The Magus Era

Orders spread in all directions. Under the pressure from Emperor Xuanyuan and the other three former emperors, those large families were mobilized too this time.

Since the first war of aggression started by the non-humankind in Pan Gu world, this was the first time for all human forces to mobilize fully. Countless weapon depots were opened, several hidden forces were put in use, and a large number of elites who had been cultivating themselves in isolation were woken up. For quite a long while, one could hear conversations like this in Pu Ban City — ’Eh? Old dude, you’re still alive? Everyone thought you died centuries ago!’

Emperor Xuanyuan visited the dragon-kind and the phoenix-kind himself. No one knew what he said to the dragons and phoenixes, but as a result of his trip, the dragons and phoenixes made their moves too, even if they had always been proud and never liked to be too close to the humankind.

Pu Ban City became a giant military camp. Food, armaments, and elite warriors were sent to Pu Ban City ceaselessly. Fierce mounts ran about on the ground, quaking the ground slightly. Enormous birds hovered in the sky, even covering the sun with their wings.

Countless water-kind captives who were enslaved by human warriors were gathered as well. They filled all rivers, lakes, and streams around the city, releasing their spirit creature power straight to the sky and forming dense dark clouds that covered the sky. Each day, these water-kind spirit creatures needed to absorb natural powers to cultivate themselves. Therefore, Pu Ban City was suffused with a strong fishy smell.

Strong creatures worshipped by human clans, such as treemen, jungle spirits, stone men, earth spirits, and all kinds of mysterious non-human creatures also gathered in Pu Ban City because of the general mobilization of the humankind. One could see large groups of strange creatures crossing or even dancing on the streets.

Many clans woke up their strongest worshipped creatures. Therefore, some rare, ancient species showed up in Pu Ban City. According to the legends, some of these species were extinct already, but now, one could find them all in Pu Ban City. Hiderigami[1] was one of these legendary creatures. According to the legend, she attended the war against Chi You with Emperor Xuanyuan. Hiderigami was pretty and slim, looking like a young girl. Less than three hours after she arrived in Pu Ban City, the city was dried. All plants died, and a strong burning stink could be sensed from every area of the city.

Within six hours after she arrived, hundreds of fire accidents happened in the city. Thousands of buildings were burned, even including a granary.

Without a choice, Emperor Xuanyuan visited Hiderigami and respectfully invited her to rest in a large mansion ten-thousand miles away, which was built especially for her. The same evening, the mountain range where the mansion was located suffered a massive wildfire. All plants in that area were incinerated.

While all forces were heading to Pu Ban City, Ji Hao went northward alone.

Chi Ban Mountain line of defense...

The flood was gone, and the mountains, which were soaked in water for years, were already covered in moss and tender grass. Some ancient trees with strong life-force were rooted deep in the mountains. As the flood sank, these trees were again full of vigor and vitality, sprouting new leaves.

The humankind spent incalculable efforts, time, and resources on the Chi Ban Mountain line of defense. Every mountain in this tremendous mountain range were thickly carved with spell symbols, and had a defensive formation buried in it.

Once the flood was gone, the Chi Ban Mountain line of defense was reactivated, and a sizeable number of troops settled in it. Once the army led by Yi Di, Hao Tao, Tao Sha, and the other commanders returned, the Chi Ban Mountain line of defense would have a sufficient force.

The twelve cities of calamity lined up above the Chi Ban Mountain line of defense. Last time, the Blood Moon launched an offensive by sending their troops directly into the Chi Ban Mountain area, starting intensives fight against human warriors. But this time, they did it in a different way. Patiently and unhurriedly, they gradually pushed the twelve cities of great calamity forward.

When Ji Hao arrived in Chi Ban Mountain, he saw a city of great calamity release a dazzling beam of light. Within the light, a towering mountain down below burst with countless spell symbols and defensive screens. The ground was shaking while the defensive formation buried in the mount was crazily extracting the earth power to generated miles thick defensive screens to fight against the strike launched by the city of great calamity.

Followed by a thunderous bang, the defensive formations shattered eventually, and the mountain was flattened. Hundreds of human warriors stationed on the mountain had left with their flying mounts long ago, while hundreds of Jia Clan warriors on metal plates chased closely after them. An intense fight was immediately started between them, as warriors from both sides suffered injuries.

Before long, the Jia Clan warriors gave on chasing, and the human warriors escaped successfully.

On the ground, countless non-humankind slaves had been yelling and shouting. They were busy at flattening the collapsed mountain to the ground with a large number of large-scale machines they controlled. They broke large rocks, filled them into large pits on the ground, flattened the road surface with heavy metal machines, then poured a grey-coloured, sticky liquid on the road.

The gray liquid quickly melted rocks and sands. Soon, the melted rocks and sands solidified again, and the road surface became a translucent, gray-colored crystalline solid body. These non-humankind slaves had been working quite efficiently. Not long afterward, they paved a hundred-miles-wild road through the collapsed mountain.

The city of great calamity slowly moved south. Reaching the next mount, it again released a dazzling light beam and tore down the next mountain. Afterward, hundreds of Jia Clan warriors chased after a group of human warriors for a short while, and non-humankind salves on the ground paved another section of the road.

The twelve cities of calamity kept moving south, unhurriedly destroying mountains while countless non-humankind slaves were paving the twelve broad roads on the ground. They worked fairly hard, that sweat had been streaming down their backs. By the time Ji Hao arrived, the twelve roads had already reached into the Chi Ban Mountain range from the north side for over two-thousand miles.

Ji Hao looked at the twelve cities of great calamity in the air, stunned.

Were these non-humankind beings trying to create twelve paths that led straight to Pu Ban City?

Glancing at the boundless military camp of the non-humankind on the grassland by the north of Chi Ban Mountain, Ji Hao’s heart was heavy. Without the Chi Ban Mountain line of defense, the non-humankind army would be able to head straight in through the twelve broad roads, which meant the human force had to put up a desperate fight against them on the grassland. But honestly, in both terms of military strength and equipment, the non-humankind was far stronger than the humankind. If the decisive battle really happened on the grassland, the humankind would definitely suffer a severe loss, even if they managed to stop the non-humankind from approaching Pu Ban City. Not to mention the fact that the non-humankind now had twelve cities of great calamity!

However, these non-humankind beings didn’t seem to be starting a real war! While frowning, Ji Hao looked at the twelve slowly moving cities of great calamity. A thought popped up in his head.

They didn’t seem to start a real war because if they did, they could have launched a series of strike to the valleys and canyons, where the majority of human troops were stationed in, and the human force would have suffered heavy casualties long ago.

Pondering for a short while, Ji Hao transformed into a fiery light and flew to the nearest city of great calamity.

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[1] Hiderigami, (Chinese: hànbá, 旱魃) is a mythical species that holds the power to cause droughts.