Chapter 72: Sword Takes Heads

Chen Chen began issuing orders.

“Captain Zhou Bai, take squads six through ten and circle around behind!”

“Yes!”

“Brother Zheng, please join Captain Zhou Bai and lead the mounted scouts to patrol near the formation, providing support and diversion.”

“Rest assured.”

Zheng Ye of the “Mixed Gold Blade” bowed his hands.

The art of formation warfare lies in overwhelming the few with the many, attacking from all sides.

While flanking units maneuvered behind, nearly everyone kept their eyes locked on the massive rock—four or five paces high, three or four paces wide—so much as a beetle flying overhead triggered intense scrutiny.

That squad is in chaos!

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Shh! Again came that distinctive sword slicing through air—a golden thread, hugging the ground, lunging at Captain Zhou Bai’s troops as they attempted to circle around! “Damn it!”

“Close your eyes!”

Jing! Jiang Ding drew his sword; a perfect circular arc cut through the air, snapping the arrow into two pieces.

!.

The remaining soldiers scattered in panic, their morale shattered.

“Young Master Jiang, if you surrender now, I will personally plead for mercy before the Marquis!”

Shh! The talisman sword twisted its blade, effortlessly dodging his saber, piercing straight through his throat, leaving a clean, translucent hole.

Chen Chen dared not blink for a single moment.

Chen Chen shouted loudly.

Captain Zhou Bai, whose internal qi had reached peak cultivation, roared in desperation, thrusting his iron spear left and right to reinforce every position—but how could he keep up with a flying sword?

A heavily armored soldier screamed, his nerves stretched to breaking, releasing his drawn bowstring; others followed suit, raining arrows onto the spot where the golden thread had appeared—ground sprouting thick clusters of bristling shafts.

His heart brimmed with murderous intent.

The men obeyed, their steps lightening; they didn’t even bother collecting their fallen comrades’ bodies, fleeing swiftly down the mountain.

Chen Chen gave a cold command, while simultaneously leading half his men in a rapid advance toward the rear of the rock, every soldier with bow drawn and arrow nocked, waiting for the instant a shadow appeared behind the stone.

A place of jagged boulders.

“Retreat! I alone bear all blame.”

In an instant, over fifty men formed a forest of spears, their military might formidable enough to shatter a hundredfold of ordinary soldiers in open combat.

In the blink of an eye, six or seven squad leaders and martial elite fell; the formation plunged into chaos. “Come on!”

Shh! A golden thread pierced through—the squad leader’s taut throat opened with a hole; though he had barely pushed past the internal qi threshold through sheer force, he had no time to react before collapsing, blood pooling beneath him.

Chen Chen slashed savagely at a tree trunk the size of a bowl before him.

Shh-shh-shh! Golden threads crisscrossed!

Gradually, soldiers and squad leaders gathered around him, faces pale with terror, mouths opening but words dying unspoken.

“Get out of my way!”

The talisman sword twisted nimbly, evading nine heavy iron spears, lunging for the squad leader’s throat.

“Yes!”

Zheng Ye of the “Mixed Gold Blade” was the same—except his bandit followers had terrible discipline; many had already fled, leaving only a handful, like Yao Xiu of the “Pointed Evil Brush.”

Chen Chen sighed deeply, his face filled with desolation.

Captain Zhou Bai shouted, his nerves taut, refusing to advance another step.

Yet against a flying sword forty centimeters long and three and a half centimeters wide, the notion of “impenetrable defense” was laughable.

Nearly every soldier and squad leader felt their vision blur—everything vanished into blinding white. After several seconds, their fierce blood qi surged back, restoring sight—but still, double images lingered. Such strength, such terrifying agility, and a flying sword that struck from a hundred paces—how could they possibly surround it? “Enough!”

Jiang Ding murmured: “Great Sun Spirit Gathering Array—activate.”

Fortunately, this boulder stood relatively isolated, with no other stones within ten meters to provide cover.

Captain Zhou Bai obeyed, leading the two squads still intact, disregarding casualties, continuing the flanking maneuver.

Blood splattered across the forest; the talisman sword darted among heavily armored soldiers, targeting only squad leaders with newly formed or mid-level internal qi—ignoring ordinary soldiers and those with peak internal qi entirely.

This flying sword is too small!

The squad leader’s eyes bulged; he drew his saber, channeling all his mid-level internal qi into the blade, swinging down with full force toward the golden thread!

He dared not advance—twelve names on the Dragon Phoenix List were dead; how could he? He merely waited for other soldiers to catch up, unafraid of escape—once the target left the rock’s cover, concentrated volleys would annihilate him instantly.

Within two breaths, two internal qi squad leaders and squad chiefs lay dead.

Alas, this was Dongling Mountain—avoiding rocky terrain entirely was impossible.

Shh! Suddenly, he heard a faint whistling sound—a golden thread flashed from beneath low shrubs and dead leaves, then vanished.

Chen Chen had already avoided such terrain as much as possible; his men were all skilled fighters, capable of moving even off cleared paths.

Everyone kept peripheral vision on both the rock and the ground.

Such an array would kill mid-level internal qi cultivators instantly, wound peak-level ones, and immobilize even full-level cultivators for several breaths—before being overwhelmed by the main force closing in.

“Defend! Spear formation!”

Chen Chen’s belated command finally rang out; his powerful internal qi and blood surged back in under half a second—he glimpsed a blue shadow flicker through the trees, then disappear.

“General…”

Thin, fine, hugging the ground—any rock could serve as cover, even buried briefly in soil to hide. Arrows were nearly useless.

“Thrust!”

Shh! As the enemy neared encirclement, Jiang Ding gestured—the talisman sword, still slaughtering among Captain Zhou Bai’s troops, reversed course, hovering several meters above ground.

This weapon was the enemy of military formations!

He loosed an arrow; the opponent dodged effortlessly, not even brushing his sleeve.

Several men, spurred by the bounty, drew bows and fired—seven or eight arrows shot together.

Only dozens of meters away, after a short while, the heavily armored soldiers, enduring heavy losses, drew near the rock—some in front even caught sight of the young man in blue robes, standing silently behind it.

A bad premonition suddenly struck Chen Chen.

“Yes!”

Instantly, half the solar essence gathered over many days erupted—sky blazed as if a sun had appeared, flooding the ground within dozens of meters with blinding light.

“Keep circling around!”

If this were human foes—even with heavier casualties—their years of brutal training would have held firm. This feeling of helplessly offering one’s throat was unbearable.

The squad leader’s soul nearly fled; he shrieked orders—nine iron spears, driven by primal survival instinct, pierced the air, forming a tight net around the talisman sword.

“On the ground!”

Attack where they must defend, attack where they must defend—yet now they couldn’t even advance within five li of the Blue Firefly camp.

Shh! The familiar whistling sound rang in their ears; despair spread across their faces.

“Your Excellency!”

Chen Chen’s tiger-like eyes bulged as he roared:

“Do you truly intend to fight my Eastern Marquis Mansion to the death? We are not without primordial cultivators as our foundation!”

(End of Chapter)