Chapter 3163: Autumn Fireflies

In fact, He Lingchuan and Lingbao Xian had taken a step ahead, riding the Wochan driven by Dong Rui, and tunneled toward the Southwest Grand Army's rear camp, and also picked up the three True Immortals including Mou Di, along with several dozen immortals, then tunneled back in the direction of Mount Xushan.

Traveling underground was a bit slower, but it was undetectable by gods or ghosts, not as flamboyant as flying through the void, and moreover they had the first-mover advantage.

When the host of immortals of the Southwest Grand Army flew into the sky to lure the enemy, He Lingchuan and the others were already riding the Wochan, not far from Mount Xushan.

He Lingchuan had listed at least three or four possible locations where the enemy would most likely ambush, and lay in wait nearby.

Waiting until Sha Baotian ambushed Yuan Ling, the Wochan also followed the confirmed location sent by Yuan Ling, crept over, and placed He Lingchuan, Mou Di, and the others into the battlefield, likewise launching a sneak attack.

This is what is called the mantis stalks the cicada, while the oriole waits behind.

The Nine Nether Great Emperor personally took the field, bringing nine True Immortals to launch a surprise attack on Sha Baotian and the others, plus the large-scale return of Yuan Qi; the outcome held no suspense. Yes, from the moment he planned to retrieve the three True Immortals including Mou Di, the Nine Nether Great Emperor's primary target was this group of Celestial Demons led by Sha Baotian. He Luotian wanted to take down Mou Di and would have to dispatch more manpower; then the number of Great Celestial Demons intercepting Mount Xushan's reinforcements at the other end would be fewer, their task lighter, and their mindset more relaxed — making them the most suitable prey! The War Alliance's total quantity of top-tier combat power was still inferior to the Celestial Demons overall, but in such a localized campaign, as long as deployment was proper, they could still achieve the effect of outnumbering the enemy locally.

Of course, as the tactician, He Lingchuan also had to bear great risk: mobilizing ten True Immortals at once would cause Mount Xushan's defenses to suddenly become empty; if the enemy took advantage of the void...

But based on his understanding of the Great Celestial Demons, He Luotian on the other side might not necessarily be able to seize such an opportunity. And the ones guarding the mountain were Jujue and Dimu, this pair of local experts, plus the rapid return of Yuan Qi; the War Alliance grand army's self-preservation strength was also constantly rising.

If there had been any other choice, He Lingchuan would have been more cautious. But this time the desperate gamble won, and the battle results were also astonishing!

Seventeen Great Celestial Demons minus three left only fourteen.

The quantitative gap in top-tier combat power between both sides had substantially narrowed. Even if there were another Yuan Qi low-tide period later, the War Alliance's response would not be as passive as before. And the fall of these three Great Celestial Demons was another fatal blow to the enemy's strength and morale.

Riding the momentum of his own side consecutively beheading three Great Celestial Demons, the Nine Nether Great Emperor waved a hand and issued an order to the entire War Alliance army:

"Counterattack begins, retake Lingxu City!"

Yuan Qi had already returned; the War Alliance had also been stifled for several hours. The moment the counterattack horn sounded, the grand army surged out of the Mount Xushan grand camp, charging toward the opposing Lingxu army!

The two armies clashed like colliding long rivers, waves of blood surging.

The Lingxu army could not hold; they were directly pressed back two li. The commanding general Wang Qing'an, face iron-green, ordered:

"Retreat! Retreat to Lingxu City!"

He had long advised He Luotian to withdraw troops, so as to calmly prepare for the coming Yuan Qi return-tide period; unfortunately the other simply would not listen. Now it was good — Great Celestial Gods had pointlessly fallen three more, and even more bitter fruit still had to be swallowed by him and the Lingxu army.

The War Alliance pursued victoriously; not long after, the battle line was once again pressed back to the foot of Lingxu City.

In this process we need not mention the Lingxu army's casualties; just say that another Great Celestial Demon was heavily wounded, and over two hundred thirty Celestial Demons were killed or wounded. Having lost their numerical superiority, the Great Celestial Demons' fighting style was no longer as wide-open as at the start; they turned to cherishing their lives.

However, not long after the War Alliance launched its full-scale attack on Lingxu City, the Divine Bone Necklace around He Lingchuan's neck trembled three times again.

"The Yuan Qi Laws damaged again?" General Hong replied through the Divine Bone Necklace:

Yes.

He Lingchuan took a deep breath, first notified the True Immortals and immortals to prepare, then ordered each army formation to withdraw in an orderly fashion.

Although the quantitative gap in top-tier combat power between both sides could no longer be widened, at the immortal/Celestial Demon level the enemy's advantage was still too great; Celestial Demons outnumbered their own immortals several times over. Once they lost the protection of Yuan Qi, the War Alliance grand army still could not withstand the wild bombardment of divine abilities.

$$$$$

After the Lingxu Holy Sovereign finished snapping his fingers in the Boundless, strange things appeared in the vast mortal world.

Originally this very night, all beings were sleepless; who knew how many people looked up at the sky, hearts in their throats.

Liu Wenxing, former governor of the southern border town of the Lin Kingdom, at this moment was standing on Lippo in the Xuan Kingdom with his wife, children, and family.

On the eve of the last descent of the gods, he privately opened the border pass and let in the Cangyan and Xuan Kingdom allied armies, resulting in the Heavenly Palace army hidden within the Lin Kingdom being wiped out in one nest, while simultaneously losing several hundred Divine Descent bodies.

Having stirred up such a huge disaster, Liu Wenxing naturally could not stay in the Tao Kingdom; that very night he fled into the Xuan Kingdom, and later brought his family over as well. But the Lippo where he settled was not far from the border line between the two countries, with only a few mu of sparse woods in between.

His little daughter suddenly stretched out her hand pointing at the jungle opposite, her voice milky: "Look there, look there, fireflies!"

Liu Wenxing fixed his gaze and looked; sure enough, specks of green light drifted out from the opposite woods. From a distance, they really looked very much like fireflies.

But it was already deep autumn; it was fundamentally not the season for fireflies to appear!

Before long, the green light points emerging from the opposite jungle became more and more numerous; they kept drifting upward into the sky, and soon vanished into the cloud layer.

This scene naturally also drew the attention of the Xuan Kingdom border defense. Opposite the woods was a town with a garrison; military and civilian population combined exceeded three thousand. The Xuan Kingdom border general dispatched scouts without hesitation, crossing the border to infiltrate and reconnoiter.

But not long after, they returned, even dragging back two corpses.

When they passed Lippo, Liu Wenxing covered his daughter's eyes, not wanting her to see more.

Ten years ago when he roamed the Northern Wasteland desert, he had once seen a desiccated corpse in the great desert, extremely like the pressed duck made in the countryside — truly skin wrapped around bones, not a trace of moisture.

And the two corpses brought back by the Xuan Kingdom scouts were exactly like the desert desiccated corpses. Except, their whole bodies still exuded an eerie pale green. Their mouths gaped wide; on faces thin as skulls, their final expressions of terror were frozen.

Everyone watched with trembling fear, unable to help stepping back a few more steps.

Because of Liu Wenxing's special status, the border garrison commander specially sought him out, pointing at the desiccated corpses on the ground and telling him:

"That town opposite has no living people left — from residents to soldiers, even chickens, ducks, geese, and dogs, all are like this."

After a while longer, two more Xuan Kingdom scouts returned to report. They had penetrated deep into the Tao Kingdom, gone to a more distant city; the result was that city was also full of desiccated corpses, not a single living thing, even rats lay dead by the roadside. All the corpses glowed with a pale green.

The coroner's autopsy results also came out.

The victims' brains had completely atrophied and were filled with green mold. These molds had also lost vitality, as if they and the brains had been dried together. "Fortunately you came over." The garrison commander said to Liu Wenxing, "If you had stayed there, you'd probably have met the same fate."