Wang Hao looked at City Lord Wang Longling and the others, his expression calm as he issued his orders. “The three of you are familiar with the city’s situation. You will be responsible for commanding the mortals to hunt the low-level demon beasts.”

“Wenyan, you go guard the formation eye.” As he spoke, he took out several mid-grade Spirit Stones. “Place these Spirit Stones into the core to increase the power of the grand formation.”

“The rest of you will be divided into two teams, led by Wenmei and Zhu Shan. Use the city gate as the boundary, guarding both sides. If you encounter second-rank demon beasts and cannot defeat them, call out loudly. I will come to support you!”

In truth, there was no need to say this. He had his system map displaying the demon beast situation in real-time. The city wall was only three li long; every inch of it was under the surveillance of his Divine Consciousness.

“Yes!”

“Elder, what about the other three sides of the city wall? Shouldn’t they be guarded?” Wang Longling asked, his voice laced with anxiety.

Wang Hao glanced at the map and smiled faintly. “When they need guarding, I will naturally send you there. Follow your orders.”

“Yes!”

Wang Hao had noticed two second-rank high-grade demon beasts lurking in the distance. These would be the most difficult to deal with; he wasn’t afraid of the others at all. Currently, the demon beasts were still in a probing attack phase, and those two powerful leaders were holding back in the rear.

Wang Hao wouldn’t just sit idle. He decided to take this chance to eliminate some second-rank threats to reduce the pressure.

Boom! Boom! Boom!

Low-level demon beasts continuously crashed against the grand formation. The mortals on the wall used catapults and giant crossbows to retaliate. Because the beast horde was so dense, their accuracy was surprisingly high. In a short time, the water before the city gate was a bloody, churning mess.

“All cultivators, delay the second-rank demon beasts! Buy time for the mortals to eliminate the first-rank ones!” Wang Hao shouted.

Simultaneously, he controlled his Ash Calamity Sword, sending it streaking through the air. With a flash of grey light, it unexpectedly sliced a second-rank low-grade demon beast cleanly in half.

The mortals were shocked by this display of power. After a stunned moment, they erupted into cheers. “The Immortal Master is mighty!”

“Quiet! Focus on operating your equipment!” Wang Hao hurriedly silenced them. He didn’t share Star Venerable Freak’s fondness for adulation in the middle of a battle.

Caw! Caw!

Just after Wang Hao killed the beast, a chorus of sharp cries suddenly sounded from the sky.

“Flying demon beasts? Damn it!”

Among demon beasts, flying types were the most troublesome. Wang Hao could only admit his bad luck. Fortunately, there weren’t many—only two were at the second rank.

Sharp, piercing screeches resounded across the heavens. After the avian demon beasts flew over Ling Lake City, they began diving down like dumplings dropping into a boiling pot.

“Use spirit talismans! Don’t be stingy! Quickly!” Wang Hao urgently called out.

He scattered a shower of Fire Rain Talismans himself, incinerating a large number of first-rank flying beasts. He then repeatedly activated Fire Dragon and Fire Phoenix talismans, sweeping through another cluster of enemies.

A shrill screech pierced the air as one of the second-rank flying beasts locked onto Wang Hao and charged straight at him.

“Coming right at me?”

Wang Hao instantly activated his Chaos Earth Seal. The flying beast’s wings suddenly grew heavy under the magnified gravity, and it plummeted toward the ground.

Wang Hao wouldn’t miss this chance to beat a drowning bird. With a shing, his Ash Calamity Sword left its sheath. A single stroke slashed across the beast’s long neck, severing its head on the spot.

Just as Wang Hao was preparing to harvest more first-rank fodder, a cry for help reached his ears.

“Fifth Brother! Come help me quickly!”

Wang Hao turned and saw that Wang Wenmei was being targeted by the other second-rank flyer—a Black Feather Eagle. The light screen of the grand formation before her was already cracked from its relentless attacks. She struggled to counterattack, but her strikes were easily dodged by the beast’s agility.

Wang Hao immediately threw out his Chaos Earth Seal to cover the cracks in the formation, preventing a breach.

This Black Feather Eagle was quite extraordinary; it had awakened fire-based spells and was launching massive fireballs to smash against the barrier.

“A fire specialist? What a coincidence—so am I!” Wang Hao chuckled.

He continuously shot Fire Dragon attacks at the Black Feather Eagle while simultaneously taking out an Explosive Fire Talisman and hurling it forward.

The Black Feather Eagle, already struggling under Wang Hao’s Fire Dragon assaults, couldn’t help but shudder upon seeing the Explosive Fire Talisman. Its eyes instantly revealed extreme terror.

It let out a sharp cry, flapped its wings, and tried to flee from the city wall back to high altitude.

However, at that moment, Wang Hao stamped his foot. His Clear Source Boots flashed with spiritual light as his speed increased to its limit. He shot out of the grand formation, closing the distance instantly.

A flash of sword light appeared in his hand. An extremely sharp, three-zhang-long sword aura struck the Black Feather Eagle’s wing just as it spread to fly.

The eagle’s body and neck were covered in iron-like feathers that were difficult for flying swords to injure; its defense was extremely strong. Ordinary attacks couldn’t harm its wings at all.

But at the joint where the wing connected to the body, there was a gap covered only by down feathers. These could withstand first-rank magical tools, but they crumbled against second-rank power.

The sword aura cut into the Black Feather Eagle from its wing root, almost severing the limb completely.

Without the wing providing balance and lift, the Black Feather Eagle’s massive body swayed before plummeting down. Wang Hao slashed out several more beams of sword light, wounding it further, but it fell outside the grand formation’s range, preventing him from delivering the killing blow.

However, even if it landed outside, it wouldn’t survive for long.

First-rank demon beasts lacked intelligence. Even with second-rank beasts restraining them somewhat, they would still compete fiercely over the corpses of the fallen. Spirit-rich beast flesh benefited cultivators, but it benefited other demon beasts even more. They wouldn’t let such an opportunity pass.

Wang Hao returned to the top of the city wall to restore his spiritual energy while observing the situation outside.

The besieging forces consisted mostly of aquatic demons: fish, shrimp, crabs, and frogs. The flying types were only a small portion. These low-intelligence first-rank beasts possessed no supernatural spells, just tough hides a bit thicker than ordinary wild animals.

They couldn’t breach the city-protecting grand formation, but maintaining the barrier consumed spiritual energy. If they kept attacking continuously, once the spirit vein was exhausted, the formation would collapse.

On the city wall, numerous mortals lined up operating catapults. The long throwing arms held baskets filled with boulders weighing hundreds of jin each. Under their captain’s command, shouting work chants, they pulled down the great arms, launching stones outward with forceful rhythm.

After the arms returned to position, other teams moved boulders to refill them.

Beside them, ballistae mounted iron arrows as thick as forearms. Using beast-tendon bowstrings drawn taut, they unleashed death with the pull of a trigger.

Iron arrows and giant stones arced down from the ten-zhang-high walls, falling like raindrops carrying astonishing whistling winds, smashing into the groups of first-rank demons.

Thud!

A frog-like demon was struck by a boulder; its skull cracked instantly, blood spurting out. Before it could twitch, another sharp arrow flew down, piercing through its entire body. It floated on the water surface, devoid of life.

Surrounding demons swarmed over, devouring the corpse in a frenzy.

Among the beast tide, there were second-rank commanders, but their numbers were limited. Plus, Wang Hao had already killed three of them. Some grew fearful and only dared to hide in the distance, casting spells to attack the formation. Wang Wenmei and the others used spirit talismans to block these ranged assaults.

Suddenly, Wang Hao felt the formation on the city wall shaking. He looked down but saw nothing on the surface.

He opened his system map and saw a neat row of small icons appearing at the base of the wall’s edge. Hurriedly using his Divine Consciousness to probe underwater, he discovered a group of clam-shell demons had secretly infiltrated and were attacking the wall’s foundation.

They used their own hard shells to ram the wall repeatedly. Each strike caused a slight tremor. If they continued, the wall would eventually collapse.

Wang Hao hurriedly controlled his flying sword to attack, injuring a string of the water clams, but their numbers were too great.

“All cultivators, attack the demons at the base of the wall!”

Following his command, the cultivators unleashed their magical tools, smashing the water clams into paste.

The commanding demon in the rear, seeing this, roared loudly. The demons began an all-out assault, swarming towards the walls heedless of their lives.

Wang Longling hurriedly ordered the mortals, “Release the rolling stones and logs!”

Beside the parapets, thousands of mortals combined their strength, pushing down massive stones and solid wood segments from the high walls into the churning waters below.