Shen and Xue’er were walking on the near empty streets. They had left Green Bamboo Manor in search of an inn to stay the night. However, all inns were booked out due to the commotion brought on by the news of evil cultivators.

“Well, what do we do now Xue’er? We can’t just wonder the streets. The gates closed a while ago and they aren’t letting people in or out.”

“Hmm…How about we go see the Sun siblings? We can ask to stay at their house until all this settles down. I’m sure they won’t refuse us, Big Brother Shen.”

“Ok, let’s do as Xue’er says.” Shen smiled and the two headed towards the western residential districts, carrying one sleeping fox.

“Xue’er, are you interested in seeing these evil cultivators if they come attack the city?”

“Ok. We should help out as well if they do come and attack. If they have a True Immortal, Big Brother Shen will have to stop them.”

“Aren’t you scared, Xue’er?”

“A little. But I know Big Brother Shen won’t let them hurt me.”

Xue’er’s smile made Shen happy inside. He couldn’t help but squeeze Xue’er’s hand a little tighter.

Soon, a familiar fence and spirit herb garden came into sight. The barrier around the house was fully activated. Shen knocked on the gate as they arrived.

After waiting a while, and getting no responses, Shen yelled out.

“Brother Sun! It’s Shen and Long Xue’er! Are you inside?”

A few seconds passed and the front door of the house opened. Sun De’s head peeked out from the gap and looked around.

“Ah! Brother Shen!”

Sun De quickly came out to the front gate. He manipulated the barrier to allow the two entry.

“Please, come in!”

“Many thanks, Brother Sun.”

Shen and Xue’er followed Sun De into the house after coming inside the barrier.

“Brother Shen, Sister Xue’er, I take it you’ve gotten the news of the evil cultivators?”

The living room was empty and the two other females were not in sight. The three took sat down around the table.

“Of course, we only just got back from the forest recently. There were no vacancies in any of the inns so we thought to come bother your family for a bit, haha.”

“Haha, no problem at all! You are welcome here any time.”

However, Sun De froze up as he was talking to Shen.

“Br-Brother Shen! Your cultivation!”

Sun De was indeed shocked. The last time he saw Shen wasn’t all that long ago. Shen was only an early Nascent Soul stage cultivator. Now, he was no longer able to sense Shen’s cultivation at all!

It meant that either Shen was hiding his cultivation or he has surpassed Sun De by at least two small stages!

“Hmm? Oh, I recently took some time to cultivate up to Soul Formation stage. I wanted to catch up to Xue’er, haha.”

Shen’s nonchalant reply made Sun De speechless on the spot.

“Big Brother Shen, normally a cultivator would take decades to reach Soul Formation from Nascent Soul stage. You are just too abnormal! Please don’t go around telling everyone your cultivation speed. Otherwise, the entire cultivator world would come chasing you.”

“Hmm, alright. Brother Sun, please keep this a secret then, haha.” Shen seemed as if he understood but did not at the same time.

Xue’er could only give a helpless smile at this. ‘Even if others found out, it’s not like they can do anything. I shouldn’t worry so much.’

“Hmm? Secret? Ah yes. Sure!” Sun De’s face was still a bit stiff from the unexpected information.

Xue’er placed the fox on the table. “Brother Sun, where are Sister Su and Sister Lin?”

“They’re in their rooms, cultivating at the moment. We can’t go outside of the city so we can only cultivate. We don’t want to be stuck at Nascent Soul stage forever.”

“Ah is that so? We must have disturbed Brother Sun. We apologize.”

“Oh, no need, you haven’t disturbed me at all! One of us three take turns to keep watch since you never know what might happen.”

*RUMBLE!*

As the three chatted, a large explosion resounded out from the city centre.

“What was that?” Shen stood up and raced to the outside of the house.

Xue’er followed Shen while Sun De went to get his sister and wife.

Shen saw that the normally transparent barrier was now fluctuating wildly. There were three large flying ships stopped just above the city.

The three ships were gathering spiritual power at astonishing amount at the bow. Soon after, three lumps of spiritual power slammed into the same location of the barrier.

*RUMBLE!!*

The barrier shook fiercely and it looked a little dimmer than before.

“EVERYONE IN THE CITY! COME TO THE CITY CENTRE AND PUT YOUR SPIRITUAL POWER INTO THE DEFENCE FORMATION! WE MUST HOLD UNTIL REINFORCEMENTS ARRIVE!”

Shen and Xue’er looked at each other. “Xue’er, get Little White. We should go help out.”

Shen turned towards Sun De, Sun Su and Haung Lin who just came out of the house.

“Brother Sun, are you all coming as well?”

“Of course, Brother Shen!”

Xue’er had placed Little White into the pet bag. The group of five ran towards the city centre where the core of the defence formation was laid out. On the way, they saw many other cultivators were heading the same direction.

A large crowd had gathered at the centre of the city. However, everyone sat in neat circles, forming rings around the five people who sat at the very centre.

Shen’s group also joined the outermost circle and sat down. They directed their spiritual power towards the ground where the formation was laid out.

The attacks from the three flying ships would come at regular intervals. The barrier would dim every time an attack was repelled, consuming a considerable amount of spiritual power.

However, the spiritual power would be replenished quickly by the tens of thousands of cultivators sitting around the formation.

The size of the formation was limited. Therefore, those with lower cultivation would occasionally swap with others once their spiritual power ran dry.

The stalemate lasted for over half a day. A voice from the ships sounded out at this time.

“You so called correct path people! It’s a matter of time before your barrier is broken. Surrender now and save yourself the suffering!”

One of the five from the core of the formation opened his eyes and replied back with a haughty tone.

“Hmph! Who would surrender to you despicable worms! So, what if the barrier is broken! We’ll just have to fight to the death!”

“Haha, an elder of the Heavenly Beast Sect, is it? I wonder just how many share that opinion of yours. Hahaha! Keep up the attack! They won’t last much longer!”

Silence resumed with the occasional bombing of the barrier. About 80% of the cultivators present in the city were now in an exhausted state and were replenishing their spiritual power.

As the man from the ship stated, the barrier won’t last much longer with the status quo. The five Sky Immortal elders at the core of the formation had heavy expressions on their faces.

The elder from the Heavenly Beast Sect had only spewed out nonsense earlier in hope to raise morale.

He knew that once the barrier was broken, most of the cultivators present would run for their lives.

The tension was rising as the spiritual power was rapidly consumed. Everyone in the city felt the suffocating pressure emitted by the three flying ships.

It was at this moment that a wind breaking loud noise was heard from the Southern direction of the city.

Four flying ships similar in size to the ones of the evil cultivators could be seen rapidly approaching the city.

““Devil Path Alliance!””