possible.

For the beasts besieging them outside, the losses from previous battles were only a tiny fraction of their numbers.

"Then we should prepare for close combat!" Zhuge Feiyu said.

"I reckon the beasts' recent attacks are probes, aiming to learn our details. We've almost exhausted our Trump Card; they may test once more, then launch a continuous assault, leaving us no breathing room."

Upon hearing that, everyone's divine expressions turned very grim.

Although some were reluctant to believe, thinking the beasts wouldn't be that clever.

But at least Ye Liuyun and several princes believed it.

"Who has other means to annihilate the beasts? If effective, it could delay the beasts' massive assault." Zhuge Feiyu solicited methods from everyone.

"Release poison!" Ye Liuyun suddenly said.

He immediately put it into action, ordering the clone to emit toxic gas within the Formation.

"Hmm, that's also a good large‑area killing method. Anything else?" Zhuge Feiyu asked again.

"Boss, you still have that hallucinogenic bead!" Zhu Youfu reminded Ye Liuyun.

Ye Liuyun shook his head: "That illusion bead would plunge everyone into an Illusion Realm! Unless we can ensure that the hallucinogenic gas spreads only outward."

Ye Liuyun explained the bead's properties to everyone.

In the end, no one devised a good method.

"Then don't use it for now. Save it for the end. If the city falls, you can use it. Then we'll all rely on your protection!" Zhuge Feiyu trusted Ye Liuyun.

"I'll do my best!" Ye Liuyun replied.

He didn't know what would happen then, he could only say he'd try his best.

"Can't we escape?" Black Phoenix asked.

She thought that with her two dragon eagles, Ye Liuyun's two dragon eagles, and those Warships, they had a chance to flee.

"All the beasts in the Secret Realm are targeting us; there's nowhere to run!" Zhuge Feiyu immediately refuted her idea.

"Leaving the city's protection will make us die faster! Everyone, stop thinking about escaping; do your best to hold the city!" the Fourth Prince urged everyone to focus on defending.

Soon after the clone filled the Formation with toxic gas, it returned inside the city.

The external beasts were stirring again, about to launch another attack.

"It's started!" Ye Liuyun's Divine Sense already detected the outside beasts lunging again.

"Fight!" the princes and the others returned to their positions, ready for battle.

Similarly, initially it was bow‑arrow interception, then the beasts surged into the first layer of the Formation.

This time the Skeleton Puppet released Yin Souls that were previously slain beasts, letting them consume themselves.

These beasts' Yin Souls varied in realm and lacked special training, making their attack effect much weaker.

Thus this time, even more beasts broke into the first layer of the Formation.

But the beasts that entered this time fell dead from the poison; the Skeleton Puppet, seizing the opportunity, collected a large number of ferocious-beast Yin Souls.

After charging for a while, the beasts were immediately summoned back by the Beast King.

Although they could not see from outside what happened to the ferocious beasts that entered the Formation, after half a day the city walls still showed no movement, and they could infer that the beasts that went in had met with disaster.

This time, they were unsure what killed the beasts that entered, so they were extremely cautious. The rest period in the middle was also much longer than before.

During that interval, although two teams of beasts rushed in and entered the Formation, they never returned, so their probing had no effect at all.

By the second day's dawn, the beasts had not attacked again.

"We finally made it through a day!"

No one had ever felt that a single day could be so long.

And they still had to endure two more days!

"Everyone hold on; two days will pass quickly!"

Ye Liuyun, who had experience defending a city against barbarians in his youth, knew this was the hardest time to endure. So he not only encouraged everyone but also prepared roasted meat, letting them eat their fill and drink enough to gather strength.