The city’s defense rested on a single, fragile pillar: a lone Lower-Level 2 Foundation Establishment guardian dispatched from the Violet Sect.
An aging veteran whose cultivation talent had permanently stagnated, he had perhaps fifty years of life left in his meridians.
With his breakthrough path sealed, Airan knew the guardian would remain tucked away in meditation, refusing to lift a finger unless the city itself faced total annihilation.
For minor skirmishes, the lower rings were entirely on their own.
That grim reality manifested violently just three days after Max’s warning.
Zone D erupted in chaos as an invasion force of sixty demonic cultivators breached the outer wall. This chapter was copied from g.com without permission.
The city was structured in massive concentric circles spanning a diameter of roughly 150 kilometers, featuring four primary gates—North, South, East, and West—per tier.
Zone D was the largest and most densely populated ring, functioning practically as a human shield designed to absorb the brunt of external disasters and protect the wealthy elites of the inner zones.
Airan happened to be inside Max’s shop when a vanguard squad of ten demonic cultivators tore through the local marketplace, carving a bloody path of destruction.
The disparity in power was immediate and terrifying.
Most independent and rogue cultivators populating Zone D lingered in the lower-to-middle stages of Qi cultivation due to chronic resource scarcity and poor manuals.
In stark contrast, every single one of the invading demonic cultivators sat firmly in the upper stages of Qi, radiating a chilling, metallic aura of slaughter. The source of this chapter is g.com.
Their horrifying strength followed a parasitic formula.
Starting out as weak, low-level novices, these demonic practitioners would initially target soft, undefended settlements like isolated hamlets and rural villages with minimal resistance.
By slaughtering mortals and ruthlessly draining the blood and life essence of lower-tier cultivators, they rapidly bypassed normal bottleneck restrictions, artificially accelerating their power through forbidden blood arts before scaling up to larger, fortified urban targets.
Outside Max’s reinforced wooden shutters, the frantic shouts of merchants drowned under the agonizing screams of the dying.
The outer ring was burning, and the hunt had officially reached their doorstep.
Author’s Note: Thanks for reading Chapter 23!
Airan’s journey from a penniless herb collector to a spirit distiller starts here.