Chapter 760: Banner Momentum

When the Fifth Division charged against the tens of thousands of Fiend Devils in the forest, they moved in squads of three, like several hundred sharp blades stabbing straight into the vast Fiend Devil horde, and the terrifying impact instantly tore open a gap in the Fiend Devils' formation.

Streams of majestic phase force surged skyward like wolf smoke of different colors. Facing the charging main force, the tens of thousands of Fiend Devils showed no emotion, but instinctively surged forward to meet them. Then the two torrents collided, and the booming of phase force impacts rang out continuously,

the ground itself trembling.

Li Luo charged at the very front with Zhao Zhao Yanzhi and the other two, gripping the Jin Yu Xuanxiang Blade in his hand, lightning seeming to flicker beneath his feet, and in the next instant his figure appeared before a Fiend Devil.

The ancient, unadorned straight blade in his hand let out a hum as dual-phase power formed a dual-phase halo on the blade, and then the blade light directly clashed head-on with the Fiend Devil's fist, which carried violent energy.

The instant the two made contact, the Fiend Devil's fist was split apart on the spot. Before it could recover, that fierce slash of blade light shredded its entire body to pieces.

As the Fiend Devil shattered, a wisp of Earth Fiend energy flew out, seemingly rising into the air. And in this first exchange, Li Luo had already gauged this Fiend Devil's strength—it was roughly at the Lesser Fiend Palace realm, about the same as an ordinary banner member, but since it had no intelligence, it was just a bundle of brute force, that's

all.

Of course, there was also the advantage of numbers.

The number of Fiend Devils on this twenty-eighth layer was nearly ten times theirs, and under such circumstances, wanting to sweep them clean as quickly as possible was quite a grueling task. "Banner Head, these are all just Lesser Fiend Devils. There will definitely be Greater Fiend Devils appearing soon, and those Greater Fiend Devils have strength comparable to the Silver Fiend Body realm. When the time comes, we must contain them quickly, otherwise they'll pose an enormous threat to the other banner members and cause

casualties." As Li Luo was gauging the Fiend Devil's strength, Mu Bi's loud voice rang over from not far away.

"Greater Fiend Devils? Silver Fiend Body?"

Li Luo heard this, his gaze flickering. The leap in strength between these two was really that enormous?

The fierce battle continued, bursts of phase force erupting one after another.

Although the Fiend Devils had the advantage of numbers, under the Fifth Division banner members' practiced coordination, their numbers were dwindling at a startling pace, while by contrast, the Fifth Division's losses amounted to only a dozen or so.

However, this situation did not last long.

Boom!

In the midst of the fierce battlefield, over a dozen astonishing bursts of energy suddenly erupted, the shockwaves from the energy sending dozens of nearby banner members flying.

Li Luo looked over and saw a group of Fiend Devils with even larger builds appear, their bodies tinged with a faint silver color, powerful energy coursing over their entire frames.

Clearly, these were the Greater Fiend Devils Mu Bi had warned about earlier. "Banner members at the Greater Fiend Palace realm, groups of ten, surround and kill the Greater Fiend Devils! The rest of you continue clearing out the Lesser Fiend Devils!" Zhao Zhao Yanzhi's clear, commanding cry rang out. Li Luo was, after all, new here and unfamiliar with everything, so for now the issuing of orders was still left to these veterans, and this had Li Luo's prior approval.

to obey the order, and this had also obtained Li Luo's permission earlier.

As Zhao Zhao Yanzhi's command fell, numerous figures with powerful phase force immediately darted out from the Fifth Division banner members. These were all elites of the Fifth Division, their strength having reached the Greater Fiend Palace realm. They formed groups of ten to surround and kill these Greater Fiend Devils.

However, there was still risk involved. After all, the Greater Fiend Devils possessed Silver Fiend Body strength. Although they could hold their own through sheer numbers in a coordinated encirclement, a single misstep would result in severe injury and being eliminated.

Therefore, with the appearance of these Greater Fiend Devils, in just a few short minutes the rate of attrition on the Fifth Division's side had quickened somewhat.

Moreover, Li Luo also noticed that in the distance, more and more burly Greater Fiend Devil figures were rapidly rushing over.

Clearly, the commotion here had already drawn the attention of Fiend Devils across the entire twenty-eighth layer. Zhao Zhao Yanzhi, Li Shi, and Mu Bi each took action alone, each engaging a Greater Fiend Devil. And among the three, Li Shi was clearly the strongest—a golden spear erupting with extremely fierce and powerful attacks, each strike piercing through the Greater Fiend Devil's body, steadily whittling down its strength.

piercing through the body of that Great Sha Demon, continuously weakening its power.

Mu Bi leaned toward defense; no matter how ferociously the Greater Fiend Devil attacked, he could not be driven back.

The situation, however, suddenly became somewhat stalemated.

This also caused Li Luo to rein in his earlier ease somewhat. Pushing through the Fiend Devil Cave seemed to be more difficult than he had imagined.

And this was only the first day's advance. If it was already this grueling today, the next two days would likely be even more grueling.

As for the "Combined Qi" technique, it clearly couldn't be used here—that was reserved for dealing with the Fiend Devil Leader later. After all, although "Combined Qi" was powerful, it couldn't be sustained for too long, and using it would also result in a state of exhaustion.

Boom boom! Just as Li Luo's thoughts were turning, the rumbling of phase force rang out again not far away. Two burly Greater Fiend Devils were seen charging over, the violent Earth Fiend energy forming something like a storm around them, and any

banner members sent flying by the impact all coughed up blood as they retreated.

At this moment, Zhao Zhao Yanzhi and the other banner member elites were all unable to spare attention, so for the time being these two Greater Fiend Devils rampaged unchecked, no one able to stop them.

Seeing this, Li Luo tightened his grip on the Jin Yu Xuanxiang Blade and went straight forward to meet them head-on.

"Banner Head, don't act rashly!" Li Shi, seeing this, hurriedly called out a warning.

Zhao Zhao Yanzhi and Mu Bi were also startled. Even they could only face one Greater Fiend Devil at a time, yet Li Luo was now going to take on two alone?

Although Li Luo had previously displayed the ability to wound a Silver Fiend Body on the training field, that was under the condition of unleashing a Marquis-rank Art with everything he had.

But right now, facing two Greater Fiend Devils, once Li Luo exhausted himself, a lethal attack from another Greater Fiend Devil would surely follow.

But by now they had no time to lend aid, because the moment lightning flickered beneath Li Luo's feet, his figure had already appeared before the fastest of the Greater Fiend Devils.

Roar!

The Greater Fiend Devil, with its blurred features and body like an iron tower, let out a beast-like roar, the sound waves seemingly shredding even the air, as it lunged straight at Li Luo.

In Li Luo's pupils, the Greater Fiend Devil's figure rapidly swelled, but his face showed not the slightest hint of fear. Instead, his five fingers tightened around the hilt.

Boom!

The Greater Fiend Devil roared as it swung its massive fist, surging Earth Fiend energy flowing over the fist, forming what seemed like iron armor covering it. As that fist slammed down, the ground was torn open with a crack.

It even produced a sonic boom.

Li Luo's expression was impassive. Gripping the hilt tightly, he directly swung his blade to meet it, a dual-phase halo formed from dual-phase power appearing on the blade.

But the expressions of Zhao Zhao Yanzhi and the others changed at this moment.

Because they realized that Li Luo had not employed that Marquis-rank Art of his!

And without a Marquis-rank Art, how could a mere Lesser Fiend Palace realm cultivator dare to clash head-on with a Greater Fiend Devil?!

But at this point, there was nothing they could do. They could only watch helplessly as Li Luo's blade edge, flowing with dual-phase power, collided with the Greater Fiend Devil's massive fist.

Hiss!

At the instant of collision, two astonishing streams of energy clashed, and the ground in that area instantly cracked apart like a spiderweb.

Li Luo's and the Greater Fiend Devil's figures nearly crossed past each other.

But what made Zhao Zhao Yanzhi and the others' pupils suddenly widen was that they discovered Li Luo had not been sent flying by the Greater Fiend Devil's punch. On the contrary, as the blade light swept past, one of the Greater Fiend Devil's thick arms was sent flying clean off its body.

"What?!"

All three were utterly dumbfounded.

How could Li Luo, with only Lesser Fiend Palace realm strength, have instead chopped off one of the Greater Fiend Devil's arms in this head-on clash?! Zhao Zhao Yanzhi's gaze flickered, and then she stared intently at Li Luo. Only at this moment did she notice that, along with the flow of blade light from Li Luo's blade, an inexplicable power was flowing into this area, empowering the blade.

She sensed faintly and discovered that this inexplicable power actually came from... them?

No, it came from the fifteen hundred banner troops of the Fifth Division.

"This is..."

Zhao Zhao Yanzhi exchanged a glance with Li Shi and Mu Bi, and all three saw the shock in each other's eyes.

"Banner Momentum!"

The so-called Banner Momentum, simply put, was a domain of aura belonging to a single banner or an entire division, and those within it could draw upon its augmentation.

It could also be considered a form of "combined Qi" power, except that true "combined Qi" would erupt with far more terrifying force, but also for a far shorter duration.

However, the power of "Banner Momentum" lacked that kind of astonishing burst, yet it was a sustained augmentation—as long as one remained within the banner troops' range, one could channel this force for one's own use.

That blade Li Luo had just delivered had been augmented by the power of "Banner Momentum."

In other words, beneath that blade lay the aura of the Fifth Division as well, which was why its might had risen.

But what shocked Zhao Zhao Yanzhi and the other two was that, looking across all twenty banners with their hundred divisions within, that meant a hundred banner leaders... yet among those hundred, those who could master "Banner Momentum" numbered fewer than a fifth.

How long had Li Luo been a banner leader? Only a few short days, yet he had accomplished what other banner leaders could not achieve in an entire year.

So the three of them found this especially inconceivable.

But no matter how hard it was to believe, the fact was right before their eyes, so in the end they exchanged a glance and could only reveal complicated expressions.

What could they even say? They could only say that people really did seem to be rather different from one another.

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