Chapter 57: Liu Qiyue
“Everyone is to enter Blazing Sun Castle,” urged the dean. Everyone in Blazing Sun Dao Academy rushed towards Blazing Sun Castle.
Blazing Sun Castle was a huge fortress in Blazing Sun Dao Academy—it was where the disciples usually lived.
“Everyone below the Marrow Cleansing realm, enter the tunnels.”
“Quick, quick, quick.”
Inside Blazing Sun Castle, a large number of disciples from the Dao Academy were split into dozens of teams and quickly ran into the tunnels.
The construction of Blazing Sun Castle employed the best ideas gleaned from the construction of forts in the countryside, and it was much more extravagant. The Imperial Court spent a lot of money to hire high-level craftsmen to design and build it.
Thousands of Dao Academy disciples entered the tunnels.
Dong! Dong! Dong!
Every tunnel began locking down with their various traps and mechanisms.
Deactivating the traps and mechanisms could only be done from the inside. It was impossible to do so from the outside. Even if demons were to charge in, it would still take some time for them to breach the defenses.
“Prepare the ballistae!” Large ballistae were situated at Blazing Sun Castle’s windows.
One by one, the Dao Academy disciples began to turn the capstan and pinned the bolts down. These Marrow Cleansing realm disciples could exert strength greater than 500 kilograms; yet, they had to use all their strength to turn the capstan. Every single bolt was like a long spear. Walls would crumble under their impact.
“Fire!” a soldier ordered.
The soldiers in charge of launching the ballistae were all experienced soldiers or veteran soldiers who had experience in using ballistae during their military service. As for the disciples in the Marrow Cleansing realm, they were mainly doing manual labor, such as rotating the capstan and delivering ammunition.
With the issued command, large bolts shot out one after another. Any ordinary lesser or greater demon that was. .h.i.t would have a hole through their bodies.
However, the demons were also dodging frantically. They crossed Blazing Sun Dao Academy’s walls and charged towards the distant Blazing Sun Castle.
“Breach the Blazing Sun Castle.” A two-stories tall ox demon held a trident. It wasn’t eye-catching in the demon army, but it was the strongest. It was the commander of this demon army, Commander Ox.
With Commander Ox’s command, all the lieutenant commanders immediately led the charge as a large number of demons poured towards Blazing Sun Castle.
Swoosh.
An arrow beam streaked across the sky, faster than the ballistae bolts. A demon lieutenant commander tried his best to dodge but still had an arm shot off.
“Eh?” There were only ten lieutenant commanders in this army. Although the power of those ballistae was tremendous, the bolts themselves were extremely large. They were like spears, and their speed wasn’t too exaggerated. At the very least, lieutenant commanders could easily dodge them.
However, the power of this arrow was no less than the ballistae. Its speed was ten times faster, and in an instant, it appeared right in front of them. The lieutenant commanders found it hard to dodge.
“Human sharpshooter.”
“Be careful.” The demon lieutenant commanders noticed the threat.
The person who shot the arrow was none other than Blazing Sun Dao Academy’s dean, Zhong Qianhe. He was the only Seamless realm sharpshooter in Eastcalm Prefecture that had grasped Force.
“Humph.” Commander Ox snorted coldly and charged forward.
“Fire!” Dean Zhong immediately bombarded Commander Ox with arrows and directed thirty percent of the ballistae bolts to be shot at him.
Bam! Bam! Bam! Bam! Commander Ox held his trident with both hands as he brandished it to block the arrows, but it was exhausting. At the same level, the relentless attacks of a sharpshooter were terrifying! Dean Zhong’s barrage of arrows was enough to match Meng Chuan’s close-range saber art. As a result, Commander Ox could only try his best to protect himself.
…
With the sharpshooter—Dean Zhong—restraining the commander, Blazing Sun Castle was able to withstand the demon army’s crazy attack.
However, very quickly, everyone’s expression changed.
“More demons!”
“Another demon army!”
Atop Blazing Sun Castle, they could see a dense horde of demons charging towards them from afar. Clearly, it was another demon army.
With the arrival of a new demon army, the demons’ morale was greatly boosted! After all, they had fallen into a stalemate. They had lost many demons.
“Poison Wyrm, quickly help me. Help me kill that sharpshooter,” Commander Ox roared.
“It looks like an ox demon like you still needs my help?” Commander Wyrm moved extremely quickly. He took on a humanoid form. His body was covered with green dragon scales. He had sharp claws and strong legs! He also had a dragon tail.
He was extremely fast as he headed straight for Commander Ox.
“We’re doomed.” When Dean Zhong saw this, his expression changed. It was already impressive that he could barely pin down a commander. But if two demon commanders worked together? And a group of demon lieutenant commanders? Once these demons were to ascend Blazing Sun Castle, the human casualties would be horrific.
“Hold them back.”
“Stall for time.”
“As long as the G.o.dfiends win, we can win.” The soldiers were roaring angrily. They continued to shoot the ballistae with livid expressions. At the same time, they urged the frantic Dao Academy disciples, “Quickly turn the capstan. Don’t just stare blankly.”
As a sharpshooter, Liu Qiyue was together with 12 other sharpshooters.
These 12 archers were either soldiers or veterans who had returned from military service. Most of them were at the Seamless realm. Liu Qiyue was the only Dao Academy disciple. She was at the late-stage Mortal Shedding realm and had comprehended the secret technique. Thus, she was put in their squad.
Whoos.h.!.+ Whoos.h.!.+ Whoos.h.!.+ Liu Qiyue and the 12 sharpshooters were the trump cards. Their arrows were extremely fast and posed a huge threat to the greater demons.
Usually, three sharpshooters needed to work together to kill a greater demon. In the blink of an eye, more than fifty greater demons had died at their hands.
However, their arrows posed little threat to the demon lieutenant commanders, much less the two commanders.
Not good. Liu Qiyue was anxious.
The demon numbers had doubled.
Previously, they were in a stalemate, but now, they were completely overwhelmed. Under the two commanders’ leaders.h.i.+p, a large group of demon lieutenant commanders roared angrily as a dense horde of demons charged.
I can’t hold them off any longer. I can’t hold them off any longer. Liu Qiyue shot out arrows crazily. She even attempted to shoot at the demon lieutenant commanders. The weakest among them could release demonic aura. Some had even condensed their demon cores. They easily blocked her arrows.
Liu Qiyue was in despair as the demons got closer and closer to Blazing Sun Castle.
Why are there two armies here? Dean Zhong felt despair as well. His arrows were blocked by Commanders Ox and Wyrm. They continued advancing.
In fact, there were only 18 demon commanders in this invasion. Some had gone to slaughter humans; others attacked the G.o.dfiend family clans. The rest attacked the imperial government’s office. Although the eight Dao Academies were important, most of them were attacked by one demon army. Only three Dao Academies were each attacked by two demon armies. Blazing Sun Dao Academy was one of them.
No. Liu Qiyue’s eyes turned red as she watched the demons approach.
Whoosh.
Flames began to rise in her eyes, literally. Flame-like wisps of Quintessential Energy erupted from her hands. The flaming Quintessential Energy fused with her arrow.
Swish. An arrow shot out. A flaming streak moved at unbelievable speeds.
Boom!
The flames tore through a greater demon and penetrated two greater demons and three lesser demons behind it. After the demons were struck, the flames continued burning until they were reduced to ashes.
That one arrow led to a fiery death. All six demons were reduced to ashes. Many demons noticed this scene, and the two demon commanders noticed it as well.
“A human with a phoenix bloodline?” Commander Wyrm was alarmed.
“Phoenix Divine Body?” Commander Ox glanced at the distant sharpshooter. It was a young girl whose eyes seemed to be burning with flames.
Qiyue has a Phoenix Divine Body bloodline? Dean Zhong was shocked as well.
There were many types of G.o.dfiend bodies for humans. Some G.o.dfiend bodies could be slowly cultivated, while others were very special. They couldn’t be obtained through cultivation. For example, the Phoenix Divine Body was a very special type of G.o.dfiend body. It was pa.s.sed down by blood.
The demon commanders all had bloodlines of pinnacle demon monarchs. However, Liu Qiyue’s Phoenix Divine Body bloodline was even stronger than theirs.
“Qiyue, quick. Work with me to deal with the two demon commanders. Stop them,” Dean Zhong immediately ordered.
“Yes.” Liu Qiyue felt her body heat up as well. A powerful might arose in her body, causing her Quintessential Energy to undergo a qualitative change. With flaming eyes, she shot at the two demon commanders without hesitation.
Swoosh.
Her arrow was like a flaming stream of light. It was in no way inferior to Dean Zhong’s arrow. Dean Zhong also fired arrows at full strength.
Under the barrage of arrows, Commanders Ox and Wyrm could only block.
“Poison Wyrm, our chance is here.” Commander Ox turned rather excited as he sent a voice transmission. “A human with a Phoenix Divine Body bloodline has actually appeared. As long as we capture her alive, we will gain more credit than destroying a handful of Dao Academies.”
“Hehehe, this human girl is still young. Her Phoenix Divine Body bloodline is also very weak. As long as we breach this castle, we can easily capture her alive.” Commander Wyrm was filled with antic.i.p.ation as well.