Six Power Shamans at Dao Foundation perfection pumped their hairy legs, shouldering the hundred-thousand-plus-jin war chariot as they rampaged across the battlefield. Tianyu had gone utterly berserk, throwing the Shamans' entire central army into chaos with pure mechanical horsepower and his own brute might.
Wei Yuan seized the tactical opportunity at once, guiding artillery fire to blanket the area around Tianyu and clear away potential threats.
Tianyu noticed none of this, only thinking that these human knickknacks were flashy—a single cannon shot could set off three to five explosions.
On Wei Yuan's left flank, a mere two thousand baggage infantry stood unfazed against the onslaught of ten thousand enemy cavalry. Forming a tight, dense formation, the dozens of infantry guns at their center swung their muzzles around to relentlessly bombard the charging cavalry.
Driven by the power of the sacrifices, the venomous lizard riders’ eyes were shot through with blood, pressing their frantic charge in utter disregard of horrific casualties. Just then, the Civil and Military Dragon Guards appeared on the left and right flanks. The rotary flying sword cannons in their hands roared to life, unleashing countless miniature flying swords like two intersecting scythes that mercilessly reaped the venomous lizard riders!
The lethality of this crossfire from the flanks was terrifying. The venomous lizard riders were never known for exceptional speed, relying instead on their ability to maneuver freely through marshes and their raw combat power. Now, they were mowed down in swathes.
Lei Dong felt little heartache over this. In his mind, as long as he could kill Wei Yuan, it did not matter if every last one of these hundred-plus thousand warriors died. Furthermore, he had already discerned that the Civil and Military Dragon Guards were merely Wei Yuan's avatars; the karmic and causal ties between them could not escape his eyes.
It was precisely with these pupils capable of piercing karma and causality that Lei Dong had unraveled countless hidden connections and held so many powerful figures in his grasp. Seeing Wei Yuan use his avatars to harvest the Shaman cavalry, Lei Dong sneered inwardly, thinking: *Let's see how you handle the karmic debt!*
Meanwhile, the soldiers on Wei Yuan's left flank opened fire. Though their cultivation was not high, they all possessed the Body Casting foundation of the Blood Merging realm, giving them far quicker reflexes than ordinary men. Moreover, having survived life-or-death battles against the Land of Rain, this handful of cavalry from the Leize Tribe was child's play to them.
Even if the cavalry broke through to their face, they feared nothing. Past battles had proved that fire guns fitted with bayonets were far more effective than ordinary spears. Not to mention, standing behind them was an entire row of Power Shaman iron blockheads, towering two heads taller than normal men.
Under the triple lethality of the infantry guns, rotary cannons, and infantry fire guns, the numbers of Leize cavalry plunged drastically.
The Shamans' sacrificial power was not omnipotent. As comrades fell in droves around them, the deep-seated terror in many riders finally won out. Wave after wave of riders turned their giant lizards around and fled.
Many dismounted Leize riders scrambled to their feet on the ground and ran after them, only to be picked off one by one by the human soldiers.
Only now did Lei Dong realize the trick: Wei Yuan’s two avatars were aiming at the giant lizards rather than the riders on their backs. Once wounded, the giant lizards threw their riders off, which effectively neutralized a charging cavalryman in Wei Yuan's eyes.
Most of the unseated riders on the ground were wounded rather than killed outright. The unrelenting bombardment of the infantry guns then reaped their lives, and any who managed to stand were picked off by the infantry. In this way, the vast majority of Shaman riders were slain by human soldiers, keeping the karmic debt off Wei Yuan’s head.
Lei Dong watched with eyes spitting fire, deeply loathing the humans' cunning. He would never have thought of such a trick himself.
Unwilling to be left out, the Power Shamans unslung their iron-backed longbows to show off the powerful bows and heavy arrows of the Desolate Ancestor Tribe. The shafts of the Power Shamans' heavy arrows were hollow, unleashing a bloodcurdling shriek as they flew. Nearly every one of them could shoot past five hundred zhang, and their heavy arrows easily punched straight through the Leize riders.
However, archers of this caliber were few and far between. Out of the thousand-odd Power Shamans stationed in the formation, fewer than a hundred carried giant bows.
With few elite archers among the Power Shamans, their tally was even smaller. A round of frantic rapid-fire bravado managed to kill fewer than a hundred Leize cavalrymen.
The vast majority of the cavalry had fallen under the reaping firepower of the artillery and rotary cannons; they were not even worthy of experiencing the Qingming infantry formation that remained unshaken even when the enemy charged to their very faces.
The surviving riders were picked off by concentrated rifle fire. Qingming’s newly produced rifles had substantially improved in both accuracy and power, vastly boosting the ordinary infantry’s lethality at roughly a hundred zhang. Only scraps were left for the Power Shamans, who felt too embarrassed to dance and brag after their archery display.
Seeing the left flank secure, Wei Yuan adjusted the infantry cannons' direction once more, laying down a creeping barrage ahead of his own cavalry before leading the Dragon Wing heavy cavalry right behind the curtain of shells into the Leize central army.
Crashing into the Shaman battle lines that artillery had already battered into utter chaos, the Dragon Wing heavy cavalry did not brandish sabers; instead, they fired short-barreled shotguns in all directions, swarms of iron pellets mowing down Shaman soldiers in heaps.
These munitions had been specially manufactured, laced with a toxic agent concocted by Sun Yu. During his years in Qingming, after meeting Xu Wenwu, Sun Yu had learned surgery, microscopic observation, and even the analysis of microscopic material properties.
Having worked through thousands of living Shaman subjects and thoroughly dissected over a hundred Shaman variations, Sun Yu possessed an intimate understanding of Shaman nerves, meridians, chakras, dantians, acupoints, the Three Heavens and Earth Channels, and the like. From this, he had developed a brand-new neurotoxin named Great Lamentation Powder.
Great Lamentation Powder was effective against more than eighty percent of Shaman variants. It was not lethal, possessing only a single effect: continuous, unbearable agony. According to Sun Yu, it was roughly seven to eight times worse than pouring strong alcohol onto an open wound.
This was the first time Great Lamentation Powder had seen the battlefield, and its performance was truly extraordinary, living up to such a glorious name. Any Shaman warrior who suffered even a scratch collapsed on the spot, virtually eliminating any chance of fighting through their wounds.
Lei Dong glared at Wei Yuan, eyes blazing. His army's military qi was in disarray, beyond even the altars' power to stabilize. Behind him, the demon blade urged him forward to duel Wei Yuan to the death, but Lei Dong hesitated.
His opponent was likewise a child of karmic destiny. In their brief prior clash, Lei Dong's soul had nearly been snatched away by that strange bird, leaving a deep psychological scar.
What was more, he had grown accustomed to the combat methods of a child of karmic destiny. As one favored by destiny, his opponents would either make blunder after blunder, or his own side would gang up on a lone enemy—in short, victory was assured before the battle even began. When faced with a fair duel, Lei Dong suddenly felt afraid. How long had it been since he had engaged in a serious battle of magic?
The demon blade urged him relentlessly, crying that with its presence he would never suffer a loss, finally restoring a shred of Lei Dong's confidence. Yet Wei Yuan seemed to know what he was thinking; he drew a crimson longsword and gave it a flourish.
As if sensing the demon blade's presence, the crimson immortal sword suddenly blazed with brilliant light, shooting a crimson beam straight into the sky like a defiant challenge to enemies in every direction.
The demon blade's bluster instantly deflated.
Lei Dong had never imagined the demon blade could be cowed like this, and any thought of a decisive duel with Wei Yuan evaporated on the spot. He wanted to flee immediately, but the demon blade stopped him, leaving him no choice but to dutifully rally his forces, organize a rearguard, and prepare to retreat.
At this moment, Lei Dong’s long-absent karmic luck finally came through. The roaring cannon fire gradually subsided into silence—all fifty wagons of shells Wei Yuan had brought were completely spent.
Yet Lei Dong did not take advantage of the opening to counterattack; instead, he seized the chance to withdraw.
Watching the Shaman army recede like an ebbing tide, Wei Yuan shook his head, knowing this fellow was thoroughly finished.
Chapter 623