Outside Heaven City, the battle still raged.

Without Tang Jie to stop them, the Underworld Nether Attendants had returned to the battlefield. While Tang Jie had inflicted heavy losses on them, leaving them at less than a third of their number, this was still enough to present a huge problem for the human cultivators. Anyone would be vexed when dealing with this kind of unkillable foe.

The undying nature of the Nether Attendants meant that the ghosts were able to make use of their advantage in numbers and keep up an endless onslaught.

While the human cultivators were strong at the start, as the battle wore on, they sustained losses and grew tired.

The advantage of numbers now became apparent: the ability to keep up the momentum in the later phase.

So long as there were enough soldiers, the ghosts could keep on fighting. Morale or losses did not matter!

One wave of ghosts after another crashed down, and the roiling ghost fog carried with it the shadow of death.

In these circumstances, the objectives of breaching Heaven City, destroying the formation, and saving the civilians became more and more unachievable.

Moreover, as one side grew weaker and the other grew stronger, the challenges would only mount.

Yuan Tianzhong started to grow worried. He shouted, “Everyone, join me in a charge. We have to break through that damn Chaos Net Heavenly Formation!”

As he spoke, he sent out the Triple Truth Fire dragon.

But Zoros’s black wheel lit up, and the black fog gathered into a colossal dragon. This black dragon, being made of ghost fog, was no less powerful than Yuan Tianzhong’s fire dragon.

At the same time, numerous Ghost Kings and generals assailed the various Violet Palace True Lords, with each one having five to six high-tier Ghost Kings, and a number of middle- and low-tier Ghost Kings, so they were essentially facing ten to several dozen times their number in enemies.

Xi Canhen and Wei Tianchong’s assault on Zoros was undone, the flood of ghosts pushing them apart.

Although they managed to kill swath after swath with their formidable powers, the ceaseless torrent of ghosts made them despair.

Xi Canhen was the first to hit his limit. He had already slain many ghosts, which was incredibly rare for an assassin-type cultivator like him who normally focused on high-level targets, perhaps even unimaginable. Prolonged battle was ultimately not his strong suit. Two uses of the Sacrificial Sword had already drained him, as had the following battle against Zoros. He also wasn’t that skilled at fighting masses of opponents, so even though he was at Violet Palace, he still felt an immense pressure from the hordes of ghosts.

Plush!

A wind claw scratched at his body. Though it left only an unremarkable wound, it exposed the fact that he had a weak constitution. Fortunately, ghosts were emotionless, which made them both fearless and unable to experience any sort of morale boost, so there was no cheering, and this extremely significant attack was thus ignored.

But Xi Canhen had no choice but to fall back and avoid being surrounded as much as possible. Though he was powerful, when facing such a vast host, one had to consider not just how many enemies one could kill, but what sort of flaws one would expose while attacking, how to conserve energy, and how to avoid further damage.

Xi Canhen was not alone in this. The vast majority of the cultivators were locked in bitter combat. The Violet Palace cultivators fared better, since there was still a limit to the number of Ghost Kings. The Celestial Heart and Mortal Shedding cultivators were in much greater danger. Not only did they have to deal with the sea of ghosts, but also the Underworld Nether Attendants, and the situation for the humans grew increasingly dire.

The human charge ground to halt and instead began to be pushed back.

They had only been a thousand feet away from the airspace of Heaven City, but this distance seemed impossible to traverse.

“Agh!” A scream rang out.

A cultivator fell from the sky, still alive, but countless ghosts immediately set upon him, crazily devouring his flesh and blood.

This was a Soul Transformation cultivator, the first to fall in this battle.

But he was not the only one.

A second and third Soul Transformation cultivator quickly followed.

As more and more cultivators died, human blood rained from the skies.

“Stop the charge!” someone finally shouted. “If this keeps up, let alone breaking the formation, we’ll end up being slain instead!”

“The moment has been lost. Sect Master, please give the retreat order,” another Great Sun Sect elder advised.

Yuan Tianzhong fell silent.

As he was thinking, a person objected, “If we leave now, what of the civilians?”

An elder immediately retorted, “At this point, what else can we do? No matter what that Nether Emperor is up to, we can’t stop it now. Even if we were all willing to die, we would probably die in vain. Our best option is to immediately return to human territory and defend the areas still free of the ghost fog.”

“Correct. In my view, that Nether Emperor cares so much about this formation that the invasion must have been for the sake of it. Perhaps when he’s done with whatever he’s doing, the Nether Domain invasion will end. Such a powerful offensive on our part might actually be counterproductive.”

“But it might also make that guy so strong that we can no longer stop him.” There were supporters and objectors to retreating.

“It’s better than all of us dying here! We will have nothing!”

“That’s right. Regardless, we’ve done our best for those people. In this time of great catastrophe, some things can’t be helped. They can only blame their own misfortune.”

As people argued back and forth, the side for retreat gained the upper hand.

At this moment, Qi Shaoming abruptly said, “What about Tang Jie? He was pulled into the formation. What about him? Are you just going to leave him behind?”

Everyone fell silent.

After a long silence, an Unbounded Sect elder finally said, “I’m afraid that we will have to let Young Master Tang down.”

Wei Tianchong angrily bellowed, “My brother went deep into enemy lines for your sake, and you want to abandon him?”

“We have to adapt according to the situation. In this crisis, how can we sacrifice everyone for the sake of one person?” the elder who first advised retreat said. His name was Liao Chao, and he was an extremely senior member of the sect. Glaring, he said, “We don’t even know if Tang Jie is alive. If he’s already dead, it would be better not to waste our time.”

“You’re talking bullshit!” the Rosecloud cultivators roared in fury.

At a critical moment like this, the two sides began to quarrel, which allowed the ghost army to charge a little closer and surround them.

The sunlight began to dim, the dark clouds encroaching, shrinking the area of sky that had been opened up.

But even then, neither side relented.

Liao Chao saw that the Rosecloud Domain cultivators were unwilling to back down and grew anxious, shouting, “You can stay if you want, but we will be leaving!”

It seemed that he intended to leave on his own.

Wei Tianchong glared. “Let me see who dares to leave! Don’t force my hand!”

Chaos and disarray spread through the ranks.

A ghost army surrounded them while their own ranks were fraught with tension. Even Yuan Tianzhong couldn’t calm things down now.

Just then, a light erupted from the formation.

The cultivators were confused, but Nether Emperor Zoros immediately shouted, “Shit!”

Forgetting about the humans, he rushed back to the formation.

The Flame Yang Domain cultivators didn’t know what was going on, but those of the Rosecloud Domain all realized what was happening.

Wei Tianchong laughed. “I just knew that Tang Jie was alive. That Nether Emperor committed the worst error in shutting Tang Jie up in that formation. Just how many in the world can surpass him when it comes to formations?”

The cultivators now understood that Tang Jie had definitely done something to panic Zoros so much that he abandoned the battlefield.

Without Zoros to command the ghosts, there was much less pressure on the cultivators.

This wasn’t merely because the ghosts had lost a powerful force, but because the ghost army had reverted into a pile of loose sand without Zoros’s leadership.

The cultivators now had some space to breathe.

In this situation, Yuan Tianzhong finally made up his mind. “Nobody is allowed to retreat. We fight to the death.”

“Sect Master, you’re putting everyone’s lives at risk!” Liao Chao still objected. “The moment to break the formation has already passed, and the Nether Emperor has personally gone in to kill Tang Jie. There’s no way Tang Jie can defeat him. If we don’t leave now, once the Nether Emperor comes back and musters his army, we’ll all die!”

Nobody attempted to refute this argument.

Indeed, there was an entire realm between Heart Demon and Deification. How could Tang Jie possibly win?

Yuan Tianzhong once more hesitated.

Qi Shaoming inwardly snorted, determining that Yuan Tianzhong was somewhat indecisive and easily influenced. He said, “If that’s the case, Sect Master, why not wait a little longer? If that Nether Emperor kills Tang Jie and comes out of the formation again, we won’t have any objections if you retreat. But if he can’t do that and Tang Jie is still fighting, what reason do we have to retreat?”

Yuan Tianzhong nodded. “That makes sense. Let’s do this. If that Nether Emperor comes out of the formation, no matter what transpired inside, we immediately retreat. Until then, I would like everyone to hold on.”

Since he hadn’t completely ruled out escaping, the other cultivators accepted this plan.

Nobody realized that this meant that the outcome of this battle now rested entirely on Tang Jie.