Chapter 135: Chapter 38: Commanding Wind and Thunder
WHOOSH!
Naturally, the National Preceptor, who held the advantage in the air, wasn’t about to come down and engage in close combat. Yet, Su Zhou’s arrow was still deflected.
Even though Su Zhou was using a Stone Arrow, its mass was simply too small. The moment it neared the National Preceptor’s Inner Qi Magnetic Field, it was instantly charged and deflected.
If the National Preceptor existed in modern society, its threat and destructive power would be more than ten times greater than they were here in this desolate wilderness. Su Zhou was certain that with its Energy Level and control over Celestial Thunder, it could burn out electrical grids district by district, or even act as a living EMP.
’This thing... it’s pretty strong.’ Su Zhou had figured it out. The National Preceptor had no intention of putting itself in harm’s way. It just wanted to use its Thunder Strikes to pin down Li Daoran and the other Martial Artists, letting the Divine Wood Guard and Demon Beasts storm the wall. ’And if it stays up there, there’s not much I can do.’
Meanwhile, the Divine Wood Guard and the six remaining Spirit Plant Demon Beasts began to close in on the city wall. They were like heavily armored Martial Artists, and their advance was as thunderous as a heavy cavalry charge.
"Loose!"
On the city wall, at Weilie’s clipped command, over twenty Strong Bowmasters loosed their arrows in unison. A volley of whistling shafts tore through the air and struck the charging Wood Armor Giants.
While most arrows only sank in about halfway, failing to pierce the wood armor, the massive force of the impact still broke the charge of several Divine Wood Guard. At that moment, round iron balls were also thrown out. The patterns on the spheres lit up in an instant, and they detonated in mid-air!
KABOOM! KABOOM! KABOOM! A series of explosions erupted. For a moment, even the biting wind and heavy snow seemed to freeze. As the Magma Bombs detonated, sheets of magma rained down upon the Divine Wood Guard. The superheated liquid, mixed with the concussive force of the blasts, surged forward with enough power to tear and burn any flesh!
But then, black shadows shot out, shielding the vast majority of the Divine Wood Guard from the magma.
They were the Wood Centipedes. They had been following close behind the Battle Array, preparing to move the moment they saw the Magma Bombs being thrown. As the magma rained down, they shot forward, using their own bodies as shields to block the attack. It was now clear that the Divine Wood Guard’s formation was a long, thin line—perfectly designed to be sheltered by the Wood Centipedes.
The backs of the Wood Centipedes were coated in a viscous mucus that caused weapons to slide right off. The magma could only corrode the surface layer before it, too, slid away. Furthermore, in the heavy snow, the magma cooled with extreme speed. Since it failed to inflict damage immediately, its effectiveness was drastically reduced.
In an instant, as the Divine Wood Guard closed in on the wall, these powerful Alien Martial Artists used their Qinggong to leap into the air. Raising heavy weapons like long sabers and great axes, they ignored the defenders’ counterattacks, clearly willing to trade wounds for kills to force their way onto the ramparts!
At the same time, the National Preceptor called down a second bolt of Celestial Thunder. This again prevented Li Daoran and the others from joining the defense of the wall. After shaking off the magma residue, the Wood Centipedes also began to scrabble up the fortress walls, their many-segmented legs finding purchase.
For a moment, the defenses were on the verge of collapse.
But, just as a single Grandmaster Level expert could tie down dozens of Postnatal Martial Artists, as long as Su Zhou was present, the enemy couldn’t dream of taking the wall so easily.
He casually tossed aside his longbow, which was already on the verge of shattering. It wasn’t a Spirit Bow, after all; how could it possibly withstand Su Zhou’s brute force and Spiritual Power? The young Grandmaster raised his greatspear and gave it a deceptively simple swing.
Instantly, infused with Spiritual Power, a pure-white shockwave several meters long spread out in an arc, accompanied by a terrifying, air-rending shriek!
The wide-arcing shockwave, carrying half the power of Su Zhou’s full-force strike, blasted the dozen or so charging Divine Wood Guard back more than ten meters. His figure then flickered and, as if using Instant Teleportation, he reappeared at the other end of the wall. With the same technique, he swept away nearly ten more.
But amid the sonic boom, four Wood Centipedes and two Yang Flame Cicadas lunged forward, using their bodies to form living bridges to the wall. The other Divine Wood Guard immediately began to swarm across them. The inhuman momentum was like a crashing mountain. Even when Weilie blasted one Wood Centipede off the wall with a Rigid Shot, it couldn’t stop the fearless charge of the other Divine Wood Guard—these Demon Soldiers.
The battle had become white-hot within ten seconds of engaging. Casualties appeared the moment the Martial Artists clashed with the Divine Wood Guard. Most of the dead were Martial Artists; aside from a few hit by Magma Bombs, the Divine Wood Guard were merely wounded, not killed.
’I’ll take care of the tough ones!’
A bluish-purple light flashed in his eyes as Su Zhou used his Spiritual Vision to gauge the strength of the approaching foes. He moved swiftly along the edge of the wall, his greatspear a blur of thrusts that sent every one of the stronger Divine Wood Guard flying.
The Spirit Iron Spear’s ’Dark Spirit Attachment’ and ’Red Land Demon Poison’ activated, immobilizing the targets and rendering them completely helpless for a short time.
Of course, Su Zhou wasn’t holding the line alone. He could see that after knocking a Wood Centipede away, Weilie had already raised his bow again to pierce the wing of a Yang Flame Cicada, sending it tumbling into the snow below. Meanwhile, Zhou Buyi was leading his team to hold back another Wood Centipede and the Divine Wood Guard on his flank. Seeing this, Su Zhou ignored those two fronts for the moment. He charged toward another spot where a Wood Centipede was lunging, his stride so powerful it cracked the solid stone of the wall.
