Chapter 153: First Battle

With such massive interests at stake in the spirit mine, the Dao Ting Si failed to mediate, so they had to follow the common rules: the Qian family and the hunter-adepts would begin a brutal battle at the Nameless Peak spirit mine.

Whoever wins will claim the spirit mine.

Now the Qian family is attacking, while the hunter-adepts must hold their ground.

The atmosphere among the hunter-adepts gradually grew solemn.

Elder Yu ordered all hunter-adepts to refrain from hunting in Great Heishan in the near future, and summoned most hunter-adepts from Foundation Establishment seventh to ninth level to garrison inside the mine tunnels of Nameless Peak.

The hunter-adepts prepared for the Qian family's assault while simultaneously accelerating spirit stone extraction.

It would be best to hold the mine, but the Qian family was powerful, with many cultivators; the hunter-adepts might not hold out until the end.

Since the mine might fall at any moment, they must extract as many spirit stones as possible before then.

All late-stage Foundation Establishment cultivators must enter the mine; Seeing Mo Shan, as a ninth-level Foundation Establishment cultivator, was no exception.

Mo Hua also wanted to enter, but Seeing Mo Shan refused, and Elder Yu would not permit it either.

When they seized the mine earlier, Mo Hua stayed outside, where rocks and trees offered cover—he could flee if danger arose.

Now inside the mine tunnels, there was virtually nowhere to escape.

If Qian family cultivators broke in and hand-to-hand combat erupted, swords and spirit energy flew wildly; no one could guarantee Mo Hua's safety.

Thus, Elder Yu had originally firmly refused to let Mo Hua, a sixth-level Foundation Establishment cultivator, remain inside the mine.

Until Mo Hua said he could help draw array patterns.

"I can draw the Golden Armor Array—it works even for late-stage Foundation Establishment cultivators!"

Upon hearing this, Elder Yu could not possibly refuse.

In large-scale cultivator battles, arrays were clearly effective.

Moreover, the Golden Armor Array sounded far superior to the Iron Armor Array; with its enhancement, the likelihood of holding the mine tunnels would greatly increase.

Even if they ultimately lost, it would buy more time to extract more spirit stones.

This was a spirit mine—even a small one—could sustain many cultivators for years.

Elder Yu was swayed.

Several hunter-adepts told Elder Yu how excellent the Golden Armor Array was, how Seeing Mo Shan had survived a claw strike from a Kuimu Wolf precisely because his vine armor bore the Golden Armor Array.

Seeing Mo Shan sighed and pulled out his vine armor, inscribed with the Golden Armor Array.

Elder Yu examined it closely, tested its defensive power, his eyes lit up, and he immediately decided to let Mo Hua stay.

Thus, Mo Hua remained inside the spirit mine.

Elder Yu instructed the other hunter-adepts to look after Mo Hua carefully, and silently vowed:

"Whoever dares lay a single hair on Mo Hua, I'll crush him with one palm!"

In the following days, Mo Hua began drawing Golden Armor Arrays for the hunter-adepts.

With his current spiritual sense strength, the enhanced spiritual control from the Great Expansion Scripture, and the increased spiritual sense recovery from meditation, he could draw ten first-grade Golden Armor Arrays per day.

The spirit ink for these arrays was temporarily provided by Mo Hua himself.

Elder Yu would convert the spirit ink into spirit stones, and pay Mo Hua the full fee for array-drawing all at once.

Previously, Elder Yu had no spirit stones, so he was stingy.

Now that they controlled a small spirit mine, he would never let Mo Hua suffer any loss.

To ensure Mo Hua could draw arrays in peace, Elder Yu specially opened a small mine tunnel, made it warm and comfortable, and told Mo Hua to voice any needs he had.

Mo Hua stayed in the small tunnel and drew about thirty Golden Armor Arrays in three days.

Then the Qian family cultivators began their assault on the mountain.

Mo Hua crouched at the tunnel entrance, watching the numerous Qian family cultivators below, and asked Elder Yu anxiously: "Can we defeat the Qian family?"

"We can fight, but it won't be easy—the outcome is uncertain."

"Have we fought them before?"

Elder Yu nodded. "We've fought several times. The Qian family bullied us too much—we fought back, and it turned into a full-scale brawl that spiraled out of control. We suffered more losses that time, and the Qian family won, but they didn't gain much advantage either."

Mo Hua asked, "What makes the Qian family stronger than us?"

Elder Yu thought for a moment and said: "In direct combat, both sides have advantages, but the Qian family has more spirit stones, better spirit weapons, and can hire mercenaries."

Mo Hua said: "Then with the Golden Armor Array, do we gain more advantage?"

Elder Yu nodded. "Yes."

He didn't know exactly how powerful the Golden Armor Array was, but in a cultivator battle like this, even a slight edge could shift the outcome.

Afterward, the Qian family began their assault openly.

The Qian family had always looked down on hunter-adepts, seeing them as poor and insignificant.

And the Qian family had abundant spirit stones; their cultivators' levels were generally one tier higher than the hunter-adepts'.

So this time, they didn't choose dawn or midnight for a surprise attack—they marched up the mountain in broad daylight, openly and boldly.

They wanted to intimidate the hunter-adepts with sheer force.

But as soon as combat began, they realized something was wrong.

Thirty Foundation Establishment ninth-level hunter-adepts charged forward with terrifying might, immediately launching a full assault.

The Qian family cultivators' swords and blades struck their vine armor—only leaving scratches.

The Golden Armor Array was a first-grade nine-stripe array; ordinary blades—even wielded by Foundation Establishment ninth-level cultivators—could barely break through vine armor inscribed with it.

Empowered by the Golden Armor Array, the hunter-adepts feared nothing; they swung their blades wildly, each strike drawing blood, leaving the Qian family cultivators unable to resist, forcing them into steady retreat.

Retreat after retreat, until they had nowhere left to flee.

Seeing they couldn't win, the Qian family fled in disarray, their entire force collapsing.

They had come roaring in, only to suffer a crushing defeat—deeply humiliated, they returned soon after, regrouping.

This time, they were thoroughly prepared: every cultivator wore vine armor, and some ninth-level cultivators even wore iron armor.

The iron armor was forged entirely from refined iron, expensive to make, and extremely hard.

The two sides clashed again.

Then the Qian family cultivators discovered that the demon hunters' vine armor seemed a bit different from their own vine armor…

The demon hunters' vine armor was absurdly hard, and chopping through it was extremely laborious.

While their own vine armor was like paper, split open in just a few strokes.

Even their iron armor was only about the same as the demon hunters' vine armor…

But the iron armor was heavier, restricted movement, and so they became sitting targets.

Some ten Qian family cultivators in iron armor, watching the front but not the rear, were toyed with like monkeys by the demon hunters in vine armor, and were taken down within a few exchanges.

The iron armor was stripped off as well.

The Qian family nearly spat blood.

That was a full set of iron armor! Forging one set of iron armor required so much refined iron, and now it had just been fleeced!

But the spirit mine still had to be fought for — those were glowing spirit stones!

To deal with the demon hunters' vine armor, the Qian family grit their teeth and splurged, buying twenty genuine first-grade blades.

These blades were extremely sharp; one stroke was enough to cut through ordinary vine armor.

Hand-picked Qian family experts wielding these first-grade blades engaged the demon hunters once more.

These first-grade blades did work — one stroke could cut through vine armor, and two or three strokes nearly split it apart.

But the Qian family immediately discovered an even bigger problem.

There were more and more demon hunters wearing vine armor!

At first there were only thirty.

Later, a few more each day, a few more each day, until now nearly every demon hunter was wearing that headache-inducing vine armor.

Everyone had one!

The Qian family cultivators' scalps went numb.

They only had twenty blades in total. Yet they faced over two hundred sets of vine armor!

How were they supposed to fight this?

Then, as expected, they were routed once again…

Defeat after defeat shattered the Qian family cultivators' morale, and they could only pause their offensive to catch their breath.

Elder Yu, on the other hand, was overjoyed.

The effect of this Golden Armor Array was far stronger than he had originally expected.

He had thought it would be a bitter battle, and even if they won, the casualties would be heavy.

But unexpectedly, not only had they won, they had won easily, and the demon hunters hadn't suffered many casualties either.

This made Elder Yu heave a long sigh of relief, and then, slightly puzzled, he asked Mo Hua:

"Why is this Golden Armor Array so hard?"

So hard that even a first-grade blade needed several strokes to cut through.

What they were wearing was ordinary vine armor, not refined-iron-cast first-grade iron armor.

Mo Hua replied matter-of-factly: "Because the Golden Armor Array is a first-grade array."

"A first-grade array…" Elder Yu nodded. "No wonder."

A first-grade array — how could it not be powerful?

Then Elder Yu suddenly came to his senses, his heart pounding wildly.

"First-grade?!"