Chapter 1262: Chapter 1260: Prelude to the Great Decisive Battle, Brutal Battlefield (Part 5, Happy Lantern Festival to Everyone!)
"No, we cannot hold on like this; we must have more people come. Under a collapsing nest, there are no intact eggs. What are those who fear death and cling to life, hiding in the back, thinking! If they will not come willingly, then we shall forcibly conscript them. Whoever does not come shall be treated as a traitor!"
Seeing the number of warriors dwindling, the leader of the Demon Exorcism Sect spoke in a tone cold and filled with intense anger and murderous intent.
In the midst of his speech, many more within the area he was responsible for were blasted to death. With a sharp eye, the Sect Leader recognized several of them as leaders he had appointed, all of whom were Void Origin Realm Martial Emperors.
By this point, even masters at this level had lost their advantage.
In several other areas, the situation was similarly dire. One leader after another met a tragic death. Without leadership, large numbers of East Victory warriors were swallowed up by the warriors from Outer Heaven.
"Shi Xiaole, is this all the people you have from East Victory? Not even enough to fill the gaps. Truly disappointing," sneered one man confrontationally facing Shi Xiaole—a giant from Outer Heaven, the Ice Polar Sword Emperor, and the Nine Peaks Axe Emperor, the latter gave a cold laugh.
As far as the giants from Outer Heaven were concerned, they hoped that the Blood Sea Blade Emperor would face Shi Xiaole. Alas, every time he appeared, he was intercepted by the Great Battles Emperor, so they had to give up.
But it didn’t matter. After several fights, they discovered that Shi Xiaole was actually expending his strength to heal those insignificant ants, such a fool!
After discussing it amongst themselves, the people from Outer Heaven specifically targeted the Void Origin Realm Martial Emperors from East Victory and devised a different strategy, aimed to inflict maximum damage on them, seeking to drag Shi Xiaole down, sparing no expense.
The strategy proved to be very correct.
The state of Shi Xiaole was obviously not as good as before. They believed that if they waited a little longer, they and the Ice Polar Sword Emperor could also kill Shi Xiaole.
The Nine Peaks Axe Emperor was secretly thrilled, unable to wait to make this great contribution!
Shi Xiaole paid no attention to the taunts from the other side.
Continuous fighting, self-healing, and healing others had indeed placed a heavy burden on Shi Xiaole, and he was on the verge of collapse. But it was precisely this that deepened his understanding of the martial path of life and death.
Day after day, he witnessed death, experienced death, and on the verge of death, he pulled back one precious life after another.
His insights into life and death lingered in his mind, inescapable. They shook him deeply and gave him profound enlightenment with every burst of blood spray.
Unfortunately, the martial path of life and death was too profound. To break through from the middle stage to the late stage of eleven accomplishments, it was ten times more difficult than breaking through from the early stage to the middle stage of eleven accomplishments.
Even with Shi Xiaole’s talent, it was not something that could be accomplished in a short time.
However, in terms of Vigorous Air, Shi Xiaole discovered that, due to his frequent overloading, he had vaguely touched the threshold of the second split!
The Fake Sky Origin Realm, after all, is still the Void Origin Realm, and most of the giant characters have only experienced one split. On the side of East Victory, only the Great Battles Emperor, Chi Evil Great Witch, and the Three Elders of Wind and Dust had undergone two splits.
To complete this step, not only was a high quality of Vigorous Air required, but the very system of Vigorous Air Vortex also needed to accommodate all rivers, possessing unparalleled potential.
The quality of Shi Xiaole’s Vigorous Air goes without saying—it was nearly unrivaled.
As for the system of Vigorous Air Vortex, in those days, he had absorbed the essence of the systems of hundreds, if not thousands of Void Origin Realm Martial Emperors, including such supreme beings as the original Witch Queen.
Having undergone trial after trial, if not impregnable, his system was at least refined to perfection.
Shi Xiaole had reached the extreme in both aspects, and correspondingly, his second vortex split was imminent. When that time came, his strength would surge dramatically, and he might be able to break the current deadlock, saving even more lives.
He just needed a little more time!
Shi Xiaole looked down at those who were fighting bloodily below, his eyes flitting with pain and admiration.
The tenth skirmish.
The warriors who came were always fewer than those who perished. There were less than a million people left in the giant pit, and every one of them had a resolute look of no return on their faces.
Fighting to this stage, no one believed they could survive to the end. The only difference was whether they would die earlier or later.
They charged forward as if the endless warriors from Outer Heaven were no longer in front of them, but rather a peaceful resting place.
From high above, nearly a million warriors from East Victory looked like a torrential river, but the warriors from Outer Heaven were the raging sea. Upon collision, the river was instantly swallowed by the sea, stirring up towering waves of blood.
This time, they could only hold on for less than half a day before the warriors of East Victory reached the brink of annihilation.
"Are we going to lose? I do not believe it. East Victory has hundreds of millions of warriors. If we all work together, how could we possibly lose?"
"I can’t manage anymore. At least, I’ve given my all, with no regrets. Farewell!"
"Why, why are there so few who came? So many are stronger than me. When calamity strikes, shouldn’t they step forward?"
Sounds of self-destruction continued without end, as one seriously injured expert of East Victory after another gave everything for this land.
Tears streamed down Shi Xiaole’s face.
Many of these people were leaders he had appointed, responsible for a region on his behalf, and he had treated their injuries. At the time, they had semi-seriously said that after the war ended, they would join Nine Profound Mountain to repay the grand master for his life-saving grace.
Now, nearly all of them were dead.
Above the gigantic pit, people continued to fall, but at a pace far less rapid than the deaths of these experts. The situation had reached its most dire point.
Shi Xiaole and the others were circulating their energy, ready to act at any moment.
They could not retreat because the battle had already begun. If the entrance fell into the hands of the people from Outer Heaven, then they would be even more passive than they were currently.
That is to say, the six giants would face the nine giants from Outer Heaven, as well as the attacks of countless warriors from Outer Heaven. How many of them could survive, they themselves did not even know.
Just then!
"Gentlemen of honor, we have arrived!"
"We are late, we hope the brave warriors will forgive us!"
"Kill!"
The ferocity exploded like countless dragons, rushing into the pit with speed comparable to lightning and thunder.
Within that momentum were teams of weapon-wielding experts from East Victory exuding murderous intent, each led by a Void Origin Realm Martial Emperor, and many at the peak of the Void Origin Realm.
There were also numerous ordinary Void Origin Realm Martial Emperors and even peak Divine Barrier Realm Earth Immortals, high-order Divine Barrier Realm Earth Immortals, and so on, stretching back in rank.
"The Hundred Battles Tower of the South Sea has come to kill the enemy!"
"Bright Moon Mansion of the South Sea has come to kill the enemy!"
"Litchi Garden of the South Sea has come to kill the enemy!"
"Demon Exorcism Sect of the South Sea has come to kill the enemy!"
"Ling Family of the South Sea has come to kill the enemy!"
"..."
The arrivals were uniformly large forces from the top powers of the South Sea; thereafter came super-first-rate forces, first-rate forces, second-rate forces, and so on.
The orders from the various great leaders had been issued months ago, but the large forces were after all burdened with myriad tasks and could not act with the freedom of independent cultivators. Moreover, they had to be wary of certain forces within East Victory, necessitating multiple strategic deployments.
Thus, after some delay, they had only managed to arrive today.
However, for many of the first-rate and second-rate forces, the giants had set no specific demands, yet they still voluntarily came, nearly all their elite soldiers evident from the auras of their camps.
Boom! Boom! Boom!
Six major areas each had different experts landing, and then each sect formed its little units while many small units came together to form large units, each like an indestructible sharp knife piercing forcefully into the tide of fighters from Outer Heaven.
In almost an instant, swaths of those from Outer Heaven turned into blood mist.
The newcomers were the elite of the major sects, not only possessed strong individual strength but had also practiced their sect’s battle formations. At this moment, when it came to group battles, their lethality was many times greater than that of the scattered cultivators.
Every attack was certain to achieve results, like a bomb thrown into a pile of straw, causing enemy after enemy from Outer Heaven to perish without a body left intact.
"Good timing..."
The warriors of East Victory, who had been fighting to the death, felt their spirits soar and let out long howls to the sky as they threw themselves even more crazily towards the enemy.
If they lost their hands, they would kick with their legs; if they lost all four limbs, they would bite with their mouths; and if even their mouths could not be used, they would use their bodies as weapons, charging and ramming.
As more experts from various sects joined, the situation gradually stabilized and began to develop in a direction favorable to East Victory.
At the area where Shi Xiaole was located.
Clang!
An enormous axe shadow suddenly struck towards the South Sea experts who had just joined the battlefield, splitting their constructed aura like a knife through paper in an almost instantaneous crush.
Ssslah!
A sword light shattered the axe shadow, its momentum unceasing, continuing towards the rear. A muffled grunt was heard as the Nine Peaks Axe Emperor was forced back tens of thousands of meters.
"Try to make a move again, and then no one has to play by the rules."
Shi Xiaole spoke coldly.
"Heh heh, if I make a move, what could you possibly do to me?"
The Nine Peaks Axe Emperor laughed coldly, but ultimately did not strike.
No matter how many fighters from Outer Heaven there were, the number deployed to each battlefield was limited, lest the balance be lost. The consequences of breaking the rules were more than he could bear.
"How is it?"
The voice of the Ice Polar Sword Emperor reached the ears of the Nine Peaks Axe Emperor.
"This kid has a strong staying power, probably still has sixty percent of his peak strength. We need to wait some more days to take action to be sure."
The Nine Peaks Axe Emperor snorted.
His attack just now wasn’t intended to break the rules; he was simply testing the state of Shi Xiaole. The fact proved that the resilience of this youngster was even more outstanding than he had expected.
"Shi Xiaole!"
Many South Sea experts lifted their heads to look at the young man in green who had saved their lives, then turned their eyes back to the battle ahead.
Among the crowd, a middle-aged man leading a team had an especially complicated expression on his face. He was the leader of the Carefree Sect, Mo Ye the Great Emperor.
Mo Ye the Great Emperor had long heard from his son that when they reclaimed the Divine Sect, it was Shi Xiaole who had interfered, rescuing Mu Qianji among others, and even killing several experts from the Carefree Sect.
Given Mo Ye the Great Emperor’s vindictive nature, he of course wished for revenge. But he knew he would never get the chance in his lifetime, and what’s more, he had to be grateful to the opposing party for their life-saving grace.
"A bunch of brats, you’ve finally not let this Sect Leader lose face!"
Looking around, the leader of the Demon Exorcism Sect laughed heartily.
Opposite him, a neutral-looking giant from Outer Heaven had a dark expression, but a closer look would reveal a gleam of smug viciousness in his eyes.
Idiots, you won’t be pleased for long. The taste of being attacked from both sides will surely be an unforgettable lifelong memory!
