Outside the city walls, which were still under construction in the Burning Fire Oasis, hundreds of powerful individuals who had fled from the outside world bore expressions of lingering shock.
Most of them had damaged armor and clothing, and the carts and flying ships transporting goods were also marked with traces of battle. Some lay on the ground, or were carried by their companions, only able to emit low groans, their lives flickering like candles in the wind, on the verge of extinction at any moment.
"Is there... is there anyone with healing abilities! Help! We... we can pay a reward!"
The awakened person carrying his heavily wounded companion shouted, his eyes pleading as he gazed towards the city from the unfinished gap in the walls.
Large merchant caravans and mercenary groups naturally had accompanying healers to rescue gravely injured warriors at critical moments.
However, awakened individuals with healing abilities were exceedingly rare, and even large caravans could usually only afford one or two. In the recent catastrophe that befell the caravan, countless were injured. The healers in their party, after repeated use of their abilities, were already exhausted and could no longer muster even a sliver of power.
Several other groups nearby shared the same predicament.
The anxious awakened ones could only cast their gazes towards others in the city, while taking unsteady steps towards it. Where he walked, he left behind bloody footprints.
"I'll do it."
A voice as gentle as water sounded, and a woman with voluptuous curves descended from the towering city walls, riding a swirl of green wind.
"Y-you... you're a healer?"
The curvaceous woman remained silent, merely raising her hand. The air around them grew moist. Water vapor condensed into shimmering droplets, which then gathered together, forming streams that swirled around her wrists.
Then, the streams gushed out with a splash, landing on the major wounds of the injured, such as their abdomens and backs.
The invisible water soaked into the gruesome wounds. Soon, the wounds began to heal at a visible pace, and the pale, frost-like complexion of the heavily injured awakened one regained some color.
Once the injured person was out of mortal danger, the curvaceous woman said,
"Take him to the medical clinic in the city for wound debridement and purification."
She then looked around, "Are there any other seriously injured individuals who need immediate treatment? Bring them here."
Wen Lian was a formal member of the 14th cohort of the Xinhuo organization, an elder who had joined relatively early. As outsiders speculated, she was not a pure medical ability user. Her awakened ability was wind vortex manipulation. This ability, if used in combat or reconnaissance, could be developed in many ingenious ways.
But Wen Lian chose to be a medical personnel.
She had previously been a doctor and had many advantages in studying professional knowledge. In Xinhuo, she was not bound by her awakened ability and had the freedom to choose her development direction.
To this day, Wen Lian had mastered skills such as Healing Water, Purification, and Two Energies Healing. She not only possessed these skills but also understood many medical treatment methods. For the heavily injured person to fully recover, it was not enough to rely solely on skills; it also required removing the poisonous contamination of sinister entities, resetting dislocated bones, and removing foreign objects left in the wounds, and so on.
However, with limited conditions outside the city, healing the wounds with Healing Water to quickly pull the severely injured out of mortal danger was the optimal choice at present.
Other problems could be dealt with slowly at the medical clinic within the city.
Witnessing Wen Lian's skillful and effective treatment, many people around were invigorated, considering her a rare 'direct healing ability user,' like a creature from epic fantasy.
Instantly, people with minor and severe injuries alike clamored to approach Wen Lian.
"Don't rush, don't rush."
"Priority for those with severe injuries... Miss, if you keep pushing, you'll delay your companion's treatment."
In just four minutes, Wen Lian had brought back six critically injured individuals who were on the brink of death.
Her skillful movements were like art, and the streams of water that enveloped the injured were like the holy water of a goddess of life, bringing about a dreamlike healing effect.
After all, Wen Lian's Healing Water had already reached...
How could the caravans and mercenary groups who had benefited allow this? Immediately, many powerful individuals took action.
They had gained some advantage at first, but as more and more giant, sinister entities poured in, the powerful individuals could no longer hold their ground. They fought and retreated, gradually sustaining injuries, while the injured entities recovered in the blink of an eye, their numbers growing.
The patrol teams of the Burning Fire Caravan successively intervened but were unable to stem the surging tide of sinister entities.
Even after stepping into the oasis, these sinister entities retained a perversely desperate recovery ability.
"Roar—!"
When a monster hundreds of meters tall, covered in thick rock armor with faint blue stripes and ethereal blue flames flowing on its surface, appeared, the caravan guards and mercenaries were almost instantly routed.
It was a Furnace Golem!
It was a sinister entity with defense capabilities among the best below the Seven-Star level. Even a mythical being would have to expend some effort to kill a Furnace Golem—they were too tough!
That was in the past. When the invincible Furnace Golem possessed infinite recovery, what would happen?
The awakened ones did not know.
Until the titled expert 'Frost Three Axes' from the Frost family made his move. The famous killing move, the Great Axe Triple Strike, fell heavily. Three strikes landed precisely on the same spot, creating a gaping wound tens of meters long.
People marveled.
People despaired.
This change in expression happened in just two seconds. Because in those two seconds, the tens-of-meters-long gaping wound on the Furnace Golem had completely healed, leaving not even a scar.
How could they fight this?
This was impossible to fight!
Even a few dozen more Six-Awakened individuals might not be able to severely injure such a Furnace Golem. And as long as it couldn't be severely injured, the golem could keep recovering, keep fighting, until... humanity was destroyed.
At this moment, the despairing people were immensely grateful that the Burning Fire Mall had a mythical being as its protector.
The Mythical Empress appeared!
She wore an orange-red, slit robe embroidered with intricate fire phoenix patterns. Black leggings were faintly visible through the slits.
To be honest, given the Mythical Empress's figure, this form-fitting robe didn't quite suit her.
Cough, one must not slander a noble being.
Under the embellishment of the robe, Yiluo Xi still couldn't display any seductive charm, but her majesty was undeniable.
She stood on the city wall, her long hair like a flame spirit dancing in the wind, her eyes filled with the surging will of fire.
She slowly raised her hand, and flame patterns appeared on her palm. Ripples in space extended hundreds of meters behind her.
The next moment, celestial fire descended!
Boom boom boom boom boom boom—!
The steaming flames collapsed inward, transforming into a fiery red mushroom cloud that shot into the sky.
She caused the earth to tremble and the wind to wail.
With a single blow, she annihilated the majority of the high-level sinister entities that had invaded the oasis, leaving only three six-star heavenly disaster level sinister entities with strong defenses.
These three six-star sinister entities were enveloped in orange-red flames, yet within the flames, flesh buds still regenerated, stubbornly and rapidly growing against the pressure of the fire.
Their recovery speed was still very fast.
"Hmph!"
The Mythical Empress let out a faint snort, as if in disdain. She raised her fair palm again and unleashed a simple, brutal, yet beautifully picturesque orange-red celestial fire.
This was art.
The explosion sounded again, unleashing waves of energy.
This time, only the Furnace Golem remained on the field. The entire body of this colossal creature had shrunk by three sizes, and its head was gone, yet it still stood like a giant stone.
Sharp-eyed awakened ones could still see pinkish-red flesh buds growing from the charred parts of its body beneath the orange-red flames, rapidly extinguishing the flames and growing tenaciously.
It was still alive!
After the battle, many powerful individuals had gained experience. To determine if a sinister entity was completely dead, they needed to see if flesh buds were still growing from its broken limbs.
And this golem, despite having lost its head, could still recover!
In just over ten seconds, the growing flesh buds formed pale blue rock armor, indistinguishable from before. The massive head that had been burned away also grew back at a visible speed.
Hiss—
The Mythical Empress attacked for the third time!
This time, she used a concentrated beam of energy to pierce the golem, piercing it dozens of times.
The golem's footsteps did not stop.
Only on the sixth attempt, with unquenchable flames, did Yiluo Xi finally forge the indestructible golem into ashes.
"Hmph!"
She glanced at the devastated land, turned, and left, appearing somewhat displeased.
Perhaps it was the sinister entities' tenacious vitality that surprised the Mythical Empress?
—This was the onlookers' thought.
If these thoughts were known to Yiluo Xi, she would likely be even less happy.
Would she, the great Empress Yiluo Xi, be unable to instantly kill a six-star sinister entity? If her mentor hadn't said she needed to test the sinister entities' recovery power, their limits, and so on, she wouldn't have wasted so much time.
Damn it! It was all her mentor's fault!
Yiluo Xi wiped the sweat from her forehead, her chest heaving for a moment, and she quickly headed towards the training grounds.
She was going into seclusion to advance to the mythical realm, hmph!
...
...
The gray mist outside the oasis fell silent once more, churning calmly but slowly like wisps of gray smoke.
Between the dense gray mist and the city walls, the scorched red earth also emitted smoke. Pits of various sizes were visible, and within the craters, one could faintly see crystallized formations from melted and re-solidified earth and stone, as well as a few black remnants that could barely be identified as parts of a sinister entity's limbs.
These remnants were not large, the longest being a dozen meters, and most were only the size of a cart.
They lay scattered, emitting a foul, fishy odor under the high temperatures.
It was hard to imagine that these were the remnants of colossal beings hundreds of meters tall.
Lower-level awakened ones marveled at the power of the Mythical Empress of the Burning Fire Merchant Association, but higher-level awakened ones, recalling the scenes, wore even heavier expressions.
In the past, the strategy for dealing with powerful sinister entities was for a powerful individual of the same level to tie them down, while several support personnel cooperated to kill them. This process took a considerable amount of time, but the advantage was high fault tolerance and low consumption. Often, after a battle, an entire team would be unharmed and could sustain several more battles of similar magnitude.
But now, fighting sinister entities by attrition would likely exhaust themselves while the sinister entities remained lively and unharmed!
Only by pooling the strength of several individuals, overwhelming them in numbers, and blast them to smithereens in the shortest possible time, could they be completely annihilated.
This would lead to a manifold increase in consumption. After all, the tenacity of sinister entities' life force was far beyond that of fragile humans.
What's more,
"It even took a mythical being considerable effort to destroy such a Furnace Golem!"
"Could it be that the Mythical Empress of the Burning Fire Merchant Association is just... rather ordinary? I mean, that Empress looks so young, clearly having only recently advanced to the mythical realm and not having accumulated much experience."
"If even mythical beings have difficulty dealing with these sinister entities, where do we go from here?"
A powerful individual from the Great Oasis murmured.
They were originally worried about not being able to return to their own oasis, but at this moment, they felt a hint of relief—returning to their homeland might mean perishing along with the oasis. Staying in the Burning Fire Merchant Association offered a better chance of surviving the disaster.
Thinking of this, they felt a surge of guilt.
But if they were to disregard everything and force their way through the dense gray mist back to their homeland, it seemed... they couldn't bring themselves to take that step.
Damn it!
...
In a luxurious room in a top hotel in the oasis.
Kailios, the deputy island master of the Sixth Star Island of the Seven Stars Alliance, was setting up a ritual.
Soon, at the center of the ritual patterns, a crude doll-like figure without a face began to change rapidly. In the blink of an eye, a handsome man with sharply defined features, like carved by a knife, wearing a dark blue magnificent robe surrounded by flowing clouds, opened his eyes within the ritual.
A golden divine glow flashed in his eyes.
A faint divine aura also emanated, but it was quickly contained, hidden by the surrounding ritual barrier, not alerting anyone.
Kailios placed his hand on his chest and bowed his head, saying, "Island Master."
The valiant man was the island master of the Sixth Star Island, one of the giants of the Seven Stars Alliance, the 'Star Cloud Watcher · Son of Dark Stars · Favored by the Stars,' Lord Dirkes!
Even before using the ritual to summon the Island Master, Kailios had already communicated with him remotely. He, like other powerful individuals, had his doubts.
"My Lord, are sinister entities like the Furnace Golem truly so formidable that even mythical beings must expend considerable effort to destroy them?"
He presented the recorded combat process to the Island Master in a projected image for observation.
After watching, the Sixth Island Master pondered for a moment. He did not answer directly but said,
"Not long ago, our Star Luo Bay was also attacked by sinister entities, including a six-star sinister entity that possessed troublesome recovery abilities."
"However, the recovery speed of those sinister entities was still significantly slower compared to here."
"Therefore, it's not that the mythical being of the Burning Fire Merchant Association is too weak; it's just that she clearly hasn't ascended for long, and the Furnace Golem's recovery ability is too strong. It's normal for a newly ascended mythical being like her to find it difficult to deal with."
"Any newly ascended mythical being would have to expend considerable effort to destroy it. For those mythical beings not adept at offense, it's possible they would consume ten times the energy this Burning Fire Mythical Being did."
After hearing the Island Master's explanation, Kailios's expression grew even more solemn.
He had tried his best to overestimate the severity of this disaster, but he had still underestimated it.
"Boy, there's no need to worry. Our Seven Stars Alliance has weathered far greater storms. This time, the most severely affected are only those oases close to the inter-domain regions."
"Moreover, the major oases of our alliance have been operating for hundreds and thousands of years and are already as solid as a fortress. No matter what level of sinister entity tide strikes, they will all be shattered before our firm defenses."
"You are simply too young and have seen too little."
The Sixth Island Master, at first glance, appeared slightly younger than Kailios.
In reality, the Sixth Island Master, who was already a mythical being, was more than old enough to be Kailios's great-grandfather. He had lived for hundreds of years and had seen all sorts of storms; he had even experienced two of the catastrophic tides that swept across the entire Broken Sea.
This time, it was merely a slightly stronger catastrophic tide.
Their Seven Stars Alliance had extensive defense experience, and their oasis city walls were equipped with numerous war machines. For example, the six-star sinister entity that attacked this time was instantly killed by a war machine, requiring no intervention from any powerful individual.
However,
"Are you worried about the Burning Fire Oasis? That's right, this oasis has only been under construction for less than a year. Its defensive constructions are inferior to many major oases, it has no preparation, and it's located near the inter-domain region. Once it's hit by a large-scale sinister entity tide..."
This was precisely Kailios's concern.
Once the oasis was subjected to a continuous onslaught of sinister entity tides, even two mythical beings might not be able to protect it—protection was far more difficult than destruction.
Of course, the Burning Fire Merchant Association, with mythical beings as its guardians, would not be wiped out so easily. If the oasis fell, the two mythical beings could protect a few core members of the Burning Fire Merchant Association and retreat elsewhere, which was entirely feasible.
However, outsiders like them would be in danger then.
He, Kailios, felt that even with the protection of a titled Six-Awakened, it would be difficult to safely traverse the inter-domain region and return to the Seven Stars Alliance.
His expression was too obvious, and a smile appeared on the Sixth Island Master's sharply defined face.
"You want to ask if this Island Master can descend at a critical moment, right?"
"...Yes, if the oasis is breached, I truly have no confidence in escaping."
Seeing Kailios, a young junior whom he valued highly, lower his head in shame, the Sixth Island Master smiled.
"If the Burning Fire Oasis can withstand the sinister entity tide, you, my boy, should stay here honestly for a while longer. When the disaster is over, if it cannot, then you can summon this Island Master using the ritual."
At that time, he would descend with a wisp of divinity.
Although a divine descent avatar was inferior to a newly ascended mythical being, if the goal was not to kill the sinister entities but merely to delay them and pick up a few people, it would be effortless for a mythical being.
However, it would consume some divine essence.
If it could be avoided, it should be avoided as much as possible.
With that, the Sixth Island Master Dirkes glanced outside and ended his divine sense descent.
His body dissipated into specks of golden light, returning to formlessness.
...
In another top suite not far away, a mythical being also descended.
However, what arrived was not a divine sense avatar, but a divine descent avatar.
It was a burly old man, one of whose arms appeared to be cast from steel. What was most terrifying were his eyes, where both eyeballs seemed to have been externally implanted, shimmering with colorful particles.
He was a mythical being from the Red Lotus Empire!
Lord Dawnhandhan, the 'Shattered Arbiter · Blade of Burning Steel'!
The old man had a terrifying appearance, but his smile was very kind.
He allowed a girl who looked about seventeen or eighteen years old to hug his arm, her face beaming with smiles. He gently ruffled the girl's hair.
"Missed Grandpa, didn't you?"
"Mhm~!"
"Don't worry, Grandpa will take you home now, back to the safest place."
Those with powerful backgrounds began to contact their patrons, seeking escape routes.
A few people were still attempting to break through, but they either failed and retreated to the oasis, or disappeared without a trace.
More people placed their hopes on the Burning Fire Merchant Association, hoping the association could withstand the increasingly fierce sinister entity tide.
As time passed, information from various great regions also reached the ears of the various factions in the Burning Fire Oasis.
Many people's expressions grew even more solemn.
"This morning, a large oasis in our Eternal Frozen Land region, which was relatively close to the inter-domain region, was annihilated by a sinister entity tide. Only a few people escaped, and it's uncertain if they will survive."
"The disaster in our Broken Sea is more severe. To date, hundreds of large cities have been attacked by the tide. While they held, the small oases in the nooks and crannies have likely been annihilated without a sound."
"Alas, if we're talking about small oases, aren't all small oases like that? We just don't see it."
"What about the Fallen Star Grottoes? I'm only concerned about the situation in the Fallen Star Grottoes now."
"It is said that the overlord power, Fallen Star City, has sealed its gates and activated full defenses. Some large oases are also suffering from the tide and are not doing well. As for the small oases? Who would pay attention to them?"
Some mercenaries from small oases, upon hearing people's discussions, had unsightly expressions, but they opened their mouths and could not utter a rebuttal.
Perhaps they understood in their hearts that their own oases were likely in grave danger.
At this moment, the gray mist outside the city began to churn. Awakened individuals who noticed this held their breath, thinking another sinister entity tide was approaching. They became vigilant, but in the next moment, what emerged from the dense gray mist was a flying ship with a crescent-shaped ram.
"During a disaster, people are still coming to the Burning Fire Mall?"