As they watched the environment recede into the distance, Xuanming inside the oxcart and Xuanliang on the ox's back both opened their mouths wide. Xuanliang even exclaimed in surprise and then immediately closed his eyes. For him, this was the first time he had ever experienced flying since he was old enough to understand things. He had only heard his senior brother talk about flying before, but he had never experienced it himself.
Li Daoyi looked out the window and saw that the surrounding environment was gray and desolate, with the earth torn apart and mountains collapsing, indicating that an extremely fierce battle must have taken place there.
"This scene seems familiar," Saitama suddenly said.
"How so?" Li Daoyi asked with great interest.
“In my world, after those monsters appeared, the city was also destroyed into ruins,” Saitama said in a deep voice.
"Yes, this place suits you well. The spiritual energy has disappeared, but these mutated beasts are extremely powerful, giving you room to maneuver," Li Daoyi said with a smile.
"I'm really looking forward to it. I wonder how the mutated beasts here compare to the Dragon-level monsters," Saitama said excitedly.
"Moo..."
Niu Er called out, then suddenly stopped.
"Oh, there's something ahead!" came Mengmeng's voice.
Dongfang Bubai lifted the carriage curtain and saw a huge, incomparably large black barrier several miles ahead of the oxcart, stretching endlessly like a wall, isolating them from this direction.
"What is this?" Dongfang asked.
This barrier was entirely composed of black mist, but it was very solid and did not disperse. It stood there like a high wall, reaching all the way to the sky when viewed from above.
"Niu Er, go take a look," Li Daoyi said.
He then jumped off the oxcart and threw Xuanliang onto it. Xuanming caught him, but the guy was already unconscious and had fainted from fright.
The oxcart continued flying forward and soon arrived in front of the huge barrier. Only then did everyone sense a powerful aura of malevolence. Upon closer inspection, the visual impact of the barrier was even stronger.
Li Daoyi jumped off Niu Er, slowly walked to the barrier, and reached his hand inside.
"Watch out!" Dongfang Bubai shouted.
However, nothing happened, and Li Daoyi withdrew his hand.
“There are no energy fluctuations; this is purely malevolent energy,” Li Daoyi said.
"A malevolent aura?"
“Yes, as long as we isolate our bodies, the evil energy cannot affect us.” After Li Daoyi finished speaking, he walked back to the carriage, and then waved his hand, a thin membrane-like barrier completely covered Niu Er and the carriage.
"Go in," Li Daoyi called out.
"Huff..."
Niu Er let out a breath and then went inside.
Inside, it was pitch black. Mengmeng waved her little hand, and two huge orbs of light appeared on her two horns, illuminating the surroundings. Apart from the black mist, the area was empty, without any living creatures.
Niu Er ran forward with his intuition for a full hour and a half, covering about a thousand miles, before the group finally left the barrier.
What appeared before my eyes was still a gray world, much like the one at the foot of Mount Ling.
"It's so thick!" Dongfang exclaimed, glancing back at the barrier behind him.
"Why would this thing exist?" Saitama asked curiously.
"I don't know." Li Daoyi shook his head.
Niu Er continued walking forward, and gradually many cities appeared around him, dilapidated and lifeless, with not even bones on the ground. It seemed that, just as Xuan Ming had said, those mutated beasts could completely devour people.
"Could it be that there's no one left in this world?" Saitama asked. He then looked at Genmei and the other person.
"No, no... could it be?" Xuanming felt a chill run down his spine. He simply couldn't imagine that he and his junior brother were the only ones alive in the entire world.
"Probably not. Although that black powder can absorb spiritual energy and erode people's brains, it seems that its erosion ability has a time limit. As long as someone is prepared in the early stages and doesn't get touched by that powder, even if there is no spiritual energy now, there should still be enough people alive. Those cultivators with strong physical bodies have a very high chance of surviving," Li Daoyi said.
Everyone agreed with this suggestion.
At the border of Xiniu Hezhou and Beiju Luzhou, there is a city where humans and demons coexist. This city is called Lion Camel City, which was originally the capital of the Lion Camel Kingdom. Since the Tang Monk and his disciples went west, due to the destruction of several demon kings, this place has gradually become a city where humans and demons gather. After many years of development, it has become even more prosperous than before.
Unfortunately, after the catastrophe twenty years ago, prosperity was gone. Now, Lion Camel City is in ruins, with collapsed ruins everywhere. However, it is better than Ling Mountain, as some buildings have been preserved. At this moment, torches are burning on the city walls, and many figures are standing on the walls under the firelight.
Through the firelight, it was clear that these people included both demons and humans, each clad in armor, wielding weapons, and staring intently ahead with grave expressions.
Yes, some people survived the great disaster in Lion Camel City back then, and quite a few of them did. However, after twenty years of depletion, the number of living beings in Lion Camel City has dwindled to less than a thousand. Food shortages and attacks from mutated beasts are constantly eroding their lives.
"General, today is the day of the beast tide. Can we hold it?" Several people stood atop the city gate, one of whom asked a demon general with a tiger-like face.
“Alas, we now have less than a thousand men. If there are no giant mutant beasts, we might be able to hold them off for a while. But if a giant mutant beast appears, then let the brothers retreat. Retreat as far as you can. I will cover the rear.” General Tiger Head said, drawing his broadsword from his waist. A pair of resolute eyes were reflected on the blade.
"Hahaha, General, are you looking down on our human race?" the man who had just asked the question laughed.
“If we’re going to die, we’ll die together. Where can we run off to if we leave here? Who knows if there are any other survivors? This is a natural disaster. Even the gods have disappeared. We’ve already made a fortune by being ruthless for twenty years,” the man continued.
"That's right, we're not afraid to die, we'll die together!" In an instant, everyone on the city wall shouted. After twenty years of fighting together, both the demon race and the human race had forged a bond of life and death.
"Alright, men, bring out the wine stored in my storeroom. After tonight's battle, if any of us survive, we'll have a good drink. Don't forget to sprinkle some on the ground as a farewell gift for our brothers," General Tiger Head shouted.
"Haha, not bad."
"Even in death, one should die with dignity."
"Today I will kill ten of them, and I will take these monsters with me even in death."
"Hmph, I'm going to kill twenty of them."
The atmosphere instantly became high-spirited, and the fear that people had felt before vanished. Once people have come to terms with death, they will have no more fear.
"call..."
Just then, a sudden gust of wind swept through the city.
"It has begun," said General Tiger Head, looking up at the sky.
"Brothers, prepare for battle!" the human soldier shouted.
"Swish..."
Hundreds of demons drew their swords.
"Archers, prepare."
"Whoosh..."
The remaining hundreds of humans drew their bows to the limit.
The loss of spiritual energy deprived the demon race of their magical power, but fortunately their physical strength remained considerable, making them the main fighting force for the past twenty years, while the human race primarily engaged in ranged attacks.
Everyone held their breath, staring at the gray, gloomy world ahead.
"Roar..."
Just then, a huge roar came from afar.
"This is bad." General Tiger Head's expression changed immediately.
Not just him, but everyone was like that; the roar was the sound of a giant mutated beast.
"Damn it, what I feared most has come to pass. It looks like the brothers are in for a run this time, hahaha!" the human general laughed loudly.
"Hahaha..."
His joke immediately drew laughter from everyone, and then a look of resignation to death appeared in everyone's eyes.
"Roar roar roar..."
The roar came again.
A massive shadow gradually emerged from the gray distance. It was a colossal beast, taller than the walls of Lion Camel City, standing dozens of meters high. Its bloated body resembled a giant worm, and its head was unlike any creature known to humankind, grotesque and hideous, like a composite of countless monsters. Such a mutated beast, in the past, would have been at most the strength of a demon king, but now it was a nightmare for everyone.
Surrounding the giant beast were nearly 100,000 mutated beasts, surging in like a tide.
“More than before,” General Tiger Head said in a deep voice.
“Killing one is no loss, killing two is a gain,” the human general beside him replied.
"Archers, prepare!"
The small mutant beasts were extremely fast and quickly entered the firing range.
"put."
"Whoosh..."
Hundreds of arrows flew towards the surging tide of beasts.
A group of beasts collapsed instantly amidst the horde, and those behind them were also tripped up.
"Free firing."
"Swish..."
People were desperately drawing their bows, hoping to kill as many beasts as possible as quickly as possible when the beast tide reached the city walls.
However, the enemy's numbers were simply too great; a few hundred archers were clearly not enough. The tidal wave of beasts drew ever closer, and the enormous, worm-like mutated beast was also slowly approaching.
"These ugly and disgusting things," General Tiger Head couldn't help but curse.
The fastest group of mutated beasts had already arrived at the city walls. They obviously couldn't climb the twenty-zhang-high walls, but they had the advantage of numbers. A large group of mutated beasts gathered together, letting their companions climb up their bodies. They piled up on top of each other in a very clumsy way, not caring if they were hit by arrows.
The mountain of beasts drew ever closer to the city wall, and the demon warriors gripped their swords tightly with solemn expressions.
"Huh?"
"Look! There's light! What's that?" someone exclaimed.
Looking into the distance, people saw a white light appearing at the very back of the beast tide. The light rose and fell, as if controlled by someone, and was moving towards the convergence point of the beast tide.
"Roar..."
At this moment, the giant beast stopped, turned around, and roared towards the light.
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