Chapter 2481: Secret Realm Showdown

The people of Longfeng Valley had never encountered such a strange affair; Li Yun's brows furrowed until they nearly knotted.

Within the jurisdiction of this city, could it be that there are flight-restriction formations everywhere?

Since they had to enter the other party's territory, with no other choice, the group could only change from flying to walking on foot, wading through golden wheat fields.

Speaking of it, they had always come and gone from the heights; who knows how many years it had been since they last measured the land with their feet, or drawn this close to the earth's Qi.

A great wind blew past, and the long grass rustled.

The wheat stalks bent low, and Xu Liangzhi suddenly spotted a huge figure standing in the fields; he subconsciously tightened his grip on his weapon.

His fellow sect brothers also let out a "huh" sound, on high alert.

But this figure didn't move at all, and... it was very hard.

Borrowing the starlight, everyone fixed their eyes on it — oh, it turned out to be a stone statue, carved in the shape of a stone lion.

Ordinary stone lions are all in a crouching posture, majestic and powerful, fond of raising a paw, but this stone lion stood upright on two legs, which was why the group had mistaken it for an enemy just now. Its two claws hung before its chest, and its two legs even clamped a treasure gourd; it looked simple-minded and cute.

After walking ten-odd zhang, the group discovered another one.

Then a third, a fourth... these stone lions varied in height, build, and even posture, but the carving style and technique showed they were of the same lineage.

Why would such stone statues appear in the grain fields for no reason?

Li Yun warned everyone: "Stay sharp, these things are not simple."

Having spoken, he flung a flying sword toward the stone lion straight ahead.

The sword was about to reach the lion's nose when it suddenly came alive, opened its mouth, bit the sword tip and flicked it aside, and its next move was to pounce at Li Yun.

Puppet beast!

This was like pressing a switch; within a radius of one li, all the stone lions stirred at the wind, red light gleaming in their eyes, pouncing toward the Longfeng Valley people.

Once they moved, they were as agile as ordinary lions, but their bodies were exceptionally hard, and their surfaces were covered in a thick layer of red light.

With the level of Longfeng Valley disciples, chopping up stone lions wasn't actually difficult, but this layer of red light on their surfaces was the real hindrance — it actually raised the stone lions' hardness and thickness by more than one level.

Xu Liangzhi hacked at a stone lion's back seven or eight times in a row, yet couldn't even break through the surface defense, and couldn't help but be greatly shocked.

What ordinary monster could withstand such chopping?

That stone lion waved a claw and knocked back two cultivators, then turned and pounced him to the ground. Li Yun sent a flying sword over; it sparked a shower of sparks and chopped off the stone lion's head, but he discovered its upper and lower rows of large teeth had already pierced through Xu Liangzhi's temples, biting through his skull.

Li Yun flew into a rage; he slapped the sword case behind him, and dozens of flying swords shot out together, stabbing at the dozens of stone lions on the scene.

No matter how the stone lions dodged, the swords followed them like shadows.

Aside from being unable to control artifacts for flight, the Longfeng Valley people's divine abilities and spells could still be used.

Several other Longfeng Valley immortals also unleashed spells, intending to cut down these stone lions.

Just entering the strange city's territory and already running into an ambush — this was clearly just an appetizer; even stronger enemies were surely waiting for them ahead.

Sure enough, the wind blew the grass low, and rapid hoofbeats came from not far away.

The immortals concentrated and listened closely; the arrivals numbered no less than several thousand, for the hoofbeats were like thunder, shaking the ground until it trembled slightly.

And their speed was incomparably fast.

The Longfeng Valley people had just formed a defensive array when the long grass straight ahead of Li Yun parted, and a single rider came pouncing over, swift as a fleeting light and passing shadow.

The Qingbo beast's four hooves were suspended in midair as if soaring in flight; the red-armored knight atop it thrust his long spear straight at Li Yun's chest — fast, steady, accurate, ruthless; the spear tip picked out a trace of cold light so red it turned purple under the starlight!

Great Wind Army battle technique, Piercing Clouds and Shattering Moon.

Li Yun returned his sword to block, spun around, and his long sword flew through the knight's throat.

The opponent's momentum was heavy and stable; the force on the spear was truly astonishingly great, making even an immortal like Li Yun feel a hint of threat.

The flying sword he threw also failed to hit its mark; the knight swiftly drew a round shield and blocked the flying sword's strike.

Kacha — the shield shattered.

But the flying sword also returned to its master's side, unable to achieve merit.

The mortal world actually has such formidable warriors?

Li Yun failed to behead the enemy general in the first instant; thousands of enemies surged up from behind with a rumble, surrounding the Longfeng Valley people in the middle.

The immortals shouted loudly: "Who are you people, how dare you intrude into Longfeng Valley's territory?"

The other side didn't make a sound; only hoofbeats like thunder were heard, the great army like a crimson tide, instantly clashing with the Longfeng Valley people.

Mortal soldiers — cultivators never put them in their eyes. Those ordinary soldiers with mundane martial skills, how much harm could they do to cultivators?

But these inexplicably appearing enemies, in a single exchange, made the Longfeng Valley people suffer a loss:

Their movements were too swift, their battle techniques too fierce, their coordination too seamless — completely different from the "mortals" in everyone's impression.

The strangest thing was, a layer of blood-red light also shrouded their bodies; even Li Yun couldn't distinguish what kind of power it was.

Not true force, not soul force, not evil power either.

But this power obviously let the enemy city's army cope with Longfeng Valley's divine abilities with much greater composure.

Li Yun's released Ice Dragon Technique had once frozen a small city-state's land for fifty li, turning both humans and livestock into ice statues.

But the same Ice Dragon Technique released here merely covered the ground with frost that melted into water and thawed after a dozen-odd breaths, fundamentally achieving no "three feet of ice" effect.

Fine, he could assume it was the strange city's formation influence, weakening the invaders' divine abilities.

But how to explain these soldiers?

The Ice Dragon Technique merely coated the enemy soldiers' armor with snow, made their breath turn to ice, made them shiver a few times — then they still held spears if they should, still shot arrows if they should; at most their movements slowed a little, but after a dozen-odd breaths they recovered as before.

This is unreasonable; no formation can thin out a large-scale divine ability's power to this degree.

And the enemy army's weapons likewise bore this same light, yet their lethality toward the Longfeng Valley people was astonishingly great!

Facing mortal weapons, cultivators should have diamond-impervious bodies, but pierced by these weapons glowing with red light, they were injured and bled just the same, bellies split and intestines spilling just the same!

Have protective gang Qi and defensive magic treasures become mere decorations?

More importantly, the generals among these red-armored troops had martial prowess a whole notch higher than the soldiers under them; the light on their bodies was red turning purple.

These generals could also cast divine ability spells, but these spells were mostly to coordinate with battle techniques, playing a supporting role.

The sect's skilled fighters could hold their own against these guys—at least they could fight evenly matched battles, while the immortal masters would surely gain an advantage, and Li Yun himself had slain or wounded dozens of opponents. But when the ordinary disciples of Changfeng Valley faced this army, they were utterly stifled everywhere, their strength having nowhere to go.

Li Yun fumed: "Form the array!"

Changfeng Valley possesses thirty-six great formations, each one immensely powerful.

However, the enemy also has battle formations, their method utterly different from that of cultivators, emphasizing flanking, circling, and cutting, with extreme mobility, unlike Changfeng Valley's focus on overall effect.

They quickly discovered the weakness of Changfeng Valley's disciples: as long as a small gap is torn in the battle formation, they swarm in like sharks, repeatedly washing over the wound with high mobility, eroding the entire formation's combat power!