To ordinary Martial Artists and conventional armies alike, the Nanjiang Celestial Gate was an unquestionable Celestial Fortress.
Situated between two mountain peaks, the massive, hundred-ter-tall gate could be called a Celestial Fortress, truly insurmountable by human effort.
But that only applied to armies that "couldn’t fly."
Once True Qi Airships appeared, the Celestial Gate was no longer foolproof. Even with twelve City Guard Giant Demon Generals on guard, the Hundred Schools’ Righteous Army could still use True Qi Flying Ships to deliver their most elite Martial Artists directly inside the gate... to strike from the heart of the enemy!
"Strike team, with ! Ignore the Demon Army—our mission is to break through to the Divine Tree!"
At that very mont, Su Zhou was on a rampage inside the Nanjiang Celestial Gate. He descended from the sky and, with a single slash, annihilated a mutated, thirty-ter-tall Grandmaster-Level Demon General. He then effortlessly slaughtered two Demon Army squads that tried to block his path, moving with an ease that made it look easier than dicing vegetables—easier, even, than a chef slicing ginger.
And those Demon Soldiers and Generals, who would normally have taken trendous effort to kill, were all turned into living torches by a single slash from the Divine Soldier, the Blade of Annihilation. They ran about screaming in the dark depths of the gate, engulfed in flas!
"Yes!"
The three Grandmasters and the six Postnatal Martial Artists, including Zhou Buyi, who followed close behind Su Zhou—nine people in total—all responded in unison. Every one of them had seen the result of Su Zhou’s last strike. Now, their eyes burned, and their hearts surged with valor.
’Such is the awe-inspiring might of a Divine Soldier! A strike like that... I bet not even the Demon Emperor could block it!’
This thought ignited their spirits, and they unleashed thirty percent more power than usual. The group shot forward as if flying, racing toward the Banyan Divine Tree in the distance.
Of course, while the Hundred Schools’ Martial Artists were fanatical, the Demon Army was in far worse shape. They were well aware that the grand army of the Hundred Schools was massing to attack the city. They also understood that the Hundred Schools’ Righteous Army had developed new weapons. But without experiencing it firsthand, who could have known? Who could have guessed that the "Ghost Phosphorus Fire," once dismissed as a joke and taken seriously by no one, would be so terrifying when refined into bombs?
If even a speck of that red and white phosphorus fire touched them, diving into water was useless. It would burn straight through flesh and bone before it went out.
Not to ntion the thick, black fuel oil. That stuff could burn even while floating on water. At the Demon Army docks where the current was slow, the entire surface of the river was set ablaze and boiling. Anyone who fell in was like a Demon Soldier being cooked in a hotpot!
Furthermore, the elite Hundred Schools Martial Artists who landed from the True Qi Flying Battleships appeared in the demons’ rear, posing a massive threat to their supply lines. The Demon Army defending the Celestial Gate was now caught between two fronts. If not for eleven Demon Generals holding the line, the gate would have likely fallen within the first hour of the Hundred Schools’ Righteous Army’s assault.
’Reinforcents, get here now!’ Even so, this was the desperate cry in every Demon Soldier’s heart. If the Divine Wood Guard and Demon Generals stationed in the Southern Celestial Capital didn’t arrive soon, there was no way their outnumbered forces could withstand the Hundred Schools’ Righteous Army’s frenzied assault.
However, the reinforcents they were so desperately awaiting were not in good shape themselves.
A madman wielding a Divine Soldier was cackling as he carved a path of destruction straight up the main road connecting the Celestial Gate to the Celestial Capital. Moving against the tide of reinforcents, he was like a human steamroller, slaughtering and scattering the advancing Demon Soldiers and Generals, quite literally grinding them to dust.
FWOOSH! A sound like the air being sucked into a vacuum echoed across the land again and again. It was the tell-tale sign of a fierce gale, created when the intense heat of the flas consud all the oxygen in an area. Each ti that sound rang out, a burning streak of light would flash through the downpour. And with every flash, a dozen Demon Soldiers—or even a Demon General—would lose their lives, their very Soul Spirits extinguished.
"Hahaha! So this is how strong a Divine Soldier is! This is aweso! It’s just like having top-tier gear from a pay-to-win gacha ga!"
In less ti than it takes to drink a cup of tea, Su Zhou had cut down three fully-armored squads of Demon Soldiers. He wasn’t using any profound techniques; he simply kept his right hand on the hilt of his blade. Whenever he t an enemy, he would draw and strike with all his might, unleashing a gale of thunder and fire. A single strike was usually enough to wipe out half a squad. The rest would be left in disarray, easy prey for the three Grandmasters and Zhou Buyi’s team, who followed him like a pack of wolves and slaughtered the survivors, leaving nothing in their wake.
One towering, five-ter-tall Demon General wielding a long-handled, double-bitted battle-ax charged forward, attempting to use his weapon’s superior reach to overwhelm Su Zhou. But Su Zhou was no fool. He still had a seven-foot long spear strapped to his back. With a flick of his left hand, Su Zhou drew the spear and swept it out, swatting the Demon General’s huge, descending ax aside like garbage. He then stepped forward, closing the distance, and a single slash from his blade cleaved the Demon General in two from head to crotch, instantly engulfing the corpse in flas.
’This Blade of Annihilation... when I infuse it with Fire Spirit Qi, it’s like a laser cutter—incredibly sharp, lting through almost anything. When I channel my Thunder Technique, the draw speed is insane, and it even has a paralyzing shock effect. Using it to kill Demon Soldiers in this downpour... it’s the perfect hard counter!’
By now, the battle for the Nanjing Celestial Gate behind them had reached a fever pitch, while Su Zhou and his strike team had already charged into the bounds of the New Southern Celestial Capital.
The city was laid out in a semicircle. The straight edge of the semi-circle was ford by the trunk and aerial roots of the Immortal Banyan Tree. The city had no walls; even its buildings were fashioned from the Divine Wood Branches and its roots. A life aura thick with Wood Qi emanated from every house, where many civilians of the Demon Dynasty resided.
Though he was in the middle of a high-speed assault, Su Zhou still took a mont to observe these "civilians," and what he saw left him speechless. "Wait, can you even call those human?"
What appeared before Su Zhou’s eyes were "treehouses" that had human faces and the rough shape of a human torso. That’s right—the structures that looked like houses were, in reality, twisted, humanoid forms. And the life signatures he had sensed within them ca from malford internal organs, tangled and entwined with innurable roots inside these "houses!"
He could even see half-wooden hearts beating, pumping a green, sap-like Wood Liquid throughout their bodies.
All the tree-humanoids stared blankly upward at the branches of the Immortal Banyan Tree. Occasionally, one or two whose eyeballs could still move would fix their gaze on Su Zhou, as if trying to convey sothing with their eyes.
"This... is this human or wood? Is this how the Clan of the Immortal Banyan Tree lives?!"
A Grandmaster following Su Zhou was equally shaken. He had originally assud that most civilians under the Demon Dynasty’s rule were like the Demon Soldiers and Generals—that apart from needing flesh and blood to maintain a human form, they lived ordinary lives in towns. But from the looks of it now, this Clan of the Divine Wood could no longer be considered human. They were a completely new Alien Race, a bizarre form of life!
But this was no ti for contemplation. Soon, as Su Zhou and his team cut through most of the city and closed in on the core district of New Southern Celestial Capital near the Divine Wood, the Imperial Guard stationed there finally appeared.
Over a hundred Divine Wood Guards gathered from all directions, blocking the path of Su Zhou’s team. At their forefront stood three towering, non-humanoid wooden figures of varying builds.
In an instant, an entire battalion of the Divine Wood Guard and three Demon Generals had the strike team surrounded.
"Grandmaster Su, you go on ahead—"
The Grandmaster from the Daoist Sect with the surna Liu, who had guided Su Zhou before, was already forming a Dharma Seal for the C Fire Snake Technique. He was clearly preparing to play his trump card from the very beginning, intending to hold back the Demon Army so that Su Zhou could advance to the Yongning Celestial Palace and slay the Demon Emperor at full strength. Most of the others had the sa idea; they had their ultimate techniques ready and desperate, last-stand pills in hand, prepared to unleash everything at once.
But was Su Zhou the kind of person to listen to his allies’ suggestions? He had long been accustod to doing things his own way.
Su Zhou didn’t even listen to them. With a loud laugh, he exploded forward as if shot from a cannon. Empowered by his Lightweight Thousand-Mile Walk, he charged at the Imperial Guard—whose Array Formation was not yet fully set—at a speed of forty ters per second.
"Flesh-and-blood filth..." The lead Demon General had four arms—two holding shields and two holding spears. He was a small army unto himself, an impregnable fortress at the front line. Seeing Su Zhou charging toward him, he deliberately spat the insult, trying to draw his opponent’s full attention.
It worked without a doubt. Su Zhou, who had been planning to bypass the generals and slaughter the Divine Wood Guard’s crossbown in the rear, shifted his vertical pupils. He changed his angle and charged straight for the four-ard general. The shield-wielding Demon General and the other two were secretly delighted. ’Su Zhou is a Grandmaster, yes, but can even a Grandmaster kill all three of us in a few monts? As long as we can stall him, the Divine Wood Guard, who outnumber their strike team ten to one, will be able to...’
"Hah!"
Before they could finish the thought, Su Zhou let out a sharp cry like a clap of Celestial Thunder. The roar, infused with the might of a Dragon’s Roar, stunned everyone present—including the nine mbers of his own strike team—leaving them dizzy and disoriented.
The next instant, Su Zhou raised his Spirit Iron Long Spear. Cyan arcs of electricity CRACKLED around it. With a savage grin, he hurled the spear with all his might. It shot forward like a bolt of cyan lightning, and in a flash, it pierced a Demon General through the chest, pinning him to the ground. Empowered by both the Dark Spirit Attachnt and the Red Land Demon Poison, the general was instantly paralyzed, left half-dead on the spot.
Imdiately after, Su Zhou drew his blade with his right hand and unleashed a full-power slash. The Blade of Annihilation, glowing with the red-gold luster of terrestrial fire, sliced through the four-ard Demon General’s two large shields as if they were butter. Just then, the third Demon General roared, and his own blade flashed as he chopped straight for the joint of Su Zhou’s right arm.
At that sa instant, the crossbow units among the Divine Wood Guard drew their bows and fired. A storm of poisoned arrows and heavy bolts rained down, peppering Su Zhou’s entire body!
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