The flood of heads was only the Demon Fiends' first wave of attack. Their goal was likely to sow chaos within Ten Directions City, and they certainly succeeded.

The next assault wouldn't be so easy to handle.

These Demon Fiends were coming on strong.

They came by land, by air, by water...

It was a full-scale assault from land, air, and sea, an apparent attempt to completely surround Ten Directions City.

A foul-smelling rain began to fall from the sky, black droplets pattering onto the ground.

A layer of azure light immediately shimmered over Yang An's body. Already on guard, he had activated his Treasure Light Glaze Purification Technique, deflecting all the rain that would have landed on him.

As the dense raindrops made contact, black smoke sizzled and rose from the azure light covering his body, causing the glow to steadily dim.

Fortunately, the drain from a single Technique wasn't too great for Yang An. He could maintain it indefinitely without much trouble.

But looking closely at the rain, he perceived that the drops themselves weren't black. Rather, they were teeming with tiny black creatures, like little tadpoles.

These creatures hidden in the rain flailed about, baring their fangs. Though minuscule, they would, upon landing on a person, frantically gnaw at their flesh and burrow into their body.

Many of the Cultivators had ways to deal with it.

Some handled it with ease. With a simple hand seal, their skin hardened like stone, impervious to the corrosive rain.

Others, however, panicked. They fumbled to deal with the creatures, and with no better solution, resorted to digging them out with their bare hands. They plunged their fingers into their own flesh to extract the burrowing things, leaving a series of bloody holes that made Yang An's brow furrow in disgust.

'I thought these guys might be a bit more normal,' he mused. 'Maybe the people I knew in the Life Crane Sect were just exceptions.'

'But now it seems it's just the pot calling the kettle black.'

Most of the Cultivators on the wall were at the Corpse Transformation stage, but there were plenty at the Visceral Stone stage as well. All of them possessed an Undying Body.

Those without an Undying Body were just cannon fodder, relegated to menial tasks. They couldn't stand on the front lines.

Since it was uncertain whether this rain would affect their Immortality, it was best to avoid contact.

However, Yang An's display drew quite a few stares. After all, even if it was faint, a full-body azure glow was rather eye-catching.

Many looked at him, puzzled.

"What are you looking at? Never seen a body grow moldy before, have you?"

Not to be outdone, Yang An snapped back coldly, trying to disguise his Light Magic.

His uncanny azure glow did indeed resemble a body covered in mold.

The main issue was that he really had no other Techniques to use.

'Learning Techniques outside the Light Category really is an urgent matter,' he thought. 'Otherwise, I'll have no way to hide my true nature. It would be bad if someone found out.'

Hearing Yang An's retort, no one bothered to argue. They just shot him a cold smirk and looked away.

Of course, with the Demon Fiends attacking, the Cultivators weren't about to stand idle. If that many fiends broke through their defenses and poured into the city, everyone would suffer.

While the Demon Fiends' plan seemed to be to use large-scale attacks to sow panic and disarray among the Cultivators...

...the Cultivators' response was to throw everything they had at them.

"Rain? Heh! This Daoist Master will show these Demon Fiends a thing or two. Let's see what a real squall looks like! Hmph!"

Not far from Yang An, a Daoist in a tattered robe spoke with a cold snort, immediately drawing the attention of many Cultivators.

Yang An heard him instantly. When he saw the man's attire, his heart skipped a beat.

'Holy shit! A Filthy Daoist!'

'How is there such a disgusting guy on Ten Directions City's side?'

'Nope, I need to get away from him!'

Anyone who'd ever encountered a Filthy Daoist knew how disgusting they were. Yang An had no desire to be caught in the crossfire of revulsion, so he quickly moved away, putting as much distance as possible between himself and the man.

What surprised Yang An, however, was the crowd's reaction. Though the Demon Fiends were at the gates and the Cultivators had shown clear signs of panic, they now seemed to be growing more and more excited.

It was as if, deep down, they were terrified, but their actions had become feverish, as if they were desperately craving this fight.

To his surprise, he hadn't seen anyone try to slip away, nor had he found an opportunity to leave himself.

'Are these guys really going to fight the Demon Fiends head-on?'

As Yang An was wondering this, the Filthy Daoist who had spoken leaped into the air, hovering above the city wall.

"This Daoist Master has been saving up six months' worth of 'Meat Joy'! Today, I'll let these Demon Fiends have a real taste! Heh heh!"

The moment he finished speaking, the faces of the Cultivators on the wall below him paled. They scrambled away, instantly creating a wide, empty gap around his position.

A man's reputation precedes him. While everyone else's cultivation methods were unorthodox, they weren't nearly so revolting.

The moment they heard the words "Meat Joy," a vivid image of the Filthy Daoist's methods flooded their minds.

These vile individuals didn't just disgust their enemies; they disgusted their allies, too. No one knew why the Golden Thread Pavilion had allowed a Filthy Daoist to participate.

Fortunately, Yang An had moved quickly and was already watching the spectacle from a safe distance.

After speaking, the Filthy Daoist let out a sinister chuckle. Then, he stuck both hands into his mouth and forcibly stretched it wide.

His mouth, as if made of rubber, easily stretched to several times its normal size without tearing. Then, his hair, matted and clumped with filth, floated up and slithered into his nostrils.

The Filthy Daoist tilted his head back, his face contorting in discomfort.

"Ah... ah... ACHOO!!!"

He let loose a thunderous sneeze.

The next moment, with a great SPLATTING sound, a mass of intestines spewed forth from his distended mouth.

Each intestine was as thick as a grown man's wrist, with clearly visible segments. Though the intestines themselves were a semi-translucent, off-white color, they appeared to be clogged with dark matter, making them look fat and horrifically bloated.

At a glance, there were dozens of them—a writhing pile of intestines that looked like a nest of sinister snakes.

As soon as the intestines were expelled, wrinkled orifices along their length burst open, spraying streams of black, foul-smelling slime toward the Demon Fiends below.

Despite the distance, many of the Cultivators on the wall couldn't help but shut down two of their five senses.

'So fucking disgusting!'

In that moment, more than a few people wanted to kill the man, but no one made a move. Partly because the Demon Fiend army was bearing down on them, but mostly because killing him would surely be an even more disgusting affair.

No one was willing to subject themselves to that, so they simply stopped paying him any mind.

As the Filthy Daoist attacked, the black, foul-smelling slime rained down in torrents, drenching a large area outside the city walls.

Any Demon Fiend touched by the black slime collapsed within a single breath. They dropped one after another like uprooted saplings, perhaps having passed out from the sheer stench.

The method was disgusting, but undeniably effective. The Filthy Daoist's wild laughter echoed as he continued to spew the slime.

"This is all my work! Don't any of you dare try to steal my credit, or you'll see this Daoist Master get nasty!"

"..."

Elsewhere, once one person attacked, another followed, and soon everyone was launching their own assaults.

There were many Demon Fiends, but that also meant it was a perfect time to earn merit. The Cultivators began to compete with each other, scrambling to get in on the action.

They were on the front lines, with the leaders of the Golden Thread Pavilion and other major powers watching from behind.

Forget great merit; even just catching the eye of one of those Great Powers could lead to significant rewards.

With loud war cries, a large group of Cultivators charged forward, each displaying their own Divine Powers. Anyone with a mid- to long-range area-of-effect attack unleashed it.

Some, seemingly caught up in a battle frenzy, even leaped directly from the wall into the fiendish horde. They would rush into a crowd of Demon Fiends and promptly explode into a shower of gore, only to be quickly swamped by more.

This was the first time Yang An had ever witnessed a war on such a scale between Cultivators and Demon Fiends. Compared to this, his previous battles felt like childish squabbles.

As he watched the Cultivators around him charge forward one after another, an incredibly strong impulse surged within Yang An's own heart—a desire to join them, to ensure that not a single Demon Fiend would leave this place alive.

He subconsciously gripped the Bow Lady. An arrow shot into such a dense crowd of Demon Fiends would have a devastating effect.

But just then, a sharp pain shot through his soul, and a cry of agony escaped his lips against his will.

The pain vanished as quickly as it came, but it left Yang An feeling deeply unsettled. He immediately looked down at the Bow Lady on his arm.

The Bow Lady had just bitten him.

"You little bastard, snap out of it! Don't fall into their trap!"

The Bow Lady's voice echoed in Yang An's mind. Realization dawned on him, and a cold sweat instantly broke out on his forehead.

That uncontrollable urge he had just felt—it wasn't his own.

One moment he was plotting his escape, and the next he was desperate to join the fray, to stop the Demon Fiends and strike them down.

'Dammit!'

Yang An glanced back toward the heart of Ten Directions City, and his perception immediately picked up on something strange.

'No wonder,' he thought. 'That's why those panicked guys suddenly became so fearless, their morale soaring.'

'This is...'

'Someone inside the city is pulling strings from the shadows!'