On the city wall.

Everyone's mouths were agape.

They stared blankly at the miraculous scene below, their minds a complete blank.

Sparks flew, and broken stones scattered.

Six carving knives traced dazzling trajectories in mid-air; they intersected and separated, leaving deep and mysterious patterns on the hard city wall foundation.

That wasn't carving; that was dancing, creating a peerless work of art!

"Is... is this the Eternal Night Guild's Formation Master?"

A grizzled veteran professional muttered in a dry voice.

He had lived for over fifty years, considered himself well-traveled, yet had never witnessed such an outrageous sight.

Another person echoed, their voice filled with disbelief.

"This is simply incredible! To be able to control six carving knives simultaneously for Formation carving, with each knife carving different details. Such terrifying control is simply unheard of."

Only then did everyone realize that this unknown Formation Master was definitely also an S-Rank Great Master of Formations.

In fact, he was stronger than any they knew!

What was most terrifying was that, facing such a rapid carving speed and complex operations, the young man named Zhuge Kongming displayed such a calm expression.

He stood quietly beneath the city wall, holding a feather fan, as if everything before him had nothing to do with him.

There wasn't even a single drop of sweat on his forehead.

Soon, under everyone's shocked gaze, the Formation upgrade on the first city wall was initially completed.

Zhuge Kongming lightly waved his feather fan.

Whoosh!

From the mountain of rare Materials, a portion automatically flew up and precisely integrated into the newly carved Formation nodes.

A flash of light, and the Formation patterns of the entire wall seemed to instantly light up, emitting energy fluctuations several times stronger than before.

Having completed all this, Zhuge Kongming did not pause in the slightest; with a thought, the six carving knives transformed into streaks of light and flew towards the second city wall.

"Tsk tsk tsk... At this rate, perhaps... he really can completely finish the defensive Formations for the entire East City Gate direction within an hour."

"This Zhuge Kongming has limitless potential! In the future, he will definitely become the Great Xia Country's top Formation Master!"

Watching Zhuge Kongming's unhurried actions, everyone's hearts, which had been in their throats, also relaxed a little.

However, some still raised doubts.

"He's carving so fast, can it really reach the strength of a Rank Six Formation? I'm not so sure."

Someone next to him immediately retorted.

"Who cares! Didn't you see how many precious Materials he used? Even if it's not a Rank Six Formation, it's definitely much stronger than our original Rank Four Formation!"

The others nodded in agreement upon hearing this.

For a moment, there was no dissenting voice on the city wall.

Everyone was awed by Zhuge Kongming's miraculous operation.

Only Zhou Huai knew that the upgraded version Zhuge Kongming was currently carving was not a true Rank Six Formation.

Even if Zhuge Kongming could multitask, it would be far from enough time to carve a complete Rank Six city defense Formation from scratch within an hour.

Therefore, Zhou Huai could only settle for the next best thing.

He had Zhuge Kongming upgrade and modify the original Rank Four Formation, raising it to a Rank Five Formation.

Don't be fooled by just a single Rank increase.

But this Rank Five Formation could also achieve the effect comparable to a Rank Six Formation.

The reason was Zhuge Kongming's new skill, which he comprehended at Rank Ten.

【Formation Dao Naturally Formed】!

【Skill Effect (Passive): Within a ten-kilometer radius of Zhuge Kongming, all Formations personally crafted or modified by Zhuge Kongming will automatically increase their Formation effect by one Rank.】

As his Rank continuously increased, the terrifying aspects of the Heavenly Craftsman began to gradually reveal themselves.

Directly and unconditionally increasing the Formation Rank without any consumption was simply overbearing to the extreme!

This was an ability all Formation Masters in the world dreamed of but could never achieve.

Only Zhuge Kongming!

Time was passing by, minute by minute, second by second.

Zhuge Kongming carved one city wall Formation after another at an astonishing speed.

However, just as he was carving the second to last wall.

Rumble—

A low, muffled sound came from deep underground without any warning.

The entire East Sea City, along with the solid ground beneath their feet, began to tremble violently!

On the city wall, many lost their footing, screaming as they fell to the ground.

"Is the beast tide here?"

"Look outside the city!"

Everyone's hearts tightened, and they all looked towards the outside of the city.

Just then, several streaks of light flew rapidly from the distant horizon, landing heavily on the city wall, covered in dishevelment and terror.

They were precisely the military scouts Li Gang had sent out earlier to investigate the situation.

Each of them had a pale face like paper, and their lips were purple, as if they had seen something extremely terrifying, unable to even stand steadily.

Minister Li's expression was grave; he rushed forward in a single stride, supporting the leading warrior.

"How is it? Has the beast tide arrived?"

The warrior gasped for breath, his eyes filled with the fear of having narrowly escaped death.

He nodded heavily, his voice becoming sharp and distorted due to extreme horror.

"It's... it's here!"

"Minister Li... at most... at most ten more minutes! And they'll be at the city gates!"

"The mutated beasts... there are too many... far too many!!!"

As soon as these words were spoken, the atmosphere on the city wall, which had just relaxed, instantly tensed up again!

Everyone's hearts were in their throats.

Ten minutes!

Minister Li suddenly turned his head, looking at Moria not far away, his voice urgent.

"How much longer until your friend, Zhuge Kongming, can completely finish the defensive Formation?!"

Zhou Huai frowned, and said in a deep voice: "About ten minutes, give or take."

It's over!

These two words simultaneously appeared in everyone's minds. 𝕗𝐫𝚎𝗲𝘄𝐞𝕓𝐧𝕠𝘃𝕖𝐥.𝐜𝚘𝚖

If the beast tide charged to East Sea City before the Formation was completed.

Then everything would be in vain!

Everyone would be exposed to the iron hooves of millions of mutated beasts without any defensive protection!

Just then, the last sliver of the setting sun completely sank below the horizon.

Night fell.

As if foreshadowing the imminent doom of East Sea City.

On the city wall, a deathly silence fell.

Everyone held their breath, staring fixedly at the dim wilderness outside the city.

One minute.

Two minutes.

Every second felt infinitely stretched, becoming incredibly agonizing.

Finally.

At the edge of everyone's vision, above the horizon.

A pitch-black, writhing line slowly appeared.

Initially, the line was very thin.

But in just a few breaths, that line began to thicken and widen at a terrifying speed!

It was like black ink gushing from the nine Hells, splattering onto the vast canvas of the wasteland, rapidly spreading and expanding!

Rumble! Rumble!

The trembling of the earth became even more violent!

It was no longer a low, muffled sound, ❀ Nоvеlігht ❀ (Don’t copy, read here) but a terrifying roar like ten thousand horses galloping, like the sky falling and the earth rending!

On the city wall, everyone's hearts pounded madly with this tremor!

"They're here!"

Someone, no one knew who, let out a desperate cry.

Immediately after, a scene that made everyone's guts churn appeared.

That black tide had completely occupied everyone's vision!

Endless!

Overwhelming!

Countless mutated beasts converged into a steel torrent, trampling the earth, letting out earth-shattering roars, sweeping towards East Sea City!

They were of various types and forms.

There were gigantic rhinoceroses as massive as small mountains, agile bloodthirsty demon wolves as fast as lightning, and ferocious giant scorpions covered in thick armor... Their eyes glowed with bloodthirsty red light, and their mouths let out spine-chilling roars!

And this was just the ground!

When everyone subconsciously looked up at the sky.

A deeper despair instantly choked their throats!

The sky, which had just been enveloped by night, was now even blacker than ink!

That wasn't dark clouds!

It was a black cloud layer, composed of countless flying mutated beasts, covering the sky and obscuring the sun!

Terrifying wyverns with wingspans exceeding ten meters!

Screaming ghost-faced vultures in flocks!

And countless unnamed flying mutated beasts, circling and roaring, completely devouring the last sliver of light!

Heaven and earth, at this moment, seemed to be filled with endless blackness.

The entire East Sea City, before this black tide capable of destroying everything, was as tiny as a lone boat about to be swallowed by a storm.