Chapter 150: The Swarm of Ants

"Commander You Chao leads his troops with method!" Zhou Yi exclaimed, gazing at the star trails swirling within the battle formation.

The bronze armor that had been scattered now formed a perfect Heavenly Gang, and the rise and fall of weapons secretly matched the numbers of the celestial constellations, a subtle manifestation of the Heavenly Court battle formation.

You Chao stroked the bronze sword hilt at his waist and smiled wryly: "It's all thanks to His Majesty's martial arena. Now every new recruit fights to the death to enlist, and during training they fear falling even half an inch behind."

Since the Human Race instituted the system of granting titles for military merit, the warriors' blood Qi has been fully ignited, and even he, as a commander, is often awakened by the training sounds in the camp.

A foul wind and blood rain suddenly rose within the Demon Race settlement.

The azure‑scaled giant flood dragon snapped its tail, shattering the cliff, and in a cold voice said, "These ants have actually formed a Heavenly Gang formation!"

The dark‑armored raging bear beside it let out a thunderous roar, and the poisonous saliva dripping from its fangs carved a fathom‑deep trench in the ground.

Four towering demon silhouettes blocked the sky before the formation: the tusks of the snow‑ridge giant elephant glimmered with cold light, the scales of the mountain‑wrapping green python scraped together like thunder, and the golden‑mane lion king caused the earth to quake with each step.

The most terrifying was the massive dark bear at the center, its eyes a blood‑red moon suspended in the air.

"Four Great Luo demon saints..." Zhou Yi's fingertip brushed the spine of the Xuanyuan sword, its tone clear as a dragon's roar to the nine heavens, "No wonder they dare to violate our borders."

Before his words finished, the hundred‑thousand weapons in the formation simultaneously pointed to the heavens, and the Big Dipper appeared in broad daylight.

Having suffered defeat last time yet daring to rise again, the Demon Race evidently had a backup plan.

However, when the four towering demon auras rose, doubt arose among the Human Race camp: can four Great Luo Golden Immortals alone hope to shake the foundation of the Human Race?

"Your Majesty, please permit this junior general to rush to aid; the Long Forest army may not be able to resist the strong enemy alone."

Sui Huang placed his hand on his sword and stepped forward to plead, while Cang Wen's divination plate spun in his palm, and the protective golden aura of the Zi Yi Clan flickered faintly.

This long‑planned battle was intended as the trial ground for the first joint operation of the Human Race's three great legions.

Zhou Yi stared at the roiling demon clouds beneath the heavens, his dark imperial robe rustling in the fierce wind.

He knows well the power of the Great Luo Golden Immortals, yet he must make the new‑generation commanders understand: the survival of the Human Race cannot forever rely on ancestral protection.

"The Heavenly Court battle formation is no ordinary one," the emperor's voice thundered across the battlefield, "You Chao has shown no intent to seek aid; you must trust our army's might."

In the command tent before the formation, You Chao sat with his eyes closed, polishing the Xuanyuan sword. The blade reflected a faint smile at the corner of his mouth, and the breaths of the hundred‑thousand soldiers turned into a flowing star river within his mind sea.

When the demon king's law‑form tore the clouds, the bronze sword sheath suddenly quivered with a dragon‑like roar.

The four great demon lords hovered in the air, their true forms with blue faces and fangs stirring winds and clouds for thousands of miles.

The leader, a nine‑headed serpent, with eighteen vertical pupils simultaneously fixed on the ground formation: "Ants gather sand into a tower, but it remains sand."

Ten‑thousand‑foot poisonous miasma surged like a reversed Milky Way, yet the moment it touched the formation it was refracted by an invisible barrier into the sky.

At You Chao's sword point, the hundred‑thousand armored soldiers roared in unison. The River Diagram and Luo Book that rose beneath their feet stirred the earth veins, and since Chaos no creature had dared forge mountain‑river dragon Qi into battle armor.

When the first sword qi pierced the nine‑headed demon lord's law‑form, the Zi Yi Clan observer suddenly realized, "This is no ordinary formation; it's clearly a walking Execution‑Immortal sword array!"

On the blood‑stained wasteland, the sound of bronze war boots crushing scorched earth abruptly ceased.

The exploding bear king's crimson demonic flames suddenly surged, and its thunder‑like roar made the earth veins emit a strained lament: "Do the ant‑like Human Race even deserve to stand before me?"

The rock strata within a hundred‑mile radius suddenly churned like boiling lava, and the entire battlefield turned liquid under the demon power.

The white elephant king seized the moment to swing its massive cloud‑hanging trunk; a dark vortex between its six tusks sucked hundreds of iron‑clad soldiers into the void, and the bronze armor cracked with a sour‑tinged sound in the warped space.

Seven‑inch green scales flickered in the smoke, and as the green snake king flicked its tail, the variegated poisonous miasma spread across the ground like a living creature.

The obsidian‑iron shield, stained by the mist, instantly became covered with ink‑green rust, and the shield‑bearer's knuckles showed stark white bone through the corrosion.

At the same time, audible sound‑wave ripples burst from the mane of the green lion king, and the warhorses thirty yards away turned into blood mist before they could even neigh.

The hundred‑thousand dark‑armored troops suddenly slammed their long spears into the ground in unison, the clashing of gold and iron ringing louder than the demon king's might.

Each soldier's brow lit with a star‑like glint, and in an instant they wove a brilliant galaxy above the formation.

When the fourth war drum sounded, the galaxy formed from ten‑thousand true‑origin threads collapsed with a boom, turning into a hundred‑foot golden light blade that cleaved the Chaos.

The demon kings' pupils contracted sharply. The lava wall summoned by the exploding bear king was sliced like thin paper, and the white elephant king's void vortex vanished into specks of phosphorescent fire within the golden light.

The green snake king hurriedly offered his life‑binding poison pill to block, but the afterglow of the light blade cracked a spider‑web fissure. The four demon king law‑forms simultaneously retreated three hundred zhang, carving smoky ravines into the scorched earth.

"Form the Ten‑Thousand Demon Slaying Immortal Array!" the green lion king's fangs spurted pure blood, and the four native demon fires converged in the air into a blood‑colored wheel.

The other three kings immediately bit their tongues, using their primordial blood to drive the wheel into rapid rotation.

The celestial and terrestrial spiritual Qi surged back wildly; at the wheel's center an ancient demon‑god silhouette gradually emerged, colliding with a destructive beam infused with Chaos and a golden light blade in a thunderous clash.

The shockwave sliced the mountains a hundred li away at their waists, vaporizing the low‑rank demons before they could even scream. When the smoke cleared, the hundred‑thousand Long Forest formation remained perfectly ordered, while the scorched earth beneath the four great demon kings had become a bottomless chasm.

The ground trembled suddenly, a thunder‑storm roar tearing the sky, and ripples of energy swept across ten thousand li of territory.

When the smoke cleared, the four demon lords still stood atop the clouds, their dark robes untouched by dust, yet they could no longer maintain a transcendent bearing; offended fury churned in their four demon eyes.

The hundred‑thousand black‑armored torrent ignored the superiors' pressure, their war boots striking the ground in a steady, unhesitating rhythm.

When the third battle roar echoed through the clouds, the metallic forest of bronze halberds glowed with a blood‑colored halo, and the murderous aura condensed above the formation into a gluttonous phantom.

"Just a swarm of ants!" the golden‑winged great roc let out a fierce cry, slicing the sky; the hurricane raised by its wings, however, shattered before that blood‑stained totem.

In that instant, Sui Huang witnessed myth being rewritten before his eyes; the Human Race warriors, not yet shed of mortal flesh, managed to use the formation's power to withstand the raging strike of a primordial might.

Zhou Yi's sword traced sparks of starlight on the green stone: "The essence of the Profound Heaven formation lies in resonance; You Chao has already grasped thirty percent of its true meaning."

He swept his gaze over the three clan heads showing remorse; a sudden dragon roar from the far side of the battlefield cut off the command, and the four demon lords revealed their true forms, yet they could not breach the blood‑colored barrier.

You Chao rubbed the bronze tiger talisman at his waist: "If we train for three more years..." before the words finished, nine‑colored radiant light blossomed in the center of the battlefield.

The Long Forest formation suddenly shifted, and the hundred‑thousand streams of blood Qi converged at the formation's eye into a red arch, piercing straight into the deep demon‑cloud vortex of the heavens.

"They actually refined the array in real combat," the Zi Yi Clan member exclaimed, voice lost.

At this moment the battlefield resembled a massive furnace, each spark where weapons clashed forging a brand‑new war spirit for the Human Race.