On this day, a great event shook Long Sang Country.
Lin Zuiliu and his troops attacked Flowing Gold Fort under the cover of night, but they suffered a vicious counterattack and were utterly demolished.
The previously eighty-thousand-strong army had been almost completely wiped out. The only reason Lin Zuiliu had been able to slaughter his way out of the encirclement was because of his personal strength.
At the same time, Hong Qianzhu’s reputation took a marked upswing.
Even so, just when everyone thought that Hong Qianzhu was going to lead the Flowing Gold Army’s troops back to reinforce Long Sang, they stopped their advance and remained where they were.
They were still maintaining a neutral position in this battle.
The spectators who were waiting for a furious battle to unfold were all left disappointed.
Meanwhile, the Boundless Sect took advantage of this opening to seize the territory that Lin Zuiliu had left defenseless before pus.h.i.+ng onwards towards Long Coiling City.
When Su Chen returned with Gu Qingluo and Zhu Xianyao, he was greeted with the following scene.
At Forward Pond Pa.s.s.
The Boundless Sect’s troops were all stationed here.
As soon as Su Chen arrived, Li Chongshan went out to greet him. “Greetings, Sect Master. Forgive me for my incompetence, but we weren’t able to subdue the entire country before you returned.”
Su Chen laughed. “You’ve already done very well. It’s not that you were slow. It’s just that I was too fast.”
With the Void Seahorse as his mount, Su Chen was capable of moving many times faster than the Boundless Sect’s forces. He was already very impressed with what Li Chongshan had managed to do in this period of time.
Su Chen then stepped into the command tent and didn’t waste his breath before sitting down in the spot that had formerly belonged to Li Chongshan. “How are things going now?”
Li Chongshan straightforwardly replied, “Lin Mengze sent Lin Qingliu and fifty thousand Golden Sand Troops to guard Forward Pond Pa.s.s. Lin Qingliu then also invited Spiral Jade Island’s four Chen Brothers to set up a formation here. Right now, we are trying to determine the best approach to these fortifications.”
Su Chen glanced at Jiang Hanfeng. “Is this formation a significant problem?”
Jiang Hanfeng nodded. “I have met Spiral Jade Island’s Chen Brothers before. The four of them are extremely proficient in setting up Origin Formations, and they specialize in incredibly venomous and sinister ones. Their most famous formation is the Jade Sea Yellow Sky formation. If that formation is completely set up, even a Thought Manifestation Realm cultivator would have a hard time withstanding its might without any prior preparations. Only an Ultimate Emperor Realm cultivator would be able to survive that formation. However, if other Origin Qi Scholars interfered, then perhaps even an emperor would die.”
An Origin Formation was not an isolated existence. Humans and formation would often combine forces to astounding effect.
Lin Qingliu was an imperial disciple and a highly talented member of the junior generation. Even though he wasn’t Lin Mengze’s actual son, Lin Mengze doted on him quite heavily, and his strength had reached the level of a Thought Manifestation Realm cultivator — the highest of all the imperial disciples. The fifty thousand Golden Sand soldiers had also all been personally trained by him, and they were all quite strong in their own right as well.
This group of soldiers, combined with the vicious formation, would definitely be a tough nut to crack even if the Boundless Sect were ultimately able to seize control of the gate.
As such, Li Chongshan and the others were discussing the best way to defeat their opponents while paying the lowest price.
Once he understood the situation, Su Chen thought for a moment before asking, “Are you sure that they have no Ultimate Emperor Realm cultivators amongst their ranks?”
“Definitely not!” Li Chongshan replied confidently.
Ultimate Emperor Realm cultivators didn’t grow like cabbages. There were usually only ever a dozen or so of them in the Seven Kingdoms, which averaged to around one or two per country.
Long Sang’s two Ultimate Emperor Realm cultivators were Lin Mengze and Lin Zuiliu.
Now that Lin Zuiliu had been defeated and Lin Mengze seriously injured, there shouldn’t have been any combat-ready Ultimate Emperor Realm cultivators left.
Upon receiving the answer, Su Chen said, “If that’s the case, then we’ll just attack. Let me deal with the formation. The ground troops will be left up to you.”
This was essentially no strategy. Su Chen was going to force his way through.
There was no need for any alternative!
Because he, Su Chen, was present.
Now that he was capable of killing a Sovereign all on his own, he was virtually invincible in this realm, and that was not even mentioning the fact that he had the support of the Void Seahorse. If he released Zhong Zhenjun from his research lab, then he would even have an Ultimate Emperor Realm cultivator fighting on his side.
But the two of them would be more than enough.
Two Sovereign-level ent.i.ties fighting at once was more than sufficient for this battle.
Any plan, tactic, or strategy were all useless in the face of an individual with indomitable strength.
Brute force!
That was the strategy that Su Chen had chosen.
Once the command was given, the troops obeyed.
The Boundless Sect’s bloodthirst had been roused, and they immediately made their preparations to move out.
At the walls of Forward Pond Pa.s.s.
Lin Qingliu was dressed in martial attire as he gazed off at the commotion in the distance.
He suddenly commented, “The banners are beginning to sway. It seems that they’re about to attack.”
Beside him stood a few soldiers dressed in similar garb. They were obviously the Chen Clan’s four brothers.
The eldest of the four, Chen Er, said, “Rest a.s.sured, prince. With our Demon-Devouring Wind Formation already set up, they will die here no matter how many people they throw at us.”
Lin Qingliu, however, didn’t seem to relax in the slightest. Instead, he said, “The Boundless Sect has remained stationary outside of Forward Pond Pa.s.s ever since they got here. But a few moments ago, they began to celebrate, as if they were welcoming someone back. And now, they are sounding the drums of war…… A powerful enemy has probably arrived on the scene and given them renewed hope.”
“A powerful enemy?” The four brothers were stunned.
“Su Chen,” Lin Qingliu spat out through gritted teeth.
Su Chen had come here?
Everyone felt their hearts tremble involuntarily.
The Chen brothers glanced at each other.
Then, Chen Er said, “Even though Su Chen is their Sect Master, he is merely a Spirit Burning Realm cultivator. His personal strength is not worth mentioning in these large battles.”
At this point in time, Long Sang still believed that Su Chen’s strength was still merely at the Spirit Burning Realm.
Lin Qingliu, however, knew that an opponent who was capable of throwing the Harpies into total disarray while only at the Light Shaking Realm could not be underestimated. In addition, he had managed to glean some crucial information from those earlier cheers.
The enemy was about to go all-out.
As such, he was keenly aware of how dangerous this upcoming battle would be.
“You guys leave first,” he said.
“What?” The Chen brothers were all stunned.
Lin Qingliu explained, “We will definitely lose this fight. I thank you four for your support, but now that the outcome has been determined, there is no need for you all to go to the grave with me. You should return to Spiral Jade Island and pa.s.s your days there peacefully instead.”
The Chen brothers knew that Lin Qingliu wouldn’t say this for no reason, and they couldn’t suppress the surprise in their hearts.
They were just about to say something when they saw two people flying in their direction from the Boundless Sect’s camp. It was Su Chen and Gu Qingluo, riding upon their Void Seahorse.
There was no need for them to even attack. The Void Seahorse on its own was shocking enough. The Void Seahorse wasn’t holding its aura back at all, and it was unreservedly unleas.h.i.+ng its full power. Spatial vortexes constantly formed and disappeared around it randomly, causing its body to glow with a faint, rippling, and imperceptible light. This blurry area around the seahorse was obviously a zone of destruction, which threatened to annihilate anything that entered its path. Any person or object that entered this zone would be cut to pieces.
Sovereign!
That was a Sovereign!
And Su Chen and Gu Qingluo were sitting on the back of that Sovereign.
They were riding a Sovereign?
The Chen brothers almost fainted when they saw this.
“This is an illusion. It must be an illusion……” Chen Er muttered to himself in disbelief.
A moment later, however, Su Chen charged forwards on the Void Seahorse, riding headfirst into the Demon-Devouring Wind Formation.
Hiss!
The formation began to hiss eerily as a demonic wind began to whistle through the air.
This wind, however, ran straight into the Void Seahorse’s frighteningly destructive spatial vortexes, which chewed up the wind and spat it out without a problem.
At the same time, a powerful burst of Yang Energy surged forth as a s.h.i.+ning Dragon image appeared in midair, bearing down upon the gathered Long Sang soldiers like a scorching sun.
The Demon-Devouring Wind Formation was a Yin-type formation. And the dual Yin natures of the demonic energy and the chilling wind made this formation exceptionally effective. The only weakness of the formation was Yang-type flames, and not just any kind of Yang-type flame either. After all, the Demon-Devouring Wind Formation was an incredibly complicated formation, and its core consisted of a number of different Yin-type treasures.
Unfortunately, today it was matched up against the might of the s.h.i.+ning Dragon.
If the s.h.i.+ning Dragon Bloodline could suppress even a Sovereign Beast Wave, then how could the Demon-Devouring Wind Formation even put up a fight?
The s.h.i.+ning Dragon Aspect appeared high in the sky, and its harsh sunlight beat down on the ground, melting away the sinister winds of the formation like ice.
The formation that the Chen brothers had poured so much time and effort into creating was completely destroyed by the s.h.i.+ning Dragon’s overwhelming power.
The Chen brothers felt their stomachs churn.
Some of the Golden Sand soldiers were still maintaining the formation and attempting to attack in order to hold the line. Unfortunately, their attacks were swallowed up by the spatial vortexes and disappeared without a trace — Su Chen and the Void Seahorse had worked together to wrought a ma.s.sive sphere of spatial destruction that barreled through the pa.s.s.
Given the raw destructive potential of spatial power, there was virtually no one who could withstand its might. The Void Seahorse steamrolled through everything in its path.
Actually, even though spatial vortexes were terrifyingly powerful, their area of effect was generally quite limited, and under normal circ.u.mstances, they wouldn’t claim that many lives. However, the Golden Sand soldiers were extremely disciplined and fought with combination tactics. As such, they would never disperse, and would instead stick together, even to the death.
This was absolutely the right choice when facing most powerful opponents, and it allowed them to maximize the effect of their numerical advantage. But against overwhelming might, however, this only sealed their fates.
These spatial vortexes were so powerful that not even an Ultimate Emperor Realm cultivator could stop them. They could only be avoided. This was indeed worthy of a combined technique unleashed by Su Chen and the Void Seahorse.
The Golden Sand soldiers’ attempts to defend themselves were like ants trying to halt a rolling cart.
Their team tactics would not save them this time. Instead, it only served to hasten their demise. Every spatial vortex churned through hundreds of soldiers like ma.s.sive meat grinders.
Wherever the spatial storms went, soldiers died in droves.
Su Chen and Gu Qingluo were like street cleaners — one nullified the formation while the other purged the area of all life. The Demon-Devouring Wind Formation had been completely dismantled. The Chen brothers trembled, unable to believe their eyes.
At the same time, the Boundless Sect’s disciples charged forward.
But when they charged into the formation, they found that the number of Golden Sand soldiers still alive was simply pitiful — the spatial storms had ravaged their formations, not even leaving corpses behind.
The surviving Golden Sand soldiers, who had just undergone baptism by spatial vortex, were completely stunned.
There were very few techniques that were this unreasonably powerful. The sheer destructive might had left an indelible shadow in their hearts, completely dousing any desire to resist.
The Boundless Sect’s disciples had been expecting an epic showdown, but in the end, they barely even had a chance to fight.
By the time Li Chongshan and the others caught up to Su Chen, Lin Qingliu and the Chen brothers had already been turned into dust at Su Chen’s hands. Maybe it was because their fear of Su Chen had driven them mad, but they made no attempt to surrender or escape. Instead, they fearlessly charged forward, the final flashes of resistance in this battle that were promptly swallowed up by the void.
Li Chongshan flew forwards, his expression gloomy.
When Su Chen saw his sullen expression, he couldn’t help but ask, “What’s wrong?”
Li Chongshan replied, “Didn’t we agree that you would neutralize the formation and that we would deal with the soldiers?”
Su Chen was momentarily taken aback before he smacked his head. “I got too caught up in the heat of the battle and forgot to leave some for you. My bad.”