Chapter 1188

Dong Rui's modification of bird demons always followed this logic: they shouldn't fall just because their wings were hit. The black-armored person and the puppet army immediately followed, their speed faster than galloping horses.

One group was flying in the sky, and one group was chasing on the ground.

"Hey!" The Soul-Absorbing Mirror suddenly remembered a key question, "Why is this monster chasing us?"

"You ask me, who should I ask?" He Lingchuan was also confused.

"This black-armored monster clearly told you to return something!" Dong Rui, who was eavesdropping on the ground, interjected, "Looking at how anxious he is, did you steal his coffin?"

"This is my first time coming to the Flash Gold Plain, could I owe him something and not return it?"

That made sense, and Dong Rui didn't know how to refute it for a moment.

The bat flapped its wings and flew far away in the blink of an eye.

The Yao Nation army had already stepped into the territory of Jing Mountain, chasing after the fox demon.

Jing Mountain was not far from the Yao Nation, and many Yao people had walked here; although it was pitch black at this time, walking the mountain roads in the dark was not difficult for this elite Yao army.

The order given by General Zhongwu to the entire army was to press forward.

The three-tailed great demon, which had originally been a turtle in a jar, suddenly broke out of their encirclement and inexplicably appeared in the direction of Jing Mountain—

It was either an escape technique or an aerial route. General Zhongwu leaned toward an escape technique; after all, the fox demon had a whole family, so it shouldn't have flown away from the sky no matter how one thought about it.

But the escape-technique-forbidding array set up by the Yao people had never failed. How did the fox demon slip away?

Associating it with the music that sounded on White Head Ridge earlier, General Zhongwu concluded that the three-tailed fox demon had probably received help from human cultivators.

The three-tailed demon's divine abilities had long been figured out by them in advance; only human methods could be ever-changing.

General Zhongwu was very patient; this encirclement mission hadn't ended at all. So what if the fox demon ran out of the encirclement? He could still track it.

As long as he kept chasing, it would sooner or later be in his pocket.

Moreover, any escape technique had limitations; the fox demon and its accomplices couldn't use it infinitely, and his side indeed had the possibility of catching up.

The scout in front climbed over the mountain and reported: "General, there is a great red light on Ke Ridge, the cause is unknown."

Ke Ridge? General Zhongwu frowned.

The legends of the Ke Ridge ruins and the Luo Sheng Armor were well-known around Jing Mountain, and of course, he had heard of them too.

But how could there be such a coincidence in the world? "I remember there are many high platforms on Ke Ridge, and several arrays are set up, how could they be triggered by someone suddenly?" But he quickly remembered, "Could it be the fox demon's doing?"

The fox demon was indeed heading toward Ke Ridge.

Afterward, the red light disappeared, and there was no movement in front again.

The fox demon was also still moving, so the Yao people continued their pursuit.

After circling the mountain for several miles, a shadow glided close in the night sky, its speed extremely fast.

The sky was dim, with no stars or moon, but there were sharp-eyed master archers in the army, and one shouted: "Strange bird, a large bird has appeared in the sky!"

General Zhongwu saw it too.

He reacted extremely quickly, backhanded his bow and nocked an arrow, not needing to aim much, and shot it out with a *whoosh*.

That arrow disappeared as soon as it was shot, until it flashed again below the bat, stabbing straight at its belly! This was called Intercepting Air Archery, which was extremely difficult for the enemy to intercept.

Once it hit the target, the explosive true qi attached to the arrow would cause the arrowhead to explode, drilling into the enemy's flesh.

Not to mention that this arrow also carried Yuan Power, which could enhance the killing effect of the explosive arrow.

Who knew that the strange bird in the sky flapped its wings and suddenly disappeared!

By the time it appeared again, it was already ten zhang away in front.

Instant flash.

General Zhongwu's brows tightened; he didn't know what kind of monster would have such a divine ability.

Oh, there seemed to be something on the bird's back.

In the blink of an eye, the strange bird was out of his range.

General Zhongwu watched its back fly away and withdrew his attention, because he quickly discovered that the fox demon's direction was exactly the opposite!

What was this strange bird planning? Did it want to lure away the Yao army? But he firmly grasped the fox demon's whereabouts, only splitting off two night owls to track the strange bird, while the main army continued toward Ke Ridge as usual.

They would enter a fork in the road if they went further forward; the fox demon's direction of travel seemed to have changed slightly, leaning toward Red Bean Ridge.

Before long, a commotion came from the front.

Besides the sound of weapons clashing and the shouts of his own soldiers, General Zhongwu also heard strange roars.

The vanguard quickly reported:

"Report, a monster army has appeared in front!"

General Zhongwu rode forward: "Numbers?"

"The bird scouts estimate it should be over seven hundred people; it is a puppet army composed of martial armor and rock and soil!"

Martial armor and rock and soil... composed? General Zhongwu didn't quite understand what this description meant, but he quickly understood.

This strange-looking team emerged from the forest, approaching aggressively; the Yao people naturally shouted to stop them, but the other side didn't react, still burying their heads and charging wildly.

Then, the two armies collided head-on like waves surging in a storm, their passion exploding.

The other side started fighting without a word, and the Yao army rarely had rivals in the surrounding area; how could they allow uninvited guests to break ground on their heads?

In the dark night, both sides just fought together in a muddle.

Against this kind of clustered evil, the Yuan Power on the Yao army naturally took effect. Their Yuan Power was incomparable to other surrounding countries, and the green light emitted was pure, even more so than the Yuan Nation.

When Yao weapons landed on the puppets, they exerted three parts of force but could achieve five parts of effect.

But the rock and soil armor on the puppets was also truly hard and thick. Most Yao weapons were mainly swords, spears, and lances, suitable for slicing and stabbing rather than hacking and chiseling; against such turtle shells, they couldn't hack them open without chopping a few more times.

One side had Yuan Power bonuses, and the other side was painless and fearless; they actually fought to a draw for the time being.

The leader of the other side was a black-armored person with astonishing martial power, charging into the enemy army like a tiger pouncing on a flock of sheep; wherever it passed, Yao soldiers died one after another.

This huge gap between individuals couldn't even be made up for by Yuan Power.

Behind it were several rock and soil sorcerers; whichever puppets were hacked to pieces, as long as they waved their vine staffs, the holes in the puppets would quickly fill themselves.

After all, the puppets were stepping on the earth, and the replenishment of rock and soil was available for the taking.

The Yao people saw this and felt a bit discouraged: How the hell do you fight this! We are flesh and blood, but the other side can heal instantly!

These things weren't even human.

However, the Yao people happened to be walking on the mountain road, and both sides met on a narrow path, with no way to retreat.

General Zhongwu glanced toward Ke Mountain and guessed that this group of monsters must be related to the red light on Ke Mountain. The strange bird deliberately brought them here to intercept the Yao army? The timing was very precise; his side had nowhere to retreat and could only fight with this non-human army.

He noticed that human blood splashed onto the black armor of the enemy general was actually quickly absorbed.

This person was fiercely unreasonable, killing more than ten Yao soldiers in a row; other soldiers saw him like a god of slaughter descending and subconsciously avoided him.

Thus, this black-armored leader's edge became even sharper, and his every move became even fiercer...

General Zhongwu stared at this person, and an absurd thought popped into his mind:

Could this be...? His heart stirred, and he stepped out from the crowd and shouted: "Stop, we have no intention of blocking you!"

The other side turned a deaf ear, killing two more people with every move.

At this time, He Lingchuan had already landed from afar and sneaked back, lying on the mountain top behind the Yao army, observing the battle between the two sides.

He had to exert his eyesight to discover that strands of faint black smoke were actually emerging from the Yao army, flying toward the black-armored leader as if guided.

These black smokes all came from soldiers with fearful expressions, hesitant and wavering.

"Did you see that?"

"Ah?" Dong Rui was confused, "What?"

He Lingchuan knocked on the Soul-Absorbing Mirror on his chest; he was talking to the mirror. Now that the eyeball spider couldn't see things, Dong Rui couldn't see them either.

The mirror's muffled voice came out: "I didn't see it either."

This was interesting; the Soul-Absorbing Mirror communicated with the netherworld and could see many evil things. Even it said it didn't find anything, so what exactly did this black-armored leader extract from the Yao soldiers? He Lingchuan carefully observed these soldiers. They didn't seem to feel anything themselves, and their energy and spirit were fine, unlike the controlled Feather Guards under Nangong Yan, who were directly drained of energy and blood by the evil spirits of the Screaming Forest.

The mirror said again: "But this black-armored leader, hmm, seems to have become stronger?"

He Lingchuan nodded slightly.

Indeed, as it absorbed more black smoke, the black-armored leader's power became stronger and its movements more agile. General Zhongwu had shot him with two arrows before; the first arrow pierced the armor plate, stabbed into his shoulder, and then exploded, blowing the black-armored leader back two steps, and it took some effort to pull out the broken arrow.

The arrow hole on the black armor healed immediately afterward.

A quarter of an hour later, the second arrow shot between his waist and ribs; although it didn't explode, the arrowhead could drill into the wound like a loach drilling into tofu. It should have been a weakly protected part, but the arrowhead didn't go deep into the armor, and the leader could pull it out casually, not injured at all! He Lingchuan's eyes narrowed.

General Zhongwu's Yuan Power was not weak, so what exactly was going on with that black armor?

After the black-armored leader threw away the arrowhead, it killed more than a dozen Yao soldiers in succession; even the two deputy generals who rushed up were beaten to the ground by it in a few moves, one had his chest crushed and sprayed blood to death, and the other had his skull crushed alive, his head turning into a rotten watermelon.

For a time, blood foam, bone fragments, and brains flew everywhere.

Although this Yao army had outstanding discipline and strong combat power, when had they ever seen such a bloody butcher? Many soldiers were shocked and didn't dare to block its path.

This fear rose to a high point after the black-armored leader killed a bear demon accompanying the army.

He Lingchuan in the distance immediately discovered that more black smoke drifted out from the Yao soldiers, and as soon as they turned their heads, they all threw themselves into the black-armored leader.

Was that emotion? No, that's not right, He Lingchuan's heart stirred, could it be fear and terror?

Would that suit of armor devour the fear on the opponent to strengthen itself? If his speculation was correct, no wonder this black-armored leader's killing methods were exceptionally cruel; it turned out it was to catalyze endless terror.

At this time, General Zhongwu had already rushed to the front of the black-armored leader, raising his qi and shouting again: "Stop, we are not your enemies!"

The black-armored leader turned a deaf ear, grabbed a meteor hammer, and smashed it at him.

With a *clang*, General Zhongwu retreated two steps to unload the force, not giving up on persuasion: "If you keep fighting, your real target is going to run away!"

(End of chapter)