"Spirit of Sacrifice, save us! The calamity has come! Please, Totem, shelter our Ironhoof Tribe from disaster!"
"Please protect us, Great Spirit!"
All the tauren of the Ironhoof Tribe, from elders to youths, knelt in unison, chanting their pleas. Before the massive totem statue, numerous offerings were displayed, all in hopes of gaining the totem spirit's protection.
In foreign tribes, worshiping totems has always been a tradition. A totemis a Spirit of Sacrifice. Within the totem resides the immortal spirit of devotion they worship. It is faith. It is their spiritual pillar. It is an indomitable willpower made manifest.
According to legends among the foreign tribes, when a tribesperson dies, their unyielding obsession returns to the tribe and merges with the totem, becoming part of the totem spirit's power. Over time, as the totem receives more worship and offerings, it can persist and even grow stronger. These Totem Spirits are the ultimate trump card of every foreign tribe.
Now, faced with the all-encompassing natural disaster, the entire Ironhoof Tribe was offering prayers in a grand ceremony.
ROAR!!
Responding to the cries, a deep roar echoed from the mouth of the giant tauric totem spirit, and an earthy yellow glow suddenly lit up in its eyes.
SWISH!!
Streaks of golden-yellow divine light burst forth like a tide, instantly blanketing the entire Ironhoof Tribe. It formed a vast barrier — the protective aura of the totem spirit.
Under this radiant protection, the seismic shockwaves erupting from the earth were forcibly halted outside the barrier. Even the gaping fissures and erupting flames were stopped in their tracks, unable to reach the tribe.
But this protection came at a cost.
The divine light emitted by the totem was visibly fading bit by bit, growing dimmer with each passing moment.
Clearly, resisting the disaster was an enormous burden on the spirit's power. If it failed to endure until the calamity passed, the Spirit of Sacrifice would be severely damaged or even completely destroyed.
After all, this calamity originated from the earth itself. To resist it meant suppressing the turbulent earth energy surrounding the tribe — a nearly impossible task.
Scenes like the Ironhoof Tribe's were playing out all across the wilderness in foreign tribes. One after another, they summoned their totem spirits to protect their people.
Thankfully, while the calamity was terrifying, it had not yet reached truly extinction-level proportions. The Totem Spirits were still able to hold back the devastation.
Yet, beyond the borders of the Great Yi Dynasty, countless human villages and towns were suffering catastrophic destruction. Homes collapsed. Cries of pain rang from beneath the rubble. Some were crushed, others swallowed by the yawning earth.
Though these settlements were founded using the Village Creation Decree and had some degree of luck-based reinforcement, only the village chief's manor truly benefited. The rest relied entirely on self-built structures, whose durability varied by materials and whether runes or formations had been inscribed.
Wails filled the ruins as survivors desperately tried to rescue those still alive.
"Why? Why must this happen now — just when we had a sliver of hope to survive?"
"If we had migrated to the Great Yi earlier, perhaps we would've been safer… not left to die like weeds."
Regret filled the hearts of many humans in the borderlands. None had expected their towns to be so fragile in the face of disaster — utterly vulnerable and easily destroyed.
Who knew how many lives were lost in that single moment?
RUMBLE!!
Then came the fourth tremor.
This one was far worse than any before. The earth force raged like a furious mythical beast. From below came the terrifying howl of the earth energy, its surge so intense it roared like an apocalyptic tsunami.
Even the immortal cities of the Great Yi Dynasty began to sway violently, as if they were ships caught in a hurricane, ready to capsize and collapse into rubble.
"Map of Rivers and Mountains — Suppress!"
Yi Tianxing's eyes blazed with divine light. He let out a sharp cry, and in that moment, his spirit fused with the Heavenly Emperor Dragon Diagram in his body. The Map of Rivers and Mountains within began to operate in sync with the cities of Great Yi.
This triggered the activation of the supreme geomantic array laid across the entire dynasty.
Suddenly, the immortal cities lit up, radiating profound yellow divine light. Waves of Daoist power surged along their surfaces, forming patterns that looked like rivers and mountains in motion.
Invisible might flowed outward from each city, spreading deep into the earth. This unstoppable power forced the raging earth energy back into submission.
It was as if celestial dragons, slumbering beneath each city, had awakened. Their gaze alone calmed the raging land, dominating the subterranean energy.
ROAR! ROAR! ROAR!
From beneath every immortal city came the high-pitched roar of dragons, exuding overwhelming majesty. Instantly, the seismic waves around them were crushed into silence. The cities no longer trembled, their foundations unshakable.
Though the disaster came from the earth, the dragon veins condensed by the Map of Rivers and Mountains still held immense suppressive power. The closer a place was to an immortal city, the stronger the effect. Within a hundred-mile radius, the ground remained utterly stable — unmovable, as if no calamity could ever reach it.
Each immortal city acted as a spiritual nexus, constantly gathering heavenly energy and earth pulses, tempering and strengthening itself with geomantic runes that harnessed the power of nature.
Map of Rivers and Mountains (江山社稷图) — a geomantic diagram linked to each immortal city, suppressing earth disasters through dragon veins and energy manipulation.
"Citizens of Great Yi, channel your strength into the ground beneath your feet. Infuse your energy into your cities. As long as you remain within them, you shall be as steady as Mount Tai. Fear not the disaster!"
At that moment, Yi Tianxing appeared above the Great Yi territory, his voice echoing clearly into the ears of every citizen.
Instantly, the panic across the land eased.
"It's the King!"
"I knew it — the King must have been prepared for this all along. Our cities are unbreakable fortresses!"
"I can feel it too! My own cultivation energy is flowing into the city. Why didn't that work before? This must be the King's doing!"
All around, people discovered mystic runes appearing on the city walls — once invisible, now glowing with arcane light. Without hesitation, they began channeling their true essence into the cities.
The more energy they infused, the brighter the city glowed. Its stability and suppressive force grew stronger. What had wobbled before now stood like an immovable mountain.
Unseen eyes turned to Yi Tianxing's figure above. In that moment, a profound sense of trust and calm settled in every heart. His image grew even more sacred — unshakable and revered. Faith and devotion surged toward him like a tide.
Citizens can now channel their energy into immortal cities to empower the geomantic array — turning each city into a bastion against disaster.
"Public will is like fire. The people's hearts burn."
Watching silently, Jiang Ni nodded.
He, too, could have activated the array — after all, he was the one who designed it. But he wisely refrained. This was not the time for personal glory. Only Yi Tianxing could stand as the true figurehead in such a crisis. And indeed, his appearance instantly restored morale.
"Mr. Jiang, have you detected any further omens? Earthquakes alone cannot possibly qualify as the deadliest catastrophe. I fear more is coming."
Standing on the Rainbow Bridge, Yi Tianxing's face was solemn.
While the quake had wrought destruction, it still didn't match the annihilating visions he'd foreseen — something felt off.
"Earthquakes… may only be the precursor. The true catastrophe has yet to begin,"
Jiang Ni replied grimly.
The ominous scenes he'd witnessed in the celestial omens remained vivid in his mind — and they had only just begun to unfold.