225 Activate the Formation (1/2)
The gatehouse was almost a castle in itself. It was twice as thick as the wall and there were three layers of hardened metal gates inscribed with powerful protective runes. Even if all of the gates broke, only a small number of beasts could come through at a time and would run directly into the army of defenders behind it.
Hound's Gate Division included a total of fifty thousand cultivators and soldiers. There were a thousand Spirit Initiate Realm cultivators and ten thousand Mind Focusing Realm cultivators. The rest comprised of soldiers, young and old, at the Body Refinement Realm. Everyone stood on top of the walls with their armor and weapons.
He Xingping arrived at the gate and took command of the gatehouse. The twelve subordinate elders were quickly assigned to their posts. Orders were relayed down to every last soldier. Battle flags of gold and red were raised to flutter in the wind, signifying a defense that would hold until the last soldier.
The vantage point of the gatehouse swept over kilometers of farmland that eventually transformed into a forest. The farmers and other citizens who lived outside of the city were still rushing through the gate to seek protection.
There were no sightings of beasts so far so it was still fine to keep the gates open. None of the gates have been attacked yet. The beasts weren't that dumb, especially in a battle between immortals. Neither side wanted to needlessly throw away their armies since an immortal killing mortals was as simple as treading on ants.
Many of the soldiers and cultivators therefore had their eyes trained upward to the sky. They were hoping to catch a sight of their lords and the battle between immortals that would soon ensue.
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Chen Wentian was also taking part in the defense of the city, not as the elder he originally disguised as, but as a common soldier. Using the elder disguise, he ambushed a soldier that was heading towards one of the outer gates. He was now dressed and disguised as that soldier and stood on top of the Tiger Fang Gate which faced the southeast. He chose the soldier specifically because the man was part of the guard unit for one of the elite youngsters of the sect.
Many of his peers had the same idea and each gate on the eastern side of the city had several competitors. Each talent was assigned an elite guard unit to protect them just in case things went awry. They were there to gain points, not to throw their lives needlessly away.
This situation served Chen Wentian perfectly. The people he wanted to kill were all lined up in front of him. He only needed to wait and he did not need to wait for long.
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It was unbeknownst to the mortals in the city below but the immortals in the sky had already begun the war. The three beast kings had arrived and were facing off against the two human kings and six Spirit Lords.
”Insect queen! It's been a hundred years since you dared to attack Beast God Sanctum directly. Did you forget how badly you lost last time?” He Zicheng said, his voice traveling across the distance between them.
”Meatbag, you dare call this queen an insect!” Queen Sundew screeched.
The martial monkey let out a laugh, ”No need to get angry. All I see a little cat and an overgrown pigeon, but no snake. Oh… where is your elder brother? I hope nothing bad happened to him, that would be a shame!”
The human side's faces became grim and they did not respond. Regardless of whatever schemes and protective arrays, it was difficult to overcome the difference in absolute strength with one less Spirit King.
”Three beast kings of the wilderness all rushed here so quickly… I assume you want something. You knew our brother died tragically a year ago but you did not bother to attack until now.” Qu Shen spoke up, ”So, what do you want?”
”Humans are too smart for their own good…” King Huo Tu answered gruffly, ”Since you asked, we shall answer. You have been hiding a certain fox from us, a very special female fox. Hand her over.”