Treat a dead horse as if it were still alive

Hearing Lu Qingshan's proposal, everyone's eyes lit up.

"Breaking through the siege with avatars to seek reinforcements, that is a brilliant plan!"

"Indeed! Since we are using avatars to break out, we do not need to worry about casualties. Even if only a single avatar manages to escape, we might just be able to secure powerful reinforcements!"

But the excitement lasted only a few breaths before Wu Yonghong voiced his concerns.

"This plan is indeed feasible..."

"However, those black shadows possess extraordinary cultivation bases, and their numbers are absolutely terrifying. Even our Shadow Island is struggling to defend against them..."

"Leaving aside whether anyone would be willing to come to our aid, are there truly cultivators in the outside world capable of fighting them?"

His solemn words dropped the atmosphere to the freezing point.

Based on everyone's life experiences, Shadow Island's foundation was unmatched. Even with the Mister and the various Lords absent, it was still beyond compare to the outside world. The current enemies, whether in cultivation or numbers, far exceeded anything from the past, making it difficult even for Shadow Island to contend with them.

Facing such enemies, even Shadow Island was barely holding on. Seeking help from the outside world now felt like putting the cart before the horse, rendering their hopes extremely slim...

Furthermore, Shadow Island was everyone's home. It was only natural for them to sacrifice their lives to defend it. But forcing this spirit of sacrifice onto outsiders seemed highly unrealistic no matter how one looked at it.

Before the plea for help had even begun, everyone had already lost much of their expectations.

Master Lu could only let out a soft sigh.

"Alas..."

"Given the circumstances, we have no other choice. Whether or not anyone will come to help out of righteousness, we must try our best. We can only make a desperate final attempt."

"Regardless of whether anyone from the outside comes to our aid, we must fight to the death here. Even if repairing the barrier comes at a tremendous price, we must grit our teeth and persevere!"

"Even if we have to fight to the last man, we must fiercely defend Shadow Island!"

"As long as we live, the island remains!"

Hearing these words, the crowd nodded solemnly in agreement.

"As long as we live, the island remains!"

Not long after the meeting dispersed.

Lu Qingshan led a group to the eastern suburbs of the city. In an area where the black shadows outside were scarce, he opened a foot-wide gap in the restriction barrier. With lightning speed, he released over a thousand mystic avatars before immediately closing the gap!

Even so, hundreds of the alien race managed to swarm in, plunging everyone into a brief but bitter battle!

As soon as the bitter battle ended, Lu Qingshan began meditating on the spot to adjust his breathing. The second batch of team members assisting in repairing the rift was already waiting silently on the long street battlefield in the distance, their eyes filled with the resolve to fight to the death!

Shadow Island had fallen into an unprecedented predicament!

In the blink of an eye, ten days passed.

The crossroads of Shadow Island's West Street were completely devastated beyond recognition!

Both sides were filled with broken walls and ruins, with no trace of their former prosperity. The ground was scarred and soaked in blood. People constantly searched through mountains of corpses for severed limbs and broken arms, carrying their eternally slumbering friends and family away from the flames of war.

High in the sky.

Lu Qingshan clenched his teeth tightly as he repaired the rift. His head was covered in sweat, clearly showing immense exhaustion, and his fatigue was extremely apparent. Beside him, Wu Yonghong had deployed a barrier to protect him, but his aura was also growing increasingly sluggish, showing that his energy consumption was equally massive.

The guards from the other divisions stood firmly in front of the rift, engaging in close-quarters combat with the endless stream of invading black shadows!

This was already the sixth time they were repairing the rift...

After five full rounds of close-quarters slaughter, almost all divisions of Shadow Island had suffered over half casualties!

Not only did everyone have to constantly rotate shifts to guard against the foreign enemies flooding through the rift, but they also experienced several tragic close-quarters battles to block the gap. The hardship involved was unimaginable.

At this very moment.

Almost all remaining combat forces were blocking the front of the rift, endlessly slaughtering the invading black shadows. After several bitter battles in recent days, all divisions had suffered immense exhaustion. Their combat strength was less than forty percent. Even if all divisions joined forces to defend the rift to the death, they were already feeling powerless!

Even though many were still alive, they were already severely injured and powerless to help!

Seeing the crowd blocking the rift beginning to retreat with great difficulty, a gap gradually appeared in the defensive line of figures in the sky, and some black shadows had already charged out!

Master Lu hurriedly turned around, manipulating his dung cart divine ability to annihilate several black shadows!

Then, he gazed anxiously and asked Wu Yonghong!

"How is the repair progress?!"

"The remaining combat strength on the island is already less than twenty percent. Today, these black shadows have become even more berserk. We can hardly hold them off anymore!"

Hearing this, Wu Yonghong's eyes revealed a look of urgency!

But as he kept one hand supporting the protective formation around Lu Qingshan and turned his head to sneak a glance, he discovered that Lu Qingshan's face was also pale. His exhaustion had long surpassed his limits!

Even so, both his palms were still channeling Ancient Desolate Power to mend the rift in the restriction light screen!

However, the Ancient Desolate Power in Lu Qingshan's hands was now extremely weak, far inferior to the repair speed from a few days ago!

Looking at his struggling state, Wu Yonghong burned with anxiety.

He recovered his wits and sent a voice transmission, his tone already somewhat solemn!

"The repairs are not going smoothly this time!"

"Today's enemies seem increasingly frenzied, constantly and desperately crashing against the rift in the restriction. Lu Qingshan... I am afraid he will not be able to hold on much longer either!"

Just as the voice transmission ended.

Suddenly, a crisp crack echoed across the horizon!

"Crack!"

Even amidst the utter chaos of the battlefield, that crisp cracking sound seemed to echo right beside everyone's ears, instantly making everyone's hearts tremble in shock!

Qing Huan Xiang's ten-thousand-foot demonic body swung its massive horns, hurriedly annihilating several black shadows.

Looking up closely at the sky, he was so shocked that he cried out on the spot!

"This is bad!"

"A crack has appeared on the edge of the restriction rift!"

His massive ten-thousand-foot figure shouted loud enough to shake the heavens, causing all divisions of Shadow Island to look up upon hearing the sound!

Seeing the anomaly in the restriction light screen in the sky clearly, thousands of eyes began to tremble!

In their line of sight...

On the dim light screen in the sky, a distinct crack had indeed appeared, stretching hundreds of feet from east to west!

The source of that crack was precisely the rift they had been repairing for days. At this moment, it was being desperately bombarded from the outside by countless black shadows. Seeing that the outer edge of the light screen was already dyed blue, those black shadows showed no hesitation whatsoever, still detonating themselves madly to impact the barrier!

"Bang! Bang!"

The increasingly clear sounds were gradually echoing in the skies above Shadow Island!

With every sound, everyone's hearts fiercely clenched!

At this moment.

An indescribable despair began to constantly breed and spread in everyone's hearts!

Seeing that the situation was dire.

Lu Qingshan still did not give up. With a roar, he erupted with his final bits of Ancient Desolate Power!

"Ah!!!"

Wu Yonghong also gritted his teeth to maintain the supportive formation around them, while simultaneously freeing up a palm to channel his own Ancient Desolate Power into Lu Qingshan!

These two old brothers almost desperately began to burn their divine souls, their white hair dancing wildly in the wind like demon gods!

Seeing this, the others also desperately blocked the gap, wanting to turn the tide at all costs and defend their homeland!

However, no matter how hard everyone tried, they seemed powerless to reverse the situation.

The impacts outside the light screen became even more ferocious, and the cracks continued to multiply!

As dense sonic booms rang out, a series of crisp cracking sounds also spread across the horizon one after another!

"Crack!"

"Crack..."

Around that newly formed hundred-foot crack, new tiny fissures continuously appeared. The originally pure and stable restriction light screen looked as if it had suddenly been covered by a spider web!

Catching a glimpse of that scene, most people's eyes began to tremble.

Even though the defenders holding the line at the rifts fought without a moment's rest, their movements and their surging battle intent had unknowingly grown sluggish!

It was as if those fissures were cracking open not only across the defensive light barrier, but also deep within their very hearts!

Everyone knew the grim reality.

If this continued, the barrier would soon shatter.

When that happened, the endless dark shadows lurking outside would pour in like a surging ocean!

Shadow Island was truly on the verge of falling!