It still wanted to attack another foe, but Zeng Feixiong raised his saber and brought it down, shearing off half its skull before the heroic spirit finally dissolved into flying ash.
Faced with such ferocious enemies, the Blackwater City soldiers lost all will to fight and bolted back as fast as they could. After all, they were ordered on an expedition, not a fight to the death.
He Chunhua calculated that even if they won, it would be a pyrrhic victory at best. What was worse, the enemy commander still looked as fierce and vigorous as ever; taking on another twenty or thirty men single-handedly seemed like no trouble for him at all!
Sun Fuping seemed to perceive his worry. "Rest assured. As long as the dynastic fortune is unleashed, you can hold out for a long time."
By now, Zeng Feixiong had led the remnants of his squad back into the array. His left arm had taken a slash, so deep that the entire limb had nearly been severed, yet he seemed oblivious to it. He only raised his saber toward the heavens and bellowed, "Unite our strength with one heart, protect our Great Yuan!"
The men roared in unison: "Unite our strength with one heart, protect our Great Yuan!"
Instantly, the beast head atop the staff blazed with brilliant light.
It was a pale green tinged with gold, yet it forced the surrounding resentful souls to halt their pursuit and raise their arms to shield their eyes, as if the radiance were blindingly harsh. Their mounts also tossed their heads, swished their tails in agitation, and stamped their hooves against the ground.
This was the dynastic fortune borne by He Chunhua's Yuan coin, activated and channeled by the National Preceptor!
This was the confidence and consensus forged from the vitality of every living soul in Qiansong Commandery, which merged with and bolstered the morale of Zeng Feixiong and the commandery soldiers, instantly transforming into an immense, boundless righteous aura!
Had those dozen or so opponents not been heroic spirits of veterans from a hundred battles in life, but ordinary resentful souls, this light alone would have annihilated them on the spot.
Zeng Feixiong, however, turned to Situ Han and barked, "Why aren't you shouting?"
Situ Han started. "W-We have to as well?"
"You have been incorporated into the Blackwater City Defense Army! You are one with us now, no longer sand bandits and outlaws!"
So their incorporation had been for real? Since this was a matter of life and death, Situ Han turned and barked an order, and his subordinates joined the main force in shouting the battle cry.
With these dozens of men joining in, the accumulation of quantity finally sparked a qualitative change.
The beast head on the staff reined in its glow, then suddenly roared toward the heavens.
A luminous azure orb flew from its maw. Expanding as it met the wind, it grew into a colossal azure bird over fifty feet tall, crowned with a high crest and adorned with splendid tail feathers, possessing an exquisite, graceful form.
It circled once above the crowd before plunging upward into the cloud layer.
This was the guardian divine beast from which Great Yuan took its name.
Naturally, the true Qingyuan remained guarding the royal capital; what appeared here was merely an incarnation of the dynastic fortune.
As it vanished into the clouds, the dense grey overcast across the sky instantly churned into a vortex. Lightning serpents danced madly within, and the clouds veiled countless flashes of azure and purple light.
Many resentful souls still drifted in midair; seeing this, they scattered in all directions like a school of fish pursued by a great white shark.
Only a few breaths later, a thick bolt of lightning cracked down from the sky, striking dead-center upon the eye of the talisman array.
Lightning serpents traveled along the array lines Sun Fuping had drawn. Viewed from above, the entire formation blazed with radiant silver light.
Though describing this sequence of changes took time, it had all occurred in just a few dozen breaths.
Confronted with such an imposing display, the Gale Army soldiers, now heroic spirits, finally showed fear on their faces and fell back repeatedly.
In life, they had witnessed countless wondrous arts and strange sorceries, but in death, they revered nothing more than the wrath of Heaven.
After all, they were now ghosts.
The commander jerked his chin, and at once a rider charged forward.
The moment the horse's hooves stepped onto the talisman array, an arc of lightning flashed, and rider and mount vanished into thin air.
As if refusing to believe it, the commander hurled his eighteen-foot spear once again like a javelin.
With a sharp crackle of electricity, the long spear had not penetrated even a foot into the array before it dissolved just as silently.
This was the Heavenly Thunder Defense Sun Fuping had summoned with the aid of the State Token. The stronger the dynastic fortune bound to the token, the greater the formation's might.
Pitting the strength of an entire commandery against a mere dozen heroic spirits ought to be more than enough.
"Commandery Governor He, I leave this place to you." Sun Fuping patted He Chunhua's shoulder, turned around, and walked toward the pool's edge.
"Hold on!" Seeing that he was about to slip away, He Chunhua called out, "I'm going with you!"
"You cannot go." Sun Fuping pointed at the staff planted in the array. "The State Token loses its power if it is more than a hundred zhang from its master. I need every single one of you to hold the line here and prevent the resentful souls from pursuing us into the pool."
Only then did everyone realize that the old fox had deftly inscribed the entire pool into the Heavenly Thunder Defense array earlier. As long as the formation remained intact, the resentful souls could not re-enter the pool.
The National Preceptor wanted to go in and seize the treasure for himself while leaving them here to guard the front gate. He Chunhua's face darkened slightly, though he knew full well that bringing so many men was precisely for this purpose. Even so—
"I will look after your son. Father and son will be reunited soon, so put your mind at ease!" Pressed for time, Sun Fuping offered He Chunhua a hasty word of comfort before leaping into the pool.
With a splash, he too vanished from sight, leaving only the candle cast aside by the pool's edge, its flame still burning eerily.
Situ Han said indignantly, "That old bastard is using us!"
He Chunhua's expression shifted. Suddenly, he summoned Zeng Feixiong before him. "Take a few men and go help Chuan'er."
Although He Lingchuan had long been a lucky star, with him alone in an unfathomable realm and both Nian and Sun harboring ill intent, as his father He Chunhua simply could not set his mind at ease.
Zeng Feixiong acknowledged the order, quickly picked five men, and plunged into the pool.
Staring into the pool, He Chunhua knew he had been outmaneuvered again. Sun Fuping had deliberately left him and the Blackwater City troops outside. It was an overt scheme—to fend off the assault of the Gale Army heroic spirits, his hundred-plus men could not enter the blood pool.
Yet as he drew his gaze back, he started slightly. "Why is there one fewer Gale Army soul?"
Situ Han said, "While you were speaking with the National Preceptor, one wisp slipped away."
He Chunhua thought to himself that this boded ill, yet he had to pull himself together and rally everyone: "No matter how formidable the Gale Army was in life, they are ghosts now! Unfit for heaven and earth, they are bound by supernatural arts and sorcery! As long as we keep calm and resolute, the Heavenly Thunder Defense is an iron wall!"
An army's morale stemmed from confidence; if he wanted the State Token to remain in effect, he had to bolster their spirits.
Having witnessed the might of the heavenly thunder with their own eyes, everyone felt greatly reassured, and the glow of the beast head grew all the brighter.
Right then, Situ Han pointed toward the horizon with a gasp. "What's that?"
The night was pitch-black, and the lightning and thunder in the clouds had faded, but an eerie red glow flickered across the western sky.
The light drew closer and closer.
He Chunhua caught sight of it as well, his face falling. "Reinforcements. That heroic spirit from before went to fetch reinforcements."
What was with these Gale Army souls? Unlike the other resentful souls, they had not lost their wits at all. Not only did they figure out how to wound physical bodies, but they even knew how to call for backup.
Now they were in trouble. He Chunhua could not help inhaling a sharp breath. The new wave of Gale Army souls was coming on with a vengeance!
When He Lingchuan plunged into the water, he was thoroughly startled as well.
He tried to swim back, yet his body refused to move, and an inexplicable suction dragged him downward relentlessly.
In the dark red water, the light was murky; even with his eyes open, he could not see very far.
Chapter 45