General Nanbai Zhaoyu turned his gaze towards Hu Yuanbo, his eyes filled with malice. "This has gone on for far longer than necessary. It is now time for you to die."

Hu Yuanbo gritted his teeth in indignation. "You damn fool! Keep it up then, allow a junior to continue manipulating you with his words! As for me, even if I have to meet my end today, I will surely bring you down together with me!"

"Go ahead and try, you piece of human trash!" General Nanbai Zhaoyu bellowed.

As if taking his words as the cue, all three Origin Core realm demons immediately shot forward towards Hu Yuanbo!

Hu Yuanbo roared in response, driving the Spiritual Essence in his inner world to the absolute limit.

He was already at his limit. His only chance at survival was by going all out with this next move, burning all of his Essence energy in one explosive strike!

If he managed to take down any one of them with this exchange, there might actually be hope of turning things around!

The shining sword of energy that had been under Hu Yuanbo's control suddenly burst into flames, almost resembling the illusory figure of a burning sword that had been glowing brightly behind him.

With a wave of his fingers, the burning sword of energy erupted straight towards the three demons!

However, General Nanbai Zhaoyu was not at all intimidated by the attack.

The illusory figure of a giant palm glowed brightly behind him as General Nanbai Zhaoyu slammed forth with his palmstrike.

By his sides, a halberd containing the immovable might of a mountain and a sword containing baleful dark energy struck out in perfect harmony, joining his palmstrike as one collected front.

The combined offensive force from the three Origin Core demons formed a bolt of chaotic energy that headed straight for the burning sword of energy.

At the same time, the sheer force of this attack released a terrifying amount of remnant energy that swept across the entire main square. This remnant energy was sharp and extensive, presenting a true threat to both forces as it covered the entire area.

Both forces had no choice but to stop what they were doing, and concentrate on defending themselves from this threat that did not distinguish between friend and foe.

Those whose defences failed to hold up would suffer multiple cuts to their bodies, as though they were under the assault of countless invisible blades.

Seeing this, the soldiers of both sides paled in terror. They could not help but feel a sense of trepidation in their hearts.

If even they were being subjected to such dangers, just how great must the pressure be on the human leader, considering the fact that he was the true target of the attack?

The hearts of the human forces wavered.

Even though City Lord Hu had the luxury of relying on the Formation of Heaven's Blade, was it really possible to contend with such immense power?

Could they really win?

No matter what, things had already developed beyond their control.

All that they could do now was to believe in their City Lord, hoping that he would deliver, just like he always had!

Bang-!

When the attacks from both sides finally collided, the result was completely one-sided.

Containing the power of all three Origin Core realm demons, the bolt of chaotic energy instantly shattered the burning sword of energy upon impact!

And despite losing a part of its initial momentum from the clash, this bolt of energy continued on its path towards Hu Yuanbo, threatening to engulf him entirely.

Having burnt all his energy in that last strike, Hu Yuanbo was too drained to even attempt to evade.

All he could do was to watch on helplessly as the demons' merciless attack directly slammed against his body!

Hu Yuanbo immediately felt the chaotic force of the attack seeping into his body, ravaging him from within. His meridians crumbled, his blood vessels burst, and his inner world itself was quickly approaching its limit, teetering on the edge of collapse.

At the same time, not every bit of energy from the attack had entered his body.

The rest of it continued battering against Hu Yuanbo from the outside, grinding away relentlessly at his flesh and bones. Not a single part of his body was left unscathed.

At this very moment, Hu Yuanbo was being rapidly torn apart from both within and without!

"Nooooo!" Hu Yuanbo howled in resentment, his eyes filled with unwillingness.

He was the Lord of Ivory Rock City, the idol and spiritual leader of the masses, the messenger of humanity.

He held absolute power over his people, both in status and in strength.

It was no exaggeration to say that with just a single word, he would be able to determine anyone's life and death as he pleased.

After striving so hard to make all of this possible, he was supposed to live out the rest of his life in absolute comfort and luxury!

That was supposed to be the case. And yet right now, he could feel his life slowly slipping away from him.

Just where exactly did he go wrong?

No, he refuse to believe that he did anything wrong!

Everything that he had done, all of it had been perfectly thought out.

If anyone was in the wrong, it was his useless subordinates who could not even do things right!

If anyone was in the wrong, it was the rest of the humans who were too weak to even fight by his side!

He was not wrong.

He was wronged by the heavens!

"I curse you to eternal damnation!" Hu Yuanbo's voice was filled with indignation as his words sounded out in everyone's ears. "You will suffer retribution for all that you have done!"

As for who exactly was he truly referring to, nobody would ever know.

Because right as his words ended, Hu Yuanbo's body was no longer able to hold itself together, completely bursting apart!

A crimson firework appeared as Hu Yuanbo's body exploded into thousands of tiny parts, randomly scattering across the main square as they landed.

"City Lord Hu.." Rui Xucheng lost the strength in his legs, falling to his knees once again.

It was over.

Lu Tianzi, just like everyone else present, could do nothing apart from staring in shock.

He was utterly dumbfounded by the sheer might of the three Origin Core realm demons' combined attack!

What a domineering strike!

If he ever had to face such an attack in the war that was to come, would his fate be any different from Hu Yuanbo's?

Unlikely.

It seemed that he might have been a little too na?ve prior to this. The strength of Origin Core realm martial artists was actually greater than he thought.

Before the war broke out in its entirety, he definitely had to make full use of the remaining time to gain as much strength as he possibly could!

At this moment, the chaotic winds caused by the earlier attack finally started to die down. And along with that came a deathly silence.

However, it did not take long before this silence was broken by the fervent cheers of the demon forces.

The human leader was dead!

As expected, they had emerged victorious!

Under the thunderous cheers of the demon forces, General Nanbai Zhaoyu reached out to receive the spatial ring that had managed to survive the chaotic force of the earlier attack.

Even though he had consciously tried to avoid destroying the spatial ring when he made his move earlier, the might of the combined attack had surpassed his expectations. Thus, he was quite relieved to see that the spatial ring had been left intact.

With Hu Yuanbo dead, his soul mark on the spatial ring was naturally no longer in effect as well.

General Nanbai Zhaoyu did not hesitate to sink his perception into the spatial ring, eager to check its contents.

But his eagerness was greeted only by a scene of pure disappointment.

Not to mention the item that he had been looking for, even the amount of other treasures in the spatial ring was pitifully few!

How pathetic.

General Nanbai Zhaoyu could not help but let out a light sigh.

Since the beast core was not with Hu Yuanbo, it was most likely that the human martial artist had already destroyed it. Even so, he refused to give up until the very end.

"Come with me to search the house of the human leader!" General Nanbai Zhaoyu ordered.

After witnessing the death of their beloved City Lord, the remaining human soldiers no longer possessed any will to fight.

Without an Origin Core realm martial artist on their side, just how were they supposed to win?

Most of them turned tail and ran, while some extreme ones fell into despair, staring blankly into space and acting as sitting ducks for the ruthless blades of the demon forces.

Only a small minority started fighting with even greater vigour than before, determined to bring down as many demons as possible before they meet their eventual end.

But despite their bravery, their numbers were too few for them to make a difference.

In this manner, the demon forces easily broke through the defensive line and joined up with their Origin Core realm leaders.

A number of them followed General Nanbai Zhaoyu as they stormed the City Lord Manor, while the rest moved to clean up the rest of the human resistance in the city.

Lu Tianzi stepped forward silently, finally arriving in front of Rui Xucheng who had remained kneeling on the spot.

"Do you still remember what you said that day?" Lu Tianzi conveyed his voice directly to Rui Xucheng's head. "Back then, everything happened here as well, in the main square of the Officials District. Only that our roles were reversed. You were the one standing while I was the one kneeling."

"Just kill me and be done with it," Rui Xucheng spoke weakly. His head hung low and his gaze stayed fixed on the ground.

Lu Tianzi ignored his words and kept speaking. "Seems like you can't remember anymore, District Head Rui. Let me remind you then. You announced that I have betrayed the city's trust, colluded with the demons, assaulted the City Lord, and caused the city to suffer its first attack in history. Does any of that ring a bell?"

Rui Xucheng remained silent this time, not bothering to reply.

Even so, that did not stop Lu Tianzi from going on.

"Back then, I was outraged by what you said. But just take a look at me now. Could it be that you are actually a prophet in disguise, pointing the right way for me to follow?" Lu Tianzi continued with a smile.

This time, there was no response from Rui Xucheng either.

"How boring," Lu Tianzi shook his head in disappointment. "Well then, let me just return these words to you – With all that you have done, I declare you guilty of treason against humanity, and hereby sentence you to death."

Stab-!

With a flick of his wrist, the Sword of Ivory Rock swiftly pierced through Rui Xucheng's chest.

Rui Xucheng grimaced, a stream of blood flowing out from the corner of his mouth.

Unlike Hu Yuanbo, Rui Xucheng simply closed his eyes in silent acceptance of his fate.

He had already made his choice back then, agreeing with the City Lord's plan of sacrificing human martial artists to the demons in exchange for peace.

Even though it was only temporary, it was still peace nevertheless.

But that was not so that he could keep living in luxury, holding a position of power as one of the four District Heads.

Not at all.

Instead, that was a decision made solely for the sake of the people, so that they could be free from the terrors of the demons.

Contrary to his colleagues' dark impression of him, Rui Xucheng had never used his intellect as a means to obtain exclusive benefits for himself.

Everything he did and every decision he made, all of it was for the greater good of the people of Ivory Rock City.

The arrangement was definitely unfair to the many Holy Guardians over the years, but it was a necessary sacrifice.

This was simply sacrificing the few to save the many.

Even if he was given another chance to choose right now, he would still make the same decision without a second thought.

After all, if not for that arrangement, this attack by the demons would have happened long ago, and Ivory Rock City would never have survived till this day.

Unfortunately, it still happened eventually.

Rui Xucheng could only lament about how powerless he truly was. If only he had the martial talent to break through to the Origin Core realm, perhaps the ending would have been different today.

But in life, there were no ifs.

On this day, along with the deaths of Hu Yuanbo and the four District Heads, Ivory Rock City, otherwise known as the Holy City of humanity, had fallen to the hands of the demon forces.