Chapter 342

In Demon-Suppressing City, when the troops of the Demon-Suppressing Hall surrendered en masse, vast armies of the Demon-Suppressing Hall and Demon-Dispelling Hall were marching through the mountain ridges.

They abandoned the usual tower ships used for travel, and every soldier flew on their own magical weapons, using the cover of ravines and gullies to swiftly shuttle through the mountains.

Each allied force had a clear objective.

They hurried along, and in the hands of the commanding generals, crystal balls flickered with a full map of the surrounding billions of li of towering mountains, on which thousands of light points of various sizes constantly blinked.

Each light point represented an allied force of varying size, ranging from tens of thousands to hundreds of thousands.

Inside the crystal balls were also numerical timers; at any given hour, moment, and minute, they displayed distance markers between each light point and its destination, and more precisely showed how much time remained to reach the destination at the troops' current speed.

The commanding generals occasionally exchanged low whispers.

Thanks to the unified coordination of these crystal balls, they almost simultaneously sensed that the rendezvous point was only about three hundred li from their target. With the formidable cultivation of the elite Demon-Suppressing Hall and Demon-Dispelling Hall forces, a mere three-hundred-li distance could be covered in at most seven and a half minutes once they attacked.

Thousands of commanding generals tapped their crystal balls three times each; once all had signaled, the thousands of crystal balls simultaneously blazed with blinding light.

In the high sky, enormous golden wheels began to turn slowly.

The golden wheels' rotation speed grew ever faster.

Accompanied by a piercing shriek, millions of Solar Golden Shuttles plunged from the utmost heights of the sky, precisely striking the thousands of predetermined targets in the dark mountain ridges.

At the midsection of a mountain thirty thousand zhang tall, a modest cave mouth held hundreds of beautifully shaped jade tablets hovering silently. Fine mist threads linked the tablets to one another, veiling the entire mountainside in a thin layer of fog.

This is an exceptionally clever concealment formation; even if someone passed by at extremely close range, they would hardly notice the cave obscured by the mist.

Outside the cave mouth on the platform lay a deer-bodied old man, his features exceedingly ancient, his face covered in long, fluffy whiskers; he prostrated himself on the ground, holding a three-foot flute in his hand, gently stroking it with great affection.

Several times, the old man brought the flute to his lips, intending to play a tune.

But each time he glanced back at the cave and then dismissed the urge to blow the flute.

The old man's face bore a gentle, kindly smile as he murmured softly: 'It's almost time—either later tonight after dawn, or a bit later tomorrow night, will be the period of great starlight flourishing. Ah, I hope this passes peacefully, so those young wives may return home safely.'

'The infants tempered by starlight are different from ordinary babies born underground—truly different.'

'Twelve years ago, seven infants awakened divine talents in the womb… tsk, that's really good.'

The old man, smiling and murmuring softly, suddenly saw the high sky blaze with light. He jerked his head up, eyes wide, staring fixedly at the thousands of thin golden streaks plummeting swiftly toward the mountain.

Solar Golden Shuttles.

The Divine State of Great Jin's ultimate war weapon, a terrifyingly powerful wide-range destructive treasure.

Cold sweat burst over the old man's whole body; he trembled, trying to rise, but his shock was too great. Despite his Fetal Storage Realm cultivation, his four legs kicked repeatedly, his hooves slipping incessantly, and he could not even stand.

'Impossible!' the old man's eyeballs suddenly bloodshot, turning entirely crimson.

Each time he furtively brought the clan's young wives to bathe in starlight, the secret encampment's location had been painstakingly chosen and meticulously arranged.

Unless it was those pregnant young wives who, bathing in starlight, absorbed its essence to temper the flesh and soul of the unborn child, temporarily disabling the formation to let starlight fall freely—only then could the patrols of the Demon-Suppressing Hall and Demon-Dispelling Hall possibly discover them and draw an attack…

For all these years, nothing like this has ever happened!

The Divine State of Great Jin, astonishingly precise, launched a direct strike of Solar Golden Shuttles against the encampment where the old man's clansfolk hid.

Someone betrayed them.

Someone sold the detailed address of their secret encampment to the Divine State of Great Jin.

Otherwise… the old man had been guarding the cave entrance these past days, not a single hair of a Demon-Suppressing Hall passerby had been seen—how could thousands of Solar Golden Shuttles possibly land so precisely on the secret encampment?

'Enemy attack!' the old man finally shuddered to his feet.

'Enemy attack!' he raised his flute and emitted a sharp whistle.

Thereafter the old man shot into the sky, treading the gale, loudly blowing his flute as he flew up to meet the thousands of Solar Golden Shuttles falling from the heavens.

The old man rose into the sky; just as he reached a hundred li above the ground, the first wave of dozens of Solar Golden Shuttles exploded around him. His whole body was coated in viscous solar true fire, burning off all his hair instantly, and transparent blisters erupted on his skin as the dreadful heat penetrated his viscera.

The immense blast force kept crushing his body; he opened his mouth and spat blood, blowing his flute to send wave after wave of transparent sound pulses sweeping outward, continually detonating the Solar Golden Shuttles falling from the sky.

From the old man's height, looking around, near and far—nearby over a thousand li, distant tens of thousands of li—clusters of Solar Golden Shuttles fell like golden fine rain, continuously dropping into the mountain ridges.

In the high sky, the enormous golden wheel spun rapidly, casting forth ever more Solar Golden Shuttles.

The old man who had surged into the high sky forcibly detonated over a thousand Solar Golden Shuttles, then his entire body turned into a ball of golden flame. Despite his Fetal Storage Realm cultivation, facing the continual assault of over a thousand Solar Golden Shuttles, his very marrow was finally ignited.

The old man exploded into a sky-full of sparks.

His flute whirred as it drifted down from the air.

He bought ten breaths of time for the clansfolk hidden below in the mountain's belly.

Within the mountain's belly, dozens of Fetal Storage Realm deer-bodied elders had already rushed out, roaring loudly as each unleashed divine abilities and surged toward the sky.

Thousands of Solar Golden Shuttles fell, then thousands more, then thousands again—soon followed by tens of thousands—while yet more Solar Golden Shuttles howled down incessantly from above.

Each Fetal Storage Realm elder neither dodged nor fled; they hovered in the air, desperately withstanding the relentless barrage of Solar Golden Shuttles.

'Why? How could this be?'

Almost all the elders were engulfed in blazing flames, simultaneously bellowing in furious rage.

With such a fierce Solar Golden Shuttle assault and such pinpoint accuracy, their secret encampment must have been leaked; the Divine State of Great Jin surely knew their exact hiding place, otherwise such a terrifying strike could not have fallen.

Dozens of Fetal Storage Realm elders bought the time of a cup of tea for the clansfolk below in the mountain's belly.

Joining forces, they blocked tens of thousands of Solar Golden Shuttles, then, like the first flute-blowing elder, their marrow began to burn and their bodies burst into a sky of golden sparks that scattered apart.

In the mountain's belly, over fourteen thousand pregnant women, protected by tens of thousands of able-bodied youths, surged out, fleeing in panic in all directions, dodging the Solar Golden Shuttle attacks.

They had barely flown a short distance when the Solar Golden Shuttles struck the mountain's summit.

With a tremendous roar, dozens of Solar Golden Shuttles exploded simultaneously; the summit was instantly melted through a layer, the black rock turning into glowing red lava that rushed swiftly down the steep mountainside.

The mountain shuddered violently, and some of the women who had just escaped the cave cried out in terror.

Wave after wave of Solar Golden Shuttles kept falling; their great concealment formation was instantly shattered by solar true fire, the golden flames engulfing the pregnant women and youths who could not flee far enough, while only three or four thousand pregnant women and youths barely escaped the Shuttles' range.

A low horn call sounded from afar.

Vast numbers of elite troops from the Demon-Suppressing Hall and Demon-Dispelling Hall surged into the sky from valleys hundreds of li away, turning into streams of light that rushed toward the panicked women.

'Demons… die!' the crystal-ball-wielding commanding general roared imposingly, his face flushed with triumphant red light.

The same thing happened simultaneously at thousands of secret encampments both near and far.

The fierce assault of the Sun Gold Shuttle caused heavy losses to the Fetal Storage Realm Elders of all tribes and divisions; those who didn't die at least suffered serious injuries. With great difficulty, some pregnant women and warriors escaped from the Sun Gold Shuttle's frenzied bombardment, but they were also surrounded by the warriors of the Demon-Suppressing Hall and the Demon-Expelling Hall.

Besides the Wu family…

In this punitive campaign, the Fuxi Divine Kingdom entered the mortal world, secretly organizing its great clans and tribes—those families preparing pregnant women to bathe in starlight—nearly thirty percent of the tribes' secret encampments were precisely struck by the Great Jin Divine Kingdom, resulting in total annihilation with no survivors.

They hadn't even had time to absorb a wisp of starlight.

They didn't even make a sound, nor reveal any trace.

Their secret encampments suffered a catastrophic disaster.

There were spies.

There were traitors.

They leaked the most detailed coordinates of these tribes' secret strongholds.

Facing the sudden strike of the Great Jin Divine Kingdom, these attacked tribes couldn't escape in time, but they at least managed to transmit their plight via secret arts.

In Demon-Suppressing City, Wu Tie crossed his arms over his chest and chuckled as he looked at Xi Qi.

The chieftains of the surrounding great tribes remained silent.

The Wu family is not to be provoked; the commander-in-chief of one of the Fuxi Divine Kingdom's armies, who is also a member of the Fuxi Divine Kingdom's imperial clan, is such a prominent figure that they would not dare to offend him.

So… anyway, they had no ties with the Wu family, nor any camaraderie with Xi Qi; they were just watching the spectacle!

Never mind whether Wu Tie is wronged or whatever.

As for the claim that Xi Qi made—that Wu Tie, or rather the Wu family, leaked the locations of the tribes' secret starlight-bathing encampments—heh, the tribal chieftains took it as a joke.

Their carefully selected encampments were different each time, each meticulously chosen. Within a realm of billions of miles of towering mountains, scattering just a few ten thousand people inside is like throwing a needle tip into a vast ocean—finding them would be nothing short of miraculous.

Wu Tie spoke: "Commander Qi, you say I betrayed those tribal matriarchs… Where's the evidence?"

Xi Qi smiled, and from a thick stack of paper, carefully taking from the back of a three-foot-wide snakeskin scroll, he publicly produced a palm-sized round jade piece.

He placed the jade in his palm, weighed it for a moment, and sighed inwardly.

He lifted his gaze to the sky; it was still dark, and this time was a bit early.

According to their 'script,' those lowly slave cannon fodder would continue to be slaughtered throughout the entire next day, massive slaughter, until all the cannon-fodder tribes prepared by Xi Qi were exhausted, only then would Xi Qi's main forces mobilize, and then Luo Lin would in one strike breach Demon-Suppressing City.

Countless Demon-Suppressing Hall soldiers surrendered to Xi Qi, so the Hall would suffer few losses, while Xi Qi and Luo Lin would gain great military merit.

At this point, the encampments of thousands of large and small tribes should have already received news of their total annihilation from the surprise attack.

Just as the tribal chieftains responsible for this campaign were fuming, frenzied, and at a loss, these pieces of evidence were conveniently produced.

Wu Tie, together with the Wu family's 30,000-strong army, will surely be besieged by over a thousand tribes.

Tsk tsk, how splendid.

They are not only doomed to die, but this black pot of colluding with the Great Jin Divine Kingdom will also firmly land on the Wu family.

How splendid!

Unfortunately, that damned wretch Wu Tie allowed the army to enter the city at least a full day earlier.

However, looking at the time, it's about right.

Xi Qi exhaled, lightly tapped the jade with his finger, and instantly a vast cloud of smoke burst forth; amid the flashing spiritual light, the full topographic map of the surrounding billions of miles of mountains and hills sprayed out from the smoke.

In the enormous map, thousands of light points flickered.

Some were deep in valleys, some inside mountain interiors, some within caves—each with its own clever hiding place.

Beside each light point, a large block of text appeared.

The affiliated tribe, how many pregnant women, how many elite warriors escorting them, how many Fetal Storage Realm Elders accompanying them…

The data was detailed, the handwriting clear; even the thickness of the mountains and the depth of the caves were marked clearly. This intelligence was indeed detailed to the utmost, truly a qualified good intelligence.

The chieftains of the over-thousand tribes present stepped forward two paces each, eyes wide, faces drained of color as they gazed at the intelligence appearing on the light screen.

They quickly found their own tribe's name, then carefully examined the marked coordinates and troop information on the full topographic map; their faces instantly turned deathly pale, then rapidly shifted to a purplish-red.

"If the Demon-Suppressing Hall had the ability to discover our people's hiding places, we would accept even greater casualties!"

A dragon-headed, dragon-bodied person with a mighty aura let out a fierce roar: "But someone has betrayed our clan's secrets, putting our people on this journey in peril…… You, deserve to die!"

The dragon person's eyeballs suddenly turned blood-red, then he opened his mouth and, with a 'whoosh,' spewed a straight jet of black flame at Wu Tie.