Chapter 403: True Qi vs. Home-Field Advantage

On this mountain road, the Fufeng City guard battalion was certainly taking the lead, shielding the three diplomatic missions in the center. Several merchant caravans and other travelers followed behind.

In terms of order, the Shimen merchant caravan, which had intentionally lagged behind, was ranked sixteenth.

The mountain road wound and twisted; the narrowest sections could only accommodate two carriages side-by-side, though occasionally, when turning into a mountain hollow, the space would open up a bit more.

Consequently, the movement of these groups was like a centipede, stretched very long from front to back.

The distance along the road between the Shimen merchant caravan and the guard battalion was at least twenty li. At this moment, the guard battalion had already turned to the opposite mountain ridge, while the Shimen merchant caravan was still on this side's peak, almost able to gaze at each other across Mount Mount Fengmo.

If the Second Master of Shimen could see this with his own eyes right now, he would likely be moved to tears.

After the tornado left Mount Mount Fengmo, it kept a small tail in contact with the ground; from afar it looked like an antenna, but up close it was actually quite thick, continuously sucking the energy from the ground into its own body, and the wind circle expanded once more.

Its speed of travel seemed slow but was actually fast.

At this time, the merchants and travelers on the mountain road also saw the Mount Fengmo attacking. Amidst cries of alarm, they tried to turn their horses around, but as a result, over a dozen horses were urged too hard, and being startled themselves on the narrow road, they lost their footing, and both carriages and horses fell off.

Some horses knelt on the spot and could not get back up no matter how much they were whipped.

Of course, more people abandoned their carriages and ran backward without a word.

If one's life is gone, what meaning does the cargo have? The guard battalion naturally also saw the fiercely approaching Mount Fengmo, and though alarmed, they were not afraid. Taking advantage of the time before it rushed to their front, the leading general urgently ordered the entire group to run to the mountain hollow, with the diplomatic missions inside and the guards outside, contracting into a defensive formation.

He knew very well that this group of nearly four hundred people, with the mountain road being so narrow, could never outrun the Mount Fengmo in such a short time.

Therefore, he took out a wooden staff, thrust it fiercely into the ground, and roared, "United in strength!"

The three hundred guards shouted in unison.

The wooden staff immediately emitted a deep blue light, supporting a light barrier that covered the entire group.

This was carved from a branch of the Treasure Tree King, carrying a portion of its demonic power and divine abilities.

"Nock arrows!"

At the general's command, everyone unslung their longbows, drew the strings, and took aim.

The arrowheads also erupted with blue light.

"Fire!"

Three hundred arrows were released simultaneously.

With such a large target, it was impossible to miss.

However, there was countless debris within the tornado—rocks, sand, and even rubble from the ruins of the Ethereal Sect—which could act as shields to block in high-speed motion.

Of the three hundred arrows, more than half struck these objects, and only a hundred or so entered the wind circle.

The guards saw over a hundred blue lights suddenly flicker, like static electricity exploding in the clouds, and the Mount Fengmo let out a roar of rage.

It was formless and bodiless, and ordinary blades and arrows were ineffective against it; however, the true qi attached to the arrows was the natural nemesis of all demonic creatures, and the Mount Fengmo could not be exempt.

Its pain was much the same as being struck by a hundred arrows.

Yet, sensing the aura emanating from the wooden staff, the Mount Fengmo's fury soared straight upward.

The Treasure Tree King! The mortal enemy that had caused its near-extinction over four hundred years ago had not come in person, yet had sent such a team.

How could it miss this heaven-sent opportunity for revenge? With a burst of effort, the three hundred-plus arrows spun a few times in the gale and suddenly returned along their original path, whistling as they shot toward the group.

The speed of their return was faster than when they had first left the strings.

The blue light barrier flickered for a moment, intercepting them all.

But at this moment, the Mount Fengmo also rushed onto the high mountain and slammed into the rock face.

Those massive boulders looked majestic, but their bases had long been severely weathered; now, pushed forcefully by the Mount Fengmo, they collapsed like falling jade pillars down the steep slope, creating an unstoppable momentum amidst the rumbling, with some splitting into two and rolling down together.

That was hundreds of thousands of catties of mud, sand, and stone, and the guard battalion was at the bottom of the slope.

Facing this natural disaster-level attack, the light barrier seemed too thin, and no one had confidence it could hold.

The hearts of several envoys went cold; not daring to look, they turned and covered their heads.

Just as the giant rocks rolled down with the force of thunder, a phantom of a giant tree suddenly appeared above the group, its branches and leaves reaching the sky, identical in image to the Treasure Tree King.

Falling rocks larger than millstones were deflected one after another upon hitting the canopy. Only rocks smaller than this standard fell through the gaps in the leaves and struck the ground.

The members of the guard battalion struck out one after another, knocking these stragglers away.

The envoy from the Chi Yan Kingdom was struck in the center of his brow by a piece of debris, scraping a long bloody gash. But the giant tree phantom clearly had no intention of intercepting such minor troubles.

It caught the big and let go of the small; it would not waste power blocking every single piece of rubble.

The guard battalion's mission was tied to the dignity of the Demon Kingdom, and the Treasure Tree King had specifically allocated them more abundant true qi, but this power was not infinite either.

The tornado paused in mid-air, as if observing or perhaps thinking.

Of course, the guard battalion's arrow rain reminded it that the battlefield allowed for no hesitation.

After a dozen breaths, it had swept behind the mountain; with the mountain as a barrier, the humans could no longer shoot it.

The general ran up along the mountain ridge with long strides, using both hands and feet. Without him needing to call out, two personal guards followed. If they were to passively take a beating, no amount of true qi would be enough. They had to counterattack.

The arrows shot by the general even carried a faint red light, which was extremely damaging to demonic creatures.

However, this was a formidable enemy that had once fought the Treasure Tree King, and the battlefield was the peak of a high mountain—the Mount Fengmo's absolute home turf—where replenishing energy was too simple. Even if the Treasure Tree King had come in person, it would not be easy to beat it down, let alone a few humans. The tornado ignored their arrows and had already turned behind the mountain, mercilessly sucking the merchant caravans there into itself.

Amidst screams, people, horses, carriages, and cargo all went up into the sky.

Those who saw it turned pale; the fugitives on the mountain road only hated that they weren't born with two more legs.

The Mount Fengmo grabbed these people, horses, and carriages, turned, and hurled them at the heads of the guard battalion.

One must know that the giant tree phantom was, after all, only a divine ability, not the Treasure Tree King in person; it would determine that the giant rocks and arrows rushing toward it were attacks from enemies and needed to be intercepted; however, the people, horses, and cargo falling from the sky were not inherently aggressive, so the ancient tree phantom ignored them.

Yet, these things were gathered by the gale, and with the wind speed added to their own weight, they hit like cannonballs, and their power could not be underestimated.

Unfortunately, several hundred people were squeezed into the mountain hollow, making the Mount Fengmo's target very concentrated. With a clatter and crash, over a dozen guards and members of the diplomatic mission were smashed into meat patties by carriages and heavy objects before they could even let out a sound.

Just this one move revealed that the Mount Fengmo's intelligence was not low.

Several laborers in the diplomatic mission were scared out of their wits and turned to run into the distance, attempting to get away from this slaughterhouse.

Under the Mount Fengmo's nose, where could they escape to? They didn't even get two steps before they were swept into the sky by the storm, with no knowing when they would land.

Seeing that this tactic worked, the Mount Fengmo immediately turned to grab new merchant caravans to throw.

The teams in the rear had already run out of people, with only hundreds of carriages left in place; the Mount Fengmo could use them as soon as it picked them up, which was not only logical but also very convenient.

It seemed to be playing quite happily; after throwing twice, it moved backward along the mountain road, intending to scavenge for more tools.

Carriages took up a lot of space; if it threw them one or two more times, the diplomatic mission and the guards would have no place to stand.

Separated by a few mountain peaks, the Shimen merchant caravan did not know exactly what had happened in front, only hearing the howling of the wind and seeing what appeared to be a massive tornado in mid-air.

The tornado had swept up too much debris, and its color had turned black, looking exceptionally evil. Moreover, its path seemed to be moving back and forth, unpredictable.

Besides that, there were the living people from the front running back, shouting while activating "crazy acceleration mode": "The Mount Fengmo is coming! The Mount Fengmo is coming!"

The Mount Fengmo? That Mount Fengmo from the legends of the Ethereal Sect?

The members of the merchant caravan were trembling with fear, ten thousand times thankful that they hadn't gotten close.

Now the guard battalion was exhausted from dealing with it, but He He Lingchuan's attention in the belly of Mount Mount Fengmo was not on the tragedy opposite, but on Fu Fu Shanyue on the mountaintop.

The official road was in chaos, and no one had the time to look up at the main peak of the Ethereal Sect.

But just as the Mount Fengmo collided with the giant tree phantom, a small black dot on the peak darted out in two steps and leaped down!

Fu Fu Shanyue! He He Lingchuan had been keeping an eye on his movements and had also quietly approached the mountain; at this moment, he rode his rock goat straight to the peak, happening to stand exactly where Fu Fu Shanyue had just been.

The view from here to overlook the whole situation was the best.

This person had single-handedly orchestrated such a massive disaster, then watched the fun from the mountain, watching until now.

Of course, the distance from the mountaintop to the official road opposite was very far, unreachable by human strength; only winged birds could cross it.

And so, Fu Fu Shanyue grew wings.

Strictly speaking, those were not wings, but rather he had stretched out broad skin membranes between his hands and feet, and then could glide forward on the air currents like a flying squirrel! He He Lingchuan muttered, "This guy's equipment is truly complete."

He had ridden a rock goat, risked his life, and jumped back and forth between dangerous cliffs and steep ridges, rushing and hurrying just to get back to the official road; how could it be as easy and relaxed as this fellow descending from the sky?

However, Fu Fu Shanyue was gliding straight toward the Mount Fengmo; in less than ten breaths, he was swept into the violent wind circle!

He was as helpless as a leaf swept into a whirlpool.

What was the meaning of this? He He Lingchuan was stunned.

But immediately after, the Mount Fengmo began to bang, bang, bang, throwing things down—carriages, cargo, humans... and Fu Fu Shanyue!

People were falling from the sky, too many to keep track of. But the eyesight He He Lingchuan had painstakingly trained still found Fu Fu Shanyue among the dozens of people falling at the same time.

Colliding with so much messy debris in the wind circle and then being fiercely slammed to the ground by the Mount Fengmo, an ordinary person would be dead or crippled. Yet this fellow's body was truly like iron; after landing, he rolled and climbed up, dodging left and right to avoid two carriages falling from the sky, and then rushed into the diplomatic mission.

"Fishing in troubled waters?" He He Lingchuan narrowed his eyes. "Let me see, who exactly is your target!"

Now there was no safe place in the mountain hollow, and it was entirely up to the guards' agility to protect the few envoys as they hid here and there.

Fu Fu Shanyue reached their side in two leaps.

Normally, if he dared to approach the diplomatic mission like this, the guards would have driven him away immediately. But now, these people's attention was all on the sky, and how much defense did they have against "people"? People were falling everywhere from the sky.

"Watch out!" Fu Fu Shanyue shouted, pouncing on the envoy from the Chi Yan Kingdom.

Thanks to the support of Zhe Le Yue Guang, Bing Lv Se Nv Lang 1, and Fen Se Cen Qiao Nv,

Thanks to the appreciation of Tai Yang Shi Wo Cuo Yuan De, Ai Zuo Meng De Hua, Ju Ran Qing Kong Wan Li, and Le Bao Shi Zhi Mao, and thanks to the 42 monthly tickets cast at once by Wei Meng Xiao Pen You.

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(End of chapter)