Chapter 253: Human Purgatory

Looking at the current situation as a whole, it is indeed not optimistic.

Beiling Immortal City is larger than Longshan Immortal City, and it has more cultivators and mortals alike.

However, as far as Lu Yuan knows, the protective grand arrays of each Immortal City generally can only cover the core area of the city; places like the outermost perimeter where mortals reside are mostly outside the range of protection.

This is because there is a distinction between immortals and mortals, and also because the larger the area the protective array covers, the more resources and even Qi it consumes, and its power will be dispersed, making it difficult to maintain maximum strength while covering the entire Immortal City.

And now, even the two great Transformation Heaven Monarchs cannot stop the Corpse Tide; regardless of the outcome after this wave of impact reaches Beiling Immortal City, the mortals on the outermost perimeter will likely have no chance of survival.

And in such a situation, even if Lu Yuan no longer hides his cultivation and methods, he cannot change it.

While his thoughts flashed by and his heart felt heavy, the Flying Boat beneath his feet and those around him were all speeding at maximum velocity, like streaks of meteors cutting across the sky.

"Not good, some Corpse Demons have caught up!"

Immediately following this, a cultivator let out a cry of alarm. As everyone looked back, they saw a surging, tide-like darkness rushing over from the horizon behind them, led by two streaks of light as black as ink, containing endless malice and ferocity.

"It's those two Heavenly Corpse Kings!"

Clearly, there was an accident with the two Heaven Monarchs' delay and containment. Although the opponents were still dozens of miles away, it was by no means difficult for the Heavenly Corpse King level to catch up to them. Yang Xianlin's slightly urgent Divine Sense transmission swept across the sky:

"Split into five groups and retreat separately!"

There were seven or eight thousand retreating cultivators and over a hundred Flying Boats. After receiving the order, they were suddenly panicked, especially those from the four supporting Immortal Cities; the True Monarchs immediately took control of the Flying Boats, broke away from the main retreating force, and scattered in flight.

As for the hundred-plus Flying Boats of Beiling Immortal City, they also scattered and fled wildly like bursting fireworks.

It was just that most of these Flying Boats were low-tier, small-sized ones. Even if they burned a large amount of Spirit Stones to start at full power, their flight speed could not compare to the medium and high-tier Flying Boats, and they soon fell behind.

In just the time of ten or so breaths, the Corpse Bone Heavenly Demon Concubine and the other Heavenly Corpse King from the far horizon came whistling over with strange, chattering laughter. With a casual point of their hands, spears of death energy shot out, instantly piercing through the protective shields and even the hulls of the Flying Boats.

Once the Flying Boats were broken, their speed dropped drastically. The low-tier cultivators on them scattered in terror like bees whose hive had been smashed. Unfortunately, the flight speed of these low-tier cultivators was far inferior to the Flying Boats. In the blink of an eye, they were grabbed by the giant claws and tentacles manifested from corpse energy by the two Heavenly Corpses, and then, amidst desperate screams, their physical bodies rapidly withered and shriveled, as if their essence blood and vitality had been completely devoured.

In just a moment, over twenty Flying Boats were successively destroyed by the two Heavenly Corpses, and hundreds of Beiling Immortal City cultivators lost their lives in a miserable and unbearable state.

The others, who were like clay bodhisattvas crossing a river—unable to even save themselves—were powerless to help and could only take this opportunity to flee wildly in all directions. Even Yang Xianlin, the True Monarch commander-in-chief, could only watch with eyes splitting in anger, leading a few Immortal Boats to flee rapidly, not daring to stop.

Just like that, under the pursuit of the two Heavenly Corpse Kings, nearly half of the Beiling Immortal City cultivators failed to escape and were all struck down from the sky; at least one or two thousand cultivators became blood food for the two Heavenly Corpse Kings.

It was precisely because of them that the other cultivators were able to escape with their lives, fleeing at high speed for hundreds or thousands of miles.

"Unreasonable!"

The Flying Boat of Longshan Immortal City could be considered one of the faster ones to escape. Wei Bufan, who was at the bow of the boat pouring all his Dharma Power to increase the Flying Boat's speed, had a face ashen with rage:

"When we reach Beiling Immortal City, I will definitely make this group of beasts pay the price!"

On the Flying Boat, the other cultivators all had grim expressions and did not say a word.

They knew that even if they returned to Beiling Immortal City, they still had a tough battle to fight. If the other Transformation Heaven Monarchs of the Immortal Alliance were slow to arrive, Beiling Immortal City would even face the risk of being breached.

At that time, a large gap would be torn open along the entire border defense line, and the consequences would be unimaginable.

Amidst heavy hearts.

The Flying Boat sped along, and in less than half an hour, it had already rushed back to Beiling Immortal City, where the entire magnificent Immortal City could be seen.

Similar to Longshan Immortal City, the entire Beiling Immortal City was built on a Four-Tier large Spirit Pulse, covering a total area of three hundred miles in radius. However, the outer areas were all dwellings for mortals, and only the inner area of over one hundred miles was the Main City of the Immortal City.

And at this moment, seemingly having received the message in advance, a layer of rippling spiritual light lit up around the Main City, like a swirling galaxy; amidst its beauty, it revealed a cruel murderous intent. Clearly, the protective grand array of the Immortal City had been activated.

"The Big Dipper Heavenly Star Killing Array has been activated. Fellow Daoists, follow me into the city to defend!"

It was not just Lu Yuan and the others who arrived; Yang Xianlin, the Immortal City Lord of Beiling, and even the Flying Boats from other supporting Immortal Cities arrived one after another above the Main City. Subsequently, under Yang Xianlin's Divine Sense transmission, the light of the so-called Big Dipper Heavenly Star Killing Array rippled, and then an Immortal light extended from a certain location like a sky bridge, as if to receive these cultivators.

The True Monarchs had no other words; they steered their Immortal Boats along the sky bridge and successfully entered the array. Once inside, they saw Lingjian Tianjun sitting cross-legged on the Dharma altar presiding over the array, his face pale and his aura withered.

And on the adjacent Dharma altar, a figure that radiated a faint crimson light and was as lifelike as a red jade sculpture also sat motionless, adjusting their breath.

That fiery red figure was clearly no longer a body of flesh and blood. Seeing this, Yang Xianlin was immediately horrified:

"Zhuhuo Tianjun, what has happened to you!?"

Zhuhuo Tianjun, who was left with only a Primordial Spirit body, gave a hollow laugh and said hoarsely:

"It is nothing. That evil obstacle was even harder to deal with than I imagined. In order to delay time, this Daoist and Lingjian Tianjun almost fell into that evil obstacle's hands. In the end, to escape, I had no choice but to use a special method and abandon that physical body."

To be able to force a Transformation Heaven Monarch to abandon their physical body, the terrifying nature of that unseen Heavenly Corpse King was unimaginable. Whether it was Yang Xianlin, Wei Bufan, and other True Monarch cultivators, or the other Golden Core Cultivators, all of them changed color.

Including Lu Yuan, who could not help but reveal a hint of shock.

After all, those who have cultivated to the level of Transformation Heaven Monarch are all old monsters who have lived for thousands of years, mastering various secret techniques, Supernatural Powers, and spiritual treasures; whether it is fighting or life-saving methods, they are unimaginable to ordinary cultivators. That one could force a Transformation Heaven Monarch to a dead end and abandon their body shows just how terrifying that Heavenly Corpse King is.

"Why are you all pulling such long faces? I am not dead yet!"

Seeing that most of the cultivators were changing color and appeared terrified, the fiery-tempered Zhuhuo Tianjun immediately scolded:

"You all need not worry. Although my physical body is destroyed, my cultivation has not been discounted much. Relying on the Big Dipper Heavenly Star Killing Array here in Beiling Immortal City, if that evil obstacle dares to come, I will definitely make it suffer!"

Lingjian Tianjun also said slowly:

"This Daoist has also received news that the Immortal Alliance has dispatched two Heaven Monarchs, one of whom is the famous Douzhan Tianjun, a late-stage Transformation cultivator. They will arrive within at most an hour. As long as that evil obstacle dares to come and attack the Immortal City, it will definitely be destroyed in both body and soul, never to be reincarnated!"

Douzhan Tianjun!?

This Transformation Heaven Monarch is truly famous in the Immortal Alliance. Not only is his cultivation at the Transformation level, but he also has illustrious battle achievements. It is said that the number of Fifth-Rank Heavenly Corpse Kings he has slain is as many as eight, which is an extremely astonishing record even within the Immortal Alliance.

The group of Nascent Soul True Monarchs revealed joy upon hearing this, and the Golden Core Cultivators, who were originally worried about how to resist the siege of the three Heavenly Corpse Kings, also let out a sharp sigh of relief.

"Alright, the three Heavenly Corpse Kings and the Corpse Tide will likely arrive soon. Prepare yourselves as quickly as possible."

Lingjian Tianjun waved his hand, and the cultivators immediately agreed and left.

Time was urgent. Just as Yang Xianlin was about to give instructions and arrangements to the cultivators, Lu Yuan, who was inconspicuous in the crowd, suddenly spoke up:

"City Lord Yang, what about the millions of mortals outside the Main City?"

Yang Xianlin was stunned for a moment and sighed:

"The space in the Main City is limited. Some time ago, we already transferred three million mortals, and the rest remain outside the Main City. However, there is no time left to transfer the remaining mortals now, so we can only..."

Before he finished his sentence, everyone understood his meaning, and all remained silent.

Although it is said that there is a distinction between immortals and mortals, and most cultivators do not take mortals to heart, millions is already a staggering number. Not to mention that if so many mortals are devoured by the Corpse Tide as food, it will inevitably lead to the appearance of more and fiercer Corpse Demons.

But they also knew that in the current situation of Beiling Immortal City, they simply could not care about these mortals and could only abandon them.

Hearing Yang Xianlin's answer, Lu Yuan's gaze was deep, and he said nothing.

He knew he could not blame the cultivators for their coldness and ruthlessness; he could only blame the distortion and grotesquerie of this world.

No one knew what he was thinking in his heart.

After returning to the city, they, the combat cultivators, were no longer the main force; the Big Dipper Heavenly Star Dharma Array could draw upon the spiritual energy of the earth veins to display majestic power, relying primarily on the great cultivators presiding over the array.

Therefore, the primary task for Lu Yuan and the others became guarding the many external nodes of the Dharma Array, where they could attack enemies outside the array.

Just like that, in the span of a few moments, the returning cultivators were all in position, standing in the void, ready for battle.

Soon after, without waiting long, they saw a patch of evil, ominous darkness rapidly spreading across the horizon, approaching with fierce momentum at high speed.

At first glance, that smear of darkness was still far off at the edge of the sky, but in the blink of an eye, it expanded to fill the entire firmament; numerous cultivators above the Golden Core stage swept it with their Divine Sense and were shocked to discover that, led by a white bone throne and two great Heavenly Corpse kings, thousands of Corpse Demons were sprinting and flying, roaring toward Beiling Immortal City.

Clearly, the lowest-level Corpse Soldiers were still in the rear and could not reach the Immortal City with such speed; those brought by the three great Heavenly Corpse kings were all Corpse Generals and higher-level Corpse Demons, among which there were likely hundreds of Three-Tier Corpse Kings and Four-Tier Heavenly Corpses combined!

Under normal circumstances, the cultivator side would inevitably have to pay a great price when encountering such a formidable force, but at this moment, they were all under the protection of the Big Dipper Heavenly Star Dharma Array, so they were not panicked.

Although they were still over a hundred miles away, the Divine Sense of Shi Mingkong, who sat upon the white bone throne surrounded by the corpse horde and Heavenly Corpse kings, swept over the sky above the Immortal City like a tsunami:

"Are you two dignified Transformation Deity Heavenly Monarchs only capable of hiding in that tortoise shell?"

"So many living beings, so much fresh blood and living souls; is this a gift you have prepared for us? Since that is the case, this seat will not be polite."

"My children, go!"

As his cruel and tyrannical Divine Sense swept across the long sky, the large swarms of formidable Corpse Demons behind his throne roared and lunged out, then surged like a tsunami into the outermost zone, the residential area of countless mortals.

They turned into a torrent and rushed into rows upon rows of buildings; under the corrosion of terrifying corpse energy and death energy, vegetation withered, houses rotted and collapsed, and all vitality was rapidly turning into dead silence.

An unimaginable gloom and resentment, a destructive, evil, and deathly aura brewed for hundreds or thousands of years, permeated the air, covering the sky and earth; various screams and wails, whether panicked or heart-wrenching, along with the rumbling sound of the earth shaking, filled the air as the black torrent swept through thousands of areas with a terrifying momentum that covered the sky and earth, extinguishing everything, and then stirred up surging, chaotic, and terrified cries everywhere.

In fact, to cope with emergency situations, many mortals under the protection of the Immortal City had dug underground secret passages and shelters in their own homes and various other places; several large shelters even had concealment Dharma Arrays laid out by high-level cultivators, specifically to provide a glimmer of hope for mortals who could not retreat into the Immortal City in the worst-case scenario of the city being struck by a Corpse Tide.

Originally, most of the mortals in the outer areas had followed instructions and hidden in underground secret passages and shelters, but under the sweep of such a large horde of Corpse Generals and above, the earth cracked. Rows of houses collapsed, and thousands of mortals hiding in cellars and secret passages were either buried or ran out in terror, only to be either corroded to death on the spot by corpse energy and poisonous gas and fall to the ground, or be grabbed by individual Corpse Demons and torn apart to be eaten.

In the outer zone, seven or eight million mortals who had been hiding were now fleeing for their lives from their nests like startled ants; amidst the rumbling explosions, large swaths of houses were crushed and collapsed, and on the streets, countless crowds of people, their faces filled with extreme terror and an urgent desire to survive, fled frantically under this black torrent, only to be helplessly devoured one by one by the ruthless force.

Every time the black torrent passed a fork in the road, this bloody torrent would split off a stream, rushing in another direction and stirring up another wave of terrified screams; wherever they went in the city, tens of thousands of mortals, regardless of gender or age, were miserably devoured, chewed up, and torn apart as soon as they appeared, with blood and internal organs scattered all over the ground.

And even those survivors who were lucky enough not to be discovered or driven out from underground died on the spot due to the invasion of the dense, gloomy corpse energy, and soon their entire bodies were completely eroded by the corpse energy, turning them into Corpse Demons that crawled out from the ground, howling as they lunged at other mortals.

In just a dozen breaths of time, the area within ten miles of the outer zone had turned into a living hell; most of the cultivators in the Main City's array who probed this scene with their Divine Sense were furious, and those who had been born as mortals gritted their teeth:

"These beasts..."