Chapter 642

The Wei army camp was in great turmoil.

The Xiang family's death‑defying unit, the main force, dressed like iron towers, howled and roared as they fell from the sky, slamming heavily into the chaotic camp.

The rioting soldiers surged like a tide, while the Xiang youths stood like a mid‑stream rock, holding back the tide and, intentionally or not, guiding them to charge toward the neighboring Wu army camp.

Moreover, countless metal sprites and fire sprites darted through the camp, felling one commander and officer after another, making the chaotic situation even more confused, like a pot of porridge. Also, huge numbers of terrifying, ferocious‑looking divine warriors howled and long‑whaled, frightening the rioting soldiers to flee even faster.

From afar came the hoarse, exhausted shouts of the Wu patrol soldiers: "No charging the camp! No charging the camp…… Archers, archers, ready!"

Before the words finished, Wu? and others had already seized Xiahou Ben and other commanders, mingling with the rioting soldiers and running to the gate of their own camp. Wu?'s personal guard commander raised high the token in Wu?'s hand: "The king returns to camp—quickly open the barracks!"

The token flashed, and the faces of Wu? and the other high‑ranking Wu commanders became clearly visible in the varied firelight.

The gate of the Wu camp opened, and the great defensive formation immediately showed a huge gap. In the void, strands of fire light flickered; inside the Wu camp, at the spot nearest the gate, a row of bonfires used for lighting suddenly exploded.

Tens of thousands of fire sprites, taking advantage of the instant the gate opened, moved directly through those bonfires into the camp.

The wind rose, the firelight roiled, and fire dragons spewed out tens of li in an instant, igniting every barracks along the way. A flash of the rings in the fire sprites' hands sent huge crowds of coiled divine warriors flying out of the rings.

The rings worn by these fire sprites are small, holding at most three or five divine warriors each.

But when tens of thousands of fire sprites released their divine warriors at once, in the blink of an eye there were over two hundred thousand of them, their bodies a matte, sand‑finished dull black, invisible in the night save for the bloody gloom light spitting from their eyes, illuminating their skull‑like heads; they stood in the camp like demons from hell.

These divine warriors first shifted the heavy armor on their chents and shoulders, then countless chaotic fire‑bolts howled upward, raining down on the barracks where formation lights flickered.

Violent explosions sounded from all directions.

Formation hubs everywhere were shattered by internal attacks, and large numbers of Wu officers and soldiers bellowed as they burst from the barracks, running and screaming like headless flies.

Above the vast Wu army camp, the thin light curtain vanished.

Eighteen Four‑Spirit warships, leading a massive black‑pressed fleet, swooped down from high altitude, and huge columns of light slammed heavily onto the anchorage where the Wu fleet was moored.

Warship after warship exploded, huge planks blasted sky‑high, appearing in the firelight like gigantic birds laboriously flapping through the air.

The earth rumbled, the ground of the Wu camp suddenly split, and stone arms hundreds of zhang long stretched out from below, then slammed down heavily, overturning countless nearby soldiers.

On a Four‑Spirit warship, Mo Zhangwang stood atop the tall mast, constantly swallowing great qi‑blood replenishing elixirs. His skin turned all colors of the rainbow, as if a mischievous child had smeared it with a paintbrush; beneath the skin, countless strange ring‑shaped runes continually surfaced, accompanied by visible streams of thick poison gas constantly spewing out.

The poison gas spread rapidly with the wind; under Mo Zhangwang's full effort, its diffusion speed exceeded normal by over a hundredfold, and wherever that Four‑Spirit warship passed, vast swaths of officers and soldiers collapsed silently to the ground.

Only those commanders at the Tai‑cang realm had spiritual light flickering on their bodies, and with the aid of defensive secret treasures they barely resisted Mo Zhangwang's poison gas.

Below the Tai‑cang realm, Mo Zhangwang's poison gas felled anyone on contact.

The Wu army was indeed far more elite than the Wei army; despite this sudden assault, many commanders still gathered troops, forming hundred‑ and thousand‑person formations that marched in groups toward the clashing metal, fire, and earth sprites everywhere.

On the warships floating high above, a volley of simultaneous fire destroyed almost all of the Wu warships, after which huge numbers of low‑caliber conscripts appeared.

Lu Ji leapt and capered on the deck, shouting wildly while brandishing a long, slender, elegant spear‑barrel.

Brought to the surface world by the Yin‑Yang Daoist from underground, Lu Ji, who loved forging and design, spent almost all his time mixed in the Ancient Arms Bureau; his inspiration perfectly complemented the data stored in the Great Iron Brain.

These Ganxuan realm soldiers originally had no qualification to go to the battlefield; they had just cultivated a trace of insignificant mana, unable even to form a formation, and upon entering the field they became sacrificial victims to be slaughtered by the formations.

But now these conscripts all hold in their hands spears identical to the one Lu Ji holds.

Fine runes on the spear glittered, and each pointed bullet, flashing with a faint crystal light, shot forth with a terrifying tearing‑through‑the‑air howl.

These pointed bullets fly faster than the arrows shot by ordinary early Mingchi realm wood‑sprite archers, and require no archery skill; as long as the reticle locks onto the target, within range the ammunition's accuracy is nine out of ten.

Pointed bullets engraved with various auxiliary runes fly extremely fast, instantly crossing several li of space to slam heavily into the bodies of the Wu soldiers who had formed formations.

When the pointed bullets explode, bursts of strong current jet from the warhead; the destructive power of these currents is roughly equivalent to the thunder spell cast by a high‑level cultivator of the Chonglou Realm.

The Wu soldiers struck by them convulsed violently, many spasming all over and involuntarily falling from the air, being forcibly torn from the formation.

Some Wu commanders noticed this strange attack, they screamed hoarsely, and the formations instantly switched from offense to defense, as layer upon layer of heavy killing‑qi barriers sprang up around them to block any possible assault.

Hovering above the Wu camp, there were at least twenty thousand warships of various sizes.

The decks of these warships were packed with conscripts; their numbers were huge, and although they lacked the qualification to go into battle, at this moment they didn't need to.

All they needed was to take the spears produced on the Ancient Arms Bureau's assembly line and lightly pull the trigger to unleash a storm‑like barrage.

No cultivation, no combat experience required—only obedience to orders, mechanical loading of new ammunition, and mechanical trigger‑pulling upon command; this alone could produce a tempest‑like assault, even a hundred times more violent than the wood‑sprite arrow barrage.

Dense ammunition kept falling from the sky like rain, striking the killing‑qi barriers and instantly bursting forth with sheets of electric light.

One after another, small formations were quickly drained of mana under the concentrated fire; countless Wu soldiers jerked about, bathed in blinding electric light, howling 'ah‑ah‑ah' as they plummeted from the air, lying on the ground twitching, unable to rise again.

If one followed the usual pattern, a thousand‑strong elite unit of Chonglou Realm cultivators could easily slaughter hundreds of times their number of Ganxuan realm conscripts… but Wu Tie merely changed the weapons in those conscripts' hands, and the entire war situation was completely overturned.

Warships swept across the void, and vast stretches of Wu and Wei soldiers collapsed on the ground.

Xiahou Ben, Wu?, and others stared wide‑eyed, unable to believe what they saw; Xiahou Ben, forgetting he was being held by Wu?, jumped and shouted hoarsely: "What weapon is this? What magic implement? How could they possibly equip troops en masse…… those ant‑like low‑rank conscripts…… how could they……"

Wu? stared wide‑eyed, his face twisted as he looked at the conscripts madly pouring fire from high above.

The Wu cultivate‑as‑the‑wind, low‑rank cultivators among the populace far outnumber the combined totals of the Qingqiu Divine State and the Wei Divine State.

If Wu could obtain the designs for these spears……

Wu? stamped his foot in frustration: "Damn it, even with Wu's divine state manufacturing craft, having the drawings doesn't guarantee we can produce qualified arms…… Well, best to find a way to kidnap the artisans who make these terrible weapons."

However, Wu? also knew this would be very difficult.

Such a remarkable weapon that lets conscripts unleash great combat power on the battlefield must be a top‑secret of the Qingqiu Divine State; wanting to contact the artisans who make these weapons is difficult, extremely difficult.

"Defeated!" Wu? quickly judged the boulder: "Retreat slowly…… Damn it, we not only failed to take White Wolf River, we might even be resealed inside the Three‑Kingdoms battlefield……"

Wu? quickly gave the order: "Gather the troops, withdraw in order; whoever dares to disturb the formation will be killed without pardon…… Ancestor of Thunderous Fury, where should we retreat to?"

Wu?'s face twisted, he looked with difficulty at Wu Lei.

Wu Lei likewise wore a troubled look as he gazed at him.

Retreat to the Three‑Kingdoms battlefield?

That would mean the allied forces, after finally breaking a gap in the Three‑Kingdoms battlefield's defenses, would have to be blocked again by the Qingqiu Divine State; if so, the two nations' guerrilla fleets that had invaded Wolf Province and its surrounding prefectures would become water without a source, likely to collapse utterly under the endless reinforcements of the Qingqiu Divine State.

If instead of retreating to the Three‑Kingdoms battlefield they surged into Wolf Province and then pressed forward into other prefectures of Qingqiu's western territories……

Wu Lei slapped Wu? across the face: "Idiot, all heavy armaments, including the warships, have been destroyed; do you want to follow in the footsteps of Linghu Shao‑jun, be chased and beaten by those who exploit warship superiority, and end up with the whole army routed?"

Gritting his teeth, Wu Lei said in a low voice: "Retreat to the Three‑Kingdoms battlefield…… rely on the military cities built by the Qingqiu Divine State, and fight them city by city, land by land. Once our main force annihilates the Qingqiu remnants on the Three‑Kingdoms battlefield, we two nations united—could we still fail to overcome them?"

Xiahou Ben spat out a mouthful of blood, gave a bitter smile, and pointed at the sword thrust into his chest: "Ancestor of Thunderous Fury, is this how an ally ought to behave?"

Far away, a raging gust carried a clear, pure flute note, flying swiftly from the direction of the Three Kingdoms battlefield, and a cold voice rang out in the distance, scolding: 'Surname Wu, what's the matter? Are you bullying us, the Xiahou clan, because we have no one?'

Xiahou Ben laughed.

Wu Nulei's face twitched slightly, then he also laughed: 'Hahaha, Mr. Jade Flute, what are you saying? We merely, a misunderstanding, a misunderstanding… Hahaha, Mr. Jade Flute, stationed at Jinsha Beach, have you completely crushed the remnant forces of Qingqiu there?'

That cold voice paused, then said coldly: 'Just lacking the final push, but they are already fish in a cauldron, not worth mentioning… As for your side, how did you get into such a sorry state?'

Clad in a cyan crane-feather robe, with flowing hair, bearing the air of an immortal, his demeanor pure and refined, Xiahou Miao held a jade flute that flowed with radiant light, transforming into a stream of light that brought forth a 'whooshing' gust, rushing here with wind and lightning.

Jinsha Beach is not far from White Wolf River, and likewise it is one of the strongholds where the remnant troops and defeated generals of the Qingqiu Divine Kingdom in the Three Kingdoms battlefield make a last-ditch stand.

Jinsha Beach is a natural stronghold; leveraging the terrain, the remnant troops and defeated generals of the Qingqiu Divine Kingdom there likewise caused considerable trouble for the allied forces of the two nations.

Xiahou Miao also hailed from the royal family of Great Wei; he and Wu Nulei were originally appointed by the divine sovereigns of the two nations as powerful beings of the Divine Realm tasked with suppressing the war situation in this direction. However, their personalities clashed; after a brief discussion, Xiahou Miao stayed at Jinsha Beach to oversee the battle, while Wu Nulei ran to White Wolf River.

The commotion at White Wolf River grew so great that countless warning orders flew across the sky; Xiahou Miao received the alert and hurried over.

Xiahou Ben was indeed the direct descendant of Xiahou Miao's line, his own grandson; Xiahou Miao feared something might happen to Xiahou Ben, so he rushed over immediately, only to see——Xiahou Ben had actually been seized by Wu? and even run through the chest with a sword?

Xiahou Miao's face darkened as he prepared to give Wu? a good look upon meeting.

He had even begun to calculate how, if he were to deal Wu? a heavy blow, he could avoid Wu Nulei's interception.

His every thought was of how to take revenge on Wu?, and Xiahou Miao utterly failed to notice that, above him in a mass of dark clouds, Wu Tie and the two elders of the Xiang family, Xiang Feiyu and Xiang Feixie, Divine Realm cultivators, were hiding there stealthily.

Wu Tie delegated the command of those miscellaneous troops to his brothers Wu Jin, Wu Yin, and Wu Tong.

Having already seized such a huge advantage, making it difficult to lose, Wu Tie had no need to worry about the allied forces of the two nations turning the tide.

Wu Tie sneaked over here with the two old monsters, his sole intention being to lay a trap, to see if he could capture Wu Nulei alive.

However, Wu Nulei was hidden among the crowd, especially with Linghu Jiu standing beside him, so Wu Tie pondered for a long time but dared not act.

Linghu Jiu was clearly sold to Great Wei by Sima Wuyou, plainly a trump card meant to deal with Linghu Qingqing; if Linghu Jiu were killed, Wu Tie would not want to face Sima Wuyou's complaints.

Just as he was hesitating, Xiahou Miao came rushing over in a flustered state, and the direction of his gaze made it clear that his attention was fixed on Wu Nulei and Wu?, completely failing to notice that three people were hidden in the dark clouds above his head.

Xiahou Miao sped past right under his feet; Wu Tie raised the Divine-Smiting Whip, a flash of purple-gold light spread across the sky, a tremendous boom rang out, and the whip struck Xiahou Miao's head.

Xiahou Miao came from the royal Xiahou clan, a top-tier Divine Realm expert hidden as the clan's trump card.

However, Xiahou Miao was not the one chosen by the Xiahou royal family to wield the state's divine artifact… Although he possessed many divine weapons, the few highest-quality innate items he owned still fell far short of the level of a state divine artifact.

As the Divine-Smiting Whip fell, three layers of divine light burst forth from Xiahou Miao's body, shielding him at the center.

Three astonishingly spirited innate treasures actively protected their master, but the Divine-Smiting Whip was only a single strike; the divine light emitted by the three innate treasures shattered bit by bit, accompanied by mournful wails, and the three innate treasures simultaneously suffered damage to their origins, nearly being utterly obliterated by Wu Tie's whip.

The Divine-Smiting Whip struck Xiahou Miao's head; with a tremendous boom, blood spurted from his seven apertures, and he fell like a bird whose wing had suddenly broken, plummeting straight from the air to the ground, where he carved out a huge pit.

After all, he was a powerful Divine Realm cultivator who had condensed a divine body, far more resilient than an ordinary practitioner; Xiahou Miao's body twitched slightly as he struggled to lift his head, his pupils dilated as he looked around.

Before he could even make out what had happened, Xiang Feiyu and Xiang Feixie swooped down from the sky with a howl, frantically producing a full set of restraint devices, click-click-click, binding him tightly.

Seventy-two 'Vein-Severing Spikes' were driven deep into Xiahou Miao's vital spots, completely cutting off his bodily movement.

'Ancestor…' Xiahou Ben stared blankly, then screamed like a madman, heedless of the sword still lodged in his chest, and rushed desperately toward the spot where Xiahou Miao had fallen.

Wu Nulei gave a sudden shiver, and a faint chill rose from his heart.