Somewhere in the mountain range to the left of the plains.
A late-stage Nascent Soul Green Demon spotted Ye Qingxuan’s newly built city and immediately flew into a rage:
“Hmph, a mere human, daring to set up a city in such an exposed spot? You’re asking for death!”
In the Xuanmu Realm, human-built cities were frequently destroyed by the Green Demons, and that had made these lower-ranking Green Demon cultivators somewhat arrogant and overconfident.
If it weren’t for the Green Demon higher-ups’ regulation—stipulating that before attacking a newly built human city, they had to first form a squad of at least seven Nascent Soul cultivators—
(This “human” referred to all humanoid lifeforms, not just the human race.)
This late-stage Nascent Soul Green Demon would have long since been unable to restrain himself from destroying that eyesore of a human city on the plains.
“But well, it’s only a matter of delaying by a day or two.”
After calming his anger, the late-stage Nascent Soul Green Demon began quietly waiting for other Nascent Soul cultivators to arrive.
The Green Demon Nascent Soul cultivators were highly motivated to crush newly built human cities.
Based on past experience, once a newly built human city was discovered, within three days, other nearby Nascent Soul cultivators would gradually gather. Once they had seven, they’d launch an assault on the new city.
This late-stage Nascent Soul Green Demon planned to wait for the others to arrive, form a full squad of seven, and personally lead the charge to destroy that eyesore of a human city.
In his view, building a city on such an exposed plain was a direct provocation to the entire Green Demon race.
Meanwhile.
Inside Mysterious Mall, Ye Qingxuan was also quietly waiting for the Green Demons to arrive.
Only through the baptism of battle could his city truly establish a foothold in the Xuanmu Realm.
In the mountain ranges on both sides of the plains, it wasn’t just Green Demon cultivators who’d been drawn by the commotion Ye Qingxuan had stirred up—many human cultivators had taken notice too.
Quite a few human cultivators below the Nascent Soul realm, after checking out Mysterious Mall, hid in the shadows and began gossiping:
“Whoa, which big shot is this? Daring to set up a city right here?”
“Another idiot wasting resources.”
“Pfft, just a clown looking for attention. Building a city here—can it even hold up?”
“This fellow cultivator is a bit reckless. Setting up a city right here is just painting a target on his back for the Green Demons, isn’t it?”
Pretty much no one thought Ye Qingxuan’s Mysterious Mall had a chance of surviving.
In the mountain ranges on both sides of the plains, the cultivators below the Nascent Soul realm who’d been drawn by the commotion—whether human or Green Demon—all stuck around.
The establishment of a new city was bound to trigger at least one major Nascent Soul-level battle.
For these cultivators below the Nascent Soul realm, such a battle held tremendous appeal.
And the Nascent Soul cultivators of both races, upon sensing the disturbance or receiving word, all began making their way here.
The Green Demon Nascent Soul cultivators’ target was, naturally, Ye Qingxuan’s Mysterious Mall.
As for the human Nascent Soul cultivators, their target was the Green Demon Nascent Soul cultivators.
Previously, when human experts built cities, they’d done so stealthily, choosing remote, out-of-the-way locations. By the time the Green Demon experts discovered them, the cities had already fallen—everything happened too fast.
Unless the city-builder actively invited or informed others, most human Nascent Soul experts couldn’t even react in time.
But this time was different.
Ye Qingxuan had placed his city right in one of the most active zones for both humans and Green Demons, out in the open on the plains.
Both races had discovered it at almost the same time.
And a large number of experts from both sides had either received word or sensed it personally.
This naturally gave the human Nascent Soul cultivators time to respond.
Most of the human Nascent Soul cultivators who gathered weren’t there to help Ye Qingxuan defend the city.
Instead, they planned to use his city as bait, looking for opportunities to hunt down the approaching Green Demon Nascent Soul cultivators.
Ever since the Xuanmu Realm had been fully opened to low-level cultivators from both realms, the cultivators of the two worlds had been fighting independently.
This kind of large-scale gathering of Green Demon Nascent Soul cultivators was something you’d only encounter when a human built a city.
Perhaps because this area was one of the most active zones for cultivators of both realms, there were quite a few Green Demon Nascent Soul cultivators active nearby.
In just half a day, seven Green Demon Nascent Soul cultivators had already gathered.
Among the Green Demons, the strong ruled.
The other six who’d arrived—Green Demons at the early and middle Nascent Soul stages—naturally deferred to the late-stage Nascent Soul Green Demon as their leader.
But once they had seven, that late-stage Nascent Soul Green Demon didn’t immediately attack Ye Qingxuan’s city.
He frowned, scanning the mountains around them, weighing his options. After a moment of deliberation, he decided to keep waiting.
He’d wait three more days, until more Nascent Soul clansmen had gathered, before attacking that new human city on the plains.
It wasn’t that he feared that human city.
The shift in energy signatures among the mountains hadn’t escaped his notice.
What he was wary of were the human Nascent Soul cultivators converging in the mountains—the ones whose numbers he couldn’t determine.
He might not take Ye Qingxuan’s city seriously, but he also didn’t want to put himself in danger.
After a brief moment of thought, he took out another transmission talisman and sent out a message.
Then he sat cross-legged and waited.
Time passed, and three days went by quickly.
The late-stage Nascent Soul Green Demon, who’d been sitting in meditation, suddenly opened his eyes:
“Finally here.”
The next moment, an unrestrained aura descended upon the area, and a booming voice rang out:
“Xie Yin, for a mere newly built human city, you still need me to make a move?”
“Mo” and “Xie” were the two major surnames among the Green Demon race. The vast majority of Green Demon cultivators bore one of these two names.
Xie Yin was the late-stage Nascent Soul Green Demon who’d first discovered Ye Qingxuan’s city.
The newcomer was the reinforcements Xie Yin had contacted via transmission talisman.
As the figure landed beside him, Xie Yin chuckled:
“Xie Wu, this time, that city is secondary. The real targets are the human experts hiding in the surrounding mountains.”
That’s right—after noticing the changes in the human energy signatures in the surrounding mountains, his primary target had shifted from that new human city on the plains to the human Nascent Soul experts gathering in the mountains.
Hearing this, Xie Wu scanned the mountains in all directions, his eyes lighting up:
“Excellent!”
If they could break a human city and kill a large number of human Nascent Soul experts in this battle, he’d not only acquire human corpses but also earn massive merits from the clan—enough to exchange for insights into breaking through to the Spirit Transformation realm and seek the opportunity to advance.
At that thought, Xie Wu’s eyes burned even brighter. Impatiently, he said:
“Everyone’s just about here. Let’s move on that city quickly, and draw out those human experts hiding in the shadows.”
In Xie Wu’s view, those human experts had gathered to protect that new human city on the plains.
As soon as they attacked the city, the human Nascent Soul experts who’d converged there would naturally emerge.
Xie Yin nodded in agreement and looked at the other Green Demon Nascent Soul cultivators:
“Everyone, let’s move.”
With that, he and Xie Wu stood in midair, watching Ye Qingxuan’s city on the plains.
The other Green Demon Nascent Soul cultivators who’d gathered moved toward Ye Qingxuan’s city in perfect sync.
Xie Yin and Xie Wu followed closely behind, holding the rear while covertly monitoring the movements of the human experts hiding in the mountains.
By now, in the mountains on both sides of the plains—
Including Xie Yin and Xie Wu, a total of 2 late-stage Nascent Soul cultivators, 6 middle-stage Nascent Soul cultivators, 12 early-stage Nascent Soul cultivators, and 23 peak Nascent Soul cultivators had gathered on the Green Demon side.
On the human side, only 33 Nascent Soul cultivators had gathered.
And among those 33, there was only 1 late-stage Nascent Soul cultivator cradling a long blade, along with 3 middle-stage Nascent Soul cultivators.
The Green Demons’ mobilization was instantly detected by the human experts in the mountains.
Among the humans, one cultivator, seeing the scale of the force, muttered:
“Tsk tsk tsk, that many Green Demon Nascent Souls? This city-builder is in for a rough time.”
Fortunately, after a city was established, there was usually a teleportation array connecting back to the Xuanmu Realm. So while many were gloating, they also knew the city-builder probably wouldn’t be in life-threatening danger.
With the disparity in strength so stark, the human Nascent Soul cultivators who’d gathered didn’t show themselves recklessly.
Instead, after the Green Demon Nascent Souls left the mountain area, the human Nascent Soul cultivators began to move. They set up formations and ambushes along the edge of the mountains bordering the plains, looking for an opportunity to strike at the Green Demon Nascent Soul experts.
These human experts weren’t fools—they wouldn’t force a direct confrontation with such a large group of Green Demon Nascent Souls.
They’d gathered here, but that didn’t mean they had to fight.
If a perfect opportunity presented itself, they’d certainly seize it.
But if no opening appeared, they absolutely wouldn’t risk their lives to force a battle.
Inside the city.
Ye Qingxuan, who’d been resting with his eyes closed, sensed the surge of energy rolling in from the mountains on both sides. He opened his eyes slightly and murmured:
“Finally here.”
A faint smile crossed his lips as he began taking full control of the sixth-order Nine Palaces and Eight Trigrams Formation, raising its defensive power.
He had no intention of holding back on the formation’s capabilities—he raised it directly to the sixth-order level.
After all, since he’d built his city in one of the most active zones for both races, if he didn’t have some kind of ace up his sleeve, even the Green Demons probably wouldn’t buy it.
And besides, if he didn’t boost the barrier to the sixth-order level, Ye Qingxuan wasn’t confident he could withstand the assault from all these Green Demon Nascent Soul cultivators.
Standing in midair within the city, he calmly watched the many Green Demon Nascent Soul cultivators racing toward him, mentally tallying their numbers:
“Forty-three Green Demon Nascent Souls, huh?”
The number didn’t shock him—if anything, he found it a little disappointing.
He’d set up his city right here specifically to attract as many Green Demon Nascent Soul cultivators as possible in one go, using the opportunity of building a city to hunt down more of them.
This chance only came during the very first assault by the Green Demons.
By the second time, without enough trump cards, the Green Demon Nascent Soul cultivators wouldn’t take such risks again.
And what about Green Demons below the Nascent Soul realm?
They weren’t stupid either—battles at the Nascent Soul level were no place for them to join the fun.
“Attack!”
BOOM—BOOM—BOOM—!
Torrents of demonic energy surged forward, slamming into the barrier around Ye Qingxuan’s city with deafening explosions.
Inside the city, Ye Qingxuan watched the Green Demons attack from a distance, never getting close, and frowned slightly:
“So cautious?”
He’d expected these Nascent Soul Green Demons to get closer before attacking.
After all, the farther away they were, the more their attacks would be weakened when they hit the city’s shield.
But he hadn’t expected that—even with so many Green Demon Nascent Soul experts gathered—not a single one would dare approach his city.
The closest Green Demon Nascent Soul was still over a hundred li away.
At that distance, even if Ye Qingxuan activated the sixth-order killing formations on the city walls, he couldn’t deal any real damage to enemies that far out.
To use the sixth-order killing formations outside the city to hunt Green Demon Nascent Souls, the enemy would need to get within at least ten li of the city.
What Ye Qingxuan didn’t know was this:
In previous sieges of human cities, any Green Demon cultivator who’d been reckless and charged ahead had mostly perished to the city’s dying counterattacks before it fell.
Any cultivator who chose to build a city in the lower realms basically had some trump cards to rely on.
Before the city was breached, they had a decent chance of taking one or two reckless Nascent Soul cultivators down with them.
These aliens were of a different race, not stupid.
After so many bloody examples, now when they faced a human city again, even if they talked big, they were all as cunning as foxes. Not a single Green Demon Nascent Soul cultivator dared to get too close to Ye Qingxuan’s city.
As these thoughts raced through his mind, the bombardment outside his city never let up.
But attacks from over a hundred li away barely made the sixth-order barrier around his city ripple.
“This won’t work.”
Ye Qingxuan narrowed his eyes, staring at the Green Demon Nascent Soul cultivators a hundred li away.
The next second, he channeled spiritual power through his body and called out in an utterly arrogant tone:
“Hey, you things over there—are you scratching an itch for this city lord’s city? Or did you come all this way just to set off fireworks for my new city’s opening?”
While speaking, he secretly manipulated the Nine Palaces and Eight Trigrams Formation, weakening its power slightly.
He made the barrier around the city begin to waver faintly under the long-range bombardment from the forty-plus Green Demon Nascent Souls.
A hundred li away, by the time Ye Qingxuan’s voice reached the Green Demons’ ears—
Every single Nascent Soul Green Demon exploded with fury.
Xie Wu’s eyes turned icy cold:
“No more testing. All he’s relying on is this turtle shell. Does he really think setting up a sixth-order defensive formation is enough to establish a foothold in the Xuanmu Realm?”
In the Green Demons’ past experience crushing human cities, most newly built human cities relied heavily on various formations.
Some set up attack formations, some defensive formations, and some used both.
Comparatively, cities that only had defensive formations were the easiest to take down.
This city had been under attack for a while now, and the barrier was already starting to waver—yet there was still no counterattack.
In Xie Wu’s view, this city was most likely one that had only a defensive formation.
Xie Yin nodded in agreement and spoke up:
“In that case, let’s launch a real assault and teach that human a lesson he won’t forget.”
“Kill!”
At the command, over forty Nascent Soul Green Demon experts began advancing toward Ye Qingxuan’s city.
Though Xie Yin and Xie Wu weren’t official leaders of these Green Demons, among their race, the strongest in battle served as the temporary commander during wartime.
So under Xie Yin’s orders, none of the Green Demons resisted.
However, their approach wasn’t fast.
Many of them secretly pulled out defensive treasures or talismans, holding them at the ready to activate at a moment’s notice.
The ones charging at the front were actually a few newly promoted Nascent Soul Green Demon cultivators.
