Chapter 16

The giant beasts transformed from the demon race moved with incredible speed and agility, so most of the arrows, the main force of long-range attacks, were either easily dodged or blocked by the demons' hard claws, horns, and other body parts. Even when a few arrows hit the demons, their powerful physical defense capabilities meant that the demons only suffered minor injuries at most.

The heavy crossbow bolts, on the other hand, were extremely lethal, but unfortunately, they were slow, few in number, and had poor accuracy, only managing to kill a small number of low-level demons.

Xia Jiu, of course, was not affected by the roars. His arrows were incredibly precise, killing over a dozen demons, but this did little to change the already evident defeat in the battle.

At this point, the vanguard of the demons had already rushed to the city walls. Dozens of giant apes, each over seven meters tall, charged directly at the city gates. Soon, the city gates were shaking with a loud rumbling sound.

More giant wolves, tigers, and other demon beasts were scattered below the city walls. Roaring, they leaped up, their sharp claws like knives digging into the walls, and leaped up again. After three or four leaps, they were about to reach the top of the walls.

"Forest of spears!"

Clearly, the human army was not facing this situation for the first time, so they were well-prepared. At Xu Jianhong's command, countless spears suddenly thrust out from the city walls. The first batch of hundreds of demons that climbed up were caught off guard; some were impaled and killed on the spot, while others were injured and fell from the nearly hundred-meter-high walls, nearly dying from the fall.

Xia Jiu, with his head lowered, was aiming and shooting at the demons climbing up. Two soldiers behind him brought a large pile of arrows to his side for him to use. His achievements were significant; over a hundred demons had already died from his arrows. In the area of the city wall where he was, no demon had managed to climb even halfway up within a hundred meters on either side. Eventually, no more demons came to attack this area.

The other soldiers also had significant achievements, but the situation was still not optimistic. The demons continued to climb up, undeterred by the rain of arrows and spears. Although there were casualties, the human defense gradually could not keep up with the demon attacks. It was clear that a breach would eventually occur, and the demons would break through and kill their way onto the city walls.

At the city gates, with dozens of giant apes madly smashing away, the steel gates, though dented, were still holding. However, the connection between the gates and the city walls was becoming loose, and it was evident that the gates would soon completely detach from the walls and collapse.

Xu Jianhong, seeing the battlefield, had an extremely grim expression. This was the most intense attack by the demons in a year. Although the humans still had some trump cards, he remembered the specific instructions from Lord Cangtian: not to call on the cultivators unless it was a matter of life and death. Xu Jianhong did not know the exact reason, but he dared not disobey Lord Cangtian's orders.

Xia Jiu's gaze swept across the battlefield and saw a stone building on the city wall behind Xu Jianhong, right in the middle of where the demons were attacking. A thought flashed through his mind, and he filled his quiver with arrows and carried a pile of arrows to run to the stone building.

At the same time, ten people, dressed in strange attire and with a markedly different appearance from ordinary humans but with extraordinary demeanor, were sitting around two stone tables on the stone building. They were drinking tea while closely watching the battle outside.

"Master Brother! Do you think this time Xu Jianhong will seek aid from our Tianyi Sect or ask the Ice Blood Sect to act?" A young man in his early twenties, wearing a long robe and carrying a long sword, asked the middle-aged man sitting in the middle of the stone table while eagerly watching the city outside.

The middle-aged man glanced at the young man and smiled slightly, saying, "Hmph! Although Xu Jianhong is just a mortal, he has some ability. However, given the current situation, he has no choice. When the time comes, he will naturally ask us to act. As for which side to ask, with his shrewdness, he definitely doesn't want to offend any side, so if we act, both sides will act. Hmm! But looking at the current battlefield situation, Xu Jianhong's Steel Fang Corps will soon be unable to hold out. I estimate that in less than ten breaths, he will loudly ask both sides to act. At that time, our Third Master Brother and Little Master Brother will—uh! What's going on—"

Before the middle-aged man could finish his sentence, a tall officer in black armor suddenly jumped up to the entrance of the stone building.

After the officer stabilized himself in the stone building, he was surprised to see the people on the stone building, clearly not expecting anyone to be there. However, after a brief moment of surprise, he placed a few bundles of arrows he was carrying by his side, picked up an arrow, drew his longbow, and shot the arrow with a swift motion.

Xia Jiu, apart from a brief moment of surprise when he first saw the people on the stone building, remained completely calm, as if he had just seen a cat or a dog.

The people on the stone building looked at each other, and most of them showed interest, closely observing the armored Xia Jiu, except for two or three who looked displeased.

As Xia Jiu shot arrow after arrow, fast and accurately, without stopping, the people on the stone building began to feel increasingly astonished.

These ten people were extremely mysterious and powerful to ordinary mortals, with keen eyesight and the ability to see far and clearly.

Within ten breaths, everyone discovered Xia Jiu's extraordinary abilities.

When Xia Jiu shot arrows, from drawing the arrow to releasing the string, it initially did not seem particularly special, just simpler and more mechanical than the common archery techniques in the army.

However, Xia Jiu's archery movements were incredibly precise and stable, with each repeated action showing no variation.

Most importantly, his arrows were incredibly fast, beyond the range of what ordinary humans could imagine. This was not something ordinary human flesh could accomplish, and even a master-level warrior in the army could not do it. Moreover, each arrow hit its mark, piercing the throats of the demons without any wasted force.

Through countless calculations and experience with the force of arrows, Xia Jiu had already calculated the throat defense strength of each type of demon in his mind and determined the most efficient way to pierce their throats based on different defense strengths.

Standing at a high point, Xia Jiu shot arrows toward the areas where the human army's defenses were about to be breached. Due to his incredibly fast shooting speed, he temporarily stabilized the battle situation with his own strength.

As time passed, Xia Jiu naturally caught the attention of the high-ranking officers, including Xu Jianhong, and the ordinary soldiers. His presence was already recognized as crucial to the battle, and no one said anything more.

The ten people in the stone building, after witnessing Xia Jiu's extraordinary abilities, did not think he was stronger than themselves, but they did not say anything, just quietly watching him shoot arrows.

However, as time passed, two or three of the ten people began to look increasingly serious.

Ten miles away from the city of Hedaba, on a hill.

A giant man nearly three meters tall, with multicolored hair, stood like an iron tower, his eyes blood-red, looking toward the city of Hedaba. He appeared extremely cold and bloodthirsty, with a terrifying aura of demonic energy surrounding him, covering several miles.

"Roar—!"

The giant man let out a tiger roar that echoed through the heavens. The shockwave from the roar flattened the grass and trees, sent sand and stones flying, and darkened the sky.

The demonic energy surged into the sky, enveloping the city of Hedaba!

In the roar, the giant man transformed into a massive, over ten-meter-long, striped tiger king.

The striped tiger king let out another earth-shattering roar, transforming into a huge, streaking figure that charged toward the city of Hedaba. Its speed was unimaginable, and by the time the roar had traveled dozens of miles, the figure was already approaching the city walls.

The faces of all the humans on the city walls of Hedaba changed, and they cried out in alarm. Xu Jianhong and a few other martial arts experts, under the immense pressure of the striped demon tiger king, felt their scalps tingle, their heads spin, and they almost lost their balance, struggling to breathe. Ordinary soldiers were trembling with fear, and even ordinary citizens in the city, those with weak wills, fainted on the spot.

Even on the stone building, only three people were almost unaffected, while the other eight had to emit various colored lights to maintain their composure. These three included Xia Jiu, a gentle middle-aged man in white who was previously called Master Brother, and a cold-faced middle-aged man in black on the right stone table.

These two were clearly the most powerful cultivators present. Although they were not affected, their expressions were extremely serious, just like Xia Jiu, who, after seeing the massive figure of the striped demon tiger king and the impact of its roar on the human army, was also greatly startled.

After the tiger roar, it seemed that only Xia Jiu continued to shoot arrows with his longbow without any reaction, while the rest of the human army temporarily lost their fighting ability. Fortunately, the demons on the other side were also affected by the roar, mostly lying on the ground and pausing their attacks.

Inside the stone building, the two middle-aged men involuntarily looked at Xia Jiu, then at each other. The middle-aged man on the left said, "Brother Wen! This time, we probably need to join forces to repel this demon tiger king in the Transformation Realm."

The middle-aged man on the right, with a cold expression, did not look at the gentle middle-aged man on the left but nodded slightly in agreement.

On the city wall below the stone building, Xu Jianhong's face was pale, and he struggled to suppress his fear. He was about to turn around and say something to the people in the stone building behind him.

"Beast! Get lost!"

A thunderous shout echoed through the sky of Hedaba, like a bolt of lightning.

Almost simultaneously, two powerful pressures rapidly spread from the stone building, completely suppressing the demonic energy in the sky.

In the next moment, Xu Jianhong felt the sound of something breaking the air behind him. A black and a white streak of light, one on the left and one on the right, shot out from the stone building, directly attacking the incoming striped demon tiger king.

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