Chapter 1900: Chapter 1999: Trouble in Huayu City

"We should return to Lingyu City immediately and gather information to make a decision. Do not let your guard down—be ready to leave at any moment," Ou Dechuan quickly made a plan as he relaxed a little.

"What about the array of the Heavenly Sun Temple?" Ou Mingzhi reminded.

"If it really is as you say, send them some silver taels, and even invite the master from the Life God Temple if necessary to calm them down. If things get bad, you should leave quickly; we don’t need to worry about Tianyang City," Ou Dechuan said decisively.

If Mu Hanyan hadn’t died, and Ou Pingxuan’s identity got exposed, the opposing party would have leverage, which would lead to disaster for the Ou Family. At that point, who could bother with the Heavenly Sun Temple or Long Aoli?

Subsequently, Ou Dechuan took Ou Mingzhi and quietly slipped out of the courtyard, heading back to Lingyu City without delay, ignoring Duan Cheng’an and the other priests.

Although Long Aoli didn’t hold tightly to it after receiving Ou Dechuan’s promise, there was still unease in their hearts as they were ready for Mu Hanyan’s possible retaliation and Life God Temple’s punishment at any time. They didn’t dare cause extra problems; alerting Long Aoli and being held up in Tianyang City would be bad.

As for Duan Cheng’an and other priests left behind, whatever consequences their exposed deeds might lead to, it certainly wasn’t their concern.

They were rather lucky; Mu Hanyan hadn’t managed to drag down Ou Pingxuan as Ou Mingzhi hoped, but she truly had no solid evidence to openly use the Life God Temple to punish the Ou Family.

Moreover, having used the Heavenly Stone, Mu Hanyan’s power was limited—far less formidable than imagined. Even if someone sneak attacked, they wouldn’t stand a chance, but charging into Lingyu City’s encirclement recklessly might not have the desired effect.

Furthermore, Mu Hanyan was focused on Ye Yi’an’s safety at this time; where would she find time to make trouble for them? After all, given her cultivation progress, she could seek revenge anytime without difficulty—like crushing two ants, why delay important matters for such trivial ones?

In her mind, family and friends mattered far more than the life and death of Ou Dechuan and his son.

Racing day and night, they reached the last transmission array within seven or eight days.

A cry rang from the sky, and a Cloud Eagle swooped down.

Mu Hanyan looked up with a frown. This was precisely the Cloud Eagle used for messaging with Huayu Temple. Over these days, she’s relied on this bird to stay updated on Ye Yi’an’s condition, knowing he was weakening but hadn’t lost hope, thus could barely relax. She was very familiar with this Cloud Eagle.

Compared to previous occasions, this time its cry seemed less vigorous, carrying a hint of sorrow.

Mu Hanyan extended her arm, letting the Cloud Eagle circle down to perch.

"What’s wrong with it?" Shen Yuhe, having become acquainted with the Cloud Eagle, brought forth some dried meat to tease it, only to cry out suddenly.

Everyone then noticed a deep, bleeding gash across the bird’s belly, no wonder its cry sounded so melancholic—it was injured.

"Looks like an arrow wound," Mu Tu glanced at the injury, uncertainly mentioned.

Mu Hanyan’s heart sank, opening the bamboo tube on the eagle’s leg, finding it empty.

"This is bad, something happened to Huayu City!" Mu Hanyan’s face changed, speaking firmly.

The others felt their hearts sink simultaneously. Although the Cloud Eagle wasn’t an exceptionally powerful Exotic Beast, being chosen by the temples for delivering messages due to unusual spiritual qualities, flight height and speed exceeding ordinary birds and even on par with Griffins and Dragon Eagles meant humans could hardly harm it. Unless fatigued and resting upon the ground, ambushes would succeed.

Given Huayu City was only thousands of miles away, the Cloud Eagle wouldn’t need to rest, indicating the injury likely occurred in Huayu City. Who in Huayu City would dare attack the temple’s sacrificial pet?

There’s only one explanation left: trouble had befallen Huayu, causing the Cloud Eagle no chance to land before being shot, forcing it to return swiftly to Mu Hanyan for help. Being an Exotic Beast offers it a modicum of wisdom in such dire quickly.

Although the precise situation remained unknown, the urgency seeing the Cloud Eagle unable to even descend into Huayu City spoke volumes. Without delay, Mu Hanyan and company set the transmission array and rushed towards Huayu City at maximum speed.

Under the sunset’s glow, the sky’s clouds burned crimson, and Huayu City was engulfed in flames.

Gone was the city’s former peace and tranquility; those not overly grandiose but remarkably stalwart city walls now lay in ruins.

Fires raged everywhere within, rows of houses crumbling in the inferno periodically.

Having barely regained prosperity, Huayu City now consisted mainly of charred debris, with only the central temple standing proud.

A massive shield enveloped Huayu City, rippling like waves, preventing the fire’s spread. Thanks to this, Huayu Temple remained unscathed by the blaze. Around the shield’s edge, a high mud wall rose, where priests, guards, and robust civilians stood vigilant.

Spiralling chaos reverberated as thousands of bandits mounted on Red Charcoal Cloud Smoke Beasts charged the wall in madness. It being a hurried construction, lacked the sheer verticality of genuine city walls, leaving slopes for beasts to assault.

Compared to past encounters, this bandit attack on Huayu City showed greater strength, discipline, and disregard for death!

While the shield staved off fire, it couldn’t completely stave off the powerful bandits’ assaults, intermittently letting them tear breaches using their beasts’ force, although priests, guards, and citizens immediately retaliated.

Each invader crossing the shield quickly died under a slew of blades, although cries of suffering also arose among Huayu’s populace as these bandits wield immense power, with several akin to Sixth or Seventh Rank Divine Priests, some even stronger. Despite Huayu City’s numerical advantage, few could match them in combat.

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