Heavy snow fell amidst howling winds. In the extre cold of the deep northern winter, every exhaled breath and wisp of body heat would instantly freeze to ice on a man’s beard and hair.
At this mont, at the Taibai Mountain fortress, nearly everyone was standing on the ramparts, preparing to defend the pass.
The defending Martial Artists were roughly divided into three groups. Thirty-five of them followed Li Daoran. With swords at their waists, each now held a round, black iron ball. The balls were covered in intricate chanisms and cloud-like patterns, and they emanated a scorching Spiritual Qi.
Twenty-four followed closely behind Weilie. Most of these Martial Artists carried long sabers at their waists and held longbows. They stood at the ready, choosing their firing positions from the crenellations of the wall or the high ground on the surrounding slopes.
The rest were mostly craftsn and Physicians. The vast majority were at the forging site, maintaining stability during the final day of the Qi-Forged Divine Weapon’s creation. The small number who remained were continuously hauling defensive weaponry to the front lines.
Those round, black iron balls were the ’Magma Bombs’ created by the Skilled Craftsman Mo Ganxiu. Essentially, they used a Secret Technique to preserve magma. When enemies drew near, one could use their Inner Strength to detonate the bomb and splash magma everywhere. It was a good thing a volcano was nearby—otherwise, simply acquiring the raw materials would have been a huge problem.
This was precisely his area of expertise, which was why the Hundred Schools’ Righteous Army had sent Mo Ganxiu here.
The other defensive weapons were also mostly related to the volcano, such as poisoned boiling water and several large cauldrons of magma that had not yet cooled. As for more conventional armants, there were also four Bed Crossbows positioned along the walls, awaiting the enemy’s arrival.
Su Zhou didn’t stand on ceremony. He took the lead, standing at the very forefront of the central part of the wall. He raised a hand to his brow and gazed down at the foot of the mountain.
His Spiritual Vision allowed him to clearly see the Demon Army at the foot of the mountain advancing rapidly up the slope.
"So fast—faster than at the Red Land!"
Su Zhou muttered to himself. In addition to the National Preceptor’s absurdly enormous ball of Spiritual Qi, he also keenly sensed that these Demon Soldiers were far from ordinary. "Everyone, be on your guard!" he shouted. "They’re elites!"
"HUUUU—HUUUU—"
Just then, from the distant mountainside, the long, drawn-out sound of a horn echoed.
The desolate cry was torn to shreds by the strong northern wind, but the powerful Inner Qi Cultivation infused within it could still be perceived in its every detail by the Martial Artists present, causing them to pale slightly.
Imdiately after, the heavy tramp of the Demon Army’s march rang out. It was like a surging tide, thundering closer and closer with every mont.
Su Zhou and Weilie, who had the sharpest eyesight, could already make out the approaching force. It was a troop of greenish-brown Giants whose skin was like natural armor. Their bodies were wrapped in a layer of special, mountain-patterned plate mail. From gaps deliberately left in the armor, green wooden roots snaked out to encase the entire suit, forming a composite defense of several layers thick enough to stop a heavy arrow!
On average, they stood two and a half ters tall and weighed over three hundred kilograms, a burden made even heavier by their weapons and armor. They were like a pack of upright brown bears. The monsters’ steps kicked up flurries of powdered snow, and they advanced through the howling gale.
Unlike Weilie, whose brow was tightly furrowed, Su Zhou’s eyes widened slightly in surprise when he saw these small, greenish-brown giants.
Because these were miniature versions of the Banyan Giant he had once seen in the ga Shao Shuangyue used to play.
"The Divine Wood Guard!"
Beside them, Zhou Buyi’s expression changed. He drew his sword and gritted his teeth. "The Demon Emperor’s Imperial Guard! For this raid, it actually brought the Divine Wood Guard?! How did the front lines not even have word of this?!"
"If the Demon Emperor is busy transforming into a Dragon, he’ll be undefended..." He had wanted to ask what would happen if the Hundred Schools’ Righteous Army gathered its experts for a decapitation strike while the Demon Emperor’s Imperial Guard was away. ’But then again,’ he thought, ’even the plan to forge the Divine Weapon was leaked. How could a major operation like a decapitation strike possibly go undiscovered?’
And Zhou Buyi’s guess was not wrong in the slightest. You really couldn’t bla the Hundred Schools’ Righteous Army for reacting so slowly. Just before the National Preceptor left, it had activated all its moles lurking within the Righteous Army to stir up chaos. This greatly distracted the main force and delayed their reaction ti by two days—and two days was more than enough.
There were about a hundred Divine Wood Guards in total. Their strength was at the Postnatal First and Second Stage, roughly the sa level as the Hundred Schools’ Martial Artists guarding the Divine Weapon. However, they possessed the Power of Undying and were protected by their natural wooden armor. At the sa ti, nurous Spirit Plant Demon Beasts appeared. With a single glance, Su Zhou spotted four Wood Centipedes. Perched on the backs of three of them were cicada-like demons with round, glowing crystals on their carapaces.
There weren’t many of these demons, but they were especially useful for sieges. Take the Wood Centipedes, for example. They didn’t have to do anything but charge the fortress wall and use their own backs as a siege bridge. What ordinary Martial Artist could possibly stop them?
In an instant, a chaotic dance of beasts erupted outside the walls. The Wood Centipedes writhed in the snow, while the Yang Fla Cicadas took to the sky with a shrill screech. The glowing crystals on their backs pulsed with intense light, blinding the defending soldiers and making it difficult for the archers to focus their aim. anwhile, the hundred-strong Divine Wood Guard stood silently in place, their presence exerting imnse psychological pressure on every Martial Artist on the wall as they awaited the arrival of their commander.
But would Su Zhou give them a chance to stand there posturing in silence?
"Quit flying around—"
He casually took a bow from a nearby Martial Artist. Su Zhou drew a deep breath, channeled his Spiritual Power, and bellowed, "Crawl for !"
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