Chapter 378: Mount Hua Sect VS Siren City – Round 2
By 5 AM, Ma Moxi and the assassin squad returned home unharmed. They reported their deeds to Lu Fengxian, who had been waiting for them at Ma Clan's residence.
Ma Moxi crossed his arms behind his back, standing attention as if he was a modern marine, "731 kills, 731 corpses are in my spatial rings."
Ku'er also mimicked her husband's demeanor, "640 kills. We forgot to loot the corpses and their spatial rings, though."
Chang'e and the mermaids had a dark expression as they glanced at the fox girl. They thought that Ku'er had messed up, and all of them might be punished for it.
However, Lu Fengxian didn't care about the loot. He was concerned about another issue.
"Did they see your face before you killed them?"
"No."
Ma Moxi and Ku'er answered at the same time.
As Ma Moxi had taught Ku'er and the mermaid squad, none of them appeared in front of their victims before they killed the person. Otherwise, the life brands of those dead cultivators would have given their identities away.
Still, Yuan Shaoqing Army should have figured out by now that they were raided last night.
Lu Fengxian nodded at Ma Moxi and Ku'er, "Good job. Get some rest. If possible, get a few hours of sleep and wake up by noon. We might be besieged early in the morning. Don't bother waking up and help us. I can take it from here."
"Understood."
Ma Moxi and Ku'er returned to their love nest. As for the mermaids, they excused themselves and gathered at the west gate, where Ju Shoufen and Jia Wenhe had made a special mansion for them.
…
After the task force went back to rest, Lu Fengxian took several deep breaths and gazed toward the east, where the armies of Yuan Shaoqing were located.
'Confirmed. Yuan Shaoqing's forces are just a bunch of ragtag retards.'
Lu Fengxian heaved a sigh of relief and joy as he had verified the military capability of the invading forces.
First, the combined forces lacked a sense of unity and responsibility. Had they been organized as a disciplined army, many 7th-stage cultivators would have been dispatched to chase Ma Moxi and Ku'er team during their raid.
Secondly, from Ma Moxi's testimony, they didn't even organize or allocate their troops. Currently, they were no different than bandit mobs. The proof of this intel was their erratic placements of the volunteer camp, where there was no clear indication of divisions and clear hierarchy among the soldiers.
And thirdly, Yuan Shaoqing was an incompetent lord who couldn't utilize their men to the fullest. Despite having so many strong cultivators by his side, he hadn't dispatched their top experts to destroy Siren City yet, which proved his inept mind and insight.
'As long as those 8th-stage and 9th-stage guys don't move, we can win this.'
…
At 8 AM in the morning, 10,000 cultivators from the east flew to the sky, following Ling Cao, Ling Tianlong, and many 7th-stage cultivators.
All 7th-stage cultivators were from Mount Hua Sect, who had been upgraded with the help of Ling Tianlong. Now, they puffed their chests with pride, being confident in their new power.
The volunteer army finally mobilized its men to launch their first assault. However, they still hid behind Ling Cao, waiting for the Mount Hua Sect to do their things first.
They were opportunists. They believed that they could be the first group to plunder the city as soon as Siren City fell.
The elders of Mount Hua Sect form a single line formation in mid-air, throwing a thousand yellow talismans to the sky.
The yellow papers ejected glowing Chinese characters. Several words gathered and multiplied, forming a massive wall array in front of Mount Hua's elders and the troops with the word energy.
Not only the wall of words became their defensive barrier, but they also created countless plum flower petals. Within ten seconds, billions of pink leaves and petals merged and transformed into a million flying swords in front of the wall array.
Then, they were launched toward the barrier dome of Siren City!
CLANK
CLANK
CLANK
The barrier array of Siren City deflected and destroyed the petal swords upon contact.
However, the swords reformed in an instant and continued to hack and slash at the city's barrier array.
CLANK
The reformed swords were broken again. Yet, they repaired themselves and continued damaging the city's dark barrier dome.
The elders of Mount Hua Sect grinned as they continued to transfer their yang essence to fuel the killing array.
The troops behind them cheered and admired the power of their top orthodox sect.
"That must be the Murderous Flower Sword Array! It keeps generating flower petals and swords to attack anyone those elders aim!"
"Murderous Flower Swords… that's the right name for the sword cult like Mount Hua Sect. I'm glad that they're on our side."
"It's a matter of time before the city's defense is down. I haven't heard of any sect or city that can withstand Mount Hua Sect's all-out attacks!"
None of the bystanders had even learned about Mount Hua Sect's failure last month. They still thought that Ling Cao and his sword sect could easily bully the new city lord and the troops within the city.
While everyone had been laughing, a tall orc in a monk robe flew out of the defense barrier with a black weapon. He pointed the muzzle at one of the elders.
A thunderous sound echoed.
BANG
BOOM
An incendiary shell punctured through the killing array and hit one of the talismans, igniting it on fire.
The elders glanced at the orc and sneered.
"Na?ve! Half of the talismans are dummies! Even if you destroy the real one, the dummies will replace them and we can replenish the lost talismans! Our array is invincible!"
The orc in a monk robe tilted his head as he reloaded the next shot. At the same time, a dozen more orcs flew out of the concealment array, hovering over the city with the same rifles.
Ling Cao widened his eyes as he recognized the weapons.
"DODGE!! DON'T LET THEM HIT YOU!!"
The elders looked at Ling Cao with a deep frown as they didn't believe that anyone could harm them.
They were a kilometer away from the orcs! Even if the previous projectile weapon seemed intimidating, it was too weak to damage their reinforced physique and their domain power.
Meanwhile, the orcs aimed at the elders behind the talismans.
BANG BANG BANG BANG
As soon as the gunshot sound reached their ears, all elders but Ling Cao had a large hole in their chests. Behind them, several flying cultivators got hit by stray bullets and screamed in pain.
The dead elder's bodies slowly shrank and transformed into paper dolls, the substitute dummy bodies.
As usual, the elders came here with their decoy physique. Their real bodies were half a kilometer away, piloting the double-bodies from there.
Although the orcs failed to kill the elders of Mount Hua Sect, the sword array now lost the batteries and the energy supply. They instantly dissolved and the flower swords fell to the ground.
Ling Cao glared at the orcs with the anti-material rifles. He wanted to rush them immediately, but he was cautious of Zhao Bao, who hadn't shown up yet.
While Ling Cao hesitated, one of the orcs reloaded a DU armor-piercing round and pointed the muzzle in his direction.
"SHIT!!"
Ling Cao moved away from the bullet trajectory.
BANG
As Ling Cao had predicted, the shell flew past him. Hadn't he dodged, the bullet might have hit his face, and his brain might have been destroyed.
BANG BANG BANG
The other orcs also aimed at Ling Cao and pulled the triggers.
Ling Cao brandished his sword and raised it in front of his head while he flew to the left.
One of the bullets hit his sword, breaking it in half before it destroyed Ling Cao's right earlobe. The AP round flew past him and killed an unlucky cultivator.
The following cultivators in the sky began to panic as they had no idea what killed their colleagues. Moreover, they lost morale as the leading elders had left the battle prematurely.
While Ling Cao was dodging bullets, Ling Tianlong fearlessly charged toward the sniper orcs.
As if they had been trained, they retreated back behind the concealment barrier and the defense array.
Seeing how they reacted, Ling Tianlong changed his target. He dove toward the city barrier while his pupils glowed in bright green light.
He unsheathed the immortal-grade sword and stabbed the city barrier, where he had perceived the weak point.
CLANK
With one hit, the barrier and the concealment array were broken!
Without the concealment array and the defensive barrier, everyone could see the interior of Siren City!
However, several orcs had been mounting a cannon, aiming at Ling Tianlong.
BOOM!
The Anti-Air cannon unleashed its power!
The large armor-piercing shell hit Ling Tianlong's chest, sending him flying backward.
Ling Tianlong ground his teeth as the DU round almost penetrate his dragon scales under his robes. He peeled the flattened shell that had failed to kill him and transformed into an earth dragonewt.
The protagonist headed back to Siren City, planning to destroy the deadly weapon before they could kill his allies.
As Ling Tianlong got closer to the city, Lu Fengxian appeared in front of him thrust the soul sword toward the former's neck.
CLANK
Ling Tianlong's immortal-grade sword deflected the strike. Then, he swung down, aiming the cleave Lu Fengxian in half.
CLANK
Lu Fengxian's sword blocked the strike and locked their weapons together.
As the two protagonists were locking their swords and staring into each other's eyes, Lu Fengxian muttered while being expressionless, "I thought your soul was cracked. I see that you're overexerting yourself. I suggest you surrender now, and I shall spare your sorry life."
Ling Tianlong's face darkened, but he smirked as if the fight was under his control, "I also thought your dantian ruptured because of the time-and-space technique backlash. I see that you're pushing beyond your limits to withstand my attacks. I recommend you to lay down your weapon, and I shall give you a painless death."
Lu Fengxian chuckled and sneer, "Because someone like you, humans in immortal realms can't withstand the demon armies."
"Stop pretending to know everything! A hypocrite like you is the cause of humanity's downfall!"
"Said the hypocrite."
"Alright. Time to die!!"
Ling Tianlong's power exploded, revealing the dao aura of a 6th-stage cultivator!
Moreover, the amount of Life Essence in his dantian was higher than Miaomiao. He even revealed the trace of soul Qi, which could only be obtained after the 8th-stage!
He had broken through despite having a soul injury!
Lu Fengxian raised his eyebrows as he had detected the soul dantian within Ling Tianlong's dragonewt body. He was surprised.
"Oh? I guess I have to be serious, too!"
BOOM
Red fog shrouded Lu Fengxian's body as he had activated his killing domain and soul Qi, which he had collected in his soul dantian when he was an immortal!
Now, both protagonists had the same air and power output on par with 8th-stage cultivators.
The troops behind Ling Tianlong and Ling Cao fell back in a panic as the pressure from these two youngsters almost crushed their hearts and souls.
Meanwhile, Zhao Bao also appeared in front of Siren City, creating a domain barrier to protect everyone inside the city from the soul pressure.
Ling Tianlong drew out his soul Qi to the limit even though the cracks on his soul had expanded because of it. He chanted his skill name to increase his concentration.
"GRAVITY BLESSING!!"
The air around Lu Fengxian and Ling Tianlong distorted as if the space around them was about to collapse or pull everything into the center like a black hole.
Lu Fengxian heaved a long sigh as he didn't want to compete in a space-and-time technique contest. He used the incomplete technique anyway as he chanted a strange quote of an incomprehensible language from the technique book.
"Zawarudo! Toki Wo Tomare!"
The distorted space around them suddenly stopped moving as if the time had been paused. Even sunlight couldn't shine through the air within one kilometer radius around them.
Despite being able to temporarily freeze time, only the space in Lu Fengxian's domain was affected. The other cultivators and the people in the city could still move.
Ling Tianlong had expected Lu Fengxian to use this skill again. He mustered his strength and tried to move.
He could move his arms and legs a bit, but he felt like everything had been tied by an unknown force.
Lu Fengxian coughed and spat a mouthful of blood as the backlash came earlier than he had expected. He adjusted the soul sword and hacked at his enemy's neck, hoping to end the fight early.
"NOT A CHANCE!"
Ling Tianlong's dantian and innards ruptured as he broke the restriction with brute force. He gathered his soul Qi into his sword and swung it toward Lu Fengxian's neck.
Now, they were trading blows. Had no one altered their sword trajectory, both of them would have mutually beheaded each other.
The fight had become a chicken race!
A split second was as long as months from Lu Fengxian and Ling Tianlong's perspective. Their eyes glared at each other's faces, hoping that their opponent would falter first.
Yet, nobody batted an eye as their weapons slowly came closer toward their necks.
Then, their weapons reached the skin of their necks.
Lu Fengxian's soul sword dug into Ling Tianlong's dragon scales as if they were tofu. Meanwhile, Ling Tianlong's sword cut into the former's flesh like butter.
"…"
"…"
None of them dodged nor retreated! Both men had the resolve to die fighting!
As both men's swords were about to sever their opponent's cervical spine, two arrows, coming from the southeast, hit the hilts of their swords, changing the trajectories of their slashes!
The swords were also disarmed from their hands, and the distorted black-and-white space returned to normal.
Lu Fengxian and Ling Tianlong's skills were canceled!
As soon as both men lost their swords, they stopped moving. They circulated their soul Qi and Life Essence to their half-severed neck and their damaged organs, healing and mending the wound.
They turned toward the archer, who had interfered with their fight.
An elderly general with a long silver beard in military armor and a great bow flew toward them, emitting the soul energy of a 9th-stage cultivator.
Huang Hansheng had arrived!
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