What reinforced Yingshui City’s barrier was divine power!
Feng Miaojun was genuinely shocked. In this era where gods had long disappeared and the spiritual energy of heaven and earth had weakened, how could the Haoli Empire still receive divine protection? Wasn’t that too defiant of the heavens?
Moreover, she hadn’t forgotten that in its later period, the Haoli Empire had destroyed temples everywhere, severing mortal faith in the gods. How could such blasphemous, disrespectful acts be rewarded with divine intervention at this critical moment?
This time, the other Heavenly Demons didn’t fall silent. After a brief silence, they erupted into an overwhelming torrent of curses:
“It was agreed that gods wouldn’t interfere with the mortal realm. What is this supposed to be?”
“The gods are truly shameless!”
Amidst the furious uproar, the Heavenly Demon leader’s voice rang out, calm as water: “Divine power isn’t easily borrowed. Regardless of why the barrier is being protected, Hao Minghuan must have paid a price. The seal will recover soon. We don’t have much time. Let’s focus on how to break through the barrier.”
With just these few words, the Heavenly Demons immediately fell silent. After a while, a voice timidly said: “We cannot break through a barrier reinforced by the gods.”
This wasn’t self-defeating; it was a fact. Even though the Heavenly Demons had been trapped for seven hundred years, they weren’t presumptuous enough to compare themselves to the gods.
By now, Feng Miaojun had walked to the area above the South Third Gate of Yingshui City. She saw dozens of figures gathered outside the barrier. Although they had red light wrapping around their bodies, their appearances weren’t different from ordinary humans—of course, humans wouldn’t be standing outside the barrier.
The white-robed woman who had previously slain the Jiao spirits was surrounded in the center of the crowd. The other Heavenly Demons kept at least ten feet away from her, their faces showing reverence.
Feng Miaojun, being a ruler who commanded the world herself, could determine at a glance that this woman’s status was the most exalted here.
“Then let’s not break through; we just need to find a way to infiltrate,” the white-robed woman stared fixedly at the city gate. “I have a method, but I’ll need your assistance.”
The Heavenly Demons around her slightly bowed their heads: “We obey your divine command.”
“The Hao family and the gods are cunning. I anticipated they would set more than one trap, so I made some preparations in advance.” She pointed toward the city, “There are our believers in this city. I assigned them several tasks that should be completed by now.”
Feng Miaojun understood. The “trap” referred to the stone chamber in the temple. The Heavenly Demon leader had anticipated that apart from the divine imprint, her people would face other obstacles during their escape, so she had instructed her believers to act secretly in advance.
Human nature is to worship power, strength, and mystery. Before their decisive battle with the Realm Gods, the Heavenly Demons had roamed freely across the world and were skilled at bewitching people’s hearts, naturally accumulating countless believers. Even though they had been imprisoned in the forbidden realm for hundreds of years, they hadn’t completely severed their connections with the mortal world.
Her slender fingertip pointed toward eighteen sturdy men standing inside the South Gate.
This was one of the formation points of the great barrier array.
Besides sealing copper talismans on the city gates and burying soul-suppressing swords in the soil beneath the gates, they also needed men with strong birth charts to hold ritual tools, using their vital energy to help suppress the formation, maintaining this formation point without breaks, leaks, or disorder.
There were eighty-one such formation points distributed throughout the city. The one the Heavenly Demon leader pointed to was just one of them. What was special about it?
“There’s a sturdy man here whose wife’s womb was stimulated, causing her to go into labor early. He couldn’t find a midwife,” the Heavenly Demon leader paused, “so he had to deliver the baby himself before coming to guard the city.”
A nearby Heavenly Demon said excitedly: “He’s been contaminated by impurity, his vital energy is no longer pure. This formation point now has a weakness!”
Feng Miaojun looked at the dozen or so sturdy men guarding the gate but couldn’t tell which one had been contaminated. However, the Heavenly Demon leader wouldn’t make a mistake about such an important matter.
“Exactly.” The Heavenly Demon leader made a stroke with her fingertip, moving her fingers swiftly, dipping in blood to engrave patterns on the barrier. “However, the gods have shamelessly reinforced the barrier. Even with this backup plan, we might not be able to cross the boundary.” Her blood solidified extremely quickly, taking less than two breaths of time.
“What should we do?”
“Use your spear to attack your shield.” The scratches made by her nails brought out a vivid red hue. “We haven’t wasted our time being trapped in the stone chamber for hundreds of years.”
Layer upon layer of intricate patterns flowed from under her hand. Feng Miaojun widened her phoenix eyes, recognizing that her “handwriting” was identical to the celestial script on the stone chamber!
Indeed, this tribal leader was truly the most qualified Heavenly Demon to personally decipher the divine glyphs in the stone chamber.
She had practiced this skill thousands or tens of thousands of times. Now she executed it with perfect ease. Even Feng Miaojun couldn’t see her hand movements—she only knew they were flowing like water as if naturally formed.
In just two hours, she had drawn a complete symbol.
Perfect, fluid—even if a god were here, they probably couldn’t do it better.
Years ago, when Yun Ya first successfully sketched the Ao Fish symbol, it took him a full month.
After the Heavenly Demon leader inscribed the final stroke, her tribespeople immediately erupted in cheers. She examined it thoroughly and felt satisfied before placing a crystal mirror against the barrier, allowing it to adhere.
Seeing this, Feng Miaojun couldn’t help but mentally applaud. The Heavenly Demon leader was truly an extraordinary talent, instantly thinking of using these newly learned glyphs to break through the barrier.
The glyphs were the language of the gods—what could be better for dealing with a barrier reinforced by gods?
The Heavenly Demon leader waved her hand: “Come!”
Her voice wasn’t loud, but it carried endless authority. The Heavenly Demons who had been attacking the barrier elsewhere seemed to hear a sacred command. They abandoned their tasks and quickly gathered here.
It was as if a red sandstorm had suddenly swept across the barrier’s surface, creating a terrifying spectacle.
The Heavenly Demon leader pointed at the completed glyph and said: “Our success or failure depends on this one move.”
Instantly, the scene of flying sand and rolling stones disappeared. The all-encompassing red dust condensed into a giant one-horned rhinoceros, aimed at the center of the glyph, lowered its head, and charged!
Feng Miaojun was amazed. The Heavenly Demons were so extraordinary that they could temporarily merge their soul bodies to transform into an even more powerful beast. Just this trait alone put them leagues above other beings in the world. No wonder humans and demons combined were no match for them back then, and even the Realm Gods suffered losses.
But thinking about it further, she understood. Heavenly Demons were originally formed from the mutual consumption of wandering souls that hadn’t entered the netherworld, making them extremely malleable.
The rhinoceros they formed wasn’t particularly massive. It stood only six feet tall, evidently concentrating its power on the task at hand rather than wasting energy on unnecessary size. However, the blunt horn on its large head was three feet long, thick, and long like a battering ram.
This wasn’t simply a collision; it was also continuously channeling the Heavenly Demons’ power into the glyph.
With each charge, the barrier trembled just as before, and the glyph became increasingly vivid red.
Finally, it was no longer impregnable.
The concentrated attack on the South Gate was effective. This was using the entire tribe’s strength to attack the barrier’s weakest point.