Fearless

Smoke and sulfurous fumes billowed beneath the city gate, obscuring the ground completely. He Lingchuan did not idle either. Waving his hand at the others, he called out, "Come on, load the second volley!" His eyesight was sharp; he had seen that the first few fiery ballista bolts had all been knocked away by Nian Songyu. In his berserk state, the fellow could truly fight. He Lingchuan believed in finishing the job completely—seeing the bastard straight off to the afterlife. In any case, having already fired the first round, they had completely dropped all pretense with the National Preceptor. A second or third round would at most tear away whatever shred of cover was left. No one objected; everyone kept their heads down, busily reloading. The second volley launched smoothly as well. Only then did He Lingchuan realize that while the nail bombs made the most noise—a deafening racket—the trebuchets were probably even more terrifying in raw destructive power. Though the rolling stones did not detonate upon impact, these modified trebuchets atop the city gate actually featured a continuous-fire mechanism. Once fully loaded, they could fling twenty-four stone spheres in rapid succession! Under manual human operation, errors would be inevitable. But in Panlong City under the control of the black flood dragon, all twenty-four shots smashed into virtually the exact same spot—where Sun Fuping stood. He Lingchuan put himself in his shoes: if he had been standing where Sun Fuping was, he would have been flattened into a paper doll before taking the fourth fiery boulder—or rather, crushed into meat paste. So, had they interrupted Sun Fuping's wicked spellcasting or not? Demonic apes and sand leopards formed of scorched earth and molten magma took shape one after another, charging forward to dig through the rubble. Stone spheres, nail bombs, and assorted debris had once again turned the clearing into ruins, buried beneath heaps of rubble. Even the black flood dragon lowered its head, keen to see if the two were dead or alive. *** Ignoring the chorus of sharp gasps around him, He Chunhua's mind raced. The Blood Sacrifice Formation was already turning and would take effect in the blink of an eye. What should he do? Where was the path to survival? His gaze fell upon the Gale Army commander standing thirty yards away. These resentful souls had not strayed far; they had merely drawn back a short distance, standing motionless. A plan suddenly seized He Chunhua's mind. He flashed another hand signal toward them— Attack! Attack the Heavenly Thunder Formation! In life, the Gale Army would never have turned their weapons against Zhong Shengguang. But at this moment, one of the few remnant wills driving these heroic spirits was to obey military orders and press fearlessly forward! Thousands of heroic spirits turned their heads in unison. Once again rounding up the nearby resentful souls, they drove them toward the Heavenly Thunder Formation, following closely behind. Soon, nearly a thousand resentful souls slammed into the formation and were reduced to ashes. With no more wandering souls nearby, the battle cries of the Gale Army's officers and men tore through the heavens. Then, raising their sabers, spears, pikes, and lances, they charged straight at the formation! Hoofbeats thundered, horses surging like dragons. Facing such an army was like standing at the head of Guantang Bridge, watching the great tidal bore of the sixteenth day of the eighth month rush headlong toward you. He Chunhua roared, "Abandon all resistance! Watch out and dodge!" Then the Gale Army crashed headlong into the Heavenly Thunder Formation. This time, the formation shuddered far more violently than the previous two times. Before the heroic spirits in the first three ranks could even let out a roar, they disintegrated into flying ash. Those behind stepped up to fill the gaps without the slightest hesitation. The heavenly thunder boomed, yet the number of heroic spirits struck down was visibly dwindling. At last, as the sixth rank of heroic spirits crashed in, He Chunhua's State Token lost its final trace of green radiance. The beast head atop the staff finally opened its mouth. The Yuan coin dropped to the ground, its clatter drowned out by the thundering hooves. The Heavenly Thunder Formation shattered. This was partly due to the Blackwater City soldiers abandoning resistance and losing all will to fight, but even more so to the fierce, unstoppable charge of the Gale Army. He Chunhua had no time for anything else; he bolted outward with great strides. His desperate haste was the best example. Everyone else followed suit, scrambling and even trampling one another. Barely twenty feet outside the formation, agonized shrieks erupted behind them. He Chunhua looked back, and what he saw chilled him to the marrow: The red light of the Blood Sacrifice Formation soared skyward, more than ten times more intense than before! Among his hundred-odd men, some were naturally faster to escape than others. When the red light flared, several dozen had failed to flee in time; they now collapsed to the ground as if all strength had been drained from their bodies. Yet no one dared rush in to help them. Their skin was caving in at terrifying speed; within three breaths, they were reduced to skin and bones. Their fingernails fell out, and their hair turned white, withering like dry straw. He Chunhua watched with his own eyes as a trusted subordinate reached out toward him for help, his hand extending past the edge of the formation. The man had small, triangular eyes, but because his face had withered into a skull, his eyeballs bulged round and wide. He Chunhua had intended to pull him out, but when he reached the edge of the circle, he drew back his hand. In the end, the man's eyeballs rolled from their sockets and dropped to the ground. Situ Han was faster on his feet. Seeing one of his sworn brothers collapsed on the edge of the formation, he hastily hooked him out with the back of his saber. But everything below the man's waist was already ruined, leaving him howling in agony upon the ground. When the red light dissipated, the formation held only dozens of clothed skeletons and hair fluttering in the wind. Meanwhile, at some unknown point, a sphere of white light had appeared within the formation. Before anyone could get a clear look, it shot toward the pool-well with a whoosh! Strangely, into this pool-well where resentful souls and living humans could enter freely, this sphere of white light could not go. It was bounced back. As if in disbelief, the white light slammed into it twice more, failing each time. When the Blood Sacrifice Formation had activated, the Gale Army had also stayed far away, as though well aware of its lethal dread. Only when the red light faded and the Heavenly Thunder Formation lost its power did the Gale Army gather around once more. The white light seemed to have caught their attention. Seeing it rebuffed by the pool-well, several Gale Army chieftains exchanged glances in tacit understanding and cast out a capturing net. As if it had eyes, the white light dodged instantly. Yet the net expanded several times over in midair and snared it all the same. The Gale Army hauled in the net, and immediately sabers, spears, swords, and lances thrust through the mesh, every strike landing squarely upon the white light. Their weapons were not physical, yet after only a few thrusts, they shattered. Even the arms wielding them began fading into nothingness bit by bit. Soldiers standing beside them raised their blades and severed the commanders' arms at the shoulder, stopping the corruption from spreading through their spirit bodies. For heroic spirits, such wounds were trivial and would heal in time. Seeing this, the Gale Army commander who had first clashed with He Chunhua and the others hurled his weapon like a javelin once more, striking the white light true. The other commanders followed suit. Seeing this, Situ Han also flung his own saber, but it merely pierced the pool-well and fell inside, failing to inflict the slightest damage on the white light. He Chunhua said, "Mundane weapons won't work." Just as the Gale Army was about to unleash a second wave of attacks on the white light, the light suddenly flared with dazzling radiance. It was so intense that not only humans, but even the heroic spirits had to avert their eyes. Fortunately, the brilliant light lasted only a split second. By the time everyone recovered their senses, the white light had vanished without a trace. The Gale Army commanders stood still for several breaths, as if they had received some command or reached a decision, and then led their respective troops charging into the pool-well. Lacking physical bodies, there was no need to jostle or push. As mighty and vast as they had been when emerging from the pool-well, they were just as swift returning. In a mere dozen breaths, not a single heroic spirit remained before the divine temple. The survivors stood panting heavily at the edge of the formation, unable to utter a sound for a long time.