Outside the City of Burning Flames, amidst the viscous gray mist, five colossal and indescribable high-ranking fiends slowly raised their claws or tentacles, advancing step by step towards the magnificent city.
The earth trembled.
The fiends roared.
Their sharp cries rippled the very space.
With the simultaneous appearance of five high-ranking fiends, the entire world seemed to be tainted.
Inside the city, vegetation withered, river water turned turbid, and some plants began to mutate.
In terms of combat power, high-ranking fiends might be weaker than Emissaries of the Evil God, but when it came to pollution capability… any high-ranking fiend was an embodiment of filth.
They were approaching.
The location of their appearance was still quite far from the oasis, shrouded in thick gray mist.
Most faction representatives could not see these towering figures, but their instincts screamed with a strong premonition. A sense of impending death washed over them, and their souls felt frozen.
"I-I-I heard… they are high-ranking fiends."
"There are multiple high-ranking fiends!"
Within the city, Sage Cangtu had taken out the weapon he had refined for many years.
A quasi-divine-demon-level fiend weapon.
Among human factions, no master possessed the ability to craft a divine-demon-level fiend weapon, unless they found a naturally occurring treasure that could be slightly modified for use as a weapon.
Such treasures were exceedingly rare.
Materials of Crimson grade were uncommon, let alone functional treasures.
Sage Cangtu's weapon was originally a top-tier legendary fiend weapon. During his ascent to the high-ranking path, it underwent a baptism, and was then forged with his own laws and divine power. Its grade slowly rose, nearing the threshold of the Crimson grade.
It was still inferior to a genuine Crimson-grade treasure.
However, this weapon was incredibly suited to Sage Cangtu, and when truly wielded, it could be considered as him holding a divine-demon weapon.
Sage Cangtu was not a combat specialist among high-ranking individuals, but with a quasi-divine-demon weapon in hand, he was confident he could defeat one high-ranking fiend.
Just one.
His internal power surged, and he flew towards the city walls.
However, before the high-ranking fiends outside the oasis could close in, another变故 occurred within the city.
A colossal fiend world gate, more than ten times larger than usual, suddenly tore open above the City of Burning Flames.
Gray mist billowed, forming a viscous cloud.
This cloud was like a gaping maw, pouring down heaps and heaps of fiends.
It was as if a black waterfall cascaded from the sky, crashing onto the ground with thunderous roars, smashing sturdy buildings into pieces.
The entire process was brief, lasting less than three seconds.
The fiends spread like ink within the city, roaring and destroying everything they touched.
Among them were several eight-star fiends.
The moment they touched the ground, the earth caved in, and vegetation withered in all directions. A plague rapidly spread outwards from them.
This crisis was more severe than that posed by high-ranking fiends.
Even if high-ranking fiends reached the city walls, the City of Burning Flames, with its legendary rituals and numerous defensive preparations, could at least hold on for a while.
But,
this group of high-tier fiends appearing within the city, if unhindered, could reduce the entire City of Burning Flames to ruins in mere moments.
Even with strong individuals intervening, the residual waves from their spread could easily destroy several city blocks, or even half the city.
This was the disaster that needed to be dealt with in a timely manner!
But why was the tribulation of ascension for the City of Burning Flames so exaggerated?
Sage Cangtu, Half-God Xiguang, and others could not understand.
Fang You, however, had a slight understanding.
It might be related to the recent end of a disaster, but not entirely.
He had anticipated such an 'unexpected situation' of several eight-star fiends emerging within the city, and had prepared more reliable methods than he had two years ago.
In the empty city, figures flew out one after another.
Without exception, profound divine radiance emanated from them.
Golden light made them appear exceptionally sacred.
These were none other than venerable gods.
They wore flaming cloud robes, symbolizing their status as keepers of the torch. The moment the fiend world gate appeared, they had all flown out from their waiting positions.
They transformed into streaks of light, hovering in all directions outside the black tide.
Dozens of streaks of lightning shot towards the sky.
Beams of blue-purple light interconnected and combined, forming a majestic celestial curtain that enveloped the spreading black tide.
This was a formation ritual!
It did not require long preparation, but needed the coordinated control of at least thirty-six gods.
—The Thirty-Six Heavenly Constellation Divine Thunder Formation.
Lightning struck the heavens.
A massive fiend collided with the barrier, instantly engulfed by lightning, and turned to dust.
Even a seven-star fiend had its body shattered by half by the lightning.
The high-tier fiends that emerged from the fiend world gate were all trapped within this colossal blue-purple cuboid.
They could no longer pose any threat to the outside.
"Holy shit!"
The representatives could not understand the divine thunder formation ritual, but they understood who was controlling it.
The gods!
Dozens of gods stood in the sky, forming an invincible barrier together. What a sight!
Exaggerated, shocking!
"The Flame of Hope organization actually left thirty to forty gods in the city? How many Divine Lords do they have!"
"No, not in the city, just in Sector dC. These dozens of gods just flew out from this area. I strongly suspect that the Flame of Hope organization has far more gods on standby in the city!"
Half-God Xiguang, Sage Cangtu, and a few others were not particularly surprised, at most moderately surprised.
Years ago, dozens of gods had appeared outside the Flame of Hope Academy.
The Flame of Hope was indeed skilled in nurturing new talent.
The crisis within the city was temporarily contained, but outside the city…
As their thoughts turned to this, imposing figures stepped out of the oasis.
The River of Swords!
The vast River of Swords annihilated numerous fiends, but it also attracted the attention of the high-ranking fiends.
One terrifying fiend after another lunged towards the figures in the sky.
At this moment,
a figure, using the flowing edge as an anchor, traversed space and appeared above the high-ranking fiends.
As soon as she appeared, she slashed open a black spatial rift.
"Go! Two big guys!"
Little Huan Kong dropped two figures.
Then, with a whoosh, she teleported back into the city, feeling a bit of a thrill.
She had just been probing around under the gaze of more than one high-ranking fiend.
At this moment,
two figures, one large and one small, descended like meteorites.
They plummeted towards the left and right sides.
The smaller figure roared, and a tide of brown energy formed a colossal silhouette resembling a dragon or a turtle.
The ten-thousand-meter-tall silhouette crashed down heavily, instantly pinning a high-ranking fiend to the ground.
The other descending figure did not transform, but infinite light and heat emanated from its body, instantly becoming a blazing azure sun, which crashed down onto the earth.
Boom—!!
The world hummed, as if all sound had vanished.
People could only see the azure sun descending, the earth annihilating inch by inch, and the tide of fiends turning to ash in the blue flames.
The only remaining high-ranking fiend was also driven deep into the ground.
It roared and howled.
In the distance, three other fiends were rushing over.
It seemed that the flesh and blood of high-ranking beings were more enticing than the city teeming with countless humans.
But the Flame of Hope's assault had only just begun.
At this moment, high-ranking fiends were also prey.
The Sky Fortress, which Sage Cangtu had seen not long ago, slowly emerged from above the gray mist, scattering and crushing the surrounding gray mist.
Its muzzles were menacing, unleashing tens of thousands of gorgeous yet dangerous meteors.
The world was cleansed!
Rushing, vast tides of energy spread outwards with a thunderous roar.
The entire Starfall Domain seemed to tremble.
Awakened ones in the distant Starfall City and Iron City did not understand what was happening; they could only stare into the distance, filled with surprise and fear.
The City of Burning Flames, at the center of the battlefield, was like a lone boat in a storm, constantly tossed about.
However, the city defenses of the City of Burning Flames were top-notch among humans, and could naturally withstand the energy tide. The light screen before them only rippled, not yet cracked. It was just that the energy tide was hundreds of meters high, constantly impacting, a scene that instilled instinctive fear.
The Sky World Fortress instantaneously wiped out half of the fiend tide.
Furthermore, with its immense energy surge, it injured and blocked the approaching high-ranking fiends.
Simultaneously,
within the Starfire City, powerful individuals wielding the authority of the oasis also took action.
The one who acted was not Instructor Fang, but Black Blade.
Fang You had transferred this authority to Black Blade.
He himself did not really need the oasis authority, as he could already manipulate the power of the world.
The figure in black stood above the Starfire Oasis, reaching out with a virtual grasp.
The vast power of the world arrayed itself like soldiers under his command.
He was the general.
The power of the world was the army.
Black Blade held his fingers together, his buzzing immortal will merging into them.
He unleashed a saber strike imbued with ultimate saber intent.
The Saber of the World.
This strike crossed a thousand layers of space and landed on one of the high-ranking fiends.
Following this, came the second strike, the third, the fourth…
Black Blade manipulated the power of the world with apparent ease.
It was no more difficult than him commanding his legions.
River of Swords, Rock Dragon, Blazing Sun, Fortress, Oasis…
At this moment, they all acted in concert, driving the high-ranking fiends into the depths of the Nine Netherworld.
Instructor Fang, wearing the World Lord's Hand, hurled world-shattering divine thunder, effortlessly harvesting one high-ranking fiend after another that had been suppressed.
The entire process was as simple as eating and drinking.
In the blink of an eye, the cataclysm ended.
The Sky World Fortress, which had emerged half from the gray mist, retreated back into the boundless gray mist and disappeared.
After a while,
beneath the surging gray mist surrounding them, sparse fiend tides were replenished.
A new fiend tide, not much different in scale from before, continued to assault the City of Burning Flames with terrifying momentum.
However, by this time, not many people were focusing on the 'terrifying' tide.
Tribulation of ascension?
Fiend tide?
That's it?
Why did they feel a sense of pity for these fiends constantly charging towards the city!
"I'll be damned, I actually felt pity for fiends! I must be crazy."
A god spoke, his face still one of stunned disbelief.
What had he just seen?
Was it truly not an illusion?
"Five high-ranking fiends, dealt with so easily?"
"Wasn't this a fatal strike launched against the City of Burning Flames by Emissaries of the Evil God working in secret?"
Was it fatal?
It was indeed fatal to the high-ranking fiends.
They had barely appeared when they were shattered by lightning.
But if they, or the Seven Stars Alliance, or the Ancient Moon Dynasty, encountered such a scene during their ascension, even if they could defend the city, they would suffer heavy losses.
Their ability to defend would depend on the Shattered Sea already possessing multiple Level Nine oases.
But the Starfall Domain? Only one!
"Is this the true power of the Flame of Hope organization?"
"More than three high-ranking existences!"
"How powerful is this!"
For the rest of the day, there was no sign of Emissaries of the Evil God, nor any major dangers.
Oh, a lone high-ranking fiend appeared outside the city.
Wait, since when could high-ranking fiends be preceded by the modifier 'lone'?
But the high-ranking fiend that appeared outside the City of Burning Flames was indeed quite alone, instantly 'bullied' by multiple human powerhouses and died an ignominious death.
Within the city, there were more than ten instances of fiend world gates appearing. The most troublesome involved several eight-star fiends emerging simultaneously.
Then, there was no then.
In the absence of high-ranking fiends outside the city, the god formation and high-ranking existences struck simultaneously, eradicating the fiends within the city in an instant.
Throughout the entire process, apart from some damage to buildings, there were no casualties.
It seemed…
the defense battle lasted for three days and three nights, and not a single warrior from the entire Flame of Hope organization died?
Was that even possible?
The gods recalled.
The battlefield within the city was mostly cleared by the gods, and gods possessed strong vitality, not easily dying unless ambushed.
Outside the city, the fiend tide was harvested batch after batch, posing no threat to the defenders on the city walls.
The complete absence of casualties seemed… not entirely unbelievable?
…What a load of crap (╯‵□′)╯︵┻━┻!
Oh, there were casualties.
A representative of the Six Senses, whose mental state was already unstable, was impacted by the corruption, triggering the accumulated pollution within his body, and mutated to death.
In a scene of peace, the dark clouds that had enveloped the sky gradually receded.
Golden sunlight broke through, shining upon the earth.
This signified the end of the tribulation of ascension.
The earth began to rumble, and the boundaries of the oasis expanded at a visible speed, purifying the decaying land covered by gray mist inch by inch.
Even though the fiend tide still existed and continued to batter the city at this moment.
The sounds of bombardment outside the city still echoed from time to time.
But,
few faction representatives were still paying attention to the outside.
They were focused on the Flame of Hope.
What happened the day before had gradually spread among the faction representatives.
Dozens of gods in the sky!
Several high-ranking beings looking down upon the earth!
Wiping out five high-ranking fiends with overwhelming force!
Such power…
Such power…
The rulers of the Red Sand Kingdom, Water Overflow Kingdom, and others were astonished, feeling unworthy of calling themselves rulers.
The Seven Stars Alliance, the Ancient Moon Dynasty, and other rulers also admitted their inferiority, far behind.
Sage Beifeng, in his avatar form, was equally shocked.
"The ancient and mysterious Flame of Hope organization is stronger than our Wudong Empire!"
"They are humanity's strongest hegemon!"
Humanity's strongest?
No, there was also…
"Even the Central Holy Court only has the Holy Lord and three Grand Elders."
"The Flame of Hope organization has no less, possibly even more, Divine and Half-God realm existences than the Central Holy Court."
"The Flame of Hope organization also possesses more than four high-ranking existences!"
"Moreover, the Flame of Hope is an organization with great righteousness, concern for humanity, and worthy of admiration. Calling them humanity's strongest force is not an exaggeration! At least, it is more fitting than the Central Holy Court!"
Humanity's strongest force, Flame of Hope!
From this day forward, their name would truly echo throughout the human world.