With another mighty roar which reverberated across the land, Zhang’s lightning elemental dragon released a torrent of blinding lightning toward the dark battlefield below.

As the elemental dragon’s attack resonated, all of the beasts with an area of dozens of miles, howled and screeched as they fled with all their might. From ravenous beasts, docile cattle, to insignificant rodents, every animal that was able to, pushed their bodies to their limit and ran while all the citizens of Sky Cliff City had their eyes glued to the sky and the diminis.h.i.+ng barrier that encased their home.

“Tribulation lightning?” Diyu Ding Zhe muttered a moment before being cloaked in a veil of golden light which shrouded him from view.

Like a beacon of light, acting as a guide for all of those who had come to seek the Fallen G.o.d’s inheritance, prompting them to all increase their speed yet again. Like insects gathering toward a flame, these other worlders swarmed toward Zhang and Diyu Ding Zhe with glee as they allowed endless fantasies of grandeur to fill their minds.

As quickly as it appeared, the tribulation lightning released by Zhang’s elemental dragon quickly subsided, returning the dead of night to the darkness.

Clicking his tongue and furrowing his brows, Zhang could be seen speeding upward further and further into the sky. On the ground, Diyu Ding Zhe could be seen wrapped within slithering snakes of lightning as pummels of smoke rose from his body, but sadly it did not seem like he had sustained very much damage at all.

“Tch, I'll take a step back and let them fight it out before I intervene once more.” Zhang thought as he sensed dozens of incoming energy signatures. 

Waving his hand and signaling his lightning elemental dragon to return to its original spherical shape, Zhang quickly withdrew from the battlefield, speeding toward Sky Cliff City to regroup with his wives.

Like a bolt of lightning, Zhang zipped through the air at blinding speeds, arriving within the proximity of Sky Cliff City moments later. 

Upon his arrival, Zhang immediately noticed the sorry state of the barrier that s.h.i.+elded Sky Cliff City was in. Riddled with cracks and fissures, and appearing to be on the brink of collapse, it was a mystery as to how this barrier was still able to keep Diyu Ding Zhe’s shadows at bay.

Had Zhang arrived but a moment later, disastrous results could have occurred. Luckily for the citizens of Sky Cliff City, their crown prince had appeared just moments before a calamity struck.

Waving his hand and unleas.h.i.+ng a torrent of crimson lightning at the churning dark depths that currently engulfed the ground, Zhang quickly lent a helping hand to his wives.

While Zhang’s crimson lightning was not enough to completely dispel Diyu Ding Zhe’s oppression, it was able to provide a brief second of relief.

“Quickly! Mend the barrier!” Yuying yelled as droplets of sweat rolled down from her brow. Signs of extreme fatigue evident on her delicate face.

One could say, fighting an army of a thousand is much easier than protection a village of a hundred. One could only imagine the amount of effort and energy the beauties were expending to protect a city of hundreds of thousands of people. 

“Prepare to activate the formation, evacuate this city and the rest of the cities in the region, prepare for phase two of our plan!” Zhang said to his wives via divine sense, after catching a glimpse of their current state, a tinge of pain tugging at his heart afterward. 

“Pa.s.s down orders to all soldiers within the city! Send out corresponding orders to all cities and villages within a five hundred mile radius! Enact imperial order sixty-six!” Yuying’s voice rang throughout Sky Cliff City. 

“Imperial order sixty six?” A few civilians currently trapped within Sky Cliff City questioned as they heard Yuying.

“Imperial order sixty six… imperial order sixty six!!” A few of the imperial soldiers mumbled before quickly recalling what imperial order sixty six meant. 

“Quickly! All civilians are to be gathered in the city square! Make sure everyone has one of her majesty’s talismans on hand as well!” A captain within the city guard could be heard ordering his subordinates. 

Before long, various leading figures within the Aurora Northern Army and within Sky Cliff City’s hierarchy began pa.s.sing down orders. 

“All civilians are to report to the city square and all members of the military are to gather at their a.s.signed checkpoints!” Men clad in armor yelled as they galloped across the city atop armored horses.

Once things went into motion, the soldiers within Sky Cliff City quickly became like a well oiled machine, working cohesively. In times like this, it is easy to see how effectively trained the soldiers of the Aurora Army were. Not only were they maneuvering themselves in an orderly fas.h.i.+on, but they were also able to prevent the ma.s.ses from breaking out in panic.

Like this, many neighboring cities and villages within a five hundred mile radius were mobilized and spurred into action.

“Sis I'll begin activating the spell formation.” Ling said to Yuying who responded with a silent nod.

A few brief seconds later, Ling and Lingqi could be seen exiting and ma.s.sive barrier and soaring off into the distance, far away into the starry night with utter haste.

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A few dozen miles away from Sky Cliff City, up atop a seemingly ordinary hill sat an old broken down temple that looked as if it had been abandoned for quite some time. 

Like falling comets and shooting stars, Ling and Lingqi descended upon this broken down temple. Within a moment's hesitation, Ling shot straight into the old temple’s main hall, a small room decorated with worn out and torn tapestries and broken statues of various deities that the common folk wors.h.i.+pped. 

“Activate!” Ling and Lingqi said in unison as they pressed their hands onto the tiles on the ground, releasing a steady stream of essence from the palms of their hands. Upon coming into contact with the essence being released by the two beauties, a few of the tiles began to glow, filling the ancient looking temple with light.

Before long, all the tiles within the temple were br.i.m.m.i.n.g with light and soon afterward even the tiles and outside were lit as well. 

Looks can be deceiving as the shabby temple was in actuality a waypoint for the grand array that encompa.s.sed the entirety of the Aurora Empire. Like an interconnected web, the grand formation that the four beauties had set up across the empire, was split up into dozens of slightly smaller formations that would be individually activated without affecting the grand scale of things.

Similar to an awakening beast, the area around the old temple began to come to life, the ground shook as glowing lines slowly became visible to the naked eye.

Line by line, bit by bit, the segment of the grand array that covered the northern frontier of the Aurora Empire activated. As the grand array’s mechanisms activated, an immense amount of essence was absorbed from the air causing the local vegetation to wilt and the surrounding wildlife to scurry away. Of course, this immense amount of essence couldn’t possibly compare to the main power supply for the grand array, it was only going to act as a mere catalyst. A catalyst that would help establish a connection to the dragon’s vein.

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Back within the walls of Sky Cliff City, within the very center most district of the city, hundreds of thousands of common folk were crammed side by side as tens of thousands of soldiers surrounded them.

While most were still not properly informed of the events that would soon take place, a good number of people within the crowds had been able to deduce what was going on, and with their cooperation peace and order was maintained despite the gravity of the situation on the other side of the barrier that was barely keeping itself intact.

Holding tightly onto the talismans that they had been given some time ago, the only thing everyone present could do was wait.