Chapter 477: Concluded
Zhuo Fan and Gu Santong smiled. While the first let out an azure flame on his forehead, the latter had an eerie reddish glow.
Hum~
The two auras released a wave of energy, blending in the air and smashing the beast army formation apart.
Roar~
The beasts wailed in agony, rampaging all over the place. Quanrong soldiers made signs to get them under control, an exercise in futility.
Tuoba Tieshan and the wolves were startled.
Zhuo Fan grinned, his eyes taking on a savage glint as he signaled, “Take Marshal’s body. We’re charging through!”
“Form, march!” Dugu Feng shouted. The Dugu Army roared back, executing the order.
Tuoba Tieshan had no way to block them, not when his army had the spiritual beasts at its core who were running amok. His army just got sacked to a tenth of its power.
[What… just happened?]
He watched the Dugu Army stroll right through them, powerless and dumbstruck to do anything. Not like he could.
Shadow King came to his side, pointing at the two in front, “Commander, they’re to blame. Kill them and your beasts will calm down.”
Tuoba Tieshan exclaimed. Dugu Army was out of the encirclement amongst the chaos while Zhuo Fan sported the same nasty and condescending grin all his victims were familiar with.
[A taunt, a G.o.d d.a.m.ned taunt!]
Tuoba Tieshan found the new Marshal’s skills queer. He could see why Dugu Zhantian would entrust his army to this n.o.body.
But Zhuo Fan’s style lit a raging fire under him like no one else could.
[Why you rotten squib, not even Dugu Zhantian took such a stance with me, yet you dare to do so?]
“Slaughter Wolf, take your men and grab those two!” Tuoba Tieshan shouted.
Slaughter Wolf bowed, “Yes, sir!”
His division was the only one battle ready.
Slaughter Wolf took his hundreds of thousand men at Zhuo Fan and Gu Santong. The soldiers in white looked like asuras, fusing their Yuan Qi and bloodl.u.s.t.
Slaughter Wolf led the charge, flicking his mighty halberd and shuddering the air around.
Zhuo Fan looked surprised.
It was his first time meeting a formation. Slaughter Wolf alone meant nothing to him or Gu Santong,, just a pinch and he’d be gone.
Yet with the men behind him combining their Yuan Qi, they released an even greater pressure than Huangpu Tianyuan’s Nine Dragons Diamond Body could.
Facing such a flood alone, he’d be torn to pieces.
While Gu Santong laughed, having the benefit of a tough sacred beast body, “Great timing. Let me have a shot!”
“Hold on, young Sanzi, you might not be able to handle this either.” Zhuo Fan held his shoulder, “Besides, battlefield, by definition, means a group battle, a battle of brains not brawn. The more glaring a formation’s strength is, the more devastating its weakness, it’s mobility. Ha-ha-ha…”
Zhuo Fan’s right eye flashed golden, “Divine Eye of the Void, Shift!”
Whoosh~
Zhuo Fan and Gu Santong were gone.
Slaughter Wolf’s power surge hit nothing.
Boom!
The only victim here was a hill in the distance, now sporting a huge gap in it.
Slaughter Wolf rested his halberd and looked around puzzled.
Tuoba Tieshan and the other wardens were just as speechless.
Whoosh!
A sharp sound came and Tuoba Tieshan felt a chill on his neck and froze in place.
The same thing happened to the wolves, looking back stiffly.
Zhuo Fan and Gu Santong had popped up in their sights, holding the commander’s neck at Dugu Zhantian’s blade point.
“Commander!”
The wolves panicked. When did he get behind them? Why didn’t they sense it? And, more importantly, how did he do that?
Shadow King was the only one here aware of Zhuo Fan’s intimacy-violating fancy trick.
[First you look down on your enemy and are now blindsided by having your head held hostage. How are you going to fight?]
“Don’t move a muscle…” Zhuo Fan threatened and the wolves stood still.
Zhuo Fan grinned to everyone there before turning to his hostage, “Commander Touba, I have you right where I want you. Your fate is in my hands. Tell me though, is this new Marshal worthy of your undivided attention?”
Tuoba Tieshan gasped, “The young surpa.s.s the old. I have been undefeated all my life yet fell in your hand at our first clash. Dugu Zhantian will find rest knowing the Dugu Army is in good hands.”
“He-he-he, I’m touched. I’ve heard much of Commander Touba and Marshal Dugu being G.o.ds of War of this age and looked forward to seeing you for myself. But how you fell for it so easily, you’re just not up to scratch. You’re no match of mine!”
“Say that again!” Tuoba Tieshan roared.
The Wolf Wardens bit back, “c.o.c.ky punk, a soldier would choose death before dishonor. Is this how Dugu Zhantian train you? “
“Ha-ha-ha, first things first, I was never trained under Dugu Zhantian. He once wanted me to work together but we got stuck on opposite sides. If not for this untimely event, lacking capable leadership, I wouldn’t have accepted it either. And secondly, I’m stating facts.”
Zhuo Fan continued with a wide smile, “Shadow King here knows me best. If Commander Touba had been some great enemy of mine, his head would’ve long been flying. Ha-ha-ha, in appreciation for your respect for our dear Marshal Dugu, I shall do the same. See ya.”
Zhuo Fan and Gu Santong were gone again, appearing a mile out.
Tuoba Tieshan was crestfallen, even if free.
He’d been looked down upon, considered not a threat. The only reason he was still living too.
And it left him empty inside.
“Die, kid!” Slaughter Wolf charged at him with his men. No one had ever toyed with him in his long years of service. His ego was more than a little bruised.
Zhuo Fan had no time to entertain him. Finding Dugu Army in the distance, he signaled Gu Santong.
“Soaring Fist, Splitting Heaven!”
The cute fist pounded the air and the earth churned like a raging sea.
Slaughter Wolf was overwhelmed by what a mere kid could do. [Just like a battle formation…]
He set up his formation just in time so he could bear through the attack.
When everything was quiet, all they could hear was Zhuo Fan’s egotistical voice, “I am needed elsewhere, for military formalities. We shall meet again, on the field of battle. You’re free to chase, if you find that head of yours too heavy for your shoulders.”
[Why that c.o.c.ky, brash, outrageous p.r.i.c.k!]
It was the thought on everyone’s mind.
“Shadow King, who the h.e.l.l was that?” Tuoba Tieshan turned a hard gaze at the black figure, a raging storm battling in his heart.
The pa.s.sing of Dugu Zhantian brought unbearable loneliness to a military master such as him, but the arrival of Zhuo Fan, showed him a new opponent.
Shadow King sighed, “Zhuo Fan, the newest upstart in Tianyu and the steward of the Windgaze City’s Luo clan, the eighth n.o.ble house. Cunning, ruthless, twisted, outrageously strong, all of these make him the worst opponent in Tianyu. His Majesty sent me here to deal with the Dugu Army so that you’ll next focus on that kid.”
“Zhuo Fan…”
Tuoba Tieshan’s eyes glinted, “This is an opponent I shall fight!”