Chapter 69: Fearless

Under the city gate, smoke billowed, obscuring the ground.

He Lingchuan wasn't idle; he waved to everyone and said, "Alright, second round!"

His eyesight was sharp; he saw that Nian Songyu had deflected the first few fire crossbow bolts. That fellow was indeed formidable after going berserk, and He Lingchuan believed it was best to finish him off completely.

Since the first round had already been fired, effectively severing ties with the Imperial Preceptor, a second or third round would at most just expose them further. No one had any further objections, and they all focused on reloading.

The second round was also successfully fired.

Only then did He Lingchuan realize that while the nail bullets made the loudest, deafening noise, the trebuchets were probably more formidable in terms of power. Although they didn't explode upon impact, these improved trebuchets on the city gate actually had a rapid-fire function. Once fully loaded, they could hurl twenty-four rolling stones in quick succession!

If manually operated, errors would be inevitable, but in Coiled Dragon City, controlled by the Black Jiao, these twenty-four shots almost all landed in the same spot: where Sun Fuping stood.

He Lingchuan put himself in that position; if he were standing where Sun Fuping was, he would be flattened into a paper doll before the fourth firestone hit, or perhaps crushed into meat paste.

So, had they actually interrupted Sun Fuping's evil spellcasting?

The demon apes and sand leopards, formed from scorched earth and magma, reappeared one after another, rushing forward and beginning to rummage.

Stone balls, nail bullets, and other miscellaneous items had turned this open space into ruins again, with a huge pile of debris.

Even the Black Jiao lowered its head, curious to see if the two were alive or dead.

Ignoring the gasps around him, He Chunhua's mind raced.

The Blood Sacrifice Formation was already active and would take effect in an instant. What should he do? Was there any way out?

His gaze fell on the Great Wind Army commander, who was ten zhang away.

These vengeful spirits had not gone far; they had merely retreated a short distance and stood firm.

A plan suddenly formed in He Chunhua's mind. He gestured to them again—

Attack!

Attack the Heavenly Thunder Formation!

If they were alive, the Great Wind Army would never turn their weapons against Zhong Shengguang. But at this moment, one of the remaining wills of these heroic spirits was to obey military orders and advance bravely!

Thousands of heroic spirits turned their heads in unison, once again gathering the surrounding vengeful spirits and rushing towards the Heavenly Thunder Formation, with themselves following closely behind.

Soon, nearly a thousand vengeful spirits collided with the formation and were instantly annihilated.

There were no wandering vengeful spirits nearby anymore; the shouts of the Great Wind Army officers and soldiers pierced the sky.

Then, they raised their swords, spears, and lances, and charged towards the formation!

The thundering hoofbeats sounded like dragons.

Facing such a force was like standing at the head of Guantang Bridge and seeing the great tide of the sixteenth day of the eighth lunar month surging towards you.

He Chunhua roared, "Give up resistance, and dodge!"

Then, the Great Wind Army directly collided with the Heavenly Thunder Formation.

This time, the formation's tremor was more intense than the previous two times.

The first three rows of heroic spirits didn't even have time to cry out before turning into dust.

Those who followed took their place without any hesitation.

The heavenly thunder roared, but the number of heroic spirits dispersed was visibly decreasing.

Finally, as the sixth row of heroic spirits also reached the formation, He Chunhua's Imperial Decree token lost its last glimmer of green light.

The beast-head on the staff finally opened its mouth, and the kite coin dropped to the ground, its sound drowned out by the thunder of hooves.

The Heavenly Thunder Formation was broken.

While this was partly due to the Blackwater City army giving up resistance and losing their fighting spirit, it was even more so due to the powerful and outstanding charge of the Great Wind Army.

He Chunhua paid no attention to anything else and strode quickly out of the formation.

His impatience was the best example; others moved exactly like him, even trampling over each other.

They had barely rushed two zhang outside the formation when agonizing screams came from behind.

He Chunhua turned back; the sight made his hair stand on end:

The red light of the Blood Sacrifice Formation shot up into the sky, more than ten times as intense as before.

Among the hundred or so people under his command, there was always a difference in how quickly they exited the formation. When the red light flared, dozens of them hadn't managed to escape in time; they instantly collapsed to the ground, as if all their strength had been drained.

But others dared not enter the formation to help, because their skin rapidly shriveled, and in three breaths, they were skin and bones. Their nails fell off, their hair turned white, and they withered like straw.

He Chunhua watched one of his trusted men plead for help, his hand already stretched outside the formation. He had originally had small, triangular eyes, but because his face had shriveled into a skull, his eyeballs bulged perfectly round.

He Chunhua initially wanted to yank the man out, but he withdrew his hand when he reached the edge of the circle. Finally, the man's eyeballs rolled out of their sockets and fell to the ground.

Situ Han was quicker. Seeing a comrade collapse at the edge of the formation, he quickly used the back of his sword to pull him out. But the man was ruined from the waist down and continued to wail on the ground.

When the red light dissipated, only dozens of skeletons in clothing remained within the formation, along with hair fluttering in the wind.

And within the formation, a ball of white light appeared at some unknown point. Before anyone could clearly see it, it zipped into the pond-well!

The strange thing was, this pond-well, which vengeful spirits and humans could both enter, was impenetrable to this ball of white light.

It was bounced back.

The white light seemed disbelieving; it tried twice in a row and failed both times.

When the Blood Sacrifice Formation was activated, the Great Wind Army also kept a distance, as if aware of its power. It was only when the red light disappeared and the Heavenly Thunder Formation also lost its effect that the Great Wind Army gathered around.

The ball of white light seemed to catch their attention. As the white light hit the pond-well's barrier, several Great Wind Army leaders exchanged glances, as if sharing a telepathic understanding, and first threw out a net.

The white light, as if it had eyes, dodged instantly. To their surprise, the net inexplicably expanded several times in size and still managed to envelop it in one go.

The Great Wind Army pulled in the net, then their swords, spears, and lances were thrust into the mesh, every strike squarely hitting the white light.

Their weapons were not physical entities, yet they shattered after only a few thrusts, and even the arms holding the weapons gradually blurred. Soldiers nearby raised their swords and severed the leaders' upper arms at the shoulder, which finally stopped the transformation of their spirit bodies.

As heroic spirits, such injuries were nothing and would recover in due time.

The Great Wind Army commander, who had first engaged He Chunhua and the others, saw this and again threw his weapon like a javelin, hitting the white light squarely.

The remaining generals followed suit.

Situ Han saw this and also threw his long saber, but it passed through the pond-well and fell in, causing no harm to the white light.

He Chunhua said, "Pure weapons won't work."

Just as the Great Wind Army was about to inflict a second wave of damage on the white light, the latter suddenly flared with brilliant light.

That light was so intense that even heroic spirits, let alone humans, had to avert their gaze.

Fortunately, the strong light only lasted for an instant. By the time everyone regained their senses, the white light had vanished from the spot.

The Great Wind Army generals stood for a few breaths, as if they had received some message or made some decision, then led their respective troops into the pond-well.

Since they had no physical bodies, there was no need to scramble. As grand as their exit from the pond-well had been, so swift was their return.

In just over ten breaths, there were no heroic spirits left in front of the temple.

Everyone stood at the edge of the formation, panting heavily, unable to speak for a long time.