Chapter 43

(Additional chapter, thanks to the generous support of the new leader, Health First)

"Form the formation, form the formation!"

Few people would listen to Chen Hai's orders, but Shen Kun, Ge Tong, and others, upon hearing his words, calmed their panicked minds slightly. They knew that without a final desperate struggle, they might not be able to leave Yulong Mountain alive. Thus, they joined Chen Hai in beating their iron shields and weapons, running back and forth, shouting and ordering the shield and spear soldiers to form the outer perimeter, and the archers to retreat to the inner side, preparing to welcome their comrades who were about to break through the double-peak stone fort.

The two hundred soldiers and a few disciples who had retreated to the foot of the stone slope mostly had cultivation levels above the Tongxuan realm. However, most of them lacked practical combat experience and had lost this battle due to overconfidence and underestimating the enemy. Despite this, their will and adaptability were still stronger than ordinary people.

At this moment, seeing someone step forward to organize the formation, Shen Kun and Ge Tong, who were purple-clothed disciples with military ranks, were more convincing. Although their minds were filled with intense unease and fear, they quickly formed a conical shield formation and a bow formation, preparing to welcome their fellow disciples who were about to break through.

Zhou Jun did not expect the notorious Xing Gongzi to be more calm and composed than most of them, and he felt ashamed. Seeing Chen Hai, Ge Tong, and Shen Kun, who were holding shields and spears, standing at the front of the conical formation, he knew that when someone broke through, the ambushers would also rush down, and the front of the conical formation would bear the greatest pressure.

Zhou Jun placed his twin swords on his back, picked up a pair of scattered shields and spears, and walked to the front in large strides, standing with Chen Hai, Ge Tong, and Shen Kun.

Seeing Li Ruhai and the others, along with the spirit vulture whose feathers were corroded by toxic smoke, breaking out of the stone fort, Zhou Jun hurriedly said, "We need to open the conical formation and form two diagonal lines to facilitate the escape of Senior Uncle Li and the others."

"No!" Chen Hai decisively rejected Zhou Jun's suggestion, shouting, "Few of our fellow disciples have practiced the opening and closing of the conical formation. Now, with the chaos, it's impossible to advance and retreat in an orderly manner. If we want to survive, we must stay tightly together. Senior Brother Zhou, you need to watch the back. If you see any gaps, you must organize the fellow disciples to fill them with their lives to prevent the ambushers from breaking through. As long as we can hold this stone slope, we can pin down the ambushers from the side, and Elder Li and the others can regroup behind us!"

Although Ge Tong and Shen Kun had served in the military, they mainly held positions in the inner cities and had only killed a dozen or so enemies in recent years.

Chen Hai, on the other hand, had hunted forty-seven Rakshasa demons in the Blood Cloud Wasteland, giving him much more practical combat experience than Ge Tong and Shen Kun. He was far from being a novice. Chen Hai knew that at this moment, they needed to prepare for the ambushers' attack, and the simpler and tighter the formation, the better. Trying to use the opening and closing of the conical formation to welcome the breaking-through comrades and block the pursuing ambushers was an impossible task.

Zhou Jun, though personally strong, lacked experience in commanding soldiers. Hearing Chen Hai's loud rejection of his suggestion, though it was harsh, he felt that Chen Hai's words were more reasonable. He shouted, "Alright! Today, we live and die together!" He handed the shield and spear to another disciple from the Iron Stream Ridge Dao Academy, drew his twin swords, and stood at the back, organizing the reserve troops.

Seeing this, Qian Wenyi, who had originally planned to escape into the mountains with Chen Qing and Su Ziling, finally let out a long breath, picked up a cold iron spear, and instructed Su Ziling, "Protect the young miss!" He then firmly stood behind Chen Hai, reinforcing the density of the conical formation's front.

******

Li Ruhai endured the intense pain as if his internal organs were being stabbed by a thousand knives. He mobilized the remaining true essence in his spirit sea, activating two Ten Thousand Blades Talismans and throwing them to both sides. They transformed into hundreds of sharp sword lights, slicing the hundreds of ambushers who were rushing to entangle them into minced meat.

The Ten Thousand Blades Talismans were extremely powerful. Even with the best materials, it was very difficult for Li Ruhai to successfully refine one. He usually carried only two, and he never thought they would be useful in such a situation, barely managing to tear open the hastily formed defensive line on the north side of the fort.

Inner Gate Elder Guan Yuhu had repeatedly mobilized the sword formation to create a gap for the breakout, but at this moment, he had exhausted the last drop of true essence in his body. Although he still had a spirit armor that could withstand blades and spears, he was now restrained by a dozen skilled roving swordsmen and could not break free. Eventually, his spirit armor would be torn apart by these roving swordsmen.

Once a cultivator's true essence is exhausted and they cannot use their magical treasures to defend, their physical body is not much stronger than a skilled roving swordsman.

More Inner Gate disciples and Dao Academy disciples were entangled by countless ambushers. In the narrow stone fort, with thousands of enemies and allies squeezed together, there was no room to maneuver. Countless spears, swords, and shields were raised and slashed, and anyone who ran out of strength or was slightly careless would be cut into pieces of flesh and bone...

These proud Inner Gate disciples, who were the pride of their respective regions and families, had never imagined that they would die so tragically under the chaotic blades of the refugees.

And these refugees had been unarmed just half a year ago.

Li Ruhai could only watch helplessly as one by one, Dao Academy disciples and Inner Gate disciples fell. He could not save more people, and this was their only chance to break through. More ambushers were still pouring out from the caves on both sides of the stone fort, and even more refugees were surging up from the south side of the fort.

Even if they managed to break out of the stone fort, Li Ruhai did not know how many of the over a hundred disciples behind him would survive to leave Yulong Mountain.

They had been too careless, never imagining that the Huanglong Yuan double-peak stone fort would be a trap for their deaths.

In the history of Taiwei Sect, such a severe loss of Inner Gate disciples had only occurred in battles with over a hundred thousand casualties. Who could have thought that so many of Taiwei Sect's pride would die in the suppression of the Yulong Mountain unrest?

As they broke through the gap in the fort wall, seeing the two hundred soldiers and disciples at the foot of the stone slope not panic or scatter, but form a well-ordered and dense conical formation, Li Ruhai felt a surge of hope. He never thought these people were not all incompetent and that someone knew to stabilize the formation and welcome their breakout!

******

As Li Ruhai and the others rushed down the stone slope, the ambushers followed. However, the conical formation formed by Chen Hai and the two hundred soldiers was tightly and neatly arranged, like a solid reef standing in the surging sea, waiting for the most intense impact.

The ambushers, not wanting to be threatened on their flanks, could only temporarily let Li Ruhai and the others escape and directly charge at the conical formation.

The cold iron shield could only cover most of the body. Chen Hai curled his body as much as possible, using his left hand and shoulder to support the cold iron shield, and held a short spear, thrusting and stabbing through the gaps between the shields.

Chen Hai felt that each thrust was like piercing a hot water bag. He did not know how many ambushers he had stabbed, but each time he pulled back his spear, it was covered in spurting blood. The blood flowed like a river at his feet, and the warm blood even seeped into his Fengyun boots. He just fought desperately to block the gaps.

At this moment, he felt a fierce beast awakening and roaring within him. His divine soul and consciousness involuntarily connected through the snake bracelet to the puppet body hidden in the Blood Cloud Wasteland. The puppet body's spirit sea turned into a blood-red sky, and the Rakshasa demon's mysterious figure stood tall under the blood-red sky, emitting a fierce demonic aura.

Although the Blood Refinement Secret Spell did not resonate from the depths of his spirit sea, at this moment, Chen Hai felt his divine soul and consciousness gradually merging with the Rakshasa demon's mysterious figure.

The feeling of being one with the demon, and the demon being one with him, filled him with an endless sense of satisfaction from the slaughter!

"Master, step back!"

Chen Hai was pulled back from the front line by Qian Wenyi and suddenly regained his senses. At this moment, he saw the cold iron shield in his hand suddenly crack.

After enduring countless heavy blows, the large shield made of cold-patterned iron and red marrow copper, which had been reinforced, was shattered into seven or eight pieces.

Chen Hai then noticed that his left arm was already torn and bleeding from the repeated shock, and the shoulder supporting the cold iron shield was also raw.

The Fengyun boots he wore, which were several times stronger than iron chain boots, were also punctured and torn, but fortunately, his feet were not seriously injured. However, the part of his calves not covered by the boots and armor was almost completely shredded, exposing the white bone. Surprisingly, in such a chaotic battle, his leg bones and tendons were not damaged.

Ge Tong and Shen Kun had already been replaced and were resting at the back of the formation. They did not expect Chen Hai to hold out for so long. At this moment, they and the others looked at Chen Hai, who had retreated from the front line, like a bloody and fierce beast that had just returned from a hunt.

Chen Hai wiped his face, which was covered in a thick layer of blood, leaving only his eyes visible.

Li Ruhai, Xie Wenzhuo, and others had successfully retreated to the formation, and the conical formation had turned into a circular formation, surrounded by thousands of ambushers on the low slope. However, the ambushers' attacks had clearly weakened, allowing Chen Hai and the others to rest...

Chen Hai felt an indescribable fatigue in his body. He had not noticed it earlier, but now he realized that his strength had been completely drained, and his vital energy and essence had been exhausted.

Chen Hai limped to the back of the formation, wanting to salute Elder Li Ruhai, but he was so weak that he almost fell.

At this moment, Li Ruhai had recovered some strength and was sitting on the ground with a pale face. Seeing Chen Hai approach, he stood up, supporting himself on the ground, and caught Chen Hai, who was about to fall, praising him loudly, "You are Yao Xing, good, good!"

Chen Qing and Su Ziling, who were serving Chen Qing, looked at Chen Hai as if he were a monster, their mouths open wide enough to fit a banana.

Before this battle, who could have imagined that such a waste of a person would have over a hundred bodies piled up in front of his shield and spear, and that at the most intense moment of the slaughter, four roving swordsmen with heavy shields rushed forward to break through the corner Chen Hai was defending, but only left four corpses in front of the formation...

In the flood-like attacks of the ambushers, the conical formation almost collapsed several times. The two flanks were constantly compressed, twisted, and even torn apart. Only the place where Chen Hai stood did not move a single step, and he did not retreat, like a sea-stabilizing needle, ultimately becoming the central pillar that stabilized the entire conical formation, maintaining it through the most difficult moments and withstanding wave after wave of the ambushers' charges!

Who could have imagined that a bulky body that had not yet reached the Tongxuan realm could burst forth with such formidable combat power?

At this moment, looking at Chen Hai's legs and arms, which were covered in wounds and exposed bones, who could have imagined that he could support himself until now without feeling anything?

Chen Qing and Su Ziling looked at him with astonished eyes as he sat on the stone ground, took out a handful of Essence Pills, and swallowed them whole.

However, as the pure yang energy of the Essence Pills flowed through his meridians, Chen Hai suddenly realized that the blockage in the Foot-Shaoyang meridian, which connected to the two kidneys, had been opened!

He had unknowingly taken a step into the Tongxuan realm!

Page break for ads

Page break for ads end