Chapter 962: Forging Confidence in the Flames

The fighting raged on continuously through the dark night as the ashen crater of the Blood Forge Valley was transformed into a horrific meat grinder. Both sides were suffering losses in the brutal close quarters exchanges but it was quickly becoming apparent that the enemy was bleeding out much faster even with their greater numbers.

The dark armored warriors had rushed into the canyon believing they held the advantage of surprise and numbers, yet they had crashed headfirst into the prepared and unyielding bulwark of some of the best physical factions in the realms.

High above the chaotic swarm of the disciples, the elders of the allied forces were unleashing grand and apocalyptic techniques that were decisively winning their respective areas of the battlefield. The elder monks of the Vajra Peaks manifested towering golden avatars that possessed a hundred arms and every time those massive palms slammed into the canyon walls, dozens of enemy combatants were crushed into paste.

Simultaneously, the elders of the Piercing Heavens Pavilion summoned endless storms of silver spear light that rained down like localized hurricanes and swept through the enemy ranks, leaving nothing but severed limbs in their wake.

Several of the elders were also on the ground controlling the arrays while also watching the battlefield. They would take action as they saw allies get into trouble to save them and bring them back in. The elders knew that they were mostly trying to survive and to keep the number of deaths on their side down.

While the elders controlled the skies, Zhan Chen was doing a tremendous amount of work across the crater floor. He was proving exactly why he held the title of heir and possessed the overwhelming cultivation of a Sovereign. He did not bother with intricate weapons or defensive barriers.

He was destroying everything around him and taking on a massive number of people at once as he waded through the thickest parts of the enemy formations. Every time his fists connected with a warrior, the force and blood vitality behind his strikes reduced the ambushers into fine crimson mist or chunks of ruined flesh.

Zhan Chen was incredibly powerful but he was also really smart. He didn’t push too far and did his best to help those around him. He wasn’t fighting for his own glory and was measured in everything that he did. He was showing that he was a capable leader that saw the bigger picture. Zhan Chen was an unstoppable force of nature that quickly became feared and his presence alone boosted the morale of every Zhan Clan disciple and everyone else fighting in his vicinity.

Amidst the roaring chaos, Zhan Ling was holding her own against a squad of attackers but the volume of the enemy forces meant the battlefield was entirely unpredictable. As she drove her mace through the chest of a dark warrior, an enemy elder utilizing a shadowy stealth technique abruptly emerged from the ash right in her blind spot. The elder raised a poison-laced dagger and lunged forward to ambush her while she was overextended.

She did not have the time to pull her weapon free or shift her weight to block the lethal blow but she was suddenly saved as Silent Bastion tore through the air with a deafening whistle.

Li Yu had been monitoring the flow of the battlefield from his stationary position and he sent the massive rusted slab flying upward to intercept the strike when he noticed the hidden elder sneaking up on her. Silent Bastion slammed into the ground right next to Zhan Ling and acted as an immovable iron wall that blocked the elder's dagger. A loud clang rang out as the poison blade bounced harmlessly off the indestructible metal.

Seeing the elder stumble backward from the harsh recoil, Li Yu quickly redirected most of his attention back to his main physical body. He had been relying on his swords to do the heavy lifting from afar but he recognized an opportunity to strike and his other swords were too far away. His body exploded forward from his defensive position behind the arrays, crossing the chaotic distance in a fraction of a second with his staff tightly gripped in his hands.

He closed the distance instantly and swung Star Crusher with terrifying momentum as he smashed the heavy weapon directly toward the elder who was attacking his cousin. The sudden and explosive physical assault forced the elder to abandon his secondary attack on Zhan Ling and urgently raise his arms to block the crushing weight of the staff.

The enemy elder gritted his teeth as his defensive Qi flared to catch the staff but his focus on Li Yu's physical strike was a fatal mistake. As the elder poured his energy into blocking the frontal assault, Pale Extinction shot in from the side like a silent phantom and impaled the man straight through his ribcage. The white bone sword easily bypassed the strained defensive Qi, ending the elder's life in a single coordinated heartbeat.

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Li Yu exhaled a hot breath and felt a surge of thrill in this chaotic battlefield. All of the techniques and principles that he had been working on were paying off. He had gotten more and more used to fighting with his mind split over the course of the battle. Executing that seamless combination between his physical body and his flying swords built his confidence tremendously.

He pulled Star Crusher back and continued off without a word. He needed to quickly return to his defensive vantage point to manage the rest of the battlefield and there was no time to waste. Li Yu inadvertently left Silent Bastion and Pale Extinction floating idly in the air for a few seconds as he returned. It showed that he still wasn't perfectly capable of keeping everything moving at the exact same time.

A moment later, his focus snapped back to the idle weapons. Silent Bastion abruptly moved to block another stray attack meant for someone else in the Zhan Clan formation while Pale Extinction then moved in tandem with Silent Bastion to dart around the edge and brutally kill the person attacking them.

Li Yu retreated to his spot and found himself surrounded by a fresh wave of dark warriors. Rather than dedicating his mental energy to weaving and dodging every single attack, he simply allowed minor strikes to hit him. He took several heavy saber slashes and Qi blasts directly to his chest, showing the incredible effectiveness of the outer armor Zhan Tian had given him.

He judged the trajectory and raw power of the incoming attacks so he only dodged the truly lethal strikes. Using his premium armor to endure the lesser attacks allowed him to keep attacking more instead of having to dodge or deflect everything.

He was also able to adopt this aggressive style because he did not have to worry about the truly dangerous experts slipping through the cracks. The two Core Wardens positioned themselves flawlessly around him and were helping to hold off the stronger opponents.

They actively fought off the much stronger people who were trying to get around Li Yu's perimeter. The wardens unleashed their techniques and created oppressive zones that crushed advancing enemies. They would intercept anyone trying to sneak up on him as well as supporting those around them.

Li Yu caused a staggering amount of damage across the crater for someone of his cultivation level. One of the masked leaders of the ambush group finally decided to target him directly as the damage was simply too much. The leader radiated a powerful and suffocating aura as he dove through the air with a massive crimson halberd aimed straight for Li Yu's head. Li Yu did not panic and Silent Bastion flew back to slam into the earth directly in the halberd's path. The leader's attack crashed into the rusted slab but it was perfectly blocked.

The frustrated leader landed heavily on the ash and began unleashing a rapid flurry of sweeping strikes. Li Yu smoothly danced around Silent Bastion to dodge the relentless attacks. He noted to himself how great it was to have such a sturdy weapon to rely on. The leader overcommitted to a heavy thrust that scraped violently against the rusted iron and Li Yu concentrated his mental energy and used his soul attack.

The invisible soul attack from his Koi Soul shot out and slammed directly into the leader's consciousness. It was able to overpower the high level leader and successfully stunned him for a crucial fraction of a second. The man's eyes rolled back and his grip on the crimson halberd loosened as Firmament's End tore down from the sky and took off the leader's right arm at the shoulder in a spray of blood.

The leader snapped out of his stun with a horrific scream as he looked at the hovering sword with wide eyes. He was stunned that a mere flying sword possessed the sharpness to effortlessly cut his dense defensive Qi like that. He launched a powerful and desperate attack at Li Yu by manifesting a wave of crimson energy directly at him. Li Yu once again stepped backward and hid behind his huge rusted sword.

"Is that the best you can muster?" Li Yu mocked loudly from behind the sword to enrage the elder further. The leader's face twisted into a mask of fury and he blindly charged forward to bypass the sword and finally take this kid down. He abandoned his defensive posture and situational awareness in his desperation to end things quickly.

The two Core Wardens were finally free to engage the enraged leader by this time. Haelan and Jhyra materialized from the shadows on either side of him as the one armed commander charged past Silent Bastion.

They used their own soul attacks as a devastating joint strike. The combined soul pressure slammed into the leader's fractured consciousness and instantly paralyzed him mid stride. Haelan and Jhyra then hit him with their palms simultaneously and finished him off.

Jhyra smoothly reached down to take the storage ring from the dead man as he fell backwards. Taking the storage ring was a completely commonplace action that happened everywhere across the battlefield with everyone fighting.

The general rule of a large organized battle like this was simply to take the ring if you safely could. There was a general understanding among the allied forces that everything would be collected and divided up fairly at the very end. Therefore there was absolutely no point in a disciple risking their life to hunt for extra kills or take a specific ring. Survival, following orders and holding the line were paramount.